Chapter 149: Hot Pursuit

The Nexus. Just outside of the South-Eastern edge of the North Rythian Forests. Local Time: 1700 Hours.Emma

[‘QUEST’ Time Elapsed: 76 Hours. Time Remaining: 92 Hours]

[SURVEY PROGRESS… 12.5%. Estimated Time to Completion… 21 Hours. Data Fidelity: Nominal. Network Integrity: Stable. Primary Objective… Pending.]

[Crystal Shards… Not found.]

[AMETHYST DRAGON… Not found.]

“Welp. Progress is progress. But as long as we keep up this pace, we should be on schedule.” I let out a tired sigh, gesturing to a screen that had once again caught Thalmin off guard.

Though it wasn’t as if he was still in awe of either the screen itself or battlenet, nor was he surprised by the disappointing lack of progress, no.

In fact, this squint… was a reaction I was used to seeing from both friends and family back home.

It was a squint of judgement — whether by intention or biological reflexes — at the horrors of my personal preferences. Or to put it more accurately, at a certain screen setting that seemed to be the source of so many grievances — .

I’d practically flashbanged Thalmin, because unlike the brightness of the day, the growing evening had since sensitized his eyes to the dark.

“I much prefer it when the ink itself is what glows against the natural tones of the parchment.” He mumbled out, my eyes narrowing at the allusions to the existence of a magical . “I don’t know how you humans do it, though I do know of more than a handful of species who have quite a towards the light…” He muttered that latter line out in much the same way he did with the rest of his inside jokes; a trend that I was slowly learning to brush off.

“In any case, we should be done with a full sweep of the forest by 1400 hours tomorrow. After which, we’ll have enough intel to dictate our next course of action. Hopefully we’ll find a stray shard by then, but if not… just under two days should be enough to snipe the dragon, no?”

“We’d have to , Emma.” Thalmin responded with a sigh.

“Yeah, yeah. But that’s what is for! We have eyes in the sky looking not just at the ground, but the airspace above—”

[PRIORITY ALERT! MULTIPLE AERIAL CONTACTS ENTERING THE AO. APPROACH VECTOR CONFIRMED: GRID SECTOR A-1-4-D; NORTHWEST QUADRANT!]

My eyes lit up, as did Thalmin’s. All prior thoughts took a backseat to protocol, as operational algorithms drilled into me during drone operator training were immediately brought to the forefront.

“Active camo and evasive flight paths, now.”

[Acknowledged.]

“Defer active ops and initiate threat-range scans.”

[Acknowledged. Instructions relayed. Network Integrity: Stable. Redirecting assets. Standby…]

The map shifted as the game changed in a matter of seconds. The familiar top-down perspective of the forest was promptly replaced by a panoramic view of the skies immediately in front of the drones, as individual status readouts, flight paths, and flight instrument indicators came to join the collage of tactical displays that had Thalmin’s eyes darting left and right.

I couldn’t blame him, though.

I had the same reaction despite the false confidence mil-sim titles had instilled in me.

That’s why drone operator training took a sizable chunk of basic. The role of wasn’t inherited but earned. Owing in no small part to the tried and true grind of experience, forged through the accumulation of FPV and C&C hours.

The rest was good, old-fashioned neural plasticity, allowing one to get used to perceiving the world beyond the restriction of one’s own two eyes.

[Fleet Redirection… complete. New flight paths… mapped. Network Integrity: Stable. Awaiting Orders.]

“QSR: Identify contacts.”

[Collating… Processing… Confirming… 3 Large Contacts… 12 Light Contacts accompanying in formation.]

[TRACK ID: Winged Heavy 1-1, 1-2, 1-3]

[TRACK ID: Winged Light 2-1 through 2-12.]

“QSR: Signature profile.”

[Visual: Winged Heavy 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, inconsistent with AMETHYST DRAGON and other recorded flight-capable species in the WORKING SPECIES REGISTRY. Winged Light 2-1 through 2-12 consistent with Local Aerial Asset: ‘DRAKE RIDER’.]

[Thermal: Elevated, inconsistent with known aircraft. Consistent with local mounted air asset analogues.]

