When Slangfang materialized in his house, he promptly fell over. His Mobilium spell was a very powerful one, but it drained most of his energy. He drew himself onto his bed and lay down in exhaustion.

As he lay there, Slangfang breathed deeply. He slowly gathered more energy from around him using the small remaining energy he had left. When he was finally up to full capacity, he stepped outside of his room and into the main room. He stopped and stared in confusion and shock.

The room was trashed. One of the bookshelves was cracked in half and the other was reduced to chunks of burnt wood and ash. The books themselves were torn all over the place and a small table was smashed to splinters. The single chair was torn apart with stuffing and fabric all over the place.

Slangfang out into the main village and stopped. The houses were decimated, and almost all the above-ground ones were burned to the ground. A huge tree had been sawed off at the base and fallen on three houses. Slangfang ran into the remains of the village, searching for clues as to what had happened. He caught sight of a single long, glimmering, feather caught on a branch.

Slangfang growled to himself and flew into the air. He followed the trail in his head, straight to the village of the Avis dragons. As he flew, he saw and felt the marks of Reptilik dragon magic. One Avis dragon’s body was burnt to a crisp and stuck to a tree with a blue sticky thread.

Soon, Slangfang arrived at the site of a battle. About one hundred Reptilik dragons were attacking and at least two hundred Avis dragons were defending. Slangfang flew at an Avis dragon with a fire-lit tail and a dark gray color all over. The dragon turned, saw him, and flew away.

Slangfang followed, dashing through the trees. Then, very suddenly, the dragon flew upwards into the trees in a clearing. Slangfang flew into the clearing and looked up to see the dragon's tail, burning again. Then, the fire extinguished itself and something large and green closed around Slangfang. He yelled in shock and thrashed around inside. He paused, panting. Then, he focused up a large amount of energy and blasted it outwards, destroying the green thing. Slangfang looked up into the eyes of the dragon above.

“Well hello there handsome,” Slangfang called. “What might you be doing up in those trees?”

“I’m currently hiding from someone.” the other dragon said. “I might ask the same of you.”

“Well, I am not in some trees.” Slangfang retorted. “I am down here on the ground. But let's start with formalities. What’s your name? I am Slangfang.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Slangfang.” the dragon said. “My name is Firetail.”

“Oh, is that why you can light your tail on fire?” Slangfang said. “I was wondering about that.”

“By the way, why did you call me handsome?” Firetail asked.

“Because that is the best way to describe you,” Slangfang said.

“Well, I could say the same about you,” Firetail said.

“Well, thank you,” Slangfang said. “But,  might I ask, aren’t we technically enemies?”

“Our tribes are, I guess,” Firetail said. “But I don’t think we are.” He blushed and hid a smile.

“That makes sense,” Slangfang said. “Could we meet here again tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Firetail said. “I have to get going though. I’m needed elsewhere.”

“Oh. Well, bye then,” Slangfang said.

“Goodbye,” Firetail said and flew away. Slangfang stood there in a trance. He looked around throughout the forest. He sighed and then flew up into the sky. As he flew, a creeping sensation moved up his back, and he turned around. As he hovered in place, he looked about over the forest.

Suddenly, the ground shook and rumbled. A large patch of trees on the ground shifted and lifted slightly with another shake. The ground lifted and a huge spire pierced the ground and lifted into the clouds.

Slangfang swooped closer and examined the spire. It had several round holes in the sides, and its surface was very uneven. Several smaller spires were poking up from the main one. As Slangfang examined it, he noticed it was like a huge, enlarged, anthill.

He saw a dragon climbing it. It was Crystal, who Slangfang knew. Crystal was a dragon from the “advanced” civilization who had gotten lost in the jungle and was found by Slangfang. Slangfang had taught Crystal how to live in the jungle.

“Crystal!” Slangfang yelled, but she didn’t hear him. Crystal stepped forwards and tripped and fell into an opening in the mountain. She slid in partially. Slangfang flew down to get to her, but she was pulled in by something. Just as Slangfang landed, the hole collapsed.

“Aargh!” Slangfang yelled. He clawed at the earth ferociously, but there was too much. Eventually, he gave up and flew away. As he did, he looked back once. Each of the holes had sealed up and a pink glow was streaming out of the gaps. With a rumble, the mountain sunk down under the earth again, leaving not a single thing to indicate what had happened prior.

As Slangfang flew on, he thought about what he had seen. He thought about the anthill mountain. He thought about Crystal. He thought about Firetail. As he flew back to the remnants of his village, a dragon flew up to him.

“Oh! Slangfang! You survived!” the dragon said. “We didn’t know for sure.”

“Oh. What happened?” Slangfang asked.

“Well, the Avis dragons attacked the village and left, so we followed them and attacked back,” the dragon said hurriedly. “Then, while we were fighting, a huge round machine with rock saws came out of the ground and we attacked it because it was clearly the new dragons.”

“Wow…”Slangfang said. “Did you get the draglik stone?”

“Yes, Thankfully,” the dragon said.

“I have some news too though,” Slangfang said.

“Really?” the dragon said. “What?”

“Well, while I was flying around, this huge anthill-looking mountain with holes in it popped up out of the ground,” Slangfang said. “Do you know Crystal?”

“Oh, yeah.” the dragon said. “By the way, my name is Cobri.”

“Well, Crystal was walking around on top of the mountain, when she tripped and fell into one of the holes,” Slangfang said. “Then, I flew down to get her, but something pulled her into the holes before I could and then made the hole collapse. The whole mountain then disappeared underground.”

“Wow,” Cobri said. “Well, we better get back to the main village.”

Cobri and Slangfang flew down through the trees and reached a hidden clearing. Most of Slangfang’s village was there, several with burns and scrapes. When they landed, both dragons walked toward Gila.

“Oh! Slangfang!” Gila said. “Good to see you!”

“Thanks,” Slangfang said.

“He has news though,” Cobri said, nodding towards Slangfang. Slangfang told Gila what he had told Cobri about Crystal and the mountain.

“Hmm…”Gila said. “This is troubling news. Can you lead a group to investigate tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Slangfang said. Little did he know, throughout the entire continent, which was a massive island, hundreds of mountains were popping up out of the ground and taking dragons to join the ant army. Slowly, almost invisibly, the ant colony was spreading over the continent.

In the center of a city of the advanced civilization, a huge mountain had grown. It had broken through the ground from underneath towering skyscrapers and demolished them. But the biggest mountain was three times as tall as that one. Inside it, in a huge cavern, were the two queens.