Nidian scrambled backwards, Illenith matching with a single step forward. He wanted to get to his feet and run away but the fear and throbbing pain in his foot kept him shuffling along the ground.

  "Illenith!" A voice bellowed with authority. Her demonic grin dropped and the sadistic joy in her eyes dulled. A large blue Demraxite landed behind her, his wings shadowing over the entire area.

  "I thought I ordered you to wait for my arrival, Illenith, and here you are indulging yourself. I shouldn't be surprised." He complained in a guttural tone.

  "Kaludir- I was just interrogating him! He had a lead about the map! How to translate it!" She excused herself sheepishly.

  Kaludir raised a brow in doubt, "And how did that go?"

  Illenith's tail began to tuck against her body, her head dipping in shame. "Well...I- I found someone who could translate it but he's dead. I-"

  "Just as expected, useless information. I told you my qualms with the rogue human were of other importance and that I'd put in a good word with Vadik on your behalf for bringing him in. I think I'll finish this exchange, join Madamar at the basin. We’ll discuss the proceedings for that pathetic village later." He condescendingly ordered her with a motion of dismissal. The horrifying female who had just executed one of her own men timidly departed without a word. It only brewed more terror as to what made her afraid of this other one.

  Through their brief conversation Nidian struggled to keep pace with his body's demand for oxygen. The runway breaths tore his throat up with the cold night's air. He looked up to see the hulking pillar of muscle. He locked eyes with Kaludir, his chest swelled and dropped with dread. The creature chuckled darkly, tones of amusement as his head cocked to the side, eyes now fixed on Nidian.

  "We meet again." he uttered in his deep, thick voice.

  "What do you-" Nidian's eyes went wide as all hope fled his body, jaw going slack and cutting off his words. His honeyed skin turned pale in an instant.

  The evil face of the being towered over Nidian, blood stains coating his maw. Slick scales gleamed in the moonlight, as did the massive teeth as he grinned at Nidian malignantly. The pungent stench of death assaulted his senses as his head descended downwards. The hot burst of air felt just as ice cold as the night air around him from the disgust and horror chilling his spine.

  It was him.. Those evil eyes flashed in his head, burning deep into the core of his mind, harvesting those repressed recent memories to replay them all again. This was the very dragon that had killed Saudafi, and now it had him cornered. He scrambled backwards against the cage and sucked air through his teeth.

  "You caused me a great deal of trouble, rat. Do you have any idea of the mockery I've dealt with? The respect I've lost? Such a futile attempt to escape, and all for you to end where you began, standing before me." The demonic thing rambled.

  Nidian wanted to scream for help, he wanted to run, but he found himself paralyzed by fear, every muscle burning with apathy and his voice absent. Tears of terror began streaming down his cheeks. He was worse than the previous Demraxite in every imaginable way. He had watched this one take the life of his lifelong family friend. So effortlessly. Ruthlessly. He must’ve anticipated meeting him again.

  Nidian croaked frantic nothings with eyes wide open. They stared at the jaws that rapidly approached. He knew there was no help, it would be only moments before things went dark and his spine was severed, and the nightmare would end. He shut his eyes tightly and hugged himself as the dragon snapped its jaws shut around him. But to his dismay the nightmare was far from over; the loud clacking of teeth snapping together was heard and he remained conscious.

  He opened his eyes briefly only to find the sick insides of the beast's mouth, thick frothy slime strewn about; visceral matter painted the interior a nightmarish red. His body was almost glued to the horrid slick tongue below him. The overbearing heat made his head throb. Panic set in hard and fast as everything shifted. He desperately reached out to grab something, anything as the beast tilted its head backwards. Nidian continued his attempts to scream but could only whimper as he tried to avoid falling into the black void beneath him.

  Then everything shifted with a sudden and violent force.

  His head smacked against the ivory lining of the beast's maw as he blacked out momentarily.

  A frozen gust rushed over his heated form, the saliva congealing on his skin like a film that somewhat guarded him from the full effect of the cold. He felt a harsh stinging sensation. A shock traveled through him as he hit a hard surface. He forced his eyes to open through the gluey substance holding them shut to attempt to see what the hell had just happened.

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  He gripped the back of his head to tame the throbbing pain the impact had caused, another hand pushing him up from the dirt. Kaludir was just now attempting to stand on his feet when talons descended upon him, slamming his head against the earth. A long snaking tail with a gargantuan silver colored blade removed itself from his abdomen violently, drawing profuse amounts of violet blood and viscera with it. He looked up with nothing but shock at the towering figure.

  She was taller than he was. Another Demraxite had arrived, and the piercing gaze was nothing short of infuriated. He gasped as her foot kept him pinned, her back leg pinning his tail from striking her. All the cultists were struggling to stand up. The earth was cracked and dust began to settle on Nidian's tunic. She had landed directly on him from the sky. Nidian had spewed from Kaludir's jaws as a result.

