Rayder let out a long breath, his tense shoulders relaxing slightly.
Damn it! They had finally escaped the deadliest part of the encirclement—at least for now.
He gazed down at the river of flowing, molten lava beneath him. The sight brought a brief sense of relief, a fleeting moment of calm in the chaos. But he quickly shook the thought away. Now was not the time to relax. True safety lay only at the top of Fire Peak, within the sanctuary of the Dragon Lair.
Without hesitation, Rayder issued his next command.
"Egon! Move! Head upstream along the lava—get us back to the lair!"
The Red Dragon, Egon, groaned as he dragged his massive, wounded body forward. Flanked by the nimble Kidora and the more massive Black Dragon Im, the trio began their slow, treacherous advance along the edge of the lava river. With the fiery magma behind them acting as a natural wall, they formed a sturdy vanguard and pushed steadily forward toward the mountain.
The ground ahead was crawling with flesh-like creatures, so densely packed that they blanketed the earth like a moving carpet. But the lava river gave Rayder's group a major advantage—these abominations clearly feared the heat and dared not cross into its deadly radius.
Now, threats came only from the front and flanks. That reduction in pressure allowed the exhausted dragons a brief moment to regroup.
Black Dragon Im took full advantage. Instead of spewing flame in every direction, he now focused it forward and to the sides. With a deep inhale, a low growl built in his throat, and then—whoosh!—a searing wall of Dragon Flame erupted outward. Anything in its path was immediately scorched into ash.
Kidora, smaller but agile and deadly, supported with bursts of electricity, while Egon trudged forward, occasionally letting out small puffs of flame to assist.
It was not a victory—but it was a manageable stalemate.
But the fragile equilibrium didn't last long.
Rayder's sharp eyes caught it first—the black mist.
It had been floating in the air like a background disease, but now, it began to churn—thickening, concentrating, writhing like a living thing. It surged toward them.
And the moment that black mist touched the flesh-creatures, something horrifying happened.
In the eerie night, countless green lights ignited—eyes. Soulless, ghastly green orbs, glowing like ghostly fires. Thousands of them. The sheer number of those glowing eyes almost illuminated the night.
Rayder's scalp prickled. A chill ran down his spine. His instincts screamed at him—this is no longer a normal battle.
The black mist wasn't just unnatural. It was evil.
It radiated a soul-corroding aura—cold, viscous, and suffocating. Rayder felt as though his mind were being invaded by whispers, as if icy fingers were scratching at his nerves.
His heartbeat quickened. Panic surged.
The mist seemed to issue commands to the creatures. As if possessed, they charged toward the lava river, unflinching, fearless—no longer deterred by the molten heat that would have once made them hesitate.
Some charged straight into the river's edge. Their skin sizzled and burned, sending up clouds of black smoke that stank of charred meat. The smell was nauseating.
Rayder had seen countless horrors on the battlefield. But this…
These creatures didn't retreat when burned. They didn't even scream. Skin blackened, limbs twisted, yet they continued forward—driven by madness or something darker.
Only Rayder's draconic bloodline allowed him to withstand the heat. A regular human would have been reduced to bone in moments.
He had no time to dwell on it.
"Im! Burn them! Don't stop!" he shouted.
With a guttural roar, Im unleashed another torrent of Dragon Flame, sweeping left to right in a fiery arc. The monsters turned to ash. But more came.
Rayder gritted his teeth, desperately coordinating the dragons. Every step forward was hard-won. Im and Egon roared through clenched maws, scorching their enemies. Kidora zigzagged through the air like a blazing comet, hurling lightning from its jaws.
They fought and crawled forward—toward salvation.
An hour passed. The air grew thicker with sulfur. The jagged silhouette of Fire Peak finally loomed before them. They had reached the base of the mountain.
The terrain steepened sharply, jagged and broken, strewn with cracked rock and hardened magma.
But strangely, the black mist halted here.
The mist and the creatures no longer advanced. They lingered at the base, circling but not climbing, as though some invisible force blocked their path.
Rayder frowned.
He could feel it—something was off.
The black mist was denser here. It coiled around the mountain like a snake. And it pulsed, almost breathing.
A dread deeper than before crawled up Rayder's spine.
Still, there was no choice. "Egon! Climb! Get to the top! To the lair—now!"
The red dragon grunted, each step labored, but he obeyed.
Rayder tightened his grip on the ridged scales of Im's neck.
"Im! Keep burning! Clear us a path!"
Im let out a deafening roar and launched another breath of Dragon Flame, sweeping across the base of the mountain. The mist sizzled where it touched, and creatures howled before bursting into flame.
With Egon grounded and vulnerable, Rayder made a quick decision.
"Im—take flight!"
With a powerful flap of his wings, the Black Dragon rose into the air, Rayder secured on his back. In the sky, Im was unmatched.
Now above the battlefield, Im turned the tide. He rained flame down from above like divine wrath. The ground ignited. The mist retreated. The creatures wailed and died in fire.
Rayder finally dared to feel a flicker of hope.
Perhaps—just perhaps—they could reach the top and regroup. The lair was protected. If they could just hold out a little longer…
But then the earth moved.
At first, it was a tremor. A rumble, like distant thunder.
Then—a grating noise, like bones scraping together.
And suddenly, the ground burst open.
Soil and rock exploded outward as something massive forced its way from below. A horrible squelch echoed across the battlefield.
Rayder's eyes widened in disbelief.
From beneath the scorched battlefield, a monstrous sand-worm surged forth. Its hide was slick with filth, covered in thick, armored plates. Dozens of jagged legs writhed around its tubular body. Its head was a grotesque amalgam of mandibles and chitin, twitching and gnashing.
It didn't belong here. Not even in Valyria.
"What… the hell…?" Rayder whispered.
For a moment, he wondered if his mind had finally snapped from exhaustion. But no—it was real. More real than anything he'd ever seen.
Even in his wildest nightmares, he hadn't imagined something so alien.
The sand-worm twisted its massive body and let out a deep, unnatural roar—like a thousand tortured souls screaming at once. Its call echoed across the mountain, louder than any dragon's roar.
Rayder's heart sank.
The night at the ruins of Valyria had just reached a new level of madness.
What kind of force had awakened this?
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