Ch.7 Dragons and Chaos

The lord's that had been sent out by Lord Rien arrived in the village that had been utterly destroyed by the dragons and their riders. Reports of rape and death were coming from most of the survivors of the attack. Most of the village had been killed off or taken. The Lord's all met back in a clearing of the village with heavy hearts.

"There's absolutely nothing here that we can do."

"It's pitiful to see all of this though. This is the worst I've ever seen."

"All of the villages that could've helped this place are all destroyed as well."

"Hatos has planned this out very well."

"Hatos! The rat bastard! How I want to ring his neck for all of this!"

"There's no reason to get upset about him when we're on a mission. Calm down. Lady Sell will handle him when the time comes. Just watch."

"Lady Sell is handling a lot herself right now! She's got no memory!"

"Rien said she was working hard to get it back. She's never let us down. She was there to fight Hatos when Rien and Lones were held up by Hatos's evil. She even tried to save a child spirit. Remember her telling us?"

"She's done a lot for our kind and the Minecraftian's. Lady Ananon is proud of her."

"As should we."

The Lord's chatted amongst themselves in a circle, looking about at all of the damage and smoldering houses. It truly was a shame to see such beautiful villages get destroyed.

"If only it had happened to our village. We could rebound quickly and fight back the dragons!"

"We'd be in the same situation as these other people!"

"Let's send word back to Rien and tell him of the damage and such. Where's our messenger?"

"Who was our messenger? I left so quick I wasn't able to hear the name."

"None of us heard the name."

There were sudden explosions happening around the outskirts of the village. The Lord's gathered in a circle tightly looking about for the attacker. The remaining villagers all fled in panic. Some were getting blown sky high.

"We need to aide them!"

"How? There are explosions happening!"

"Go in pairs! Every direction, cover it! Go!"

They each broke into pairs and raced off. It wasn't ten steps when an air raid swooped down and dropped a nuclear bomb that took out the entirety of the village and left a crater all the way to the bedrock. A figure in a hooded cloak stood atop a mountain that overlooked the village a good ways away.

"There won't be any messages back to Lord Rien. He'll be solely in the dark when the attack comes." The figure chuckled and turned away, his cloak being blown by the wind that whipped on the mountainside.

Hel stood on the wall of the fortifications looking out at the distant scenery of the night. He yawned and sighed, leaning on a stone pillar.

"You look tired," spoke a female Minecraftian clad in iron armor. "Did you not sleep?"

"Sleep or not, I'm nocturnal anyways. I could do this job barely trying," muttered Hel propping his head up. "It's just getting boring. I want to go on another adventure with a friend of mine. It's about time."

"Oh," the female said leaning on the pillar with a one block space between them. "That female friend of yours? I haven't seen you and her together for some time. Is everything ok?"

"She had a really bad accident and lost her memory," he replied looking into the distance. "She's working hard to get it back."

"That's so sad," the female said frowning. "The girl that you like has forgotten about you. Well, if she doesn't remember you, can I be the next girl in line?"

Hel turned and stared at her. Part of him wanted to rip her face off and thrown her body over the wall. The other part of him wanted to transform before her and let her freak out. "You are the whore of the wall. Why would I touch something that gets passed around so casually?"

Her face turned into hatred. "What did you just say?"

"Yay," grinned Hel with amusement. "Some excitement."

The female swung her sword at him which he avoided with a swiftness that made her blink twice. She swung again and he appeared next to her to pin her arm against her chest. "I'm out of your league in about everything. It's time you learned to close your legs once in a while. If you were wondering, her name is Sell. She's a way better woman than you, so don't try to compare yourself to her. You'll fail miserably and hard."

Hel pushed the female away roughly. She lost her balance and fell back on the stone floor. A few males on the fortification all turned at the ruckus. "What's going on over there?"

Hel waved to them casually. "Just a little bit of play. Nothing bad."

The males shrugged and went back to their posts, watching out for anything below. He gave a cold glare to the female before turning away and heading on down the wall. The female got to her feet and scrambled away down the ladders to get inside the mercenary hall. Hel sat on the ledge of the wall, slightly annoyed. 'Geez, women and their issues of being wanted.'

The wind ruffled his hair slightly. His nose caught a strange scent. He wrinkled his nose at the smell. "The hell is that smell?"

He sniffed the air once more in the direction it came from but saw nothing, heard nothing. Something within him jumped into action mode. "Alert on the wall! Alert on the wall!"

The men on the other parts of the wall turned at his call. "What's going on?"

