They say there is a beast.

A beast that sleeps through fire and thunder,

that feasts on the poison of this world,

and breaths death instead of life.

There is a beast that wakes with chaos,

and rips the land with every step.

A beast born of gods,

dressed with a shimmering coat,

with eyes that see only midnight.

A beast as immortal as its legendary name.

Gorgonzola.

"What?" Maddison cut in, squishing his brow at Endris. "Gorgonzola?"

She gave the paper a double take, her head gradually tilting as she read the quest over and over. "Oh... Did I write that?" She frowned. "Gosh, I keep forgetting its name..."

"Gorgonzola," Maddison snorted, tossing his hands up. "Let's hope the second terrifying beast Crackers isn't in that cave as well. We'd have our hands full."

Endris sighed.

Sajus burst into laughter, prickling every hair dwelling on the nape of Maddison's neck.

"This questline has some pretty stupid names. I hope the next zone has a better plotline."

Maddison and Endris paid the boy confused squints, their lips pursed as he continued to obliviously smile and follow them. Every statement of his was stranger than the last, his incessant humming and bouncing energy whittling away at their trust with every passing minute. Something had dragged the silent and dead eyed child from his trance, and pulled him into the light of an even stranger curse. Maddison could have sworn his cheeks had gotten a little fuller since last he saw him, the child now looking strangely healthy.

It was certain that there was still a spell over the child's mind.

But there was only one goal in Maddison's mind. After his fumble with Maynard, he had personally sworn to himself to keep his guard up until he had the sorcerer's head in a bag. If that meant treating a bright eyed child like a backstabbing murderer, then he wouldn't be one to shy away. He could immobilize an entire horde of Sajuses, broadsword and all, that wouldn't be a problem. The problem was keeping a little boy alive as they faced whatever the cursed parchment was sending them off to kill.

The Gorgonzola.

Madisson snorted. He could have sworn the villagers had been calling it something else, but the name had escaped him too.

The trio had been submerged in a small patch of forestry for some time now, walking a trail of trampled twigs and leaves fenced by thick patches of thorny bushes and mossy trees. They hadn't looked for directions since entering the strange setting, simply because their trail never forked nor swerved from a straight driven route.

It was made with one location in mind, and as Maddison saw the rugged scalp of a charcoal grey stone, his brisk pace quickened. The stone stretched and rose, its kin stacking below and beside it, buried in the viny mounds of shrubs and dried leaves. A black spot was its mouth, vines and roots dangling from its hard teeth and twining through the cracks of age. And at the foot of its mouth, a scorched halo had killed the greenery.

"There," Endris said, her whisper now shaking with some fear at the setting. "It's in there."

Maddison held his gaze on the black mouth, the shadows thick enough to conceal its contents from their angle. "Be quiet." He muttered, holding his open palm out to keep Endris a couple feet back while they carefully skipped over the crunching leaves and rustling branches.

Something was in that cave, and from the gnawing sensation burning Maddison's gut, Bervolt had gone through warped lengths to make their fabled beast a reality. It wasn't just a sensation of predatory danger that had Maddison's hesitation on standby, he could already hear it breathing.

Soft scrapes tuned to the wind that travelled through the trees, a seldom whistle of clogged air betraying its disguise.

Whatever slept in that cave was massive.

"God, why are we walking?" Sajus said, his leveled voice counting for a scream and a half to the silence Maddison had desired. "You do know we can run, right?"

Before Maddison could make a move on the nimble boy, he'd ducked between the two adults and darted off. A crunching bomb siren to the slumbering beast, that made a dash towards the shadowed cave with his glistening broadsword bouncing loosely on his back like a schoolbag. As much as a hellsent beast school was however, Sajus was about to meet something far worse.

"Wait!" Maddison barked, their gazes meeting as Sajus halted at the entrance.

For a split second he saw everything. Youthful ignorance lit by excitement as Sajus' eyes twinkled, then a surge of panic as he looked back at the sounds coming from the cave and his face contorted. Pale eyes meeting the creature bathed in black as it unleashed a blood curdling howl. Maddison had to cover his ears as the cry stabbed into them, his fight or flight favouring the second option and screaming for him to make himself scarce.

