Frozen in fear, Eli sat on his knees among his reptilian captors and stared into the eye sockets of the dragon skull. They were once utterly hollow, but now a black void had taken shape within each. In the left, a tiny yellow light leered from the darkness. The dragon stared at the boy with an intense, one-eyed gaze that petrified him. Its jaw lowered and the head loomed over the winged-reptile. The minuscule leader bowed low and prostrated itself on the ground.

Though it lacked lungs, it breathed. The dragon's warm breath blew salt and soot up from the floor, forcing Eli to raise a hand and shield his eyes. When the debris stopped flying, he looked again but almost rolled backward in retreat. The dragon's head had come so near, he could almost reach out and touch its nose. Its long neck stretched above the worshiping creatures, forcing them all to cower on their bellies.

Child of my brother...

A twinned voice, both male and female, boomed simultaneously inside Eli's head and about the cave. He heard it within and without. It was like rolling thunder.

The boy remained stiff. His breaths were quick and shallow, strained with barely controlled panic.

"A-are you... you... talking?"

The dragon breathed a long sigh, its ghostly breath blew through Eli's hair. It was so heavy that the boy felt himself sway under its force.

I think, it replied. I speak. But with whom do I share my words?

The dragon spoke slowly, carefully; as if every word had tremendous weight.

"Uhm... E-Elibor," the boy answered, his voice trembling.

Elibor. The dragon seemed to consider the name. An unusual name. Thine are not of Ni-Laiyor—of Nasir?

"Nasirian? N-No, I'm an imperial."

The dragon breathed outward again and raised its neck, slowly pulling its head out of Eli's face.

An empire... A new concept for humanity? No... Merely a different name by which to call what has existed before, since their rise to greatness. Tell me, child, wherefore art thou come?

"I, er, came here to learn why the village above is in such a bad way." Eli cast his eyes to the gold and the reptiles. "And, I think I may now know why."

The dragon lowered its head. The singular yellow eye paused on the winged leader of the small cult.

The fearful kobolds know only suffering and pain. They cannot survive on the surface without being made to be a scourge. Their lot in life is to burrow below, surviving however they can. When they discovered mine resting place, they sought to revive me through their magic, with gold as their catalyst. As thou can see, they are making progress.

"And if their ritual is completed? What will you do?"

The dragon's eye raised to look at Eli again. It shone with an intensity that made the boy swallow.

I am Edros. Astral of charity. I shall grant their wish... and destroy the village on the surface.

An astral of charity? Eli could only recall twelve astrals that the Church recognized, and none of them stood for "charity", as nice as that sounded. But Edros' final words hung in the air like knives on strings. Their threat carried sincere malice that left no room for doubt.

"Destroy it? Why?!" he demanded. "Those people have done nothing wrong!"

Man has ever been a blight upon our Father's creation. Their jealousy and hatred toward the First Children bore a world of their nigh-endless subjugation and humiliation. While there are others of my kind that work to see their suffering end, I pay heed to the lesser of our Father's children. The kobolds here used to claim this land as their home. But man, in their quest for riches, uprooted them from sanctuary and drove them below ground. They pray now that I save them from their exile and return to them the land of their ancestors. So I shall. Through my magic, I have sown salt over the ground, turning it desolate and barren, and I have dried the rivers that run from the mountains to the lake. And when I am fully revived, I will burn all that remains. 

Eli kept his head low as Edros spoke. His expression darkened from surprise and confusion to anger. His bangs hung over his eyes, hiding the glare drilling a hole into the igneous rock below him. When Edros finally finished his rant, the boy's fingers slowly curled around the inner blades of his chakrams. The kobolds guarding him were unaware; their attention was distracted by their reverence for the dragon. 

"Mikael was right, then," Eli admitted. "The town was cursed. And it was your doing." He finally looked back up at Edros, staring into the hollow eye sockets of the skull. He was almost thankful that it couldn't wear an expression, as it was a lot less intimidating now that Eli was raring to have a go with the mythical monster. "The people up there are suffering as much as the kobolds. Their ancestors may have been responsible for driving these pitiful creatures underground, but they themselves are not to blame!"

