Golden light cleared the dust before her eyes, revealing rippling waves of energy. They radiated from the edges of a shield, cast black in shadow. Past their waves she could see the pressing claws of the drake. Their curved form flexing, digging, trying to get just one puncture through the barrier.

Then her eyes focused on the boy behind the shield, his eyes narrowed from flinching. He was putting all of his upper body strength into holding the barrier.

"Chan!?"

She gasped.

"Just hold tight!"

He adjusted his position, getting his shoulder against the back of the shield. A position he could better hold.

The drake peered through the barrier. The intensity of his snarls increased.

She worried.

All manner of draconic species had been at odds with sorcerers for as long as she could remember. There were times of peace, scattered throughout time, and even moments of blissful coexistence, but sorcerer society grew alongside the nobility. There was glory to be had in heroes slaying dragons, that much she knew. It didn't matter if they could talk, or shared intellect. In fact, in some ways that made it worse. Dragons struggled to recognize smaller beings as equals, with all their might and power. As if power were all that mattered. So it was only natural that sorcerers, too, tested their might against the larger creatures to prove their mettle.

This had led to a tradition in human society to anoint sorcerers to positions of prestiege. Especially those who regularly took on more powerful creatures.

It wasn't long before these sorcerers, as well, noticed the looming rock drake.

BOOM— BOOM—

BOOM-BOOM—BOOM—

Purple fire exploded against the drake's neck. Once, twice, then three times more. His whole body rocked to one side. His claws hit the ground, stabilizing himself. With one whip of his head he opened his jaws wide and spewed a burning fuel from his maw.

Nearby, soldiers were scrambling to get out of the way. They minimized what damage they couldn't avoid with barriers of their own.

The field was once more being overtaken by debris.

Changrel gasped for breath as the barrier vanished. His muscles ached, racked by the energy drain of using an artifact he wasn't meant to handle.

"Get up!"

Seiyul shoved against his shoulder.

"Huh?"

She only pointed, up at the rock drake who still turned his fiery breath in another direction.

"Oh! Right!"

He got to his feet. By the time he'd turned around Seiyul was already up.

"We better get gone before he remembers we exist!"

She urged him forward, into the protective shield of dust.

The drake's roars climbed in volume, the sand jittering beneath their feet.

Seiyul's senses were hyper focused on the ear-splitting noise behind her, up until she heard a shunk, followed by the roar dwindling into a raspy wheeze.

She took her hands off of Chan's back and turned around.

Sticking out of the rock drakes side was a huge spike made up of pale yellow light. The angular edges shimmered, holding their shape as one of the sorcerers continued to chant.

"—!"

"Woah, never seen a spell like that before!"

Changrel cheered from the sidelines.

"W-what, there shouldn't be spells like that yet..."

"What do you mean 'yet'?"

He turned to ask, but quickly found his eyes drawn back to the battle, not wanting to miss a thing.

The drake staggered. His strong limbs became a detriment, unable to hold up his bulk. With a resounding THOOM the beast hit the ground, his left shoulder still straining to push himself back up, only it couldn't.

Kaldron gritted his teeth.

It was too late to tell them to stop, but this was... an escalation he hadn't anticipated.

He shoved his way past the soldiers that surrounded him, taking an authoritative position in front of the unit. As he looked up at the rock drake he found himself discouraged by its waning breaths.

"I respect the fight. We don't desire to take a life, but today, the fight has gone too far. To attack not just our soldiers, but our civilians, was an overstep even for your kind. Now leave this place. If you retreat, we won't finish the job."

He could only bluff about their power, and hope they hadn't already killed the monster.

The drake's eyes narrowed. Their fiery glow nearly disappeared behind the dark lids. With a rumble in his chest, he opened his jaws.

 

Before he could finish the final drake ripped and tore its way from the earth. She shrieked with a terrifying rage, her claws lashing all about her to clear the way of sorcerers. For just a moment her eyes flicked to the side, checking the status of her comrade. 

He made no further effort to speak.

Her claws drew back. She straightened up, as tall as she could stand, and unleashed a defiant roar to the sky. Then, she returned to his side, shoving against him to get him on his feet.

This time, and this time only, they would retreat.