During late evening, somewhere far up in the mountains, within the caldera of a now dormant volcano, a furious roar shook the very mountains themselves. A truly massive red dragon thrashed about, slamming both tail and claws into the towering stone walls of the caldera, spewing fire from its mouth high up into the air. Then, the rage subsided, but only barely, as the larger dragon gazed down upon a smaller one. From all over the caldera, other red dragons peeked out from the holes of their lairs, curious about this commotion.
"Go on, then- if you say my younger brother is dead, you must have proof..." the large dragon said, its voice deep yet still distinctly feminine. The smaller dragon nervously fiddled with its claws, as it continued explaining:
"I flew over, as instructed by you Matriarch, to check on how he was doing. If he had taken over the Spirit Sanctuary and eaten the guardian elf, as was the plan. However, when I checked, there was no sign of him what so ever... initially, that is. So I looked a bit closer, and saw... his body, Matriarch. Dead as day..."
The large red Dragon, the Matriarch, roared with pain and grief, more fire blasting up far into the air from her large maw. Then she settled down again, glaring at the smaller dragon.
"How is it possible? Was there an entire raiding party laying in ambush? We scouted the area a day prior, and there was no one there then." she then said, asking the smaller dragon.
"I do not know, Matriarch, but... as I was flying over, I saw a lone elf... butchering the body of your brother... I am talking... pulling the scales off his skin, tearing the bones from his corpse... slicing up the meat..." the smaller dragon said, cowering in fear. And he was right to cower.
In a fit of rage, the large dragon thrashed back and forth, its roar blasting across the caldera, the stone walls shaking in its reverberation. However, she was not alone. Other red dragons leapt down into the caldera, joining into the furious roars.
"Matriarch! This cannot go unpunished!"
"Death! Destruction! Bring ruin to this elf!"
"PURGE THE ENTIRE FOREST IN FLAMES!"
They shouted, the fury blazing in their eyes. The smaller dragon scurried away rapidly, climbing the caldera walls in a flurry, before reaching the relative safety of their own lair. Most of the red dragons had joined the larger one down on the caldera floor, but a few still hid in their lairs. Not everyone was as onboard with the destruction of an entire forest. But their silence would not matter, as the Matriarch shouted:
"Form a party! Fifteen of my strongest, descend upon the desecrator and avenge my brother! Fly now, and fly swift! Bring that elfling here before me, to face my judgement! And burn the entire forest!"
As many of the dragons down on the Caldera floor took flight, the Matriarch turned and looked at another nearby Dragon, one who had not partaken in the roaring and fury from before.
"And you, Raxagan... I want a you to channel a mind-vision spell. I want to see it for myself."
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Eight hours later, at the crack of dawn, Lyra woke up to the sound of wings in the distance. Immediately on guard, she wrapped herself in her bed-sheet and rushed outside, bare feet drumming against the wooden floorboards and later the grass as she ran outside and then skid to a halt, looking north. She saw them immediately, a flock of what appeared to be Red Dragons, some 4 km out but approaching fast. Due to her elven hearing, she had thankfully picked up on their approach before it was too late, and her elven vision was enough to identify them from this distance alone.
Lyra sighed, then her expression darkened. She had -just- restored this place, built a new functional home, and now these bloody overgrown fire-breathing chicken were seemingly set on destroying her sanctuary! Well she'd be damned if she'd let them touch her stuff again! She had actually considered a similar situation, after having spent all her mana defeating just one dragon, and come to the conclusion that she ought to play her next encounter a bit smarter. This time, she did not bother with any defensive spells. Instead, she immediately used her "Search" spell to pinpoint exactly how many dragons there were, and how fast they were moving.
15 dragons, 3.4 kilometers away. 3.2, then 3.0. She switched to another spell, one she made just now, "Lock On[1]", which would allow her to get the aim right without having to try and gauge their distance and speed herself, instead letting the spell do that for her. Then, time to go on the offensive. She had figured the most effective spell in her arsenal might be some long-range Lightning based attack, but then she recalled how effective her "Disintegration Beam[2]" had been during the test back at the Adventurer's guild. It was a spell based on an understanding of reality that did not exist in this world, and would likely be quite effective against the incoming dragons too.
So she held out the palm of her hand, an envisioned a multitude of smaller beams, rather than one large. Fifteen of them, to be exact, one for each dragon she was now locked on to. The magic gathered in the palm of her hand, glowing brighter and brighter as the spell charged up. By the time the Dragons were 2 kilometers away, the spell was finally ready.
-"Disintegration Beam..."
Instantly, the beam of bright blue light burst from the palm of her hand, in the direction of the incoming Dragons! As it traveled, the beam seemed to split into fifteen smaller ones, each beam homing in on a dragon each, predicting their trajectory with a scary degree of accuracy. In less than 3 seconds since the spell was fired, the first "Disintegration Beam" struck the chest-area of the lead dragon. It did not have any time to react properly or even try to avoid the beam, and truth be told when they had seen the bright light and sensed the magic, they had not felt threatened. There was no magic in the world which could fell a dragon that easily.
Until now, that is. The beam instantly ate a hole straight through the dragon's chest, piercing it and killing it nearly instantly. The others were not much better off either. 12 of the 15 dragons were struck in the chest, screaming in pain and agony as the foreign magic seemed to bypass any armor and resistance they might have, as the beam tore through their scales, flesh, bones and inner organs in a matter of a second. Out of the 15 dragons, only 3 had managed to avoid a direct lethal hit. The three at the furthest back had made an evasive maneuver just in time, turning and rolling. One had its wing clipped by the beam, burning a large hole in its wing membrane, while the other was struck at the base of the wing, tearing it off completely.
