Celaena receives the following letter from one of her contacts in the Order of the Gauntlet:

To: Celaena Sardothien
From: Bezarcane, Order of the Gauntlet

Celaena, greetings, this is your old friend, Bezarcane. I wanted to pass along a letter that the Order recently received. I believe it to be genuinely written by the true-dragon, Valashinaz. The letter is merely a point of interest, since I know that you and your compatriots slew a young green dragon and, more recently, an adult red.

It is important you understand that these dragons you have killed are simple dragons, basically nothing but overgrown beasts, albeit intelligent and crafty beasts that can speak. But I would ensure that you know the three different types of dragons — simple, true, and Originals.

Is it indeed true that you recently were taken prisoner by a black dragon? Chained in a cavern, then somehow rescued by benefactors unknown and mysterious? You can be sure that dragon, if dragon indeed it was, was not simple. A simple dragon would have simply eaten you outright.

What then, are true-dragons, you ask? A true-dragon is a creature of great age, believed to have come down to us through the millennia. They were, many ages ago, the powerful servitors of The Visitors. Perhaps your elven friend Feyre can explain who they were. Know this: you can discern a simple dragon from a true-dragon by their eyes. Simple beast dragons' eyes may glow red, or yellow. But a true-dragon's eyes are solid black — no iris, all pupil. An inky pool of obsidian the breadth of a silver serving platter.

Only the most experienced heroes armed with the most potent spells and items can stand against a true-dragon. Here is how you survive such an encounter: be obsequious, offer to make yourself a useful servant, and wax poetic about their traits, their might, their accomplishments. Whereas simple dragons prefer to torture and eat us mortals, the true-dragons would rather enjoy us as diversions and poor recounters of their majesty.

"What other type of dragon is there?" I can hear you asking Bezarcane the question. The rarest of all are The Originals. Some sages — and I am one of them — believe there are Seven Originals, the only remnant remaining of those long-ago alien visitors to our planet. Well, I have digressed long enough. Below is a letter the Order of the Gauntlet has received from what we believe is a true-dragon. I wanted you to be in the loop.

The weapons and armor of the various humanoid species are a testament to their cunning and ingenuity, yes, but also a testament to their frailty. Small and weak, with flesh that tears and hearts that burst from exertion, yet they push ever forward.

The greatest of their smiths and engineers forge weapons capable of piercing dragon scales. Their wizards and sorcerers enchant these weapons with spells that can lay low giants.

For every warrior and champion who fails and falls, ten more arise to take up their arms, armor, and cause. Now they rule the world that once belonged to their betters, and those like myself, who guard the secrets of ages, must avoid their notice lest they besiege us with relentless incursions until even we dragons, who are as far above them as they themselves are above insects and house pets, must inevitably fall.

That reality is, in part, why I collect the equipment of those mortal, would-be dragon slayers who uncover the existence of my vault. Of course, this makes me a target for anyone capable of tracing the journeys of the items in my collection—but with each adventurer who fails to take what is mine, my collection becomes ever more valuable to whoever follows after them. Such is the way of things.

One day, some party of mortals whose skills actually match their aspirations will face me in the vaults, and I will fall. Until that day comes, I shall safeguard the treasures that act as testament to both their victories and my own.

—Valashinaz, Mistress of the Vault