I stared up at the dragon before me. It was… The most majestic creature I’d ever seen. Far grander than I had ever dreamed of. Its golden scales glittered in the sunlight, shining like a brilliant star. Its head was the size of my old house, and its orange, slitted eyes were piercing.

I couldn’t blame the few humans during the age of monsters who worshipped these beings as gods. If not for the fact that every fiber of my being was telling me to flee and cry, I could almost see myself groveling before it as they had.

An elderly, gray-bearded villager apparently did not have the same restraint, and was currently prostrating themselves before the dragon.

“Oh Lux Solis, there is no Sozdatel here. I swear to you on my life!” He cried out.

Geistig’s eyes widened at the name, and Tishina tilted her head, but there was no other reaction among the other adventurers. Only fear and bloodthirst.

The dragon, Lux Solis, boomed in reply. “An insignificant and utterly valueless thing to swear on. And even more so foolish.” Lux leaned in closer, speaking in a whispering voice into the villager’s ear. “I smell him.”

The villager was openly bawling now. Several adventurers started preparing their magic and weapons, manifesting powers I could only guess at the effects of. The dragon turned to them, and laughed.

“Insignificant creatures, you hold no power here. Do nothing rash, bring that conceited elf-thing to me, and I may spare your inconsequential existences.”

The captain raised his voice, keeping a calm, non-confrontational demeanor. “We know of no Sozdatel here. However, if you’d please be patient, we will search for him on your behalf.”

“Humanling, I have had naps longer than your fleeting existence. Do not lecture me on patience.” The dragon raised his voice, to the point where one of the mages had to shield us from its volume. The ground itself shook, and one of the nearby houses crumbled and fell. “Sozdatel! I know you’re listening! Come out now, or I’ll burn this place to the ground!”

Geistig looked at me and said “Grab hold of her, and get to the shelter. Now.”

I reacted a moment before Tishina did, and grabbed her in a bear-hug. She tried to struggle away, but failed to get away from Rhannu’s D rank strength. I ran towards the bunker, molding Rhannu’s branch-arm into a makeshift cage to keep her contained.

I turned my head back to see purple strings emanating from Geistig. “Emergency: Dragon encountered. B rank at least. Immediate assistance req—”

The dragon raised one of its magnificent claws, and somehow tore away at the mental strings themselves. “I am well versed in your kind’s magic, dwarf. Did you think I would simply wait as you powered up?”

“Vorfahr’s hairy balls!” Was Geistig’s only reply.

“Defensive formations, now!” The captain ordered.

The mages and druids fell back in line. The mages put up a singular wall of force, amplifying it with each of their individual strengths. The druids put up various barriers of stone, wind, ice, fire, etc, right in front of the force wall. The warriors held their ground, preparing to charge in should the barrier fall.

I turned back and ran towards a building with an ethereal blue dome around it. As I came into contact with it, it opened up around me, then quickly closed as I passed through.

At that exact moment, an intense roar shook the earth, and white flames encompassed the area. The barrier changed from translucent blue to an opaque red and creaked as it held back the dragon’s spell.

It took minutes for the barrier to become see-through again, and minutes more for the blinding light to fade. During the time, I had no way of knowing who outside had survived, or if the dragon would suddenly come over and shatter the barrier. I trembled violently, but Tishina jumped up and down and clapped in excitement.

I handed the demonspawn over to one of the towns guard, and transformed into another bird. On the chance the barrier breaks, I don’t want Rhannu to die with me. I swear on Vorfahr’s name, if this kid had gotten Rhannu killed, I wouldn’t have been able to take it. I don’t know what I would have done, but Rhannu’s life is the only thing keeping me sane. Forget the fact that I would no longer have any way of interacting with society again. If I were to have gotten Rhannu killed a second time…

No. He’s safe for now. No need to dwell. I have enough trauma already. I shouldn’t turn what could have been into more.

* * *

Gavril the captain, the only B rank among the party, approached the dragon, the burning radiance of the very sun searing and boiling his skin. Even with the force barrier around him, his skin melted and fell from his bones. But Gavril was a holy aligned, the strongest in all of Aurelia, and such damage was but a flesh wound to him.

With the light dying down, Gavril, fully empowered by the might of every mage and caster focusing on him, slowly walked out of the barrier.

“You, mere mortal, are approaching me?”

“I can’t beat the shit out of you without getting closer.”

“Ohoho, then come as close as you like.”

Gavril’s stopped walking, shifting his weight lower, then lunged hundreds of feet towards at the dragon.

Lux Solis stopped channeling his solar radiance domain, and opened his maw, breathing out dragonsfire at Lux. Lux brought up his shield, channeling his mana into it. The shield glowed red hot, but held together.

Lux suddenly stopped his breath, hopped backwards and spun, whipping his tail at Gavril. Gavril channeled his holy mana into his hammer, jumped over the tail, reaching lux, and smashing down with his hammer.

Gavril brought his claw up to meet it. The two massive forces collided, shattering the hammer, and sending a shockwave out that cratered the ground where they stood.

Gavril was launched back and tumbled from the impact, while Lux was unfazed. Lux flew up, and sent out another wave of dragonsfire. Gavril quickly found his footing and held his shield up. The dragonsfire pushed him back, dragging him backwards. Lux infused his fire with his own solar mana, and its color changed from red to white. Gavril’s shield exploded next, and the solar flare engulfed him.

The mages supporting him, those who had never worked with him before, opened their mouths or dropped down to cry.

Geistig, however, prepared for what was coming next. “Keep channeling, you fools!”

Suddenly, from the smoking crater where Gavril’s shield exploded, a guttural scream emanated, pushing back the smoke. Gavril, now a blindingly radiant, human-shaped figure stood tall. White wings of light speared out from his back, and in less time than it took to blink, his figure was gone.

