As I ran to find my friend I clawed through a few raiders who were terrorizing my neighbors and friends and shouted, “Stop fighting.” Then, when they didn’t harken unto my roar, I infused it with my telepathy, and they still hearkened unto me not, and they continued with the slaughter. A dozen or so meters in front of me, I saw two invaders harassing Bodezic. I screamed his name, running to him before I tripped over a spear and fell face-first to the ground. I was caught by my shoulders before I hit the ground and felt rough hands squeezing my arms as a rope was tied around me, binding my arms and torso together. I looked backward to see my captor’s face; I beheld a young-looking woman with her face concealed, so it was hard for me to distinguish her age, but she was definitely human. My captor stared into me with those lifeless grey eyes; she smiled at me; it still disturbs me to this day that someone participating in a raid could smile at me while her compatriots slaughtered my people. Light from the on-fire homes reflected off something metal she wore; her chest plate caught my eye; in the center of the piece was a brown rock painted in the center of her armor, surrounded by runes I couldn’t read.

  I turned around, watching an invader trying to carry Bodezic off as he struggled, before I saw them draw and raise their blade to smite Bodezic; I screamed in outrage; I kicked and squirmed about as my captor held me in the same spot; she probably wasn’t moving, so she could force me to watch my friend die. Bodezic captor jabbed their sword forward into my friend’s chest, and pulling it back out of his body, the sword left a massive hole where his heart was, but instead of being sturdy and solid as his chest always was when we play-fought, it poured out a pool of blood.

  My friend was dropped the next moment when his attacker retracted his blade; my friend left there bleeding out, while his killer laughed about it, the majic of Bodezic’s soul leaving freely from his body, flowing to his chest desperately trying to patch up the wound, his inner majic was repelled by the cursed weapon. Unable to seal the gaping black wound, Bodezic’s life majic left his body in an upward fountain of bright green strands of light pouring into the sky as the final lamentations of its source stopped with “Forces of light, where are you?” was the final thing I heard Bodezic say. Then his body went limp, blood spilling all over his chest and on the ground; Black, erratic streaks of majic flowed across his body.

  I couldn’t believe it; my enhanced eyes weren’t lying to me, but in my heart, I couldn’t accept that my friend I’d practically known since birth was taken from this world, from his family, friends, and, more importantly, at the time, me. My captor was laughing and saying things that sounded like gibberish to me. But remembering back, this is what she said: “This is what you deserve, you dragon spawn.”

  She laughed, but her laughter was abruptly stopped as I heard a crack and the tearing of flesh; blood splattered and dripped on my face as my captor’s grip on me loosened. I looked behind me and found the source of the blood: a spear’s blade protruded through the neck of my captor; blood trickled from the wound and splattered my face again as the spear was swiftly drawn back. Some of her blood got in my mouth and left a sour taste. I spit out the blood as if it were poison as the invader’s body fell on me. I was knocked to the ground, and the falling weight of my captor kept me pinned, but since she had let go of the rope, I wasn’t bound as firmly, and I broke free, separating my arms from the sides, breaking the rope with the spiked scales on my arms. Once my arms were free, I pushed the invader off me and stood up from my kneeling position.

  The guard who saved me picked me up with their hands under my armpits. She moved her hands to my back, avoiding where my wings sprouted. The guard shifted her hold on me. She held me like an oversized baby as she ran, carrying me to safety. I struggled in her arms to free myself from her grip. She had me tighter as I struggled against her as she spoke to me, “Kid, you gotta stop squirming. I’m trying to get you to safety, so stop your fussing,” she said as I momentarily stopped resisting to look over her shoulder.

  I saw a few more invaders closing in on Bodezic, so I increased my struggle to get myself back on the ground. My legs were tightly held together, and my arms couldn’t pry her hands off me, so I faced the sky and belched fire away. I had my head tilted away from my savior to avoid scorching her. The flames startled the guard, who held me nonetheless, as the power of the fire pushed me to the ground, causing her to lose her hold on me.

  I stumbled to the ground.

  I quickly got on my feet, and before I could run back the way I came from, I had to deflect the hands of the guard with the side of my tail. This disrupted her attempt to grab me long enough for me to jump and hover a dozen feet across the space that lay before me and my destination. I continued to run with my feet on the ground. My flight separated me from my savior for a moment, but as she rapidly approached me, it nearly didn’t matter how far I had gotten away.

