A week would pass. School would continue, and Reese began to remember why so many children feared it. 3 days out of the 6 he had to do pages for the library. If things continued, he’d end up duplicating an entire bookshelf before the end of the year. But today was different, he was able to fend off more demerits!
Now the question arose, where to go. He wanted to head to Emilie’s house, but he had other things to deal with first, Ard. So it was, he marched to the fancy manor not far from his own house.
The inside of the manor remained as ornate as before. The woman from last week was situated in a corner of the foyer, that he missed last time. With a subtle smile and nod she pointed Reese towards the study space adjacent from both of them.
“Welcome”, a familiar voice called from that study space, and Reese moved towards it.
Looking up from some book, the mayor’s wrinkled face grew a few extra crevasses as he forced his signature smile of a man who would sell ice boxes to Eskimos.
“Reese Bronwyn, this is a surprise. How was your first week of class. I hope you paid attention; the village pays quite a bit from our tax pool for that school and Fense.”
Reese couldn’t help but look around and wonder how much of that tax pool went to the manor itself. But hypocrisy was a problem for adults, and for a different day. For now, Emilie came first.
“I like the school, Fense is a great teacher, and we will all learn a lot. I had a question about the class roster actually, and was told you handle that?”
As if sensing where this was going Ard dropped the manufactured smile, “I’m the one who creates the roster of students for the year and gives it to the teacher. What of it?”
“Emilie wasn’t on it. She’s my friend and, I wanted to see how I could get her added.”
The mayor sighed and closed the book in front of him before leaning back in his chair.
“Children attending school is a matter for their parents. Perhaps you should talk to them.” It was clear that Ard just wanted to dismiss him.
“I did. They said they want her to, but you won’t let her.” But he was already prepard.
This wasn’t a conversation the mayor wanted to have. He had more important things to worry about, what those things were escaped his mind, but he was sure they existed.
“This is a matter between Basilara, Venesar, Emilie and the town. It doesn’t concern you, child.”
“I’m a member of this town. Even if I’m not an adult, I will be one day. So will Emilie.”
Ard merely shrugged, “One day you will be an adult but not today, and I have to think of the whole town. Not just one or two of its citizens. Reese, child of Fortus Bronwyn, you were quite brave to come and talk to me today. I admire that. I do hope when you’re older you will continue to think of this village and its citizens.”
Ard was taking Reese more seriously than he had hoped, but still not seriously enough as he both kissed up to him and tried to switch topics.
“I know I’m just a child, and I know you don’t want to treat me seriously, but this isn’t for my sake it’s for Emilies.”
“As I said, it’s a matter for her parents and the town.”
“Can you at least tell me why?”
Ard knew the child wouldn’t leave without something. He could just kick him out, but that risked aggravating his father, and he didn’t want to give that man any more excuses to take more power.
“You’re friends with Emilie, do you know she did?”
“You mean the fire, yes. It was an accident, and she was only 3.”
“For the fire, yes she was only 3, and maybe for that we could have pushed leniency. But then there was the flood which was little more than a year ago and it almost killed her baby brother. It wasn’t one mistake Reese, it was two.” He paused to let it sink in a bit.
“Reese, I do like Emilie. She’s a sweet girl who didn’t mean to cause harm, but she did and she’s dangerous. Frankly the town doesn’t want someone like that to learn ever more damaging and dangerous knowledge.”
Reese wanted to interrupt and tried to say something, but Ard kept going ignoring his attempts to interrupt. Finally, Ard just put a hand up as if to silence his stammering.
“I’m sorry, but no. I will not add her to the roster, until she shows she can be trusted not to cause more damage. And to head off your next question, I don’t know how she will do that. It's something her and her parents need to figure out.”
The two stared at each other for a moment, each waiting for something that wouldn’t come.
Finally, the mayor reopened his book, thus ending the 2-way conversation. “Well, if there’s nothing else I’m quite busy, and I’m sure you have –“
Ding, Dong, Ding, Di-Di-Ding…
Several bells began to ring, loud and chaotic. They meant trouble, really bad trouble by the sounds of it..
The mayor didn’t bother to close the book this time, as he ran outside.
“DRAGON!” was the first shout he heard as Reese accompanied him.
