With claws the size of a smaller druid it swiped left and right clearing the area in front of it and leaving claw marks on the ground.
When the chains tried to wrap around it's long thick neck it bit and tugged on them slamming the druids against the walls or throwing them high in the air.
It looked like a mix of both Ham and Oskana but three times larger.
Standing on its hind legs alone it towered over everyone taking up a quarter of the fifty yard width of the canyon.
It's black scales absorbed the light making it seem as if it was a natural void.
It's bright green eyes are the size of two grown men blinking
I noticed that it didn't open it's mouth or bring it's head down when it dropped on all fours.
It avoided the druids traps as it has done many a time throughout the decades.
When the chains latch onto it and draw blood, an array is formed.
The array is as large as a druid but the fireball that came out of it is smaller than mine.
It chased after the druids who held the other end of the chain.
Yet no matter how hot the flames licked the iron, the small men refuse to let go.
Some can be seen grinning and bearing it as they swore oaths and promises of death.
It ripped the chains off of Oskana but found that it was too late.
The druids have already severed his claws and blinded his eyes.
His neck was sawed half open.
Druids left him alive only so he can feel the pain of them digging out his muscles and bones.
The large dragon turned towards Ham finding her in the same situation with her mouth opened wide.
His heart began to bleed thinking of all the kin he has lost so far.
All the children and mates along with the elders he once knew.
'When did it change'? he asked himself.
'When did these ants that used to be burned in my mothers array start to butcher my children like fish'?
The black behemoth stood on two legs and let out a wail of anguish and a prayer to Useja.
The scene in front of him seemed to foretell the future.
Bringing his head down quickly he severed Oskanas neck with his jaws.
A kindness he could not extend to Ham without further endangering his own life.
Raising his head quickly before druids can take his eyes with their steel.
He bounded west preparing to take to the air.
The druids chased after him with a fervor leaving one holding us each.
I feel my shoulder dislocate as the lone druid holding me gets excited and is torn between joining the fight and killing me.
They nodded to each other and the one holding me let go and reached for his great sword.
As I fell forward a tendril of energy leaves fights it's way out of my body and touches the golden ball around my neck.
All the mana that looks like world energy converges making an explosion that blows a hole in the mountain side.
The druid in front of me flies forward and over me.
I grabbed Hothaws dagger with my left hand and pushed the stunned druid laying on top of Rumi with my foot.
With a snap my shoulder goes back into place and I begin to run towards the beast.
Rumi grabs the still sobbing Yuit who is oddly in the same place.
The druid holding him took the brunt of the impact and was blown to the right.
We run as fast as we can towards the monstrosity.
Running back would be running right into a bunch of druids with dents in their armor and a grudge to handle.
'How are they so tough'? I asked myself before the foreign aura faded and fast thinking activated again.
Ava did not use a lot of energy but it was enough to blow a hole in a mountain side.
'They seek death' I thought to myself as I ran.
'Your all seeking death'! Ava screamed in frustration as I move with the mountain wall to my left.
The dragon needed to rid itself of druids before unfurling its wings.
Array after array is created from its ever flowing blood as the sickles, long swords and hammers found their mark.
Each array got smaller and sinks into the chains.
The druids lose strength for a moment and some even look to be paralyzed.
It allowed the black dragon to yank the chains from the growing procession of druids.
With it's wings folded in, it is able to maneuver much better.
It is jumping stomping and even rolling over druids that get too close but it never uses it's fangs as it moves west.
That is until it sees Rumi using mana to help himself move.
His body is broken, to what extent I do not know.
It had it's own way of spying on it's kin and knew that Oskana was after a human mage.
One can easily mistake the spark of mana in its large eyes for the light of greed.
Rumi is running past me to my left against the wall.
He is leaking energy in an attempting to keep up.
I don't even bother with the useless action of manipulating mana outside my body for offense or defense.
Druids are naturally resistant to mana.
The only way I suspect of killing one would be to hit them with mana and a physical attack at the same time.
Distract the aura and go for the kill.
We both see the figure of the dragon out of lore coming right for us.
Its neck resembles a brontosaurus with wings and a neck twice as thick as Ham.
Its body and face resembled a tyrannosaurus with rows of teeth.
The arms are what made my heart skip a beat.
It had literal bicep and triceps definition.
Five sharpened claws moved to grab a druids and throw him in the air as it made it's way towards us.
With two gallops it is twenty yards in front of us leaving tens of broken druids.
Its snout opened wide allowing me to peak inside it's mouth and smell a gas so foul it made my knees weak.
'It's unavoidable' I thought to myself while flipping the blade to a reverse grip and placing my left hand in my leather pouch tied to my belt.
A moment later I jump in the air and into it's mouth avoiding the rows of teeth and smacking into the tongue that wants to push me back towards the sharp fangs.
It snaps its jaw shut and rose as it could feel a human using mana while his legs are caught in it's teeth.
It bit down turning the legs into shreds.
Rumi comes out of the scene from beneath the dragons legs and Yuit is nowhere to be seen.
He falls from underneath the beasts jaw as it rises.
When it's jaws snapped shut it missed him by a hairs breath, if he hadn't dropped to his stomach he would have been eaten.
He is holding the arm of Greem as he is standing up.
Yuit instinctively grabbed whoever was to his right when Rumi yanked him up.
Using his mana unconsciously as his body tries to rid itself of the foreign aura.
It served to heighten his physical prowess allowing him to drag the heavy body without falling too far behind.
Greems torso lay next to him as he holds on to the lone arm connected to the slab of meat.
The dopamine his body released to keep his mind calm was hitting him when he least expected.
Yuit looked at the man once known as Greem and thought about his father.
His father taught him and all six of his brothers how to butcher farm cattle.
Rumi jerked the young mans collar leading him west.
He came back for him only on a whim.
They bolt it following the path that the dragon has opened for them.
Druids are converging from the east and the dragon turns west and away from the incoming onslaught.
The Old-One looked around after swallowing the human and instantly felt it's struggle.
The scene of druids chasing him like he is prey frustrated him to no end.
He craned his neck into the sky and roared.
Never before have times been so harsh and their species on the brink of extinction.
He turned west finding the other two human mages running.
It galloped following after them but instead of reaching out for them he spread his wings and took to the air.
He can always hunt the other two and find out what it was Oskana was searching for so desperately.
As he gained altitude he began to make a plan for the night keeping the two humans in sight.
"Doona Roon Maul son of Dreka" a voice rang from below as he reached high above where the druids can not reach with their chains.
"Doona roon ya filthy worm, come and meet mine axe" the voice said loud enough for every druid present to hear.
Maul shivered.
A druid mage is one to be feared but where there is one there are many.
Maul the dragon flapped his wings furiously rising higher with each stretch of his back muscles.
Along with a well timed gust of wind he is able to gain altitude quickly.
The blood around him began to converge in front of him until a thick array as large as his head is made.
He turned in the air and released his mana into it.
The array morphed getting smaller and smaller until a thin bolt of lightning rained down on the druids.
Followed by two consecutive bolts of lightning before the array dissipated and crumbled to what looked like ash.
As it sent pulses of energy through its body to mold the array it felt the human mages struggle.
The mage was somehow clinging to his throat.
Maul constricted his throat and flexed his neck muscles in an attempt to digest it's reluctant meal.