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All I could think about as we ran towards the burning Sol was how all of this started. This was my doing. I just had to take Reed's bet, just had to see Tana again, just had to cause the Vanguard to come after us...and now Hra'Kul is destroying the one real home I've ever had. The guilt rushing through my head makes me dizzy as we make our way through the forest, nearly getting flattened by a burning tree trunk. thankfully, Reed easily catches the trunk before it hurts anyone.

I can hear my friends strategizing with Sigmund as we approach the city gates, which are, to say the least, destroyed. They're bickering about a course of action, all trying to come up with a plan to trump each other with.

"We bring my men in sigil formation to bring the dragon down, no arguments!" Sigmund barks at my father.

"But what about the villagers?" Loren inquires. "We need your men to help us secu-"

"What we need to do," Reed interjects, "is put out the damn fires, for starters! If we let them get out of control..."

"It's a fucking dragon, dipshit," Katrina growls, "he can just make more fires!"

"Well, you come up with a better plan, you cheetah fuck!" Reed snarls at Katrina.

"I'm a leopard, asshole!"

"ENOUGH!"

I stare down the feuding crowd of people, my steely eyes almost piercing through their figures. "Fighting solves us nothing! I started this shit, I'll come up with the plan."

"With all due respect, Jarrod," Sigmund states with a sneer, "me and my outfit are the dragon-slayers here, not you. We know how to deal with this kind of situation."

"Really, do you? How's that worked out so far?" I counter with a smug grin. Sigmund simply glares at me, but remains silent. "That's what I thought. Now then, here's how we're doing this..." I point to Sigmund's men. "We need people reinforcing the guard. It's going to be chaos in there, and the city guard isn't trained to deal with dragon attacks. So your Vanguard will be perfect to help defuse the tension." I then point to Loren. "You can still fly, can't you?"

"My wings are a bit damaged," Loren responds solemnly, "but overall, yes."

"I need you to round up anyone else who can fly to help combat the fires. It'll be difficult to fly in there with the lack of air, but I can trust you'll do fine. You have your signets with you?"

"Never leave without them." Loren states confidently.

"Good man." I then point to Katrina and Reed. "Cannot believe I'm saying this..but I need you two to work together in getting the citizens to safety. Check all the homes, round up whoever you can. Between your strength, Reed, and your reflexes, Katrina, you should both manage the situation well."

Reed and Katrina glare at each other, and I give them a stern look. "Don't kill each other."

Sigmund looks perturbed, then finally speaks. "What about myself, hmm? What must I do, o' wise tactician?" The mocking sarcasm in his voice is more than recognizable.

"You're with me...we take down Hra'Kul, or die trying," I answer, a deadly glint in my eyes.

"I'm coming too, son," My father adds. "You won't be talking me out of this, either."

"I'm not, I trust your judgement." I nod with a half-smile. I finally address the entire group. "Everyone on-board with the plan? Any questions?"

"Yeah, I have one." Reed says with a mocking hand raised, as if he was in a classroom. "Why the fuck aren't we bringing Tana? A good way to fight a dragon is with, I dunno...another fucking dragon?!"

"One is more than enough for the townsfolk to handle." My glare is certainly a dead-serious one, and Reed can tell. "Adding another one into the mix would only cause madness among the people. And the one thing we don't need is to stir the public into an even bigger panic. Besides, I love her too much to bring her into this mess."

The group listens with rapt attention, and I'm understandably surprised by myself. I've never been one to lead, let alone plan the downfall of a draconic tyrant to save an entire city. But here I am, calm and collected, organizing the team into what needs to be done. And the craziest part? They're actually listening. I give an affirming nod to everyone as I summarize the plan. "Alright, everyone knows what to do. Let's give Hra'Kul exactly what he deserves!"

Sigmund's men regard me with a hearty "Sir!" before charging through the battered gates to aid in the city's defense. Katrina gives me an intrigued glance as we run into the city, but quickly turns away with a blush. Seems she admires my leadership, or is it something else?