In one swift move, Eli detached the chakrams from their clips and swung his arms in simultaneous half-crescent motions in front of him. As he brought them in toward each other, he released the disks as his arms stretched outward toward the dragon, and then followed through on the swing, bringing his hands to his upper chest. The chakrams soared through the air, cutting over the kobolds with a sharp whistle and curved toward each other. Their blades bore into the skull of the dragon as they overlapped, cleaving a gash as they spun through the soft ancient bone, spitting dust. They continued to fly, even after striking Eli's target, and curved back around toward the boy.

He stood to his feet while his guards were still cowering from the unexpected song of the blades and held his hands to his sides. With practiced ease, he grabbed the blades by their inner rings as they returned to him and then put one foot back and turned his left side to Edros. Eli turned his left heel up and bent his knee, held his weight by his right foot, and crossed the chakrams over his chest.

"I'm stopping this here," said Eli, not knowing where the confidence surging within was coming from.

A rumble of vexation from the dragon reverberated around the chamber and caused the coins around its skeletal remains to jump and chitter. Its jaw opened, revealing smoke circling within and slithering between its fangs. An orange glow pulsed wildly in the black smog and the kobolds retreated from Eli in panic, running for cover behind study boulders.

His gut now in his throat, Eli realized he may have provoked the dragon too much. He could only stand there, frozen by fear and looking toward a burning ire that would soon engulf him.

Is this where I die? he thought. When I've only just begun a new life?

With a roar, Edros' flames poured from his maw and reached out to Eli. The stream of fire flooded the cavern with its hot light as it flowed like magma. The boy saw it in slow motion. He closed his eyes and stood still, waiting to be embraced by the flame. He only prayed it would be quick. But when he thought his fate was certain, the felt the heat against his face disappear. Or more like it dispersed.

He dared to open his eyes again and saw a white cloak hanging from the back of a tall man with brown hair... crowned by that familiar bronze circlet. The fire had slammed against the face of a steel shield that he held firmly at the fore with both hands bracing it from behind.

"You?!" Eli gasped.

The fire faded fully, allowing the stranger to lower the shield and sigh with relief. As he composed himself, he stood up straight and tossed the hem of his cloak out of the way of his scabbard. With the shield secured by his left hand, he drew his sword with his right and then glanced to Eli over his shoulder.

"I heard your words just now," the man said. "You showed courage in wanting to protect the townsfolk above. You inspired me to lend you my blade."

The boy stared at the man for a moment before spitting a small laugh.

Lowering his shield and sword in confusion, the man asked with an unamused frown, "Why do you laugh?"

"S-sorry!" Eli stammered in response and calmed his laughter to a chuckle. "That was just... unexpected and a little, uhm, well... it was like something a noble knight would say in a children's story."

The man's mouth was agape, clearly insulted. "Well, excuse me for being knightly. Perhaps I should have left you to burn?"

Eli quickly shook his head. "N-no! That's okay! I won't say no to help!"

With a sharp inhale through his nose, betraying his wounded ego, the man turned back to face the dragon and readied his sword over the top of his shield. Seeing it now, Eli recognized them both as being made of refined, castle-forged steel. The sword itself was long and sharp, and it glistened brightly in the orange of the flames and magma. He held it by a golden grip and crossguard, and the pommel was crested with a deep red gem. The shield was a kite design; compact, but sturdy and just wide enough to protect.

Beneath his white cloak was thick leather armor tightly strapped to his figure over a chainmail cuirass. Despite the dirt and dust from a clearly-lengthy journey, it was well-crafted and hinted at privilege.

Perhaps the stranger in white was a knight after all.

"Hear me now, dragon!" the man bellowed to Edros. "In Azra's name, I will lay you low and turn your bones to dust!"

Ah. Disciple of my brother. Edros' voice was deeper than before, full of irritation. You invoke his name, but are you worthy of his divine authority?

The man replied proudly, "I am Aisryn of House Virric! Disciple of Azra, the astral of order, and Templar of the Astralian Church. Oh, ye fallen astral of old: though you may lack flesh, you will nonetheless feel the bite of my Anduril."

Pulling the sword back against the top of the shield, flicking sparks as steel grated against steel, the blade glowed white from the guard to the tip, as if the shield itself was a sheath to a greater brilliance hiding within. The light emanating from the weapon was brighter than the magma pools around them, and Eli found himself in awe of its magnificent radiance.

