FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 21

He backed away, startled by the awakened chaos while also trying to earn more precious seconds to come up with a plan and he really needed one.

His interruption drew the attention of the force ruling Warfang, too much of it as it turned out. The dark sky above parted, the ominous clouds split, instead of sun though they uncovered more of the black sea beneath, a part more lively, pulsing and beating as if it would be a pumping blood vain uncovered through cracked flesh.

The shadows surrounding him also became reckless stretching and twisting uneasily, every now and then lashing towards him but for some reason immediately returning. Each slap made him more and more aware that if it could, the darkness would try devouring him, it once more looked for an opportunity to feast upon his soul.

He was protected still by the blessing Hunter bestowed upon him, nevertheless the perspective of being eaten alive combined with the realization that Warfang lies in a maw of some beast where all the people are only treats for its taste buds, it terrified him to the very bone.

So little is needed to become the toys of some otherworldly power.

Power that decided to throw some of its toys away.

Just when he finally backed down, touching the wall of the building he fell through from, eyes aimed at the mob ahead that turned in his direction with Terrador at the lead a surprising deep rumble shook the earth.

His blue head immediately snapped in the direction of the sound.

Volteer had crashed into the ground.

First instinct was to run up to him and help him out, check if he is alright, but the way his friend began to pull himself up from the ground made him discard all that desire. It looked so artificial, mechanical even as if his limbs would be attached to strings, commanded by the will of the ominous puppeteer terrorizing Warfang.

No being in control of his body would be able to shake such an impact so easily, even a dragon as big as Volteer after such a fall would need some time to recover.

When he believed that Corruption had reached the limit of punishment it applied to him it decided to pull out another card from its sleeve.

Wet, short, spine chilling snaps started drumming rhythmically.

Breaking bones and smacking flesh.

To his horror, some time after Volteer had hit the ground, several other people crashed into the ground, cheetahs and moles, their small frames unable to resist the impact, their bodies breaking on the street, blood splashing in waves, followed by the occasional hurl of an organ or brain when either skull or the body exploded under the pressure.

His mouth became dry, wide eyes stretched the eyeballs so hard that bloody tears appeared in the corners.

Or perhaps this was the blood sputtered by the flying eyeball that just cut through the air some distance away from him.

He couldn't believe that this was happening.

But then more people crashed right where the first several did.

Wet, disgusting noises rang in his head like bells, among the dropping flesh he noticed some actually surviving the impact, their descent muffled by corpses, their success was short lived though, whoever survived was momentarily crashed by another wave of people dropping on top of them.

He threw his head up, already knowing what he would see there, his experienced in battle instinct channeling energy even before his neck made the first move. The sight he saw was mind numbing, he already knew he wouldn't forget it for the rest of his life.

A wave of people, a colorful mass of souls was jumping from the hole he did, an arch of living beings headed directly to their demise, even those with wings didn't bother to open them.

Discarded toys.

Blood in his veins began to boil in total fury.

Magical or not, nobody will dare to murder his subjects while he was still a Guardian.

Cyril spread his massive wings the joints burned with chilly mist, he waved them quickly, pushing them into one, powerful flap that sent a sharp, big freezing fog in the air that dashed right in the path of the flying bodies.

He spread his mouth and with a jerk of neck he spat a block of ice forward, sending out several in swift succession one after the other, each a little higher or lower than the last one. The moment the magical ice touched the fog it began to change, stretch out in a platform while the ones close to it began to form something that looked like a pole.

The platforms formed first at the top, making the flow of people crash and bounce off of it, only then the poles came in action, they momentarily widened and stretched, twisting in such a way to connect with the platform below it while providing enough surface for the people to slide down from it.

Only when the platforms connected together everyone interested could admire Cyril's idea. The dragon formed a ramp that twisted in a circular fashion like stairs in a library, saving the people who jumped out from the building and allowing them to slide down to the ground safely, far away from the pile of corpses and cripples to spare them the trauma.

A deed that, if they survive this, none of them will remember.