For a split second, Sajus was okay.

But the clock ticked in cruel silence as a scaled arm shot out, slamming the small child with full force and throwing him into the trees.

Endris choked out a gasp, Sajus' limp form tangled in the stabbing embrace of a bush, with his stomach slumped over a smaller rock.

He was out cold.

That's what Maddison hoped.

Another howl shook the forest, silencing the singing birds as the wind died. The beast had awoken, its dull coat of scales folding and sagging on a fattened arm as it dug six black talons into the dirt.

With a dry and heaving breath another arm pulled out, dragging the beaten body of an oversized lizard into view.

Maddison froze, his body numbed with terror at the creature squeezing out of the cave. Its horns scraped the room of the large rock formation, as a set of massive wings squeezed out with the rest of its body.

A dragon.

The initial terror stilled as he fought to control his racing heart. Finding an enemy's weakness had always proved to calm him in these situations, and as his gaze undressed the creatures every flaw, disgust pitted itself in his stomach.

It was a dragon, but it wasn't the type that struck fear into the hearts of adventurers. Instead of a noble monster with shimmering scales and steeled muscles, the beautiful creature was a dirty rag of its expectations.

Starved and beaten, the beast sauntered about with a severe limp. Caked in crusts of blood and uncleaned wounds that split and glowed a bright crimson as it painfully moved about. A thick chain had rubbed the scales off it's right leg, layered with gouge marks as if the creature had attempted to chew the limb off multiple times. But more disturbing than the regular wounds of torture, and the scorch marks eating holes through the webbings of its wings, the dragons eyes were empty sockets filled with rotting flesh and thick roping stitch marks.

It wasn't a fight to face the creature. Victory could never come from its death, only mercy.

Endris didn't see past the red in her eyes, flushed with rage as she ripped her sword from its sheath. "You monster!" she roared, sword raised as she rushed the creature, only to be quickly stopped when she was forced to dive from a jet of hissing flames.

Maddison pulled Endris back as the beast cried, deftly dragging her away from the last spike of noise before the dragon leapt at it with a flurry of manic claws. With every step and pounce the ground beneath them shook. Even injured and exhausted, the beast would be able to kill dozens of men.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Endris thrashed about to rip out of Maddison's hold, finally seizing his gaze with a bloodthirsty scowl. "Let go!"

Maddison gripped her mouth before the dragon heard them, locking Endris' arms behind her back to keep her from freedom. "That's a dragon," he hissed. "I'll bet our heads neither one of us has dealt with a bastard catch like that, half dead or not." He squeezed her wrists with a painful grind as she tried to squirm again. "We need to think about this."

Endris relaxed a little bit, her gaze softening to worry as it lingered on Sajus.

"He's fine, don't worry," Maddison lied, his hushed tone pulling the last shred of impulsive rage from the sword swinging soldier. "We need a pla-"

"Well howdy adventurers!"

Fear rammed a spear through both their hearts as they flipped around to stare at the trees, the voice's owner a scraggly man fitted to a thick branch in the canopies. He flashed them a wide smile riddled with holes, half his teeth chipped and rotted out.

"You've reached The Final Boss, The Lair of The Gorlgonazala," the man continued, mystically wiggling his fingers with an unstable chuckle. "Best of luck!"

Maddison squinted, mouthing his confusion as the man slipped a small stringed instrument from his patched clothes and began to strum it, filling the space with a quick and energizing tune.

The dragon didn't pay the ambiance any sort of attention, sniffing at the scorched and flattened clearing for its sneaking prey. Maddison had ducked to the trees with Endris, closing in on Sajus' resting point to check on the child's injuries before anything else. But even with their distance, some of the blackened mounds clearly weren't rocks. In the mounds, he had seen bits of metal armour and scorched insignias. Two mounds, close to one another, were still partially wrapped in the white cloak of the Heroguard. Now he knew the fate of five.

And Maddison clearly hadn't been the furthest reaching adventurer, the checkpoints of dozens before him marked with nameless graves.

