Author's notes: Thanks to AmethystNox, I have noticed a slight yet significant spelling error in Chapter 2. Please don't laugh but it's supposed to be Angel, not Angle. OK, OK, everyone make mistakes, I will try to watch out for any misspelled words and grammar mistakes from now on but if you spot any, please let me know in your reviews. Thanks.

Review replies:

AmethystNox: I'll be more careful next time, but I still can't shake the feeling that no one else knows that I'm actually here. Do I have to make an advert or something? Thanks anyway.

Chapter 3: The Longest Night

Humans, as many agree, were never the most sensitive of animals on this Earth, many of which couldn't even sense the coming of their own demise.

On the night of the attack, however, things were quite different. Every single inhabitant of Ascalon felt the furry of the Ethans, although not immediately. Using every trick they could master, the dragon raiders disabled tower by tower, all of which were done quickly and efficiently.

But Darkness knew that it only be a matter of time before the humans finally discover what has happened, but he also knew that by the time really did find out, any resistance would all be too little too late.

The first few who felt the effects only dismissed it as a mild malfunction, it was, after all, just a slight stalling in all electrical equipments within the main dome. To the professionals, however, it was more or less a death sentence. Such power outs haven't happened in decades and facilities of this magnitude with almost automatic maintenance have no excuse what so ever for this little mistake.

But the worst was to come.

Within seconds the equipments stalled again, this time, however, they did not come back to life. As if a dooms day virus had struck the city, black outs began to spread from one block to another, thousands of square miles of civilian housings were suddenly plunged into darkness with no apparent ways of repairing the damage.

As the people of Ascalon began to enter the deadly phase of total panic without their precious electrical equipments, Darkness began to lead his men into the primary attack position, the outer dome might be reinforced against meteors, but it would be no match against the fiery breaths of ten thousand dragons concentrated into a spot no bigger than a small apartment. But that's all the space they would need to start the invasion and ultimately, the end of the dreaded humans.

It seemed so easy.

While the total shutdown of Ascalon continued, more and more people began to suspect that this problem won't be sorted for some time. But the panic truly began when the artificial sunlight and climate flickered before dying completely, revealing the pitch-black sky and rampaging lightning. It is not certain what it was that caused the mass of screams that soon followed, some say that seeing the true outside world was simply too overwhelming for primitive creatures such as humans, while others say that it was the arrival of the first group of dragons and their crimson flame of destruction.

Darkness didn't care much about that, all he did care was the fact that his most hated enemies were slowly and painfully boiling away, their screams of aguish were like music to his ears.

Atto and Angel didn't care much about what caused the screams either because they were more concerned with the job at hand, and that was to keep themselves from dying for as long as possible. It was a pretty obvious concept that doesn't always seem to catch on these days.

Even Angel seemed to be whiter than usual as Atto rushed to lock all the doors and windows within the cottage, judging by the noise outside they should be much safer to stay where they are.

"Right," The boy panted in anxiety as he slammed another window shut, "Are there any more windows on this floor?"

Through the darkness of the storm, Atto picked up the faint out lines of Angel's form standing somewhere away from the back door. Without a word, she shook her head.

"Alright." Ignoring her unusual silence, Atto proceeded upstairs, trying to locate any other possible entrances for what ever it might be out there. After a quick search, he walked into Angel's room and without even giving anything else a single glance; he went to the window and locked it. Suddenly, an explosion of pale blue flame a few blocks away caught his attention. On closer inspection through the window, Atto suddenly realised that staying inside might not be such a good idea after all.

"Angel!" He called through his teeth, "We've got to go!"

Angel appeared at the bottom of the stairs and gave him a "Why should we do that?" look. But moments later, when she saw the look on Atto's face, she knew that things were about to get complicated.

"What did you see?"

Silence, as Atto struggled to find a suitable answer to her question.

"Well?"

Still not saying a word, he began to pull her towards the nearest exit, ignoring her protests and struggles.

But he already knew that there was no way he's going to get her anywhere without an explanation…

"Emes!" Angel yelled and ripped her arm away from his grasp, completely ignoring the fact that everything suddenly went deadly quiet, "Tell me what you saw! Right now!"

Surrendering to her stubbornness, Atto opened his mouth to explain, only to stop as he noticed the sudden change to her expression. It was as if the Angel he knew had suddenly left the building and all that remained was this ghostly shell whose eyes were full to the brim of fear. Knowing that she has seen something, Atto slowly looked around until he saw the glass cabinet located at the corner of the room. Through its reflection, he saw the titanic shape, the pale scales, and the blue eyes and most importantly the pale blue steam rising from within it's rounded snout.

It was a sight he would always remember, for from this point on, Atto Emes will never be the same again…