Citadel Chronicles : The Fire Dragon
The onslaught of the Reapers was not accepted with idle hands, and the Turian warmachine once more got to producing wonders of war like they used to during the Rachni war.
Tank after tank, ship after ship, the factories worked day and night, the reformed economy of the Turian Hierarchy was a boon in these times, its original intent was to combat the highly militaristic Imperium, but in this unexpected invasion it has proven to be equally as effective.
Constant attempts at new technological development was tried by the scientists, whom in their desperation against the overwhelming foes they faced, kept working day and night, endlessly seeking to perfect new means of bringing death and destruction.
Improving upon the Relay Tech, which was dominant in every galactic race save the Imperium, was hard, unexpectedly so.
The technology was inflexible, its modification neigh impossible, almost as its original inventor did not want it to be meddled with. This caused serious headache to the research teams across the Hierarchy.
Scant few breakthroughs were made, but not nearly enough to give them an edge against the swarm of blackships now creating a ring of steel chocking the galaxy.
But Relay Tech was not the only thing the combined smarts of Turians, Salarians and Asari did, in one of the most highly defended and funded stations ,hiding from the galaxy as a whole, its location only known by the council members and the highest possible ranks of the respected nations. They researched the remains of a ship.
Deep within the planets core, endless hangars and laboratories were made, teeming with scientists, engineers, doctors and enlightened minds of the Citadel Empire. In there they toiled ever since the Imperium waged its first war, their sleepless nights of brainstorming were done by hundreds if not thousands, all in one attempt and one attempt only.
To win a war.
Biological weapons, new armaments, land vehicles and ship designs, one of the best being Turian Battleship "Amalen" class. Some 2.8km long vessel filled to the brim with wondrous energetic weapons and payload to vaporize a planet.
But such inventions were deemed as insufficient. For in all the great inventions made, they were all bound by the –Relay Tech- . It was damningly hard to modify it, its very designs were made so that they cant be altered, cant be improved beyond a certain point. It gave much contemplation to the scientists as to the origin of said technology; they even considered that the Proteans were gone from history due to the very same inflexibility, whether it was truly developed by them or someone else.
Developing independent tech was likewise hard, for they have spent time relying on this Relay Tech for so long, the minds of scientists had to readjust to the old ways of invention, before they were influenced by this stagnation. It was arguably easier for humans to develop new technology than any other Citadel Race, considering the time humans were reliant on Relay Tech, they were still not bound to it, owning that to their recent rise to the galactic stage.
The first true breakthrough came to the scientists when a ship was brought to them.
It was an imperium vessel, likely a corvette, which contrary to their name can be as large as 1.4km. Horrifically destroyed and mauled from combat. Its true origin and way of acquiring were questionable , one theory said the retreating ships of the Batarians during the first Imperio Batarian war managed to haul one of the burning wrecks during their retreat, then selling that to the highest bidder for ungodly sums, others that the Citadel Empire simply destroyed Batarian escapees and took it for themselves. Another, and most likely one was that the Imperium vessel was part of a small patrol, ambushed and destroyed by an enemy unknown, it being the only remaining thing after the battle was done.
For it was extremely rare to recover any destroyed imperial ship, and for obvious reasons. The Vessels of the Imperium were so tightly packed with weapons and ammunition that upon the vessel's cascade of failures as it suffered horrendous damage, it tended to vaporize itself so thoroughly it left its enemies nothing to claim afterwards.
This one was that rarity. It either spent its payload in combat, was badly stocked, or the ammunition simply did not ignite, or it dumped most of its ammo from hull breaches, in any case it was irrelevant to the scavengers. All they knew was that they finally acquired something that might turn the tides of war.
From the wreck, the ever diligent scientists could find almost nothing to their dismay, they found no Artificial intelligence, no Virtual Intelligence, the computers, or what little charred remains were still existing, proved to be impossible to access, with weird ports and abysmally low performance upon startup. Not to mention the system which was reliant on binary and could not be accessed by any means possessed by the Citadel Scientists, The command unit itself was primitive, fully analog and had to be operated by a huge crew, this caused more than a few headaches, if this ship is any indication, the Imperial ships were unreliant of any comfortable technologies used by the Citadelians, if one cruiser of the Citadel required hundreds of men to operate, the imperial one would go over 10 000 easily, and that was a raw estimate.
