Sally drove Yerma hard down the main road towards Havar. The city was in sight and the bridge was engulfed in purple flames.

I couldn’t see the lycanid guard who was usually posted there, hopefully he’d gotten to safety. The main road was deserted and I tried to prepare for the worst as I stole myself for as many awful possibilities as I could.

High above Havar the gold eyes red dragon idly flapped its wings as it faced off against a small figure in golden armour that reflected the sun’s rays in a gleaming star of light. I recognised the look; it was the same attire Lucas had worn when he’d come to my rescue on the cliff entrance to the Goblin King Ballroom.

The two stared at each other for a moment and then, without warning, they both fired off powerful, tangible attacks.

A solid white beam of light exploded from Lucas’ chest. At the same time the dragon breathed pure, black fire from its mouth.

The two forces met in the middle and the build-up of power began to grow outwards in a ball until it blocked out even the shining sun above them. The attacks moulded and pulsed against each other forming a sphere that reminded me of a Ying and Yang symbol.

Then it was silent.

I felt wind rush past me from behind as if all the air in the vicinity was being pulled into the epicentre of the mass of pure power that formed above the Adventure Society skyscraper.

I couldn’t hear anything at all. Sound seemed to have vanished from the land. There was no road noise from Yerma, no wind sounds… not even the chirping of birds or my beating heart created noise.

It was as if the ball of melding power was a blackhole, an abyss, consuming everything around it.

Then the noise came back.

It exploded all at once with a powerful crack, followed immediately by a thundering boom which shook the road as small chasms began to form all along the surface.

Sally struggled with the wheel as I was jerked against the jeep’s roll bars and we were in very real danger of being thrown off the road as the earth beneath us split into multiple fissures of cracked stone.

Despite all of that, my gaze was locked firmly on the battle above the city. The sphere of energy exploded outwards in a flash a bright light and simultaneous darkness.

I couldn’t see anything for a few seconds. Then the scene returned, though it had changed drastically.

The skyscraper had been sliced in half and fell, almost in slow motion, towards the centre of the city. Glass shattered and sprinkled down like snow threatening to slice up anyone unfortunate enough to be in the immediate vicinity.

From that height, I wasn’t even sure that the civilian’s wooden homes and stores would save them and I was certain that many lives had been lost in an instant.

The black energy from the dragon’s fire catapulted all around the city and large flames erupted all over the capital. It was as if hell had come up to meet the earth and I could only imagine the carnage and terror the citizens were feeling.

Lucas and the dragon still flew high above Havar facing each other. They stared at each other for a long, silent moment, then a victor was declared as Lucas fell from the sky, crashing into the ground like a meteor.

At that moment, Sally slammed down hard on the brakes and I was nearly thrown from the jeep as we skidded to a halt in front of the burning bridge. We’d made it, but not fast enough.

The catonid warrior vaulted from the vehicle, ripping her armband off.

“Hurry!” She yelled before sprinting over the bridge and into the fray.

I didn’t need telling twice. I jumped out of Yerma and was hot on Sally’s heels as I dodged the sticky, purple flames which spread along the wooden bridge. It was getting pretty rickety and I half expected the planks below my feet to disintegrate at any minute.

Thankfully they held though, as I made it across the bridge and through the entrance archway. I looked around at the sheer devastation. Taylor’s Tailor was demolished, the remnants of her sign fuelling a jet-black flame.

The store itself may as well have never been there. It had all but vanished as the mana-fuelled flames jumped from building to building like a swarm of angry, hot locusts destroying everything in their path.

I felt a twinge in my chest and hoped that the plucky, young catonid had made it out in time. I’d only met her once, but she was kind to me and no one deserved the kind of death that the black fire promised.

“Watch out!” Bell screamed as I was knocked flying to the side.

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I turned back to see what was going on just as the red dragon crashed into the ground, right where I’d been standing a moment earlier.

She’d saved my life. I kind of felt bad for not being sure if I actually liked her or not earlier, but now was not the time for feelings. It was the time for actions.

I jumped to my feet, equipping my bow, and taking aim at the dragon. It looked worse for wear; Lucas had done a number on the flying lizard fuck.

Good job golden boy. I though as I stared up at the haggard beast.

Its scales hung limply on its chest like broken, cracked armour. One of its eyes was missing and the other looked dazed and unfocused. The right wing had a myriad of holes through it and viscera and blood leaked from the broken skin, leaving trails of black gore in its wake.

Surely, weakened this much, even I could finish it.

I didn’t have time to shoot my shot though as Sally flew towards it with a speed that my eyes could scarcely keep up with.

“That’s my sister’s store you bastard!” She howled as her brilliant black sword cleaved into the back of the dragon’s neck.

Her sister? I thought. Wait, does she mean Taylor?

The dragon howled either in pain or rage, I couldn’t quite tell which, as it lifted a claw and batted Sally away.