Enraged by the man's bold declaration, the dragon shifted and started to push itself up beneath the pile of gold. The coins rolled and slid with the sound of rain, scattering in every direction as the mound dispersed. Some fell into the magma pools, instantly melting upon contact into dazzling puddles of glistening gold and electrum.

My bones to dust, or yours to ash. Which will be first, I wonder.

The dragon roared so loud that the ceiling of the cavern shook. Dried stalactites broke loose and came crashing to the ground. Eli glimpsed one above them about to break, too. He pressed his shoulder to the man's back and shoved him forward before kicking with his foot and jumping backward himself. Not a moment later, the tapered mineral deposit dropped from its long-held spot on the cave ceiling and shattered into hundreds of shards. Several slashed at his legs and tore the fabric of his worn trousers. He felt the sting of hot air nipping at exposed cuts and winced.

"That was close," Eli mumbled, steadying his breaths.

"Thank you," the man said, looking to Eli with an appreciative nod for the shove.

The young man shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "Just repaying the favor."

With a smirk, the noble Templar named Aisryn quipped back, "You still owe me for the coin purse, actually, so don't think you're free of debt yet."

Eli's eyes widened and he suppressed an instant smile. "Oh, still upset about that are you?"

As the dragon continued to pull itself free of the gold mound, several of the kobolds saw their moment to attack their unwelcome guest. Aisryn was quick to see their advance and raised his shield to block two simultaneous thrusts of their wooden spears before shoving them away with a powerful push. As a third followed behind his comrades with a leap toward the man, batting a club wildly in the air, Aisryn swung his sword from low to high, delivering a powerful upward slash against the poor creature's chest.

It wasn't the first time Eli witnessed a killing in front of him. He'd seed it happen to people in the slums of Pavicele plenty of times before. But no matter how much blood he saw spilled, he always hesitated at the sight of it. For a brief moment, in the time it took to blink, he would freeze in place. It was the brutality of it all that haunted him.

The kobold fell to the ground with a thud and twitched in agony. Along the gruesome wound in its chest, the flesh was seared black. Aisryn's enchanted sword must have left the burn.

Carrying on as if he were in his element, the man said to Eli, "Until you've paid me back every coin, we're not even."

Feeling a mixture of annoyance and disgust, in part because of the kobold's horrible death as well as the man's chastising, Eli spun into a pirouette and used the generated force to propel his chakrams, one spin at a time, toward Edros again. His emotion came out in the improvised dance and he felt some of his frustration leave with the steel disks. They arced around the chamber and slashed at the long boney snout of the dragon's skull with enough impact to actually nudge Edros' head in the opposite direction.

The chakrams came back, just as before, singing through the air as they sailed. Eli caught them each with two fingers, spinning his body in between the catches, and let the momentum dissipate as they twirled around his digits.

Aisryn looked back at him and gave an impressed nod. "That was a neat trick," he said. "I've  never seen your technique before... or weapons like those." He stole glances at the chakrams in-between sizing up the kobolds that drew closer with cautious steps.

"If we survive this I'll show you more," Eli said, his own eyes now finding kobolds creeping closer to him as well. "But can we focus on not dying first?"

A cross between a cry and a growl sounded off as the winged kobold leader propelled itself through the air at Eli. The boy turned to try and parry the creature's oncoming spear, but his eyes picked up on the charging of two others from his right, who saw their moment to strike. He gasped and let out an instinctive yell in fear and went to shield himself as best as he could with his arms, but then Aisryn lept into the fray. He rammed the flying one with the edge of his shield, forcing it to drop instantly, but the man kept charging and laid his sword into both of the others, piercing clean through the first and into the ribs of its companion.

With a heavy sigh, he pulled his blood-stained blade from their bodies and took up a closer position in front of Eli, his back to the boy.

"I will not let harm befall you."

He stated that so matter-of-factly that Eli had to stop himself from saying "thank you" and instead remarked, "I didn't ask for your protection!"

"The neck," Aisryn said, seemingly ignoring Eli's protest.

"The what?"

The man pointed with his sword. Eli followed the blade's edge to the dragon. He was pointing at Edros' spine, running up to the base of its skull.

Aisryn explained, "Your circular blades. Can you use them to rend the fiend's neck?"

Eli narrowed his gaze at the skeleton and observed the various disk-like bones that made up the spinal vertebrae. "I can try."

"Sever the head from the body and the dragon will be incapable of fighting us," Aisryn said. "I can cleanse it after."