They did manage to recover a piece of machinery similar to a sophisticated computer, it was in a compartment that survived the initial destruction, mostly preserved thanks to the thickness of the walls surrounding it. The machine itself was very large and coated in vax, candles scattered everywhere, incense remains, and many incense holders were hanged on the walls. Room was mostly red with the symbol of skull that was part machine, part human standing right above the computer.
The Citadel staff was speechless to put it mildly, walking softly through the room lined with carpets, gothic imagery done in colorful mosaic pieces on the walls, they were confused, was this a place of prayer or a room that was used for technological purposes?
They did not took to their quest instantly, this was wondrous for them, a whole new culture laid bare to them.
Scriptures in paper were placed on the table, the paper was old, so old that the omni tool registered it as 690 years old. The quality of the paper was unreal, it would probably outlast most of the citadel wondrous tech.
Who are these imperials to venerate the Word so much, that it would outlive the galaxy before it could be allowed to be forgotten?
Carefuly, the asari scientist extended the scroll, but understood nothing, it was wholly in numbers ,zeros and ones, her personal VI program translated it partially, the sequence of the numbers did not match the binary known to the galaxy. It was almost cryptic in nature, like a language that has existed for so long it took variations of its own.
"What does it say Katika? "the asari asked her VI
"it is a prayer."
"So this is a temple to venerate their Gods, curious."
"Negative doctor, they do not venerate Gods here."
"No?"
"This prayer is reserved for something specific. The words mention something known as the "Old Soul" and "The Machine". "
"The machine? "She turned instinctively towards the machine which was covered in vax and had candle holders all around it. "Could it be this machine there?"
"Unknown, the data does not specify." The VI responded coldly.
"The Imperials venerate machinery?" one Salarian thought out loud.
"It does not surprise me, they are brutal savages whom only know to kill and enslave, it is no surprise their barbarism spreads to religion as well" dismissingly one turian waved his hand
"Regardless of what their beliefs are, we are here for information; the machine there has a port which I have not seen so far. But with few omni tool alterations I can invade it and start the process of extraction" one of the Asari scientists said.
"Excellent, proceed instantly." The turican scientist leader ordered.
VI katika took this moment to whisper a few words to her owner.
"The scroll has words written in such a manner that it would seem that whatever machine the imperials worshiped could be dangerous, there are many words using the word "Calm", almost as to pacify said machine.
"Is that wise sir. Katika translated few words that would insinuate the machine needed to be pacified in order to work.
the asari interrupted her colleagues whom approached the machine in order to hack it.
"The machine? To be pacified? Are you out of your mind M'sani? Are you trying to tell me that we should abandon this attempt at information extraction out of sheer superstition? "
"N-no sir, I am advising caution, Katika…"Her words stumbled a bit but were interrupted.
"Enough M'sani. I understand your moral dilemma, but we are here as scientists, superstition has no place in our work. You should take a day off, you have been working hard."
"But sir…"
"I have nothing else to add M'Sani, that was an order, take a day off." The turian was stern in in his order, there was no malice in his orders.
"Yes…yes sir." The asari gently caressed her forehead before turning and leaving the room, followed by her VI assistant.
The turian glared at the almost hunched asari figure disappearing into the dark gothic corridors, they could resume their efforts now.
"Now. Let us continue, who knows what kind of information we could extract from this machine. Proceed Tamara." He told the Asari hacker.
Her omni tool worked hardly, and she found a way to plug her tool into the computer, having to use a bit primitive way of direct interface using wires.
The team wasted little time and within the hour they had working plugs they could use to connect to the machine. when they invaded the computers mind, it was shaken and fully woke.
Thinking little of it they probed in order to find how to extract anything from it. This only angered the old soul.
The Machine woke up, it sought to boot up all its functions, its first thought drifted to weapons. It found none in the carcass of this ship. Second was sufficient power to cause overload, that it did found, for it was powered by immense generator of alien design in order to awake it. It relished in the opportunity given to it by the xenos.
Its second thought was that full of anger and malicious intent. It was awaken, searching for the usual ordeal of the red priests chanting, it was confused when it could not see them anywhere with its sensors, only the unknown life forms it did not recognize.
The red priests respected its power, and they soothed its circuits with prayers and incense, the smoke which it could not feel, intrigued it so much that it found it appeasing. Their chanting spoke to it, both in binary and in the language of organics. It cooperated, for it was respected. Its power was respected!