The thrum of music hit a quickened pitch, the dragon rearing up with a snorting roar as it unleashed a jet of blue flames, drenching a patch of already scorched trees a couple meters in front of Maddison.

The pair was forced to stop, staring at the golden dust twinkling in the ashen pool. A few steps and they would have joined the pile.

The dragon snorted again, ripping open the cuts lacing its neck and cheeks with another ferocious howl. It was blinded by cruelty and bloodlust, its nose clogged with clotted blood and the stench of its own rot.

In a positive light, it couldn't smell nor see them. But in the shadow of that same light, the loss of senses had given it a frenzied attack pattern, throwing flames in any direction it pleased as the clearing fell to ash and ruin.

Sajus had been thrown far enough to escape the licking flames, but he hadn't moved an inch since they'd made it their goal to reach him.

Maddison sighed as the dragon cut them off again. Ten minutes of dodging and fleeing had felt like hours, the toll of exhaustion slugging his knees with invisible weight. Endris didn't look any better, her frazzled hair sticking to her forehead as sweat dropped from her chin. Fire and fleeing had degraded the two to wet rags, and killed their confidence they came into the quest with.

The dragon threw its paw down a foot from Maddison's arm, sending soft dirt balls in every direction while the music twirled and danced to the attack.

Maddison spat out the gritty blob that hit his lips, stumbling to his butt as Endris shoved him away from another swiping claw.

She growled in frustration, bending down beside Maddison as the dragon twirled away to attack in the opposite direction. "We need to kill it."

"Obviously," Maddison retorted, tugging the folded crossbow off his back. "It has some gashes, the skin will be easy to puncture there."

"If there's a gash the skin's already been punctured you dimwit," Endris muttered, resting her broadsword on the ground as she poured a vial of green liquid over the blade.

Maddison scrunched his nose at the powerful tang the liquid had. A bitter batch of potent poison. It was a shame the poison he prepared only worked on humans. Dragon slaying had been the last assumption on his list. "You know what I mean."

"There's a cut on its neck. We could sever an artery... maybe." Endris shuffled away with Maddison as the dragon turned around again. "I don't know dragon physics."

"Anatomy," Maddison corrected, swallowing the rest of his words as the dragon moved dangerously close to them.

Its scales brushed Endris' shoulder, the two of them pretending to be a rock while they individually cooked up plans of attack. Its hind leg finally passed, the thick chain ripping at its flesh as the string of steel refused to stretch. The dragon released a whimpering moan, giving it a couple harsh pulls before giving in, the boulder bearing the base of its cage far too powerful.

Maddison eyed the jutting stick of metal wedged into the stone, despite a coat of thick rust and deep gouges, it wasn't dislodging anytime soon.

"The poison should act fast," Endris whispered, slowly rising as she used Maddison's shoulder to get up. "I can get it."

Maddison ripped back a lever on the crossbow, snapping out its wooden wings as the blade spitting bird readied for battle. "I'll pull its attention, go for the spot with the least pointy things."

Endris breathlessly nodded, deftly creeping away while Maddison loaded up an arrow. The tips weren't poisoned like he'd expected, but if Endris pulled off her plan, all of that wouldn't matter.

Crouched in the cracked pools of cinder he slowly raised his weapon, mouth set on a thick rip near the dragon's throat that gushed with every dry howl. For the moment it was still enough, busied by a wilted rose bush that had pricked its exposed hind leg one too many times.

He glanced at Endris, broadsword raised while she flanked it.

Now.

The crossbow snapped back with a powerful punch, the thick arrow whistling through the air and lodging itself in flesh so soft it muffled the impact. The dragon let out a breathless whimper, quickly replaced with a hostile snarl while it raked the dirt and thrashed about, the few senses it had left training themselves where Maddison stood.

He glanced at Endris, his mind screaming for her to get on with the plan while she turned her broadsword for a good angle.

Maddison ducked away from the rampaging drake, keeping the crossbow safe in his arms while he rolled to his feet. When he pulled past the flurry of death he locked onto Endris again, gritting his teeth in disappointment while she scooped up the broadsword she'd dropped when the dragon bumped her with its tail and ran at her target.

Too late.

