“WHAT!” Peter yells.

  “Keep it down. We don’t have time to panic. The dragons are coming and the elf king is still missing.” Philip says.

  “I’ve sent multiple scouting parties out to look for elf king,” James says.

  Peter sighs “Out of all time to attack they choose now…James I need you to gather are best solders and are weakest. We can use the weakest as bait to give an opportunity for are stronger casters to land an attack.” Peter says.

  “Good idea” James says.

  James then leaves to talk to the troops. Peter pulls Philip aside. “Do we have any idea where Loka is at all?” Peter asks.

  “Unfortunately not…” Philip says.

  Peter rests his head in his hand and sighs. “Should we flee?” Philip asks.

  “Flee? If the elf king returns to find that we have abandoned the kingdom, we are sure to be hunted down. AHHH! I don’t know what to do and we’re running out of time…” Peter says.

  WHOOOSH!

  “What do we have here?” The elf king asks.

  He looks at Tartarus from a distance.

  “I don’t remember that side of it being covered in ice.” The elf kings says.

  The elf kings flies in for a closer look. He shoots out his source in waves to clear the island in one go. “Where are the dragons?” The elf kings wonders.

  He calls back his source flies down to the ice shore. He reaches out and touches the ice. It instantly spreads in his hand. He blast it off. “This ice is coming from an art…Loka, but what would he have been doing here? Either I don’t sense any dragons on the island, so where are they? “The elf king wonders.

  He quickly flies around the island to make sure. “I don’t even see a new crater sense I’ve last been here. What do these beasts do all day?” the Elf king thinks. He gets to the center of Tartarus and sends out another source wave to clear the island, but it’s no use. No dragon is there.

  “They’re really not here, not even the queen…no…did they finally launch an attack when I left?” The elf’s hands tighten to a fist as he wears a face of disdain and disgust. “Those bastards are still running from me!” The elf kings yells as he displays a childish fit. He looks back to Eaven and blasts off towards it.

  “Get down!” Bron orders.

  He creates a stone roof above them. The cyclops warriors all get down as the dragons fly over head.

  BOOOOOOOM!

  BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

  BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

  Bron peaks his head out to see if the swarm of dragon has passed.

  “What’s going on?”

  “The dragons just passed overhead. They’re moving faster than expected.” Bron says as he looks at the sky. “We don’t have much time till the sun goes down. We better get going.” Bron says.

  That night, the dragons arrive in Lavek. The cries of the people echo in the stomach of the glutens dragons that feast on their fear. The builders crumble and factories explode. Mother and fathers try to distract the dragons as they tell their kids to run as far away as possible.

  “MOM! NOO!” the kids yells.

  “It’s ok honey, we will be ok. Just run into the forest and don’t look back. Please, just remember to get along with your sister the best you can,” the mothers says with a tear filled smile.

  The as the dragon’s roars echo, the kid starts to run faster and faster away. The mother smiles as she watches them run. “Am ready…take me away. Please let this suffering end…” the mother thinks. She turns on last time to look at her kids, but soon they’re gone. A dragon flies by and with one swipe of his claw, they’re nothing more than a pool of blood.

  “NOO-” the mother’s cries are silenced by an instant death.

  “AHAHHAH!” Mayhem laughs at as he swallows the mother whole. He blasts straight into the forest. His speed uproots the trees. He stops and blasts the trees with fire and with the flap of his blood covered wings he sends the blazing trees into the city. Smoke and the smell of flesh soon encapsulate the city. The cries come to a completer silence as every living thing is the city is erased.

  “How does it feel to be FREE!” Mayhem yells.

  The dragons cheer and fly back up to him. “Let our conquest continue! We will create crater as large as the biggest lakes and fill them with the blood of our enemies!” Mayhem declares.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  BOOOOM!

  BOOOOOOOOM!

  BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

  The dragon pack flies off, straight for Paradise.

  “Alright kid, this is how it’s going to go. Am going to forge source metal chains for you to use. While I forge those chains, you’ll watch the coast for Loka. Make sure you see him before he sees you. The second you do, you are to get his attention and then retreat. You will lead him into the jungle to fight him properly. Fighting at close range soot you best. You’ll whittle him down as much as you can, while trying your best to wrap the source chain around him. Once’s his tired out and restricted, I’ll come in and deal with the cleanup while you rest? The more you keep the pressure on him, the less likely he’s to notice me. I’ll be station farther away, charging up my spear. If you ever think you're in danger of dying, just yell out my name and I’ll fire. Understands kid?” Cinder says.

  Rev nods his head “yeah, I understand.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you deal the final blow. I admit seeing the Loka faced with death will be a special sight indeed.” Cinder says.

  Rev gathers some supplies, then heads for the coast while Cinder returns to the palace.

  “The troops are almost ready,” Philip says.

  “Good; have you heard anything about the elf king?” Peter asks.

  “No, nothing yet unfortunately.” Philip Responds.

  Peter sighs. “How much longer until the dragons are set to arrive?” Peter asks.

  “Well, according to a distress signal sent out by Lavek. It won’t be more than a day or two before they arrive here.” Philip says.