" RAAWWRRRGGG!"
High in the sky a red and purple creature flew overhead, and roared as deep and powerful warning accompanied by fire, before circling a few times.
“Reese I have actual problems to deal with. Go away.” The Mayor ran across the street towards the old keep, and disappeared inside.
Looking up Reese saw the large dragon circle about, and a touch of fear crept over him. It circled twice more before leaving towards the mountains in the west.
Helping Emilie would not be a priority for anyone else right now. To be fair, he wasn’t sure it was for him either. That monster was huge. Across the way, Reese’s mother came from their house and called him back home. He wouldn’t be seeing Emilie at all today, by the looks of it. It felt like there was something else he was forgetting to do too.
Early the next day, Fortus and his squad of young knights and soldiers stood behind his house, not far from the barracks training area. Athena was with them, finally going out into the field again and not just hanging around the keep. After his half sister’s birth Athena was given a small increase in her stipend to pay for a small house just behind the barracks, she hadn’t left the barracks and keep area since her birth. For a moment, Reese wondered who would be watching his half-sister, Mabel.
The town was on alert, people hurried between their homes and their destinations. No one sat outside, out of an abundance of caution. Beyond the soldiers and knights, the town looked mostly empty.
Fire Dragons were not to be taken lightly. A single well prepared and seasoned freelancer or hunter could probably take on a single Fire Dragon and live, but it would not be an easy fight, nor certain. The army that was reading itself was not one person though, so the risks were much less. One, two, even three Fire Dragons should be possible, with few if any casualties. The report Ard shared yesterday supposedly said it would only be a mating pair with maybe a third female. But just in case, they would not take chances.
It was decided that of the 30 soldiers stationed in the village, 20 would head up into the mountains to deal with the dragon. They would take 3 of 4 village ballistae, leaving one behind just in case the dragon did come back or they missed one. The whole operation would take two days, a day to march out then a day to fight and come home. Quick and easy enough, just had to be done.
Reese took notes on the various movements and formations of the soldiers. It looked like his father oversaw all of them and specifically had 5 knights under him to organize the rest, two of which would stay back to lead the soldiers that remained. There were definitely ranks between them, but it was hard to figure out what they all were, beyond his father who was a Knight Commander. Their structure was laid in a book somewhere called “The Order of the Knights”. Reese didn’t have a copy at his house though he suspected there was one in the Old Keep.
Normally this wasn’t something he be interested in, the military had little appeal in his old life, but he found the way they organized themselves was an amusing distraction in his current one. The large weapons they were going to take with them, ballestiea, where also worth studying. They were almost like giant crossbows, but not quite. These were designed to fire large stone shot, though it did look like they have a few massive bolts too. Also, there were some smaller, “Scorpion” engines, like the ballestiea just smaller. They all broke down into small, squarish items, perfectly fit to the side of a horse, land dragon or on a wagon.
As the soldiers packed up the equipment. Fortus slowly headed towards his house, Athenia close behind him as usual. For some reason, Fortus stopped short of his front door and genteelly pushed Athenia back a bit. Reese couldn’t make out the words from where he was, but it didn’t look angry, more cautious.
Fortus entered the house and Reese could hear the conversation start, it was about Mabel his half-sister.
“Lilith, I need to talk to you about Mabel. With Athenia heading up to the nest she needs someone to watch her.” Reese was expecting his mother to say something in response, but there was only silence. He could only imagine what her face must have looked like.
Fortus continued his plight, “Lilith, I know how you feel about Athenia and what we did. Please don’t take it out on Mabel. She needs someone to watch over her and I’m just not sure who-“
Lilith interrupted him, a pang of anger in her voice “Fortus, I don’t blame that child for what you did. I blame you, and like I said I always will… I’ll watch Mabel, it’s not her fault her father can’t keep his vows.”
Like a subtle knife to the heart, Fortus felt that. But it was better than he deserved, and Lilith would always be more than he deserved. He knew both of these things to be true.
It was getting late in the morning, school would start soon. Even with the threat of Dragons, people still went about their lives, just not outside if they could help it. Leaving his room, Reese couldn’t shake the feeling he was forgetting to do something.
