The Node of Survival

The two young dragon descendants left, leaving only an ancient dragon who had achieved mechanical immortality in the vast prototype chamber, along with countless machines that kept him company.

Amid the pleasant hums emitted by the various equipment in the room, the Golden Dragon Andar slightly moved his head. Hundreds of alloy joints and electronic nerve bundles assisted him in completing that simple motion. His line of sight turned toward a crystal curtain before him, and a low voice, sounding as though he were speaking to himself, came from the speaker beside the platform. "What do you make of this?"

The crystal curtains around the platform simultaneously stopped refreshing their data and images. Flowing points of light swiftly assembled into clear pictures, and imposing dragons appeared upon those thin display mediums—some maintained their dragon forms, some appeared as humans, some had undergone complete mechanical or electronic transformation like Andar, while others remained young and natural.

These elders of the council seemed to have been following everything that had happened in the room. As soon as Andar finished speaking, a Blue Dragon responded, "The development path and scale of change in this season's civilization have indeed surpassed previous ones, but we have no way of determining their ultimate fate. Given Tarlonnd's special circumstances, all we can do is wait and watch."

"We have waited and watched for hundreds of thousands of years. So many civilizations that once showed promise perished while we stood by," another dragon could not help saying. "Perhaps this time, we should take more proactive measures."

"We must remain wary of the lessons of the Chaos of the Counter-Tide. Every proactive action we take could bring about an even greater backlash..."

The Chaos of the Counter-Tide seemed to be a sword forever hanging over the dragons' heads. When