Then came the sound of death in more than one voice. All men turned to see a fleet of dragons with riders soaring towards them. Hel gawked slightly at them. "Holy shit…"

He jolted himself and snapped at the dazed men. "To your stations! Get the weapons! Move! Move!"

The men jumped and began to run about gathering stuff and calling out attack inside the ramifications. Men and women filed out into the town and out front while others filed up onto the wall. Hel stood atop of a pillar watching the dragons getting closer. The deep roars that came from the dragons began to make some of the guards shake.

"Keep steady!" barked Hel. "Strike their soft area!"

Murmurs of questions began to go around. "Where's their soft area?"

Hel gawked at the men asking questions. No one had known that dragons existed. It was up to him to face the issue. A huge explosion rocked the town. Dust, debris, people, objects, and things that were once used were taken by the blast.

Hel dove onto the battlement covering his head with his hands as chunks of cobblestone, glass, wood, and gravel were thrown. The dragons began to chunk fireballs at them. Hel remained there while the others batted at the fireballs, throwing them back. Some struck buildings making them blow up and burn. Hel looked about at the destruction and saw their weapons shop annihilated. "That was well aimed."

A dragon swooped low for him but missed as its maw snapped air where Hel had dodged. Hel growled and leapt, grabbing the dragon's hind leg, digging his claws into its scales to keep hold. He began to climb the leg of the dragon slowly, pausing when the dragon would wheel around to do more fireballs. Hel made it to the dragon's rear flank and transformed. His maw snapped and growled, making the rider turn around and gasp. "How are you up here?"

Hel gave the rider no time to defend himself from shock. His claws ripped through the riders neck. He grasped the neck of the male and flung him away, watching his body fall into a burning building. The dragon roared and barrel rolled to throw Hel off but Hel hugged the dragons neck for dear life growling. "You aren't getting rid of me that easily!"

Hel felt the underside of the dragons neck, where the scales didn't touch one another. One of its soft spots. His claws pierced the thin space that ran along the underside of the neck and sliced. Warm blood began to spill from the great beast, covering Hel's paws. The dragon roared dropping towards the ground at a fast rate.

He leapt off falling through a tree, branches breaking as he struck them and found himself staring up at the hole he had made in the tree. He winced at the pain in his head but forced himself up.

"Hel!" barked Rien running towards him panting. "You ok?"

Hel nodded feeling the cut in the back of his head where he had struck it on the ground. "I'll be alright."

Rien and Hel scanned the area around them. Riders and dragons were fighting the towns people roughly. Hel turned to Rien looking grim. "We might lose this battle."

Rien shook his head. "The others have been alerted and are coming. Give them time. Let's go!"

Hel nodded following after Rien, finding the group that he had left. Toc, Des, Lones, and Skelar were all back to back fighting dragons and riders while Rayr was a little ways away holding his own. Rien set Hel free and took his place once more in the ring of the group. Hel attacked the nearest Dragon, slicing its neck open with a swift claw and leapt on its rider. Neither had time to react. Rayr made his way to Hel's side and fought together.

The dragons and riders had regrouped, seeing that their numbers were starting to decrease. The town in flames all around. The leader of the group had gotten a slice across his left eye and was bleeding. "What's going on? Why have you all regrouped for?"

"Sir, this town is prepared for us!" panicked a young rider. "They're fighting us! We're being pushed back!"

"Then fight harder!" snapped the leader and mounted his dragon. "We'll take down this town like all the rest!"

Rien led his group forward through the flames and stood a top of the hill that over looked the lower entrance of the town. "If you want to press on then by all means, please do! Fair warning though! You will die!"

The leader and the riders looked up at the fighters on the hill. The leader smirked. "You're sure of yourself! I'll make you eat those words!"

Rien gestured for them to come at them. The leader yelled out pointing his iron sword. "Charge!"

Hel and Rayr crouched waiting for the command. Toc, Des, and Skelar grasped their weapons tightly, turning their knuckles white.

"You've been good friends," Toc said smiling.

"Don't talk like we're going to die," Skelar growled. "We'll live through this."

Rien gave the command. Rayr and Hel leapt snapping, their paws out stretched and claws glistening with blood. Rien leapt forward raising his weapon over his head. "Charge!"

The group surged forward, Skelar, Rien, and Lones transforming into their Skeletal forms. A huge thunderous crack could be heard as the dragons clashed with the Minecraftians and the Skeletal Lord's. A second fleet of dragons appeared on the horizon. The second in command saw that this village was giving them trouble.

"Wave one, head around to the back. We'll catch them unawares. Wave two, take the front and be back up to our leader!"

The two groups of fifty did as they were told and soared away. The second in command flew off with the second group to aid the leader in taking this town over.

