Susan stepped out of the crater, dragging the unconscious Air Dragon along behind her using her tail. As she finally escaped the cloud of dust that lingered around the blast sight, she looked around for the Magical Girls.

Their brightly colored suits were easy to find in the dust covered landscape, and Susan quickly spotted them standing in a group a half mile from the Earth Dragon. Most of them looked happy for the mess to be over, leaning over and catching their breath.

Elizabeth however was hopping around furiously, to the visible amusement of the others. One of them dressed in a pink bodysuit even turned away to laugh into a closed fist.

Susan began walking over to them with the air dragon in tow. As she did, she looked around, examining what remained of the park.

Yosemite had seen better days, the forests felled, the meadows torn to shreds. Even the mountains lay shattered and scattered over the ground like kicked ant hills.

She finally drew close enough to hear the group's chatter, then grinned.

“I do not piledrive everybody I fight!” Elizabeth shrieked.

“No, of course not,” Susan called, catching the group's attention, “You also suplex them.”

Elizabeth whipped around, looking shocked. Then she began charging over to Susan. A running leap took her high into the air, and she landed on Susan’s nose directly in front of her eyes.

“You have to tell them we don’t fight the same!” Elizabeth demanded.

Susan paused, trying to cross her eyes to focus on Elizabeth while she processed the non sequitur.

“I mean we kinda do?”

Elizabeth huffed at that, and stomped her way to the end of Susan’s nose where she jumped down to the ground. Susan’s eyes followed her, finding that the rest of the magical girls had come to stand in front of her in a ragged semicircle.

“So, you’re Elizabeth’s dragon sister, huh?” Asked the pink suited one who she had seen laughing.

“Yes,” Susan nodded, “And you are?”

“I’m Miura, but you can call me Ranger Rose!” She cried, striking a pose where she crouched down with both arms held out in the air.

“Nice to meet you?” Susan said, silently reeling from the horrifying truth that Elizabeth might be considered normal for their group.

“That was an epic takedown, you do that a lot?” Miura continued, this time with a mischievous lilt in her voice as her helmet turned infinitesimally to glance at Elizabeth.

“Well, no. Not usually,” Susan said, deciding to spare Elizabeth just a little bit, “I kind of freaked out a little when I saw the Air Dragon attacking Elizabeth.”

She looked at the shattered mountainside where she had first tackled the Air Dragon and winced.

“A lot.”

“Say,” A camo colored magical girl spoke up, “I’ve been wondering. If there are Air Dragons and Earth Dragons, what kind of dragon are you supposed to be?”

Susan’s expression froze as she was hit with ‘that question’.

“A fire dragon,” She said, eyes sliding away from the group and back towards the now inviting crevices of the broken mountains.

“Really?” The woman shot back, half incredulously.

“Yep! According to the elemental classification system, I am technically a Fire Dragon!”

That earned her a dry look.

“That’s a hell of a ‘technically,” she heard muttered.

“Everybody,” Abana announced with a clap of her hands, “We have a bigger problem.”

“Oh, right,” Elizabeth nodded, smacking a fist into her open hand, “The evil empire!”

Susan’s head turned to stare at her.

“The. What.” She snapped out.

“Yeah, the… um, what did the Bird Dragon say it was?” Elizabeth looked to Miura for help.

“The ‘Herald of the Shogun of the… Dawn Empire?” The rose suited woman muttered, apparently not sure herself.

“Empire of Dawn,” Abana finished, then looked to Susan, “Since you’ve been off-world relatively recently, I was wondering if you might know anything about it.”

That got her a heavy sigh in response.

“What do you know about travel between the realms?” Susan asked.

“Frustratingly little,” Abana responded, “Most of the Realm Travellers we deal with aren’t the type to chat.”

“Right. Thing is, the only reliable information that spreads between realms is on high profile names. Apocalyptically powerful monsters, demon lords, ah, certain dragons, that sort of thing. I can tell you for certain that there wasn’t any kind of ‘Dawn Empire’ on Themus before the Atlan Empire, but nothing really beyond that.”

“No cross realm empires then?” Abana asked.

Susan’s mouth stopped halfway open as she went to respond.

“Susan?”

“Sorry, did you say cross realm?” Susan blurted out.

“Yes, were you listening?” Abana asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes-no- but- That’s seriously what it said?” Susan asked, half wondering if the woman was joking.

“Yes,” Abana exclaimed, “What’s so crazy about that?”

“A multi-realm empire isn’t possible!” Susan exclaimed.

