The room dimmed into blackness as Firien grabbed the tiny magical jewel out of the air. The message had been delivered, now all he could do was wait.
Firien had once been the leader of a secret organization called the DragonWatch. A multi racial team comprised of the strongest heroes from every corner of the world with the sole purpose of countering the threat of dragons. Koba was now their leader.
The members of the Watch put their racial biases aside and worked together for the sake of all races and all creatures. Their mission was of the utmost importance because the ultimate destiny of the Dragons was the death of them all.
In the beginning, the great crystalline dragon visited a barren planet and with one swipe of her mighty claw, transformed it into a lush and vital home for her brood to grow and thrive. One day, her children would be strong enough to call fourth an apocalypse that would crack the planet and destroy it in a spectacular explosion of flames. Through this destructive act, her children would transcend the bonds of flesh and be reborn from the ashes, free to travel the stars and breed.
Unfortunately for the children of the great one, the gift of life left behind by their mother was soon discovered by a multitude of gods and daemons. They brought forth on the face of the new world many diverse races and creatures and gave them life, desires, and dreams. Their children also prospered here. Simple villages became towns, towns became cities, cities became nations and in the short span of a few thousand years, the balance of power had shifted. Now the power of dragons was held in check by hordes of men, elves, ogres and the like.
Generation after generation, the DragonWatch thwarted the schemes and aspirations of dragons and killed the eternal beasts whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Firien placed the warm almond shaped diamond back into its fur-lined pouch, as the crack of lightning jolted him out of his musings. His nerves were on edge as he paced back and fourth in the darkness of his living room. The storm outside blotted out the sun and the day had turned black as night. Booming thunder and flickering lightning crashed overhead casting evil shadows on the walls inside.
He looked at the shadows and clenched his teeth in a snarl, a strange feeling of unease was growing inside of him. Something was not right.
Silently he padded into the darkened kitchen, ears straining mightily to listen for the slightest noise of a hidden enemy.
He clenched his fists till his knuckles turned white and tried to slow his breathing. Lightning flashed outside again and the shadows returned to dance around him.
Something fell to the ground in the other room.
SOMETHING WAS IN THE HOUSE!
In one fluid motion he had stuffed the little pouch under his belt and drew his weapon from over his shoulder. Cautiously he crept back towards the main room with his sword at the ready.
Lightning flashed chaotically again and shadows were everywhere around him once more. Firien's eyes darted back and fourth across the room, searching everywhere in the brief instant of light.
There! A shadow disappeared behind the bookcase! In less than a heart beat he was there and stabbed his sword into...
Nothing...
Firien spun around and surveyed the room. Lightning flashed again and distorted his vision.
There! He saw a shadow dart up the stairway and into his bedroom!
Quickly, he charged up the stairs and burst into his room.
Hovering just inside of the doorway was a disembodied spectral eye.
"An Eye of Zomm?" He said to himself as he analyzed his situation. "Harmless wizard spell, no offensive capabilities."
He advanced upon the eye and sliced it in half, which caused it to dissipate. "Eyes are controlled by wizards which means a wizard was spying on me."
"Hmmm." He turned and looked at the window. "Which means someone wanted to know if I was home..."
...
"Oh damn!"
Before he could turn to run, a banging started on the back door below. He could hear the muffled voice of his niece over the fury of the storm.
"Uncle!"
"Oh no!" His thoughts raged in his head. "By all the gods why now!?"
Again the banging at the back door sounded. "Uncle! Be ye well?! Tis I, Dianna!"
"RUN!" He roared as he finally got his feet to move. He flew out of his bedroom and made it just to the top of the stairway.
BOOM!!
A fireball blast crashed into his room through the window and exploded vehemently behind him destroying everything and sending him tumbling down the stairs.
"UNCLE!" He heard Dianna screaming from outside and shaking the handle of the door.
Heavily bruised and slightly burned, Firien struggled to his feet and made for the door.
"RUN DIANNA! GET OUT OF HERE!"
A few feet ahead of him he could see the door in the gloom. A bluish white light was shining in through the cracks from outside. Spellfire! Dianna was casting at something outside.
