As Asher came to, he could feel a slight headache but nothing like what he felt before he had passed out. Looking around he could see the moss-covered walls and that the bowl of gel was still there, but his eyes went wide when he couldn’t find the massive Red Dragon that had been sitting there just a few moments prior.

Slowly Asher made his way to his feet, scanning the area as he did, trying to see if the beast had just moved to another part of the area or if he was gone for good. As he shifted about his eyes eventually caught the glimpse of a red object in the middle of the blue pool the Dragon once stood. As he got closer, each step creating a sucking sound as the blue blood attaching to his shoes and the stone below as he walked towards the object.

Eventually with a lot of effort Asher reached the object, leaning closer he was able to confirm his suspicions. As he leaned in a blast of heat flew past him causing him to jump back from surprise. Then without hesitation he leaned back in letting the warm air flow past. Slowly Asher reached his hand down, firmly grasping the object below, bringing it up with him he was clearly able to see it.

In his hand was a Dragon Scale, something the aristocrats in the kingdom would pay handsomely for, and something most would even kill for. Snapping back into reality Asher yelped in pain, the dragon scale had begun melting, turning into a lava like liquid and was creating a burning sensation that sent pain pulsating through Asher’s body.

Asher fell to the ground his palm facing the sky and his other hand gripped tightly around his wrist. He looked up trying to see if he had a massive hole in his hand, instead he noticed the bright red liquid had gotten smaller. Seemingly getting absorbed into his hand. Thats when the pain increased, as the liquid got absorbed little by little the pain increased exponentially, causing Asher to scream out louder and more fiercely, if that was even possible.

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As the last little bit seemingly got absorbed, Asher thought it was finally over, that's when it hit him, everything else up to this point now seemed like child's play compared to this. Instead of a pulsating pain like before, this pain radiated from his very soul, causing him to clench his teeth no even able to scream, every muscle in his body had tensed up at this point, tearing and repairing at a rapid rate. Then as the pain reached what Asher could only assume to be the climax, a yell was finally able to escape his throat, but instead what came outshoot the trees, the very ground itself shook underneath Asher.

As Asher’s roar came to an abrupt end he could see the animal life that had previously been absent, all of the animals now stood around him creating a giant circle. Asher immediately jumped up feeling better than he had ever before, all the pain that had once caused him to fall over now disappeared, replaced with warmth and strength.

As Asher prepared himself to run, all the animals began by bowing their heads towards him, some even laying down on their hooves to get their heads lower than his. Asher stood there in complete shock. He had never heard of this many animals being in the same place before, let alone this many doing something like this. Slowly he brought his hand up to his cheek, grabbing a small bit and pinching hard.

“Ow, fuck that hurt,” Asher said as he stopped pinching himself.

“Ok so this isn’t some fever dream, got it.” He said now slowly walking around in the open space the animals hadn’t dare crossed into. Eventually after some time he returned to the center and began wondering what had happened. Thats when he heard the roar from the first night again, he knew it had to belong to the Dragon that had fallen the first night, but this roar wasn’t loud it seemed like it was far away.

Realization hitting Asher faster than any rock, quickly he ran, leaving behind everything but his bow. At top speed Asher should have arrived at the edge of the woods in a few hours, yet now he could see the edge closing in on him after just an hour or so. Thats when he saw it, his village burning as he crossed in, children and women screaming as their flesh melted from their bodies. It was a nightmare, unfolding before Asher with no way for him to stop it.