I came too fast, the emperor thought, as he flew over the strange ravaged settlement deep within the jungle. His men had done a good job. All the buildings had been razed to their foundations, except for a massive castle standing in the middle of the dense foliage.

  His hosts surrounded the fortress like a raging tide crashing against a ship in open sea, trying to breach the castle from every side.

  They’ve already done it, he thought, as he spotted an opening in one of the side walls. The dragon let out a roar that echoed through the nearby forest, sending every bird flying in panic from the surrounding trees. It was no surprise. The growl had been unleashed by Nahum with such force that even the soldiers—Aneites and Ixtalites alike—visibly trembled, many of them fixing their eyes on the sudden monster that had arrived on the battlefield.

  The time for action has come, the emperor thought, as he slowly approached the marble castle, its white walls stained with salt and cracked where his men had battered them with their hammers.

  Valtorius yanked the leather rein that stimulated the dragon to release a fireburst. The beast directed its furious breath toward one of the archer-infested towers, which immediately began to burn. Many of the men chose to throw themselves into the void rather than endure being roasted alive under the massive flames.

  This is beautiful, the emperor thought, as bloodlust flooded every vein in his body. Construction through destruction.

  The other towers of the fort fired at the beast, with the faint hope that an arrow might strike the rider sheltered in the cabin atop its massive back. But Valtorius guided the dragon out of reach of the insignificant projectiles.

  From up here, everything is clearer. Around the castle, many of his men had backed away to avoid being crushed by the falling debris of the destroyed tower, but many others were too consumed by looting and continued their advance into the fortress, ignoring the danger.

  There must be something of extreme value in there—but what? Valtorius began to descend again, carefully maintaining a prudent distance from the towers, which could become a problem at any moment.

  A second blast from Nahum struck the central battlement of the wall, where most of the defenders had clustered. The fire instantly incinerated many of them, while others began to run, engulfed in flames, in every direction.

  Many of my men are burning too, the emperor observed. Bad luck. His curiosity about what lay inside was far too great to worry about a few soldiers, who would die roasted inside their thick armor without remedy. It didn’t take long before the battlements of the jungle castle were consumed by fire. The emperor was in ecstasy. Many centuries had passed since the world had witnessed such a level of instantaneous destruction, even if it was in a remote place like this.

  Soon the fire began to spread to the surrounding trees, creating a generalized wildfire.

  It’s like playing god, but in reverse. The gods themselves could be cruel beyond measure when circumstances led them there.

  The emperor decided to give the flames time to spread. Soon, whatever lay within would be revealed. Meanwhile, he guided the beast toward one of the towers on the outskirts of the settlement that still stood, infested with Ixtalite archers.

  How I hate these people.

  With more controlled flames, he set them ablaze. Arrows rained toward the monster as it approached, but the few that managed to strike rebounded off its red-scaled skin. The emperor tried to imagine the perspective of the poor local archers, who no longer had time to flee their small fortresses before they were swallowed by fire. The vision of that red monstrosity, stark against the green surroundings, had to be a true nightmare.

  It didn’t take long before, with measured firebursts from the dragon, those towers collapsed completely.

  The emperor rose high into the air, observing the settlement now almost entirely reduced to its foundations. The castle still stood, but the flames had spread enough to bring down all its watchtowers.

  The time has come to end their suffering.

  “Let’s go for them, little one,” he told the dragon, stroking its coarse back.

  The beast dove toward the center of the small forested valley. When it neared the castle again, he pulled the rein that stimulated the dragon to unleash its infernal breath.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  A torrential stream of fire erupted from the beast’s mouth and crashed onto the fort. Its side walls began to collapse outward, while Aneite and Ixtalite warriors alike fled in terror.

  Internal explosions began to ripple through the structure, which slowly collapsed like a house of cards, exposing its inner corridors.

  “Keep going, little one, do your thing. That’s what I brought you into this world for!”

  Valtorius could feel the beast’s ecstasy as it continued firing its relentless beam of fire.

  Soon the building was history. Then the emperor released the rein, and the dragon halted its cursed breath.

  When the smoke cleared enough, he could distinguish what lay at the bottom. A bright, bluish light began to reveal itself—where the fire had failed to do its destructive work.

  The emperor narrowed his gaze. Then he saw clearly what it was.

  An energy field.

  It must be very powerful for my fire not to have pierced it. Time to test it again.

  “Go, Nahum! Fire!”

  The beast once more unleashed its dragonfire directly at the energy field, as the emperor discerned what lay inside.

