The blue flowers were newly sprouted, glinting with fresh morning dew. Magic tended to stay where it was last carried to, and it promoted the growth of unique plants and vibrant flowers. Nature's memorial.

Ancestors, he was going to miss this place.

Ferrus sighed as he looked at what was left of the nameless village. He'd been there since the start. Him and Dolus and Galvin. They'd founded this little place to get away from trouble, and one by one people had trickled in. Mostly noncombatants, but among refugees you would always find someone willing to fight. Jaya, scared and alone but full of passion. Eli, with fire in his lungs and always something to say. Teneris, suave and charismatic and always trying to de-escalate conflict. Tess, paranoid and flighty but always trying to make things. They had formed a little community here, safe from the ravages of war. Safe from everything.

But people changed, and people left, and people died. And war had come to them.

Dolus used to actually stand for something, used to devote himself to bettering the village. He may never have liked Teneris much, but he had been improving. And then one day he became a self-righteous, xenophobic, and cruel dragon. It wasn't too hard to see how he'd gotten there, but the change had been shocking at the time.

Teneris had become more and more agitated after his son's hatching. Less patient, quicker to anger. But he never hurt anyone, never used his magic in anger. And then one day he left, without another word. Dolus' increasingly zealous bigotry probably had a lot to do with it, but Ferrus would never know for sure.

And Jaya, poor Jaya…

Ferrus looked back at the patch of blue flowers. Jaya was not the first among their village to pass away. Eli had met a quiet end to illness many years ago, leaving Althus with only his mother. Galvin and Tess' firstborn had gotten stuck in a hole and hadn't been found for weeks. But Jaya was the first death in combat, the only one to have been killed.

Someone was approaching. Their footsteps lighter than expected for their size. Must have been Dolus. Ferrus didn't even look at him. He really didn't want to talk to his former friend right now.

"Ferrus," Dolus said, "Is this truly necessary?"

Now he looked over, frowning at the wind dragon. Dolus had a larger wingspan than he did, but like most wind dragons his actual body was lithe and thin. Try as he might to intimidate everyone else, Dolus could not fool him.

"Will you be the one to kill the next goliath, Dolus?" Ferrus asked. He already knew the answer.

"If an element-less creature could…" Dolus trailed off. He did that often, posing a scenario but not actually answering. Ferrus was fed up with it.

"Yes or no. It's not a complicated question, Dolus."

"...No." The wind dragon sounded small for once, meek and mollified. "No I don't think I could."

"Then we need to go somewhere safer," Ferrus said, "Before something like it shows up again."

"...It could have been an isolated incident."

"Is anything ever simply an isolated incident?" Ferrus raised one brow. "You know better than that."

"It still could have been."

"Why are you so insistent on staying here? We cannot hope to survive if something like that happens again. It's better to evacuate and get to a safer place," Ferrus said.

"Why are you so insistent on abandoning everything we've built here?!" Dolus roared.

"Because we can rebuild, Dolus. Some other place, some other time. But we can't get back those we lost," Ferrus answered quietly.

"You've sent my son into doom, and now you want to rip me from my home…" Dolus shrank into himself, looking away. "And why? Because of one incident? One death of one unimportant person?"

Ferrus had to work to suppress the anger bubbling in his chest. He had known Dolus for a long time, and it was out of respect for who Dolus used to be that he even spoke to the wind dragon in the first place.

"Everyone is important to someone, Dolus." Ferrus glowered. "To me, if nobody else."

"Why?"

"Because she was a mother. She had a son. She had a husband. She had friends. She was a person, Dolus. No matter what you may have thought about her." Ferrus sighed. "And even if what has happened is no reason to act - what could or will happen is. All it takes is another one, and all of us will be dead. We were lucky Null managed to kill the first one."

Dolus' lip pulled back at that, silently snarling, but he didn't have anything to say.

"Go get everyone else. It's high time we left."

Dolus returned to the village proper, reassuming his proud facade. And when he was done, everyone in the village was packed and ready to go.

Ferrus paid his last respects to Jaya's grave, then joined the rest of his village to lead them to Warfang.

O-O-O

It was only an hour after they left that the dew on the flowers began to quiver, despite the still ground and calm air. It flowed and dripped, sliding across petals and leaves to collect in a single bubble that sat on the ground. Purple energy rose from the soil, crystallizing in an instant to float in the center of the bubble.

The surface of the crystal danced with the energy within, as the newly incarnated consciousness tried to get its bearings. It was confused and scared and worried, but ultimately collected. Aware. Cohesive.

That cohesion collapsed the instant a spark of dark purple zapped through the bubble. Panic, fear, want overwhelmed its fragile consciousness.

The bubble began moving. It would gain mass as it went, collecting water from every nearby source. It had an objective, one it wouldn't allow anything to stop it from reaching.