---

The scorching heat doesn't even phase me, even if the plumes of smoke do. Reed, Katrina, and Loren split off in different directions as me, Sigmund, and my father head towards the citadel. A dark, ominous figure flies above the city, and I don't need to see the specifics through the smoke to know that it's Hra'Kul, flying overhead to survey his work. My dragon-like hands clench in anger, scraping at my fleshy palms, and my father gives me a concerned look. "Don't lose your head to him," he says to me. "I don't want to see you do something dicey."

"I'm...I'm fine, father," I respond with gritted teeth. "He won't get to me.."

I fly ahead of Sigmund and my father in a poorly-hidden anger.

"Ay! Don't try to be the vigilante here!" Sigmund shouts out at me as I make further distance through the smoke. Sigmund and my father double-time it to try to keep up with me, but I'm long gone. This became personal a long while back. I'm not letting him hurt more innocent lives; I have enough bloodshed on my head as it is.

---

I make my way to the citadel's gates, battered and broken. The drawbridge seems to be open, due to the chains being busted. What strikes me as odd, though, is that they don't seem to be broken by any sort of bite. It seems like a man-made cut, a precision strike by fine steel. This makes me worried, albeit rather anxious as well. What was waiting for me inside?

I step forward into a grand foyer, but I suppose it isn't so grand right now, given the sorry condition. Walls are crumbling around, and it looks like any more structural damage could mean it all topples over. I can hear shaking from up above, and a vicious roar. Seems Hra'Kul has business with the good king. Not if I can help it, I think to myself.

I make my way through fallen walls and stone debris, coming at once to the staircase, leading up to the throne room. If Hra'Kul were to kill the king, there would be no saving this city, nor the rest of the kingdom, for that matter. I start to make my way up when I'm stopped by a pair of the king's royal guard. I'm not surprised they'd deem me a threat, but there's something...off about them. Their eyes seem faded, like their minds are in another place.

"The Master demands he have privacy." One of the guards blankly states, thereby confirming my suspicions: Hra'Kul is manipulating them to buy time with the king. To what ends, I'm not sure, though I doubt he'll let him leave here alive.

I am not your enemy. Let me pass. I speak to them with an even and calm voice, but the corrupt dragon's tongue has taken their minds too deeply. They ready their blades once more, intent on felling me.

"You shall fall in our Master's name." Another guard says in a low, emotionless voice, pointing a halberd.

I wasn't avoiding a fight this time.

The first guard charges me with a longsword, which I angle my body so that it scrapes off my scaly hide. I sweep his legs with my tail, grabbing the sword before ducking the halberd of the other guard. I use a break in his defence to break the halberd in half with a swing of the longsword. A swift kick to the knee, then colliding the two guards' heads together, knocking the duo out on the cold stone. I take a minute to marvel at my physical prowess, the speed and reflexes this new body allows me, then look down in empathy at the guards. I didn't want to hurt them, but they left me little an option to take.

I can't celebrate long, however, as I'm approached from behind by an entire legion more of guards, all staring me down with their weapons drawn and their eyes dead as night. Call me mad, but I'm feeling a lot less confident about victory...that is, until Sigmund and my father finally catch up. Sigmund brings the blunt of his axe into the back of one of them, as my father disarms and promptly knocks out several others. For an old man, my father is certainly spry and quick on a sword. It's surprising he would retire in his prime, but I know his reasons already.

"Don't just stand there, damnit!" Sigmund shouts at me as he's locked in a stalemate with two other guards. "You wanted to be the hero? Then go now, protect the king! We'll keep them off you!"

I give Sigmund a confirming nod as I make my way up the staircase, avoiding pitfalls and broken sections of the steps. I need to be faster, otherwise Hra'Kul will escape, and I'll have failed everyone. I'm not allowing that to happen.

---

A rather bare-bones throne room greeted me as I made my way towards the king. I take a short moment to recognize the decor of the room. It wasn't filled to the brim with trophies and banners and embroidered fabrics, as is almost expected out of most thrones were royalty reside. The people've known Lord Avalon to be a man that's shunned frivolous waste of wealth, but I never expected him to fully adhere to those words, even with as much as the people trust him. I scold myself; why am I thinking of decor in a crisis situation!? Even worse, I seem to have stumbled into a confrontation with Hra'Kul and Avalon himself. He's sitting on his throne, with the dragon staring down at him with a vicious grin, looming over the half-eaten corpses of what I assume to be was once Avalon's personal bodygaurds. Hra'Kul is sporting a splotch of dried blood on his groin, and I smirk to myself at the wound I imparted to him.