  A core…

  I will destroy it!

  ***

  Vidul had his hands raised toward the sky, a vein bulging in his forehead from the obvious strain.

  Hold on, Ixtalite… hold on, Yowo thought, watching him with concern. The fire outside the energy field he had generated around Leye’s chamber was now visible on all sides. If that energy field vanished for any reason… they would all be incinerated in the next instant.

  But the mage seemed to be pushing himself further and further. Though he had recovered his former vigor, he was exhausting himself again. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and after standing for a long while, he had been forced to kneel, though his hands remained raised, his mind fully focused on the spell.

  Yowo considered herself an exceptional warrior, and her powers had surged after defeating Hunn in combat—but now her ability was utterly useless. Her swift slashes could do nothing against a weapon as lethal as dragonfire. The massive red-scaled beast had appeared suddenly on the battlefield. Her trained eyes had distinguished what looked like a riding cabin on the creature’s back, indicating it was controlled by an Aneite rider. As she hesitated on the battlements, torn between confronting the new enemy or retreating into the fortress, she wondered why the Aneites had taken so long to use such a weapon to end the prolonged conquest.

  While among her own people’s lines, she had never heard of a creature like that which Emperor Valtorius could command… though there had been rumors that the emperor kept dragon eggs deep within the pyramid. But it would have taken a long time for a hatched egg to become such a beast, and many eyes would have seen it as it flew the skies in its infancy and youth.

  But no one had seen it.

  As she watched the fire intensify around the energy field, she concluded that there were simply forces beyond her understanding.

  This reeks of magical trickery… surely one of those sly arcane guilds the emperor takes such care to hide.

  More than ever, she wished to survive. After killing Hunn, she had unlocked her third branch of abilities—magical orbs that gave her access to a new world, to that magical branch that held so many powers within it. But it was unlikely she would escape this situation. She would never come to know the true powers of magic—powers that would annihilate her like a simple insect, along with her new companions, and along with that core she had tried to help prosper in the shadows.

  “It has been a pleasure meeting you, sister. Your mere presence filled me with power. We would have achieved many things together. It shouldn’t have ended like this,” Xyrna said. Though the elf kept her voice calm, her eyes revealed a deep fear of death.

  “We will survive this, dear. You just have to trust,” Yowo replied.

  The elf sighed, but said nothing, turning her gaze back to the weakening energy field.

  Though Yowo would have given anything to transfer her energy to Vidul so he could endure, she couldn’t. Only Leye, the main core, could pass energy to the heroes bound to it. The stone could not speak, but it emitted greenish energy rays around it—a clear sign of desperation. Naya, who had finally awakened miraculously thanks to Vidul’s efforts, looked just as frightened as the others.

  She had her bow ready, but her arrows would be as useless against dragonfire as Yowo’s blades.

  The Aneite thought of Nava’rel, who by now must already have been consumed by the flames outside the castle. They had only managed to reach the central chamber of Leye Nilu, along with a few Ixtalites—the fastest and smartest who had survived the destruction of the building—alongside Yowo and the elf. Vidul and Naya had already been there when the others arrived.

  Vidul let out a groan, signaling he was at his limit.

  “Come on, brother, hold on!” Nilu said desperately. “That beast can’t maintain its cursed breath forever. When it stops, we’ll go out and destroy it with Naya’s arrows.”

  Yowo wanted to believe his words, but it was unlikely. Even if the dragon stopped breathing fire on the only barrier keeping them alive, once the energy field vanished, the beast would simply rise into the sky, recover its strength, and descend again to exterminate them. There was nowhere within leagues to hide from such a weapon—the cursed fire of a dragon. Naya’s arrows would produce nothing more than a negligible scratch on its armored skin, at best.

  My human farm is gone, Yowo thought. It had been close to prospering, but it was too late. If she hadn’t spent so long at sea… there was no point in regret. When the gods—and especially the Voice of the World—decided something, mere mortals, no matter how powerful, could do nothing about it.

  “I’m sorry, my lords, I can’t hold on anymore. I truly am sorry…” Vidul’s voice was drained, completely powerless.

  Yowo looked up, where the dragonfire still bore down relentlessly on the energy field—yellow against blue. She held the faint hope that the fire might cease once Vidul’s barrier disappeared, but the beast’s breath was endless.

  Then the allied mage lowered his arms, and the blue energy that had kept them alive until that moment vanished.

  The heat was unbearable. Massive pain spread across Yowo’s skin…

  …and then nothing.

  The sweet nothing.