Camrynth was an Amethyst dragon, hatched in the depths of the underdark to cruel, drow masters who ritually afflicted him with Shadow. His deep purple scales and crystal encrusted body turned to void with only shimmers of color in the firelight. Despite the pull of Shadow--or maybe because of it, he grew to hate the drow and everything of the underdark. He dreamed of the way his scales might refract the brilliant light of the surface world and grew weary of the darkness. But the Shadow was the tool of the drow, a curse entwined with his soul to make him doubt, hate, despair and fold to the savage will of the dark elves.
After living in distress for decades, Camrynth raised up his strength and broke away from a hunting party and began wandering the caves of the underdark seeking out paths of light. After months of wandering and fighting his shadow, he finally laid eyes on a distant light. Not flickering as firelight, it was bright and purer. His excitement built, his desire so close, he broke through a partially collapsed tunnel entrace, leaping into the sunlight. The roar of pain echoed off the mountains, as he squeezed his eyes shut against the blinding light and recoiled back from the sizzling pain of his Shadow. Unable to see, and the lingering pain of the burns a constant reminder of how the surface had rejected him, he miserably clung to the edge between the surface and the underdark. He couldn't go back to the world he hated, but clearly the surface had no love for him either. For days he fought the despair, his Shadow growing ever closer to consuming him once again. Pearls of purple gems dropped from his blinded eyes he chose to surrender to the light rather than be overcome by his Shadow, and he collapsed at the mouth of the cave in the evening sun.
Just after dusk, a travelling wizard by the name of Athar stumbled across the blind, burned, nearly dead young dragon sprawled in the snow. Thinking quickly, the wizard teleported Camrynth into a Crystal Ball containing a pocket dimension to keep him safe from the elements, and retreated to a workshop where he could properly care for the creature. Athar healed Camrynth's burns, and salved his eyes for weeks until the dragon could see once more.
"Where are we?" Camrynth asked, his eyes coming into focus for the first time since being teleported into the pocket dimension. The walls of the crystal on the inside were usually clear, but the Shadow affliction seemed to be having an effect on the crystal ball. The walls swirled with the same purple shimmering black color that Camrynth was. Athar mused about lairs and dragons, wondering if he was witnessing the creation of a lair. "In a safe place, that is neither in the deep, nor at the surface. In here you cannot be burned, you cannot freeze and you cannot starve. But you will outgrow this place, so it is only a temporary home."
It would take years. Athar would bring Camrynth out at night to stretch, fly and become accustomed to the moonlight which made his scales tingle and his eyes glow brightly. He would return to the crystal before dawn broke each morning. Athar decided to take Camrynth north, to Koljorn where the fables described an abandoned lair. He hoped the long nights of winter would give Camrynth more freedom and a proper lair to protect would give more purpose. They found so much more.
Dragon Throne, long abandoned still had hordes of treasure, touched only by time. Magic tomes, items and wealth beyond imagine. Camrynth convinced Athar to stay (although it didn't take much convincing) and the two spent years crafting magical items, flying over the dark tundra and creating a home the two truly enjoyed.
But Camrynth could never escape his curse. When he wasn't wrestling internally with the anger of his youth, his Shadow seeped into the stone, the water and even the treasure around him and slowly his home began to change. A darkness hovered over the carved mountains that kept the day dark, and day folk away. But the creatures of the night began to creep, taking shelter under darkness and embedding themselves in the carved mountain of Dragon Throne. The halls grew darker and quiet save for the creeping of a spider, the slow and lazy dripping of an ooze, and the silent stare of the basilisk. The encroaching darkness swelled the Shadow in Camrynths soul, causing him to wrestle with it once more.
One day a creature arrived. Camrynth didn't take notice, but it was there. Listening, thinking and bored. It worked like the Shadow, seeping into the things around it, twisting them to its will. And while the Shadow protected Camrynth, Athar had no shadow of his own, no shield against this abomination of time. It twisted in the mind of Athar, making him fearful, forgetful. Camrynth returned to the lair one dawn, refreshed from exploring the night skies. But Athar's twisted mind saw no friend, only a shadow and attacked. Athar used all the might he had to banish the shadow by summoning and weilding a brilliant light. Camrynth retreated, confused until he was cornered. In frustration and agony he roared against the light, unleashing a beam of violet power he had never known himself capable to create. The light faded. All that remained was ash.
Camrynth wept, and lost control of his Shadow. Anything reminding him of Athar was locked away. The golden riches his lair was filled with, he covered with a smokey glazed glass until they no longer shined or reflected light. The inward void manifested outward, He retreated to the highest chambers of his lair, where he settled in the dark, Shadow filling his heart and mind as the things of the underdark crept ever closer.
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