That moment flashed before my eyes like a movie carefully having each of its silent frames rolling one-by-one… I cried out for him, he didn’t listen, I heard the shot, he fell down.
                I thought of all the things that lead up to this, from the first moment we locked eyes to him now bleeding and cowering from the captain’s shots… Could I have done something different? Should I have? Was I the bad guy in this story or was I just the bystander?

                He was standing just a few feet from me, Captain Niles that is, he grinned with every shot, I could see his taste for blood as he watched Vernon topple down and drag himself on the ground
                I asked myself how could anyone have such a despicable expression while harming someone? How could anyone not feel anything for Vernon, not even a smidge of guilt or hesitation?
                But as much as I judged him, I was no better…
                Vernon warned me, he said that taking him in was the same as killing him, he tried to argue and pleaded me to stop fighting him but I wouldn’t listen, I couldn’t… I gambled his life away and I lost.

                Niles took shot after shot stopping only when the gun was completely empty, he rolled the barrel to the side and the cartridges fell out, he started moving forward as he reloaded, but not before he looked at me bound on the ground and let out… “PATHETIC!!”

                I was indeed pathetic, I couldn’t deny that… I was so lost inside my own mind I couldn’t do anything other than stare in silence.
                First I tried to help an innocent passed out kid… Turns out he is Redmane.
                Then I try to argue with the captain for me to plead for him… Failed that too.
                Then he escapes and I try to prevent him from coming back… But he bests me.
                And now I’m bound and forced to watch as they slaughter him…

                I just wanted to help, he looked so frail when we found him, they told me to leave him but I couldn’t.
                And his eyes, It was like he was constantly asking for help, constantly crying out in fear. I couldn’t leave him there! Even though now I thought that I should… This was my fault, I was the one who insisted to take him in, if it were up to captain Niles he would have just left him behind and this wouldn’t have happened.

                I never cared about this Redmane thing, the half-bred thinking they are so much better than us, the dragons ruling like they are kings and queens… Or worse yet, gods, choosing who lives and who dies.
                It was never a concern of mine, never something I wanted to tangle with, I just… Wanted to help someone in need, and I couldn’t even do that right.
                Pathetic was the best word anyone could have used to describe me.

                I laid there powerless, watching as Niles approached the wagon firing one final shot, and one I was sure did not miss.
                I prayed to the goddesses of healing Kathya and Anodyne to have mercy on him. And I prayed to Jald for his safety… It was all I could do, pray… Again.

                But my prayer was cut short, my eyes widened and I gasped for I could not believe what was happening… There was first a loud *CLANG!* then a pause… and again! *CLANG!!*
                I looked over to the wagon and there was Niles desperately trying to open the door, but the cart looked awfully deformed, like something was tearing it’s way out from the inside, every second a louder and scarier sound coming from within until.
                *CLANG!!!*
                I saw the ceiling of the wagon get ripped apart, the metal spread to the sides and a shadow quickly emerged from within ripping the chains from the auto-wagon’s chassis and scattering shards of metal everywhere.
                Seeing him free for the first time was quite an experience, before it was like the life was being sucked out of him, but now…
                His scales were bright and reflected the moon perfectly, his hair scattered in the wind as he jumped high in the air and landed exactly in the middle of camp, like it was not a big deal at all that he just flew several meters into the air.
                The chains flowed behind despite their enormous weight and landed next to him… In his arms a contracted body of a Redmane that looked so tiny in comparison… He was covered in blood.

                “THE PRISONERS ESCAPED!!” Niles shouted, as if the whole mess from before was not obvious to everyone.

                But Azreth paid him no mind, he lifted himself in the middle of camp, in full view of everyone… He gazed around, his eyes felt chilling, a deathly aura that enveloped everything and everyone.

                “TO ARMS!!” Niles commanded again.

                But someone else’s voice was louder… “STOOOOP!!” Azreth cried to the top of his lungs, his voice was a primal roar that shook us to our very essence, the soldiers stopped everything they were doing halfway trough as if frozen in time. Not even the smallest cricket would dare make a sound, afraid that the dense air would suffocate them.
                He looked over of the soldiers once again, causing a wave of fear to follow in his gaze and then, with no hesitation or even the least amount of doubt… He walked.
                His footsteps were followed by the rattling chains behind him, but those were the only two sounds at that moment, not even a single breath could be heard among that oppressive weight, every steep he took he came closer and closer until he stopped right next to me.
                He lowered himself and then laid the body in front of me before he turned me around.
                Noticing I was stuck like that he didn’t even ponder, just grabbed my armor and ripped it apart like he was tearing a thin sheet of paper… It was astounding and terrifying to witness that strength.