Only a few students were outside the school. Of the 31, 15 were present including Reese and his sister Nemi. Fense walked up from Lakeshore Path right as the morning bell sounded. With the doors opened everyone hurried inside, and quickly the doors were shut behind them all.
“Well, this is certainly an interesting second week!” Fense boasted aloud, perhaps trying to show the children that things were fine or would continue as normal.
“I am sorry to see so many students absent today, but I do understand. Dragons are not to be taken lightly.” In his notebook he made several marks, presumably noting the missing students. “Oh well. More homework for them I suppose. Speaking of which, does everyone have their homework?”
Homework. That is what he forgot. Again. Each of the students present walked up to the desk and left a sheet of paper. And again, a few of the notes looked very much like the scrap paper Fense left out. Reese on the other hand, did not join them.
“Reese. Where’s your homework?”
Between all the running around yesterday, and then the dragon the truth was, “I forgot to do it, again.”
With a shake of his head, Fense made some more notes in his book, and a few of the other children made some auditable chuckles. Venginn and Samil in particular were quite loud.
An interesting pair, Venginn and Samil seemed like good friends. Venginn was an elf, with shoulder length blue hair, deep blue eyes and light tan skin. The blue hair was a little rare, but not uncommon in the elves. Samil on the other hand, was mutt of Human, Elf, and Anthro. He looked mostly human, but with pointed ears, hair that was a spotted mix of black, chestnut, white and vitiligo. The saw them selves are star students and scholars.
They treated Reese with a mixture of intrigue and distance. Seeing him perhaps as a rival for the teacher's attention. They were not friends, but maybe one day, they could be.
"Can you believe he sees him self as a scholar, Samil?"
"I thought he wanted to be a mage, Venginn?" Then again, maybe they couldn’t.
The two laughed at their own jokes, only to be shut down by Fense.
"Unless you two want to join him, stop." The wolf then turned his attention to Reese, “Please see me at the end of class Reese.”
Again, more pages. His hand already ached from the thought.
Sensing an opportunity, Fense made today’s lessons focusing on biology, or at least as much as they knew of biology, and of course the first subject was dragons!
“How many of you know the different types of dragons?”
It goes without saying, Reese raised his hand. “Anyone else? Very well. Reese please tell us how many types of dragons there are?”
“There are four major types of dragons. Starting with the friendly Ground Dragons, then you have the Wyverns which can fly and travel in flocks, Fire Dragons which are dangerous but tend to be solitary, and lastly the deadly Ice Dragons, which can be more than twice the size of a Fire Dragon.”
“Very good, nice overview. I’m sure all of you are aware of the Fire Dragon spotted in the area for the past several months. Some may even remember prior years when they’d be seen flying nearby, would anyone like to venture a guess why this time is different?” No one raised their hands, not even Reese who would admit to not being sure.
“No one? Excellent, this will be a good lesson! The Fire Dragon is generally a solitary creature, usually only forming groups during their breeding season which starts in the middle of the summer. Fire Dragons are dangerous, if you attack them or they see you as a threat, but for the most part they avoid humanoids. We’re probably just not worth the trouble. Of course, all that changes during breeding season when they tend to congregate in small groups of 2-3 and become more aggressive and protective of their territory.
Yesterday, when that Fire Dragon flew overhead of the village, it roared. Which is unusual because they only do that when they’re preparing to attack. That it flew off instead of attacking likely means it was meant as a warning to leave its territory. It’s also why the Dragon must now be dealt with.
Gezal, your father is a Knight. Did he tell you what he was expected?”
An older boy perked up, Reese vaguely recognized him via his father who served under his own father. “He told me and my brother not to worry, it was probably 2 or 3 younger dragons. They would set up ballistae without them seeing and take them out before they were even aware they were there. Simple and easy. Even if the Dragons did see them, a few of the soldiers and knights know defensive and offensive spells, so they’ll be fine. They’ll come home victorious, and they'll be fine.” That last part sounded more like the boy was trying to reassure himself.
Fense nodded in approval, a smile on his face as he hoped the students would relax a bit. “Thank you Gezal, so I hope you can all see there’s not much to worry about. Does everyone feel a bit better?”
The class nodded in unison, even Reese who was in the middle of writing more notes.