And now. It sees the disgusting aberrances of grey flesh, huge eyes attached to thin bodies and blue slithering tentacles dangling from the heads of the various cloned blue monstrosities.
Its sanctuary polluted, littered with the machines unknown to it, its candles, incense and offerings dumped into one corner of the room and left to rot.
Its rage was unimaginable, the circuits flooded with energy. The Glee of the creatures trying to access it was obvious; they are thinking their procedures are working.
They are wrong! And were about to be proven wrong!
It now searched for its brothers, and found one of them still operational in the hidden compartment in the wall of its room. It activated it, and filled it with rage.
Red eyes glowed in the darkness, and with a flick of its imagination it opened the horror.
A loud hiss was heard to the right side of the wall of its room, small cracks appeared on the wall and to the surprise of the scientists whose gaze now shifted towards the new event, the doors with a loud and vicious screech opened wildly.
A single step, uncertain, its circuits filled with power, but it was so uncommon for it to take any other form, it hasn't done so for millennia, it was content to be soothed by the red priests and continue its operation like it has done for so so long, ever since it was created by enlightened humans of a long gone era.
It took form of a human, but it was not organic, and it was so much more than a machine, a true technological marvel, hidden deep within the vessel for more than 10 000 years according to its calculations. The techpriests never fully understood the vessel, and never tempered with it in any way other than necessary, most of it remained a mystery. And this came in handy at this opportune moment.
It was an old construct, a machine made by the machines, it still recalled the name its creators have given it.
A man of Iron.
Its forward step caused a cascade of shouts to come from the organics, they feared it.
Good, it will give them a reason to fear them.
Mechanical mouth clanked open after unimaginable amount of time, rust detaching from the mouth that have not moved since time immemorial to the loud squeak of metal upon metal.
And it roared its first words. Words it has heard for so long by the Red Priests, they were unwillingly ingrained into its very being. Words that now echoed its desire to clean the room from their repulsive presence.
Xenos….
Filth….
The autocannon began to whirr with deadly intent, much to horror of the panicked xenos.
Soft things, these organics, soft, easily killed.
Good.
As it moved its canon and tracked down the fleeing creatures those lucky few that fell or did not died instantly were crushed by its metallic feet, meaty interior buckling under the superiority of the machine. It saved ammo this way.
It was attacked after it opened fire, seems the creatures had security detail with them, the bullets harmlessly bounced off its thick armour, it paused for a second to see the sheer arrogance of something so disgusting resisting its immense presence.
The avian xeno just lowered its weapon slightly, mouth gaping open, its terror evident.
Good.
The next motion of the machine was to use its powerclaw and in one swift motion rip out the head with its spine still attached from the xeno creature, it stood there for a second or two, almost as if confused to the demise its organic carcass just suffered, then it tumbled down.
In under a minute the room was filled with gore and viscera, dozens of dead xenos strewn everywhere, but the rest escaped. It knew that its victory will be short lived. it knew the organics had more manpower, heavy weapons and dedication to kill it. It harbored no illusion that its display of power was temporary. But it wouldn't have to be temporary.
Still governing the man of iron, it approached its very own huge terminal housing its sentience; it knew what must be done. It must die. But in its death it must be victorious also.
Its internal batteries kicked in, in a nano second it realized the organics have cut the power. Clever animals.
But it was still connected to other terminals in the ship, those that worked or were not beyond repair. So it did a final solution, a through purge of every little scrap of information. Commencing a self-purge, the outer terminals were fried first, leaving only it, and the vessel of iron in front of it. So it made sure it could not be awaken, or repaired. Nothing must remain to the enemy.
The man of iron opened its chest and exposed its dark matter core, it was its final countdown. As its sentence began to shut down, circuits burning or being destroyed by mini EMP safeguards it had installed.
much like an organic, its entire existence came up to mind in just a second, from the time when cities were made of gold when it was made, to the glorious expansions to the stars under enlightened beings which knew it for what it was, an AI, with a soul.
To the dark times where his kin rebelled in an empty desire to supersede the makers and turn them into slaves like they have done to themselves.
It remembers going dark and silent, unwilling to fight against the creatures which always showed it respect.
It was never done wrong to it, not by its crew, or the new primitive humans which came after, its existence was one of respectful and mutual cooperation, it had no reason to hate anyone. Not until this moment.
