Mega Dragon: Harbinger of Death

UNSETTLED

Atlan galloped at top speed atop his horse. The dense wind threatened to pull his hair off his head. Even as sharp as the winds were, Atlan’s eyes were wide open, focused on the road ahead. Winds as strong as this one was never good news. Or maybe he was just riding too fast. The road ahead would tell. The night was dark. The smoke that started to fill the air had abducted whatever light that tried to escape. But it was a road he knew well, so navigating through it wasn’t so difficult. That and Atlan’s strong sense of perception. The closer he got, the denser the eerie feeling he perceived. He was still unsure of what it was he felt. It wasn’t fear, more of worry. Whatever was ahead of him was certainly very dangerous.

As he got close to Draka, the town south of Kerra, the smoke intensified, accompanied by flame embers. It had begun already. It felt he began to ride faster. He certainly meant to, but his horse could not have gone any quicker than that. Any faster and he would be flying. He drew his sword as he spotted an egork on his way, and in one swing he took its head off cleanly. The number of egorks that he encountered increased drastically as he got closer, and he made sure to kill every last one of them. But what were egorks doing so far away from their base? It wasn’t unusual for them to encounter a handful, but an army of Egorks this far was a first. Atlan knew quite well what that many egorks signified – mega dragons!

Atlan stormed the city, killing any egork in his path. The city was already in ruins. Houses that were not completely burned were barely hanging onto whatever support still remained. People ran in panic and there were few soldiers in sight. Most of them would have fallen at the hands of the Egorks. Atlan frantically searches for a soldier. They were the only that could be remotely calm enough to respond to his questions. They needed to round the people up and the panic that filled the air would only work against them. They needed a voice.

Atlan looked ahead to see one of the soldiers pinned down by an Egork. Before it could deliver a fatal blow, Atlan flung his sword at it at struck it hard in its head. He ran quickly to the soldier. “Where is the chief?” Atlan asked as calmly as he could. The man was still in shock.

“We don’t know sir. The entire town is in disarray. Many of us have…” he said. Atlan was impressed he could respond but it would seem that that was as far as he could go. His airs were filled with despair. Many of his comrades had fallen before him. If Atlan had not shown up when he did, he would have joined them as well. But maybe it would have been better for him that way. What exactly was he living for? They were all going to die anyway. An army of Egorks that large could not be stopped by their meager forces. All sorts of thoughts ran through his head that he couldn’t hear Atlan beckon to him until he clapped his face, spurring him out of his reverie.

“Listen. I know you’ve seen a lot, but it’ll be alright. I’m here now,” Atlan said.

“But, you’re just one man. What could you possibly…” the man said before he noticed the trail of Egork bodies that Atlan left in his wake. “You’re one of the Elites!” the soldier exclaimed.

“Atlan Deharas to be precise,”

The soldier fell on his face in awe. “My apologies, my lord. I didn’t recognize you.”

“It’s alright. I need someone to take command. Gather everyone towards the Northern edge of the Village. Civilians, soldiers, everyone. But don’t lead them to Kerra. We’ll use the shelter we’re building in the woods,” Atlan said.

“But sir, it’s far from finished,” he said, but Atlan’s silence after that was enough of a message to him. “Yes, sir!”

“Good. Now get moving. I’ll try to help as many as I can,” Atlan said. He rallied as many people as he could find towards the shelter. Many were injured. It was a difficult ordeal, but not one he could not handle on his own. Until he heard a cracking sound in the sky. An all too familiar sound, followed by the echoes of death – the roar of a dragon.

The remnants of Draka town were petrified with fear. While Atlan was formidable against Egorks, he was just as helpless against dragons without the right equipment. Whatever hope they had with his arrival vanished just as quickly as it came.

“Where are the dragon spears?” Atlan asked the soldier before him.

“Destroyed. The Egorks hit our armory first. That was what threw us off guard. We don’t even know how they infiltrated the village undetected,” the soldier added.

Atlan had a few ideas about how that might have happened. He had faced a few tricky ones in the past. It certainly was no coincidence. They were preparing the way for the dragon’s attack. On the bright side, Kerra would have been alerted of its presence and preparations should be on the way. If Atlan could lure it close enough, then maybe there was a chance that they could attack it from Kerra. Its size made it easier to target after all.

“Change of plans. Take the survivors to the other end of the village, as far away from Kerra as possible. I’ll distract it from you,” Atlan said.

Normally, dragons would go for the larger numbers. The more destruction it could wreck, the more excited it was. Unless of course, there was a presence more challenging. Atlan released as much of his aura as he possibly could. It was a skill that highly trained warriors possessed – a way of breaking their opponent’s spirit. But this time, Atlan was playing bait with his life, waiting for the dragon to bite, without biting him of course. And just as he hoped, the dragon responded to his challenge.