"Faster, Aleron! Use the wind and the currents to your advantage! You're smaller and lighter than a dragon for crying out loud!" Khuzaimah scolded the young wyvern who was weaving through the air and in between the trees as fast as he could.

"I am flying as fast as I can, Old one!" Aleron projected back at Khuzaimah. "You're not the one with scales missing and scars on his wings."

Just as Aleron darted out from the trees, Khuzaimah launched himself into the air with a powerful push from his hind legs. Instead of spreading his wings, preparing to fly he extended his claw-like joints forward, using them as front paws instead of wings. He didn't even glance to the side to watch where Aleron was, just felt the wind, the ripples in the air and the noise Aleron produced with every wingbeat. He had closed his mind from everything except his own senses and just as Aleron passed above him, he struck, digging his claws into Aleron's hard scales and dragging the young Wyvern down with him as gravity pulled him back to the ground.

Aleron was on his back, wings sprawled out wide, his chest panting heavily while Khuzaimah had one of his big legs planted firmly on Aleron's soft tissued belly. The nails scraping the skin, but not breaking it. Khuzaimah's tail was pointed at the underside of Aleron's jaw leaving Aleron no room to wiggle or break free. The old Wyvern huffed at him and when Aleron stopped struggling he removed his tail and stepped away from him, giving Aleron time to get up to his feet.

"You died. You're too slow, react in the wrong way and can't look further than your own nose. Missing scales or scars are just excuses! Look at me, Aleron! Take a good close look at me!" Khuzaimah stood up straight, making himself as tall as possible as he spread his wings, blocking the sun from Aleron's eyes. The leathery membrane became partly translucent showing the veins, but also other darker parts which were neither veins or the normal tissue. At the point where his left wing was attached to his body, a deep gash was still visible. No scales, just a deep gash with soft slightly reddish tissue. 

Aleron gazed closer at the older wyvern, his slitted pupils widening as the came across several scars and strangely shaped scales on Khuzaimah's belly. When Khuzaimah came back down again Aleron stared at the worn face of the dark brown Wyvern who had been keeping him company for a while now. Dark yellow eyes with thin slits stared back at him as Aleron took in all of the ridges, dips, and irregular scale placement. He had never noticed how old the wyvern really looked and how worn he actually looked. It left him speechless and for once, Aleron had no idea what to do or say. 

"What's with the look, Young one," Khuzaimah sneered. "It's like you're seeing me for the first time. You've been so self-absorbed you've never truly looked at me or others. You might have been mad that the two humans refused to bring your rider to you because he isn't ready but you're just as unready as he is. Despite me being slower than you, despite me being covered in old wounds, scars, missing scales, and unable to use the poison in my tail, I brought you down easily and could have killed you in just a few moments."

Khuzaimah turned his back to Aleron and glanced towards the south, the area he had always tried protecting. "Aleron, you said you wanted to protect this area. But your words and actions are contradicting each other. Your head is with your rider, not here! If you want, then go. Leave, follow the dragon riders to the North and find your rider but know he is not ready for you. The rejection he will give you will be even more painful than the first one."

Aleron had felt himself shrink smaller and smaller at Khuzaimah's scolding. It was like Khuzaimah was fighting him over and over, defeating him with every sentence till Aleron opened his eyes to the truth. How could he have been so blind all this time! Khuzaimah had been right. Ever since he had woken up and was able to move again, his mind had been occupied with one thing only. He had not seen or spoken to the angel who had saved him bu Khuzaimah had filled him in on everything. All Aleron could remember was the flashes of red and purple and the blond hair. He had seen them when they had approached the city but he had trouble remembering what they exactly looked like. Only that the red dragon had attacked him.

He had gotten so angry when Khuzaimah told him they would not bring him to Joseph or the other way around. He deserved to be with his rider, his chance to become a real warrior next to the Golden Dragon and the explanation that Joseph was not ready for him had fallen on deaf ears. The only reason Aleron had started the intense training with Khuzaimah was to make sure he was strong enough to prove himself to Joseph. 

And here he was. Beaten, mentally and physically. Bested by one of the oldest Wyverns Aleron had ever seen and met. He could go... Leave the south, leave the human girl he had grown so attached to, leave the other villages and leave Khuzaimah to protect them as he had always done. But with the decay coming up the attack and Khuzaimah's age, how long would it be before the South would fall?