Fense would continue his lecture on Dragons, switching to ice dragon and Wyverns and ending the day with ground dragons. Homework was to read and summarize one of the short stories on Dragons from the library, and a small list of math problems. Of course, Reese had that and an extra assignment as well.
Over in exile, Emilie continued to study the ice spell, fascinated by it’s difficulty. Reese would join her, after copying several pages on the complex tax disputes of Aggeon and Mixx that arose after their independence.
“I know I’m close Reese, I can feel the ice on the tips of my fingers!” She smiled, turning her white, almost frost bitten finger tips to him.
“Emilie, that looks like it hurts. You should probably take a break.” Almost out of instinct he reached for her fingers to warm them a bit.
He was worried, oddly more worried than her parents seemed to be. But he was also impressed that she had made sense of the spell at all. Her fingers were proof she was making progress, fast progress. Most mages and magicians would take months to learn a spell from a tome, and then sometimes years to fully internalize it. That is, being able to use the spell without the accompanying text and glyph.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
This girl was incredible. One day, she would show everyone here what an asset she really was, and how wrong they all were. He just didn’t know how to help her get there.
The would study together for a while, working on that spell and others before Reese left for the day.
As he walked home, the image of Emilie's hand kept appearing to him, and it worried him. It felt like she was pushing her self too hard. And for what reason? She was the only friend he really had, he didn't want to lose her or see her get hurt.
Evening would come, dinner would be eaten in a quite house without their father. Lilith couldn't help but keep looking at Fortus' seat.
Nemi could see her mother's concern, and perhaps she felt it too. "Dad will be fine. He's strong, mom."
It was the only thing said at the table.
Reese tried to focus on something else. His two little sisters sat next to each other, eating some very soft over cooked roots and beans. Meerlet was quite as always, just watching her younger half sister munch on the vegies. Mabel was more animated, pounding on the table a bit and giggling at how amusing everything was. The two made an odd pair, yet somehow, complemented each other.
The rest of the night would come quick, Reese spent it hold up in his room studying that ice spell again. The inverted fire symbols still seemed confusing for him.
"Dark Fire." He whispered, watching his light stone start to fade as well.
"What is 'dark' and 'light' mana?" He wrote in his notebook, considering the idea before the light stone finally winked out, indicating it was time to sleep. His mind would be occupied by the same reoccurring thoughts. Light and dark; Creation and annihilation.
Day broke, and morning came. By now, Fortus would be battling the dragons. If it was as decisive as Gezal implied, he suspected they’d be done before he could even finish breakfast. No one at the breakfast table seemed bothered by the thought, and Nemi ignored him as she shoved the bread and egg mix into her mouth. The two never talked much, and often would miss each other entirely. Which was probably for the better Reese mused.
A thought crossed his mind as he thought about his. Fortus didn’t like Emilie, but he wanted to keep her out of trouble. So if he could just convince his father that Emilie was safer in school and less likely to accidentally cause mischief it might just work. Of course, then Fortus would have to convince the mayor, those two didn’t like each other but the reduction in the threat could be enough to get them to overcome it. He sketched the idea out in his notebook, something to consider.
After he wrote down the idea, he considered one of the many other recent notes he made recently, "What is 'dark' and 'light' mana?" His thoughts switching tracks he went back to that question. Using the charcoal pencil, he tapped at the paper and made a few new sketches and a “+/-“ symbol next to each concept. It kind of made sense but it also opened the door to other ideas. Positive and negative, like electric charge. Years ago, he got a degree in electrical engineering, he would never say he earned it. That wouldn’t be fair to those who truely did. But, he still remembered much of it. That and his mathematics degree he went back for.
There was so much here that just seemed to glance past the concepts he already knew. They were just different somehow. So many more questions, he could write books just full of them.
His mother interrupted his thought process. “I’m running across the village today. Macston’s father needs some help, it will probably take a few hours. Can I trust you two to clean up before school?”
The two nodded and Reese closed up his book with a different question now on his mind, “Will Mabel and Meerlet be ok?”
“They’ll be fine for a few hours. I mean I left you two alone for a day before and you both turned out ok?” Lilith smirked as she left.