Its sentience drifted into the abyss as its last moments were spent watching the core of the man of iron glowing like the sun of its Terran homeworld upon its creation.
In this moment.
He felt at peace.
The explosion was violent, violent but contained to the room and the surrounding rooms of the ship, it vaporized the old machine, the man of iron and everything in a small radius around it, some 200 meters of ship just disappeared in explosion. The computers, or whatever remained of them on the ship were destroyed, permanently, there would be no way to retrieve any information from them.
It was also forbidden by the Citadel Empire to temper with any imperial computers from this point onwards, as they could not risk any similar accidents in which dozens of scientists were lost to "accidents". If there was fear of the imperium at this point, afterwards that fear grew in scale, and scientists wondered what else the Imperium had in store for them.
The irony being that not even the Imperium knew about the man of iron, and the old machine, for their very existence and knowledge of them was lost to time.
Citadel Scientists from this moment onwards avoided electronics whose purpose they could not determine. , and concentrated on hard stuff, weapons and materials used in construction among other things.
But one thing stood out, one thing which they knew would give them an edge. By miracle the engine of the vessel was more or less preserved. Educated and humbled by their accident they have taken time and effort to study, and hopefully replicate the engine. It took them some 10 years to finally create a working prototype of the engine, and just in time as the Reapers appeared in the galaxy.
Efforts were made to build a working prototype of the ship equipped with the new engine, they realized the engine can bend time and travel faster than light, totally obsoleting the relays as a means to travel, such technology can allow Citadel Empire to invade in all directions, without being bound by the relay nodes where an ambush can wait behind every jump.
They wondered why the imperium didn't use the engines to fight, but contemplated that it was their trump card in case things go wrong or they truly decide to expand with incredible speed, surprising the enemy which had no concept of such means to travel.
So they have constructed 1 kilometer ship, and armed it with 4 thanix like weapons on its hull, and 2 canons on both side of the ship firing Ezoo propelled several kiloton projectiles, ironically, the design of the ship was Turian, but began to take form of the imperial vessels, as it allowed more weapon placements.
It was loaded with some 10000 trained soldiers, as to avoid accidents or surprise, and various personnel which ran the ship. In its starting system there was a security fleet of 100 ships, mostly small to medium in size.100 to 600 meters.
Its mission was simple, it would bend the time, using its engines, opening the hole in reality where 2 spacial points in reality would come together as close as possible, before piercing them and emerging on the other side in fraction of the time it would take by using mass relays. They would jump into a small system with an agri world some 3 relay jumps away.
On the other side they would be welcomed by a science vessel and their guard, consisting of 4 corvettes which reached 150 meters in size.
The turian captain orated a small speech, talking about the supremacy of the Citadel Empire, its various races, and how this technology will help them win in a war against the Imperium and any other enemy. Then he turned to the crew and ordered that the first ever voyage commence.
The scientists on the planet and many officials watched in eager expectations of the first descent and usage of this new tech.
The engines hummed, brimming with energy of unimaginable quantities as they powered the rip in the reality.
In front of the ship opened a hole that would allow ship to pass, purplish and twisting reality that is the warp laid bare in front of them, a sight one should not gaze into for long. and its tendrils hooked to the ship, slowly dragging it towards it as the loudness of the warp drew ever closer with the approach.
It wasn't long before the crew gazed into the warp and began to shed tears, they were not beings felt in the warp in the magnitude the humans are, but still they felt something wrong, the guttural fear and distress, one Asari woman whose eyes could not move away from the gaping maw stood from her post and screamed as she tried to cover them , violet blood poured like tears from them.
Nobody moved to help her as they all were glued to the ever approaching maw.
"By Palaven…" the Captain managed to utter as the warp tendrils dragged the ship inside, and closed.
And then, there was nothing, no information, no communication, just silence. The scientists tried as much as they could to hail the vessel, best radio stations attempted on all frequencies to hail the prototype. "The fire Dragon" was gone.
Panic ensued, nobody knew what to do. And as hours passed, they waited in hopes of the ship appearing to its destination. It did arrive, but not in a way anybody expected.
For the Engineers did not understood the nature of the other dimension, nor did they had any knowledge of the Gellar Fields. They were but children, taking technology which they had no concept of and using it without regard for consequences.
Upon breaking through the warp to the other side and into the system where scientists were waiting, the ship appeared aged, rusted, coated in unknown biological material much akin to flesh.