[Mass/Volume: Large Contacts approx. 5 - 10 metric tons. Smaller Contacts approx. 400 - 700 kilograms.]

[Payload: Underbelly Stowage Compartments Noted on Large Contacts. Repositioning for better analysis. Standby… Parsing… Updating visual feed… Analyzing… Design and configuration congruent with cargo/passenger cabins. Summary: Potential personnel and/or equipment transport.]

“QSR: Tactical Profile.”

[Unable to parse… Insufficient contextual data. Profile is beneath acceptable inference limits.]

“QSR: Tactical Readout.”

[Winged Light 2-1 through 2-12. Ranged Air-to-Air Assets:

> 24 Spears; Ammo Count: 24.

> 12 Bows; Ammo Count: Variable, approx. 30.

> Melee Arms: 12 Swords.

> Armor: Plate Steel.

ADDENDUM: Possibly augmented with exotic mana-materials and radiation. Capabilities unknown.]

“Maintain current instructions. Continue monitoring.”

[Acknowledged.]

“Live feed readout. I want to see where this goes.”

[Acknowledged.]

Our eyes remained glued to the screen as the situation developed surprisingly quickly.

The three large contacts simply dropped off their wood-and-steel-reinforced ‘cabins,’ unlatching leather and steel straps before departing without much fanfare.

Meanwhile, 8 of the 12 drake riders departed soon after, acting as escorts for their large but lumbering cousins.

The initial shock and preliminary concern that hit us eventually died down, especially as the remaining drake riders landed on the forest floor, taking up ‘resting’ positions with their wings flared and their heads tucked. Their two legs eventually folded in on themselves as well, giving them a sort of ‘loaf-like’ shape once their wings too were nestled beneath them.

“Must be another group of adventurers.” I offered. “Sym mention how he encountered a few dead parties in the forest.”

“No. These must be men-at-arms, or a proper mercenary company at the very least. No adventurer, no matter how ostentatious, would ever in their right mind charter a .” Thalmin countered.

“Right. Well… that might complicate things then.” I acknowledged with a sigh.

“I don’t see anyone resembling a proper noble in the camp, though.” Thalmin offered, as he gestured for me to zoom in on several people down beneath the canopy. “There may be from the looks of it. But I highly doubt that. No noble would oversee an operation of a diminutive scale. I’d wager this quest is being led by a few chosen ones, if not more.” The prince shrugged. “Either way, what this means for us is simple — expect slow progress on behalf of these interlopers. But given their numbers and outfitting, we shouldn’t leave anything to chance. You said we had 21 more hours until the forest is fully surveyed, correct?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Then this changes nothing. Just make haste if you can, Emma. If we are to initiate ‘Plan B,’ as you call it, then we must act swiftly. We cannot allow these interlopers to take the dragon before we can extract what we need from it.”

“Right. Okay. I’ll get the drones back in their original flight paths. Though if those drakes ever take flight again, I have to reconfigure them to more evasive flight patterns, if only to avoid detection.”

“Understandable.” Thalmin nodded.

However, before he could move on, a question suddenly spawned.

“Before—”

“I’d like to—”

Or more accurately, questions simultaneously, as the both of us spoke at more or less the same time.

Thalmin

“You go first.” Emma urged.

“This be a bit of a tangent, so I’d suggest you go first, Emma.” I countered politely.

“Trust me, mine’s a tangent as well, so—”

“To avoid an endless loop, will take that offer.” I interjected with a harsh breath, before gesturing to the tablet in front of us. “That entire… . Between your commands and the messages on your artifices, is how you typically communicate between you and your swarm?”

“Yeah.” Emma nodded. “Remember how I changed the scenery in the ZNK-19? This is more or less the same concept, just scaled up.”

I narrowed my eyes, pondering a response as I once more leaned into the manaless window. A window… into the eyes and ears of what was frankly a .

Thoughts upon thoughts abounded one atop the other, with practical concerns clashing against the shore of intrigue, eroding what was already firm suspicion into outright conspiracy about the nature of Earthrealm.

Or more accurately, the nature of their military capabilities.

However, in spite of everything, all I allowed out of my mouth was a simple acknowledgement. “I see.”