With a deep breath to steady himself, Eli agreed to the insane plan and readied himself. First, they would need to fend off the remaining kobolds. The one with wings was pulling itself back up after shaking off the blow from Aisryn's shield. Blood trickling from the side of its head, it glared menacingly at the human that bested it and picked up the spear at its clawed feet, and then muttered something in its guttural language.

Between its taloned fingers, a ball of flame formed and the creature sent it hurling toward Aisryn, but the man was already raising his shield and calling out.

"Galadil! Shield of Faith!"

Eli could see a bright flash of white light, not unlike the glow of Aisryn's blade, appear in front of the shield. The fireball definitely hit, but there wasn't a dispersal of the flames as Eli had expected to see. Rather, it was as though the fire simply vanished as it struck the shield.

It seemed the wandering Templar was full of surprises.

Aisryn focused on fighting the kobolds' leader after its failed magic, stepping forward to close the distance. This time, the creature wasn't going to be taken by surprise with a shield bash or let Aisryn have an easy swing at it. With flapping wings keeping it aloft, the creature traded swift strikes with the human, each parrying or dodging the other's weapon. A spear jab here, a cut of the sword there.

Eli watched the two for a moment, impressed by Aisryn's footwork and swordplay against an opponent that had every advantage of reach, mobility, and terrain. But the young man couldn't remain distracted for long. Other kobolds tried to encircle Eli behind Aisryn's back. However, the boy swallowed his fear and took a deep breath. He wasn't going to keep embarrassing himself in front of a stranger and rely on the man's help. Eli grew up an orphan in the slums of a bustling city, choked by crime and shadows, where people ignored the downtrodden and destitute; where those with no home of their own fought each other every night for dirty blankets and discarded scraps. If he learned how to survive scuffles there, he can learn how to do the same half the world away.

Crossing his mother's chakrams over his chest, he took up the same stance as before. He waited to see which of the three kobolds approaching him would make themselves the best target for a toss.

The two at the front traded a quick glance before switching to a two-handed grip on their cudgels and running straight toward Eli. The one in the back began to follow, but it hesitated for a brief moment. The boy saw what he had to do.

Eli stepped forward on his left and kicked his right around to the side in a wide arc, giving his body the momentum to spin and pivot on his toes. As he came full circle, he released the chakram in his right hand and let it fly around toward the kobold in the rear. With one hand now free, he spun forward one more time and dropped to his knees as he did so, just in time to catch one of the cudgels as it was being swung toward him. The kobold holding it was surprised at first, but it quickly growled at him. Eli wasted no time it using as much upper strength as he could to yank the weapon, including the creature holding it, to the side, colliding the little reptile with its companion. The latter ended up losing balance and rolling into one of the magma pools. The shrieks of pain and terror echoed throughout the cave. Only the tell-tale whistle of the returning chakram pierced through the screams of agony and Eli raised his hand to retrieve the disk. It carried fresh blood on the outer blade, no doubt from cutting its target's neck.

The boy turned his back to the three kobolds, looking away. He glimpsed the one he threw trying to pull its friend from the magma, but in so doing being burned by the splashing as the other thrashed about wildly. The smell of rapidly melting flesh filled the air and Eli closed his eyes, trying to think of something that would block out their suffering.

But then the familiar roar of the skeletal dragon boomed from behind. The boy spun around to see the smoke in its jaw again and the orange glow of another spitfire attack coming. He looked to Aisryn, who was still fighting the winged kobold. The little bastard was flying circles around the man, and keeping just out of reach of Aisryn's sword. Its long spear and wings gave the creature the upper hand. If Eli didn't do something to help free Aisryn from the fight so they had a shield to hide behind, they would both be ash!

It was too late.

Edros' fire was ready and the dragon raised its head, taking aim at the center of the cave. It was about to burn them all.

Desperate, and without thinking, Eli made for Aisryn. As the flames shot from Edros' maw, the boy's thoughts scattered and something inside took over his movements. With chakram's raised, he started to spin into a pirouette as he landed between Aisryn and the oncoming fire. He twisted into a dance of fast and powerful spins with snappy flourishes of the chakrams as he rotated his arms in and out of wide and narrow arcs.

Though familiar, almost natural, not a single step was his own. He felt like a passenger in his own body. Every spin, turn, and kick felt like it belonged to someone else's routine. They were not a sequence he'd ever practiced, and so the feeling of performing them was frighteningly surreal.