He was saving lives, in his long life he did it many times already and despite the natural distance of his heart to all sort of emotion he really enjoyed this part. He was completely engrossed by this act, something he considered royal duty, that he didn't even notice when he raised on his hind legs, stretching out like a bipedal creature just to precisely reach the spots where he ordered his magic to fly.

This engrossment was praise worthy and really suited a Guardian, showing his responsibility for Warfang.

In times like this though, such sacrifices also meant weakness.

A powerful shock exploded from how chest, the zap was so strong and unexpected that he felt as if chest has collapsed, the painful impact stole the breath out of his lungs, making him hack fiercely, to rough cough dragging droplets of blood from the maltreated and unprepared throat.

The shock spread throughout his entire body, freezing him for a moment in place with an aching expression of bewilderment plastered on his snout.

He was struck by a bolt of electricity, the strike made him flop on his hind paws, pushing him into a desperate struggle for balance while the smell of sizzled scale hanging in the air.

Another bolt hit him, this time resolving the battle without a doubt.

Cyril collapsed, his stretched out body, opened and defenseless crashed onto the ground with a loud rattle, heavy body making a clear indentation in the stones, part of the street cracked under the dropping weight.

More magic shook the air.

With a snarl he threw his wing up, a mixture of elemental energy struck his risen draconic shield, he could sense every piece of magic the world is made from striking his wing. He managed to gaze through the explosion, spotting Volteer and Terrador among the people heading his way, his two friends just closing their mouths, they were among the group that attacked him.

More people followed suit, every visible draconic citizen in appropriate distance had his or hers mouth opened, channeling their powers against him. Some of those dragons belonged to the group that he saved some to the group that jumped out of the building, he could clearly recognize them from the wounds and blood spilled over their snouts or the occasional bone protruding from the legs. It's not easy to break draconic bones, but a direct fall onto the ground with no regard for your safety, followed by more bodies crashing on top of you, some even heavier than you, is a perfect recipe for breaking that knowledge.

Every single member of this crowd though shared one thing in common, they were extremely sluggish, true wiling fighters would collapse on top of him now, not letting him catch a moment of reprieve when they so greatly outnumber their foe.

It was Corruption that was making them fight, while it controlled their limbs, it couldn't control their motivation.

Slow or not though, he was greatly outnumbered here in the open, he doubted that even Hunter with his special powers could change the fate of this battle.

"Cyril!" Hunter yelled from above

He gazed up, just to notice the impudent cheetah riding the young wind dragon like he would be a mount, the feline had just released an arrow.

"Run! We don't stand a chance here!"

The projectile struck a random dragon in the cheek, it did not find a point where it could thrust itself into the body, it merely bounced off of the scale, but it was enough to distract the dragon and made him abort his plan of attacking the Ice Guardian.

The elemental energy he was channeling whizzed from his mouth, abruptly cut off by the snapping teeth that the striking arrow nudged.

Several dragons jumped into the air, they flapped their wings slowly, just enough to keep them aloft and direct their attention to the duo of companions in the air. Every airborne mouth parted, releasing a stream of their own elemental energy at the flying wind dragon in the distance.

"Holy shit! Hold on! I knew this was a bad idea!" Cloudas screamed and immediately pressed his wings close to his body, directing the nose towards the ground

He dived swiftly.

Hunter yelped when the unexpected, fast turn jerked his body backwards, several arrows fell from the quiver as he was thrown back, he barely managed to keep his bow. His legs began to slip and he knew he was losing balance, the only thing that saved him was the feathers on Cloudas' shoulder pad, his free hand clung to the tuft fiercely, burrowing its fingers deeply into the fluffy strands.

The strain in his forearm was so strong that he was expecting his arm to tear itself apart any time now.

The mixed magic powers met at one spot somewhere above them, they exploded with a deafening roar, a part of this force of elements consisted of a fireball, the heated shockwave that followed a clear evidence of that.

While they managed to dodge the strike, the collision of so many elements still made an impact, the rumble in the air flung Hunter in the opposite direction this time. The cheetah was no longer leaning backwards, but was slammed into the scaly body he was riding, his furry flesh pressed itself tightly against the back of the wind dragon.