Instead, I took a moment to pause, to ponder, as I watched through the looking glass at the world through the eyes of a swarm queen.

Each ‘perspective’ was composited — a mosaic of sights that resembled the world as seen through the eyes of bees, wasps, and any number of oddly eyed insects, their vision as alien as the manaless artifice through which it was relayed.

I let out another breath before shifting my perspective back to Emma. “I simply feel the need to ask, as the abilities displayed here seem… , practiced, rehearsed, and dare I say it, second nature. This wasn’t a simple command relayed to a static sightseer. This was the direct control of multiple manaless golems, as seamlessly as if they were an extension of yourself.”

“Yeah, well, that’s because it kind of is! As in, mental adaptability is something that’s useful for us. You put someone in charge of a bunch of far-seers in a building, and they eventually come to ‘feel’ as if the building itself is an extension of them, you know? Same goes for helmsmen and ships, pilots and aircraft, and so on and so forth. Drone operators — i.e. most frontline personnel — are trained similarly. We have to integrate seamlessly into battlenet, because a second’s hesitation or delay might be what makes or breaks an engagement.”

I took a moment to ponder that, to truly the seemingly spiritual connection between the human and their constructs.

In a sense, it wasn’t unlike the bond between myself and Emberstride, or the soulstitched or soulbound bonds in many other battlemages, warriors, and knights.

Yet as similar as it was, there was still… an unnerving to it.

Whatever the case was, I simply acknowledged the swarm queen’s sentiments with a nod before throwing the proverbial talking stick back to her court.

“Your turn.”

Emma

“So, you mentioned . I’ve heard this term thrown around , especially at the adventuring guild. But no one’s really… it to me. So I've just kinda been going off of context clues and what we’ve learned about gifted commoners so far. Are just another, more ‘fancier’ way of saying ‘gifted commoners’ or…?”

“Correct, Emma.” Thalmin nodded. “Although, the term ‘chosen one’ is more often synonymous with gifted commoners who enter more paths. As opposed to, say, our elf server in the grand dining hall who’s only committed to using his magic for parlor tricks.”

“How big of a threat are we talking about here? Because up to this point, I’ve only gone up against mages in challenges and whatnot. A proper fight is something I’ve only encountered once with Mal’tory and that was—”

Thalmin snickered, stopping me in my tracks.

“What’s so funny?”

“If you survived an encounter with a , I doubt you’ll have any issues against a mere , Emma.” Thalmin bellowed out confidently, patting me on the shoulder. “Though, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be on our toes, of course. I’ve met many a chosen one who punched well above their weight class — using enchanted weapons and tools as crutch for their magical limitations, seamlessly integrating with them. To the point where the typical commoner might even mistake them for a mage at first glance. Though, typically, once you see a chosen one in action, you’ll know exactly what to expect. Since in the same vein that are ‘gifted’ with a single narrow sliver of magical acumen, so too are chosen ones confined to a very small sliver of magical potential.”

“Right.” I nodded, my mind through the implications of this newfound intel. “Just so we’re on the same page, supposing there’s a guy who’s able to do fire magic, he’d more or less be to just fire magic, right?”

“That’s simplifying the matter, but for our purposes, you’ve struck the kobold on the head there, Emma. There are, however, always to the rule. Such is the case with the jack-of-all-trades. But those are exceptionally rare, and usually only seen in illegitimate offspring between nobles and commoners.” The prince explained bluntly. “Even then, these individuals are still very much orders of magnitude weaker than true mages, but I digress. Suffice it to say, Emma, we’ll be fine.” Thalmin beamed, thumping his chest. “Look who you’ve partnered with, after all.”

“Yeah, fair enough, my prince.” I chuckled.

The next few moments were finally punctuated by silence as we watched the camp grow tent by tent.

The drones counted at least a hundred or so contacts, and as dusk fully settled, quite a few peculiarities popped up.

Most notable among these was the erection of some sort of altar at least half a click from the camp, with offerings wrapped in parchment carefully placed on each pedestal.

“Erm… care to fill me in on , Thalmin?” I pointed.

“Oh, that’s just an offering, Emma.” The prince explained casually.

To which I could only respond with an accentuated cock of my head. “Elaborate.”

