“Thy steed hast been prepared, my lord,” one of the priests announced as he entered the great chamber. “And thine elect are gathered to depart.”

“Excellent.” Timur stood from his throne. “Then we will leave immediately.”

Timur followed the priest to a corner of the chamber where a door opened to a spiral staircase. Together they ascended to the roof of the Temple, where Timur had constructed his stable. Ten tame dragons stood majestically at attention with saddles mounted to their backs.

They are so beautiful, yet terrifying nonetheless.

“You three will head south.” Timur instructed, pointing to several men of the Creed. “And you three will head west. As for the rest of you, follow me north. Keep searching until the setting of the second sun.”

“Yes Master.” All nine of his most elect of the Creed of Nephilim said in unison as they stood at attention next to their dragons.

Timur approached his steed, the largest dragon of the fleet. The dragon leaned his head down and bowed before Timur. They mounted the beasts, and Timur commanded his steed to take flight. The other nine followed in formation and then split toward their separate destinations. They left the walls of the great city behind and a scattering of thousands of scanty tents could be seen below. The camps housed the surviving refugees from multiple wars he had waged over the years against rebellious villages throughout the country. Even from high up in the sky, he could smell their rank odor of feces and decay.

The dragons carried them swiftly beyond the city limits and the surrounding camps. Both suns blazed brilliantly in the sky as Timur admired the desolation of the valley below. The valley quickly gave way to a thick forest that ran all the way to the northern shores of the Land of Enoch.

The tops of the trees flowed beneath them as they flew northward over the dense forest.

At one point, he thought he saw something floating on the Tethys Sea in the distance, but as they got closer, the foreign object glinting on the water had disappeared. After spending half an hour scouring the beach on either end, they found markings of a boat being dragged through the sand. Further into the woods, they found the discarded old rowboat.

I know you’re close. You cannot hide from me, Abner!

Timur flew his dragon high in the air, his eyes scanning the woods for any sign of movement. Close to where they had found the boat was an odd clearing of trees. Swooping over the small pocket devoid of trees, he realized a bit too late that it was a wild dragon’s nest. From the ground, a massive dragon launched into the air in attack.

Having been knocked out of his saddle, Timur flopped heavily onto the ground and felt the crush of several of his vertebrae. The pain would only be temporary, but it was excruciating nonetheless. High in the air, both dragons viciously attacked each other with brutal force, screeching ferociously as they tore at each other’s flesh.

As the green aura surrounded him and began to heal his crushed vertebrae, he felt a sudden, searing pain erupt from his right foot. Forcing himself to raise his head despite the pain, he realized to his horror that he had been dropped smack in the center of the clearing where several baby dragons had awoken from slumber and were ready for their breakfast. One of them had already begun chomping down, and his entire right foot and half of his shin was now missing.

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Timur screamed out in agony as the other three baby dragons proceeded to bite into his flesh. His rage mounted, and his eyes glowed green. In an explosion of light, he incinerated his assailants in an instant. Giant piles of steaming ash lay where the baby dragons had been gathered to eat just moments before.

The aura continued to glow as it healed his fresh wounds. He sat up now that his vertebrae had been corrected, watching in awe as his leg and foot were reconstructed in layers of bone, muscle, and skin. He looked back into the sky to see his dragon suffer a severe blow, and then plummet from the sky. The ground shook as the wounded dragon crashed in a wooded area to the south. His eyes locked with the approaching wild dragon as it screeched in wrath.

Timur scrambled to his feet and held out both arms while drawing powers from the sun. A beam of light blasted from his left fist, knocking the massive beast off course and causing it to crash heavily to his right. Her scaly armor had protected her from the blast, and she screeched as she reared her head. Timur rushed at her with an incinerating blast of heat, knowing fully that it would have little effect.

He wrestled her to the ground and latched onto her face. She jolted backward as if hit with an electric shock. Timur fell to the ground as she reared her head back and roared with contempt. He grabbed her face again, and the dragon stared into his eyes with utter contempt, her nostrils flaring in fury.

“Beast! I command you to be still!” He bore his eyes into hers.

Her muscles relaxed, and she stopped gnashing her teeth. Timur released his grip on her jaw, and she cautiously stood.

Who knew my powers of persuasion would work on beasts too?

***

Timur and his Creed flew high above the thick forest. Having extracted his saddle from his dead steed, he strapped the harness to his newly acquired ‘wild stallion’. The beast was unhappy with the arrangement, but he forced her to comply. She continued to struggle against his command, and he knew it would take weeks, if not months, to tame her.

In the distance, a bell tolled. On the horizon, he recognized a large section of landscape devoid of trees. As they flew closer, the bell increased in volume. He could make out the details of a small village hidden in the middle of the forest.

How could I have overlooked this village?

“Question every villager!” he bellowed to his comrades . “I want Abner found!”

As he swooped down upon the village, people scurried everywhere in panic. Several women screamed in terror.

Timur smirked as they touched down. He always felt a sense of pride when his subjects expressed their fear of him. His mood, however, quickly turned sour. Nobody had remained to welcome their King!

They have no respect for me whatsoever.

“Come hither to greet thy King!” one of his Creed members yelled to the fleeing villagers.

Several of them turned to look their way, but upon recognition of Timur they instead ducked into the surrounding woods. Nobody returned to greet them.

“I repeat,” he bellowed again. “Show respect unto thy King!”

Cowards!

“Your Holiness,” one of the Creed members piped up. “This village is unknown to us. I suspect Abner traveled here to seek these insurgents as allies.”

Traitors!

“Do you mean to tell me this is a village of rebels?!” Timur shrieked.

“It appears so, yes.”

“Kill them!” Timur commanded menacingly. “Kill every last one of them! But if you find Abner, bring him to me so I can kill him myself!”

“As you wish, Your Holiness.”

The Creed members dismounted their beasts and unsheathed their swords.

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