It seemed strange to just leave infants alone for so long. But different times Reese thought. He'd make a note to never do that to his kids. Kids, His mind paused at that thought, as if that concept were itself some forbidden idea. A slap at the back of his head from Nemi brought him out of it.
Cleaning up wasn’t hard, aside from Nemi insisting on directing everything. The plate Reese had cleaned wasn’t done right. The cup he rinsed out wasn’t actually clean. The table still had dust on it. It was frustrating, he wanted to yell at her.
“Nemi, stop criticizing everything I do.”
Nemi huffed in agitation, “Well, I wouldn’t have to if you did it right.”
“What is your problem with me?”
“My problem is that you exist!”
The statement hit Reese and felt like a shock to the core. He knew his sister didn't particularly like him, but to hear kind of hurt. Being an only child in the other life, he actually looked forward to having a large family in this one. To be just flatly rejected by his older sister, and for what reason? He still didn't understand.
Maybe Nemi realized she stepped too far, or just didn't care anymore. Either way she dropped the conversation, “We need to get to school, or we’ll be late. Don't forget your homework again.”
The class was slightly fuller today, 19 students today, still 12 short, but they would probably be back tomorrow. Each student present yesterday turned their homework in today, those who weren’t present, well, there were plenty of books in back to copy instead.
Moving away from biology and history, Fense wanted to focus the day on mathematics. It was curious how he handled such a dynamic classroom full of varying levels of education. Presumably most of the younger students weren’t even aware of what addition was, and yet they would quickly jump into multiplication. Meanwhile the older students would no doubt know more advanced topics, including some trigonometry.
To balance all this, Fense would organize his class into a group of weak to moderately educated children, with the well-educated ones acting as assistants. The idea wasn’t unlike a flipped classroom from Earth, but still slightly different.
Reese found himself in a group of mostly younger children, and it had made him wonder if Fense considered him less educated like them, or more. Either way, this seemed to be a boring lecture for him.
“So, let's start with a quick review of multiplication tables for the youngest who may not have seen it before.” Up at the black board, Fense drew out a 12x12 grid and numbered the outsides 1 thru 12. Where he was going, was obvious. Fense’s ears twitched at something as he tried to focus on the board but began to faulter. “Multiplication is just… like…” the teacher paused and stared out the windows, his voice and face both stone silent.
Before he could get through his first lecture of the day, a bell started ringing in the far distance. Barely auditable to the children, but Fense's sensitive ears could pick up the frantic vibrations from the watch tower at the end of town.
“RAAWWRRRGGG!” The loud yell of something big and heavy overpowered their lesson.
Outside, three dragons began flying into town.
They were angry. Someone had just killed the rest of their flock and smashed their eggs. They were smart, not human smart but dragon smart, and had left the village alone. They could have burned it to cinder, but they didn’t. Instead, they waited and gave them a chance to run. But, the humans, those evil creatures declared war on them, and killed them. Again the dragons roared, there would be blood and ash today.
One of them, the larger of the three, swopped down like a dark angel, no like a demon, and began to light the fields on fire. It was strange if you were watching it the fire wasn’t really fire, it looked and behaved more like mana as it sparkled in the light. Regardless of what it was, its effects were the same as fields of wheat and houses began to burn.
Back in the classroom, Fense pushed the children under their desks, and did everything he could to hide their presence. “Children I know you’re scared I know. It will be ok, but you need to hide right now.”
The building shook as one of the dragons flew overhead again and ignited the fields around the building. That fire would quickly spread. It was already flicking at the roof and walls of the small school house.
A normal fear response would have been to hide, to run to a corner or under a desk. At least crouch low and minimize your height. But Reese had to see it, as he peaked outside the doors, he could see the devastation brought in less than a minute. His mind brought back memories of games, of heroes who would be born from moments like this. Again the largest of the dragons, the behemoth flew overhead for a third time, looking for something to burn, to kill.
The creature born of flame and smoke was unfathomably massive and would dwarfed Reese’s house. The other two were smaller, but still huge. As the flames began to engulf the fields around them, even from just that cracked door he could feel the heat, the burn smell of grass and, other things. This wasn’t a story, this wasn’t a game. People were screaming, and people were dying. This was real.
“REESE! What are you doing get back here!” Fense yelled from the middle of the classroom, most hidden from the windows.
