As promised, Ragnus woke Isendir up just a little before dawn. It was still dark outside when the two left the tavern. Isendir had wanted to bid farewell to Aerysdren, but the Sylvanaar elf was busy talking to some waitress and the Highlander did not wish to bother him.

"So where to this time?" Isendir asked as the two walked down the empty road lined with street lamps. Old, decrepit houses gazed down at them with their busted out windows and rotted out wood.

Isendir unconsciously slowed down his walk so Ragnus could keep up with him as always. Years of traveling with the dwarf had beaten Isendir into the habit of walking slower.

"I was thinking we could head down south, to Sheeth Dorei," he continued.

Ragnus snorted. "Sheeth Dorei? You want to go live down there with those pasty faced elves? You'll freeze to death in those yeti infested mountains."

"Not to live there, old man." Isendir rolled his eyes. "To visit. If we have to live on the roads, we might as well go out and see the world at the same time."

"Hmm. You've not mentioned this at all in the seven years we've been travelling together." Ragnus cast him a skeptical look from under his helmet. "Did meeting that elf back there make you grow pointed ears?"

Isendir sighed and crossed his arms. "What is with you and elves? Have they done something to you?"

"Nah. I've just known a few in the past that I've not liked." Ragnus grinned up at Isendir.

The two continued on along the road in silence. The Highlander yawned and stretched his arms above his head.

He was grateful that the Daylntarthic Knights did not have a hold on the city. A run in with the knights would do him no good, and that was one of the main reasons that Isendir had brought up Iksyn City as a place to stay. As it was, Iksyn was a long way off from becoming the rich fishing capital it would be in three thousand years. Though not nearly as bad as Juliec, Ikysn had a high crime rate in its poorer sections. Unlike Juliec, with its casinos, arena, and brothels, Iksyn had a Lord who had yet to become entirely corrupted with greed and lust for power.

As the two continued down the street, they began to get the eerie feeling that something was off.

It was quiet, too quiet. Even the frogs and the crickets near the lake that never once quieted the previous night were silent. Isendir began to feel nauseous. His stomach began to get knotted, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

Ragnus suddenly came to an abrupt stop. Isendir looked down at him with a knowing eye.

"Do you feel that?" whispered Ragnus. He looked up at the sky. The sun was just beginning to show itself between the clouds.

Isendir grimly nodded. "Dragonsickness."

The two turned their gaze to the sky. The nauseous, fearful feeling that came down upon people whenever a feral dragon was about was gradually getting more intense. Isendir nervously gripped the hilt of his sword and cast Ragnus an uncertain glance.

"Maybe we should-"

A sudden blood curdling shriek filled their ears and sent them both to their knees. They clutched at their bleeding ears, desperately trying to stop the panic caused by the dragon's Banshee Call. Isendir cried out. He felt like his head was going to explode if he listened the agonizing sound any longer. He heard glass shatter around him.

As suddenly as it started, it stopped. They could hear the slow, leisurely flapping of large, leathery wings. A ringing sound filled their ears in replacement of it. Fear threatened to take hold of Isendir but he kept it at bay.

He slowly looked up.

Two monstrous dragons, one black and one white, flew towards the city, their gaping maws exposing their rows of razor sharp teeth and fangs. They were huge, larger than any dragon Isendir had ever seen. His heart began thumping in his chest, but he forced himself to remain calm. As he watched, the white dragon began going around the perimeter of the city, towards the back. He began to make out a green one coming in from the side opposite from the lake. Its golden eyes flashed.

"Ragnus." Isendir swallowed.

Screams erupted as the inhabitants of the city saw the horrors that were quickly flying towards them. They began flooding the streets as the sickness caused by the dragons set in. The fear their nightmarish howl had created sent their untrained minds into a frenzy.

The dragons suddenly breathed their fiery breath onto the outer rim of the city, successfully trapping any inside.

"Ragnus!" Isendir shouted, looking frantically around him when he suddenly realized that his friend was missing. He stood amidst the surging crowd of panic filled people that was slowly shoving him onward. "Ragnus! Dammit, old man!"

He heard the beat of large leathery wings above him. He didn't need to look up to know what flew in the sky. Panicked hands abruptly shoved Isendir into a doorway of a building.

Just as they did, the white scaled dragon that hovered above him breathed out blue fire down upon the street. Isendir's eyes widened in horror as he watched the people burn alive, their flesh melting off their bones. He leaned as far back into the doorway as he possibly could to escape the searing heat that was hot on his skin.

He felt like he was going to be sick. He forced himself to tear his gaze off of the carnage before him, but he could not stop his ears from hearing their agonizing screams. They were the most terrifying and painful sounds he had ever heard in his life, and they would echo in his nightmares for the rest of his days.

He began silently praying to Ophian, his eyes squinted shut. The horrid, acrid smell of burning flesh made him gag.