“An offering to placate the forest itself, Emma. To ward off potential… reactions to what could otherwise be perceived as an incursion of its territory.”

I blinked rapidly, cocking my head. “Is that an thing, or a superstition?”

“You’ve interacted with the forest face-to-face with one of its avatars, have you not, Emma?” The prince countered, as it took a second for my mind to finally register what the prince was getting at.

“OH RIGHT! THE WEREBEAST!” I attempted to snap my fingers, only to elicit an unsatisfying motion that puzzled the lupinor. “Right, yeah, I remember now. So that actually the forest talking through it, then? It never occurred to me to follow up on that, thinking it was just like, the werebeast being all high and mighty about himself.”

“The werebeast might’ve merely been the most convenient enforcer at the time, I suppose. Though I can’t say for certain. Frankly, a forest is often an enigmatic force of nature unto itself. With some primitive cultures even going so far as to consider them gods of sorts.” Thalmin shrugged. “Though, given His Eternal Majesty refused to consume them — instead forging some sort of an alliance or some such — I doubt they’re anywhere the level of deities.”



“So what can expect from the forest?” I immediately shot back, my mind still very much in rapid response and assessment mode. “Are we looking at, like… an or something? Vines and tendrils shooting up, moss to consume us whole, sinkholes forming, and slime creatures attacking?”

“We’re not facing a , Emma.” Thalmin responded with a hefty chuckle. “If anything, we have no need to worry given the makeup of our current party. Forests typically do not target small groups, so long as they do not actively seek out their destruction. Moreover, with being effectively lifeless in its eyes, there’s even less chance of it targeting . Indeed, the presence of a far larger, more unsightly group in its Northwest region, will take up much of its attention.”

I narrowed my eyes at Thalmin, crossing my arms to make up for the lack of facial expression to convey a certain level of in the prince’s claims. “So… burning a good few acres of forest doesn’t count as , huh?” I chuckled darkly, alluding to a certain fight against a vorpal chimera.

The prince surprisingly didn’t immediately counter this with an excuse or a loophole. Instead, he let out a nervous chuckle, a sly grin forming on his face in short order. “Heh, well… you could say I the potential consequences of my actions in the heat of the moment.”

I placed a hand on the prince’s shoulder, gripping it tightly. “Spoken like a true orbital ordnance officer.”

The prince’s brows quirked at this, possibly at the EVI’s attempts to translate the joke, but I counted it as fair game given the inside jokes he’d been leveling at me for the past week.

Things wound down after a few more back-and-forths, our eyes still very much monitoring the situation over in the camp from above, until we finally noticed something that caught our attention.

“Huh. That’s a heck of a lot of cheese.” I noted.

“I guess they had a run-in with our new friend.” Thalmin smiled brightly. “He’s quite a salesman, so it stands to reason that he must’ve made quite an impression on our interlopers here. Probably sold most of his stock from the looks of it.”

“Yeah! Honestly, good for him.” I beamed as I quickly patted the pouch that held the little notebook the kobold had gifted me.

. I thought brightly to myself.

Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 29. Ilphius and Kamil’s Room. Local Time: 1730 Hours

Ilphius

“Kamil.” I announced firmly, making my presence known with a of the doors. “It’s time you came out of hiding.”

…

Yet no answer came.

I let out a frustrated sigh, clenching my fists, before unleashing in the form of disruption, disorientation, and dispelling magics which would’ve caused even the most stoic of mages to lose their footing.

The result was immediate.

Though not in the way I’d expected.

A voice strained from within one of the corners of the room as the lazy layabout finally uncloaked, focusing his two beady eyes on me.

“I’m guessing your second and final with Lady Airit did not go as planned?” The coward spoke with a lizard-like lisp, as a smug, self-satisfied giggle colored his voice.

“At least had the courage and mental fortitude to chances.” I rebutted. “At least exist in the material world.” I continued as I leveled both ire and frustration firmly against the wayward noble.

“Yes, yes. Exist you do. Perhaps you should allow me to return to my world then—”

“Stop.” I urged, my voice colored not by desperation, but authority.

did the trick, as the barely present lizard reacted without a second’s hesitation. His instinctive response to authority, authority, was laid bare to me.