When the fire hit, he wanted to scream in terror, but he didn't feel a thing. The flames, which should have been searing hot, were lukewarm and tickled at his skin. And when they should have blown through him, they warped around his body... moving with the motions of his arms. The chakrams kited the flames, twisting them into beautiful currents.

Finally, the intense red and orange warped into a mesmerizing blue and violet. And then Eli felt he had been given back control over his arms and legs as a feeling of animation returned to him... The dance was now his to continue and the boy felt a heft pulling at the chakrams.

The dragon's fire? No... His fire now.

Eli spun faster and faster, bringing his arms level and straight out to his sides. When he felt ready, he made to throw not the chakrams this time, but the fire they guided. He kicked up into a spinning jump, releasing the first stream of fire as he twisted in the air, and then landed softly, releasing the second as he slid to an elegant stop with a slow bend of his knees. Both jets of blue fire slammed into Edros' skull, forcing the dragon to rear back with a loud roar.

Seeing his opportunity, Eli brought himself back up and turned into one last spin, throwing all his weight and force behind a single throw. He sent one of his chakrams through the air in a whistling glide straight for the dragon's exposed spine. As the boy held his breath, he watched as the steel cut cleanly between two of the bone disks, slashing the head free from the body.

Edros' skull came crashing down to the gold pile below with another violent roar. It rolled and bounced down the mound, spreading the coins in every direction, until he skid to a halt when it reached the black stone floor.

A final, softer whistle sang through the cave and Eli caught the returning chakram.

"By the Creator...," Aisryn whispered.

Eli turned on heel, almost forgetting about the man, who looked bewildered and out of breath. The winged kobold lay bleeding on the ground behind him and clutching desperately to the glowing blade of Aisryn's sword plunged through its sternum. Had the Templar thrown the sword?

Aisryn quickly stepped up to Eli and grabbed the young man by his shoulders. "What was that?!" he exclaimed. "You made the dragon's fire your own! You sent it back! How?!"

Just as confused and now slightly scared, Eli grabbed Aisryn's wrists and pulled his hands away. Stepping back from the man, the youth stammered, "I- I don't know! One moment I- I was moving on my own. The next, it was like... like I just knew what to do, but I don't know why or how! That dance... I don't know that dance..."

The Templar was about to say something further, but he parsed his lips and shook his head. "Nevermind, there's time enough for that later." He turned around and firmly grabbed the grip of his sword. The winged kobold looked up at him and tried to muster a snarl, but it quickly turned into a painful wail as Aisryn pressed his boot to its shoulder and violently tore the blade free. Eli winced at the sight and had to turn away, clenching his fists.

As the man turned toward Edros, the dragon's hollow eyes seemed to stare back at the both of them.

Ahhh... Children of Ahriman, heed my words. In pyrrhic victory will you know the true cost of man's ascribed indomitability. When your nations and "empires" are set alight with the passion of their ambitions, so too will the world burn again.

Aisryn finished his approach and stood before the skull of the great wyrm. Holding his sword back with the blade's point tilted down, he asked, "Is that all you have to say... Edros of Antipathy?"

The dragon replied with silence.

With a single thrust, Aisryn drove the blade down, cracking the skull's bone. Though he did not push it through, he didn't seem to intend to. The blade's glow marked the head of the skull with a many-pointed star. Eli recognized it as the symbol of the Astralian Church: the Wreath of Twelve Stars, a dodecagram of twelve vertices. The lines of the symbol glowed white-hot, not unlike the sword, and then the skull began to splinter and rupture. As the cracks spread and bone dust exploded into the air, Eli heard something akin to a long sigh of relief in the dragon's dual voice before the skull completely collapsed into a pile of chalky dust. In the back of the cave, the giant skeletal body, still half-buried beneath the giant mound of stolen coins, also began to crumble and collapse.

The Templar raised his sword and held the tip at the opening of its scabbard. Before sheathing it, he stared at the pile of Edros' remains and muttered softly, "Return to the Twilight."

Eli watched as both the blade's and shield's enchanted light dimmed as the man returned the sword to its scabbard. And as the intense magic faded, so too did the harsh look of ferocity on Aisryn's features soften, returning the visage of the reserved and humble traveler that Eli met at the inn.