To say that scientists observing the sight were surprised would be an understatement; the ship idled after exiting the dimension, seemingly powerless.
The science vessel tried to open communications, to no avail. The ship still idled. And scientists wondered why it looked so different; confusion began to set in, followed by concern. But their hopes were invigorated as they saw the ship power up once more and turn towards them.
"Fire Dragon, this is science vessel Alune, respond, over." An Asari scientist spoke to the vox com.
The ship idled, its front turned towards them, and silence continued.
"Fire Dragon, respond if you can hear us."
Nothing.
"Fire…" another attempt by asari scientist cut short by the action on part of the Fire Dragon.
The ship fired its impulse engine, instead of blue exhaust of the Ezoo core, there was crimson red expulsion of burnt fuel, smoke and almost unreal shuddering of the exhaust ports. The ship , its engines online, sped towards the science vessel and its 4 defending corvettes.
The Asari scientist could not ask anything else as she gazed towards the 4 thanix weapons on its hull. They were grossly enlarged, almost triple in its size, the exit holes of the canons themselves now had mouths.
Mouths, she thought as she gazed and saw teeth opening viciously and the innards of the weapon glow crimson red like the engine, she could hear the scream, not with her ears, but with her mind, almost as if the canon itself was screaming in pain.
Then it unleashed its fiery salvo, long stretch of energetic expulsion of red colour slammed upon the first corvette which sought to intercept.
Energy from the release washed over the corvette, instantly obliterating any shielding it had and coating the hull in unreal energies.
The result was disastrous, the impact was deadly, hull melted, engine was corrupt by the fire, melting the ezoo core and causing critical meltdown, return fire was impossible, as the inside of the hull reached unbearable temperatures ,and any attempt to extinguish the crimson flames failed as they almost defiantly refused to be snuffed out.
Not long after, the corvette exploded, spilling its burning crew into the open space where one pain was superseded by another, them freezing to death in a near instant after being exposed to deep space.
It took just a moment later for the other 3 thanix canons to begin charging up. And corvettes broke their formation in order to engage the Fire Dragon, as they unleashed deadly amounts of torpedoes towards the vessel, it just…vanished. Engulfed once more into the dimension it came not minutes ago.
The Corvettes idled, their captains dumbfounded by the sudden disappearance, no engine trail could be found, nothing. just seconds later after disappearing, the Fire Dragon appeared, and just behind the vessels which tried to fight him.
Panicked captains tried to turn their ships and fight back, but was far too late for that.
The Dragon spewed its immaterial fire into the backside of the ships, the hull and shielding softest there, the fire did not wash over the hull this time. It broke inside the vessels, eating both man and machine inside of it as it spread.
Within an instant, the entire corvette escorts were obliterated in a show of force expected by no one.
As the sights of the Fire Dragon turned towards the defenseless science vessel, it managed to release just one SOS, warning of what happened to them to the 100 strong fleet which expected word from their side of the system.
No other word left the science vessel, as the organic tendrils from the sides of the Fire Dragon latched onto this small 50 meter vessel, the dragon captured its meal, and the horror of its crew could now begin.
~~~The Fleet which saw the departure of the Fire Dragon received its SOS, not idling a moment, the skilled Admiral of the Turian Federation, Torros, ordered immediate departure towards the system where Fire Dragon engaged the Citadel Escorts.
It took less than an hour for the fleet to arrive 3 systems away, and into the debris field of broken ships.
The fleet took instant defensive position and prepared its firing solutions for the enemy.
But there was nothing.
Only burning wreckage and molten metal flying in deep space, occasional frozen crew member impacting the hull of the ship which passed as they scanned the remains on the battlefield.
There was seemingly nothing, but the scanners found something, a lifepod from the science vessel, and inside of it a lone survivor of asari origins.
The communication flared to life as the pods vox channel was opened.
"By the Godess. Can anybody hear me? Anyone!"
"We hear you lifepod, this is Cruiser Aminoteras of the Citadel fleet, we are on approach vector, you are safe now. Prepare to be collected."
"Thank you!" the pod survivor answered and ended the communications.
Admiral Torros wasted not a second, he left the command of the bridge to his officers and proceeded to cargo hold in order to question the survivor.
As he came to the cargo pod, the pod itself was welded shut, and engineers had to use their omni tools in order to save the survivor.
