Wyrm Lord made a single beat, propelling his massive body above the clouds. At this height, most normal humans would choke out, but Wyrm Lord felt himself at home here, basking in the sunlight.

He was flying above the desolated plains, carefully managing his physical might. He learned it since coming of age. The very first moment he came out of the cocoon, he shook the underground tunnels with a single flap of his wings, creating new caverns on the surface and lifting up entire hills. A single, careless flap of his wings nearly took the lives of others.

His vision enabled him to see leagues around himself. Energy was racing across his body, jumping from one golden scale onto another and producing a soothing melody. Occasionally, beams of light emitted from his scales, raining down on raiders and creatures of Ravaged Lands who dared to prey the innocent. Many called him soft hearted. In many ways, they were right. His rage meant the end of entire countries, so Wyrm Lord always kept his temper under control, forcing himself to put up with even the worst kinds of people. But those who dared to test the limits of his mercy soon found themselves reduced to naught but smoldering ashes, flying away in the wind produced by his wings.

He noticed a gang of raiders threatening some traders two kilometers away. Their leader brandished an oversized chainsaw in the direction of a terrified trader. A single laser beam sliced off his head, leaving his headless body to topple. More beams struck the ground, writing "Surrender and live." One of the raiders screamed in panic, grabbing the trader by his neck and pressing a knife to the man’s ear. The raider yelled that if the attacker did not appear, she would kill the elderly man.

Wyrm Lord ended her life with a single beam. Thinned to the size of a needle and fired with incredible precision, the energy beam pierced the woman right through the eye, evaporating the liquid and brain matter behind it. She was dead before her body even reached the ground, and the rest of the bandits fell on their knees, following new writing on the ground. Wyrm Lord directed that they be apprehended by the royal guard, assigned to him by the Dynast, until the soldiers arrived. With luck, some of these fools might rethink their life choices in prison and start anew.

The commander’s eyes spotted a village at the horizon, and the golden wings hit twice, carrying him toward it. To the north of the village, he could see countless ridges and small hills, filled with the ruins of ancient settlements. White clouds gathered above the uneven roads and ruins, an unusual sight in the Ravaged Lands that lacked natural rain. Something else was brewing. Wyrm Lord was unconcerned about this; the Ravaged Lands were rife with natural disasters.

The wyrm turned in the air, partially hidden by the clouds and casting his gigantic shadow on the people below. Even at cloud level, he heard the frightened murmurs of the people and saw them running to their shacks, aiming to hide from the golden horror that he was. The murmurs changed to frightened screams when the tip of his tail showed from within the clouds, followed by the legs that were longer than the entire village. Soon, Wyrm Lord appeared in full view, bringing light from his scales, allowing his inner power over minds to flow, and carrying his message that he wasn't meant to harm any of these people. It was not mind control, at least not fully. He merely gave people a taste of his true intentions.

By the Spirits, what a sorry sight this place was. The buildings were nothing more than shacks, meant to be rebuilt after any serious sandstorm. The populace relied on water coming from the Regulators, in their absence, it was the Soultakers who provided for people here. Anti-heat suits could hardly hide the sore state of malnutrition among the people around here, their main source of income was a small mine to the west of the city.

Two shapes lunged into the air, gracefully beating their wings and approaching their descending commander. Ivar and Scorpio, both looking like children next to him, bowed in the air. Scorpio bowed with true respect, Ivar’s bow reeked of annoyance at the needless procedures. Wyrm Lord spread his wings wide, allowing the dim light coming through the membrane of his wings to cover the captains. The rest of the Reclaimers’ honor guard force had already taken position around the village, twin Seeker-class mechs were keeping watch on a nearby hill while the rest formed a circle around the village. A few parties were sent north to send word when King would come.

A lone man dashed around the outskirts of the village to greet him. Fearful, the man pressed his hands together in a praying gesture and fell to his knees before Wyrm Lord.

The massive, clawed legs landed on the rocky ground, pushing stones and dirt down and leaving footprints that matched his weight. The wind that accompanied the movements of his gigantic body blew up a cowl of anti-heat suit from the man’s head, revealing the wrinkled features of this village elder.

Such ruination. Wyrm Lord sighed, casting his shadow over the man and motioning for him to rise. The elder was barely in his forties, but he looked like someone pushing his eighties with ease. His skin was part crimson, part tanned, with a whole swathe of skin bearing marks of sunburns. The man's receding gray hair barely existed on his head, and Wyrm Lord assumed that other citizens fared no better.