He was right this wasn’t a game, but hiding wasn’t an option either. This building wouldn’t survive a fire. Already smoke was creeping in from one of the corners. The ceiling creaked and groaned as the heat began to stretch and bend the wooden roof. They had to run.
“Fense we need to get to the old keep, it’s made of stone. This building is wood it will burn.”
The wolf’s fur stood on end, even as he tried to project confidence he was scared. But he could smell the smoke. Reese was right, they had to move somewhere safe.
“Ahhh, fuck!” the wolf yelped as he began pushing the children up. This was not going to be easy, nor safe. “Children, everyone knows where the Old Keep is?” A few of the littler ones did not. “Ok those who don’t I want you to grab the hand of someone who does. We’re going to have to move quickly. Can everyone do that?” Fense was terrified, less of his own death and more at the thought of losing one of the children.
More smoke pilled in. They had run out of time and Fense started pushing them out. The children ran in single file one by one, with Fense quickly taking the lead again. He looked back for a moment and saw Reese waiting for, something? He didn’t have time to check on him, he had 18 others to save.
Roar!
All around where the sounds of dragons and fire, this was hell, and they had to travel through it. Looking back Reese could see the fire had already spread to the roof of the school. The old keep was the safest place right now, Reese knew that. It was designed to protect from bandits and wildlife both.
But in his mind, he worried about two things, Emilie and his little sisters. Just outside the school was where the streets crossed in the center of town. Emilie’s house wasn’t far from that intersection. She was closest and he had to see if she was there first.
Running around the corner of the school he crouched low and tried to keep out of sight. There was fire everywhere, and a wall of it ran down Mountain Pass, blocking his path to her house. Through that wall of fire though, he could see her house, and just outside of it Emilie, along with a few other villagers and two soldiers, all likely running for the Keep as well but stopped by the wall of flames.
Barely seeing him from across the wall of fire she cried out to him, “Reese?! I can’t find my parents!” she yelled across the roar of the flames and wind. “I’m scared.” The cries of the other villagers were auditable even over the flames. He had to do something.
Raising his hand, he tried to cast a water bolt spell, he needed it to work to do something. Today would be the day he finally took control of the mana around him, and became a hero, someone useful. Casting a spell, as fast as possible “Water bolt” he yelled to the tiny drops that fell from his hand. Again, “Water bolt” not even a spit on the fire, it evaporated before it could even touch the flames.
Seeing what he was doing, Emilie tried copying him, the bolt of water was massive compared to his. It wasn’t enough but the flames did die back, another one and still further, almost an opening.
“Raawr-grrr” A deep, hate filled growl came from behind Reese as a Dragon flew over them and slammed into the ground causing it to quake. It landed behind Emilie.
It was too much, no one could be prepared for this, the Dragon drew a breath and burned the two villagers closest. The two soldiers ran towards the beast, one knowing just enough magic threw small bolts of fire at it. But that just seemed to piss it off more. As a being with fire magic in its blood, would not succumb to mere fire bolts.
Reese and Emilie both knew she would die here, unless. Fire, Dark Fire. That was the answer, or at least the only one Reese could think of. “Emilie! The Ice Spell! It’s Dark Fire the opposite of Fire!”
She turned back to glare at him in uncertainty what was he talking about?
“Opposite of Fire?” She kind of understood that Fire and Dark Fire were both the same and different, they were the same mana forces, but countered each other. The Dragons were using Fire magic, they had an affinity for it. Did that mean they’d be weak to the Ice Spell to Dark Fire? She didn’t really understand, she didn’t have the time to understand. What she needed was to trust her friend, to trust herself.
Emilie hadn’t cast it successfully yet, but she had to try she had, she had to succeed. For a moment, she closed her eyes and began to recall the glyph she saw in her book. The fire symbols looked weird, inverted somehow. It was complex, but she could still trace each strand, each symbol. In her mind she heard the words, not in human, but in feelings. She could feel it as her hand began to grow cold. It was a fire spell; she knew that from the symbols. But it was cold, that didn’t matter she couldn’t think about that.