She flew through the air, disappearing into the smoke. Her sword did not go with her, it was still sticking out of the back of the dragon’s neck.

He didn’t seem too happy about it either as he tried in vain to remove it with his tiny arms. It reminded me of the T-Rex from Meet The Robinsons, but unfortunately, the humour of that was lost on me as I channelled all of my stamina into a single Soul Shot.

Surely, a full powered blast aimed at the weakened chest would do the trick. It couldn’t have had much HP left could it?

There was only one way to find out. I released the bowstring and my arrow soared through the air leaving a strong trace of green energy in its wake as dirt flew from the ground as it passed by.

It collided with the dragon’s exposed chest and sank in, but only to the tip. How powerful was its skin? The exposed chest skin bubbled and the dragon grunted in dismay as it turned its hateful, single eye towards me.

“You again?” I growled in a choking sound, breathing in rasps.

It lifted its claws above me and I dismissed my bow, summoning my daggers and raising them above my head. It was all I had time to do. The only form of defence I could think of in the split second before the dragon ripped me in two.

“Hey ugly!” Jamie shouted from the side, launching a fierce water cannon at the outstretched claw.

The dragon halted, turning its gaze towards the water mage before idly swatting him away like a fly. Jamie flew into the archway which hung over the bridge with a sickening crunch. A smear of blood was left in his wake as his limp body slid down the stone like a slug and dropped limply to the ground.

“Jamie!” I cried involuntarily and the dragon turned back to me.

I saw roaring flames erupt from its back as Bell screamed and fired shot after shot. The dragon ignored them like a man ignores a single bug as he walks down the road.

It grinned maliciously as it took a slow step towards me. I slashed out at it with my daggers but I could barely raise my arms. I’d put all of my stamina into that single shot and my daggers didn’t even scratch the beast with the paltry power I had left.

It lowered its huge head towards me, opening its mouth and revealing rows of sharp, serrated teeth. It was terrifying.

I stood stock still, a deer in the headlights of semi-truck. I couldn’t move my body at all as its hot, putrid breath stung my face and snapped shut.

I closed my eyes.

Nobody would be able to say Kaleb Akabane died a coward. Though that was a small solace in the face of an unfulfilled life. I’d never get to meet my child. I’d never hold my wife again.

I felt something soft slam into me and my eyes snapped open as I staggered to the side waking from my dying thoughts and turning back to see a scene unfold in slow motion.

It was Panda. He had shoulder barged me out of the dragon’s reach. He looked towards me with a grin as the dragon’s teeth snapped closed on his neck.

His body evaporated into silver light and he was no more. However, the image of his smiling face as he’d saved my life was burned into my retina.

He was gone.

My friend… The closest thing to family I had in this godforsaken place.

Gone.

My stomach churned and my vision turned red. I recognised the feeling instantly and I leaned into it.

I had promised Panda that I wouldn’t use this power again. It was dangerous, it could kill me.

I didn’t care.

I felt powerful energy welling up inside of me. My body became a nuclear weapon, armed and ready to devastate everything around me.

I reached out towards the beast who looked stunned as its one remaining eye widened in shock and horror at the puny human with the soul power.

“How?” It asked, stunned. “You’re only a human… not… not even close to the level cap.”

“I am going to destroy you.” I said, interrupting it in a calm and cold voice that I barely recognised as my own. “When I’m done no one will remember you even existed. I will erase you from history, even your own mother won’t remember having such a pathetic, disappointment as a son.”

As I rambled, the dragon’s expression changed. It looked… scared.

Good.

I reached inside of it, seeing a black outline of the beast that had killed my closest friend, and I crushed it with an ethereal hand of inner power.

The hand was a swath of circling green and blue energy and it closed around the startled dragon like it was a mere insect. I felt its soul crunch like bone in my metaphysical hand.

The dragon yelped like a wounded puppy as I squeezed it with all of my might. Somewhere outside of the soul realm I felt my teeth crack as I clenched them, my hands broke and my legs snapped at the femurs.

My entire body was so tense that it couldn’t support the weight of the strain I was putting on it, but though I was aware of it, I felt no pain.

The ball of energy inside my stomach that I’d tried so hard to touch whilst mediating earlier leaked out and snaked along my bones, overtaking my ligaments and threading lines of power into my muscles.

I felt nothing but a primal rage as I squeezed the very life essence out of the terrified dragon.

It screamed a final, piercing death cry as I opened my eyes and saw its scales evaporate into the air. Its white skeleton was all that remained as a veiled blood red essence poured out of the beast and into me.

It must have looked like I’d sucked its soul out of its body like some kind of energy vampire. I felt the power course through me as I stole the last of its life essence which settled neatly into the ball at my core, tinging the blue and green circulating power with a touch of crimson.

“D-dragonborn.” Bell stuttered quietly from somewhere beside me as the world faded to black.