  “alright finish getting the troop ready,” Peter says.

  Philip nods his head and leaves.

  “So I guess your planing to escape before things get lit ablaze?” James asks.

  Peter shows no emotion. “I rather be burnt to a crisp than have that sadistic man child come after my head.” Peter says.

  “Sure…When will we be heading out?” James asks.

  “As soon as the troop are ready. We have already sent some out to prepare in the old bunkers. It might be difficult to lead them there sense there now coming from the south, but we can’t afford to have Paradise fall into ruins. We hope the scout teams will be enough to lead them slowly away into the desert.” Peter responds.

  “And if it doesn’t work?” James asks.

  “Then Paradise falls,” Peter responds.

  South west of Paradise, a scouting unit makes their way through the hills of the sandy desert. The dragons are currently just about to head over the first of many mountains that lie in their way. meanwhile Loka is taking on the open ocean. The Ocean had become too rough to be on a small icy sheet. So Loka had constructed a small ship made of wood and ice. He repurpose his blade to become a motor of sorts. Using the stored source in it to propel the ship forward. “Need to go fast; the dragons should only be a couple of days away from hitting Paradise by now. If I can get there in time and absorb the source in all the dragon corpse, I might be able to launch a sneak attack on the elf king. Either way, I need to regain my source and there’s no faster way of doing it than that. Loka thinks. Cinder grips his spear as he watches Rev bolt to the coast. He lets out a heavy breath before heading into the palace. He makes his way down into the library and opens the secret room. “Where is it” Cinder thinks. Then he spots it: the source metal cube that the hellscape ring had been in had been opened.

  “What the fuck” Cinder says.

  He holds the cube, then searches the room for the ring. “Who opened this” Cinder thought. He takes the cube and walks up and out of the library. “Phin is already gone to look for Bron…” Cinder thought. He sighs and walks to the armory.

  “They really did set off with more than half the warriors. Seems they are heavily armed. All that to look for me and that dark elf child, how strange,” Cinder says.

  He walks out into the nearby blacksmith. He places some coals in the furnaces and starts it up. He then absorbs as much source from the source metal cube as he can and puts it in the furnace. He searches through the different mold until he finds the one he’s looking for. He then wind blast it to heat up the coal faster until the source metal begins to melt through the coals and down into the chain mold. He cools the source metal quickly, then releases them from the mold. In the end, the chain is about 12 ft in length. He shapes the chains to his liking, then wraps the chain around his arm. He pumps the chain full of source until it's a dark crimson.

  “That should be enough,” Cinder says.

  He then gets out a carving tool and writes in source inscriptions. “How does that go again” Cinder says as he tries to remember. After some trial and error, Cinder remembers and inscribes a source drain on every chain link besides the first four to make sure the user isn’t affected. “only took an hour…or two. Either way, not bad,” Cinder thinks to himself. He puts the chain in a back and makes his way out of the palace too and to the designated spot to drop off the chain.

  “This is some bullshit man. Why did we have to be sent out to lear the dragons away? They’re practicality sacrificing us. You know what man what’s stopping me from turning around right now or going off?” The elf scout says.

  “If you turn back now and go to the Paradise, they will have you killed for treason and it’s not like you can go anywhere else. We’re in the desert and there're hundreds of miles of mountains blocking us in. Honestly, dying to a dragon is a pretty good way to die out here. It’s not like they gave us very much food.” The other scout says.

  The first scout scuffs, “I trained my life for this and this is what I get. Those stupid Blessed elves get to be the only ones treated with respect in the forces. And for what? Because they were born with more source than everyone else. It’s complete bullshit, man!” The elf complains.

  “You think I don’t know that, idiot? You think anyone of us want to being doing this shit. We’re here for the same reason you are. Because we don’t have a chose…We were born to be sacrificed. Failures given a so called honorable purpose…” The scout says.

  The other scouts drape their heads. The atmospheres somehow managed to get even worse than before. Back at the jungle of Eaven, Cinder makes his way to the drop off point and once there he begins to prepare for Loka’s arrival. He places the bag containing the chain on the ground as he begins to begins to clear out a small area in the jungle. Trying not to make it to abusive, he set up a lookout point on the mountainside where he should be able to see Rev coming. Once set up, he simply waits with his spear in hand. Rev in the last 2 hours has made his way to the top of a mountain by the ocean coast. It’s a steep fall off straight into the ocean. Rev floats his way down from cliff side to cliff side. He looks for a good spot to oversee the ocean. “I need to see him before he sees me, but it’s not like he’s going to try to go for the kill shot when he does see me. He wants me alive, so I’ll have to taunt him into chasing me. I think I remember the path Cinder lay out.” Rev thinks. He finally makes his way to a good lookout point and takes a much need rest. He doesn’t want to admit it, but his body aches from the excessive use of the speed skill. It makes it so much easy to get around, but the cost is heavy. “I should have at least a day or two to rest before he shows up.” Rev thinks. Rev takes out a meal small meal he prepared and begins to enjoy his snack as he looks out into the raging ocean. The final rush and wait begins on all sides.