Fire does not ask who is guilty or innocent.
It consumes all.
~Old Cartwild Proverb
***
Its silhouette loomed over the tavern as a whole, and her gaze fell upward, through the scorched roof where something huge and terrifying flapped its wings as flames spat from its maws below.
Ravenna stilled, lost in terror of its wrath and intimidating appearance. She could feel the anger blaze her skin, becoming intense as seconds went by, and she lost her balance when someone bumped past her.
"It's a beast! A beast!" someone shrieked, pointing through the shattered window where the silhouette loomed.
A shape blotted out the dimmed sun as its vast wings unfurled along with talons scraping stone. Its shadow stretched across the tavern's walls like death itself had stepped into Cartwild, spreading augury at every corner, and she was compelled to be terrified.
Her eyes remained fixed on the creature lost in its unmerciful vengeance until haze bloated her vision, disrupting her sight and she coughed, swatting it away.
Ravenna's eyes fell on her skirt which caught flames, and color drained out from her face in panic and dread.
Fire. "Burn,"
The words echoed in her mind, and she trembled, advancing behind. No… No, no, no, no…
She quickly ripped apart a part of her already-shredded skirt, flying behind when the flames leaked up the entire fabric.
Feeling cold sweat on her back, she quivered, rubbing her bruised palm against her cloth. It was at that moment she tried to escape from the lean man's grip, something pierced into her skin and now she felt the burn.
Her eyes darted around the chaotic and unrecognized room where smoke danced in the air instead of whores and men. People dispersed, rushing out now and then, and it was at that moment she realized Sire Ector and the others had left as well.
An unconscious wave of relief washed through her. Now was her time to escape.
Ravenna forced her body upward again. Her knees scraped the splintered wood and her head spun from smoke, but her instinct—raw and primal—drove her toward the door. She stumbled past the bodies, past overturned mugs, past flames licking higher and higher, as if she stopped, it would consume her whole.
However, she felt a strong grasp as someone seized her wrist in the frenzy. Out of terror, she screamed, twisting back, only to find the face of one of the men accompanying her captor as his eyes glimmered with recognition even now.
"You bloody traitor—" he snarled, glaring at her like he knew something she didn't.
But before his voice could deepen, fire licked across his back, swallowing the rest of his words over his scream. "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO…" his voice increased into panic then driving into pain and terror, "AHH!!!"
He roared in agony as his body flared like a torch. Using that opportunity his grip slackened, Ravenna tore herself free, stumbling forward as the flames devoured him whole.
Her body totally went stiff under its traumatic illumination as she almost lost her balance. His scream devoured the crackles in the air, and the stench of sulphur became much potent than that of rucid flesh.
And just as that moment, the unwieldy beast settled on top of the roof, its talon firmly grasping the roof. His maw dripped with drool when it roared, rattling the building and her eyes widened in utter shock and recognition.
"I-It's a…" She heard a terrified voice mingling with her unspoken words when everyone went still and her heart raced so that she thought she would vomit.
The monumental wings, scales dripping as obsidian, canines like swords, the fiery golden eyes, and fire licking around his throat were more than enough familiarization. "… it's a dragon,"
The name of it alone was enough to undo them. It was enough to undo her as buckets fell and swords clattered to the ground.
"IT'S A DRAGON!!!" A panicked voice shattered the stillness as a half-drunken man sprinted towards the door.
Ravenna looked at the man with dread and returned her gaze to the dragon where fire illuminated its mouth, its heated eyes on the human beneath him. No…
"Don't mov-!" She yelled, but it was already too late.
Before he took three steps, an unmerciful blast of fire consumed him, and his agonizing scream pierced the air before his fate was sealed among the others.
It roared, sending a few others flying behind, including her. Some peed on their pants, some sobbed slightly, while the rest trembled like fish caught from the sea.
Men who moments before were jeering, roaring, ready to tear her apart, now trembled like boys stripped bare before their mothers when they stumbled, fell, trampled over one another.
Ravenna pressed herself against the overturned bench with her body trembling and her lips parted on ragged breaths.
A dragon.
The stories she had grown up with, myths painted in children's songs, folklore in parchment and books, and horrors whispered by hearths, stood now in the flesh outside. H-how is it possible?
