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Another Messenger of Dire News

As Seraphor finished talking with one of the dragons that started the conversation, he hopped to Terrador's back and as the earth guardian opened his wings, he cling to the dragon's hard back when he lifted off. He wanted to return to Xici kingdom again and at least able to sort out the problems some of the dragons started. He had grown accustomed around the humans to the point that he had no other thing to save, like his gold and his cave. Seraphor felt content on what he could achieve.

The desert landscape wasn't all that hard to traverse in the first day of travel, with good visibility and pleasant weather, despite of the heat. Seraphor wanted to return to the place where they were supposed to be resting aside from Dracokin city, but he forgot the place and without any dragons living there, the place could become one with the desert at this point.

Richard and the draconians were following suit with their off-road car, traversing the fantasy landscape of might and magic (and dragons). Somehow they got a reserve of gasoline in their travel so they could follow them with a high-speed car, unrealistically able to follow the dragon's speed, and of course it made Seraphor wondered if Spyro's movies weren't true.

They reached a rock joint to rest for the night. The heat of the day was replaced with the coldness of the night. The draconians made a small fire pit for heat while the dragons laid near their car, talking to each other.

"The storm is coming fast," said Terrador while sniffing the air. "I've never felt a sandstorm this strong, so I suggest we all find a shelter to sleep. Can that vehicle be put inside the cave?"

"We can try to, but how about you dragons?"

"Don't worry," said Ignitus. "There's a shield magic Spyro liked to use when he was still fighting against many of his enemies, all taught by his elder mentors. That shield can protect us for the night, but not giving the warm necessary and it can end up hot if I use the magic."

"How about the rest of you? Can't you four use it at the same time so it can be tolerated?"

"Well, uhm...," said Cyril. "You do know what will happen if certain elements are combined?"

"What I know," said Richard. "Is what you know if you're overloading something with something. Goddamn it, guys, at least think of something before that sandstorm is coming or we're done for."

"Alright, alright! Stop talking too much or we won't get the rest we need."

In the end, Spyro was the one setting up the shield (since his elements were neutral thanks to his hybrid elements) and Seraphor, out of habit, took guard that night with Richard and Juagar, who couldn't sleep. They saw the night sky, which was bright with stars and such.

"When you're having your own reserve, Richard," said Seraphor while still staring at the sky. "Some of your comrades were in the desert, enjoying the oasis your former dragon made for Shariot."

"I heard about the place, but I can't seem to see it anywhere. You still remember the place?"

"I don't really remember it right now. The desert is very big."

"I thought so."

Richard sighed and lay on his back, staring at the stars, then his scaly hand. "You know, shit's changed fast. I turned into a draconian, I have a wife and a kid, I've been living in a modern fantasy world, and all of this happened just merely 15 years since I'm stranded there, after Ray died. Hell, I thought I won't be coming back to this dire place again."

"So, you don't really want to go back?"

He went silent for a while. "What do you feel, when you have other responsibilities to do, but there's a dangerous request to return to your homeland, yet you don't have anything left? Well, yeah, I still have friends, but I'm nothing but a draconian, and both Ray and Engrak have left in peace. For me, seeing draconians in my place I called home now, is enough than to take on the war."

"You don't have to be here if you want to."

"Yet, I realized I still have another responsibility here. Raithorakh once told me about how important the dragon offspring was, just like how important a descendant to a human. While I'm physically a drake, I'm still human in heart. When I return here and meet that blue dragon back in Xici I realized I still have a family here, and because of that, I'm motivated to go back."

"Family? You mean you know where Shariot is?"

Richard made a grin, then turned to Juagar. "Well, how about it, Jua? You still want to risk your tail and horns to help me?"

"Anything for a friend. Bes, Orozco, and the others are thinking the same thing, Richard. You're a drake of two worlds, after all, and you've saved our asses many times, it's time for repaying the debts."

"You don't have to if you don't want to, just like what Sera told me earlier."

"Well, you should help a friend, right?"

As the golden draconian made a smile, he put one of his clawed hands to Juagar's shoulder, and said, "Ah, you damn fuck."

"Hey, this life is a battlefield, right?"

"Oh, guys, you two have some serious scaly lives back there, huh? I wish I could see real future towns someday. Hey, what's about the guns? They are like magical projectiles, right?"

"I first thought they're magical projectiles when I first reached the place," said Richard while chuckling. "My, my Seraphor, you're still like a kid."

"Hey, I like new things in my life now..."

Suddenly Seraphor sniffed something in the air, something foul. He was suddenly in an aware situation and he made a growl on his four with heat building up in him. But then he relaxed, yet still very concerned on what he smelled.

"Seraphor, what's wrong," said Richard, who had unsheathed his sword reacting to Seraphor's sudden reaction to the smell. "Hostiles?"

"I'm not sure myself, but I smell blood."

"Blood? Where?"

"I doubt if it's close. Even your draconian nose can't smell it."

"I smell blood, alright."

"What? You too, Jua?"

"Maybe that's because you're not a drake from the start, man."

"Shit...."

"Let's check it out. Something tells me this is not a trap."

