The world around me spun at a dizzying pace that left me without a sense of direction for a few disorientating minutes. My eyelids refused to open which probably wouldn’t have mattered much since my vision would just be spinning.

“Michael!” I heard the voice call out to me once again. Their voice wasn’t loud which either meant they were too far away or my hearing is damaged. My ears rang loudly which turned everything else into a muffled sound. I guess it was the latter that was the issue.

A strange yet familiar sensation of peace and clarity crept along the corners of my mind while the ground beneath me thudded heavily and suddenly I remembered the dragon looming above me and dousing me in the rancid stench of its breath that cut through any disorientation I felt. It was ready to eat me, grind my bones in its jaw, and swallow the pulp that remained.

The dull throbbing pain that existed there before was still present but not as though it was the first thing to be processed, almost as though this strange serenity was stepping over my pain and slowly walking inwards to the forefront of my consciousness. I didn’t want to question its purpose or its existence for I only wanted to enjoy its existence, its temporary relief of struggling.

And that’s okay, really. I’m just a part of the food chain, aren’t I? That’s okay. If the dragon eats me then it gets energy to live and from that energy it can hunt and keep the prey animal population down. I only drew the short straw, I lost. And that was the cycle of life itself and I am merely a part of it. There was no shame or dishonour or even regret, in fact it felt so simple than ever before; I die so it can live.

FWOOM!

The ground shuddered like an earthquake from the force of a massive explosion going off, despite the thundering boom that I heard and felt through the ground, it didn’t sound as bad as my brain was telling me. I could feel a gentle breeze on my face that made me smile softly.

Hello there, old friend. ‘bout time you showed up.

The calming, graceful presence retreated to the buried depths within my mind where it hid once again until it was needed. The throbbing pain returned to take its place, though not as intense as it was earlier as my senses brought my awareness back. My eyes shot open only to be greeted with staticky low-resolution feed in my vision but at least I was still able to see, even if it was in a reduced capacity.

I began raising my upper body off the ground. Each muscle aching and protesting the entire time, I ignored it and the sudden pop-up in my vision advised me to administer a pain killer. Even in this current situation, the thought of mixing any more painkillers with that combat stimulant I took earlier was not the best course of action. I wasn’t desperate enough to risk the consequences of mixing those, it was bad enough that my head felt like it was in a violently malfunctioning washing machine.

The area around me had dirt and leaves kicked up disturbed by the effects of the spell, then I recalled the sonic boom a second ago and placed a hand on my head, frustrated.

Oh, dammit. Now you work!? You stupid useless spell! Couldn’t have done it before my head got split open!? There better be a pattern to this I’m not seeing or I’ll, uhm, find some way of removing this damn thing!

The recently disturbed dirt and leaf matter slowly settled. The dragon had covered its ears with its front legs, shaking its head in such a way it was trying to shake something off its back or snap itself back to attention after having a sonic boom blast out its ear drums at point-blank range. It reached with one of its claws to the side of its long face and pulled something out. It grumbled as it extracted something I could not yet see between its fingers.

Blood seeped from out of its claws and trickled down its lower jawbone before dripping down onto the ground in a puddle. The puddle of blood was a shade of red brighter than that of a human’s blood. Its lips curled in pain letting out a seething hiss as it worked to free something out from its eye socket before carelessly tossing it in my direction. The extracted object sliced through the air from the dragon's throw and it had traversed the distance between the two of us in the blink of an eye until it was sticking out of the ground and wobbling from the residual momentum it contained. Firmly planted in the ground inches away from me was a bladed weapon. The body of the blade was covered with intricate ornate patterns etched into the metal with a fine golden lining in the hilt of the weapon.

I recognised it from only one person; Ghilya.

Carried by surprising momentum she had lunged forward from out the tree canopy and landed perfectly on the dragon’s head, wasting no time she pulled out two curved blades holstered to her thighs and drove them behind the dragon’s head. It continued to sway its long neck violently in a desperate bid to buck the wood elf off it, then it attempted to roll over before trying to swipe at her with its wings with very little success. Ghilya kept her footing steady and showed no sign of wavering in the slightest.

