Excerpt from Of Dragons and Seasons, by Head Scholar Lauryn of the Fallen Star Pavilion

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Summer's Warmth was not always the most anticipated of the four Seasons.

There are few alive today that still remember a time when Summer's Warmth was called Summer's Plague. The memories of Summer's Plague are said to start since the creation of the Sun, further evidenced by the fact that "Plague" and "Warmth" share a similar sound in the Old Tongue. It was only six centuries ago when Summer still had its own dragon — DuskWing, who claimed the Black Pyramid as his Lair in the Endless Sands. The legends passed down from this time speak of the Season of fear, anxiety, and suffering shared throughout the land.

But legends do not tell the whole story captured in the records by Scholars from the time. As Flangel the Wise once spoke on the subject: "All know the legend. Few remember the nightmare."

Based on all records, the Plague spread wherever DuskWing flew. Cities feared that dark shadow coiling through the sky, but it was the sheer uncertainty of whether DuskWing's Plague would manifest that caused chaos, for sometimes an animal or traveler would be the carrier. The Plague manifested slowly, a burning fever that sapped the strength and aura of all it infected. The people died of thirst no matter how much water they drank and the bodies needed to be burnt or risk further spread. Those attuned to the healing arts could do little to alleviate the symptoms; most did not try, for fear of contracting the Plague themselves.

In the dry heat of Summer, the cities all prayed to RainBringer for her cooling divine rain, but RainBringer seldom answered. And even if RainBringer did, God Yven had their claim once a patient showed signs of DuskWing's Touch: black streaks all along the body's meridians where aura no longer flowed.

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Though DuskWing did not fly every year, the season of Summer became a time of constant distrust for travelers, for who knew whether someone entering the city carried DuskWing's Plague with them? It was not unheard of for cities thriving after Spring's Blessings to be utterly collapsed by the start of Autumn's Colors, empty shells to be buried by EarthShaker's waking tremors.

It was during this time that the people of the Empire of the Sun implored the Red Emperor to come up with a solution. In response to their pleas, the Red Emperor gathered up the Nine Lords and drafted an expeditionary force to meet DuskWing. Every family within the Empire of the Sun was expected to offer up an individual for the cause.

In the year 806 of the Sun, the Red Emperor and the Nine Lords trapped DuskWing in the Black Pyramid at the beginning of Summer's Plague. Ten days later, of the expeditionary force's one million fighters and ten Titled Ones, only the Red Emperor and six of the Nine Lords returned to Oasis alive. This has resulted in the exact circumstances of the battle with DuskWing being unrecorded, as none of the seven survivors spoke or wrote about their experience.

The Red Emperor's triumph over DuskWing was short-lived. In freeing humans from Summer's Plague, many think the Red Emperor angered Heaven. It is said that this was when the Gods left Creation and closed off the Stairs, charging the Oracle to keep it sealed forever.

The fury of the dragons was far more evident. DawnWing came down from Cold North to claim the dragonless and temperate Winter's Love as her season; with Winter as her Domain, she spread her grief onto the humans who dared to kill her mate. The first decade of her rampage saw the land covered in ice and the Empire of the Sun lost another third of its population in the bitter frost. The Northern Tribes suffered the most, losing two entire Tribes during this time. Soon after, the people took to calling her IceMourne.

And Winter's Sorrow began.