She knew of the creatures banished from earth and Dragons that were totally extinct, was among them. Scribes assumed their existence was long gone and wiped away, as over centuries of their absence. Apart from Mages and Nephmirs, Dragons were considered as Earth God.
Centuries ago, in a land where countless creatures thrived side by side, three races rose above the rest—Dragons, Mages, and Nephmirs. They were feared as the deadliest weapons among the living. But power corrupted them. Dragons scorched the skies in wrath, Mages bent magic to their selfish desires, and Nephmirs twisted fate itself, reshaping the future to their will. Their unchecked dominion splintered the world.
However, when wars destroyed kinds and rebirthed at the same time, Dragons were the most difficult and impossible to breed. But they were the strongest, most powerful, and feared amongst all creatures, making them unbeatable, uncontrollable, and undestroyable.
History never mentioned how the mighty Earth Gods disappeared when in desperation, the Realm turned against them all. One by one, the mighty races were hunted, banished, and destroyed. Ravenna knew of the story as the color of her skin.
But now, everything has changed. Everything felt different, more dangerous, more… exposing. And when she unconsciously placed her curiosity on the impossibility, she realized something which made every head go dizzy.
Mages, Nephmirs, and Dragons… she recalled. Vladoryn caught a Mage a few years back, her brother who happens to be the first Nephmir existed, looking at the beast in front of her only summarized the greatest theory.
They were… reborn.
As if to confirm, its shriek pierced the air, and the heat slapped her skin, taking the weight of her skirt behind, so as the others held onto something to balance themselves.
Its eyes glowed through the smoke, bright as molten and unblinking, piercing into the tavern as though searching.
And gods help her, it found her.
Ravenna froze, and her breath stilled as its bright golden eyes stared at her. Her mind was a cyclone of dread when his nostrils puffed out steam, and color drained from her face when she noticed flames licking inside his mouth.
Her heart thundered wildly against her chest, so painful she feared it would burst on its own and air suddenly became the most difficult to breathe in. It would only take a blast and she'll transform into nothing but ashes.
Its gaze lingered on her pale figure still trembling on the floorboards, and her silver hair glinting against the firelight.
And then it roared, the sound deafening, shaking every bone in her body. Flames spat from its maw, curling across the tavern's roof, consuming beams and shingles and the ceiling sagged under the assault.
And when it opened its mouth— Her eyes welled in tears and she shut them tightly, letting it spill across her dirty cheeks. Was this it? Her fate sealed under the grasp of flames and her punishment for every atrocity she had committed was sentenced into ashes blown away by the wind?
And a heart-wrenching sob left her lips before she could control it, embracing herself for her very end. Alaric, Brynhild, Helga, Jemima, Nicholas, Madame Ruby… their faces replayed in her mind, and a sad smile plastered across her lips.
Of everything in this world, those people were all that mattered to her. They took care of her at her lowest like their own, apart from Alaric who had lived his life being protected by her.
And when she thought of him, her heart shattered again. Who would take care of him? Jemima? Sire Regnald? Or would he grow, learning to fend for himself without help?
How would he cope knowing the world wasn't beautified the way he thought it was? The people who exist were just as dangerous as witches burnt at the stake once in a while? Or food wasn't as easy as he knew it would be, and probably left to starve on his own? Where would he live when the magistrate take their house? On the street? Hidden in a narrow alley only a few people passed through. Or-
Just when she thought her end drew nearer as time passed, the distraught voice snapped her out of her trance.
"OUTSIDE! GET OUTSIDE!" men screamed.
The tavern dissolved into chaos. Whores clawed toward the exits, their skirts catching fire as they shrieked as men shoved one another aside, trampling over the weak. Buckets of water fell uselessly, drowned in fire too strong to be contained.
Shocked, Ravenna looked up, dreading to catch a glimpse of the creature but it was long gone.
Without thinking, she shoved past bodies, her thin skirts snagging on broken wood, tearing further but that was the least of her worries. Her lungs screamed for air, each breath clawing for smoke but her desperation to claw out was stronger.
The tavern's door burst open at last as men fled into the street, carrying with them their shrieks and she stumbled out into the day.