As the three of them went to the position indicated by Seraphor and Juagar (with both draconians riding on his back), and somehow didn't found anything.

"Hmm, something's not right. I clearly smell something around here. It's very strong," said Juagar. "You're right, Seraphor, this place reeks like a goddamn morgue."

"Are you guys okay? There's still nothing smelled like shit around here."

"Like I said, man, you're once a human."

"Look, even if I was a human that doesn't mean my olfactory senses stay the same!"

"Well, suit yourself. You're pathetic for a half-dragon, man."

"Fuck you, man."

"Wait, did you hear that?"

"What now, Sera?"

"It's like a very low growl...like a dying one."

Seraphor's acute hearing (because of the ear leaves he had) caught the low dying growl not far from their position, and while running to the position of the source, the foul smell of blood hit the dragon like a spear into his snout, giving him an instant "fuck" out from his maws.

"The blood is strong here," said Juagar while closing his snouts. "There was a goddamn mess here."

"Shit, there's a sandstorm coming."

As they saw the position of the storm, Seraphor caught sight of something half-buried under the sand, and while leaving the two draconians, he ran there as quick as he could with the electric step he had and found that it was the source of the low growl, where he saw a wing sprouting out from the sand with some half of a dark green dragon seen. The dragon was cut in many parts and he was in critical condition. Somehow the dragon had been like this for days from how deep he was buried. Without thinking much, Seraphor used his earth element power to clean the sand around the dragon and trying to carry it despite of his size being two times bigger than the silver red.

He reached the draconians after pulling the dragon with his small body's strength. Asking the draconians to help guard the dragon, he ran off to the camp and woke Spyro.

"The hell? Is it my turn now?"

"No, Spyro, help me carry my friend, now."

"What's wrong?"

"I'll tell you when we get there."

Spyro saw that the dragon was at the same size with him, and with his muscles he was able to take the dragon on his back. As he walked back to reach the camp the sandstorm had almost caught on them when they reached the shield, protecting them from further blindness.

Putting down the dragon, Richard suddenly remembered the dragon. He once met the dragon, too, with Raithorakh, and was in Dracokin when he was still human.

"Wait a sec. Seraphor, this dragon is..."

"Well, Richard?"

"But, I thought he's a little brighter. I mean, his scales aren't supposed to be this dark."

"I don't know what really happened to him, but for this night, we must tend to him until he's awake."

The morning came faster than what the dragons could imagine. They all saw the sunrise from the east of them shining on their scales, and of course, with the new dawn, there would be a new thing coming to them.

As they were attending the dragon, he woke up with a draconic grunt, scanning all around before turning his view to Seraphor, where he made a sigh and closed his eyes in relief.

"Thank ancestors you're back," said the dragon weakly. "I think I will rest easy now."

"Don't rest too much, okay? What are you doing buried under the sand, Koruskin? Were you attacked?"

Koruskin grunted while putting his body upright again. "I'm a messenger to the Order and, yes, I was attacked by some dragons along the way, those aligned with the Antis. I was trying to give a message coming from the north of here."

"Can you tell us about it?"

"Let's see...." The dragon flexed his wings, flapping them while cleaning some dust from it. He was still hurt, but it wasn't enough to kill him now Terrador was healing the dragon. Koruskin then said, "Ah, yes. It's something you all must know. There is a big army coming this way to finish what they have left. Some dragons are guarding the group and of course, I met them in the most unfortunate time."

"How much are they?"

"There are thousands of soldiers, most of them are slayers. There are around five dragons guarding them and some ballista, catapults, and other things to defeat a dragon. There are also dragon riders with great magical potential."

"Where are they going? Are they targeting Qeveriyt?"

"No, but they're going to go to the settlement after finishing off the kingdoms in their path."

"You mean...shit!"

"What's wrong, Seraphor?" asked Spyro.

"Those sons of bitches will hit Xici kingdom! Those back in the kingdom won't last long without any help!"

"You still have six days to warn those kingdoms before it's too late," said Koruskin.

Seraphor was thinking. Six days would make the dragons unable to warn the other kingdoms because of their scattered place and of course the silver red wasn't familiar with the other kingdoms. The kingdoms could have changed much after a hundred years' gap, as he also doubted Koruskin's message, yet, from watching the dragon's eyes, he could see that Koruskin was talking the truth.

"Okay," said Seraphor while making a sigh. "We don't have time to go to other kingdoms, so we'll stick with Xici and provide necessary defenses to the place. Koruskin, warn Yort and the others back in Qeveriyt and give them the information they need."

"Yes, I'll try. But, you do believe in me, right?"

Seraphor made a draconic smile to the dark green dragon. "After seeing how much your scales had changed, I hardly have a reason to not believing you. What actually happened to the scales, Kor?"

"Those slayers used a foul magic to cripple my scales. Now I'm vulnerable to fire and any projectile weapons!"

"Okay, easy! Why are you so cocky?"

"Seraphor, what does it feels like to be incomplete? If you're a dragon, you know it's destroying our pride."

"True...I don't have wings."

"Oh yeah...damn you."