First Army of system Agares-2, 31th Division. 3rd Brigade. 2nd Battalion, Company Falcon of the Arcane Universe

"Have you found out which game version this is? What expansion pack?" A robust man two meters tall asked another, all of them looking very similar. Their physiques were sturdy, putting to shame even well build humans and their limbs ended with though scales and claws instead of ordinary skin and nails. The man speaking had long black hair and his scaled tail was moving restlessly, occasionally touching the ground covered with moss and short grass.

He was obviously their leader.

"I have heard about avians and their city, it means that The Wings of Liberty are included in this version. The shining city in the distance atop of one of the mountains to the east should be the city of angels. That implies that Righteous Fury is also a part of this world." The man next to him speculated, his information expanded upon by another man the posture of which seemed different compared to the others, his eyes darting all around constantly.

"The Wings of Liberty, Righteous Fury, ScaleFrost Overlords and finally Terror of The Void. In other words, we have the pleasure to enjoy the full range of four expansion packs. The last one might be the most bothersome." He said, speaking quickly as if he would lose money for every second of prolonging the conversation.

"Why have we included it then?" The leader looked at him as if he was to blame for the situation.

"They wanted an expanding universe, so Terror of The Void was a must." The man avoided the leader's eyes.

"What are the most powerful items we can get immediately? We need to boost our power with haste." The self-confident man with black hair continued his questioning.

"There are many powerful items that can empower us captain, but most of them are under the control of already established powers. Except for those that are hidden near powerful creatures. We should head right for our original objective without delays." The quickly talking man said and nervously scratched his messy brown hair.

"Not that we have another choice at this point." He whispered under his breath.

"Fine, everything is according to the plan A then. Will it really come on its own?" The captain looked up at the sky and there was a tension in his body, the operation was a daring endeavor indeed.

"Of course, that is why we have all started as Dragonkin, the item we will be after is located in ScaleFrost City Ruins. It will require some level of stealth, but it is doable."

There were many who had set off to gain glory, wealth or power in the volatile Fabled Universe, or to simply save their skin, but Company Falcon was one that definitely did not belong to the last group. The officers of the company knew that this was a golden opportunity to skip ranks, earn fabulous wealth and reach positions of power they would have been unable to reach if not for this crisis. Their company of one hundred soldiers had chosen to start as Dragonkin and according to the story of the ScaleFrost Overlords expansion, a True Dragon should appear and provide them with the opportunity to get to The ScaleFrost City, a high level location where numerous powerful items could be obtained.

It was highly probable that most of the men would not see the next dawn, but a lucky few had a chance to acquire items that would turn them into powerhouses of this world.

"Here it comes!" One of the soldiers shouted and everyone watched in a stupor as a large beast covered in white scales neared their position.

"Go say the words, do not mess up." The captain nudged their advisor to step forth with his elbow, leaving the trembling man no other choice but to present himself to the dragon that had just landed with its wings still spread with wingspan of dozens of meters.

"Nothing warms the belly like a bunch of fake dragons." The giant lizard roared, and caused the dragonkin standing in front of the captain freeze in shock.

"Do not space out coward, say the words, quick!" The captain quickly stepped closer to the frightened advisor and whispered into his ear, but there was suddenly a different voice that addressed the dragon.

"Fight us beast! We are not afraid!" All members of Company Falcon looked in shock at two people that suddenly emerged out of the vegetation and interrupted their exchange with the dragon in the most crucial moment, an inarticulate noise of terror escaped the throat of the advisor when he heard the words.

"Fight you?" The dragon's voice thundered again, his expression that of ridicule. "Well then, the duel it is little ones. You can come at me all at once."

* * * *

"Are you one of those elves living secluded lives in the forest? It feels strange that I am explaining the situation among the elves to an elf!" The man Frei was talking to laughed while they followed the rear of the mob of refugees, watching out for danger.

"Yeah, it is embarrassing to know so little about my own race, I have lived in seclusion for too long." Frei joined in the man's laughter.

He had been talking with the man for a while about the strange retreat of the elven warriors and found out that there was a faction of elves called city elves, a term that was sometimes used as an insult . These elves advocated trading with humans and even living outside of the forests if they were more radical. They built structures that were more practical and crude rather than possessing the typical elven style and charm. When aberrations appeared, traditional elves also called wood elves could not care less about protecting the city that they considered a mistake and pulled back, resulting in the pragmatic faction of city elves to pull back as well, as they did not want to face the enemy on their own. The only ones that seriously tried to defend the city in the end were shop owners and other people that had significant personal assets in the city, but most of those had given up on their possessions when presented with the threat of a gruesome death by the hands of the merciless monstrosities.

Still, the pride of the elves was hurt and the man expected that there would be an attack on the purple island that was now victoriously hovering above Lartherion.

"What is that low frequency hum?" Frei began to feel uneasy, was it just his imagination? He strained his eyes to see beyond the tops of the trees and he glimpsed a silhouette of giant white wings.

"What is that? Aren't those wings too big?!"

