One of the most formidable and feared shards was Verak. He was a dwarf with skin as black as obsidian and with eyes that had a lustre of pearl. Usually astride his glass dragon Stanat, Verak was a maelstrom of death to any that faced him.

Verak’s savagery was well documented for he was also a prolific creator of new species himself and set then in battle to prove themselves. This constant butchery saw the creation and destruction of tens of thousands as he bred worse and worse monstrous races to fight for little more than his amusement.

When the Briar came for him they did so with horrendous losses and abandoned any hope of clearing Verak’s island, Leteal, of his creations.

The great beast Stanat wheeled above the fleet a second time and a third of the galleons burst into white hot flame from her breath. Only when the mages caught her unaware with a sudden shift in gravity could they return any semblance of fire unseating the Black. It would still be three days of constant fighting and four hundred more dead before we claimed their work done.

Joseph Lailey – excerpt from ‘The Briar’s March’