This is the story of a god gone mad, and a goddess who kept him contained, a story of an Age.

The god we now know in Arcydea as Donal was once known by another name, by himself, by his followers, and by his fellow gods, as Dlonn. The changing of this name was tied to the changing of his life – beginning a new life, in fact. When he was Dlonn, once he was a new god, a young god, a god who took his responsibilities seriously but was not yet well-versed in the ways of godhood, in what could and could not be done.

He and his fellow godlings had discovered Arcydea, a world pristine and yet unoccupied, and made it their home, heir testbed for creating sentient life to rule over, all in good grace and good fun. But gods are as fickle as the mortals they create. They develop rivalries, and flirtations.

Dlonn was one of these gods who competed for the affections of the goddesses, and as such, when an opportunity to prove his worth came up – a tear in the fabric of Arcydea, one which leaked the unseen from other worlds – he insisted that he was capable of fixing it. He was wrong. Embarrassingly, his attempts to fix a small tear in the fabric of their universe resulted in a permanent hole that has not been sealed yet in over eight thousand years even now that there are three gods whose portfolio includes the void. Some things don't get better, no matter how smart or strong or powerful you are.

But Dlonn took failure poorly… at first, because he felt the sting of his own limitations, of course, but shortly after, the derision of his fellow deities, who would not let it rest that Dlonn had worsened this problem, despite that none of them could do any better, began to wear away at his good nature. The polite barbs and jabs turned into hurtful scars, and slowly resentment began to boil in Dlonn's heart, and he began to turn away from the creatures of this world, and from his fellow gods, seeking comfort by finding those from other dimensions who would show up those who rivalled his interests. Eventually, this resulted in demons from the various hells of the omniverse being released onto Arcydea, creatures as bizarre to life as any could imagine. The festering wound in his heart turned him to violence even against his fellow gods and goddesses. He began to tear at the religions of his rivals, then at them himself, and several gods and goddesses from that time were so completely destroyed that even those who lived then can no longer remember their names, or anything but that they once existed.

There was one, though – a goddess by the name of Alshira, the goddess of dragons. She had a beautiful island for her creations, a paradise… but she knew that Dlonn would come for her as well. So she made a sacrifice. Her dragons, she sent to the corners of the world for their safety, and she waited alone for Dlonn to come. Rather than fight directly, she used her power to ensnare him within the fabric of the world, in a pocket outside of it. Her power bound him there, and two dragons were created, keys to the Seal that she created.

The location of the island was lost for many years, but not forever. Alshira's seal kept the petulant god trapped, but he could still whisper to his followers, and they eventually found the island, and began working to try to break the seal. But the power of a goddess is difficult for mortals to crack. They sought the two dragon keys, and eventually managed to find and corrupt one of them, but both were required to open the way. The other… fell into the possession of a wandering man by the name of Arc Legarro, and became one of his friends and companions within Arcydea. Around these two, others came, brought by the very hole in space that Dlonn had created, and they began to investigate the mystery of Dlonn's forces, and the impact that they had on the gods of old. And eventually, after much strife, they found the other dragon, and freed him from Dlonn's control – and with both dragons found, they began to feel a calling to a strange and distant place. The Island of Alshira, once a dragon's paradise, now the home of cruel mortals seeking to break loose their dark god.

That would not stop this band of immortals, quasi-deities and heroes, though… they fought their way to the source of the call, and they found the seal. The two dragons rested within the hollows of the Seal… and the goddess appeared, once more. The last thing holding Dlonn at bay.

She willed that her power should be taken by Shydi, the goddess of chaos, that with it she might have the strength to match Dlonn, and it was thought then that she was extinguished in so doing, giving of her life and her strength utterly to see her last will done.

The battle with Dlonn was long and difficult, a fight between armies and the gathered forces of the New Pantheon, the final battle of the Second Age. After it was over, the island of Alshira was a desolate rock, and the New Gods decided that it would make an ideal place for them to live, apart from mortals, that they not disturb them so with their growing strength. Eventually, the island also became Arcydea's afterlife, where the souls of the dead went once deceased, and to this day, most people know Alshira as the island home of the gods, more than as the dragon goddess.

But… deities do not depart so easily. Alshira had never intended to defeat Dlonn, and she knew that she would not be able to completely contain him even if she fought with all her might. When she gave her power, she gave the power that had been holding the Seal together. She gave enough strength to bring a lesser goddess to greater godhood. Even the New Gods thought that she was gone, and yet, over time, her shade returned to the island. Vastly weakened in strength, the goddess still lived, in a fashion.

Perhaps it was because the name Alshira has become so ingrained in Arcydean lore that its goddess could never truly die. Perhaps it was all a careful ploy by a wise goddess. Or perhaps some power greater than the known gods was acting on her behalf. People began to remember her, and her creations began to return to the island to honor her, to meet her shade and offer their strength.

Day by day, the ghost of Alshira became less transparent, less ethereal, more able to act on the world. And one day, she was her old self again, the goddess of dragons… and other reptiles and lizards, there are many more of those now than there were in her heyday. She is one of the Old Gods of Arcydea that remains – one willing to give everything up to save her world, and one who is now so interwoven with the fabric of our world that it beggars the imagination that anyone could sunder her power again.