I duck as rocks, tree branches, and dirt fly past the boulder I found, sounds of fighting ringing out behind me combining with horrifying roars. I peek out from behind the boulder, knowing what I'll see but braving the risk anyway.

The Hero and his party are currently in battle with a gigantic undead dragon not 30 meters away, barely fending off it's attacks. This is no ordinary dragon though, it apparently used to be the old Dragon Emperor, and has been summoned back to serve the Spectral Sorcerer somehow. It is a ghostly white, eyes shining yellow, a shadow of His Majesty's former self but still aware and able to remember things such as his old fighting styles and abilities which makes this that much harder of a fight for the Hero. Despite the difficulty, the Hero's party has managed to damage the Dragon Emperor's wing, grounding him at the very least.

The Spectral Dragon Emperor lets off a roar combined with a narrow beam of dragon fire, resembling something of a concentrated stream instead of a wild flame, melting the furry felinial animan Defender's shield the rest of the way through, forcing him to drop it. Immediately the Dragon swipes the now unprotected Defender away, throwing him through a tree not too far away from myself. The Dragon Emperor recoils as the echidna Helper and Hero let off a stream of attacks themselves and the featherfallen Mender goes to find and heal the Defender.

I shrink back down behind the rock and think desperately to myself about what to do now. If I stay here, I'll surely become molten lava shortly. I look back towards the forest only to see the cliff face through the short sections of trees that blocks my escape another 30 meters away. There is no doubt that if I tried to run through the trees, they would be destroyed even faster then the boulder that was hiding me from sight right now. My movement would probably draw the Dragon King's attention as well, and while that might be helpful to the Hero I don't think my molten bones would be too happy for their victory, if my distraction did anything at all. I don't know a whole lot about the Hero or his party except their respective races and positions in the first place.

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I quell my desire to cry, too scared to make a single sound should it bring on the Dragon Emperor's attack. I am just a moderately normal human from the nearby village of Falacia who was out to hunt for Tufted deer for our village's dinner. I brought my magic rifle with me, but it is no match for the thick skin of a spiked boar, much less a fully-scaled dragon. I grasp my rifle tightly and cower as another boom! rings out across the clearing covered in the remains of trees.

Suddenly there is a bright light and strong wind, but instead of traveling outwards, it was pulling branches and dirt inwards towards the center of the clearing. Unable to resist my curiosity, I look back out from behind the boulder once more, putting my rifle on my back to better hold onto the rock. Shielding my eyes a bit, I can see the Hero gathering what appears to be magical energy into his sword. I can barely hear some arguing among the Hero's party above the whistling of the wind, but the light continues to grow brighter and his sword appears to gain a spectral form that grows far beyond the size of what a human could normally hold. The Defender is back now, supported by the Mender, and both are channeling magic into the sword along with the Helper. The light becomes blinding just as the Dragon King begins to fire again and I turn away as the light penetrates even my eyelids.

I cover my ears but despite that the loudest sound I've ever heard unleashes itself, and the area becomes so bright that I can see my bones through my fingers. The air heats up to unbearable temperatures, instantly destroying the bits of my canvas pants hanging out over the edges of the boulder. The heat subsides but then a large burst of air suddenly picks me up from behind the boulder and throws me into the forest at great speed. I open my eyes to see the world upside-down as I fly through the air and that over half of the boulder had melted from the heat. The Hero's party is nowhere to be seen and I can see the massive skeleton of the Dragon Emperor begin to collapse in a broken heap, along with large amounts of dirt, before I tumble through the now-barren forest and hit the cliff wall. My head bangs against it with a sickening crack! and everything goes black.