"Attack!" bellowed a deep voice from below.

Forty men with bows popped up from the tall grass firing arrows at the dragons. The dragons roared back winging as some of the arrows began to stick in their necks and kill some of the riders.

"Ready!" bellowed the deep voice.

A second wave of archers appeared as the others slinked back to get more arrows ready. The dragons and their riders fought back now, flaming them and firing their fireballs.

"Fire!"

A second volley of arrows struck the fleet as the first volley returned. The voice commanding them once more. The second in command whipped his dragon about. "Take them out!"

The riders began to drop explosives upon the archers who began to flee from the blasts and break up. "Stay together! Remain in groups! Just as we trained!"

The groups disappeared under the tall grass. Their armor disguised as tall grass from head to foot. The fleet circled as their dragons roared out annoyed. The second in command scanned the ground below for a slight twitch in a leaf or a snap of a twig but there were no sounds except for themselves. His eyes narrowed and urged his dragon forward. "Fly! Go! Go!"

The fleet all fly for the town to aide their leader when a volley of arrows appeared on either side of the town, falling straight for them. The second in command had taken two arrows: one in his shoulder while the second was in his chest. He grasped the reigns of his beast and urged it on. "Go!"

The dragon roared spiraling away in smoke and flame. The second group that he had ordered to bomb the town were releasing their bombs. The second in command gasped hearing the familiar whistle as they were being dropped. "Commander Darz!"

The leader looked up at the call and heard the whistle of approaching doom. "Retreat!"

The dragon and the leader took off flying as fast as the great lizard's wings would flap. The second in command brought his dragon into a sharp turn about that made him lurch his wounds. The dragons all took off as best as they could, the whistling growing louder. Lord Rien and Lord Lones both grabbed who they could and teleported away. Lord Rien let the others go and turned to go back for Aumi, Lones tackles him and pins him.

"Are you crazy?"

"Aumi!" Rien yelled out desperately reaching towards the burning town. "No!"

The whistling stopped. There was silence that made everyone have a ring in their ears. A great thunderous roar blasted the air, a great gale of wind that smelled of Napalm, gun powder, fire and other things that burned the nostrils. Rien and the rest all took cover, flattening their bodies on the ground as best as they could.

"Save us!" Screamed Toc facing the ground. "Someone save us! Please?"

A mushroom cloud rose up into the air two hundred or more blocks with fire and ash spreading out and falling back down.

Hel lifted his head with only one request. "Sell! Sell, save us!

A great bright light overwhelmed the blast, sucking it within its light before dissipating with a huge thunderous clap. The leader and the rest of the remaining fleet all gawked at what just happened. The town, what was left of it, still remained. There was a huge explosion behind them that shook the ground and debris flew while a giant mushroom cloud filled the air. Rien, Lones and the rest all ducked slightly and turned to see the blast had been teleported behind them.

"It's a shame that I couldn't come faster. You would've all been dead by now. No one would be crying, no one would be dead, no lives would've been lost, and everything would be fine." The voice whispered about the fleet making them look around for the voice.

"Who's there?" barked the leader. "Show yourself!"

"You aren't pure enough to see me," the voice spat. "Pray to notch for forgiveness!"

A hissing sound from the bomb carrier dragons made the riders panic. "The bombs are lit!"

The leader spun about wide eyed. "fly!"

The ones that were close didn't have enough time to get out of the way and were taken by the blast. The leader and his second commander took to the sky, flying above the clouds, well out of the way of the blast radius. Rien and the rest all watched the sky as they saw the sudden chaos erupt from the ranks. What was going on? The dragon fleet leader floated down towards the group that had fought them with an angry sneer. "You've won this round but the next time we meet you won't be so lucky! You won't be able to cry for help and help won't come for any of you!"

The group lays there for a bit more as the remaining fleet fly away as best as they can. Rien turned to Lones in confusion. What had they just witnessed? Rien and the rest got to their feet shakily; having been so close to death. Voices of distraught people began to be heard as screams and cries of pain and help began to fill the air.

"Let's help the ones that need it," Rien ordered turning back to his Minecraftian form. "Hel, Rayr, search for any dragon and rider that's alive. Take them into custody and bring them to the bunker."

Hel and Rayr both nodded and set off to search for any enemy that was alive. Toc and Des knelt with one another in shock. Rien grasped each of their shoulders and gave them a rough squeeze. "Pull yourselves together! We have a job to do."

They both nodded silently and got to their feet to follow their father into the burning remains.

"Keep alert," Lones ordered taking the rear with his son. "The riders might be dismounted and ready to kill."