After a few brief moments that felt like an eternity, the screams ceased. The rhythmic flap of the dragon's wings slowly faded away as the creature moved on. He slowly opened his eyes and turned his gaze back to the street.

His heart sunk at what he saw. "By the gods, no...."

Only ash remained of the people that had crowded the streets mere moments before.

~-~-~

Ragnus ran down the alley, huffing with fatigue with every step. His chainmail boots made enough noise to rival an army, but he didn't care. The abandoned alley and its surrounding buildings had been spared from the dragon's fire.

"Dwarves...we're not made...for running!" Ragnus finally stopped and put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. He felt like his heart was going to give out then and there. He had to find Isendir, but perhaps in a way that required less sprinting.

He had been separated from him in the crowd. The dwarf had thought that he had seen Aerysdren on the roof of the burning tavern where they had stayed at, down near the lake. He had, with a grim reminder to himself that he would probably regret the decision, ran off to help the elf. The last he saw of it, the burning building had collapsed.

He had just barely escaped the white dragon's breath by ducking into a small alley. He didn't know if Isendir had survived the slaughter, but something within the old dwarf told him that he did. Ragnus would know if something had happened to his friend.

"I'm getting too old for this," Ragnus mumbled as he wiped a hand over his brow. He looked up. The sun had finally risen, shining bright in the pale blue sky. The morning breeze gently blew up against Ragnus's face. It was completely silent again too, but it wasn't the unnatural silence that the dwarf had experienced before the dragon's terrifying arrival. This was the silence that came when there was an absence of living beings.

The dragons were leaving. Ragnus could no longer feel their presence among the town, and that fact made him feel as if a large, dark and heavy cloud looming above his head had just been lifted. They had quenched their thirst for blood, and were thus continuing along their journey. They had left Iksyn City a ghost town, with more than half of it burned to the ground, and nearly all of its populace dead.

Ragnus continued making his way towards the blackened and burnt rubble that used to be a tavern. He began to get a feeling that Aerysdren did not survive.

When he finally made it, his heart sank. What remained of the tavern was a blackened skeletal frame of the building's woodwork that had somehow managed to stay standing. Everything else lay on the soot covered ground in ruins. Bright red flames still burned, ravaging the wood and parts of the stone pavement. He saw with a sad eye a few blackened skeletons in the rubble.

Ragnus was about to remove his helmet in respect for the fallen when he suddenly heard groaning. He looked around to search for the owner of the voice. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Aerysdren, pinned underneath the heavy beam of the doorway of the building.

Ragnus quickly ran over to him.

"Kid, are you alright?" The dwarf knelt down on the ground beside Aerysdren. He put a hand on the elf's neck. Sweat beaded on Aerysdren's forehead, mixing with the tears that came from his eyes, lured out by the suffocating smoke and heat. They ran tracks down his soot covered face.

"Oh yeah." Aerysdren gave a weak smile and feebly waved his free hand. "This heavy beam is actually...very comfortable. How are you? Ragnus, right? Fancy seeing you again. Nice weather today. I think there was a slight chance of death on wings, unfortunately...." He began coughing and wheezing until Ragnus was absolutely certain he would lose consciousness.

He gazed at him with a large amount of pity and concern in his eyes before putting his hands underneath the wooden beam and tried lifting it. He groaned and gritted his teeth. His muscles bulged as he got the beam no more than a hair into the air. He swiftly put it back down for fear of hurting Aerysdren more than he already was.

Aerysdren grunted and squinted his eyes shut. "Bloody hell, what did I do to deserve this?" He looked up at Ragnus with glazed eyes. "Where's your friend? Is he alright?"

"He's around here somewhere." Ragnus wiped his brow again. He put his gloved hands back on the beam, preparing to try again. He stopped when he saw someone standing beside him.

"Well this is quite the odd sight," a smooth, male voice suddenly said. "A dwarf futility attempting to save some young Sylvanaar boy, who have both miraculously seemed to have survived a dragon attack. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I am, after all, in human lands. Please allow me to make it stranger still by helping you, old man."

***🐉***

This chapter is dedicated to my newest partner on the Wonder Writer's Book Club, Emina_Rus, for her support and help on my other book Heart of the Winter King

I highly recommend both the bookclub and her book, Call of the Water. The Wonder Writer's BC has monthly based assignments instead of weekly, giving you plenty of time to finish your assignment, and take on another one if you're interested.

Call of the Water combines a lot of mythological and fantasy creatures and puts them in a type of modern story, with a school that is very much like Hogwarts in my opinion. Definitely check it out for both me and her ❤️

Thank you so much for reading! I am a bit nervous with this chapter, especially regarding realism, descriptions, and etc. Please tell me any critiques or suggestions you may have!!

Until next time~