In his agony, he forced his legs to move faster. That damn fool of a niece was going to get herself killed!
Just a few steps away from the door that stood between them, Firien felt the surge of a massively powerful spell enfold his body and fling him upward.
"Aayieeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" He heard Dianna screaming as she flew high above him while he crashed heavily into the ceiling inside his small house.
"EEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…" She fell from above, and continued to fall, and fall, and fall, down to the forest floor below.
Firien crashed to the ground in a heap and lay there in shock.
"Dianna…" he breathed.
Memories of her flooded into his mind to torment him.
He remembered standing over her cradle just after she was born. Her tiny hand clasped onto his finger.
He remembered coming home from long adventures when she was young and having to crouch down low so she could hug him around his neck.
"Welcome home Uncle, I'm glad that ye be well..." the memory of her tiny voice whispered in his ear.
All of his emotions drained out of him till there was nothing left inside but rage. A cold and unforgiving rage, a rage that he knew well. He'd lost so many friends and loved ones before. Why had he let love back into his heart? He should have remembered how much this hurt.
He took one deep breath and then...
...
Swift as Quicksilver Firien was up and out the door and running. His body ached but it no longer mattered to him. Nothing mattered to him but retribution!
Ahead on the walkway he spied what he was looking for. A Froglok was leaping towards him with powerful legs that covered the distance amazingly quickly. Behind it five others were fighting with the few remaining defenders that were left inside the city. They were fighting to get to him!
As he charged his nearest foe with sword tip leveled at it's heart, the motive of his mysterious adversary began to come together within his mind.
The Orks were nothing but a diversion. It was a standard military two pronged attack, one to draw the defenders away, and this highly skilled group of frogs to carry out the assassination.
But this wasn't a military installation, this was a town. People lived here! Hundreds of innocents would be killed by the new Ork onslaught if they were not stopped!
As he got nearer, his battle senses took over and time seemed to slowed down. Firien was able to make out the tribal insignia on the Frogloks armor. "Krup"
Firien made a mental note of the fact that to fight it like this would mean death. He could not take a Krup warrior alone. He also began to realize that an entire town would be destroyed, just to kill one retired old elf? The lengths the old dragon was willing to go to boggled the mind. The dreams he'd had of a quiet, normal life were shattered. His past would come back to haunt him, no matter where he tried to hide.
It seemed that his rest would only be found in death.
Firien left the ground and leapt feet first at the monstrous frog. "But not today damn you!"
Unprepared for such an unorthodox attack, the frog was caught squarely in the forehead by Firien's flying drop kick and they both fell hard on the walkway. Before the frog could close it's astonished mouth, Firien was up and speeding away.
Skirting around the large melee between the other frogs and the city's guards, Firien was able to see how badly the battle was going for the defenders. The Krups were inhumanely sturdy and strong thanks to the enchantments and magical favors bestowed upon them by their draconian master. The blows that the Guards were able to land were barely breaking the skin and they weren't able to very many at all. The Krups may have looked awkward and slow but they were very skilled fighters and parried the swords of the city's guards easily with the metallic bracers they wore around their wrists.
He remembered from his own encounters with the Clan of Krup that hitting one was like hitting a block of damp clay. None of the guards were doing enough damage to win their individual fights. The battle would be over very soon.
One of the warrior frogs pulled a small shield away from one of the smaller guards and smashed its green ham fist downward upon his head. The helmet the guard was wearing collapsed inward upon itself like it was made of paper and blood gushed downward to the wooden planks in a shower.
Appalled by how easily the frog had just ended that man's life, Firien put his eyes straight ahead again and ran as fast as he could for next catwalk. If he could just get to the Wizard spires he could meet up with the arriving force of DragonWatch and together they could win the day.
Suddenly a green glow of shimmering energy enwrapped itself around him and he was no longer able to move his feet. Turning his upper body around he saw the wizard Krup who had cast the spell at him. It glared at him with it's baleful red eyes and seemed to smirk a thin grin. From off to the left he could see the other frog that he had knocked over had regained it's feet and was now hopping towards him like mad.
"This is bad." He said out loud to no one in particular. Two more leaps and the frog would be upon him.