“Whilst Lady Airit may lack vision, playing things as her tends to do, am unwilling to let this opportunity slip us by. This is why I am reassessing the situation, and requesting cooperation in enacting my plans.” I stated firmly, eliciting a disgusting and debased of the lizard’s tongue as he seemed to my occasional tongue-flared hiss.

“I sssseeeee.” He responded jeeringly before stretching his arms and legs lazily in all directions. “Convince me.”

“?!”

“You heard what I said: convince me. I have no horse in this race, Lady Ilphius. The worst you can do is to interrupt my sleep and scatter my belongings… but it isn’t as if you aren’t already doing that now, are you?” He chuckled derisively, causing my whole body to tense and from the inside out.

“When my plan succeeds—”

“.”

“No, it does.” I seethed. “When it does succeed… I will be in a better position to retake the peer group’s throne from that wretched merchant. And when that time comes, I will make sure to elevate our group, to push us forward, and to place us in a position where we can challenge the earthrealmer’s group for a position in the house we were robbed of.”

…

“Sounds quite ambitious…”

“Indeed it is.” I acknowledged.

“And by ambitious I mean , Lady Ilphius.” The man . “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to do this on your own.”

“I’ll unmask Teleos Lophime’s secret. I will uncover what it is he’s hiding in the healing wing.” I offered.

“Hmm… you’re speaking my language. Though you’ll have to give me more than just juicy drama to eat up.” Kamil chuckled darkly.

“Coin.” I spat out. “Coin, you lazy, whiny, layabout—”

“Carte blanche.” He countered.

“Whatever spoils we may potentially earn from this escapade, yes.” I pushed forth a secondary counteroffer. To which the man finally relented with a long, drawn-out nod.

“What’s your plan?”

“I there must be that might incriminate the pair. That wretched and tainted avinor is most obviously a beacon of darkness. And the Vunerian? I’ve heard whispers of him slithering off to the libraries for some enigmatic purposes. Our task is to follow these two blighted beasts, and to determine once and for all what devious rule-breaking, or perhaps even schemes they may be up to.”

“Huh.” Kamil responded simply. “That’s easy enough.”

“Indeed, and with your masterful camouflage skills, this will be even more—”

“We’ll start tomorrow then. I’m tired from today’s classes.” He yawned once more.

“No.” I seethed, grabbing him by the half-transparent arm. “We’re starting .”

The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. The Grand Dining Hall. Local Time: 2000 Hours

Ilphius

“.” Kamil interrupted, tugging at my uniform as he did so. “Are you the pair are up to anything—”

“It’s dinner, Kamil. Maybe if we trail them this, we will see just what illicit activities they’re up to.” I intercepted the man’s concerns before he had a chance to fully voice them, as I continued eating, bite by agonizing bite, while maintaining a careful sentry on the pair.

“You know you’re only resorting to such passive actions because without Lady Airit or Lady Ladona, you simply don’t have the power to go toe-to-toe against—”

“quiet!”

Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Hallway. Local Time: 2200 Hours

Ilphius

“It’s curfew now. We have to go back.”

“I was they’d have gone anywhere back to their room! Are you sure we did not follow phantoms? Or maybe we might have missed their subtle exit through some —”

“Yes, I’m , Lady Ilphius. You’re talking to the master of camouflage here.” Kamil responded lazily.

“Alright. We’ll just resume our sentry tomorrow.”

“And if comes of tomorrow?” He countered.

“I have avenues…”

The Next Day

The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. The Grand Dining Hall en Route to ???. Local Time: 0900 Hours

Ilphius

“Still nothing, Lady Ilphius.”

“, Kamil! Look! They’re leaving!”

“And what makes you think they’re not just heading back to their dormitory?”

“Because look—” I pointed urgently at their path. “—they’re taking the main stairwell this time around.”

“Which means exactly?”

“They’re headed to the student lounge.”

“Oh .” Kamil sighed quietly.