  “Hey, kid, what are you doing, and what are you doing out here? You should have fled to safety. Hey kid, are you listening to me? I asked you what you are doing out here. Hey kid, get back here; it’s not safe out there,” her speech stopped momentarily before she said, “What th...” said my winged savior before she was interrupted. I looked over my shoulder and saw that her chase was interrupted when the body of another Friel came flying at her with great speed; smoke trailed in front of the other guard as she flew backward into the guard chasing me; the force was enough that they were both knocked to the ground under the newcomer’s weight.

  I looked around to find a large invader carrying a shield in front of them, emerging from an unnatural hole in a house wall that the tossed guard was supposedly launched through by the shining shield the invader held. I was torn between helping the guards with this new foe or running to my friend’s side. My aggravation decided for me; I hurled an arrow-sized missile of green energy at the heavy shield bearer. It didn’t do much to the invader since it was absorbed into the shield, but it allowed the other guard on the ground to fire an arrow at the invader. The arrow didn’t do anything; it seems all of the combined efforts of me and the guard amounted to nothing.

  That is what I thought until the invader, still in a defensive position, fell face-first to the ground, landing on his shield. When he fell, his body revealed a wounded Friel standing behind where the invader had stood, with her sword stuck in the ground, likely because it slipped out of her hand, telling that she had made the significant slash that the invader now had across their back. I didn’t have time to gawk at current events lest my savior hinder my rescue mission. The guard who had just taken down the large shield bearer limped forward and fell sideways; she was caught by one of her squad mates, holding her so she could stand. That was the last I saw of the group of guards before I went back on my way.

  “Kid, please come back; we must get you safely. Please come back here, it’s not safe...” said the guard who had shot the invader.

  I ran without turning back. My only response was, “I have to save my friend. He’s been hurt. Don’t bother with following me.”

  When I got to his corpse, the memories of his death were painfully present. Remembering it was killing me, and seeing my friend lying on the ground, never to give me his famous smile again, or to talk with me while our siblings played, and we would never again initiate our special handshake.

  That wasn’t even the most challenging part of this all; I just couldn’t understand why he was killed and why my home and my people were under attack. I could say I was more concerned with the other people of my village, but that would make me a most despicable liar. “Why? Why?” I said, crying as rain began to fall; it was terribly polluted with the blood of my people. As the red, watery drops of blood fell down my arms and my face. Beacons of green light lit up the sky, each marking another dead Friel, another one of my people lying dead at its origin. Another life was lost. I was breaking down. I needed to release this sadness, this anger, and rage swelling in my heart.

  It hurt me as much as it hurt those I had hurt that I harbored hate in my heart, but that doesn’t matter; maybe it never did. All I knew was I needed to give back the pain of the invaders for every single death, tear shed, and lamentation over the destruction of our home.

  “I promise I will avenge you and kill them all.”

  cinematic shift

  (Draxson’s head shifts to the head displayed on the cover.)

  I began spewing fire at my enemies from my throat, and the invaders were quickly set on fire. The yelling, screaming, and terror I instilled in them brought joy to my heart, their agony bringing delightful noises to my dragon ears.

  The feel of their flesh being torn and burned by me whetted my appetite for destruction. “I’ll show them the might of Dragons and the Friel,” I would think, because I then believed that Dragons were simply the superior race.

  But I was not superior to them in any way; my thoughts were childish, twisted, and sickening to think that killing a killer made me “better.” But I couldn’t take back the reins from my inner Dragon at that point. I wanted him to take over until the glorious killing was done.

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  As the invaders began to run through the village to escape from me, I started to lean into my Dragon instinct and used my Friel blood’s massive pool of energy that I had at my disposal. I shot up 60 feet and began scorching the men on the ground. My sister, Dralaiss, ran outside to find me, our mother close behind, shouting at me as she rushed out, risking the cleanliness she had worked hard to maintain, her hair and dress all ruined in the bloody rain. “DRAXSON, STOP!” she said as tears poured heavily from her eyes. “I know you’re stronger than this. I know your friend died, but we might be able to bring him back with the right majic. But this pointless burning won’t solve anything.” Dralaliss said, wiping her tears away.

