"Are those…"
"Dragons." Malachi finished breathlessly.
And then the dragons attacked, and the sorcerers scattered.
Aidan managed to get out of the way of a large fireball right as he spotted Timothy running towards them.
"You can't attack them directly!" One of the wizards shouted, "Their scales defy the laws of magic!"
Then a fireball consumed the unlucky man.
Aidan felt like throwing up and dove out of the center of the fighting, while most of the older wizards and the two warlocks returned fire.
Aidan saw a dragon hit the girls’ quarters, and his heart seemed to stop.
"Eleanor!" Timothy shouted, running towards what was left of the pink building.
"I'm okay," she said, coming out from behind a piece of rubble. "Everyone got out. My staff is history, though!"
Aidan sighed in relief, and Timothy and Eleanor embraced.
It was obvious the sorcerers were losing. They outnumbered the dragons five to one, but they did not have the advantage of flying. The smaller dragons were staying far away from the ground, raining fire on the enchanters, while the larger creatures would physically attack and smash the buildings and people.
It was at that moment that Aidan saw one of the riders on a small orange dragon get incinerated by one of Malachi's spells. The creature roared a mournful noise and veered off, away from the battlefield.
"That's it!" Aidan yelled. "Slay the riders!"
All three mages began to run towards the bulk of the fighting, screaming, "Slay the riders!"
Unfortunately, a large dragon noticed them at about the same time as everyone else.
It began to fly behind them, far faster than they could run, and caught up right as they reached the back of the staff and wand building.
It landed, creating a wall with its body that none of the mages could escape from.
Eleanor was the first to react.
"Mahor-"
She was cut off as the dragon's tail flicked her small body into the building behind them. She fell to the ground, unmoving.
Aidan's heart stopped again.
Timothy let out a roar that was half human, half something else, and ran at the rider, yelling a spell as he did.
The dragon's powerful tail hit him once in the hip. There was a sickening crack, and Timothy screamed and fell to the ground.
"Only one left." The rider said.
Somehow in that moment, Aidan realized all of his surroundings. The dragon was brown and black, serpentine in shape, and very large. The rider was clothed all in black, even over his face. He looked like a man Aidan had once seen that came from the desert to the south of Gurvinite. His voice was gravelly and deep. Aidan was sure that if the man flexed his clothes would rip open from the muscles that seemed to be concealed there.
"May I have the pleasure of knowing who I am about to slay?"
Aidan's fear began to be replaced with anger.
"My name is Aidan Rune, and I am not afraid of you."
"No? Well then fear my dragon!" The creature raised its head so that it was directly above the young mage.
Aidan yelled out the first spell that came to his head.
"Yok!"
He had meant to make the rider fall forward off the dragon, but that was not what the magic wanted to do.
He heard glass shatter behind him, and then a hole appeared in the building.
Something was in his hands. He looked down out of desperation to see what it was.
It was Marcus Thunderheart's Soulrock.
It was the Phoenix Ring.
Without thinking, Aidan slipped it on.
` The world disappeared just as the mouth of the beast was about to close.
7
Aidan waited for his life to end, he knew it wouldn't be painful. The dragon's mouth would simply close, and then it would be over.
Nothing happened.
Finally, Aidan opened his eyes. He was in the village center.
Not the center of Fort Phoenix, the center of a village so small it didn't have a name, just a few miles from the great city of Allenna.
Aidan slowly turned, his mind spinning, and stared at each building in turn. The first thing he saw was the blacksmith's, the hole in the roof had been repaired, there was a new anvil that cost more than the rest of the village outside, and smoke was coming out the chimney.
The next building was a farm, Aidan recognized as a place that had been condemned for the roof falling in, killing the residents. It was in perfect repair, with a whimsical little barn on the side.
It was home, but it wasn't. And it was completely empty of anything living.
Where am I? Is this paradise?
Aidan turned suddenly, and began to run up the path that led to the most familiar place in the world.
He stopped before crossing over the hill that was hiding the orphanage. His orphanage.
What if it isn't the same? What if no one is there? Said a small but infuriatingly persistent part of his mind.