So, this is the legendary Lord Avalon, I presume? Hra'Kul booms in an echoing, mocking voice. _ A true honor, it is, to finally...greet you. _

The king rises from his throne in a dignified manner, never removing the calm expression from his face. "Aye, scourge. I am, indeed, Lord Avalon, third descendant to the once-great King Valorus. I would ask what your business here is," the good king turns his gaze at the rubbled stone walls, and the fires raging below, "but it is most obvious you've made your intentions clear."

I can feel the dragon's deathly grip on my head once more, apparently trying to submit the king to his will. Lord Avalon simply chuckles flatly at the dread scourge's attempts to control him. "Ah, your foul mysticism shall not dilude my mind, creature. I am beyond your shallow tongue."

Hra'Kul lets out a blood-curdling roar of anger as he rears his head back, an orange glow in his maw signifying his imminant strike! I'm too far away to reach him, and the last thing I see is the king be consumed by a cone of flames. There's no sign of him left, not even a sight of remains! Could he really be dead?

I don't have the time to ponder the answer before Hra'Kul turns his neck to face me. A little late, aren't we, half-breed? I hope my new slaves weren't too difficult on you. The smugness on his maw is evident._ You missed an enlightening chat with the old man._

I draw my blade and charge him with an indescribable rage. Admittedly, not the best plan of attack...Hra'Kul sweeps me against a ruined wall with his tail, and I feel a familiar crushing of the air in my lungs returning in all too familiar fashion..

_ My, aren't we eager to die, hmm? _ The foul beast breathes down my neck with a long, heated snort. _ *You know, I never got the chance to thank you for what you did to me. Let's say a reward, hmm? A head for a head... * _

He unhinges his jaw with a rearing of his maw once more, ready to bite me in half. I wriggle my tail free to grip at the poisoned blade at my side, swinging it with enough momentum to lodge it into his back. He reels back with a vicious outcry in pain, giving me enough time to rip the blade from his hide. His tail twitches sparratically, but is otherwise whole, but bleeding. Mine does as well, slightly burning from the poison of the blade eating at my scaly exterior. My fleshy palms grip the blade tight, thankfully not as heavily affected, as the black dragon lunges at me in retaliation, which I deftly avoid. I graze his head with my sword, skinning the side of his face. I just nearly miss his eye, but the scaly skin I lop from his muzzle causes him to recoil in pain, boiling and festering where the blade touched his hide. GrrrRRAAAAAH! You will PAY for that!

The enraged dragon snaps and throws his weight at me, destroying the walls around us. The entryway is blocked with debris, just as my father and Sigmund catch up to aid in the fight. They're blocked off, attempting to get through the rubble.

"Jarrod! Are you alright?!" My father shouts from the other side of the debris.

"Oh, I'm just fantastic!" I leap and shift my form to avoid a barrage of nasty bites and rending claws. "Yeah, me and Hra'Kul here are just having a lovely little chat! Nothing serious or anything!"

Sigmund bashes at the debris with his axe. "Is Lord Avalon safe!?"

"I don't fucking know, he-GYAAAAAH!" I just barely miss being turned into a snack, watching as the dragon's maw sails past my face, and I see, in all its visceral glory, how blood-soaked his visage truly is. I go to strike out at him, but he's wised up. He turns his head before I can hit him, then slams me into a wall that gives way, into the raging fires of the city below!

---

I tumble and roll through an avalanche of stone as I gather my bearings: I've landed on a lone piece of stone, held together with wooden ramparts, scorched and ashen. All around me are slabs of stone dotting my surroundings, ruins and rubble crumbling into the raging inferno below me. I can feel a sharp pain, but not in my chest, nor my arm...I reach over to pinpoint it, and see that my wing's been crushed by debris! The pain surges through me, but I ignore it as best I can, tucking my wings into the fold of my back. I scan my immediate area for my blade, spotting it lodged into a nearby rampart. I leap from pillar to pillar of broken cobble, before I'm nearly knocked off by a sudden gust of wind: Hra'Kul, staring down below me with a bellowing chuckle, reverberating through my aching head. He circles around me, watching me struggle to stay alive. I do so enjoy a little entertainment. Go on, whelp, try to stand before me. I can see his dark visage becoming crooked, simulating a demented grin. I want to see my prey squirm and writhe before I slowly end them.