Her right hand raised towards the dragon, who was still focused on the two living soldiers still in front of him. She had to be quick, she continued to trace the glyph again in her head, moving to the water symbol as she remember the words in the book, “Cold ice, frozen air I call for you.” A single seed crystal began to form from her hand as conjured water froze.
She felt the mana flow. “Freeze in front, stab ahead, a sword of ice and malice.” But the feeling was different somehow like it was in reverse and flowing into her and not out. She had been fighting it before, trying to push it out, but that was wrong. The sensation grew as she let it flowed the way it wanted and traced the last dark fire symbol in her mind chilling the ice to it’s core. “Pearce them all, stab from the cold heart.” An ice cycle, a foot long and half a foot wide. Her crudely made sword, of mana and ice.
“Ice Bolt.” It flew forward, faster than even the ballistae could throw. She meant to aim for the head but missed. Instead, the bolt ripped through the dragon’s side destroying its wing and tearing its remnants out of its back, along with several pounds of flesh.
Whether it screamed a roar or roared a scream the sound was unlike anything she had ever heard in even her worse nightmares. She froze.
The dragon turned to face the young mage with rage in its eyes. It would kill her for what she just did. Its maw opened wide as a fire spell formed, leaving its neck wide open for the soldiers to attack. The man on the left dug his short sword into its neck, cutting something important. The blood flowed freely as the dragon screamed again, stopping its spell as it’s mouth filled with red essence. The other solider ran under it, using his short sword to slice a length along the dragon’s chest, as a rain of blood coated his armor.
With the last of its life the dragon tried to burn what was around it. Its head coughing red fluids as the flames spilled out with its life. It twitched and moaned, trying desperately to kill something. Anything, but failing. The soldier at it neck was thrown back, while the other quickly ran back around and grabbed Emilie, taking her away from the danger.
Inside the dragon’s chest, it heart could no longer beat right, the blood loss just too great, as it began to fibulae the dragon cursed one last puff of fiery venom before it just stopped.
The solider carrying the child could only look back as the great demon died. “Kid, I think you just saved our lives. Can you put this fire out?”
She nodded and threw another water bolt, opening a path for everyone.
“Reese!” Emilie called back to him as the small crowd ran to the Keep.
Reese wanted to follow them, but he couldn’t. He still needed to get to his sisters.
Just next to the Keep he saw Nemi running into their house, probably with the same though, Mabel, and Meerlet. The last two dragons roared even louder and fiercer than before. For a moment he worried about his mother, but she was on the other side of the village, and likely safer than here. Even if she ran, the center village would be ash before she got here.
Inside the house, it was strangely quiet as the two toddlers slept though the war outside.
In the corner of the house a small fire had already started. He had to stop it.
“Water bolt.” A few tiny drops hit the fire storm in their kitchen, and did nothing. Reese tried again, “Water bolt.” And again, “Water bolt. Water bolt.” Over and over, trying to get something but just not being able to. He just wasn’t strong enough to do anything.
“Reese! Grab Mabel.” Nemi yelled over his pathetic attempts to play hero as she carried a now crying Meerlet.
Of course, she was right, he had to save the children, not play hero. His mind wasn't prepared to process all this, no one's was.
Above them the sound of a large stone shot tore through one of the smaller dragons, ripping its torso in two. It tried roaring but only a rough gurgle came though as it fell and died. Its upper body landing a few feet next to the escaping children as Nemi could only stare in horror. The dragons' lifeless eyes burned into hers, it’s last glaze of hate and spite frozen on her. A moment of panic set in as she thought about dropping Meerlet and running for it.
She couldn’t though, or rather she wouldn’t.
High in the sky the behemoth growled as its last flock mate died. Only a few humans had been killed, and yet all of his flock, his children and mates, his brothers and sister were all dead. He was the oldest of them, the greats of his flock. It had been his responsibility to protect them, and he couldn’t. But he would avenge them, by taking whatever he could. Bellow, near the corpse of his fallen brother, four small humans ran out of one of the human dens. The one stood near the fallen corpse of his brethren holding another small one. Perfect targets.
Reese ran up and tried to push the frozen Nemi forward, only to feel the ground quake, as the dragon slammed into it. Fire spread from its mouth as it roared out a spell of fire and death. It stared down at the young girl, thinking about the black char he was going to transform her into.
