'I don't know what's happening to you,' Gomo's word resounded through Runaan's head. His anxiety was starting to surmount everything else and he only had more questions than answers before, and he knew he couldn't get answers from the people around him.
*Elsewhere in the forgotten woodlands, inside the sacred grounds of the Dragon's Kin clan*
"What just happened? What's happening? My bloodline's strength suddenly sored.... almost like there was a direct connection in this world with a dragon.... how is that possible?" Aeneas struggled to come up with an answer.
Aeneas once again felt a calling from his bloodline, the same as he felt not even an hour ago. Except for this time, his blood seemed to be screaming out trying to make a connection to a different being rather than to his forefathers.
The spatial tearing that occurred when Tyros formed a connection to Runaan also created a temporary connection with the universe he and the other dragons were banished to. When the connection was established, the bloodlines of every being that had a connection to the dragons began to scream out.
It wasn't just humans that the dragons had instilled their physical bloodlines into. Creatures around the world held physical connections to dragons through their ancestral heritage. The most dangerous of the land-dwelling creature that shared the dragon's blood in them was the salamandra.
The salamandras were elemental creatures that could manipulate many different powers with mana, though they were mainly specialized with fire. The most common of salamandra manipulated fire, however, the extremely deadly ones were those that were capable of using dark mana.
Dark mana was just an auxiliary ability that exceptionally rare Salamandras could use. It turned the already fearsome creatures into harbingers of death. They were able to use dark mana to conceal their presence to nigh undetectable, becoming terrifying assassins.
The other terrifying danger that these dark salamandras posed was that they looked nearly exactly the same as their common fire salamandra cousins. The only discernable difference is that in the flames that cloaked their bodies, there was a twinge of black and purple coloration that fluttered to the surface.
The only other sure-fire way to tell if a salamandra is common was or not was if you could see how you died. The salamandras held exceptionally fearsome abilities to devastate everything around them, if one were to rampage through their surroundings, there would be little to stop it.
When the tear between the universes occurred, the blood inside the Salamandras called out. When Tyros interfered with the world once again, the being connected to the dragons could all feel it. Some were stronger than others, but the effect was the same, utter confusion and chaos.
The appearance of a force so devastatingly strong and along with the stimulation caused by the presence of their forefather caused the salamandras to panic. Wild creatures, especially ones that end up becoming exceedingly strong forces of nature are deadly when panicked.
The salamandras in the deeper locations of the woodlands is not the strongest of species alive, but when they congregate in numbers is when they become fearsome to other living beings.
But in forgotten woodlands, most species of beasts keep to their own territories that they lay claim to and protect. There were few species that enjoyed living in the company of others. Even less so for elemental beasts.
The territory belonging to the salamandras was a barren and toxic oasis to other creatures. There were still krosis trees growing within this bog-like area where the sulfuric water scalded the skin and could melt the flesh from ordinary creatures.
The salamandras enjoyed this location because it had cave-like structures beneath the ground creating dry pockets that could be used as burrows to make their dens out of. The salamandras were the only species that enjoyed living within this location that would kill most other beings.
This was their oasis but the graves to other beasts that would infringe on their territory. This place was also had a volcanic spring deep beneath the ground that was used by the salamandras. The spring offered a near limitless supply of fire mana that stemmed from Alterra's core.
The salamandras have held a comfortable place to live for generations. When they were utterly dumbfounded by the disturbances they felt while living in the safety of their territory, they had felt increasingly threatened by the beings that surrounded their territory.
When the salamandras began to panic, the nearest settlement to them that had a significant degree of strength that could threaten their homes was none other than the Dragon's kin clan. The only close threat to the Salamandras was instantly blamed for their sudden confusion and fear.
When the spatial tear occurred, the oldest and strongest of the Salamandras had woken up from its meditative slumber, deep within their nest. As it opened its eyes, its body burst into flames, the surrounding air instantly started to burn, and even the surrounding earth started to melt slightly.
*SKREEEECCCHHHHH!!!!!*
An ear-shattering shrill sounded through the woodlands. The strongest of the salamandras had finally decided to act in its panicked state. Its shrill called out to the other salamandras in the nest to defend their home!
The shrill begat more shrills and cries from the panicked beasts. The shrill from the eldest salamandra alerted all of the other salamandras to attack their perceived attackers, whom they suspected to be the Dragon's kin.
Moments later, like a hive of bees that sent out pheromones to attack intruders, the salamandras were whipped into a frenzy and began charging towards the Dragon's kin clan's village, eyes blazing with an unknown fury of rage and fear.
Inside the Dragon's kin village, the ground began to shake. Randoms shaking from the ground was not uncommon within the forgotten woodlands. It was part of the reason it was so dangerous to live within the woodlands, the ground shift at any moment.
Sentient races choked the occurrences up to the fact that Duranas was depicted as a god of trickery who also had complete control over things related to earth. However, the ground would never shake nearly as long as it was currently shaking, something else was wrong.
The dragon's kin could sense that something was wrong, there was a startling tension in the air. The instinct the dragon's kin had told them to be on guard, was a worry that had rarely happened, the last time it happened was when Rathgar killed his brother in his coup de'tat.
Five years ago, unbeknownst to Rathgar when he usurped control over the dragon's kin, he set into motion a devastating sequence of events that could destroy the very existence of their current world, changing it forever.
When Saris fled the village when she had been pregnant with Runaan and Rathgar had failed to kill her, the very fact that Runaan had been allowed to be born set into motion the current events that would lead to his own destruction and the destruction of his home and clan.
As the tension in the air was getting thicker and thicker, the ground continued to shake more and more than it should have, until a few moments later, muffled shrills could be heard coming from the deeper recesses of the woodlands.
It was only when the shrill began to get louder and louder, that the dragon's kin people had started to be gripped by fear, they could recognize the shrills coming from the woodlands and they knew death was just beyond the horizon.
Right as Rathgar had exited the main family's home did the blood-curdling shrills come to a stop, as he looked into the woodlands and had seen glowing flickers of fire that moved in circles around the village only a couple of hundred meters away from them.
After scanning his surroundings, Rathgar turned ghostly pale, the hair across his entire body began to rise, as he slowly turned around, he looked above the home he just exited towards the towering krosis pines that were nearby.
Tears began to slowly fall from his eyes as his life flashed in his mind; "so this I how I-..." Rathgar's head disappeared without a sound.
The people around him that had tried to get to the main family's house to find out what was happening had just seen him exit his home and while standing still, turn ghostly pale. In the next fraction of a moment, as they could only hear his sentence cut short, his head went missing.