"Pull on your cowl, good man, and please go rest awhile," The commander spoke softly, barely whispering to spare the ears of those around. To the elder’s ears, his words no doubt sounded bombarded and proud, a flaw that was coming with a gigantic body, "Pray not to me, for I am no deity or god, nor do I claim to be one. I am merely a herald of the civilization that will make your life easier."

Ignoring his fuming brother, Wyrm Lord’s eyes traced the retreating man, looking at the ruined shacks and barren roads of the village, noticing a few brand-new water tanks here and there, along with a hastily constructed kitchen nearby. Two medical tents were installed in the village. Scorpio’s handywork no doubt, the captain had a talent for making friends.

In the middle of the village, a new building was constructed, a house with a retractable roof. Through the windows of this building Wyrm Lord saw refreshments and food inside, placed on a long table covered in a white silk cloth. Exquisite silverware lay at the sides of plates, and specially trained military personnel were ready to serve the guests. This was Ivar’s idea of greeting their guests.

They should have evacuated people from here instead…

So much to do. The Ravaged Lands were in horrible condition, far worse than the Wastes. It will take years, decades most likely, to raise them to the level of being at least on par with the Wastes. Wyrm Lord made the decision to make every possible concession to the King in order to give this wicked fool any reasonable position possible in order to avoid full-scale war. The people suffered enough. It was time to heal and live.

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Fine. The eyes are afraid, the hands are working.

"Ivar. Scorpio. "I am displeased," Wyrm Lord finally decided to address the captains. Both of them oversaw this war in his place, as they should. They were all aware that Wyrm Lord was no general. He was, however, their leader, and the time had come to remind them about it, "I had to end five lives on the way here."

"Many apologies, sire," Scorpio said as he lowered himself to the ground and bowed to the commander, "But there wasn't much we could do. This area was stated to be a neutral ground between two parties, limiting our ability to operate here."

"If people here are beholden to the protection of both the Resistance and us, then they should have been treated far better. "This sight disgusts me," Wyrm Lord said, pointing to the village with his jaw, “At the very least, we should have equipped people around here with better anti-heat suits."

"The people were offered proper housing. "Their idiotic refusal to move cannot be blamed on us," Ivar said, standing on four legs and looking up, “Brother. You have arrived too soon. It is unbecoming for someone of your stature to wait for a local madman."

"He is showing off, no doubt. Let the jester feed his vanity; it is of no concern to me," Wyrm Lord turned away from the village, "Endure for the state. Brother, Scorpio. Show our guests a proper greeting. For at the end of this day, all of us will be allies, and everything will be well."

Wyrm Lord furrowed his golden brows as he noticed the clouds above the ruins to the north darkening and resembling storm clouds. Something flashed within the clouds—a blue flare that lasted only a fraction of a second and made no thunderous sound like natural lightning does.

"Drones. At once!" While Scorpio moved in front of Wyrm Lord, Ivar reached for the communicator and spit out the command.

Tiny dots left the forward scouting parties, and several dozen drones were released from the ranks of both infantry and assault vehicles, rising higher and higher toward the swirling clouds above. Wyrm Lord slid the visor of his own massive communicator over his left eye, receiving video feeds directly from machines.

The drones reached the outer side of the clouds, and Wyrm Lord noticed that these clouds looked liquid, like a river of darkness that washed onto the skies and stayed there somehow. The operators sent two drones into the clouds, and contact was immediately lost with them. There was no signal about damage or a report about short-circuits, the video feed was cut immediately when the walls of the cloud washed around the machines. The rest of the drones fired automatic weapons at the cloud, and finally, the massive something in the air responded.

It moved forward, flying past the drones and disabling them the same way that it did with other drones. The clouds formed a wall of night and began to fall to the ground.

"Patrols, retreat immediately!" Scorpio shouted, seeing the direction of the cloud.

The troops tried to follow the order of the black wyrm, the vehicles sped up, opening fire at the darkness falling on them, while the infantry simply ran, keeping order even in the face of this wave. Some of the soldiers stumbled and were helped back to their feet by their comrades, but others saw no way out of the utter void that was about to devour them and formed ranks, firing up to give their allies time to escape. Like a hungry predator, the cloud fell upon the ground, splatting around and covering the entire forward parties.