The third of the three, the one who had been at the very end of the flock, managed to dodge its beam completely. But, what followed was unlike anything the dragon had ever seen before. Nearly all of its comrades fell from the sky with large holes in their bodies, their death-cries echoing over the mountain backdrop as their corpses slammed into the forest below. The one who had lost its wing could not stop its descent either, and crashed down at the edge of the forest, at the start of the meadow, a bit further from its 12 dead companions. That left only the two surviving dragons, who immediately swerved in the air and rolled, trying to turn around in time and gain altitude, hoping to escape the same fate which had befallen their brethren.
Both noticed, to their horror, that the same light that had shone seconds before, which took the lives of their brothers and sisters, was shining again. Another incoming attack. The one dragon who had a hole in its membrane was not able to maneuver quickly enough, and the incoming beam pierced its chest as well, sending it spiraling to its death. Only the one dragon, who had been the furthest away, managed to dodge the second beam, flapping its wings with a panic, climbing up into the cover of the clouds and vanishing from sight. The only one, to get away.
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The Matriarch watched the scene unfold in horror, as it was projected before her against the smooth stone-wall of her lair. The best spellcaster they had, Raxagan, was using "Mind-Vision" on one of the dragons she had sent, allowing them to see and project what their target was seeing. And they had just witnessed the total annihilation of the entire flock she had sent out. There was no sound, fortunately this time, or else she would have also heard their pained cries.
In horror, the pair of them watched through the eyes of the dragon at the scene, how the others fell from the skies, big holes going through their bodies, their corpses crashing down hard against the ground. The target dragon swirled around, tried to flee, along with one of its brothers, but another beam pierced its chest. The last thing they saw, was the trees on the ground rapidly approaching, before the spell lost its connection. The target was no longer alive. There was no longer any mind to vision, if you will.
The Matriarch sat in stunned silence. What manner of wizardry was this?! What sort of spell could possibly do this to a dragon of all things?! She looked at Raxagan, her eyes shining with uncertainty.
"What just happened? What on Atlas did we just witness, Raxagan?" she said, the confidence entirely gone from her voice. She could still hardly believe what had just happened. Could one elf do this? It was impossible. Nor could any dragon do this either. No one could do this. It was impossible! Yet, she had just seen it. Never in five hundred years had she even heard of something like this! They were the apex! The strongest in the world, the ones who reign at the top and rule over all. The ones who only have to fear others of their kind.
"Frankly, Matriarch... I have no idea. If I had to guess... a spell of some sort which seems to bypass... everything?" Raxagan said, running a claw up and down along his throat. He turned his free hand, and the projection sprung back to life again, the vision rewinding, to the initial point of contact. He zoomed in, freezing the vision at the point where the beam first struck the first dragon. The vision watched it all from behind, but he could make time move slow, as they looked at everything more closely.
"Watch. See how there is no staggering or force exerted on Raxthoran as the magical beam makes impact. There is no physical aspect to it at all. And yet, in 0.3 seconds, it has gone through him entirely. Similar times for the others, as far as I can tell..." he said, looking up at the Matriarch.
"Could it be some sort of unique skill, which lets one store an infinite amount of energy, and unleash it later?" The Matriarch asked, trying to find any explanation.
"It is not impossible, but I have never heard of such a skill, and honestly I do not think that is it. Whatever it is, however... it is clear we have no defense against such a spell." Raxagan answered. For once, he was glad the Matriarch had decided to have this mission viewing in private. If the rest of the Red Dragons had seen this, there would have been panic. Whatever this thing was, living down there in the wildlands, it was bad, bad news for dragonkin, that much was clear...
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Lyra lowered her hand, as the last of the dragons escaped up above the clouds. She did not think it would come back, not after this. Still, it was obvious they were coming from somewhere, and might keep coming. So it was time to nip this problem in the bud. She consumed a few "Mana Gems" to top herself off, before she headed towards the impact point of the nearest dragon she felled. The one who had lost a wing and crashed down just at the edge of the meadow.
As she got closer to the small crater, she noticed movement. Oh, seems this one was still alive. However, as she got closer, she realized the dragon was quite badly hurt. The impact had broken both of its hind legs, and likely caused massive internal bleeding too. It had cauterized the wound on its side, sealing off the bleeding by burning its flesh, but it still could not move from the crater. As Lyra stood on the edge, looking down with the rising sun at her back, it snarled at her, growling in its own language:
"Stay back! I w-warn you!"
Lyra just raised an eyebrow, folding her arms across her chest, before responding:
-"Stay back? You're the ones who keep intruding into my lands. Why should I stay back?" she said with her tone low, narrowing her gaze as she lifted her foot, and took a single step down into the crater, and then another. To the dragon, this was insane. There was no being other than, well, other dragons, who would ever approach a dragon like this without fear, even if the dragon was injured. Then again, whatever this creature was, it had just mercilessly killed all of its brethren in a single spell. The Dragon was afraid, deathly so.
"I-I said, s-stay away from me!" the dragon roared out in panic, trying to press itself against the soil, away from the elf. But Lyra did not stay away. She got real close, looking very tiny next to the massive dragon, and yet it was cowering before her presence, and not vice versa. When she spoke, it was with a very simple offer.
-"Want to live? Then tell me where the rest of your kin are...."
[1] Lock On: Costs 100 mana per target. Will assist the caster with aiming, allowing the caster to perform their next spell with 95% accuracy.
[2] Disintegration Beam: Costs 4000 mana, and then an additional 500 mana for every second it is channeled. The Disintegration Beam is a beam of pure magic which doesn't deal any actual damage but rather converts anything it touches into its finest elements, destroying any form of molecular bonds or magical chain and bindings. In practice, if used on a person or living being, it will cause massive damage.