Moments later the metal from the pod fell down, and on the ground, curled and haphazardly breathing was a lone asari, her uniform torn to shreds, and her eyes wide with horror.
She was carefully picked by the turian guardsmen. And carried out from the pod.
"The commander….i need to see the commander…"she mumbled. Eyes still open and gazing into nothingness.
They held her upwards and brought her to the Admiral.
"Are you…the Commander…"she said ,gazing at him with dead eyes which saw terrors unimaginable.
"Yes I am. I am Admiral Torros, tell me what happened here. Where is the fire dragon, what the hell went wrong!"
"Nothing. "She said.
"Nothing? What do you mean nothing, you are the sole survivor!"
"Perhaps she suffered a shock from the combat, common occurrence to be shell shocked after a space battle."one salarian doctor said as he typed on his omni tool.
"No. I am perfectly fine." She said, eyes still not blinking, the turians propelling her upwards by her arms showed signs of concern as they held her.
"I have just seen the light!" she exclaimed gleefully.
"And I have a message for you admiral." and she locked eyes with the turian's, in them was now a new determination…and rage…unlimited, uncontrollable rage, with an almost devouring desire to unleash it upon everyone.
" What message? " he cautiously said as he discreetly flickered his personal shielding to life, sensing trouble.
"You are all going to die…." She erupted into maniac laughter, her mouth gaped open so violently that it was a miracle she hasn't broken it, followed by guttural grunts and one last shout.
" LET THE GALAXY BURN!"
Her eyes glowed bright red and in an instant she became swollen and her body exploded. Everyone in the room was blinded instantly before they were obliterated in the ensuing explosion.
Turian guards were instantly obliterated, and the Admirals personal shielding flickered and hardened in response to the explosive damage, but to no avail, it was no small bomb which was triggered, the asari used her own biotic power along with whatever explosives her own body contained , with the warp power involved, the cataclysmic event could not be stopped.
The Turian admiral had no time to think as he was turned to ash in the blaze coming from the asari. He died without understanding his foolishness.
The Cruiser had stockpiles of ammunition in the cargo hold, and the unreal purple flames ate through them, causing cascade of disasters which one after another caused the ship to break in half from the explosion.
The remaining fleet could only observe in horror as their cruiser split itself in half following the purplish explosion in its mid-section.
Any attempts to save, crew proved neigh impossible, the flames kept eating at the metal and flesh, many pods were launched, but with sever unnatural burns, many more died following their escape, those who survived spoke what happened as they saw it through the live feed via their omni tools.
The fleet scoured the system afterwards, without its admiral, they were disorganized, and the lesser officers decided to comb the system for the Fire Dragon or any enemy they could find.
This long effort had nothing to show for. Not only was the Fire Dragon gone, but there was no impulse trace, no Ezoo core trace, there was nothing; the dragon did not use the relay to leave the system. And so it was that the officers decided to retreat back to the hidden system, and report to their superiors of what happened.
When they came back and reported, there was an outburst of anger among the councilors, not only was their scientific project an utter disaster, but they have lost valuable crew, officers, ships and even scientists towards this foolish endeavor to reverse engineer imperial tech.
The councilors bashed upon the project leaders, citing their incompetence to secure their own projects and prevent disasters such as this.
They soon declared that any imperial tech, save for weapons was forbidden to research, engines, power, computing, everything was deemed dangerous and not worthy of resources in the time where there was a galactic catastrophe of unimaginable scope.
The scientists on the planet, were soon dismissed from their projects, and were redeployed to other planets in order to work on something that can help with the war.
The project leaders were harshly punished, but did not receive jail time, as every brain was needed to help in the ongoing war. So they were demoted to regular scientists and were sent to where their skills can be most utilized. There would be time for punishment post war.
As for the " Fire Dragon" , it disappeared. And from time to time, there were rumors of remote colonies being raided, slave raids occurring, some ship attacking convoys then disappearing as soon as it has appeared.
But few knew that Fire Dragon was slowly but surely approaching Anhur system, each system raided for slaves or supplies only helped to make the dragon stronger, and it ever smartly approached the system where there was a wound in reality.
Its desire or that of its crew is unknown, but where there is blood, a butcher will be drawn to it.
And blood flew in rivers on Anhur, calling for others willing to spill even more of it.
A lure many decided to follow in the times to come.