Fresh air hit her nostrils and she sighed, but it was short-lived.
The world outside was no less terrifying. Fire rained down in tongues from the sky, roofs catching aflame, and the cobblestones glowing with embers. People screamed in the distance, their voices fractured with pain and torment when she took another step. It was like a chorus of terror echoing through Cartwild's narrow streets.
Another shriek pierced the air and she snapped behind. And there it was.
It was on top of the Inn's roof. Its wings stretched wide as the span of a dozen men, and each beat of them kicked up gales that threw ash into the sky. Its maw opened, lined with teeth like swords, and from its throat came another roar that shook the heavens themselves.
Ravenna's knees threatened to buckle. Yet even as her heart drummed louder than thunder, the dragon's head turned and molten eyes found her once more.
Time seemed to halt.
For an agonizing instant, she thought it might strike, burn her to ash where she stood like it never did yet it only looked at her, its gaze deep, piercing, and unfathomable.
Ravenna's heart raced wildly when a sound tore from its throat. And somewhere within her, her heart clenched at the tone of it.
Something about the sound was different. Not quite rage, not quite sorrow like a moment before. It seemed like a howl, mournful, and ancient that rolled across the burning streets, like it were hurt.
And then it turned away.
The ground trembled as it spread its colossal wings. With a beat that sent men sprawling and roofs collapsing, the beast rose into the night. Fire trailed its path as it vanished beyond the clouds, leaving behind only ruin, only ash.
Ravenna gasped, her body shaking as sweat and smoke clung to her skin. Around her, men staggered through the street, screaming of beasts, of omens, of the end of days sending another wave of tremor down her skin. And when her gaze peered to the corner, she caught a glimpse of women clutching their children as flames climbed higher into the night sky, and her heart clenched in pity.
But not for long. Sensing the look on strangers as they slowly turned to look at her, she realized her camouflage was long gone, and her chest began its fierce battle.
"Is that the princess or the Usurper's daughter?" she heard someone whisper to another, and as she slowly veered around, she noticed many others gossiping and pointing in her direction.
Her unbound silver hair glistened to the world's view, slowly dragging attention and she turned, darting instantly.
Her legs carried her without thought, down narrow alleys, past burning homes, past men too drunk or too broken to move. She ran until her lungs burned, until the smoke thinned, and until the screams faded into the distance.
But she did not stop, and so did her heart beat. Not until the weight of it all—fire, dragon, the knights, Ser Johnathan, Lord Dagbert Hectohrrm, the jeers of men who had nearly torn her flesh apart—crashed upon her shoulders. Not until she fell to her knees on the edge of the forest beyond the village.
Tears blurred her vision. She pressed her hands to her mouth to muffle the sobs, her body shuddering along. The smell of smoke lingered in her hair, on her torn skirts, in her skin but she was alive.
Alive.
A genuine smile plastered across her lips as her heart turned heavy with joy. S-she thought… One way or the other, it was either raped by those drunken men and still taken to Vladoryn but amongst it all, she survived.
Survived.
Ravenna took in a deep breath to avoid crushing in pure joy and relief, and swatted the tears blocking her vision when she took her weight on her feet.
Where to now?
Vladoryn… she thought. Ravenna doubted the knights might have arrived at the Kingdom that fast, spearing her little amount of time before whatever consequence awaited her.
Perhaps, before then, she might've taken Alaric, and they would escape into another kingdom as an alternative. Start a new life. Start afresh. The impossibility was scary, so was the probability.
The weight of her guilt crushed her bones but she held firm, her bare feet crunching the leaves beneath her feet.
Just when she took another step, something slammed against the back of her head, taking her weight behind and a firm grip caught her before she collapsed.
The last thing Ravenna remembered before succumbing to darkness was a familiar unsmiling face. She had seen this face before…
Her weight was thrown upon a horse, her head propelling straight to the earth, when she felt someone climb behind her.
It suddenly felt like her body was controlled by someone else, not even an ounce of strength left in her to struggle or move her head.
Magic…
Slapping the reins, her weight was kicked forward as the horse picked up its pace, galloping into the distance, leaving her blurry sight evoking the outline of Cartwild for the last time.
***