"You're sure?"

"Yes. I'm absolutely positive."

"But how did he survive without a heart?"

"Not quite sure. He seems to have a particular specialty for survival."

"I can see that."

"Either way, He'll make an interesting test subject, eh?"

"Yes, indeed…"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Darius!" I jolted awake at the sound of Verdel's voice.

"What is it?!" I groaned irritably, and looked out the window. It was the middle of the night, but something was wrong. There was a strange glow in the darkness…

"Dragon!" She simply responded, the explosion coming seconds later.

She was thrown across the room, against the wall. I myself was thrown out of bed, landing hard on the ground.

"Agh!" I grunted, and was on my feet in less than a few seconds.

It had apparently been a good thing to wear my armor to bed, after all.

I sneaked a peek outside, and saw Verdel had been right.

A dragon was flying around the beach, breathing searing gouts of flame upon the woods and sand.

I helped Verdel up after checking her, and noticed Willow had shown up as well.

"Damn it, we're the only ones who can fight this thing now. Anyone else would be at the village, and that's too far from here!" I drew my swords, and nodded at the two mages of opposite schools of magic.

"Right!" They both nodded and responded with enthusiasm.

"Let's go, before this damn thing causes any more destruction." I led them out of my damaged house, and rushed out onto the beachhead, where we had confronted Miraak only a couple days before.

"Dragon!" I called out aggressively, catching the large beast's attention.

It quickly flew to our position, landing in the water across from us.

"So you are the nuuvier. The one Miraak wants dead." It boomed out in the normal deep voice of the monstrous fire-breathing reptiles.

"Hmph, I can't say you're any different. He's controlling you, just like all the other dragons and humans." I crossed my arms and scoffed mockingly.

"What you say is true. I do not serve Miraak willingly, but I serve him none the less. We will see who is the stronger of the two of us, human." It responded, and roared in preparation for our battle.

"Looks like negotiations have ended." Verdel commented, stepping back with Willow.

"One on one, huh? I like those odds." I smiled, flourishing my blades.

"Arrogance does not befit one who has fallen so low. Yor Toor Shul!" The dragon roared, and Shouted at me.

"Fire breath." I instantly recognized the words in the Shout, and dodged as the blast of fire impacted the sand, putting a crater in the ground and knocking me back a few feet.

"Impressive. You know our language…if but to an extent." The dragon seemed, at the very least, amused by my action.

"Trust me, dovah, you haven't seen nothin' yet." I smiled, and rose my sword.

It began glowing with red energy, and I pointed it at him.

"Shadowfell!" I slammed my blade into the ground and watched as streaks of fire and shadow arced towards the great beast, creating quite an explosion as the impact was made.

"AGHH! Filthy mortal! Yor Toor Shul!" The dragon screamed angrily, and sent another fireball my way.

"Sorry, I'm not in the mood to be torched, and I really am pressed for time. Spiral Cut!" I dodged the fireball, doing several expert twists and flips as I closed in on him, and I couldn't resist cracking a smile as my blade pierced his skull with ease, "killing" it almost instantly.

I covered my eyes as the beast collapsed, sending sand and dust everywhere from the force of the impact, and took my sword out of him.

"D-Darius!" Verdel stepped forward, marveling at the sight of the dead dragon.

"You actually…killed a dragon!" Willow was also awestruck, but I kicked the side of its head.

"Only temporarily. It'll be back within a few weeks, so I'll need your help getting rid of the corpse. If we leave it here, it'll be back sooner." I explained, cleaning my sword of the blood.

"What do you mean, 'back'?!" Willow exclaimed worriedly.

"Only Dragonborns like Miraak can truly kill a dragon, the process being that they absorb the soul of the dragon. Only then is a dragon dead." I continued, sheathing my swords as Verdel pointed her staff at the giant, winged lizard.

"Warp!" The black mage uttered the word, and the corpse was sent into the swirling vortex of the unknown.

Turning towards us as the body disappeared, she nodded.

"There. He'll be somewhere else in Spira when he returns, and hopefully we'll be long gone by then." Verdel smoothed back her long blonde hair, deftly twirling her staff.

"Good…we're running out of time, though. This dragon attack has proven that Miraak knows where we are, and he's trying to weaken us, or at worst kill us. So, this 'Kel' better be here soon…or we're going to have to leave." I muttered, pacing around the beachhead in deep thought.

"Right. So, let's get back to work on our plan, then?" Verdel suggested, and I nodded.

"Sun's coming up, so we'd better get out of sight and back into the house. Let's go." I began leading them back to the house, Willow taking a long look back at where the dragon's body was. Verdel seemed self-absorbed, probably in whatever new research or experiment she was conducting in her head. I myself was worried. I was playing tough in the end. Without a warrior of Harmony, we were completely helpless against Miraak.

What if Cosmos was lying about a new warrior coming here?

What if this Kel never shows up?

What if he doesn't actually exist?