Before light hugged the stars, before the first worlds found breath, there was...The Void.
A dimension that's unseen, unmeasured, a wound in the fabric of existence.
The Void stirred with the whispers of the dead, the cries of the hateful, the screams of those seeking blood, The sighs of those who carried sin into death.
Sometimes it slept. Sometimes it awoke, and when it awoke, it bled.
For over countless ages, those souls fused into pure dark energy, hateful, vengeful and seeking release, causing rifts in space, spilling into other worlds.
Entire worlds sickened when its breath touched them; oceans rotted, skies split, and souls withered. Most worlds were spared, for the Void is patient, seeking a wielder. But for those unlucky planets that drifted too close, they were devoured in silence, their names erased.
Yet from this eternal abyss, forbidden powers were born. Not gifts, not blessings but fragments of corruption. Flames that burn with pride. Shadows that devour with hatred. They sought not peace nor balance, but vessels. Flesh to carry them. And wills to chain.
-Decades ago, a planet drifted too close.
Its surface turned black. Oceans boiled to tar, skies cracked apart, and men and women clutched their chests as their souls withered.
Among the dying, one figure refused to fall. The dark energy caged his body, lashing against his flesh as he fought back in desperation. His arms thrashed, his voice broke.
"Get…off of me!"
But the Void is patient. It whispered into him, twisting what he once believed a gift. His discipline, his dreams, his relentless drive; never blessings. They were chains, dragging him into the abyss.
His knees hit the ground. He coughed blood. Then...silence.
When he rose again, his eyes burned black. The energy no longer fought him, it obeyed. His hands carved the air as his fist clenched, pulling in the drifting souls of the dead. He devoured them one by one, sighing as their screams faded into his veins. Power swelled inside him, intoxicating, unending.
"To…new worlds," he whispered. "I shall go."
The dark energy wrapped around his body, sculpting wings of shadow. With a single ground shattering jump, he launched skyward. Behind him, a trail of black breath stretched across the stars, carrying with it stolen air to feed his cursed lungs.
Thus was born the Black Dragon, destroyer of worlds.