Yigen was in terrible condition. His once-mighty wings now drooped limply by his sides, his body slumped and breath ragged. The proud red dragon looked more like a collapsed ruin than a predator of the skies.
Rayder had barely begun to feel relief when the full weight of the crisis pressed back onto his chest. Things were still far from safe.
Black Dragon Im flapped his massive wings with increasing urgency. The scales along his shoulders rippled with tension, glowing faintly from the strain as powerful muscles bulged beneath the hide. Every downward beat of Im's wings summoned a fierce gust of wind as he struggled to stay airborne—not just for himself, but also for the cursed burden he was now carrying: Red Dragon Yigen.
But Yigen's weight was far too great, and the curse had sapped his strength like a leech draining blood. He felt less like a creature of fire and flight and more like a mountain wrapped in flesh, dead weight pulling Im downward with every second.
No matter how valiantly Im battled gravity, their descent couldn't be halted completely. Altitude was lost, little by little. The world below drew closer—its danger, more vivid with every passing heartbeat. The nightmarish creatures on the ground grew clearer in the firelight, their grotesque bodies twitching as they waited for the kill.
Rayder clenched his jaw. They had to land—now. But not just anywhere.
He shouted over the howl of wind and wings, "Im! Don't worry about the direction—just fly toward Fire Peak! Get us back to the lair! That's our safest ground!"
Im responded instantly, wings tilting to shift course toward the jagged volcanic peak, the dragons' nest carved into its molten heart. It was home—dangerous, yes, but familiar. Navigable.
But fate didn't care for plans.
Mid-flight, Im suddenly let out a roar of pain. It echoed through the night like a clap of thunder. His wings sagged, their power finally giving out, his body no longer able to carry the cursed Yigen.
They fell.
Rayder didn't have time to shout. He could only brace himself.
Boom!
The impact thundered through the ground as two titanic bodies hit the earth, crashing into a patch of loose gravel and dust. Fortunately, the fall wasn't from great height, and the soft, ashen terrain helped cushion the blow. Still, the force sent tremors rippling through the ground and dust clouds billowing into the night.
Rayder leapt from Im's back, landing beside Yigen. He quickly examined the red dragon. No bleeding. No cracked scales. Externally, at least, Yigen was intact. But internally? He was panting like a dying animal, utterly spent. The curse had drained him beyond simple exhaustion.
Rayder didn't have time to dwell. The air around them thickened with tension. Distant growls, the skittering of claws, the quiet rustling of something slithering—danger was closing in.
"Im!" Rayder shouted. "Flames! Burn everything around us! Now!"
Im obeyed instantly. He reared back, inhaling deeply, and let loose a torrent of Black Dragon Flame. The infernal fire roared from his throat like a comet streaking across the ground, igniting the dry grass and brittle shrubs in a wide radius.
The darkness split apart. Fire consumed the shadows, casting tall, dancing silhouettes against the ruins.
Rayder turned to Yigen, gently supporting the red dragon's heavy head.
"Yigen, help him," he said, voice firm. "Just a little flame."
Despite his fragile state, Yigen responded. He groaned, struggled to lift his head, and unleashed a much weaker—but still effective—Red Dragon Flame. It joined Im's inferno, combining into a blaze of hellfire that turned the surrounding terrain into a furnace.
The immediate threat seemed held at bay. Mutant dogs, grotesque lizards, and lurking predators halted at the edge of the flames. They snarled and growled but dared not advance further. The dragons had claimed this fiery circle.
But relief was short-lived.
Rayder's eyes caught something that made his blood run cold.
Creatures that hadn't been caught in the initial blast—some wild dogs, others unrecognizable beasts already half-rotted—began to change.
Before his very eyes, their bodies swelled grotesquely. Tumors—grayish-green and grayish-red—began bubbling across their flesh, like diseased boils bursting from within. The tumors pulsed with an obscene life, veined with black blood vessels that crawled like roots over their skin.
The firelight flickered across their deformities, making them look like nightmares born of disease and rage.
Rayder's stomach twisted.
One wild dog—a once-familiar shape—was now a pulsating, shifting mass of meat and bone. Its body twisted into something unrecognizable. Limbs warped, spine dislocated, skin stretched taut over swelling tumors. It barely resembled an animal anymore—more like a wriggling pile of raw flesh dragged by instinct alone.
"What the hell…?" Rayder muttered, a chill sinking into his bones.
He watched helplessly as more of the creatures followed the same transformation. The curse was spreading—evolving the beasts into living tumors.
The smell was unbearable—putrid, wet decay mingled with blood and rot. The heat of the fire only intensified the stench.
Rayder clutched Im's scales to steady himself, bile rising in his throat. Memories of past meals flooded his mind—roasted mutant wolves, strange lizards, even insects cooked in desperation. How many of them had carried this same disease?
What if he had eaten one?
What if this was already inside him?
He almost threw up. Only sheer willpower kept it down.
But he didn't have time to think about himself.
The cursed creatures, now fully transformed, began charging through the fire.
They didn't fear the flames anymore. Or maybe something darker compelled them forward—hunger, madness, or the source of their curse.
They moved erratically, slithering, lurching, dragging themselves over burning ground, tumors pulsing and splitting. Low, guttural howls echoed through the night, warped by pain and rage.
"Im! DRACARYS!" Rayder bellowed, voice cracking under the tension.
The Black Dragon let out a thunderous roar and obeyed. From deep within his core, he summoned all the energy he could muster.
With a blast like thunder, a pillar of black fire erupted from Im's throat, slamming into the closest monstrosity.
The thing ignited instantly, its tumors bursting like overripe fruit. Black smoke filled the air, thick and choking, reeking of burned corruption.
But the fire wasn't a solution—it was only a delay.
Rayder's heart sank.
The other animals nearby—wild dogs, lizards, rodents—even those on the edges of the fire, had begun to change, too.
Just a touch from a cursed creature, or a brush of the flame, and they too began to transform. Tumors blossomed on their bodies within seconds.
The curse wasn't spread by bite or blood.
It was airborne. Or worse—spiritual. A plague carried on the wind.
And as if to confirm his worst fears, the black mist returned.
Rayder had seen it before—during the day, it had lingered at the edges of vision, hesitant, shy.
Now, it rolled in thick waves from the corners of the ruins, as though awakened—or summoned.
The mist didn't flow like smoke or fog. It moved with intention, creeping along the ground and through the trees like a living thing. It coiled around the cursed creatures like an embrace, and as it touched them, they let out piercing howls—like victims and worshippers at once.
Rayder's mind raced. The curse wasn't natural. It wasn't just infection.
It was dark magic—possibly ancient, even older than Valyria itself.
Had something been unearthed here? Was this why no one returned from the ruins alive?
Rayder turned to his dragons. Im was breathing heavily, eyes alert but exhausted. Yigen lay on his side, barely able to lift his head.
They couldn't run.
They couldn't fly.
They had to survive here. At least until morning.
Rayder reached into his pouch and retrieved the last two bottles of dragon blood elixir—a precious and rare resource. Without hesitation, he uncorked one and poured it into Yigen's mouth.
"Drink," he urged. "It's all we've got."
Then he gave the second to Im, whispering, "Hold on, big guy. I need you both."
The mist drew closer. The twisted beasts howled in unison.
Rayder pulled his blade and turned to face the darkness.
Tonight wasn't about victory.
It was about not dying.
---Ãdvåñçé çhàptêr àvàilàble óñ pàtreøn (Gk31)