“Uh,” Abana gave her an odd look, “Yes it is.”

“No, it's not,” Susan said, “To create the permanent connections between realms needed to maintain such an empire, you would need the mana output of entire planets, the whole idea is insane!”

“Susan,” Abana’s voice cut off her rant.

“Yeah?”

“Please take my word for it,” Susan met the woman’s eyes as she spoke. The dark orbs were dead serious, “It’s very much possible.”

Susan sat back on her haunches, head reeling. It wasn’t every day that she had her entire sense of scale for what was possible for magic completely upended.

Just the raw numbers involved were beyond mad. The largest spells the Themians had ever designed were meant to be fueled by multiple dragons at once. The mana output of planets was magnitudes beyond that.

She still wasn't convinced it was even possible, and she had lived with for several centuries with an army’s worth of suicidally inquisitive wizards.

“RUIN,”

A voice boomed, breaking the silence. The word was barely understandable from the distortion caused by the small shockwave that accompanied it.

Susan’s head rose up to see it was the Earth Dragon. It was watching her carefully from where it crouched on the far side of its prison.

“WHAT?” She shouted back to it.

“YOU. ARE. RUIN.”

It rumbled, each word a small explosion that forced it to wait for the shaking earth to settle before it spoke again.

“YES- WAIT,” She continued, “GIVE ME A SECOND, OK?”

With a nod to Abana, the two of them left the other Magical Girls to imprison the Air Dragon, and moved over to the Earth Dragon’s cage.

A claw hurriedly scrawled a rune into the stone below her. It was the same one she had made back when she needed to speak to Elizabeth during their fight, only this time she added a few symbols to transfer control of the runic construct.

A moment later a mechanical voice was echoing through the air, the heavier tone giving it a masculine air.

“Thank you for your consideration,” It began, “My name is Gilleasbuig, a scout of the Imperial Army.”

“Alright Gilleasbuig,” Abana said, stepping up to the very front of the barrier and staring the Earth Dragon in the eye, “What do you want?”

The huge eyes considered her for a moment.

“Mercy.”

“Mercy?” Abana repeated with a frown.

The vast head nodded up and down slowly, before turning toward Susan.

“The Ruin of the Atlans is well known within the Empire of the Dawn. The Shogun’s Herald may be a braggart, but I have duties I must return to. So I ask for clemency for the both of us.”

Abana’s head turned to Susan, who smiled in what she hoped was an innocent way.

“Susan?” She asked.

“Yeah?”

“If I ask around, will your name be turning up as one of those ‘certain dragons’ you mentioned?”

“Uh…” Susan shifted back and forth awkwardly, “Maybe?”

Abana threw both hands in the air and stomped away. Susan looked after her awkwardly, until she returned a few seconds later looking visibly frustrated.

“Okay, before anyone gets any ideas, we’re sending you two right back where you came from!” Abana announced, pointing a finger solidly at the looming bulk of the Dragon.

The thing had the gall to look relieved.

“But,” Abana turned back to it with a glint in her eye, “I do want to hear more about this Empire of Dawn you come from.”

The mouth wide enough to swallow Susan whole turned down at the corners.

“NO.”

The word ripped past them, and Susan heard the startled shouts of the other Magical Girls behind them.

“Apologies,” It rumbled, glaring at Abana, “But you must ask elsewhere for secrets, I have none to give.”

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Abana's mouth furled, but eventually she seemed to accept it and slumped down with a sigh.

“Fine,” She said, “But both of you will be taking oaths not to strike against our world again.”

“We do not speak for the Empire,” Gilleasbuig snapped back, moving closer to Abana’s side of the dome to glare down at her.

“No, personal oaths only,” Abana waved the complaint away, which mollified the Earth Dragon.

“Acceptable,” It answered, settling back down.

Then a roar broke their newly made peace.

“HOW DARE YOU,” The Air Dragon roared behind them.

Susan twisted her head around to see it furiously attacking the sides of the dome that surrounded it. Sparks flew as its talons scraped against the sides and blasts of air thundered around inside, but the conjured walls were durable. Nothing reached the outside.

“WE ARE THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GREATEST EMPIRE THE REALMS HAVE EVER BEHELD,” It was almost screaming now, “THERE SHALL BE NO PEACE IF WE ARE NOT SET FREE!”

A huff of air like a foghorn echoed from within the other cage as the Earth Dragon sighed. Susan saw its huge eyes roll in annoyance at the theatrics.

“Can you shut him up?” Abana yelled to the other Magical Girls.

