Firebreather: Flames of the uprising

Witch(1)

     The point of no return was a volcanic mountain range close to the desert. It was given such a name because the desert in which the range led to was said to be endless, no one who had ever entered it had come out. Even close to the range it was said to be a land of death no one lived near there, it was rumoured that anyone who stayed close for too long would undoubtedly die. Drage had no idea exactly what he should be looking for there but that was where the magical map had pointed to so he was heading there to see what laid in store for him. Drage set off on shriller taking to the skies, during the past two years shriller had gotten faster than ever, which made the journey that was supposed to take days on foot to be completed in a matter of hours. Drage nudged shriller and she flew above the clouds to avoid prying eyes, Drage had never forgotten that he was still on the run from Ra-Aghul, although he was stronger and more confident he was not strong enough to confront the king of the fire-breathers yet. Drage remembers Fenn telling him that there used to be several powerful kingdoms that had powerful knights and sorcerers in the land before but they were all destroyed by Ra-Aghul leaving only scattered towns and villages, any attempt at gathering together to recreate a kingdom was met with merciless destruction. In the skies, Drage could see the scattered settlement and chaotic settlements below and couldn’t help but wonder about the prosperous kingdoms in the stories his mother had once told him, how everyone was happy the wars and attacks were few and everyone could eat to their fill. Drage was sure the stories weren’t real after all in his short life he had seen the ugliness and darkness of the human heart but sometimes he couldn’t but wonder and fantasize about it and wonder if he could make it all come true after all magic was real and wasn’t it supposed to help achieve ridiculous dreams. Drage smiled deprecatingly and shook his head getting rid of his ridiculous thoughts, right now he was still being hunted by the most dangerous man in the land the destroyer of kingdoms, countless powerful leaders who were survivors of the previous kingdoms and wanted to rebuild their homes have clashed with Ra-Aghul countless times and they were all crushed to the point that no one, no matter their dreams or how bad life was had the guts to even think about rebelling against him. Looking at the grounds below Drage couldn't help but feel sad, he didn't know why but he felt he should do something as if it was his responsibility. Drage closed his eyes and suppressed his chaotic thoughts and started practising the breathing method given by Fenn it was supposed to calm the mind and mobilize the nutrients in the blood forging the muscles making one stronger, it was a very painful exercise but Drage didn’t mind he wasn’t going to waste any moment to get stronger every moment he spent on the run with Ra-Aghul being alive was enough torment for him already.

      A few hours later it was already approaching sunset, shriller roared waking the sleeping Drage who was exhausted as a result of his practice. Drage looked ahead and he saw the mountain rage ahead, the volcanoes were still emitting grey smoke and heat as if ready to erupt at any given moment. The closer he got to the volcanic range the more the heat and smoke grew, even Drage felt a little bit uncomfortable, he was sure no normal human could survive living here, that was why he puzzled when he perceived a house stationed on top of the central volcano. The house was invisible to the naked eye but Drage could perceive it, ever since that Ritual magic he had used to reconnect with shriller, he had been gaining more abilities that his dragon had, for example, Shriller’s perverse perception that ignored most illusion and magic effects. Drage’s silver eyes focused on the area he perceived the house and soon the illusion was broken revealing the quaint wooden house that stood there dispersing the grey volcanic ash that was supposed to submerge it.

      In the house above, a hooded female figure with gorgeous brown eyes stared out the window with curiosity at the dragon and its rider that was closing in on the volcanic range, she was curious why there was a fire-breather heading towards this part of the land, in her cognition no one should be able to see the house or know that she was living in the area. Suddenly she panicked, she felt the illusion enchantment that covered her abode was destroyed,’ but that was impossible’ she thought frantically, although she did not major in illusions she was sure that not just anyone could break her enchantment like that, what more it seemed the enchantment had been broken from a distance away. Looking at the fire-breather getting closer the curiosity she held in her gaze before had turned to anger, it didn’t matter how it had happened, what matters now was that she had destroyed the rider and dragon coming towards her, she had no plans to meet Ra-Aghul again after their unpleasant business some years back, and so the rider had to die. Although she was not really one who knew how to fight but she was confident she could take the life of the intruder after all this was her turf and it was a favourable environment for her. She opened the door and stepped out into the ash-filled environment her body poised and her eyes focused on the incoming rider.