After reaching for my gun and pulling one more spare magazine out of my bag, taking note of how many I had left before slamming the current one into my weapon. The dragon bucked and bounced in all directions randomly to make it difficult to try and hit it without risking Ghilya’s life like the most aggressive bull I had ever seen. I holstered the weapon away when I realised there was no conceivable way for me to fire without hitting her. Instead, I summoned my blood-stained blade out of my arm once again and hesitantly approached the creature and waited for the moment to strike. Ghilya looked so graceful and calm, her motions were as fluid as the dragon bucked and swayed in all manner of motion in an effort to rid itself of her. The dragon hissed and let out a plume of bright hot fire into the sky before the wood elf pulled the blades out and drove them back down closer to the back of the creature’s skull. This had forced the dragon’s head down to the ground.

She had twisted the blades inside the creature’s vertebrae and it howled in pain. Its upper body spastically twitched and convulsed as it was pressed into the ground by an invisible hand while its rear was still heightened. With the way Ghilya manipulated the blades it had almost seemed as though she were operating them like joysticks controlling the reptilian beast. Its facial muscles began twitching, its lips curled upward to expose its bare fangs.

It was now or never and I had to take my chance to assist.

Each step I took thundered into soft soil beneath me, leaf litter crunched dryly as I put more effort into each step. I got within two metres of its snout, the rancid stench that had been cooked by its breath was pungent but not enough to deter me. After leaping up I brought my arm back and drove it towards the dragon. Before I knew it, my blade pierced it between the eyes and punched its way through its skull. After a few spastic movements left in its extremities, the dragon finally laid still.

Ghilya stepped off its neck and made her way past me to grab her weapon jutting out of the ground. She wore a scowled expression he had seen too many times in his life, the kind a person wore when they tried their best to hide their dissatisfaction at something and try to act emotionless. But it didn’t work for Ghilya, her furrowed brows and scrunched-up nose made her look like a young kid pretending to be really upset at something to prove a point to the adults and instead get laughed at for the face they are making.

I found it kind of cute in a strange way.

Eww, I probably shouldn’t find that cute. She’s not even human to begin with, why would I even say that?

She turned back to face me after pulling her weapon out of the soil and wiped the blade free of blood and soil on her gauntleted forearm before shoving it back in its rightful place. The adorable frowning face she made aimed squarely at me.

“T-thanks-“ I tried to speak before she collided with my shoulder and continued to storm off into the bushes.

“Ghil-Ghilya, wait!” I shouted nervously. If only I had prepared something to say to her when I did find her. I stretched my arm out in an attempt to stop her in her tracks. It had only taken two steps forward before I collapsed onto the ground. My head spun fiercely like I had never before felt, it swayed side to side while my temples throbbed. My vision swinging as though it were on a pendulum and all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball on the ground.

Ghilya turned around to look when she heard me collide with the ground and rushed to my side.

“Michael,” She spoke softly. “you idiot what do you think you are doing getting yourself killed like that?”

It took a bit of effort for me to motion my mouth to form the words until it was a slurred but coherent sentence. “I promise that wasn’t my intention.”

She tsked.

Ghilya clasped her hands and rubbed them together before placing one hand on my chest and the other behind my head. She spoke in some language I had never heard before but felt like I should have. Her eyes glowed with an ethereal blue aura that was as fascinating as it was unnerving. Arcane runes that were no different to the ones on Thomas’s and my arms whenever that stupid spell decided to be useful glowed into existence all over Ghilya with the most prominent ones being on her biceps and another on the side of her neck.

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I felt a warm, calming presence wash over me similar to the experience I got when the Daa’quardo was in effect. Ghilya removed her hands and the glow in her eyes disappeared. She stood up, looking down on me with a hint of concern.

“How do you feel?”