“HERALD.”

The word from the Earth Dragon made the earth tremble, and made the Air Dragon jump in surprise. Its head turned toward the other dragon, staring at it with a mixture of incredulity and fury.

“LEAD. SCALE.”

The two words from the Earth Dragon ended the Air Dragon’s fury instantly. Its eyes flicked over to Susan, then widened. The beak fell open and hung there, then closed with a snap.

WIthout another word, it walked to the far side of the dome from Susan and settled down.

“The Herald did not recognize you,” Gilleasbuig explained.

“I figured,” Susan deadpanned, trying to ignore the collective stares of the entire troupe of Magical Girls.

The conversation didn’t go anywhere after that. Neither dragon was willing to speak much more. Especially the Air Dragon which spent its time side eyeing Susan, as if waiting for her to attack.

It didn’t take long for the Magical Girls to finish securing them, and within minutes they were ready to banish the dragons back to their home realm.

As Susan watched, both of the glowing domes began to solidify. Then runes formed over them, etching themselves into the walls of the dome with a crackling energy. Once that was finished, the five magical girls began to charge the runes with power.

A minute later the spell had drawn enough power to be completed. The glowing domes flared with light, then vanished, the dragons vanishing with them.

Susan and the others were left staring at the empty wasteland left behind. Ruined trees and shattered peaks filling the land that had once been Yosemite National Park.

“Well it looks like it's time for fixing things,” Abana proclaimed, to a chorus of groans from the other Magical Girls.

So began the lengthy reconstruction process, which Susan decided to stick around for on account of being slightly responsible for just a little bit of the damage.

It actually made for a fun time, chatting with the magical girls as they regrew the forests and returned the mountains to their former glory.

Susan quickly learned the names of the group, and was quite happy to discover that there was another sane team member besides Abana. The older Italian woman named Nora. Who made for a fascinating conversation partner as the oldest active Magical Girl.

The ‘Fantasma’ as she jokingly called herself had been around since the 1930s, and had a small library's worth of stories to share as a result. Though she made sure to mention that the group’s actual titles were Guardians, and not Magical Girl, Ranger, or Superhero like some of the others might claim.

Susan had fun, but eventually the conversation dried out as they all focused more on the restoration. A few hours later she found herself split off from the group refilling the crater caused by her earlier mile high piledrive when a new sound caught her attention. She looked up to spot a helicopter approaching.

It was still distant, just barely peeking over the top of the distant mountains, but it was moving fast and the colorful decal covering it marked it as a News helicopter.

“Susan!” Abana called, waving her over to where she was regrowing a stand of trees with Miura.

“Yeah?” Susan asked as she trotted over.

“Could you leave before the chopper gets here?” Abana asked, “You being here… might make things more complicated.”

Susan frowned at that, “Wait, I thought you guys would have some large scale illusion magic or something. You know, keep the no-magic thing going.”

“Nope,” Abana said, shrugging, “That’s all the BSMP.”

Beside her Miura chuckled, “Yes, they and the MMG are going to be pissed.”

“MMG?”

“The Russian version of the BSMP. They hate each other, but they do pretty much the same thing so they’re kind of interchangeable.”

“Yes, they probably shut down all military or civilian aircraft in the area, but there’s only so much they can do to keep things quiet,” Abana spoke up.

“Right,” Susan said, nodding, before turning away to take off.

“Though, one last thing?” Abana spoke behind her.

“Hm?” Susan looked back to see she had the woman’s full attention.

“Could we talk later? I have something to ask you.”

“Ok, sure,” Susan shrugged, “Today?”

“I don't know, I have a debrief to do,” Abana said, with a grimace.

“Yelling at Daisy, more like,” Miura muttered.

“What? Am I supposed to ignore the fact that she just a little late mentioning certain turtle facts we might have wanted to know?”

Susan turned away as the two’s bickering continued. Getting some distance from them, she crouched down. Then leapt into the air and shot off into the sky.

-

At least the flight back home was short. Susan’s method of jet propulsion allowed her to fly at altitudes that no other dragon could dream of, serving as an effective shield from any prying eyes below.

She approached the outskirts of town in the late morning, the roar of her flight covered by silencing and illusion spells. Her exit that morning hadn’t exactly been subtle, and ticking off the already angry BSMP probably wouldn't be the best idea.

Within a few seconds she was approaching the circular field that surrounded her grandparents house. Then the first problem became apparent.

The front door was halfway across the lawn, broken into two pieces.

