I cursed, the wind snatching up my words as I turned towards the shore. The four dragons had landed out of nowhere, towering over the buildings and sending shockwaves through the earth. I stumbled, lurching forwards onto the ground. I pushed myself hastily to my feet, continuing forward.

[We should be running away from them.] Page said. I stopped in my tracks. That… is a very good point. Even so I was torn, I’d be leaving Azarint as well as the others to die, and that hardly sat right with me. I would never have expected what happened next.

“Nulla rutrum placerat mi non vulputate. Nulla eu urna ac.” The words boomed across the plain, seeming to come from a copper coloured dragon. It was gibberish to me, a language unknown, yet somehow slightly familiar. It was only later that I would learn that this was a protolanguage. They were similar to the dragons of European tales, covered in scales and possessing four legs and a pair of wings. Their bodies were streamlined, neither thick nor truly serpent-like as Chinese dragons were.

“Nulla rutrum placerat mi non vulputate. Nulla eu urna ac?” It repeated once more, staring at the dumbfounded people whose weapons were drawn but slack. A set of guttural growls and enunciations sounded from another dragon, cerulean in colour. They conversed like so, occasionally using gusts of wind to push us backwards, keeping us off balance.

“Pellentesque consequat suscipit turpis ac rutrum. Donec tempus sodales aliquam.” The dragon tried again, and then it seemed to sigh, a tongue of flame slithering from its snout and back again. It reached out a claw and began to draw on the earth.

Over the course of the next several days the dragons alternated between frustration and idle patience. They tried pictograms, they tried several other languages, then several written languages. I watched each variation with Page, deciphering, writing down possibilities on the ground, constantly puzzling. The dragons watched me work as well, occasionally they would speak directly to me, a blend of words I still had no inkling of.

“What want?” I asked, drawing my eyebrows together as I attempted to communicate. Page and I had settled on pidgin, taking certain words we had puzzled the meanings of and arranging them in ways that just might convey what we meant. The copper dragon looked to me, eyes seeming to light up. It opened its jaw, then paused.

“Understand?” It asked, cautiously. I rocked my head side to side. Somewhat. I thought to myself. As Page and I both agreed, the language was crap, we could barely get basic ideas across with it when we decided to spend a day using only it.

It fired off a few sentences, and Page picked them apart, walking me through what it thought the dragon had meant. The dragons wanted a truce with the tribes of men, the reason for this was the… ‘bad ripples’ in the magic weave. It believed that the Edratchi were back. By which I assumed meant demons. I drew out a sketch of the demon I’d fought, so long ago. “Edratchi?” I queried.

It squinted, rotating its head, and nodded. According to its next few sentences, the Edratchi had attempted to invade the land many years ago. The world was more peaceful then, and the threat had quickly banded the races of the world together. It hadn’t been enough, they had nearly fallen when the Aerathi, seemingly the angelic counterpart to the Edratchi, lent their aid.

In any case, the Aerathi had sealed them away, returning to their higher realms just as they had sealed the Edratchi to the lower. Even so, they had warned that the Edratchi would eventually escape, and for all to remain vigilant. Over the years the races had drifted apart, that part of the story wasn’t clear, all I understood was that something happened to shatter the alliance of races.

“Alliance us?” I asked. “Not just fight?” I furrowed my brow. The demons were definitely pushing us back, last I heard they’d broken past the bottleneck of the portal, meaning they had a huge army to contend against. The dragons seemed like they could do a lot against them though, maybe even enough to push them straight back where they came from.

The dragons laughed, a booming guttural sound, as they fired off a few more sentences. I grimaced as Page ran playbacks with me. The gist was that the dragons are fairly certain that they are a foe we could only beat while allied. In fact, we aren’t the only people who should be. They were in negotiations with the merfolk, their literal neighbours. As an afterthought they hoped that we would engage some others in negotiation, ones they couldn’t easily reach.

I let out a huge breath, rubbing at my temples. Since then I had been giving the dragons lessons in the current language, they had apparently been speaking an old variant of the current. I’d obliged, but it had been difficult, I barely even understood their language, and could hardly call myself an expert in the current one.

Saindall stayed back to continue. Her mind much sharper than I’d have expected, she’d apparently learned a little of an old language that was somewhat similar to this one. She only noticed when I’d constructed the pidgin language I’d used for the dragons, but was proving instrumental to understanding the structure and rules of the one they used.

“Sure wasn’t what I was expecting when I came here.” Ram said to me, handing me a slice of bread. I accepted, chewing on it slowly as I mulled over what we’d gone over today. “I was expecting a total massacre, with the rest of us maybe barely surviving, if at all.” He sighed. “We didn’t really think that highly of being sent on a suicide mission.” He said jovially. “But now…” He laughed.