I raised my upper body and to my surprise I felt better, even the static in my optical implants were gone. In fact I felt really good like I hadn’t felt in a long while. She took a step back as I got back on my feet.

“Good, really good.” I said in awe. “How did you do that?”

She waved a hand dismissively, wearing a smirk that bordered along playful cockiness. “Oh you know, just basic medicinal magic, no biggie.”

“No biggie, huh?” I parroted. I placed a hand on the back of my head to feel for any soreness or bleeding and was surprised to find neither. “You just provided me with the ultimate cure for a concussion and a hangover. If I knew how to do that I could make a killing providing people with an instant hangover relief.”

She rolled her eyes as she scoffed and proceeded to walk away.

“What! What did I say!?”

She stopped in her tracks.

“Is it always money or how you can benefit with you?” She sounded annoyed. “Because you, your brother and your idiot leader continue to prove to me just how dishonourable you humans are!”

“Fuck, Ghilya, listen to me: I am sorry.” I pleaded. Trying my best to make my voice as apologetic as possible. In all honesty, I thought that this was bullshit and she was making a mountain out of an anthill but if it will get her back then I was willing to apologise. “Okay? I was not thinking when I tossed that wrapper away and didn’t think much of it at the time and I know how this whole forest is your home and everything and I made a mess in it. So for that, I am sorry.”

I wasn’t certain if it was working because she still had her arms folded against her chestpiece and an unamused expression. What else was I supposed to do, get on my knees and beg?

“So, please Ghilya will you come back with us and help stop this war?”

She didn’t respond. I worried for a moment that I was beginning to sound desperate and that might have put her off but the fact was that I am desperate. The only reason I could tell she heard me at all was that she raised her left eyebrow curiously as though to criticise my begging. Then she finally opened her mouth and said with a voice that was equal part accusation and questioning.

“Give me one good reason.”

“Huh?”

“Give me a reason why I should go back?” She repeated.

“Well for one thing-“

She had cut me off before I could even finish my sentence, her tone was like acid salt being poured on a sensitive wound.

“And don’t you dare say ‘it’s the right thing to do’. I want a genuine reason and not some lame excuse!”

Dammit, she had me in a tight bind. Usually, that should have been a universal, one-size-fits-all answer but I guess she saw that one coming. I let go of the breath I hadn’t noticed I was holding on to and searched deep for an honest genuine answer that would be satisfactory.

“Because if you don’t then Thomas and I won’t make it to The Cauldron. If that doesn’t happen then the only chance we have to stop Xareith’s genocidal campaign will be gone.”

An odd sense of relief washed over me as I began working and weaving my response in my mind. Constantly trying to piece the right answer together by coming up with as close to an accurate prediction as possible. Ghilya looked at me with a softened expression, her arms unfolded and hung down her sides, her eyes opened a bit more in understanding.

“And I don’t know if he will succeed or fail of his own accord,” I continued, my voice croaking. “But I do know this: Once the Alliance of Liberal Nations find out what's going on back home, they will retaliate and they will kill hundreds of thousands of your fellow elves and other creatures. And once the nation of Amaria gets the all-clear they will drop pyro-sonic bombs and obliterate everything and it’ll go on and on until one side has nobody left.”

Initially I had left it there to let my point hang in there to allow Ghilya to think on what I said, in reality, I was breathless and needed time to catch my breath. I worried that she did not find my reasoning convincing enough and that would have left me screwed and out of options.

“Unless that is, you help us stop this before more people lose their lives.” I added.

She stood there and looked thoughtful for a moment as if to consider what was said. I was beginning to doubt she would turn me down and leave us for dead and without a guide in this magically enchanted forest of death, but I made sure to remind myself not to get too optimistic as that option was still very much on the table. Ghilya placed her hands on her hips, sighed, and said. “Alright, I’ll come back.”

I sighed with relief. “Thank you.”

