Erend rose swiftly into the sky, his ember-veined wings slicing through the clouds, casting a shadow of molten black across the canopy below.
The air was still thick with lingering smoke from his earlier battle combined with the thick mist. But it didn't slow him. His crimson eyes burned with intent, scanning the forest for Eccar's signature.
But before he could even reach full height, he caught sight of a sudden crash back to the ground. Eccar was already plunging into another fight.
Erend narrowed his eyes. "He didn't even stop to talk. That means it's bad."
And when he looked — really looked — through the sharpened clarity of his Dragon eyes, the full scale of the problem hit him like a falling mountain.
Rifts. Dozens of them. Maybe even hundreds.
Tearing open across the forest like festering wounds in reality. Some still spat out twisted writhing grey creatures in waves. Others had already poured their monsters into the woods, turning large sections of the forest into a living nightmare.
"Damn... So this is what it meant when the System said 'the whole forest will wake.'"
Erend didn't hesitate.
He dove. Wings tucked in, flames flickering along his limbs like a comet screaming downward. As he neared the trees his hands burst into roaring infernos.
He slammed into the forest floor with an explosion of heat and motion.
The impact obliterating a squadron of grey creatures around him before they even realize what happened.
Fire spilled from him like a living wave and scorching the monsters in arcs of searing fire. He didn't have time to care about trees for now. Later, maybe he'd feel guilt for burning part of this old forest but right now there's something mattered more.
Still, he kept his control. He made the fire cut where it needed to and lash where it had to. He never letting it run wild yet.
Then he reached out with his mind, linking to Eccar across the battlefield.
"Eccar, I think we need to up our game. We need to close them fast. Don't think about the forest's destruction for now."
"Alright," came the steady reply from Eccar. "I guess we don't have a choice."
And then hell truly opened.
Erend's flames surged around him, flooding ravines and clearing entire stretches of corrupted woods. His arms moved in sweeping gestures, directing his fire like limbs of a great beast and incinerating grey creatures by the dozens in an instant. With each blast more fell. The screeching and writhing things reduced to ash mid-charge.
Elsewhere, Eccar rose from the broken ground like a titan. The earth obeyed him like breath. He raised stone pillars that impaled creatures from below, formed colossal fists from the land that slammed entire hordes into craters.
Trees were uprooted, cliffs shattered, but he didn't stop. He brought whole rifts crashing in with tremors that made the forest quake.
Together, they carved a path of devastation through the forest.
Erend's fire spiraled into vortexes that spun like drills after combined with his Magic energy. It ripping through rift mouths and searing them shut. He didn't know he can do that but now he knows. He told that new technique to Eccar immediately.
On the other side of the fores, Eccar summoned landslides to bury breaches in walls of jagged stone and sealing away the corruption with his Magic energy.
Monster after monster fell. Rift after rift was closed.
The forest that was once overrun, now trembled under their power. Scorched earth and shattered roots marked their trail but so did silence. No more shrieking grey creatures in most of those zones. Just smoldering ground and broken terrain.
But they knew their mission wasn't done. Not even close. The rifts were still pulsing in other area. The corruption still festering beneath the trees.
So Erend and Eccar didn't stop. They moved like forces of nature one of them is flame, the other is rock and earth. They cutting through the forest with unstoppable fury. More destruction was necessary because more power had to be unleashed.
And far away, others felt it.
The adventurers who still gathered near the clearing turned their heads sharply as the ground trembled beneath their boots.
The vibrations weren't just physical but also resonated through their Magic senses.
They heard the distant sounds of booming impacts, howling fire, and earth cracking apart. Even though they stood far from the battle it sounded as if the whole forest itself was being torn down.
Mark's eyes locked onto the smoke curling through the treetops in the distance, the clouds lit from below by bursts of flame.
"What are they, actually?" Mark muttered. "What kind of power is that?"
Jan didn't answer immediately. His gaze was fixed to the horizon.
"They are… probably Dragonborn," Jan said.
Mark, Selene, Thorne, and Kaela all turned toward him with widened eyes, faces twisted in disbelief.
"What?" Kaela asked sharply.
"Isn't that just a myth?" Thorne added, frowning.
Jan shook his head slowly.
"Turns out, it's not. I've seen that guy before, Erend. Years ago. We were facing a Dark Mage who threatened to destroy a village. He appeared out of nowhere and turned into a Dragon and kill the Dark Mage."
The group fell silent, the weight of that statement settling over them like a stone. It wasn't just the power that was shaking their world, it was the truth behind it.
This was the day they'd learned that legends were real.
Then, a voice broke the silence.
"Hey, uhh… what about us?" Varn asked hesitantly. His voice wavered, but there was still a sliver of hope in it. "You said you'd spare us."
He didn't truly believe it. He half-expected to die anyway. But still, he clung to that one thread.
Jan turned and gave a nod to Annette.
Annette hesitated. She clearly didn't enjoy the idea, but she stepped forward anyway and knelt beside the injured captives. Her hands glowing as she began to channel healing Magic.
As she worked, Jan spoke in a voice firm and cold. "Listen closely. You owe your lives to us now. That means you follow our orders. You dare to do something funny and we'll tell our Dragon friend exactly where you are to kill you."
The message didn't need repeating. Varn, Darel, and Yara had all seen the strength of their friends. The idea of having that power turned on them was not something nice to think.
They nodded quickly with gritted teeth.
And as Annette's light mended their wounds, the smoke in the distance thickened, the forest rumbled once more.