I took a sip from my waterskin at my side. “The dragons have a civilization and are friendly…” I noted. “Yes, this could have been a lot worse. As it stands it’s almost too good to be true.” I muttered to myself. “Where are the Aerathi though? Hell, what are they?”

Ram shook his head, spreading his palms. “If you’d asked me a year ago I would’ve told you they were bedtime stories, myths.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. They didn’t create us, it’s only a few crazies that believe that. They’re powerful though, that much I know.”

I was right now at the cusp of something new, dragons, demons, the only benefit was that even the locals were as stumped as I was. I laughed ruefully, rubbing again at my temples. “So what other races were they talking about?” I asked, relaying what the dragons had spoken of about there being other races that we might want to talk to.

“Well there have been stories of wisps and sprites in the forests.” Azarint mused, and I turned to see him walk towards us from the side. Right, those bastards. I thought back to my encounter with them alongside Baen. Not keen on that, but if anyone is to talk to them it’ll have to be me… At least until we can get some good mages who know how to counter that. “The centaurs of the plains have remained mostly neutral towards humanity. Lizardfolk maybe. There are also the lamias and the sylphs, but we have no idea if they are sentient, let alone friendly.” He cupped his chin. “Probably not.”

“Or we could just ask the dragons about it too…” Ram said, cocking his head towards the dragons. “Unless you’re not sure how genuinely interested they are in helping us.” He said with a shrug. “I really wouldn’t know, only you and Saindall can talk to them.”

I sent back a missive towards the city, asking the irregulars to help spread the word, the dragons would incite panic otherwise if they came towards the cities. Honestly I figure they would either way, but at least the army wouldn’t try to shoot them out of the sky. I clicked my tongue. I wonder if Frejr and the others have dealt with the goblins yet.

Over the course of a month, they learned as much of the language as would allow them to communicate with us. They were very fast learners, though me and Page would still outpace them. Page and I decided to let that lie though, most the others already found it strange how quickly we’d constructed the pidgin language. Every day I’d practice with the others, and every few nights I kept up my practice with the Aen.

The blade flashed forward, swung swiftly diagonally down. Light as it was, I could chain movements far more quickly, and in combat I wouldn’t even need to compensate for the blade catching on flesh. I flipped it, bringing it down in an icepick grip, when I heard sand shift.

I spun, Delving. Someone was there, but that soul… It was too bright, searing, and the shapes were jumbled, complicated, compressed. “I can see you.” I said, frowning. A woman stepped out from behind a boulder, dressed in a simple yet fine blue dress.

“Aether.” She breathed, eyes fixated on the Aen that I was wielding. No chance of bluffing now. She looked me in the eye. “Aerathi.” What?

“No. Wait.” I said, but as I stepped forward she ran away. I gave chase, stumbling up the stairs, but when I exited, she was nowhere to be seen, even when Delving. What was that?

[I don’t know.] Page said worriedly as we returned to camp.

An agreement was drafted to have the dragons aid the war. It was up to them how they chose to serve, the battlefield had been dynamically changing from the ground we’d been forced to give, and the dragons knew best how to use their capabilities.

The military group had gone with the cerulean dragon, who carried them on its back. They’d make good time on it, they had to stop to confer with the alliance, then meet the many races that the dragons had described. Cale shook my hand. “It was good to meet you.” He affirmed, smiling. “May the gods smile on your endeavours.”

“Same to you. I’ll talk to the wisps.” I said to Cale. “Hopefully the mages have an idea on how to deal with them.” I muttered to myself. I really don’t want to be their liaison.

[You are well suited for that task however.] Page noted. I scowled. Doesn’t mean I want to do it though. [I know, I don’t really want to deal with them either.]

I watched as the cerulean dragon took off, the various people on its back clinging tightly to it as it ascended, it hugged low to the ground, mindful of the thin air above. The third dragon flew back towards the island while the copper dragon stayed. The third would confer with the other dragons about their forces. The merfolk would come to aid in time, when the demons pushed to the shores. Rivers and lakes we’d have to turn to the nymphs for aid. The dragon had mentioned what seemed like several different elementals, hopefully they’d manage to solicit their aid.

“The goblins are your enemies?” The copper dragon asked. A rumble in his throat. “That is troubling. Once you were great allies.” It rumbled. “Time changes much it seems.” Their face seemed to sag, eyes saddening as it thought to itself. “I think you will have to tell me much of what has happened in the world.”

“That’s not really my purview. There’s a priest, well in this capacity more a historian, who might be able to answer your questions.” I said. “We can head down there if you’d like, but I need to check with the rest of my group.” Azarint nodded.

“That is for the best.” Azarint agreed.

“What is it that you wish to do once you return?” The dragon asked.

“What we do normally.” I replied. “Hold down the fort. Deal with the slimes, goblins, trolls, ogres…” I paused, thinking. “What do you know about giants?” I asked, thinking back to the manual I’d been given.