“No…” she wined. It was all she could do. All she could think was that should have listened to that whisper behind her telling her to move, to drop her sister and run.
The dragon growled a low guttural sound that shook Reese's rib cage. The dragon was focused on her, on Nemi and his sister just stood there. His stupid, selfish, ignorant sister, who hated him with all her heart, just stood there and watched as the behemoth opened its mouth. Meerlet in her hands, Mabel in his.
Time stopped as Reese’s mind raced faster than it had ever gone before. He wasn’t a hero, he knew that now. He had seen heroes today. He saw Emilie become one. Her magic, she had already saved a lot of lives, and would no doubt save more before the day was done. The soldiers who stayed behind, names he didn’t even know, but should have. They brought down the smaller one, saving untold lives too.
The one spell he kept cast wasn’t even the size of a rain drop, and it didn’t do anything. He couldn’t do anything.
Fear. He still felt it.
Reese knew death, he lived it once before. It didn’t hurt. He remembered that as he stared at his sister, at Nemi. That stupid girl.
But this wasn’t going to be a heart attack, this was fire, and fire burned. It hurt.
He wasn’t a hero.
His legs began to move.
He’d never be a hero.
Faster.
But maybe he could do one thing.
Faster still.
This life would be a waste.
His leg muscles started tearing, they weren’t meant to move like this.
It was his fault again, if he had done more this time maybe it would have been different.
If he had done less and just went to the keep maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
The dragon began to breathe, casting his hell in front of them all.
“NEMI! RUN!” He shouted.
He pushed into her, almost throwing Mabel on top of her. All his momentum, all the energy of his tiny body slammed into her, pushing away. It wasn’t far. She was older than him, and heavier made more so with the two infants, but it was just far enough. If she got up and ran, she could save the three of them. She just needed to run.
It started to get hot. Not even a second had passed. Reese raised his right hand and walked slowly away from them, as it got hotter. Small subtle movements, water, as much as he could gather. This was it; this was all he could do, grabbing the dragon’s attention, it twitched his head just a little bit further towards him, and a tiny bit away from Nemi and his younger sisters. Giving her that tiny bit more of a chance.
The dragon’s massive lizard mind held one thought ‘that if this human wants to die first, he would let it’.
It all gave Nemi just that tiny bit more of a chance as she got up and ran towards the keep. Part of him smiled as she didn’t even look back. It seemed appropriate somehow.
“Water bolt” he whispered; a tiny, tiny drop evaporated before it could even form. The best he could do. At least Nemi wouldn’t have this moment to laugh about in the future.
What a waste. Was all he could think as he saw what was coming.
With a growl the fire mana formed into a storm and slammed into his tiny body.
Heat. Unimaginable heat as he closed his eyes. It burned, and it hurt. He could only imagine anything feeling like this. In his mind, it felt like his skin flaked off, it felt like his fat boiled away, then the nerves in his muscles and bones fried. A fierce wind pushed what was left of his mind back, and he embraced the darkness once more.
The dragon snorted as fire spread around, and boy’s body sat motionless. Watching the flames, the dragon’s eyes sparkled with a hellish light. There was no movement besides the fire.
Satisfied at the carnage, the dragon turned to face Nemi as she continued to run away and began one more spell. Heat flowed from his mouth, as he began to growl. She was close enough, the dragon thought as he ignored everything but her. Mana flowed up from inside of his body, and pooled in his mouth and head, ready to be expelled.
Heat leaked from the maw of the beast, then small subtle flames grew, and then a deep red and sticky mist joined the spell as the dragon’s head began to fall apart. Parts of it’s jaw twisting into bits of bone, sinew, flesh and blood, it’s head began bending at an unnatural angle as cracking bones could be heard. Flames from the incomplete spell burned the twisted mass, and started to melt the stone shot that was currently passing through its head. Molten stone droplets broke through the other side of dragon’s skull and fanned out like a grotesque firework.
The dragon’s body feel to the side, twitched a few more times, and then simply died.
“I GOT HIM! I GOT BOTH OF THE FUCKERS!” The soldier manning the ballistae on top of the old keep screamed. Signaling that was all of them.
Moments would pass, uncountable, but still short.