The Dustriders

[Tyriagris]

A long time ago in the desert of a wide land called "Kanehtu", which means "land, where is no way", two guilds of magicians, the Guild of Fire and the Guild of Storms, battled each other in a fierce, long lasting war, longer than a life can be and longer than the oldest man alive could remember. Because of the high magical pressure gathering all over the world due to all the spells which were cast in this war, the earth began to revolt in a way that no magician would notice: Underneath the dark dusty clouds and the burning sands of the deserts, unseen by any living creature, the earth bred two eggs, both of them equipped with unbelievable powers. The first egg was the egg of a Manticore; a hybrid of lion, scorpion and snake, with wide-spread wings, breathing fire like a dragon and the power to control the ice element. The second was a gryphon's egg, a hybrid, too, partly lion and eagle and with the might to dominate the water element.
After they had hatched and grown, the two brothers combined their powers to convert the edge of the desert where they lived into a wide jungle full of exotic animals and miraculous plants. There they lived until they were old enough to go out in the world and search for renegades of the two magic guilds. Together with others of their species that the earth had grown in the desert, they persuaded the renegades to be their riders and so the three groups of the epic war were ready to fight.
But even the elite of the Dustriders, that's how the magicians, manticores and gryphons called themselves, was not able to stop the war. This story tells the way of a young Dustrider named Vedran who was a student of firemagic and his best friend, the manticore Alvyr. The two friends grew up together in the jungle at the end of the desert, where once a group of magicians had built their own city.

Alvyr spread his dragonlike wings and yawned. The young manticore truly had enough of training his icepower. He had been here for hours now and anyway, he had completed the given tasks about twelve times now! Why couldn't they stop now and let him fly? Alvyr loved flying in a warm afternoon near the desert, the fresh air in his mane and the smell of freedom in the wind. Just as his thoughts were captured by this daydream, Vedran appeared quietly behind the trainer and waited. The man turned and his eyes were open frightenedly. Then he let out a long breath. "Vedran!" he said. "do you really have to do this? Some time, they'll kill you just because of this!" The trainer laughed nervously. He was still scared but he tried hard not to show it. "Well... I think you two want to go out for a flight?", he smiled. "Of course!" The two magicians turned around. Alvyr winced his tail and Vedran eagerly jumped on his back. "Let's go!"
The manticore flew off, passed the city and roared just as they passed the end of the jungle. The firemagician laughed. He always enjoyed flying with the 'mystical' creature and as they were right over the hot sands of the desert, he snapped with his fingers and a high flame broke out of the desert to follow them in their flight. The heat of the fire made the hot sand melt and thus, when the melted sand congealed, a giant crystal monument was created in the wilderness of the desert. It symbolizes the unbreakable magic of the Dustriders and their task to stop the magicians' war.
As soon as the two friends returned, the Dustriders' leader came to fetch them for another battle.
Just one hour later, the best of the Dustriders were ready and the whole city came to watch them take off and disappear in the blue sky.

The Dustriders arrived between the storm- and the fireguild and once more they tried to stop them by using their elements: Fire, ice, water and storm. Today, they succeeded the first time. The first time both guilds withdrawed the area without fighting. But the elements left a long stream full of magical power where a gryphon's feather fell in and the water got enwrought of golden lines. At each point the lines crossed, a new egg accurred, neither a gryphon nor a manticore. This stream was henceforth used to raise new species and the Dustriders grew in number until they were even mightier than both guilds. That was the end of the long war and the fireguild withdrew into the desert while the stormguild magicians began their new life in the high mountains whose summit were always hidden unterneath a huge raincloud.

This is how the crystal monument, the jungle and the magistream were created and the land previously called "Kanehtu" was furtheron named MagiStream, just like the magical river the war has left.

[nightbug08]

Ooh! Lovely!

[Tyriagris]

thanks