                I didn’t need a command, I turned myself around and dragged myself closer to Vernon.
                I saw the wounds, two shots, one in his leg the other on his side… I was sure he didn’t make it, I felt his body was limp and unresponsive, he had no pulse that I could feel, but the wounds looked treated the bullets were out and they weren’t bleeding anymore.

                “Don’t worry… He is alive and will make it just fine.” Azreth reassured still with that deadly calm, this time with a confident smile. “Take care of him for me… I’ve got business to attend to.” And then he looked at me with the corner of his eye. “And when I’m trough with them, I’m coming for you!”
                If Azreth was enough to send my hair on end before, now I felt like a cornered animal, every instinct in me told me to run when he said that, but there were other instincts at play as well, one that asked… ‘What is the point? You’re dead anyway…’
                I resigned to my fate, taking Vernon with me and moving out of the line of fire… I realize how that looked in the eyes of other soldiers, but given what was about to happen, it would prove to be the correct move.

                Azreth grasped the chains firmly and rattled them some more as if he was feeling the balance, he stood up then carefully tied them around his waist and arms as well. “I do like these, they are heavy!”

                Niles finally broke free from the fear and looked around. “What are you all doing? IN POSITION!” He commanded.

                Azreth’s smirk grew slowly as he moved towards the soldiers who now desperately struggled to compose themselves and gather their weapons. He carelessly motioned for them to halt. “Before this gets started… Any of you guys feel like leaving?”
                The other soldiers all began lock their rifles and pistols in place and pointed all of them at him, they were well trained to obey but not enough to understand what was going on. “No? Last chance!”
                And just like that he was sitting there in the middle of camp surrounded by more than thirty of the finest men and women I’ve meet… His confidence unshaken and his smile larger than ever. “Didn’t think you would… Well, I’ll give you guys a head start.” He spread his arms and left himself wide open, taunting. “FIRE AWAY!!”

                The salvo began, a continuous and loud barrage of shots coming from every single soldier in camp at once. I covered my ears and laid atop Vernon so that no strays would hit him… It was clear to me then, he was insane, this had be some sort of mental breakdown, Vernon died and he was killing himself for it as some penance, it never occurred to me that anyone could survive that many bullets.
                Every shot was hitting, I was positive, but there were so many impacts and powder in the air I couldn’t see anything at all… The sound was even more maddening, sending shivers down my spine.

                But then, the salvo stopped, every pistol, rifle and machine-gun empty.
                And then we watched, I like everyone else, was thinking this did him in that he was going to collapse any second now… It was impressive that he could even stand.
                There was blood, it leaked over his body and glistened in the nearby fire’s light, but even then, it was way less than anticipated. Most bullets just bounced off or shattered while some remained encrusted on his scales and carefully began dropping onto the ground as he began to move again.
                He contracted then shivered as if in pain, but that wasn’t pain… “Ha-ha!! I haven’t felt this rush in so long!” He cried out in excitement.

                Every soldier stood there, mouth agape, as he laughed after taking more than a hundred shots still standing like it was nothing, I felt my throat hoarsen and I wasn’t even amidst the ones who shot… I could see that they were absolutely terrified of what they were up against.
                Even captain Niles couldn’t handle it, his legs were shaking his eyes wide and his voice trembling. “IT’S NOT POSSIBLE!!”

                Azreth kept laughing to himself and dusting himself off causing the rest of the bullets to pop out. “Well, that was a fun warm up… What else you got?” He teased.

                Niles looked over the soldiers and tried to get a proper grip of the situation, but how can you get the morale up when they had witnessed what we just saw? “RIFFLES USE PETARD AMMO, NOW! THE REST OF YOU SCALE BLADES AND FORMATION!!”

                The soldiers began to scramble to get orders done while still trying to shake the fear of what they just saw, and that is exactly what Azreth intended as he smirked with murder in his eyes. “Play time is over…”