The dragon whipped around, the quick thinking soldier diving away from another jet of flames. With a couple audible curses she scrambled to her feet, fleeing back into the trees while she worked at another angle.

Maddison scoffed at the gesture, Endris coming upon the dragon's flank with her sword raised. Ready for him to distract it again.

And he would have, if he hadn't emptied his pouch of arrows when he rolled away from his death.

Maddison waved his arms, the giant X only confusing her more. He skimmed the ripped up mounds of dirt, praying that an arrow had traveled from the bunch near the dragon's leg. No such luck graced him however, and as he raised his head to mouth an apology to Endris, the woman stopped cold. Her chin was tilted upwards, resting her gaze a little above Maddison's head, with the gaping mouth of the cave stood to be the only obstacle she would be able to see.

Then a grinding voice cracked up.

"Gargonoss!"

Maddison swung around, his heart stopping at the feeble child poised heroically at the top of the cave. Sword clutched in both hands he grinned at the snarling dragon, an idiotic dose of confidence raising his shoulders, despite the clear smear of blood waterfalling down the left side of his face.

If Sajus wasn't loony before, that smack had certainly left no room for doubt.

"Over here!" he screamed, his pitched voice swaying to the song as Maddison wondered what ludicrous idea could possibly be running through his mind.

The dragon inevitably swayed to the young voice, a target painted to its torn eyes as it flailed to twist around and run at its prison.

Maddison swallowed the warning that nearly leapt from his mouth. He certainly didn't want to pull the dragon from a child with the high ground, and after paying Endris a glance, he confirmed that she wasn't intent on the maneuver either. And so they watched.

The dragon neared the lip of the cave, slowing down to try and sniff as it kneaded the soft dirt and roots. Sajus called out again, wedging the nose of his blade into an unstably perched boulder hanging above the drake.

Maddison immediately clicked in.

He wouldn't.

With a squeaking grunt the crazed adolescent cranked his sword like a lever, throwing his body against the hilt with a scraping crunch. To Maddison's surprise the boulder toppled down. And to everyone's utter dismay, it hit anything but the dragon.

With a spray of dirt and small rock fragments, the thick slab of stone cut into the massive iron pike sealing the dragons confinement. In the settling silence a couple jagged chips of stone flew out, dislodged by the steel that ripped from the boulder like an uprooted tree.

Maddison saw the tight chain go limp.

He didn't dare to move, holding his breath in rigid fear as the beast came to terms with its situation.

Like an idiot, Sajus had freed it.

The dragon went quiet, first sniffing at its shaved wrist and washing the raw flesh with a couple licks, then stretching its neck to the heavens and shaking them with a diabolical howl.

The blood drained from Maddison's face, and he chanced a retreat, carefully backing into the trees. Endris followed his actions, Sajus finally using his head and ducking down between the remaining rocks, mouth agape as he ogled the beast. All three would be safe with silence by their side, but the cost of its services were quick to show.

The dragon breathed in a lungful of air, frisking through shattered memories as the faintest ghost of a scent spurred one in particular.

Bread.

It remembered flying over golden fields, young and racing to escape fall's chilling touch. It remembered something hugging it, and then falling. Voices calling and screaming, people all around it, and the sharp pain before its world went black.

Then, with its greatest sense stolen, it remembered the smell that visited it day after day. The musk of the demons that had caged it to a musty hovel of bugs and dirt. It remembered the scent of fresh baked bread, and other bits of food that would be left at its doorstep. The sweetest smell of revenge.

The dragon snorted, painfully flexing its stiff shoulders as two broad wings unravelled above its head. A couple holes wouldn't stop it, not without the chain that had grounded it for years. With a powerful blast of turbulence the dragon leapt into the air, catching enough to hold it up and boost it forwards, the trees below it thrashing and moaning under its bloodthirsty gale.

With a final battlecry, the beast's thundering sounds melted away, leaving a scorched clearing graced by three adventurers of varying levels of panic.

The dragon was heading straight for Bervolt.

Maddison's heart sank as he remembered something about that morning. He was supposed to meet someone at the gates.

He cursed under his breath.

Sariel.