Susan sped up, landing on the lawn in a move that buried all four limbs wrist deep into the ground. She was tearing her way free from the turf the next moment, galloping to the door.

Cole was rushing out the door the next second.

“Susan, they got Anne!” He shouted.

Ice ran through her veins as she heard him, and she skidded to a stop. Her claws clenched, tearing four holes in the lawn beneath her.

Anne was in danger? One of her friends?

Her vision narrowed and the muscles surrounding her Dragon Heart flexed dangerously. Around her the air slowly began to warm as a wave of pure fury ran through her veins.

Then a heavily muscled arm reached through the door, grabbed Cole around the collar and yanked him back inside. A moment later Hilda appeared through the doorway, looking worried but much less panicked than the boy.

Susan wasn’t happy for the interruption, but appreciated the second it gave her to reign in her fury. Dragonfire wouldn't be the solution to this problem.

YET.

“Was it the mousekin?” She asked through her teeth.

“No,” Hilda shook her head, “It was half a dozen vampires.”

Susan’s mouth was already open to ask the next question, but stopped when the answer finally processed.

“Vampires?”

“A dozen of them, yes. Attacked about an hour after you left,” Hilda continued, “Broke through Zach’s wards in an instant, covered the whole house in shadows and when it cleared they’d already snatched Anne and run.”

“Is he alright?” Susan asked, a sliver of worry slipping through the floods of rage. Forcibly breaking wards could hurt the mage holding them. Grandpa Zach might be experienced, but that only meant so much.

“He’s sleeping it off, but he’ll be out of commission another day,” Hilda said, and Susan sighed in relief.

“Great, great…” Susan breathed, then turned away.

“What are you doing?” Hilda’s voice stopped her mid step.

Susan’s head twisted back to face her.

“Going to get Anne,” She said.

“Alone?”

“Yes,” Susan said, her voice completely serious for the first time since she’d come to earth.

Hilda met her eyes, and there seemed to be a moment where she finally connected Susan with the tales she had been told about the Ruin of the Atlans. Her mouth twisted, and her lip quivered for a moment.

Then her expression steeled, a fire lit within it that matched the fury roaring within Susan.

“Give the bastards hell for me, yah?”

Susan nodded, and a second later she was shooting away from the yard so fast she left a vapor trail.

The shimmering illusion surrounding the Brick was visible to her even from across town. A twitch of her muscles increased the flow of air running through her upper torso, and she sped up.

Cutting a wide circle around the town to approach the Brick from the back, she flew in low. Her wings barely clearing the treetops as she aimed toward the parking entrance.

She needed to get to the Garage Sale. Rawiyah represented her best chance at getting to Anne in time. Joseph would probably have some plan in place to stop Susan from reaching her, but she would have to bet on the wily old mouse having a backup plan.

As she finally drew near to the Brick, she spotted something out of place.

A figure floating in the sky in front of her. It was a person, dressed in heavy black robes with a cowl that covered his face. Incongruously, he held a wide umbrella, shading himself from the sun. Judging by the heavy clothes, and the umbrella that practically glowed with protective enchantments above his head, the man was a vampire.

He waved to her with a gloved hand, then pointed downward to a small clearing in the forest below them.

It took a moment of wrestling with herself, but Susan finally decided to follow along. She would really rather just let loose with dragonfire, but Anne’s safety took priority so negotiating was unfortunately the way to go.

A twitch of her muscles closed the openings around her body. The airflow now cut off, she dropped like a stone toward the ground below.

Her legs dug furrows in the ground as she skidded to a halt in the clearing. The vampire floated down to land on the other side like an evil Mary Poppins.

Then he lifted the cowl to reveal a familiar face. It was Robert, the vampire that had gate crashed Cole’s hero trial only the night before.

“Funny meeting you here,” Susan boomed, causing a breeze that sent the vampire's clothes ruffling, “I thought you would still be digging yourself out of the crater I left you in.”

His face twisted with rage before smoothing back over.

“Crow all you like, we have your friend,” He snapped.

“You, not the mouskin?”

“Pardon?” He asked.

“I thought you vampires were just playing mercenary in all this.”

He had the guts to laugh.

“Oh no, you misunderstand,” He said, now with a predatory grin, “We have our own stake in the matter.”

Susan’s eyes narrowed, “And what would that be?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yes, dared to hurt one of our own,” Robert said with a confident lilt to his voice that made it quite clear who he was referring to.

“I doubt the other vampires care that much for your smarmy ass,” Susan sneered at him.