  The subdued Demraxite hissed angrily and in pain as he squirmed under her. "You...It can't be.."

  She viciously slammed his head down again as he attempted to jerk free. "It is Kaludir. Did you miss me?" She taunted with a deep voice that one would think should belong to an angel.

  Nidian didn't waste his time and dragged himself away. The forest was only a few strides to the South, but it seemed like it would take hours to reach. If he had a chance to escape it was while the aggression was shifted.

  "Get off of me! I'm not letting that little rat escape me again!" He ignored his grave injuries and looked around at Nidian and his pawns who were in the process of fleeing the scene.

  The mysterious female tilted Kaludir's head and locked eyes with him as she exposed his throat. "That little shrimp is mine, and nobody else's."

  Kaludir growled. His chest swelled as he prepared to counter her with a torrent of flames. Reacting swiftly, the aggressor sank her fangs into his neck and pulled to the side as the fire shot into the sky. She slammed her paws down on his back and flicked her neck. A loud series of thick crunches as his spine crumbled under her strength and he fell slack.

  Nidian could hear the sound of his defeat, the bright flare sent into the sky illuminating the hill side he was crawling toward. The footsteps of the victorious dragon slowly approached him, the pebbles on the ground rattled with every step. Nidian didn't want to look back.. He came to the steep edge of the hill top and without hesitation threw himself off.

  Nidian slid down the steep terrain. Scraped up against dead brush and jutting rocks, his head spun as he landed on his stomach and grit his teeth. His body was painted with cuts and bruises as he pulled up against a tree trunk and sobbed. A tight grip on a particularly painful puncture wound where a chip off a branch lodged itself within it.

  He screamed in agony as he pulled it free. The burning sensation faded as quickly as she came into view. The Demraxite that had just snapped Kaludir's neck casually broke through the trees that Nidian had slipped past during his tumble.Their limbs groaning as she brushed past them. It was a cruel display of power how she calmly walked after him, easily catching up despite his best efforts to evade. He stared upwards, gasping for air as she turned to the side slightly, tilting her head toward him. Her brilliant azure scales gleamed in the white light of the moon. Glossy locks of her rich jet mane draped down the side of her neck, a long braid decorated by gold rings falling next to her ears that flicked as they listened closely to the melody of his cries.

  "Now why'd you go and do that?" Her amethyst eyes seemed to scan his body, surveying his injuries. Her head began to descend and reflexively Nidian threw his hands up, squalling through his teeth. His trembling hands met the smooth surface of her snout.

  "Easy now-"

  "Please don't...please.." Nidian choked out as the warm air rushed over him with her unfinished words.

  The Demraxite sighed softly and withdrew from him, coming to a stop a little further away. "I'm not going to Nidian."

  His hands came down slightly, hyperventilation breaking up his sentence, "How..How do you know my name?" He shuffled in place uncomfortably.

  The Demraxite slowly lowered herself to the ground, laying in front of Nidian with a subtle smile. He gazed into the purple oceans that were her eyes. Something about them... It demanded peace in his soul.

  "Deep breaths." She uttered calmly as her tail began to snake around the perimeter, boxing him in.

  Nidian pressed his back against the tree as he watched the length coil around them, he could feel it scraping against the bark as it pushed him away from the trunk. He felt himself getting pushed across the dirt toward her.

  "Please don't eat me! I don't have anything! I don't know anything, I swear!" He wailed. He tensed every muscle and tried to dig his heels into the mud but it was in vain against the strength of the dragon.

  "I'm not going to eat you Nidian." She gently assured him again as he was pressed against her underbelly. He felt the warmth radiate off of it as he stared up fearfully at her. He tried to push away, hissing from the discomfort caused by his injuries.

  She caught the confusion in his eyes as he glanced around trying to make sense of what she was doing. "You're scared, and you're injured. You need to let your body rest."

  Nidian shook his head vigorously, "I don't want to die, I don't want to die."

  The Demraxite took a long sympathetic exhale, her wing unfolding over Nidian. A brilliant canvas of shimmering shades of purple that looked like a sky full of stars. It blanketed over head and sealed him off from the outside world. The talons of the dragon shifted and held him close to her body.

  "And you aren't going to. Everything is going to be ok. Close your eyes and rest kiddo." She gently reassured him with her silken voice. She yawned and nestled her head against her wing, inches away from Nidian on the other side who despite his attempts to fight the fatigue found himself succumbing to the call to sleep. The trauma and physical exertion ten fold of what he felt the day Hoharo was lost. In time his eyelids fell and he lost consciousness.