"King wants to play. Brother, retreat; we'll deal with the situation here," Ivar said as he leapt into the air. He moved his wings and stiffened, "The water… It’s being… Scorpio, get them out there, now!"

Wyrm Lord heard the muffled screams now. It reminded him of the time when he was watching videos about the crimes of cannibals, back in time when it was still his duty to judge the guilty. All the forward parties were equipped with power armor, and all of them were veterans. Ivar purposely did not send anyone overly valuable forward, but neither did he send greenhorns. For them to scream in agony...

The black wyrm extended both arms and said: "Come back."

Mangled pieces of flesh, barely resembling humans, locked in the ruined steel appeared in his palms. One hundred and twenty soldiers, the entire forward party, looked as if someone had skinned them alive. Those who were inside the vehicles shouted in pain, bleeding from countless wounds, while those who were outside at the moment when the cloud struck, had their power armor peeled completely off their bodies. Their exposed bodies had no trace of underarmor or clothes on them, only pale, wet meat and bones were visible. The black wyrm said something, and the wounded disappeared from his giant hands.

The Seekers walkers leaped sixty steps forward, landing in front of the cloud, firing both missiles and assault cannons from their arms. From within the advancing wave of the cloud, a few bubbles appeared, and the front of the cloud extended forward, trying to contain the explosion within. The darkness prevailed, and the cloud speeded up again, catching up with one of the Seeker walkers at the moment when the mech was jumping away. The reactive armor of the machine exploded, pushing away the darkness from itself for a moment before the cloud reformed and began charging again. It looked like the pilot was doomed.

And then the front line of the cloud started falling, covering the ground with dark dots. The Seekers released their malware, the mechs' automatic systems overruled the pilots' input, determining that now was the best time to use a plague of technology, designed to overload the enemy's artificial units.

Nanomachines. Wyrm Lord recognized their adversary's nature right away. They were assaulted by a swarm of sentient nanoswarm. For a brief moment, the cloud shook; an entire mountain range avalanche was stopped in one spot by two gnats before it. Whatever intelligence was controlling this swarm, it found the strength or means to overcome the malware that was injected into its command channel. The cloud moved on, casting darkness upon the Seekers.

"Ivar, Scorpio, evacuate the population and the state’s troops." Wyrm Lord gave the command, stepping forward.

Beams of light struck from him, slicing through the darkness and evaporating the closest swarm to the Seekers. Scorpio used his power once more, teleporting both machines to himself, and Ivar moved his wings, creating water in the village. The soldiers and medic knew what this meant, so they ran toward it, allowing it to cover them all the way to the neck, encasing them in bubbles of water. The villages were scared, hiding in their shacks. Ivar had none of it, the water tore their homes asunder, grabbing people and lifting them in the air.

My soldiers. Wyrm Lord cast a glance toward the injured, whose blood had turned the water bubbles red. By the time they reach safety, by the time the medics will be able to work at them again, they… My people. He felt rage upon seeing how the cloud charged toward the village, running above ruins in their way and dissembling them along the way. When it reaches the village, all will.. King. These are your people. And you doom them to death? King. On this day, you made Ivan Murzaliev, the Golden Child of the Reclaimers, angry. Behold my wrath.

He spread his wings to their full span, no longer carrying to conserve his might. His wings made a beat, sending the entire hurricane into an advancing cloud and tearing the gigantic chunks of stone off the ground. A single unrestricted beat of his wings produced wind strong enough to bring ruin to a city, casting the approaching darkness back toward the horizon, away from the village, smashing some of its parts with stones flying faster than any bullet.

The ground in the distance exploded, and countless torrents of darkness poured into the air, reforming the cloud into an even thicker mass, covering the entire horizon in complete darkness. Even Wyrm Lord himself seemed dwarfed in comparison.

The commander of the Third Army kept walking forward on two legs, his entire body covered in light, as the heat of the Ravaged Lands around him faded and turned cold. He moved on, a star moving toward the darkness of the starless cosmos, feeling no fear. He was filled with rage and a strong desire to keep his people safe. The wyrm wondered if this is how Ravager felt when she met his gigantic father.

"Come out and taste the light." Wyrm Lord called out to the intelligence that directed the swarm, allowing laser beams to pour forward, shooting from each scale on his body. The bout had begun.