"Y-you won't..." I stand as well as I can with the pain coursing through my being. Everywhere around me, fires and smoke reign. Only Hra'Kul and his deathly gaze is the one thing I can make out, aside from my limited surroundings. I try to reach for the blade before Hra'Kul slams his tail into the pillar I'm standing on, causing it to topple. I leap to another pillar, but the blade isn't anywhere near my reach now. I'm now trapped, defenseless, and awaiting the worst...Hra'Kul has me exactly where he wants me. But even in this precarious state, I remain vigilant, as unwavering as I can be in front of the dragon. "You won't take me so easily! I don't care what happens to me...I'm ending this madness! You hear me!?"

Defiant to the end. I would almost applaud you... _Hra'Kul is most obviously gloating of his success as he continues to circle from high above. _Has the whore been filling your head with tales of the olden times? How our kind and yours were so close? I wouldn't expect any less of Tana. I give him a perplexed look, and he can tell. How does he know Tana? Hah! She, just like Orvir, couldn't grasp our true nature, our potential to be a ruler of man, not a servant! We shouldn't deserve less to appeal to the weak-minded, to let them thrive in our place. We deserve sovereignty! I shall claim such right, even if it must be through fire!

Every fiber of my being wants to shut Hra'Kul up for good, to slit his throat finally. But trapped as I am, I'm forced to listen to his "victory speech." After I'm done with you, halfling, I'll burn the rest of this pathetic city to ashes. And perhaps pay a visit to that darling Tana you care about.

A fury dances in my eyes as he speaks these words, my nostrils steaming with an inner fire. "Not if I kill you first, you bastard!" I make a vicious leap for the blade, just barely gripping onto it, hanging off the side of the unstable pillar. Hra'Kul swoops down and slams into it, sending it toppling onto another stone fragment. I quickly regain my composure, gripping my reptilian feet onto the pillar as the dragon comes back up for another swoop. He thrusts his weight into the pillars once again, me running from rampart to rampart to avoid his carnage. Finally, rage in his dark, red eyes, he comes straight for me. He's exhausted every means of escape, and I have to make a last stand against him. Either I die, or he dies.

But just as he's about to connect, Tana tackles into his side out of nowhere!

The two dragons spiral through the air, grappled with one another in a frantic flurry of claws and teeth. Stay away from him! Tana digs into Hra'Kul, rending his chest open with a powerful thrust of her claws. His underbelly bleeds profusely, but he refuses to give up. He spins the grappled duo around before using Tana's weight to throw her into the stone rubble below. She recovers quickly and dives back into the fray, claws and teeth marks tearing through scales and flesh. Hra'Kul finally decides enough is enough, and sends his spiked tail straight into Tana's chest...

And piercing her straight through.

Tana's slitted eyes go round, vacant, as Hra'Kul digs his lance-like tail further into her bosom. Her cries of pain go hoarse, as the black dragon smiles wickedly. Poor Tana. You were always such a strong-willed soul. He unsheathes his blood-soaked tail, throwing Tana's limp form into the fires below. A shame I had to rip it from you.

"T...T-Tana..." My voice is nothing short of a whisper, a wavering catch in my throat that erupts into a burst of white flames. "TANA!"

My jump towards the scourge is nothing short of a leap of faith. My head filled with devestation, anger, and above all else, determination. My blade nestles a home into Hra'Kul at his spine, paralyzing his whole body with a twist. I can feel as we freefall toward the ground, me ripping at the wound Tana left on his chest, causing it to gape even wider in a spray of blood. I dig my claw-capped hands into the dragon's still-beating heart, him unable to fight me off. With a violent, merciless strike, I punch a hole straight through his heart, his cries of protest stopping in an instant. His frozen form suddenly goes limp as I drill deeper, eviscerating the very thing a bastard creature like him does not deserve to have. Blood sprays in glorious viscera, nearly blinding my vision more than the smoke does as the dragon's corpse collides with the ground below...

Thooom!