The marching steps died at once before the thundering army. A tall young man felt his entire body shiver, as if something ancient and disastrous had just been unleashed upon the world. The reaction spread through the ranks in the same instant.
Every soldier stiffened, their green armor gleaming across the endless fields like a sea of sharpened scales spread beneath the heavens. The young man slowly turned his head toward the distant horizon, his green draconic eyes narrowing into thin slits.
"The fire progenitor..." he muttered, and the wind around him suddenly surged.
A violent aura erupted from his body, rolling outward in invisible waves and tearing apart the suppressing pressure trying to settle over him. Dust spiraled at his feet. Cloaks snapped in the wind. Even the nearest soldiers lowered their heads instinctively, not daring to meet his gaze for longer than a breath.
