--Luci--

  “I'm sorry, Luci.”

  “Mira-”

  All the air in my lungs escaped when Mira hit me with Burst, unching me back in the direction of our camp. When I caught my breath again, I stood and looked once again at the scene unfolding before me.

  My lover had her back turned to me, readying herself to fight against the massive, bck dragon. Despite its colors, I could tell in an instant that it wasn't the same mythical beast one might think it is. Most notably, it had the distinct features of a wyvern, but it was clearly much more powerful than any standard ‘dragon’.

  However… anyone who knows anything about draconic creatures would recognize the dragon. Anyone except for Mira that is. It showed up and interrupted when I was about to tell her, but unlike the bck dragons, which the Guild has at least some records of, this dragon is literally straight out of a fairytale. In short, this is Mirka, the Shadow Dragon, one of the three “great dragons'' that appear in The Legend of Arnagir, and Mira somehow ended up fighting it…

  When the realization struck, I reached out my hand, intending to call out to her, but I stopped myself. She clearly intends to buy time for me to run away, but… why? Why can't she just- No, I shouldn't doubt her. She probably has some kind of pn in mind. That's right, she may be fighting against something that's usually considered fictional, but she's basically a walking legend herself. She'll kill the Shadow Dragon here, and she'll come find me after she's done. I just had to believe in her.

  Well, believe, and run. I stayed on the overgrown path, moving in a straight line as best I could to create as much distance as possible. Almost immediately after I started running, I heard clear sounds of fighting behind me, and those quickly faded into the background as I moved further away.

  I reached our camp, and I kept running. I ran past the still-hot coals of our fire, and past Mira's makeshift stone wagon holding the materials from the dragon. I would keep running as fast as I could. Hopefully, I could reach the vilge and get some help. I just need to get back and…

  I cut off my train of thought and slowed down. Something felt off, almost as if the world itself had gone silent. I turned around, and the sky was filled with ash and smoke, like a volcano erupted, or maybe a giant wildfire was just extinguished. And then… I'm no seer, but it felt like the mana in the air around me was being drawn in that direction, and quickly at that. Is this the dragon’s doing?

  Suddenly, I began to feel… something. Despair? Fear? Hopelessness? Whatever it was, I felt tears building in my eyes. If only I was stronger… I could've helped her. Why?! This was supposed to just be a fun date to hunt down a few dragons… Why does the Shadow Dragon of all things have to appear now?!

  All strength left my knees, and I fell to the ground. It was at that moment that all the sound returned to the world, and all hell broke loose. The sound was deafening, and threatened to permanently send me right back into a world devoid of sound. The ground beneath me seemed to shake in fear of the devastating spell cast in the distance. When I finally looked up, I had to close my eyes, else the bright fire in the sky would blind me. I could feel the heat of the explosion on my face, despite being this far from the source.

  When my face no longer felt like it was burning, I opened my eyes and stood back on my feet, just in time to see a bck, bird-like creature appear in the air above where the explosion occurred. That would likely be the very same dragon responsible for this mess. Shortly after its appearance, a simir shape - only this one was purple - popped up nearby and flew towards the first. It was difficult to see at this distance, but it looked like the shapes were… fighting? A few seconds passed, and the Shadow Dragon quickly disappeared with the purple shape soon following.

  If I'm right about the Shadow Dragon, then… It's likely safe to assume that the purple shape was another one of the great dragons of the past, specifically, the Haze Dragon.

  If those dragons are gone, then what about… Mira! I nearly forgot because of the sudden appearance of two dragons straight from a fairy-tale, but she's still out there… Where the explosion occurred…

  Hoping for the best, I stood back up and started running back to her. I started having doubts because of how that explosion was likely an attack against her, but… if there was anyone who could survive something like that, that person would be Mira. I'm going to get there, and she's going to be perfectly fine, asking why I came back. She's not going to be reduced to pile of smoldering ashes, and she's not going to be hurt at all. It's just not possible…

  I fought against the burning sensation in my legs as I picked up my pace a little bit. Not even a minute passed running like this before I started noticing changes in the environment. First, there were small patches of ash on the ground and in the trees. By the time I reached the camp, there was no hint of color besides the dark-gray of ash and the occasional red-orange of a fire in a dead tree.

  As for the camp itself, the tent - and all of our supplies - had completely burned. The makeshift wagon Mira had made was still there, but it was on its side, and the dragon materials in it had scattered all over the pce. Soon, I think maybe two-thirds of the way to where we encountered the Shadow Dragon, I stopped seeing any trees. In their pce there were only slightly taller piles of ash.

  Continuing through what used to be a forest, I passed what I assume to be the pce I first started running. A couple minutes ter, I could smell salt in the air from the ocean as I reached what I could only assume to be the edge of where the actual explosion occurred. The ground slowly started decending into a crater, and I could see some water trickling in from the sea all the way on the other side. The crater itself looked to be rge enough to even fit all of Pristel. Specifically the vilge - not the forest.

  I ran down to the center, avoiding small pools of molten rock that likely formed from the heat of the explosion. When I reached a retively rge pile of ash near the bottom, I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding in.

  There she was, lying down on the top as if she was sleeping in her own bed. I approached her, tears forming in my eyes as I felt relieved, but after a moment, what I saw made me stop again.

  There was… blood. And a lot of it. I didn't notice before, but… she was covered in it, and lying in a pool of her own blood atop the ash.

  “M-Mira!”

  I quickly covered the remaining distance, and immediately started casting Healing - despite knowing there won't be an effect after she lost that much blood…

  “No… Mira…”

  Nearing the limit of my mana, I gave up and colpsed onto her chest. Despite going through so many emotions in such a short time, I still wasn't done. Crying into her shirt, it didn't take long before I noticed the slight rising and falling of her chest. She was… breathing. I listened closely, and sure enough-

  Ba-dum Ba-dum Ba-dum

  I could hear her heartbeat. Shocked and confused, I checked her for injuries to see where the blood was coming from, but… there were none. Her clothes were fairly torn, but there wasn't a single scratch on her…

  I have too many questions about all this, but… Mira's alive, and that's what's important.

  Alpy376