The first really alarming sign that triggered Ewan's fight of fly response was a smell. A strange and peculiar smell, which he should never have smelled in this territory, unless he was facing something unknown.
His sense of smell was not as good as a dragon's, but as a human, he was well above average. And what he smelled made his bones tremble.
An old smell of sulphur and gas, wafted through the air in dense layers, like early morning fog licking the hills and fields. And this, added to the ever-rising temperature, alarmed Ewan: the place was no longer safe. Not at all. Or rather, they had never been safe in the first place, and he had made a mistake by not listening to what Wynblow had to say.
Holding the little girl by the hand, the young hunter approached his tetanized steed, and after seating the child in the saddle, pulled his long sword from the scabbard hanging on the animal's side.
Then the ground shook. Not all at once, but in places, and in short shakes.
Like the footsteps of a giant.
Except that no giant was in sight, which would have been much more reassuring.
The situation was more than dangerous, and about to get out of hand. He could feel it in his gut. And his instinct was never wrong.
Ewan decided to head east of the village, where the Amaranth River was quickly accessible. Even if the odds were against it, the enemy might not be able to cross such a large body of water.
With Fusain's reins in one hand and his sword in the other, he moved forward as quickly and quietly as possible, while the tremors grew louder and closer.
He was about fifty meters from the docks, when the ground cracked, then collapsed into a bottomless pit, a few steps behind Ewan.
An impressive amount of steam escaped from the ground, as if an immense pressure had been released on the surface. A red glow pierced between the cracks in the ground and between the debris of the road. But the most striking thing about the scene was the heatwave that had just taken shape.
An unbearable heat had escaped from under the ground, like a forest fire of fearsome power, which would melt the houses and their inhabitants. And even the wood, which had already been reduced to charred forms for a long time, suddenly caught fire again, flames shooting out everywhere.
At the time, the young man was stunned. Only his horse managed to drag him away and get him to come to his senses, as well as the little girl's cries. If they stayed that close, all three of them would be in danger of roasting on the spot.
And the ground, already well destroyed, suddenly exploded, flaming debris flying everywhere.
In place of the hole in the ground, sharp spines of rock and metal rose up, moving with the movements of a beast without eyes or ears; but with a mouth full of sharp teeth that glowed with a fiery red radiance, framed by several twisted horns and veins like miniature rivers of fire.
A body like liquid magma, surrounded by plates of stone and iron, rose from the depths of the ground; as if coming straight from the underworld.
Ewan turned quickly to the little girl to signal her to be quiet, a finger over her mouth.
But it was useless. She was far too terrified to stop crying.
At the same time, a huge clawed paw, from which flowed a liquid fire, struck the ground violently, melting everything that came in contact with it. And an intense and deep roar resounded, carrying in its breath flaming stones and the same impossible heat in Ewan's direction.
The young human and his mount had nothing left to lose. They gave it their best shot: to rush with all their speed and will towards the river. But even if the creature seemed slow and without hind legs, it still had lightning reflexes.
The land cracked with a huge trench and obstructed the two fugitives' path; a long, thorny, blazing tail sprang up from the ground, drawing a barrier of fire between Ewan and the docks.
The young man's heart missed a beat. They were surrounded on all sides, and if they didn't die torn to pieces, the heat emanating from the creature's body would get them soon enough. As for Fusain, he had become uncontrollable, leaping around, terrified as ever by this burning abomination that was about to kill them. But Ewan struck himself mentally.
Pull yourself together!
It's not just your life being at stake right now!
No. He wouldn't let it happen. He had fought far too many strange creatures to give up, even if the situation seemed hopeless...
Like the ouroboros biting its tail, the creature formed around them a circle of fire whose heat came to harass the skin of the young hunter.
With piercing eyes, Ewan stood before Fusain, trying to find a breach in the circular hell. In the meantime, the little girl's cries had gradually been replaced by a stubborn cough.
The gas and sulfur-laden breath was beginning to make breathing difficult. The creature exhaled its breath laden with noxious and deadly particles, although intoxicating its victim was not its main purpose.
A roar echoed through the valley again, and a pair of sharp fangs lunged in the direction of the hunter and his mount. Fusain didn't move fast enough, so Ewan stepped in, even if it meant losing his life.
His sword, looking tiny compared to the beast's proportions, struck the monster's mouth and got stuck between several fangs and canines, scratching the surface of the teeth and exposed bones with a shrill sound.
He shook with all his being, trying to push back the monster that only his sword managed to keep away from his own body. But the jaw was relentlessly trying to close on him, advancing a little more towards the young man. Ewan's sword cringed and squeaked under the pressure.
Unfortunately, the monster was cunning, and although it wanted to crush its prey with its teeth, the first thing that reached Ewan was not its sharp teeth, but liquid fire dripping from its mouth.
Ewan screamed in pain, so much the burn was fulgurating. His right shoulder, although protected by armor plates and his chain mail, had just received directly this kind of infernal slime. The vile liquid had crossed all the protections without meeting any resistance, and was now attacking his body.
The pain was so strong that he let go, tilting backward, while the sword was dislodged from between the monster's teeth. And this opportunity did not go unnoticed by the creature.
Moving aside just in time, Ewan felt the monster's jaws graze him, before going to sink violently into the ground, at the place where he was a few seconds earlier.
Fusain, on his side, was still petrified on the spot; terrified at the highest point and hesitating between running away and kicking like a damned. Although the animal was accustomed to his master's fights, he had never been so close to a creature that was so dangerous. Compared to the current situation, even fighting a dragon was much less dangerous.
The monster's tail wagged, flapping in the air, and razing everything nearby that was still standing. Including whatever was blocking the trio's path.
It was the opportunity that Ewan seized at that moment that allowed him to save the lives of the girl, Fusain, and himself, although what happened was not so simple.
The monster, withdrawing its head from the ground, could only watch helplessly, as its preys rushed towards a newly created passage; where a few seconds earlier a wall still stood.
Furious to see that its victims were going to escape, the creature suddenly exhaled a thick cloud of sulfur.
Soon the whole village was flooded with yellowish gas, the air becoming unbreathable.
Ewan's head began to hurt, and his vision became blurred.
What was happening all around was happening more and more slowly, as if time was slowing down.
Fusain was falling limply to the ground, his legs buckling beneath him. The little girl on his back was already unconscious, and Ewan's body was also beginning to betray him.
The river and the docks just in front of him leaned to the side, and suddenly the ground hit the young man's cheek, his wild hair blocking part of his field of vision.
The shadow and the heatwave of the monster were approaching, with nothing to stop said beast from doing what it wanted to the three unfortunate souls now on the ground, not able to move, paralyzed.
Death itself could not have made a better entrance than this.
Then Ewan's vision became even more blurred. He was going to lose consciousness, and would probably never wake up, eaten alive or worse.
And the last thing he saw before his vision became permanently obscured was a violent gust of wind dissipating all the gas in the area.