Lones and Skelar set off for the East part of the town while the others got the other parts of town. Before Lones even touched an injured Minecraftian his son found dragon riders and the dragons as well.

"Dad! Dad, come quick!"

Lones went to his son and found three riders who had serious burns and injuries. The dragons couldn't fly away because of their injured wings. Skelar and Lones were glared and growled at by the dragons who reared up slightly, still having a little fighting spirit in them.

"There's no need for that," mumbled a rider touching his dragon. "Enough, Inath. Let them help us. We've lost to them."

The dragon that he had called Inath snarled, snorting smoke from its nostrils before lowering on its haunches. Lones picked up the rider that had calmed his dragon and an unconscious rider next to him while Skelar got the third.

"What are we to do with the dragons?" Skelar asked as he followed his father to the bunker.

Skelar and Lones looked back to watch the dragons follow them. They were very loyal to their riders it seemed.

"I guess they'll wait outside." Skelar said walking off once more.

Lones places his riders on the far wall of the bunker with Skelar laying his rider down on the floor. The bunker door opens for Los carrying a chest full of inventory. She sets it down heavily with a deep thunk and opens it.

"I've never seen such a battle in all my life! Never! What in hell were you people thinking? I swear! You all don't have a care for your own lives, do you?"

Skelar and his father stepped back so she could work on them. Los might've been a young girl for what she was doing and most people wouldn't believe what she could do but she could really give an injured person an ear full of complaints and pestering. She turned to Lones them with a pouting face. "Where's Sell? I thought she was to return for the war?"

The riders looked at one another. "This isn't the war."

Los paused. "Huh? What do you mean this isn't the war? You all fought like it was!"

The rider that had Inath chuckled and grasped his ribs where he had hurt them. "Child, you know nothing of what you speak. If this were a war it'd be much, much worse."

"There would be more of us than you can shake a stick at," murmured the man lying on the floor. "Our leader underestimated this town. That's all."

"And your leader also left you here to die," Lones spoke up. "He never fought for any of you! He only did what pleased him. How is that a leader?"

The riders that were sitting up glared at him. "Take that back!"

"He won't," Los said as she removed the injured riders' armor. "He's right. How can you call that man a leader when he doesn't fight for any of you? How can you follow him when he only does what he wants?"

The riders didn't have a reply for her. The questions had made them think back. "He fought for us a few times."

"It was only because we couldn't uphold our positions."

"After that he didn't give a damn since our forces are so big now."

"How big are we talking about?" Skelar asked next to his father.

"We have caverns all over that we hide in," the rider of Inath said and coughed. "We have secret organizations and meetings and such."

Skelar and Lones looked at one another. Lones nodded to the men. "Watch them, son. Make sure they don't harm Los. I'm going to report to Rien."

"Ok," Skelar replied with a nod as his scythe appeared within his hand. "I'll make sure no one harms her."

"Oh please," scoffed the young witch. "I can handle myself, you know."

Skelar smiled at her spunk. "I'll be here either way, Los."

Lones left locking the door behind him. He got to the surface and looked about at all of the burning destruction and saw Rien off in the distance. He quickly made his way to the side of Rien. "We have hostages that you asked for."

Rien turned and looked at him seriously for a moment before nodding. "We'll gather everyone once we're done and head down."

A few more hours go by as they searched for the living and the dead. Rayr, Hel, and the others would gather the living into the barracks while the dead would be taken and lined up on the far end of the town and out of sight. Rien stood back looking at the body count. Fifty-six had perished and some hadn't been found at all. Only twenty-two people had survived plus themselves which made twenty- eight. Rien turned and headed towards the bunker with the others in tow.

"We'll handle the survivors when we finish with the enemy."

Los would be making her rounds once finished with the enemy. They descended the hidden stairs that weren't harmed in the bombing or the fire. Rien knocked on the steel door to have Skelar open it for him. Rien strode past to stand before the riders with Lones, Rayr, and Hel standing on either side of him.

"Just to get things clear, I'm not going to kill you guys. If you don't give me what I want to know then you'll have a much bigger problem. Is this understood?"

"Yeah, we'll tell you what you want to know," The rider of Inath said. "Just ask."

Hel stared at the men for a moment before walking off to the side and rested against the wall. Rayr looked at Hel and went off to the side to rest near him. Rien figured it was safe since Hel had gone to the side after looking them over. Los was finishing up on the injuries. She finished knotting a bandage and shut her chest.

"I'll be back in a few hours to administer the potions for you three. You all are very lucky to have survived this fight with only the wounds that you obtained. Go easy for a little."