  Dralaliss, my darling sister, looked up at me, still crying as if her eyes were waterfalls; she hiccupped as she tried to say something but was unable to speak another word to me. Those cross-shaped black and yellow eyes stared back at me, begging me to stop. I saw her looking back at me through an enhanced eye, and from deep within myself, I felt her words and those tear-filled eyes start to affect me; I was beginning to calm down, doing my best to ignore the thoughts echoing in my head, practically banging into my skull. A part of my thoughts said, “Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill them all for the pain they have caused. This is your home, and they have invaded it; they shall suffer the death that they very much deserve.” I tightly clutched my head with a massive dragon arm as I combated the Dragon’s violent thoughts. I began descending toward the ground until another painful jolt struck my head.

  In pain, I lifted my head into the sky and roared at the pain of the violent headache. “I am Stronger than this. I don’t need to kill them. I…” I bellowed in a deep, craggy voice before I was interrupted by a group of arrows lodging themselves in my neck, barely missing the part of my neck where my inverse scale was located. I roared in pain, quickly turning my head toward the direction of my attackers.

  I was so close to returning to normal, but that attack set destructive thoughts off again.

  I stared down at the group of brave? Foolish? NO, VILE humans, I was about to scorch them, until my attention was stolen by a high-pitched half-roar shriek, coming undoubtedly from my sister. I snapped my neck and turned my body so fast that I became dizzy. I was frantically locating my sister among the landscape beneath me, my eyes fuzzy, struggling to discern what was a house and what was a group of people…

  That’s when I spotted the 6 or so armored invaders surrounding my mother, my sister, my brother, and the rest of Bodezic’s family, who huddled together, except his father, standing guard with his thin sword. I was further enraged by the attackers surrounding my family. I readied myself to burn them (the invaders) with my breath. As the fire was spewing from my mouth, one of the village’s guards used their telekinetic force to push the invaders aside and move my family and friends out of the path of my flames. Another one stopped my flames with a barrier that broke after a few seconds under the force of my flames. My flames dropped to the ground, surrounding the two who came to my family’s aid. I stared down the Friel guard and said throatily, “I’m trying to get the invaders; please stop hindering the defense of my family.”

  Surprised at my statement, the guard nodded, standing down and turning to the invaders attacking my family. As she was about to notify the rest of the guards, she was shot at by the invaders; before one of the arrows could find its mark, the male guard I ran away from grabbed her, turning his body to absorb the arrows as he brought her to the ground, away from the arrows. Black energy flowed from the arrow, and unnatural blood poured from the guard’s wounds. It all happened in a second, but it felt like a minute to me; that guard was indeed dead, and the lamentations of the female guards he protected made it obvious. If I could have cursed, I would have. I would curse the misfortune that had fallen upon all of us in my hometown, and I would curse that I would have to kill these murderous humans.

  I turned my gaze back to my family, which was once again under threat. I tried to estimate how much force I would need to use to burn the invaders, but not harm my family. But I wasn’t good at those things then, for this was my first time utilizing my power in this way. It still scares me how much damage I can cause as a Dragon. Anyway, I determined my mother could protect herself and the others, so I let loose and burned the invaders to ash.

  As I burned them, I caught my sister’s still-crying eyes, asking, “Why do you have to do this?” I heard her in my mind as a faint whisper: “Draxson, you’re scaring me. Please, please stop, Draxsonnnn.” Dralaliss audibly cried as I continued my scorching of the invaders. “Wah,” Dralaliss cried as I was filled with arrows.

  As I continued to burn the invaders surrounding my family, my flames hit a bright green shield, curved around the barrier, and scorched the surrounding area.

  I could feel myself losing control every moment I was in this form. Soon, I wouldn’t be able to stop until I was killed or passed out from fatigue. I was scared; I looked back at my sister, Scared of the invaders, of me, and of the damage happening to me. I met my sister’s gaze, and a second later, she closed her eyes and looked away, afraid of my blood-lust-filled eyes.

  Dralaliss was sniffling as a shield cast by a pendant her mom wore surrounded her and several others, totaling over 10 people under the shield. Those under the shield included Dralaliss, Frdelian (my mom), my friend’s parents, two sisters, one younger brother, my sister’s friend, and her two brothers and one sister. The shield only surrounded a 20-foot radius; the shield could have had a wider radius. My vision blurred; I didn’t know what I was doing. I began burning every part of the village, turning it into an inferno. “3”

  As I burned the village and the invaders that ran amok in it, I was succumbing to my primal Dragon urges to destroy, and I lost consciousness. And I don’t remember what happened when I was asleep. It was later recounted to me what happened that day.