Lux brought up his arms to block as the radiant figure suddenly appeared before him. Gavril’s arm shined brighter than the rest of him, and punched out at the dragon’s guard.

This time, the dragon was moved back higher into the air, a laser of light shooting around him as they pierced the sky. The cloudy sky rumbled as a hole was torn through it, pushing it outwards until the area directly behind the dragon was clear and blue.

And the sun, in all its gross incandescence, shone out from it.

The sun itself grew brighter, and seemed to leave a trail of fire as its light bent towards the dragon’s paw.

“My turn, mortal.”

Lux closed his paw, leaving one clawed finger out, then lashed the claw downwards, manifesting and shooting out a single crescent.

Gavril looked down at the rest of his raiding party in its path, and flew to intercept it. Hovering in front of the crescent sun, he grabbed on to it, and spread his wings to slow its crash. Gavril, now touching the crescent, mixed his mana into it, and pulled it out, shrinking the spell.

But it was not enough. The solar crescent and Gavril impacted, leaving a long burning gash in the ground where they fell. Gavril was split in twain, and several of the raid members were either charred to crisps, crushed to paste, or turned to dust and scattered in the wind.

“You dared to oppose me with your meager powers? What an utter triviality this turned out to be.” Lux laughed, but stopped mid-cackle when Gavril’s corpse started to move.

Lux’s separate halves gravitated towards each-other, smashing together into a ball in the air, then returning to his humanoid form in cradle position. Gavril opened his eyes, and the air around him shook and glowed yellow once more. Ethereal, radiant feathers manifested and fell from the sky around him as the dead — those who still had enough left of their bodies to resurrect — pulled themselves together and rose as Gavril did.

“Oh? Maybe this will be interesting.” Lux smiled.

“Silence, wyrm.” Gavril replied.

* * *

It was at this point that Lux Solis’s solar flare finally faded, and those of us in the barrier / shelter could finally see what was going on. We stared in awe at the city-shattering battle, whilst Tishina silently cheered them on. I’m no lip reader, but I could swear she was cheering for Lux. But that can’t be right… right?

For the time being, I ignored the child who somehow scared me more than the actual dragon, and focused on the battle. I know this is rich coming from me, but Gavril’s powers are bullshit. But more than that… I’d never seen a holy-aligned before, and certainly not at this level. But every time he or one of the raid members died, he resurrected them like it was nothing. Like it was natural. Like it was just part of his powers. Like mine.

A few times, I’d eaten animals while in Polypus or Rhannu’s form, and seen the process of resurrection that occurred within my subspace. Though there were no ethereal feathers, It looked remarkably similar to what Gavril was doing. But again, that can’t be. I’m space aligned… I think. Once more, I’m forced to question the nature of my existence, utterly incapable of finding the answers still out of my reach.

And more than this, I can’t help but imagine myself in his place. I know it’s arrogant of me to compare myself to him whilst I’m literally witnessing him engaging in fisticuffs with a dragon, but I can’t help but think of what I would do in his situation.

Would I focus on fighting the dragon, party at my back, as he does? Or would I be better off supporting others from the back, or changing myself to fit the situation?

No. As I am now, I would do neither of these. I’m a coward, who would rather run from a bad situation than save them, even knowing I would never die, as Rhannu had. I’ll never be like Gavril. Even if I ever reach that god-shattering level of strength that he has, I wouldn’t be worthy of it.

As if the very threads of fate itself were reading my thoughts and mocking me, it was at this moment a symphony of roars and skittering legs sounded in the distance. I looked over, and saw what once was a barricade around the labyrinth was now a molten mound of metal and rock. Wave after wave of monsters — Spiderillas, wolves, and creatures foreign to me — poured out dozens at a time, rushing in all directions.

* * *

“Dungeon break!” Gavril shouted. “First squadron, retreat to the shelter and assist them! Second squadron, hold them back until we can fix the barricade! Third squadron, stay where you are and assist me!”

“Do you think I’ll just ignore them?” Lux Solis asked.

“You know as well as I do that you can’t afford to ignore me long enough for that. And besides,” Gavril bared his teeth, “The sun is setting. You can’t afford to waste time on those ‘insignificant creatures’. When the sun falls, so too shall your power. And when that happens, the tides will turn, and you will be forced to retreat. But without the sunlight, you will not escape. We shall chase you to the ends of the earth, and end your ‘fleeting existence’.”

Lux laughed. “I have no such weakness. So long as the sun exists, I will never grow weak, as you humans are.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Am I? What makes you so certain?”

“I don’t have to be. I just have to keep attacking, and we’ll find out soon enough.”

“Will we? Perhaps, but perhaps you will lose mana before you can find out.”

“Will I? I am no dragon. I cannot use the mana around me as my own. But unlike you… Us humans can carry our hordes with us.”

A mage opened a portal behind Gavril, and revealed a veritable mountain of mana crystals. He moved his arm into it, liquifying a portion of them, then directed a stream of pure neutral mana into Gavril before shutting the portal closed.”

Lux Solis narrowed his eyes. “Hmm… You are not as incompetent as the rest of your kind, I see. But it is no matter. I shall return on the morrow, and I am certain your horde could not possibly fuel you for such a battle. Bring Sozdatel here, or I shall kill you here, and lay waste to every other settlement I come across.”

Lux Solis turned to flee, but Gavril was not finished. “Geistig, stay here and see if you can find anything out about this ‘Sozdatel’”

“Yes, sir.” Geistig replied, averting his eyes.

“Everyone else, with me. There shall be no tomorrow for this lizard to return. Not if I can help it.”