The sudden burden slamming against his body followed by the rough shockwave of elemental magic exploding behind them made the dive Cloudas committed to an uncontrollable fall.

Very quick fall.

With the crushing wind against his snout he couldn't gather enough breath to scream out his worry, his big feathery wings opened widely, beating fiercely against the treacherous gust. He begun to spin, one wing caught the edges of the building, the feathers sliding down sharply along the rough surface, the occasional edge taking a feather as a victim, plucking it from the draconic membrane.

Hunter's arms wrapped themselves tightly around his neck, choking him, additionally some part of the bow started stabbing his chest.

More magical energy started to sizzle the air, the power of the incoming stream ruffled his feathers.

Cyril sensed it to and believed that the young dragon won't have enough time to protect himself properly from the incoming attack. Let his life be damned if he allows a wind dragon to die on his watch.

On Ancestors vengeful horns!

How he despised being a martyr!

He covered the wing he was holding in ice, swinging with it fiercely when another earth bolt from Terrador approached, the projectile instead of destroying itself on the wing, bounced off of it, his precise movement send the bolt flying in the air.

This action opened him to more strikes which didn't hold back from feasting upon his scales.

Cyril roared in pain.

The earth bolt collided with an ice projectile above, the shards that were sent flying struck several approaching earth missiles, these in turn struck the fireballs, those exploded eating up the energy of the electricity strikes.

A big ball of cracking elemental energy formed in the air that momentarily imploded with a rumbling thud.

The shockwave slammed Cyril into the street, pushed and threw back the crowd that was heading his way, the dragons that were in the air were lost their balance, some fell while others struggled to remain aloft.

What was crucial however was the fact that it hurled Cloudas and Hunter towards the building.

The duo was shot sideways sharply like a cannonball, luckily for them they flew right through another window, the momentum they had sent them flying across the room, crushing some lamp on the way and pushing them right at the door on the opposite side which they ripped off its hinges just to finally stop in the corridor when they crashed into the wall there.

A painting fell on top of them while the dust began to settle down.

Then fell the door they ripped off.

Both groaned when it happened, their bodies numb that they could barely feel the weight on top of them, everything was spinning and Hunter could barely gathered his thoughts to check if he has still all the limbs in the right place. All he knew for now was that his head hurt, blood trickled down from his forehead, he reached there in panic, already fearing a cracked skull, yet as it turned out it was only the skin that was cracked.

He was shaking.

Cloudas coughed roughly, spitting out a blob of blood, everything was hurting him, even the tongue which he bit into accidently judging from the pain inside his mouth. He would check it out, but his chin hurt as well, everything hurt really and the ache effectively silenced every desire to move, all he wanted to do now was to curse his own stupidity for putting himself in this trouble and lie without any sort of movement.

Enough is enough.

He never got beaten so badly in such a short notice in his own damned world and by the Graceful Wind after that fucking deal he had no friends and family there anymore.

"Clo-" Hunter grunted, but his rough voice never managed to finish the sentence since it was muffled by a loud rumble from up ahead

The wall right next to the window crumbled, its whole surface was turned to ice when that happened, the shards were sent flying everywhere when unexpectedly Cyril barged through, smashing the ice block into pieces with his bodyweight.

Just like them he was hurled inside, clearly struck by some magical projectile as he climbed up to reach them. The dragon's body was covered with all sorts of marks, colored in each element really, many of those wounds were still bleeding, not to mention the many cuts and slices from all the shards and crumbling rocks that painted the blue body with red dashes.

The big body of the dragon slid along the ground, almost every room in Warfang is suited to house an adult dragon, yet none was really prepared for an adult dragon to make a slide across one. The Guardian's long tail was stretched out, it destroyed everything in its path, even furniture as big as a closet.

Cyril had his claws dug into the floor, despite the agony he was still trying to slow down his uncontrollable slide, this together with his tail smashing into every possible thing managed to slow him down enough that he didn't ruin the wall that lead to the corridor which would put this particular room in a very big risk of collapsing.