"They are covered in scales!"

"Is it a Snow Devil?"

"It's a True Dragon! Run!"

After a series of confused shouts, many started to scream in panic and abandoned their belongings, running forward as fast as they could. People were cursing, stumbling over each other and kicking the belongings they had cared for so much up until now all around, just to get away in time before the giant beast reached them.

"We can never outrun it. Brave elf, will you go with me to meet the beast and distract it?" The man that had explained to Frei much trembled, but Frei could see that his resolve was firm.

"Meet the beast?!" Was the man crazy? Frei looked at him like he was out of his mind.

"I need to buy my family some time to run away." The man said in a trembling voice and Frei realized from where was his courage coming from.

"I . . " He gulped, looking in the direction of the dragon. "I will go."

He surprised himself by his answer. Was it because he wanted to be a hero? Was it because he no longer cared about his life? Was it because all the accumulated guilt and pain caused that he yearned for an extreme experience that would erase his past? It all happened too fast and his subconsciousness decided for him, he was running through the forest before he could really think about what he was doing.

Both of them bent their knees and lowered their heads, covering their ears, when they heard a deafening roar from above, the monstrous beast flying closer and closer with every flap of its huge wings.

Among the sounds of breaking tree trunks and thick branches as the huge scaled body was descending to land, they could hear yells of a large group of men that appeared to be baiting the dragon. They emerged not far from the group to find out that these were no ordinary men.

"What is going on here? " Both of them were bewildered by what they saw and could not tell why the group acted so boldly, not retreating despite the hind legs of the dragon had just touched the ground and the majestic beast spread its wings, showing the large body in its full glory.

"Nothing warms the belly like a bunch of fake dragons." A loud voice of the dragon almost made the leaves of the nearby trees fall off, his attention directed at the group of dragonkin in front of it, but that was about to change.

"Fight us beast! We are not afraid!" Frei's companion shouted suddenly, making Frei question his mental health. The dragon's head turned to look at them and it showed them a toothy grin.

"Fight you? Well then, the duel it is little ones. You can come at me all at once."

"But a proper duel needs a proper place." The beast snorted and in an instant the scenery around them changed. The white dragon, the group of beastmen and the two courageous passers by stood in the middle of a giant arena. Its walls were dozens of meters high and the ground was perfectly flat, covered in sand. It took no genius to know with a single glance that escape was impossible.

Apparently the dragon possessed some kind of high level magic to be able to transfer all of them to a distant location on a whim.

"Fuck, fathers are brave, sometimes too brave for their own good." Frei muttered while he looked around, the arena around them giving off an oppressive feeling.

Without further warning, the dragon jumped forward and swiped with its right paw, Many dragonkin soldiers of the Arcane Universe turned into minced meat and everyone started running in all directions to escape with their lives. Some of them were trying to give orders, but that stopped the moment the most audible of them with long black hair had been bitten and swallowed by the white beast.

"What now?!" Frei was lucky that the dragon had his back facing him at this point in time, leisurely hunting its prey one by one, but he knew that this would not last for long and then he would become its meal. The arena was huge and impenetrable, watching carefully its walls, he had no chance to climb over its rim.

"There is only this one option." Frei used his high strength and began digging a hole for himself, quickly covering his body with sand after he had slid into the hole.

As a vampire he had no need to breathe air after all!

He was lucky that the white dragon took its time with butchering others, his every attack ending with an unpleasant. crunchy sound of someone's bones breaking, be it its maw, claws or tail, the dragon almost never missed. When he finally turned, there was only flat sand where Frei had stood. The beast would surely notice Frei's trick if the dragon paid attention to detail, but there was still a lot of prey running about, so it did not bother trying too hard.

Thanks to the chaos all around him, Frei managed to survive while anxiously following the passage of time. Minutes passed, then an hour, but he was still there, intact and unnoticed. An unpleasant complication was that he was unaware what was going on outside, a layer of sand above him blocking his vision.

Was it safe outside, or should he wait some more?

Frei gathered his courage, but however he kept gathering it, it was still smaller than the smallest grain of sand pressing against his right cheek and so he kept waiting some more.

Frankly, he could not stay under the sand forever and in the end, he had to unearth his upper half and sat up in his early grave, with his legs still buried. When the sand fell off of his upper body and eyes, he could se the dragons back in front of him. The beast's neck was lowered, its teeth working on one of the bodies that had been left after the battle. It was clearly in the process of eating everyone it had killed.

Frei's eyes widened with fright when the long neck turned and the dragon's big eyes locked with his. The next second, the muscles on the dragon's neck constricted in a violent spasm, but in the end it held the contents of its stomach in. His facial features distorted with revulsion, the beast seemed to lost all appetite.

"Disgusting undead! I am eating here, get out of my sight!" The dragon growled and Frei immediately slammed his upper body back into his self-made grave, quickly putting all the sand back atop of him.

"Damn, damn, damn that was definitely far too soon." He felt his heart racing, while the darkness swallowed him again.

The only action he could take was to wait, and so he did.