O-O-O

Halfway through the trip, they stopped at the banks of the Silver River. Enormous mushrooms took the place of trees here, though there were plenty of trees in the mix as well. Ferrus warned Amp and Althus to stay away from the river itself and to avoid damaging any plants, for risk that those plants might retaliate. And then it was to making sure that they were all safe. Both from any predators in the area and from themselves. It was a hard job, but at least Galvin and Dolus were assisting. Galvin might have lost his ability to fight properly a long time ago, but he still had good eyes, especially for his own son who had a tendency to cause problems.

A month of flying had played havoc with Ferrus' wings. He was heavy, far heavier than another dragon of his size and stature. Iron scales would do that. But he powered through. He had made a similar trip in the past, fleeing Warfang when Malefor's resurgence happened. He could do it again. Probably. He wasn't a young dragon anymore. But then, he hadn't been a young dragon back then either.

Ferrus wasn't the only one having trouble with the prolonged flight. The kids, Althus and Amp, relied a lot on each other to keep going. Such good friends they were, encouraging the other to keep going when it got hard. Galvin's old wounds made his flying speed much slower than it should have been. The one that concerned Ferrus was Dolus, who was always winded at the end of each day of travel. Perhaps it was the abundant use of his wind magic to keep everyone aloft longer. But Dolus was always boasting about his magical prowess, so that may not have been it. Ferrus wouldn't get an answer without asking.

So of course, he did.

"Dolus?" Ferrus approached the wind dragon, stopping a short distance away. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," Dolus replied quickly.

"Based on your tone of voice, I'd hazard a guess that you're not."

Dolus shot him a withering look, only to soften after a moment and look away. He mumbled something under his breath.

"You'll have to speak louder. My hearing's not what it used to be."

"It's just my wing, okay?" Dolus extended his right wing. It was faint, but there was a scar along the joint where the wing met his back. "Just an accident that healed wrong. Nothing else."

"Dolus…" Ferrus narrowed his eyes. An old scar would explain Dolus' difficulties with flying, even if the wind dragon hid it. But there was clearly something else bothering him. "What else is on your mind?"

Dolus' features twitched with barely hidden emotion. Switching between snarls and sadness in equal measure. He turned further away, hiding his face from Ferrus.

"You can't tell anyone about this," Dolus said eventually.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Ferrus replied.

"You can't. Tell. Anyone." Dolus glared at him.

"Everything you say to me here is said in confidence, Dolus."

Dolus sighed, and the sounds of distant insects and birds silenced. He didn't say anything for a while.

"I'm scared, Ferrus," Dolus whispered.

Ferrus didn't say anything. It was better to let Dolus talk.

"I'm scared that my son is in danger. Alone out there with that… thing. I thought I had taught him well, but I must have made a mistake somewhere. I must have. He wouldn't have done this if I hadn't. He's in so much danger."

"He's a strong young drake," Ferrus assured him, "He has a lot to learn, but he's well on his way to becoming a better fighter than either of us. He'll be able to protect himself from any monsters they run into."

"It's not fighting monsters they run into that I'm worried about. It's the monster he brought with him that scares me." Dolus swallowed. "He didn't listen to me. Always fawning after that thing. Not only damning our lineage with his foolishness, but endangering himself with his choice of obsession. He's going to get himself destroyed by that creature, and he's going to do it willingly. Marching to his doom with a smile on his face."

"Null is not a monster because he has no element, Dolus," Ferrus said coldly. He was ignoring the rest of Dolus' hate for now, if only because it wouldn't help the situation. He would have words with Dolus about that later.

"It's not what it can't do that scares me, Ferrus." Dolus turned towards him, eyes wide with fear. "It's what it can do that spells doom for my son."

"What are you talking about?" Ferrus frowned. "Null has no abilities that would be out of the ordinary for a dragon of his age. He simply lacks magic."

"No, no, no no." Dolus shook his head. "I've seen it. Seen what that creature can do. It kills spirit gems. Down to the roots. You have to understand, it commits such blasphemy so casually, discarding the gifts of the Ancestors and destroying them. It's not a pitiful creature like it wants everyone to think it is, it's a demon!

"Teneris cannot have been that thing's father. It doesn't make sense. That thing was not born of dragons, it can't have been. I got him away from that demoness. Maybe I lied to him, a little bit, but it was for his own good. He has to have seen that by now. I saved him from those two. From the creature that called itself his mate and the horrible spawn that it birthed. And, and, I realized this, while we were flying, perhaps even Jaya wasn't aware that her child had been replaced by that, that thing. Maybe, maybe I was too harsh on her. She didn't know that demons had replaced her spawn!

"And that thing, it must have bewitched my son! Brought him under his thrall. It doesn't make sense otherwise. I taught him better than that. He comes from such a proud and powerful lineage, the demon must have known that. It twisted my poor boy's brain, twisting him against his best interests. Yes, yes, that must be what has happened. You have to see, Ferrus, just how awful that little monstrosity is. All blades and death. It brings ruin in its wake!"