It was a good sign that this side of the City Hall was still standing with all the holes dotting it. Luckily the moles know what they are doing.

Not to mention the two of them, they might have survived the blast, but if Cyril wouldn't slow down and flew straight at them, the chances of survival when being crushed by a big dragon body were meager to put it mildly.

"Get up" Cyril rasped the moment his slide stopped, blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth and one of his eyes was bloodshot and full of tears, clearly irritated by something

The dragon despite his wounds pulled himself up almost automatically, he hissed though when he put weight on all four paws, knees buckled pulling his rump down and making him stretch unnaturally. With a snarl the dragon immediately dragged his lower body back in place, trying to show no signs of weakness, while he looked confident his right hind paw however was bent vertically, risen gently above the ground, with only claws touching the floor.

"I'm done! I'm not going anywhere anymore!" Cloudas whined, his entire frame completely still as he gave release to his frustration

"Get up this instant fool" Cyril growled, there was no sign of pity or any other social friendly emotion in his voice for that matter, there was only anger

No.

It was a barely contained fury.

"We change the battlefield, become more clever or we die. All I need is Hunter so I'm going to take him with me no matter what he says. You though? You are nothing and can rot here for all I care, if you prefer to wither as a corpse then so be it. I met enough of whiners in my life, one less would be a wonder to welcome. At least then something would go according to my wish without me needing to put my paws in shit again"

Cloudas growled, his display of irritation however was quickly ended by another cough escaping his mouth. He couldn't care less who this dragon was for this city, he wasn't one of the Shapers so no matter how hard he tries to act all important, in the end he is no different than him.

Guess people in this world have more freedom given to them, Spyro and Cynder obviously decided to let the people have some free will instead of dictating their whole existence according to their plans.

This mess is a result of hubris.

Shapers have the power over the world, no matter how someone else tries to aspire to their level, there was no possibility to reach it, it's how the world works. If people are to blind to see it, full of arrogance no less, then you have a ready recipe for disaster, his battered body a clear evidence of this.

Fool.

Pah! Fool my tail!

At least I'm not delusional and know where my place is.

Life is all about the strong dominating the weak, it was always about the more intelligent, more powerful to set the rules for the rest. Life of obedience doesn't need to be bad, there is nothing wrong with people more powerful and smarter wielding the banner of decision making, wielding rule.

This is how it works.

Even stupid wild animals know this.

In a world where everyone is equal, everyone has the same privileges, everyone has the same amount of power. This is a world where everyone has nothing.

And in the end nature triumphs anyway, but instead of having true leaders worthy of that mantle, this delusional carnival of falsehood gives birth to abominations like this dragon, who managed to grip a bit of influence in his talons and suddenly act all high and mighty.

Shapers are the true leaders.

If you come out from a pack of bugs, if you rise to the leader seat of your pack of bugs, your imagined power doesn't change a one crucial thing.

You are still a bug.

If his sister would still be alive she would pat his shoulder, she after all learned the rough truth on her own scales. Simplicity is simple, it's that easy, there is no reason to pretend otherwise, you know Cloudas how it ended last time when you tried to bend the rules.

The only thing saving this big idiot from learning the truth was the fact that they were in grave danger, life threatening danger so priorities come first and despite this sickening idiocy he didn't want to die. The only problem with this was that they keep trying and no matter what they do they still get punished for it, if this wasn't a sign that it will end in disaster then he didn't know what is.

But the dragon really seemed to believe that they can make a difference, it awakened the spark of determination Hunter managed to plant in him after their mission became clear. While it won't change much, they won't stop the threat, it would be nice to know that something will work out for once.

He didn't really believe Hunter anymore, but the ice dragon seemed to share the same motivation, the same will to fight, that alone together with the mortal danger stirred determination in his blood.

A fool's errand really.

But it beats dying like a worthless worm.

Another rumble of annoyance shook Cloudas' throat, this time though he avoided showing his displeasure, choking on your own blood was far from pleasant. He pulled himself up, every bone in his body screaming at his painfully, demanding to know what the hell he is doing. He ignored the cries though despite the fact that his every limb shook and just wanted to collapse again.