  Meanwhile, Draxson was setting the Town ablaze, having already destroyed a third of it and ignited nearly half in flames; the surviving townspeople had fled to a mountaintop where they devised a plan to subdue Draxson, who had transformed into a Dragon. An observer formulated a strategy to channel energy from the non-combatant Friel to empower the warriors tasked with casting a spell to stop Draxson and prevent further town destruction. Once all preparations were complete to confront the Dragon, the soldiers flew to the skies at top speed toward him. The remaining observer was already running past Draxson’s group and heading toward the outer walls. After the aerial wards were disabled, the observer took to the skies, flying alongside the other Friel citizens as they made their way to a nearby mountaintop.

  There, they would observe and wait until they determined their next course of action. The surviving Friel numbered two hundred thirty, including the observer. Most of those who escaped were the elderly, mothers, and children, less than a fifth of whom were capable and skilled in combat.

  The ambient temperature had risen significantly when the fire reached the town walls. The Friel soldiers surrounded Draxson the Dragon and became locked in battle with Draxson. “Squad captains, I need you to split your groups into 5 per team.” The stand-in commander told his soldiers. “Sergeant Elva, take your team and wait for an opening to inject the Dragon with sleeping powder and any sleeping spells you can throw at it.

  Meanwhile, Captain Flak and her group will support while the rest of us keep the Dragon distracted to eventually give the opening that the sedation team needs.” The commander said before they all broke into groups. Come on, everyone, surround the Dragon and stay out of the flames. Don’t be a hero; we need you all alive to take this foe down.” Commander Eliendail said, looking back at his group as he led the charge to distract the Dragon.

  The beginning of the fight was very dire, with soldiers attempting to distract the Dragon, flying in and out of Draxson’s reach. At the same time, the rest of the warriors tried to put Him to sleep if possible and exterminate him if necessary.

  Whenever one of the flying soldiers got too close and held the Dragon’s attention for too long, they would receive a very warm and unpleasant flash tan on their burgundy skin when they barely got out of the Dragon’s fiery breath. Instead, one of the many undamaged houses in the southeast area of Town would take the scorching from the aerial battle in the soldiers’ place.

  The cycle of weaving in and out between the Dragon slashes with his claw and avoiding the occasional tail while it swished in the air at the much smaller butterfly-winged soldiers.

  The rest of the battle was just as brutal and destructive; Draxson destroyed over three-quarters of the Town, and the rest was rapidly being consumed by fire. In a desperate attempt to end the fight, the guards’ leader ordered the entire distraction team to charge the Dragon on one side, unevenly distributing their attacks to off-balance the Dragon. In contrast, the support team would fire arrows in draxson on the opposite side to distract him again, in preparation for an opening to sedate.

  “Alright, Support team. On my signal, I need you to unload all of your weakening arrows into the Dragon’s front right leg and neck. Captain Flak, I need you to get as many arrows as possible into the Dragon’s bloodstream near his heart. I’m counting on you and your group. I know you’ll get it done. Life be with you.” The commander mentally relayed this to his support team.

  The distraction team reached the Dragon, wildly swinging their swords, throwing up sparks as their blades ricocheted off its dark crimson scales, leaving barely a scratch. They didn’t need to cut deep yet; they just needed to get the Dragon’s attention from the attack and support team. Then, the distraction team began syncing their attacks, significantly improving the damage they could cause to a cluster of scales.

  “Now, use corrosion majic to weaken the scales, so we can give the attacking team the opening they need.” Shouted the leader of the attacking team, the rest of the soldiers shouting back in agreement as they fired a blast of purplish-black majic to weaken Draxson’s scales. Then the attacking team came in, seeing the distraction team pull back, and the opening was made.

  “The opening has been made; the attack team moves to neutralize the target.” Sergeant Elva shouted, leading her soldiers. 19, the four squads launched their strikes to open up for a final soldier to deliver the blow with their wind-coated sword. With the deep incision made, the attacking team bombarded the Dragon with handfuls of sleeping powder and sleep spells in his bloodstream. The dragon roars in pain, flailing about like a temperamental child, ceasing as the dragon slumps, his wings going limp, preceding his fall.

  With a relieved cheer, the soldiers celebrated their victory over the Dragon.

  Draxson was finally sedated with their sleeping powder, and majic concluded their two-and-a-half-hour battle’s final minutes. Their home was secured, and the Friel prepared to capture the Dragon so they restore their town without interference.