Yes, he missed his rider, his human soulmate, his Joseph, but they were still connected. And that connection was not going anywhere.

"I... No. You are right. Again." Aleron sighed as he projected the words to Khuzaimah. "I made a promise to protect the South. To you, but also to those who call this their homes. I have to honor that."

*

The Decay was moving again. Aleron watched as more of the land had been touched by the blackening curse that turned the once lush and green land into brown, unfertile lands. He soared above it before banking to the side and moving away from it to the nearest village. He could not do much about the decay, but after the two Dragonriders from the North had left the attacks on cities and villages near the southern borders had again increased and that was something Aleron could do something about. He had shown up a few times just in time to help chase away or kill more Trolls and goblins. There had been no sighting of a dragon or anything like it that also could have been the thing that had attacked him. The only evidence was the village of Windhill. It had been burned to the ground, no survivors and all that remained was ash. It was wiped off the bottom of the earth as if it had never existed in the first place.

Aleron had flown to the capital of the South more often, listening in and hearing the stories and rumors that the humans spread amongst each other. Most people had gotten used to seeing the Wyvern and nearly all had now heard the stories of how he was defending them. There were few who feared him anymore. Despite the desperate cry for help to the North, the King had not dispatched any Dragons to the South to help, in fact he had ordered the city to send more troops to the North to aid them in the war that raged up there. The King was convinced the real war was there, that the Golden Dragon and his rider would beat the enemy soon and that peace would be restored. Word of Golde Dragon and his allies had reached everywhere. Of the human females with the red and purple dragons, of the man with no dragon but who tamed any draconic creature with ease so they listened to him without being bonded... They were heroes in the North and yet the war was still raging and the South was being neglected. They might win the war up there but at the cost of losing everything down here.

Aleron saw now, the complexity of the war, the unfairness of the situation and the hopelessness of the position he, and the rest of the southern area were placed in. He could feel it, how he did not know but these small attacks and the decay were only the beginning. Whatever had attacked him and whatever had attacked Windhill was just the tip of the iceberg that was about to hit them.

He landed in a field next to the village of the little human girl. Many people had spotted the Wyvern already and some were already awaiting his arrival including the girl and the man that Aleron had assumed was their leader. As soon as Aleron had touched the ground, the girl came running towards him and when he lowered his head, she hugged his head, her arms wrapped around to his jaw, her chest leaning against his forehead. She giggled as he blew a big gust of air through his nostrils against her legs and nudged her gently with his nose.

"You came back again! Wyvie, Wyvie, You're my little Wyvie!" She sang as she let go of him and danced around him. The name he had been given by her was not one he would have chosen himself, but it would have to do as he could not communicate with her no matter how hard he tried.

"Cecily, enough. Go help out Beatrice with the harvest." The man spoke sternly to the little girl. She turned to him and pouted a little, but when he did not give in she slowly made her way back to the village while waving at Aleron. 

Aleron observed the man as he send Cecily on her way. He had only become the ruler of the town recently as his father had passed away. The man was young, although older than Joseph would be now. Aleron had no true indication of age as Wyverns did count it differently, or rather.. did not count it at all. The man had a bushy, full blonde beard and longer hair. His eyes lay deep in his skull as the worries of the town had all fallen upon his shoulders. Aleron had seen him multiple times in the shadow of his father and not once had he seen a smile on the face of the man before him. Deep lines were etched in his face, his posture that of a man carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

He walked forward to Aleron and outstretched his hand to touch the Wyvern but Aleron pulled back, not allowing another human to touch his scales. The man flinched at the sudden movement of the Wyvern but dropped his arm nonetheless and sighed in defeat.

"You saved the girl, allow her to touch you. You keep visiting us, even tried helping us out and from what I've heard from traveling merchants and other travelers, is that you are defending and fighting against the terrors that haunt the South, yet you have no rider. Why? Why not allow me to touch you, or any other person from this town except the girl? What is your reasoning behind this behavior of yours?"

Aleron did not make a sound and just stared at the man before him. There was something the man was not saying and it was irking him in a way Aleron could not understand. Humans were complicated creatures, that was one thing he had learned. Aleron glanced past the man to see Cecily waving at again as she darted past with two other small humans behind her. 

"This town is doomed, Wyvern. I don't think it will see another summer with how fast that cursed ground is moving upon us. The king does not care about the South so why should you?"