Shadows in Twilight
an excerpt

“Dragonites were created to be the guardians of unborn dragons. No one knows if it was the dragons or the Crafters who made them, but it’s unimportant now. When a dragon is unhatched, it is conscious of its surroundings, but cannot do anything. It is extremely vulnerable, as its parents must leave as soon as the egg is laid. We don’t understand the specifics, but adult dragons are probably magically allergic to the eggs. Thus, unable to simply leave their unhatched children to die, the dragons leave the eggs in the care of dragonites.

However, about the same time dragons disappeared, the dragonites became corrupt. Perhaps one caused the other, or it may have just been coincidence. The dragonites have always been extremely powerful in order to safeguard the eggs, but now they use that power for destruction and domination.”

Thyll glanced over his glasses and locked gazes with both Crian and Jers.

“I’d bet my life that she never expected the egg to hatch, and most likely took precautions to ensure that. But either way, it’s hatching now. And I’ll wager the dragon is not too pleased with old lizard arse.”

Jers and Crian exchanged a look.

“You mean to tell us that, number one, you knew what she was and are only now telling us. Number two, you knew the timing and all that of the quakes, and you didn’t tell us. And know you knew that a DRAGON was hatching, and you didn’t tell us!” Crian was shouting by the end, and Jers looked ticked off as well.

“Well, yeah. I tell you stuff when you need to know it,” Thyll shrugged. “If I tried to just randomly tell you everything I know, both of your brains would spontaneously combust.”

Crian heroically resisted the urge to beat the living shit out of his cousin.