"Fine" he rasped, tired, panting snout aimed itself at Cyril's eyes, the white mouth was completely red from blood "But I have no idea what to do so you do all the thinking!" he reached out to his green mane, tugging at the fins there, he winced "My head hurts! And I think that parts of my brain are scattered all around this shitty building, if you ever find it stuck to some walls one day, I want it back"

Cyril nodded, this wasn't the response he wanted to hear, but a one that he was expecting, he didn't need much to learn of the dragon's irritating characteristics. He carries himself with a sarcastic approach similar to Cynder's, yet while the girl does it mostly for laughs his approach was more on the rude side.

It was irritating.

But he let it slide for now, it only meant that he will have a lot of work to do with this boy until he will shape him into a worthy dragon that will in the future empower his race. Rudeness and whining wasn't a perfect combination, it was surprising to find such bitterness in someone so young, considering the fact that he lived long enough to meet a few wind dragons before they became extinct and none of them showed the traits this boy displays.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the world the dragon came from, this fatalistic approach didn't come from nowhere.

But it did not matter for now.

Nothing will matter if this Corruption will bleed them to death.

"Don't engage, but I expect you to kill, understood?" Cyril's cold gaze traveled between the two companions "No holding back, these people are our enemies if we like it or not, Terrador and Volteer are important, the rest can be sacrificed" draconic claws scratched across the floor leaving a chilly trail behind "Are we clear about that? Do not hold back, do whatever you must to survive and finish our mission, spare if you can, but do not show mercy. Clear?"

"I kinda suck at fighting so you can be sure that I will do everything to protect my hide" Cloudas looked his bloodied body over, shoulders rising to give a callous shrug "Whatever is left of it anyway"

Hunter's ears flopped down, he felt as if every strand of his fur wanted to drop down in defeat like withered leaves and drop down on the floor if a thing like that would be possible, escaping from the unavoidable horror, leaving him completely alone to deal with the problem essentially.

He didn't want to fight his own people, the priests they had to kill, murder really since they couldn't control their own actions, that fight was already a huge overstep of a boundary of morality that someone loyal should never cross.

And loyalty was something of a creed to him.

To be asked to repeat such a thing?

Horrible.

If they ever succeeded in stopping this chaos, he had a feeling that nothing will return to normal, this moment will have lasting consequences, if not on the world in general, then surely on the conscience of everyone who survived.

He understood the situation, experience in the wilderness taught him that there is always a way even from the most terrible of situations. This experience however also told him that such hopeless moments don't appear from nowhere, there is always something that provoked them, a decision, an act that in truth might not even be related with you personally, but sadly this is a dilemma that you are never meant to solve.

You are left to wonder, constantly thinking that there had to be a better way and the worst thing about it was that you always found something.

Hunter patted his belt, hands working over the leather as if it would be made of a barely holding up porcelain. He needed a weapon, he knew where to find it and yet his numb hands just didn't want to locate one, fingers patted against the buckle, looking and finding nothing.

He lost all of his weapons.

He choked on his saliva, a powerful wave of relief washed over him, it was as scary as it was funny. Life threatening danger where he had no weapon to defend himself with.

People will be saved after all.

While they will tear him apart limb by limb.

Everyone's happy right?

Hunter chuckled, empty smile stretched his mouth as wet with tears eyes looked at the Guardian.

Cloudas balked at the sound.

Cyril raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"I lost my weapons" the cheetah announced, presented teeth glistened with a mixture of blood and saliva a tone of cheerfulness vibrated in his voice

The wind dragon looked away, scratching the back of his neck, he wanted to laugh but immediately silenced the nudge despite the fact that the feline looked really silly. It wasn't the perfect time to judge the ridiculousness of the situation, his furry companion was already struck with guilt when they killed the priests, repeating that must be hard on the guy.

Especially if they were meant to save people and not kill them.

