Six scaly beasts sat in a circle in a cave. They had a finished air about them, as if they knew they were doomed. One, near the mouth of the cave, cast his glittering eyes over the other beasts. "We'll have to keep this meeting short," he declared in a booming, growling voice. "They might have found us already."

Another of the winged beasts, a female, snorted smoke as she scoffed. "Of course they've found us already. That's the reason we're keeping this meeting short."

The first one who had spoken ignored her and flicked his tail anxiously. "The Reality Force has forced us to stay in hiding. What will we do if we're discovered?"

Another young female, who looked like the other female, except that she had glossy, clouded eyes spoke, her voice filled with contempt. "The Reality Force?" She spit the name out as if it were a slime mold. "We're just as real as them!"

An old, scarred, and wrinkled creature spoke. "Reality, schmeality, zeality!" he said, his voice wheezing like an old pipe organ. He began to crack up at his own joke, but soon it turned to coughing, then hacking, then choking. A young male, seated next to him, whacked him on the back with the stone-hard scales of his thick tail.

"Who let him into the Circle?" he muttered to the blind female as the old one's coughing ceased. In the dim light of the cave opening, no one could tell that he was very somber, he wasn't cheered up by the humor of his words, though that was what he was attempting.

The female who wasn't blind looked outside the cave, and strained her ears, nervously checking for intruders. "What will we do if they take our magic away? If they take the magic away?"

"Don't speak of it," the blind one said. She sighed, her sightless eyes staring off into the distance.

"There's got to be something we can do to escape this peril," the leader who had spoken first growled, suddenly determined.

The sighted female perked up. "We should fight the Reality Force," she suggested.

An ancient female shook her gargantuan head. "Do you think we haven't tried, Cora?" she rasped, her voice echoing with hopelessness. "It's no use."

"Yes, our only hope is to cast the flame!" The young male's voice was filled with force.

"That may not give you a clear answer," the ancient one said.

Their leader agreed with the young one who was wise beyond his years. "Cast the flame, Layla," he said softly, the mournful sound filling the cave with despair.

The others began murmuring to one another. "Cast the flame!"

"But she hasn't done that in years."

"You're only supposed to do that if you are really desperate."

"It will only lead the Force to us quicker!"

"But she's got to do it!"

"It's the only way to find out if there is any hope for us!"

"And if there isn't?" Layla's commanding voice somehow made the cave go completely silent. "If there isn't, Drake?" She looked at the leader, her all-seeing eyes boring into him.

Drake shook his head. "You're a seer, Layla. You've got to do it. Or we will lose the Magic Dimension forever." Despite his strong reputation, Drake's eyes started brimming with tears.

Layla muttered an incantation and breathed a small plume of flame into the center of the circle. The creatures joined wings, each wing magically merging into the next. They frowned as Layla sighed. "Every time it gets harder," she confessed.

The winged circle stiffened as their now combined ears picked up hoofbeats outside the cave. Their voices seemed to merge as one. "I thought this cave was in a remote location."

Drake's voice could be heard individually. "Hurry, Layla!"

Layla spoke the incantation again, this time a little more urgently. The flame, now a cinder hovering in the center of the circle, flickered slightly, illuminating Layla's lavender scales, and went out again. Layla shook her head in frustration. "It's never been this hard to cast the flame," she said, breathing hard.

The others' worry reflected on their faces. Only once before had they had to do this, and then it had gone smoothly. They watched, their anxiety growing, as Layla tried again. The hoofbeats were getting closer. They could hear shouting in the distance.

Layla's wings drooped. She was obviously getting weaker. They would have to fly soon, or be captured and let the Reality Force wipe out the magic. She murmured the incantation, her voice wobbling. She exhaled, distressed, and flopped on the damp, slimy cave floor, none of her muscles giving a single twitch.

The blind female broke out of the circle and felt her way to Layla, sobbing. She gave a start as Layla shuddered, and with fading strength, summoned the others. They nervously went to her, feelings of dread running through them, making them shudder as the shouts grew louder.
Layla struggled to speak. Drake knew she was dying, but he also knew that she had seen something. "What is it, Layla?" His voice was laced with fear.

Layla slowly lifted her head. Shakily, she choked out, "S-s-s-s-someth-thing will save us yet." Her lungs heaved. "We-we m-must-" A spasm shook her ancient body, and she coughed. The hoofbeats were pounding in all of their heads. The shouts had ceased, but the riders were close enough that the Circle could hear their loud whispering. Layla raised her quivering head once more. "We must go into h-" She started coughing. She continued in a barely audible whisper, "-h-hiding-g." The great beast sighed, and rested her head on the ground, as if saving up her quickly waning strength.

The hoofbeats grew unbearably loud. The beasts covered their ears. "Look out!" Cora screamed as an arrow-tipped, magic stealing wand flew through the air toward her. The seer, in a last show of strength before she died, lashed her tail protectively, and the Circle, the leaders of the kingdom, vanished into thin air.

The last thing that could be heard by the Reality Force as they galloped into the cave on their steeds was Cora's screaming; and her blind sister's sobbing.

The dragons.

The leaders.

The last of their kind.

Gone.

And with them, the magic.

Gone.