Ferrus stared at Dolus, openmouthed. What had he just sat through? What kind of absolute lunacy led to this sort of deranged ranting? Had Dolus been overwhelmed by some kind of poisoning? Or a brain parasite? Was he possessed? Senile? All those thoughts dissolved when Dolus said his next words.

"I've been planning this for years, Ferrus. I even…" One of the bags Dolus was carrying opened, a precisely controlled gust of wind pulling a journal from within. Dolus opened it to the early pages, and Ferrus could see the words scrawled within. These were from over a decade ago, plans to ruin Teneris. Then plans to remove him from the village by any means necessary, then notes on how to emotionally devastate Null and Jaya, then plans to kill the both of them. "I've made notes. Plans. I've been considering for so long how to get rid of that demon -"

"What is wrong with you?!" Ferrus snarled.

Dolus flinched, his expression changing from mad fervor to hurt confusion.

"I'm only trying to protect my son." Dolus clearly didn't see the absurdity behind his rants.

"A son you have already publicly disowned. A son who hates you. Apex does not want anything to do with you anymore, precisely because of this behavior."

"So long as he is safe, I do not care. He will see reason in time." Dolus shrugged.

"This is not reason, Dolus!" Ferrus shouted. "This is madness! You have been plotting to kill a child!"

"No, no, no… I should have known that you would have lost your wits…" Dolus shook his head sadly. "Old friend, please -,"

"No! You are insane! If you cannot see the absurdity behind abusing your own son and then trying to kill his closest friend - both of whom are still children - then you have lost your mind!" Dolus backed away. "We are not friends, Dolus. We have not been for a long time."

Dolus opened his mouth to say something, then sighed. He reached up with one of his front paws to rub his eye, then shrugged. "Fine. I guess that makes this less painful."

A rush of air, and Ferrus found that he could not breathe.

Well then. That was how this was going to be, was it? Then he would treat it appropriately. Dolus had not fought in the war, despite his boasts and magical skill. Ferrus had.

He stomped one foot, and a pillar of stone rose under Dolus to force the air from his lungs. He had to strike a very delicate balance between incapacitating Dolus and dealing actual injury. A balance that was exceptionally difficult to maintain given both his own strength and the relative fragility of a wind dragon.

Dolus gasped, dropping the spell. He flapped his wings to try and shove Ferrus away. But Dolus had never fought Ferrus, while Ferrus had fought many wind dragons. Wind rushed off of iron scales harmlessly, and Ferrus closed the distance.

One smooth paw movement swept Dolus' legs in different directions. Another raised a barrier against Dolus' next wind blast, then molded the barrier into a pair of enormous stone braces that locked Dolus' wings to the ground. One last light step, and Ferrus buried the wind dragon's tail under stone and soil. As Dolus drew in another breath to attempt another vacuum spell, Ferrus placed a single paw on the wind dragon's muzzle, forcing it shut. The dome of silence dropped at the same time as Ferrus did so.

He stayed there, as Dolus rapidly realized that he was utterly helpless. A dragon could not cast spells if they could not move. Dolus often boasted that a wind dragon could always circumvent this so long as he had air in his lungs. What hubris. Ferrus had one paw on Dolus' snout, ensuring that even a trace of magic could be responded to by cutting off all air from the wind dragon's lungs. Ferrus wouldn't do that, of course, but he wanted Dolus to know that he absolutely could.

"I have tolerated your hate out of a misguided attempt to accommodate the brave dragon you were all those years ago," Ferrus growled quietly, "I will do so no longer. I should never have done so in the first place. Clearly it has poisoned your mind beyond repair. So I will say this once, then never again. We are not friends, if we ever were. We are, at current time, two souls stuck in a terrible occurrence. So out of respect for the others, I will momentarily forget this has happened. I will pretend we are still on neutral terms. And when we reach Warfang, I will tell Galvin what has happened here. And I hope we never speak again after that. Do you understand?"

Ferrus lifted his paw to allow Dolus to move his head. For a brief moment it looked like Dolus was about to try something, but then he nodded. Despite his better judgment, Ferrus backed away. One paw slid across the ground to remove the stone restraints, and Dolus rose to his shaking feet. He had nothing to say, and Ferrus didn't care either way.

The next morning, Ferrus would keep a close eye on Dolus. The wind dragon had proven how unhinged he was, and Ferrus didn't want him to hurt anyone else.

But that wasn't all Ferrus kept an eye on.

Something was following them. Something that was not a dragon, cheetah, grublin, or any other creature. Something with no form.

Ferrus didn't have time to deal with all of this at once. He needed to keep his people safe. Keep them together until they reached Warfang.

He just hoped that the thing following them couldn't keep up.