Too bad though it takes a catastrophe to realize that the idealistic world where everything goes exactly right doesn't exist. Every action has a price.

Every wind dragon in your world would tell you that Cloudas if they allowed you inside and had the stomach to look at you.

The wind dragon's smile vanished from his snout.

Cyril smashed his fist into the nearby wall, it was enough to tear a piece of rock from its weakened structure. The shard fell right into the dragon's palm, immediately his draconic hand began to glow with a blue light, the illumination embraced the stone and it several seconds morphed into a completely different item.

A sword.

The blade was entirely made of ice, thick and solid ice that gave away a chilly mist, the sharp cold could be sensed even from the distance of a couple of meters that separated the cheetah and the Ice Guardian.

A powerful, magical blade.

"Weapons aren't an issue" Cyril handed the sword to the cheetah, the handle seemed to melt in the embrace of the draconic hand

Hunter stared at the magical sword with mouth agape, ears on his head kept pushing back and back that they began to stretch the skin on his face. The cold radiance of the blade foreshadowed the crime that was about to be committed.

A point of no return.

He knew he had to take the sword if he plans on increasing his chances of survival and yet his arm barely budged, he could already see the magical steel glistening with fresh blood of his fellow companions, his people.

"Take it Hunter" Cyril snarled "We don't have time"

He balked, a draconic growl of irritation had still a hold over him despite the situation, respect comes first and his arm was the first that showed he still remembered what authority means. The furry arm jerked slightly extending forward, it was a struggle though, conscience was pulling the arm back with all its might.

It was enough for Cyril through.

The dragon immediately swung with his paw, forcefully smacking it against the scout's barely risen hand. Hunter gasped when his entire body was shook forcefully while also making him feel as if his arm jumped out of its shoulder socket.

The cold handle of the blade sunk into his flesh, the sharp chill making him shiver to the rhythm of the almost electric pulses running across his nerves.

He gripped the handle and automatically decided to sheath the weapon, its irritating touch was getting more and more painful to bare.

He opened his fist.

Or at least that was what he wanted to do since in reality his fingers remained clenched over the freezing handle.

Pointy ears shot high to the sky, fur bristled in their wake, he raised the magical sword before his eyes, eyes moving onto the locked fist, once again he wanted to open his grip.

His fingers didn't move.

"What is this Cyril?" he stammered, teeth rattling in accordance to the shivers running through his body

"Insurance" the Ice Guardian responded coldly

Blue eyes blinked in confusion.

"What?" the cheetah whispered weekly

"I see hesitation in you, this blade will make sure that you won't succumb to it. We must reach Terrador and Volteer and you need to live so we can help them"

"And I thought that the Wretched are sick!" Cloudas exclaimed in shock "And here you are forcing Hunter to kill people with a sword that glued itself to his hand so we can get to the two buddies you care about! That's wicked!"

"Your opinion is no concern of mine little, frail boy" the Guardian snarled, luckily he was a wind dragon and the feathers on his body were the only thing keeping his fury away from the boy

"I want all of us to survive this battle, I couldn't care less that I lose in your eyes. I'm not bound by shackles of morality so you better get used to that"

There was a rumble behind them, big claws clicked against the stone.

Cyril immediately looked behind his shoulder, elemental energy charging before the neck even finished the turn. An ice missile was sent flying from the blue mouth across the hall, striking the enemy that decided to climb through the same hole he did.

It was a dragoness who instantly got hit in the shoulder by the projectile before she could even pull her body up completely. The Corruption's sluggish movement left her physically weak, the impact of the missile freed the stone from the draconic clutch, the dragoness was shot off the ledge without a sound.

By the muffled thumps and thuds it was quite obvious that she dragged several more climbers with her as she fell down.

Cyril turned towards the two young companions again, eyes callous.

"I advise you to do the same"

Cloudas bit his lip, he really believed they were in a big mess and the chance to succeed were close to zero. Yet having this guy with them changed his perspective, he was a cold motherfucker, a badass in every aspect and a very intimidating one at that, while all this anger didn't really work on him, the calculated determination was a completely different matter.

