Dragon Dreams Book II: Currents of the World by Rob Garbin

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A scroll of the histories and legends of his world lay open on the desk with several colored glass weights holding it down. Light filtered into the room from the port and a glass prism in the deck above him. As his memories returned, Nigel became accustomed to the motion of the ship and found his way easily to the door.
He opened the door and headed to the stairs that were down the hall to his right. Climbing the stairs, Nigel walked onto the foredeck of the Pillar of the Sky. Some of the crew waved as they saw him come on deck, but deep in his own thoughts, Nigel barely noticed as he moved to the starboard railing. He looked out into the barren wasteland of huge yellow sand dunes, which had once been a living sea. The history of his world was flowing back into his memory like the water they were sent to find.
Millennia ago the world was rich with water. Great oceans filled the gaps between continents and ships plied them without the aid of sorcery. Coastal villages thrived from the trade between the continents and the abundance of the seas. Then the dragon, a giant blue creature unlike anything seen in this world before, with magical powers that dwarfed the sorcerers of the time, came. The monster attacked without provocation. Burning villages, towns, and cities. Wizards used every spell they knew to drive the creature back where it came from, but none worked until the greatest wizards combined their strength. For days they fought the dragon. The land was ripped apart by the flames and the terrible magic possessed by the beast.
Slowly the wizards forced the dragon to the sea. Some of the wizards knew they were not winning and that the beast was retreating of its own accord for an unknown reason. They realized the terrible truth only at the last instant. As the blue demon hung in the air over the rocky shore, a blinding blue-white light formed around the creature. The world's defenders fell sightless to the ground, hands before their faces in a pitiful attempt to protect them. With a thunderous roar, the shining dragon and stunned wizards disappeared into a black starry hole in the sky.
Villagers along the coasts beyond the combat area watched the horrible nature of the dragon's final spell progress before their eyes. As they stared, the waves crashing into the beaches slowed down and began to change from blue to a pale shade of yellow. While winds full of gritty sand blew in their faces, the yellow color streaked away from the coast to consume the ocean all the way to the horizon. Several village leaders walked to the edge of what once was an ocean only to find they were sinking into fine sandy dunes. One leader had ventured out too far and was sucked under by quicksand.
The years to that followed were hard and many people lost the battle against death, but life continued. Soon the remaining wizards, though weakened by the loss of their finest, learned how to bring life back to the land. Summoning water for plants, livestock, and humans had been the first task.