I was dreaming. At first there were only erratic images, chaotic and incohesive as only the subconscious mind is capable of creating. But then my vision cleared, my reasoning returned, and I saw I was in a dream. Before me was a large old man, bent and grey. On the man’s head was a heavy iron crown, weighing down on the man oppressively. The man’s face was downturned as if the crown was too great a burden. The crown rested on long grey tangled hair that flowed around like hanging moss, and the crown was plainly ornamented with an inscription I couldn’t understand. He wore a large purple robe, faded and worn. In his right hand, he held a scepter with a sapphire gem on top, and he used it to support himself. His left hand was empty.

I was puzzled at the sight before me and I wondered who this person might be. Looking around, I saw only blackness surrounding him, a void except the man at the center. I looked back again and noticed he was chained down with foreign characters, and though he struggled, he could not break off the containment. The man was sitting upon a throne of oak and iron, strong and sturdy enough to last for millennia. I was about to question the figure when he started letting let loose a painful moan. It was a dreadful noise, and it shook me, for it was full of pain and despair. Soon, the wail was so intense that I fell down as though struck. I shut my eyes and covered my ears to try to protect myself.

When the sound suddenly stopped, I looked up trembling and was amazed to see a that great and vast city had appeared before me; the old man was gone. I saw that it was made of gold with walls that rose out of the land like a mighty mountain, miles high. The city ran like the ocean; the towers, palaces, and bulwarks were the waves in an endless sea. Even from where I stood I could not comprehend its size, nor its people who worked and toiled inside the city that never ended.  It shone with the glory of the heavens after a refreshing rain, and its brilliance was like that of a star, clear and radiant. In the center of the city, past the many gates and keeps that protected it, was a palace, and it was like a temple. Huge and towering, the palace was practically city unto itself. Its walls had seven layers, each one made with precious stones more valuable than the one before, and the majesty of the temple made me shield my eyes from its brilliance. I wondered at what could ever rival such beauty and power, what alive could compete with this city’s glory and power? But as I lifted my eyes again, I saw a dark and vast shadow in the west.

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The shadow grew and took shape being a great and terrible array of foes, like a many headed dragon, proud and omnipotent, bringing blasts of great heat and frosts of bitter cold. The foe set itself up against the city, and I saw that the previous strong places could not withstand its might and fell. The walls crumbled at the dragon's touch and the keeps and holdings were shred like leaves in 0he wind.The destruction was great, and the proud towers burned and fell while the dragon did as it pleased. I cried out in despair at the destruction of such a beautiful city and wondered what could be done to save it. Who could stand up to such a creature?

Then I heard a clear trumpet, then a thousand more ring out, and I thought at last a righteous host was challenging the dragon. I looked to where the sound came from with hope and saw that it emanated from the temple. I thought that surely the god will save its city! But as I continued to look, the sound turned into a shriek. The sound struck me hard, and the inhabitants of the city fell down and wailed at its cry. The shriek continued and I could not bear its noise, but neither could I look away as suddenly the temple split in two from top to bottom, transforming into the jaws of a wolf and revealing layers of sharp fangs. It was from that maw which the snarling and shrieking sound emanated. I looked on in horror as the remnants of the city itself turned into a ferocious beast, with the temple as its head, the houses its scales, the palaces its limbs, and the towers its claws. It came against the mighty dragon and the roars and bellows alone paralyzed me. The vision shook and the sky was distorted as the two creatures fought in wrath. As the two creatures fought, the last small vestitures of the city where wiped away, and I felt the heat of their blazes come to destroy me as well. They came at me with such terror and power that I flung up my arms before me and I knew that I was to die.