“You dare insult one who carries the blood of the greatest of all vamp-”

“SHUT UP!” Susan roared, her rage boiling over, “Shut up and get to the point or I will spread your CONSTITUENT ATOMS ACROSS THE NEXT THOUSAND MILES OF FOREST!”

She ended with a scream that made the trees and earth around them tremble.

A red glow illuminated Robert's face. He looked down to see that her claws had heated to incandescence.

The vampire took a quick step back. His face was drawn thin as he looked up to see the gigantic teeth revealed by snarling lips.

“Y-your friend is in our possession,” he stuttered out, “Comply with our demands and she will remain unharm…”

He trailed off under Susan's glare. She stared for a few seconds as she processed the ultimatum. Then she made herself look away and think it over.

The vampires must have known Robert would get under her skin. They probably even had plans in place for if she killed him. The entire situation was engineered to make her angry, impulsive. It was always easier to manipulate someone if they were angry.

Unfortunately, even thinking things over as carefully as she could, she didn’t see another option.

Complying with the vampires was a bad idea. Susan knew that. She also knew vampires were bastards. The kind that would stab a baby for twenty dollars and a handshake.

They would hurt Anne if she didn’t comply. After a long moment she wrenched her gaze back toward the terrified Robert and spoke.

“So long as Anne remains unharmed, I will comply with your demands.”

A relieved smile bloomed on his face for a moment before he managed to cover it up.

“I only ask that you put on a bit of jewelry,” He said, reaching into his robes and taking out a large stone ring the width of his outstretched hand. It was made of a mottled brown rock, with a warped and pitted appearance as though it had formed naturally rather than having been carved.

He held it out for her to take, the trembling of his hand betraying his nervousness.

Susan stared at it, then sniffed at the magic bleeding off of it. She recognized the spell. It would be dangerous, but she would survive it.

She had to. She wasn’t going to lose another friend today.

One of her trunk sized forelegs moved forward towards the ring. When her claws had almost reached it, she paused.

“Just to keep things clear,” She said.

“Yes?”

“Keep to the spirit of our agreement. This is your only warning.”

He swallowed, but didn’t say anything. Susan let her claw drift forward until it caught the edge of the stone ring. It vanished. A moment later she felt a weight appear around the base of her neck.

Then it began to suck up the mana within her body. Its weight increased, growing heavier and heavier and yet seeming to pull in a direction other than down.

Susan’s teeth grit at the familiar pull of a summoning spell. Before she could even swear, a wave of mana exploded from the ring.

An incredible force pulled her in and out, and she vanished into thin air.

-

Her eyes opened the second the pressure on her ceased. There was only darkness around her, darkness and stale air. It took a second for her eyes to adjust, and she looked around.

She stood in a cavern made of whorled stone, beneath a tall roof filled with drooping stalactites that fell down to the floor to make pillars. They formed a forest of stone around her, so thick that she could barely move more than a hundred yards in any direction.

Within the stone forest stood a horde of vampires, staring in at her like spectators at a carnival. Susan noticed that they stood just far enough back that she couldn't reach them, making the natural cave formation into something like a barred cage.

Turning away from her surroundings, she twisted her neck around so that she could examine the stone ring that now sat around her neck. Even now it continued to draw in her mana, leaving her entirely empty.

A sniff of the magic in the air confirmed her earlier suspicion.

The stone of the cave was magically paired to the ring around her neck. The stolen mana from the ring was being sent into it, then used to keep her trapped within its bounds.

It was simple, and brutally effective.

Turning back to her surroundings with a huff, Susan focused on the vampires. The crowd, perhaps a thousand strong, mostly showed faces of excitement and bloodthirsty anticipation.

A voice broke the silence.

“I bid you welcome, Dragon,” One of the vampires spoke. He stood at the front of the crowd, an easy smile covering his face. He was old, truly ancient, and it showed.

Time had ground away the unnatural beauty of vampirism, crushing his body into a twisted hunch, and warping his skin into a wrinkled nightmare. The smile on his face resembled the snarl of a wild animal more than anything human.

But his eyes were bright and sharp, looking Susan up and down as he analyzed her.

“It has been many years since one of your kind has graced these humble caves,” He rasped out, yellowing canines poking from his desiccated lips, “I am Jaroslav, and I shall be your caretaker during your stay here.”

“I won’t be staying long,” Susan spat, her head moving to the edge of the ring to glare down at him. “Where is Anne?”

Jaroslav smiled, showing only teeth. “You ought to be more concerned for yourself, Dragon. You will not be leaving this cavern alive, after all.”