Los picked up her chest and nodded to Rien before leaving. "I'll go tend to the survivors now as you've asked."

"Thank you," Rien replied and turned back to the riders. "So, why have you been attacking the towns and villages? For what reason? What do they have that you want?"

"Absolutely nothing. They have nothing for us and hold no importance," the rider of Inath said gruffly. "We were ordered to do this by our leader who was ordered by someone we know nothing of, where they came from, or who it could've been."

"We aren't told their identities," muttered the second rider. "All we know is that they wanted each huge town that certain people lived in to be destroyed."

Rien and Lones looked at one another, alarmed. "What people?"

"Some Lord's. They had said that they had backstabbed him and deserved pay back. What better way for that then utter destruction and annihilation?"

"Did we ever get a reply from that group that we sent out?" Rien asked Lones.

"No. nothing came back from them," Lones said scratching his chin. "We had sent them to that town. What was it again?"

"Theron," answered Hel. "Rien had sent them to the capital of the town."

"This is looking like Aeno had something to do with this now," muttered Rien.

"What if it's someone different?" the rider asked. "I heard a man named Socaza was moving about in our fleet somewhere but then again no one that is an outsider is allowed to be in our group. For that matter have or own or even touch a dragon."

"We do know that Hatos will be bringing all of us to the battlefield though," snapped a rider. "Also, Hatos won't be happy with our leader for losing two groups in one place."

"I bet," snorted Hel with a grin.

Rien nodded to the men. "Thank you for the information. We'll let you all rest now. I'll have you three sent to a recovery area once we've sorted out a place."

The riders nodded in understanding. "We apologize for all that we've done."

Hel moved out behind Rien as the others followed after, closing the door. As he left he scanned over the burning town, taking in the devastation. A figure stood father out in black and white. Squinting his eyes to see it better, the smoke that came from the burning debris made it hard to make out who was there. He blinked and saw no one standing there. 'I might be tired from the fighting.'

It was a few days after the attack happened. Rien and the others had kept busy, building make shift houses and farms to make bread to get by. Aumi had taken cover in the basement of the house when the bombing happened and had kept safe. She was now helping where she could since her pregnancy was in the way. The two riders that hadn't been as badly injured as their friend helped out where they could also.

The talk amongst the townspeople all seemed the same. The group heard the same person that everyone had seen but they hadn't seen this person at all. The descriptions that the Minecraftian's would give were of a woman with long violet hair, wearing a black and white hooded cloak and a scythe, within a orb of fire. Hel, Rayr, Skelar, Rien, and Lones all hear this from people at random times and regroup.

Each one of them staring at each other in silence. "There's no way…"

"You've heard the descriptions," Hel muttered. "Sell came and dealt with the dragons and the riders. She also teleported the nuclear attack away!"

Rien stood there staring at the sky in silence. "She'll be at the war."

Skelar gawked. "How can you be so sure? We saw her with no memory! What if this is her projecting herself?"

Rien and Lones shrugged. "It's too hard to tell. She was good at projecting at an early age."

Lones folded his arms. "Her level of projection was high back then too. It surprised me how long she could be in that form."

Toc wandered up holding bread in his arms. "Have you all heard the rumors about Sell?"

Des walked up with two buckets of milk in each hand. "Tell me that this isn't true, dad. Sell can't be the one that the townspeople saw!"

Rien shrugged. "I don't know. If it was her then this is a sign from her saying that she's working to aide us in any way possible. If this is her projection and she doesn't know it then…"

They all waited for him to finish but he let the sentence die. Hel turned and looked towards the place that he had seen the figure. "It was her. I know Sell wouldn't just stand by and allow her town and loved ones be harmed or be destroyed. It was Sell that saved us."

They stared at him as he had a far off look in his eyes. "How can you be sure?"

"I think I saw her standing in a small clearing of rubble with fire leaping about her staring at us. I'm almost positive that I saw her. The same description and everything. If she got her memory back then this would've been the perfect time for her to test her powers out and get back into the swing of things."

Rien nodded in agreement. "I agree. Whatever she's doing it must be for us, not just for the people."

"The war too," Skelar added.

They stood there thinking of the battle and the things that had happened. It all seemed like a dream for what happened but they had all seen it take place right before their eyes. There was no dream that seemed so real of pain and sorrow. No dream could hold in all of the destruction that had taken place right before their eyes. The townspeople were praying to notch for sending a savior to them.

Rien smiled hearing the prayers of a mother and her child not too far off where her husband had been buried. 'It's just as you predicted, Lady Ananon. Both the living and the dead would praise a savior that walked two worlds at once.'