What Could Possibly Be Worse?

Ataral Zordeen stood at a crucial moment in Krai Jan History.
The end was truly nigh.
Everywhere the Traazorite Rebels were advancing.
Everywhere the Ruby Empire was being defeated. Once the jewel of the known world, it now crumbled under its own decadence and insolence.
The cities of Malshen Province were slowly but surely being captured by the Rebels, who had encircled them all at once, ensuring that no city could send troops to reinforce their sister cities.
Nehvodim was well prepared for a siege, but no one had any hope that they could survive it. As the Traazorite troops closed around the city, not even Nehvodim’s Elite Ruby Guard could defeat the Runah-worshiping rebels to lift the siege.
The weeks wore on and the situation became more dire. Food was rationed and the stores were holding out, but the end was in sight.
Despite what the Governor had promised, there was no one coming.
They were on their own.
The city grew restless and turbulent as the masses began to starve and the desperation of the situation took hold. The elite of Nehvodim was now having to contend with a siege from without and violent dissent from within.
And in truth, it was the problem of the elites - the whole war was. For while the common man had to physically fight the war it was also the common man that the Traazorites had promised to free from the sadistic corruption and heresy the Krai Jan ruling class had committed.
The elites of Nehvodim knew that most of the commoners were not harmed when cities were taken, but the ruling elite was violently purged from among them.
The Mages, accused of consorting with false gods and using magic against the people, were among those who faced annihilation.
Ataral Zordeen gathered Nehvodim’s Cabal of Mages with the purpose of generating ideas that could save the city. The Cabal was silent, unable or unwilling to come up with ideas that could save their city and their lives.
Ataral was crestfallen. Despair had already set in. The Mages had lost hope. Ataral wondered what could be accomplished if the greatest minds of the time could not even save themselves.
Perhaps all was lost.
It was then that one of the younger mages, Armir Karstos, came forward with an incredible story: that he was in possession of an artifact of incredible power. This artifact had been made by none other than Hamal Darzin, Nehvodim’s most famous Mage and first Raznam.
Karstos revealed himself and the line of Mages before him as the keepers of this powerful artifact, and when the nature of the Artifact was revealed, Ataral saw Hamal’s wisdom in hiding it.
Hamal was known as a demonologist, a Mage whose specialty was magic that summoned and bound demons. His studies spawned an entire line of Mages in Nehvodim who had studied demons and made the magic that bound them easier and more practical to use. A bound demon on the streets of Nehvodim was unsettling to some but not an uncommon sight.
What most didn’t know, however, was that Hamal’s obsession was not just demons, but Vazarjekai - what Faelon calls dragons. Ever since the failed experiments of Agarkeen, Hamal and others like him had tried to do what could not be done: to summon and bind one of the nine top predators of Karelon.
Though Hamal had never tried to bring a dragon into Faelon, explained Karstos, he had created an artifact so powerful that every mage tracing their discipline back to Hamal was sure that they could.
He was also sure that at least one similar artifact existed with his brethren at Laz Hihr.
The artifact was called Baravael’s Draw, after the Dragon of Earth, Hamal’s personal obsession.
Karstos and his fellow Mages did not have to say anymore.
Already Ataral’s mind was turning out a plan that if successful, would not only lift the siege of Nehvodim but could turn the tide of the entire war against the Traazorite Usurpers.
Ataral considered the dangers of such a plan and thought about the grisly fate of the infamous Agarkeen and others like him. He thought about it only for a moment, for death was already upon them - what could possibly be worse?