It is a time of peace in the Village. Life is good, the hunts are plentiful, the fields are abundant, the water is fresh, the air is pure. No one wants for anything. Sure, there have been contests for leadership, and the fight for masks is still hotly contested, but it is for love of the Tribe that the people compete. The Tribe has always been here. The people have always been here.

But like all good things, the peace is short-lived.

Out hunting for pretty rocks, a younger member of the Tribe spots the strangest thing in the distant sky. It is possibly the largest bird he has ever seen flying languidly high above the desert to the North. The young one drops his stones and runs home shouting to share the news of the giant red and yellow creature. No one has ever seen a bird this big!

Arriving at the Village, he shares what he saw to a skeptical crowd, but soon they too see the spectacle. However, the recent visitors to the Wild Garden know something more. What they see is a serpent-like the fanged beast they fought recently in the garden’s underground grotto. Only this serpent has wings!

The Village begins to panic. Some forgotten knowledge appears in many minds all at once. Then the word comes to a dozen mouths at the same time.

“DRAGON!”

The less stout of heart scatter in all directions. Others, Mask holders and Clan members, reach for their spears and throwers, their bows and arrows. They will not go down without a fight. They brace themselves…

But out of nowhere another dragon appears! This one is colored jet black like the pieces of volcanic rock Spirit Clan claims as their totem.

As the fire-colored beast bears down on the waiting Villagers the black dragon smashes into the other’s side with full claws and the fangs of its broad mouth. Then the Villagers see an even more spectacular sight. The Dragons have riders on their backs! Caped and armored humanoid figures with weapons of war in their gloved hands battle like their scaly mounts, each knight wearing the colors of their reptilian steed.

The riders clash their weapons in close combat while their flying dragons twist and flutter struggling in a fight to the death taking place in the sky. The black dragon rider wields a spiked ball on a gleaming chain which he swings with menace. The rider of the fiery beast brandishes a mean blade of crimson steel. The combat seems to go on for ages while the Villagers stand transfixed below.

But then suddenly it is over. The black rider knocks its red-cloaked opponent from the back of their beast and the dismounted knight falls from the sky. The Villagers watch as one while the knight plummets hundreds of feet to the ground just north of where they all stand. Before they can react, the remaining rider’s dragon mount releases its foe and both beasts turn northward to fly away fast.

Now what remains is the mystery of the descended knight. The race to the body is on!

The run is long and painful. The riders were farther north than it first appeared. The other Villagers fall behind as the hunter sprints faster than their legs have ever carried them. They have no care but to reach the rider. No one has ever beheld such a sight in Village history and to be the first to new knowledge is a sacred thing.

The hunter reaches the body of the grounded dragon rider only to discover the most curious detail yet. The rider is wearing a mask! And it is a mask unlike any ever made in the Village. This is a Dragon Mask.

The hunter bends down to examine the body closer but suddenly it sizzles and melts into liquid like slag in the blacksmith’s fire. Yet the mask remains.

The hunter is now the first bearer of A Dragon Mask!