The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. Student Lounge. Local Time: 1200 Hours

Ilphius

“And said, ‘Panned cakes! It should be called panned cakes! For the cakes were made in a .’ But my private chef, in their infinite refuses to acknowledge this, pushing forth a narrative of -cakes instead! Tell me, my dear fellows, are the cakes not ? For a cake to be a -cake, it should somehow resemble a pan or in some way—”

“He’s been at this, on the speaker’s chair, for now, Lady Ilphius.” Kamil bemoaned. “Are you certain is what you seek?”

“No… but what of the avinor—”

“She’s been silently reading a book, sipping tea and eating nuts, occasionally being interrupted by the freaks from the fourth nook only to be rebuked. I’ve kept my eye on her this entire time.”

“Patience. Patience, Kamil. We have our evidence.”

The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. En Route to the Library. Local Time: 1400 Hours.

Ilphius

“There it is, there it is! We must follow him!” I urged, as we both silently scouted our way forwards, ducking in illusory magics until the Vunerian had entered that most unholy of places.

We waited for several minutes more until we made our move, walking across the bridge and then entering the den of unspeakable evils to continue our investigation.

Yet upon entry, we were met not by the scurrying of the increasingly pale-blue Vunerian, or any sign of him whatsoever.

Instead, what awaited us was a small fox that looked up at both of us expectantly.

“State your business! Do you wish to browse or to trade?” The fox questioned before moving up to sniff at the both of us, as if our illusory magics weren’t even . “Hmm… neither of you seem to have anything to trade. Rather honestly.”

“How you—”

“I’ve heard it much before, yes yes. Grumble and grumble, moan and whine. Let’s skip to the end now, shall we? Are you here to browse or to trade?”

We both looked at each other before nodding. “Kamil, you—”

“I’ll browse, please.” The man sighed, eliciting a nod from the fox, who simply… vanished the moment I turned to look back.

“I’ll keep an eye on the avinor. We’ll meet for dinner.”

“Right.”

The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. The Grand Dining Hall. Local Time: 1900 Hours

Ilphius

“Well look who finally decided to show up…” I hissed softly at an exhausted-looking Kamil. “Found anything?”

“No. I barely got of that impossible labyrinth!” He seethed. “The deal’s off, by the way. There’s in it for me. The fun’s over.” He crossed his arms. “And I doubt you found anything interesting about the avinor either.”

I moved to speak… but found that I had nothing at all to say. “No, I have not.” I stated plainly. “But I have one final plan to enact…” I offered, garnering the man’s attention.

“...what is it time?”

“The pair, they are both here, are they not?”

“Yes, they are. What of it?”

“This makes for the perfect opportunity to… investigate their den of sin.”

“You can’t be serious. You can’t just break into another dorm.” He countered.

“Au contraire. I … and I . And whatever is in there… I have my spoils.”

The Nexus. Southeastern Quadrant of the North Rythian Forests. Local Time: 1900 Hours.

Emma

The relative ‘downtime’ that was the past 26 hours felt a heck of a lot like the fulfillment of one of Aunty Ran’s sayings.

I just prayed that we wouldn’t experience the latter half of that anecdote.

[‘QUEST’ Time Elapsed: 102 Hours. Time Remaining: 66 Hours]

[SURVEY PROGRESS… 100%. Estimated time to Completion… 0 Hours. Data Fidelity: N/A. Network Integrity: N/A. Charging. Primary Objective… Pending.]

[Fleet Status: Charging.]

[Crystal Shards… Not found.]

[AMETHYST DRAGON… Not found.]

“Right, do you want the good news or the bad news, Thalmin?”

“We’ve been sitting around waiting for your drones to do most of the work. Let’s at least get some , Emma.” The prince grumbled.

“Right, well, good news! Our interloper friends have not detected our presence, nor our drones. That’s even their Shatorealmer flying around. Also, the drakes seem to be in hibernate mode or something. They’ve only flown them , though granted it knocked a good few hours off of our survey time.”

“Okay… I’m assuming the bad news is that there’s no stray crystal shard.” Thalmin sighed out.

“Correct.” I nodded.

“Damnit.” Thalmin cursed. “Well then, it seems like we’ll just have to go dragon hunting now, won’t we?” He managed bravely under a nervous grin.

