The Death of Glainwing

-- A Children's Chant and Game in Trine and Queen's Meet called "Guest on the Hill"

Dragons are rare enough in Vault that the sight of one is a story to be passed through generation. The death of a dragon is therefore a historical event. One of the most famous of deaths was that of Glainwing during the assault on Demon's Hollow in 2012.

Unwilling to forsake Quoellethar and the Elves buried there, the Queen of Lyr'Lowain Auriel Su'Shanar, grandaughter of Eve Galdarion, vowed to bring down the tower. She sent an army in the months following its erection only to see those armies dashed upon the hillside, their ranks torn asunder by sickness, plague, and bodily mutilation.

Queen Auriel attempted to siege the tower but to no avail. It seemed whomever was within was content with never leaving. Next she attempted grand magics, powerful spells used to raze buildings to the ground. Each and every one had no effect, smoldering against the flesh-like exterior of the tower.

It was with her options exhausted that Queen Auriel turned to the most ancient ally the Elves of Lyr'Lowain could call upon.

Glainwing was a golden dragon who spent her days slumbering beneath the limbs of verdant groves. She had seen the days after the Constellation Wars, was born into a world still forming. She had guided the Elves to Lyr'Lowain in elder days, calling it their home as well as hers. She was a gentle soul and advised peace, honor, and solitude to any who would listen. It's said she argued with Queen Auriel for three nights, refusing to heed a call to battle. But when faced with the persistence and desperation of the Queen in her struggle to restore her honored dead to the afterlife they deserved, Glainwing could not refuse.

Many ask why, if the Elves hate Demon's Hollow so much, they do not simply fly above Horror Hill and attack from the air.

Queen Auriel and Glainwing rode the winds above River Lyric to Quodorvain, Auriel armored in the shining gold plate that once belonged to her grandmother, Glainwing flying with the rising rage at seeing the Place From Which All Curses Form. She recognized it for what it was: an affront and insult to all that was good and natural. Not that it existed upon that hill, but that it existed at all. Glainwing knew at the moment of laying her ancient eyes upon that place that it was her sole purpose to ensure it ceased to exist.

When Auriel and Glainwing arrived, having done what no other Elf had ever done, they searched for Ravana Salem. To their dismay, and the dismay of history, they found Chalice Hellebore instead.

Immediately enthralled by the woman, Glainwing forgot about her rage and fury. The dragon gazed into the depths of Chalice's purple eyes and was lost for a time. During this time, Queen Auriel was dragged from Glainwing's back and torn apart, piece by piece, by the powers living within the tower. It is said that Auriel's dying screams were like a lullaby to Glainwing as she drifted softly in the stare of Chalice.

When Glainwing returned to herself, seeing her Queen dismembered before her very eyes, she lost what part of her self she'd retained for thousands of years and became unbridled with anger. Chalice drew her blade against the dragon, a move Glainwing was certain was a result of madness, for no mortal could stand against her with blade alone. The dragon attacked.

Moments later, Glainwing was fleeing the upper parapets of the tower, wings torn and ripped, one eyes dislodged, and her tail mostly missing. The Elves, ready to celebrate victory below, saw her pulled back into Demon's Hollow by thick tendrils of midnight. The dragon roared in fear, not fury, as her body smashed into the tower, her claws scraping for purchase, before she folded in upon herself being pulled back in.

Some time later, when the dying pleas stopped, Glainwing was thrown from the tower, her remains landing among the army below. It is there those remains still sit, a reminder to all Elvenkind why Demon's Hollow will forever stand.