As the two of us started walking back, I looked over to the ruined concrete outpost and asked Ghilya if she knew anything about it. She seemed surprised that I didn’t know about them.

“Over a hundred years ago,” She began. “the human nations built roads and outposts just like that all over the place. Some even close to The Cauldron. Its weird you don’t know anything about them. Perhaps you weren’t looking for that information.”

I shrugged. Maybe she was right and it was something I overlooked. After all our border with the nonhuman lands wasn’t exactly set in stone until the Barrier was constructed. It began to make me think that perhaps we had far more land in the past and we had been pushed back over a long period of time. I could just imagine, as I strolled through the clearing in the forest that there had been a two-lane road where we stood and several buildings lining up the road that had been lost to time and growth of vegetation.

Our pace was not one befitting the sense of urgency our situation called for but it was a lovely leisurely stroll in the calming, noisy, dank forest. Several unique bird calls could be heard off in the distance, hidden by the shady canopies and twining branches that stretched in all directions. Insects chirped and buzzed with a rhythm that added to the orchestral ambience that surrounded us.

I found it oddly relaxing.

As we walked, I began to sift through my memories of the dragon and what to do next time, formulating a better strategy until I came to remember my near death and the deus ex machina that was this ridiculous spell put on us.

“Ghilya there is something I need to ask,” I said. “what do you know about this friggin’ Daa’ crap-o spell put on my brother and I? Why do we have it?”

“Daa’Quardo.” She carefully enunciated.

“Well considering it took its sweet time trying to save me after my head got cracked open I am going to call it ‘shit’ if I feel like it. What do you know about it, because you and this one other dragon back in my city both had terrified, shocked reactions to it and I wanna know what makes us so special.”

She looked surprised at me, though not because of what I had asked, but because I had spoken at all. She looked down at her own feet for a few metres in thought. When she didn’t respond or look at me immediately, I had assumed she had nothing to say to me. I was surprised when she suddenly spoke up in a clear voice a brief second later.

Ghilya raised her eyebrows. “Well first thing would be the name; Daa’Quardo. Literally meaning Dragon Guard, or at least close to it in the dragon’s language. The dragon language is very… structured and specific.”

I turned to face her, raising an eyebrow of my own.

“There are very few people on this world who could even cast such a spell,” She continued. “It requires a lot of magic to summon, place and ensure it doesn’t fizzle out over time. Which means whoever did it is no mere student or amateur. But the fact that you and your brother have it is most unusual.”

I scoffed. “You're telling me.”

Ghilya shook her head, then stepped in front of me, stopping us both in our tracks. “You don’t understand, Michael. I can count on one hand the number of individuals who could even do it. Let alone the ones who actually can do it and they are all dragons.”

“I think I would remember meeting a dragon who waved their fingers at me and said some magical mumbo-jumbo to give me what is essentially glow-in-the-dark tattoos.”

“If you are referring to the runes when they glow then I can promise you they do much more than that.” Ghilya chuckled. “It works by sensing any present danger and acting accordingly. Dragons use it to guard and protect the things that they care deeply about. Sometimes the sight of it powering up is enough to make even the insects cower in fear.”

“Something that Dragons care deeply about,” I repeated. “I don’t think I take too kindly to being in a dragon’s hoard and not knowing about it.”

“Whoa, you can’t say that. Dragons get really frustrated when we say that.” Said Ghilya, eyes widened with shock.

“Well, what would you call it? Because you just said anything they want to protect they put this shithouse spell on it. And I don’t remember meeting a dragon claiming me as their property.”

“Regardless, the fact of the matter is that whatever reason they chose to put it on the two of you is incredibly unusual.”

I thought about that for a second. Opting to focus on when and who had placed it on the two of us and why, what did we have in common out of the billions of other humans? After stepping around Ghilya I resumed our walk back and she swiftly followed. The motion of my legs was enough to keep my mind active on the subject. I began to wonder if maybe the Dragon Lord would know about it, since he is the apex of magical aptitude and would be able to tell us when we meet with him. After raising this point with Ghilya she ran her fingers through her blonde hair and looked up at the canopy above us.