“Once the drones are charged up, I’ll be redirecting survey efforts towards tracking down the amethyst dragon’s lair. Given we have the whole forest mapped out now, it shouldn’t be too long before we narrow down a list of POI’s—”

[PRIORITY ALERT! MULTIPLE AERIAL CONTACTS ENTERING THE AO! RANGE… 1400 METERS!]

My blood ran cold as I tapped Thalmin on the shoulder, shooting him a look which he could not interpret.

Though I wouldn’t need to, because what happened next brought the man up to his feet.

“AGHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

As a bloodcurdling scream, followed by the unmistakable of fire erupted about a click north of our position.

We had only one drone in the air, but that’d have to do.

“QSR: Identify contacts.”

[Estimated Count: 1 Large Contact]

[TRACK ID: AMETHYST DRAGON]

I felt my stomach clench as my arm moved to activate the railgun. Though I only did so out of precaution—

[Estimated Count: 2 Small Contacts]

[TRACK ID: Winged Light 2-1, 2-2.]

—because we weren’t alone in this engagement.

We didn’t need to watch what was transpiring on the tablet, as the action was close enough that the light foliage of the canopy allowed for a near-unimpeded view of the skies.

Two drake riders were attempting desperate sorties against the dragon, as they moved to corral, slash, and even ensnare the dragon with rope, netting, and just about everything but the kitchen sink.

This was all in a desperate attempt to save their ground forces from the brunt of the dragon’s fury, as we saw a small group of elves, dwarves, satyrs, kobolds, and even baxi desperately attempting to flee from the dragon’s ire — away from the wall of flames that halted their advance.

However, with every advance towards a potential exfil route, the dragon shot out another line of fire, corralling towards a path of its own design.

It was as if the dragon was doing this on purpose, as if it was actively with its prey, giving them a false sense of hope of escape… only to that thin thread of reprieve away with the unbridled fury of dragonflame.

We both watched in silence as this group of mercenaries was eventually boxed in, their last exfil route completely bathed in flames, leaving them in a literal of fire that only grew closer and closer, with no potential of being put out.

Though it wasn’t as if they didn’t . As one of them — a blue-robed satyr — attempted to spray down the flames with some healthy jets of water, all to the tune of some bursts of mana radiation.

The dragon, noticing this, flew and slow, almost in front of the satyr.

The of its wingbeats the air, accelerating the ferocity of the raging inferno, sending even Thalmin’s fur into a shiver and my gut into a knot.

Their eyes met, and in what I could only describe as a of amethyst embers and soot, it .

SKREEAAAUUUUUCHHHHHHH!!!!

A crackling noise soon followed, sparks haphazardly illuminating the dark of its throat.

Then, a subtle of a mana radiation spike.

Finally, a sudden enveloped all auditory channels.

…

Bright blue dragonflame, orders of magnitude larger than the satyr’s jet of water, vaporized everything it came into contact with…

The water—

—the foliage—

—and finally, the satyr and his forward scouting party.

Their screams were short-lived.

But even so, the chorus of guttural bellows and bloodcurdling shrieks echoed into the night, each note and octave searing deep into my core.

“Emma—” I heard a distant voice calling.

But my body was frozen, my eyes staring blankly at the impressions of boots and hooves rendered into on the forest floor.

“EMMA! We have to move!” Thalmin shouted, breaking through the haze of shock, as he attempted to shake me out of it.

I blinked rapidly, staring at his finger as he gestured to the dragon moving to gain altitude, with the two drake riders in hot pursuit.

was our chance to tag and follow it.

So without a second thought, I acknowledged Thalmin’s urgings. “Right.” Before quickly turning to the EVI.

“EVI. Send the survey drone after it. Observe maximum threat range and stay clear of its sightline."

“Query: Specify survey drone.”

“The one we currently have in the air! SUR-DRONE03B—”

I paused, my heart skipping a beat as I noticed something pop up on my HUD.

[SUR-DRONE03… STATUS… CRITICAL DAMAGE… REQUESTING RETRIEVAL AND EXFIL]

I craned my head up, following the of the lost survey drone, until I was met with the dragon roaring overhead.

And while its roar tore across the silence of the night, a familiar red pulse emanated from a crevice on its back — a tiny antenna piercing deep into the empty dark.