When Mineva hears the roar as well, she immediately turns around.
"Mineva, what's going on? Why have the dragons fled? And why are the warriors of Viti here?"
Mineva's eyes lit up like fire.
"If only I knew why they are here. I asked them and tried to stop them, but they didn't tell me and kept pushing me back. Luckily, Ryan came with the dragons who fled the village." Excuse me?
The dragons from the village fled too, but from what?
I haven't asked that yet, because suddenly there was silence.
The silence was frightening and made cold sweat run down my forehead.
Mineva also stood there stiffly, not even daring to breathe properly.
For a while, we just stood there until I decided to go and see.
"I'll take a quick look, stay here."
Mineva tried to hold me back.
"No, you can't go out there now! You're human. If Viti's warriors are still there and see you, they'll kill you right away!"
Mineva was right, but I had already made up my mind.
"It's okay, I'll be careful."
Slowly, I straightened up.
Thanks to the bandage Mineva had made me, I was able to walk better.
She seemed to admit defeat and let me go to the exit of the herbal cave.
Silence reigned in the Moon Lake Cave.
There were dragon corpses lying in some places that I couldn't see if they were still alive or not.
There was blood everywhere, and a huge trail of blood led out of the cave.
When I couldn't see a black dragon body anywhere, I breathed a sigh of relief, Lisa must still be alive.
But where are the other dragons that fought?
I ventured out of the entrance to the herb cave and walked close to the wall to the tunnel that led to the sleeping cave where Lisa and I had rested earlier.
There was not a single dragon to be seen there, but no traces of blood either.
I looked to the escape tunnel where the tracks were carefully covered.
Then I went back to Mineva.
"There are no more dragons outside, only a few lying there lifeless, but I don't know if they are all still alive."
Mineva also breathed a sigh of relief.
"Then let's go see if they're still alive."
I escorted her out, and we started looking at dragon body after dragon body to see if they were still alive.
Most of them were still alive but badly injured. Mineva took them to the herb cave as quickly as possible and put them in different nests there.
The ones that were no longer alive we left lying around.
"We'll take care of the dead bodies later."
When Mineva brought all the injured dragons into the cave, she told me to get the water from the Moon Lake, and it would help stop the bleeding.
For this, she gave me a bucket, which was a bit too big, but I could carry it anyway.
Where Lisa and the others were who had been fighting didn't matter right now, although I was very worried.
When I had fetched enough Moon Lake water, I began to tend to the dragons' wounds. Mineva explained to me exactly what herbs to use and how to use them.
So after a long time, we finished and sat down against a rock wall, exhausted.
"Don't we still have to take care of the dead dragons?"
I asked Mineva.
In any case, I didn't feel like burying everyone else's bodies.
That would really be way too exhausting right now.
Mineva just nodded and stood up again.
I followed her again out of the herb cave into the Moon Lake cave where the dead bodies were.
There, she began to pile up all the corpses in front of the Moon Lake.
"We will now throw them one by one into the Moon Lake. There, they can rest forever." Excuse me?
How is that supposed to work?
Is the lake really that deep?
I looked at her in wonder.
"This is done with almost all dragons. Don't worry. There aren't that many dragon bodies down there.
You'll see what happens to dragons after their dead bodies get thrown into Moon Lake."
So I watched her push the first dragon into the water, anxiously waiting to see what would happen.
The dragon dissolved.
The water lit up brightly, just like the dragon's body.
Small bright dots detached themselves and rose to the surface of the water.
There, they then faded away.
It was a sad, but at the same time, beautiful sight.
So it went on with every single body.
With each dragon, a tear fell from me into the water.
Mineva went back to the injured dragons when she was finished, but I remained standing at the Moon Lake.
Tears ran inexorably down my face.
What were we going to do now?
The other dragons have fled, and who knows when they will come back?
Besides, Lisa and Ryan are gone too, and no one knows where!
I knelt down and just cried more.
I was in this strange world without knowing what was going to happen now, without having anyone to really trust.
And without further hope, that would now bring me back on my feet.
In vain, I tried to calm myself down, but it just didn't work.
Crying, I looked into the clear water where the dragons had dissolved.
I looked into my eyes, but in the water, there was no human reflected, but a dragon whose scales shone like the moon.
Is that me looking at myself?
Is this the form I would have as a dragon?
I put my hand into the water, and the next moment, I was pulled in.
The last thing I knew was how the dragon with the moonlight circled me in the water until it went completely dark.