“Maybe,” She said thoughtfully. “I’m sure if you ask nicely the Dragon Lord will find out who casted it and then you can ask them why they would do it.”

Maybe that was all there was to it. Ghilya most likely would not know any more than Thomas or I did and we would just have to figure it out for ourselves. It will be a mystery that will plague my mind as we go on our journey towards The Cauldron. Neither of us spoke after that and we remained silent throughout the rest of the trip back to the river. Every few minutes or so I would turn my head to check on Ghilya to see if she was still standing next to me and had not bailed into the tree branches or wherever whenever I wasn’t paying attention. She had looked as though she too were deep in thought, as if my mystery had infected her and it was a puzzle she wanted to solve.

Both of us had stopped dead in our tracks, an icy chill ran up my spine and a loud voice inside my mind told me to run and hide and keep running even if I was winded and my legs ached. My whole body went cold and I was terrified to know why. Ghilya had the same look of concern, she stared ahead of her with eyes widened in fear and a stiff posture. She didn’t move nor make a sound but she looked as though she was trying her best to remain calm despite her knowing she was failing.

The sound we heard seemed to come from all around us. A damning sound that would haunt my dreams for a very long time. I looked behind to see if we were being stalked, while the path was clear for as far as I could see beyond the dense forest I knew that the chilling presence came from somewhere, hopefully far away that whatever it made didn’t know we were here.

Something called out in a shrill, guttural wail that made the air go cold. The lush aliveness of the forest around us had turned stale, smells that had once smelled sweet and inviting decayed into a malodorous cologne rank with death. Any calm that was to be had in this place was lost. Whatever was capable of producing such a horrible sound had sent shivers up my spine and told some primitive part of my brain a very specific set of commands, mainly to run, hide, and run some more.

My voice wavered and trembled with the same intensity as my hands. “Ghilya, what the fuck was that?”

She kept her gaze affixed ahead of her and made no movements. Then in a voice unnaturally calm for what the situation called for had said. “Don’t worry about it. Just keep walking. If we are lucky we won’t meet it.”

It was her choice of words that I found more disturbing than the sound itself. It was already terrifying enough that for some reason I associated the sound with Death itself and the grimness surrounding it, but her decision to use the word ‘it’ told me that she feared whatever this was.

“Don’t think about it,” She swallowed before continuing. “Let’s just get back to the river.”

While Ghilya was able to restore her appearance to seem as she hadn’t heard that noise, it took me at least another ten minutes of walking to even begin forgetting it and feel the colour coming back to my face. Upon arriving at the pebble beach it was relieving to see Thomas and Clarke sitting down on the log, cradling their weapons close to their chest. They spun around as soon as we got closer, the sound of gravel crunching underfoot giving away our position.

Thomas stood up and watched as Ghilya approached, his mouth hung partially open while his shoulders slumped.

“Glad to have you with us again.” Said Clarke.

Thomas forced a smile. “We would have been screwed if we had to navigate this place by ourself.”

I heard Ghilya chuckle as she placed her hands on her hips. “Well I couldn’t let you two die, this place would swallow you whole.”

I looked over my shoulder and back through the path we walked, the forest no longer felt colourful and alive anymore and something inside me told me I was safe for now.

“After all,“ Ghilya continued. “I want to meet the Dragon Lord too, and I want to see Xareith get his comeuppance. So follow me.”

Ghilya led our expedition once more and walked along the river, gravel crunching under each man’s foot in a discordant, rhythm. My feet refusing to move for a moment, I looked back and felt like I was being watched. Something, somewhere inside the cover of vegetation was stalking along and I was not eager to meet up. Thomas shouted out my name which brought my attention back, I saw he and the other two were already fifteen metres away so I broke into a short jog to catch up. Happy to get away from this place.

I don’t know how much more of this I can take. Hopefully its all going to be alright from here on out.