As Veldor uttered the last sentence of his story, a faint sniffle caught his ear. Mine to be precise—I couldn't hold it in after hearing all of that—the tears were seconds away from being released.

He was such a serious guy and cared for his guildmates so much. At first, I thought it was because he took his role seriously but I learned why. After hearing that story how could I not respect him, he was seriously amazing.

A specific part of Veldor’s story stuck with me, for whatever reason it kept repeating itself at the front of my thoughts. The weight of responsibility—just how heavy was that weight?

“Are you really about to cry?”

Veldor’s gloomy stare returned, it made for a perfect mood-killer and my face dried up quickly from seeing it.

“No—Sniff! It’s just a little sad, what happened to his party. I mean, that has to be every adventurer’s worst nightmare right?”

Veldor turned off and stared out over the tents and his fellow guildmates. We were at a perfect vantage point over them all, able to see all the joy and celebrations alike. Veldor didn’t look like the rest of them, even when he stood amongst them he looked alone.

“I guess it is…”

I could tell he cared about them, even if he was a massive jerk. It was weird to see him like that, the look in his eyes carried a lot of emotions. He usually acted a lot older than he was but in that moment he looked like a kid, he looked no different than me.

I was curious about his admiration for Mister Ed, there had to be a reason for it. Being a fan is one thing, the way Veldor spoke of him it felt as though he was describing a god! There had to be more.

“Veldor you’re—”

A ball of fire—like a small comet—struck the ground just ahead of us, leaving the Hollow shrouded under its smog. The blast created a powerful wave of air that lifted most of the tents and sent everyone into a frenzy of panic.

Whatever it was it came out of nowhere, the ground was hit swiftly like a bolt of fire. Veldor and I were hit back by the impact of the blast and rolled down the hill. Each collision my body made with the ground felt like death, I wished that with each roll and bump it would be the last.

After a painful string of rolling, we both made it to the bottom of the hill, barely able to see what was around us. The guild had gone into defence mode—every flash of light that passed us was another guild member rushing to the fight.

Another blast of fire—this time a lot further away. Another hit the mountain, each one rained down over us harder than the last. It wasn’t long before the source of these flames reared its ugly head.

A shadow spread out over the Hollow, taking shape with both wings stretched out widely. I didn’t need to look around to know that everyone else was looking at the same thing as me. A dragon had appeared above us—a massive one!

“Now that’s what a dragon looks like…” I muttered softly in disbelief.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

A large beast covered in dark blue scales with massive wings for arms and a thick pointed tail that could wipe out a house with a single swat. I made a move and reached for my Chakram out of instinct. My hands froze just over the handle.

What could I have done against….that?

“Rei!”

Arga’s yell brought me back to earth and I turned to her. Alice stood at her side with both eyes glued to the sky. The shadow moved—it was getting closer!

I turned back to the dragon and it had already arrived over us, hovering only just far enough above to not kill us with its weight.

Veldor struck his shield with the mace in his hand and created a powerful tang. I thought he was insane for trying to challenge it, until…

Tang tang tang

The clanking of metal echoed behind the smog. All those noises were people doing exactly as he was, like some sort of signal.

“Rei!!” Arga called again. “They’re here for Alice!” She screamed with a frightened gaze.

Arga forced Alice behind her, keeping her out of sight of the dragon that hovered above us.

She was right, I didn’t have time to space out. I needed to act and I needed to do it fast!

I didn’t have the strength to attempt to fight something like that by myself, even with Veldor and Arga’s help I wasn’t sure if we could even get out of that alive. Arga and I were both in pretty rough shape, it wasn’t worth trying.

A familiar voice resonated through my ears—something I heard before.

The weight of responsibility.

My eyes bounced back between the Dragon, to Arga and Alice. If I wasn’t careful with my decision, it wouldn’t have been just me harmed. I had others I needed to look out for too, I had them to think about.

I raised my arm to the sky, aimed towards the centre of the Hollow—at least, I think so. I summoned my strength for one large skill.

My lips moved, dancing to the words of my skill and a gust of wind was summoned from it.

“Zephyr Burst!”

A large burst of wind broke through the smog and pushed it out against the walls of the Hollow, revealing an army of geared-up adventurers. A sea of shields drew closer as all the guild members turned towards us and ran.

With the smog cleared, there was an open path for them to charge, all they needed was a leader.

A beam of light broke out from amongst the troops and vanished into the air, only to reappear beside me. A large pearly shield stood opposite me, holding it was an armoured mountain. I already felt that pressure once or twice before but seeing it in battle—ready to fight a real enemy—that was something else.

“Thanks for clearing the path, both of you.”

Veldor’s mouth which hung wide open shut immediately and was followed with a quick nod from the support of his entire head. Receiving some praise from his idol must have been euphoric for him.

“I suppose we found our dragon.”

Veldor turned to the beast with confused eyes. “How is this possible, dragon don’t spawn on this floor. It shouldn’t have been able to come here!”

Mister Ed seemed to have been under the same train of thought, he looked worried. Despite the conflicted thoughts he must have had, he didn’t seem interested in backing down.

“Whatever got it here doesn’t matter now, what matters is that it’s here. If it is here for Alice then we need to make sure we keep her safe. FORM DEFENSIVE POSITIONS!”

Under his command, the entire guild fell into their formations. The shielders held their ground and kept their lines tight with not a single gap between them. The spear users and other attackers kept their weapons up—ready for their cue to strike.

“Rei go help your friend Arga, protect Alice! Veldor go with them. All of you, go!”

I wanted to help, he knew I was strong enough to. It must have been my condition, he knew that if I got involved in that fight I wouldn’t have been much help at all.

I couldn't say anything back, I nodded and followed his order. Veldor was bothered by it too but there was no way he’d speak back to his idol. We caught up with Arga and ran off, we needed to reach the caves.

Veldor said it was the only way we could go so that was our best shot at protecting Alice.

As we ran I made one final look back at Mister Ed who stood under the dragon's massive stature. He brought up his shield, ready to dive into action.

“I’m sorry Mister Ed…I promise we'll make it out.”