The big dragon knew, or at the very least seemed to know what he was doing and this confidence was infectious, with him around he really believed they had a chance. It will be tragic when they will have to kill these poor people, but it was better that they die instead of them.

He wouldn't invite this guy to a party or any other event for that matter considering that he cares about his friends only and treats everyone else as a rock that can be discarded if it gets too annoying. However in situation like this, he wouldn't want anyone else by his side.

He seems to have a manner of control over Hunter and the cheetah was already at the edge of insanity and rebellion, he doubted he would pull this through alone since the feline seemed to be farther and farther away from worrying about his own survival.

Guilt is a bitch that only drives you insane.

The walls shook, the door at the ground level were torn out from their hinges.

"We cannot fight together in these small halls" Cyril looked around disgruntled "We split up but they close enough so we can hear each other. Draw the attention of the people, open a path and scream at the top of your lungs when you spot Volteer or Terrador. The sooner we get them, the sooner we can retreat. I don't know what is needed, but these two are the most powerful dragons out of this bunch, our combined should be enough to pull off whatever will be needed to get Warfang back on our side"

"Okay then" Cloudas shook his body, flicking away dust and blood, just do free his feathers a little he was an expert in running away and buying time when those feathery guys are working as intended

"I'll go with this plan, accepting the fact that you three are more magical than others. I'll simply pretend that it has nothing to do with your desire to save your friends"

"My desire is a secondary matter. My energy and that of the other Guardians was used to fuse devices and portals to realms where dwell powerful creatures your impudent mind couldn't begin to fathom. Learn respect or this rudeness will be your downfall young dragon"

Cloudas shrugged indifferently.

"Whatever. Let's do this, for the first time I feel like this is not a suicide, kinda sucks that I'm bait again, makes me a hypocrite but since I'm not alone on this ship any longer I'll stomach it somehow. Hunter? What about you?"

The cheetah's arms were numbly hanging by his sides, head lowered down, face wrinkled by a snarl, the tip of the ice blade touching the floor, creating a little circle of ice in small radius around the sharp end of the sword.

"I will do what needs to be done" the scout announced grimly, tapping the frozen floor with the tip of the blade

Scratches appeared on the surface of the ice when the sword drew new chilly lines upon the ground.

Crushing noise echoed behind the Ice Guardian, sound of grinding rocks announced another unwelcome guest climbing towards them. When Cyril looked gazed back he noticed that there was no longer a single set of paws gripping the rocks, another appeared right next to the pair.

More stones fell from the weakened wall, enlarging the hole.

Blue tail made long, wide swings, he really wanted to blow the climbers away, two of them would drag far more people with them to the ground and really made their life easier in the long run. He didn't strike however, creating a foothold here would mean letting yourself being cut off by the corrupted folks that just bashed down the main door. Another aspect was that he didn't want to hurt people pointlessly, especially his own race, the fall with the addition of a big draconic body dropping to the ground that most likely would drag many smaller people with it was a recipe for a memento of worthless casualties.

And he didn't want to beat such a record.

"Let's go" Cyril turned away from the climbers and immediately marched forward, tapping Cloudas in the shoulder on the way

The wind dragon hissed when suddenly his shoulder began to burn fiercely, horrified eyes noticed that part of his scales turned to ice.

"My mark so I can find you if we get lost, I can sense my own magic, if possible try to remain in a earshot of a roar so we can quickly assist each other if situation will demand it. Stay alive and stay safe. I'll take the lower floor"

With those words the Guardian disappeared in the hallways, his swinging tail marking the walls with trails of ice on the way.

Cloudas and Hunter exchanged glances, the young drake was glad that the uniting of sights lasted only for a while though, it was really demotivating to see depression in the cheetah's eyes in a moment like this. He really didn't want to lose the hope of getting through this right when he managed to find one not so long ago.

They both went their own way, accompanied by the noise of rattling doors, whining floor and crushed rock.

The crowd from the streets poured into the building, flooding the halls with their bodies, the swarm of silhouettes shrouding the barely lit rooms.

Darkness embraced the building.