Old friends reunite

The wolf paws run silent in the screaming woods.

-lazyredragon

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Watching from under a tree near the dragons encampment, an ageless being sat thinking.

This world was doomed.

He had known as soon as he aided Celeste and Starlight in their escape, but he wasn't expecting it to escalate so soon.

One could tell from just looking at it.

The vicious war on the horizon, the chill in peoples hearts, the odd pressure in the sky.

Everything just felt so...angry.

The night was cold and so was the light of the moon, she was sad and he wondered why? Usually, Moon was rather impassive to human interactions, though she did have a soft spot for artists and lycanthropes, perhaps a beloved muse was dead.

He looked it over in his minds eye, from the souls he'd collected none quite stood out as an artist...a lot of soldiers, some old wives, a few seniors and sadly a lot of young children, there was even a pixie in the lot, when the children start dropping like flies you know the world is in a sorry state.

He sighed, The Great Sir, he was called. A being one must not disrespect be you, God or mortal, for before him all were equal. A being of limitless power he was one of the last old gods,

The one who was there when the first being of this earth died.

His name was Fercila, he was a beautiful man killed by his brother in a fit of jealousy.

It was a rather sad death, he had been left to drown in his own blood in the heat of the desert after a sharp stone was twisted into his lung, The Great Sir had sat with him through it all, a long dark cloak shielding Fercila from the heat.

"Who are you?" He had asked, blue eyes were fast dimming begging for relief and salvation,

"Just a very old man watching the world go by." he had answered,

"Would you help me?"

"I will when you come to my domain. I cannot aid the living unless you're a god."

"Unless I am a god?"

his breathing was shallow, his mind was clearly already half gone a few more moments and he would be at peace, Fercilas had been a good man, he would grant him the chance to be reborn.

"Yes, all things great and small must die, and there are so many ways to die."

"Is mine a good one?" he had asked pitifully,

"It is not," he had answered truthfully,

A sad pained laugh left dry lips,

"I'd like some water,"

"We are a long ways away from a well, just sit still you'll be dead in a few minutes."

Fercilas sighed, "Couldn't you grant a man his last wish?"

"I could but I do not want to carry you, pick something else."

He was the first, he could listen to a favour,

Fercilas was sweating, The Great Sir quietly called a cool breeze, something this he could do.

Fercilas thought hard he wished he could think long but he could already feel his heart giving out, its beats duller like the fading hum of a drum.

"What will happen after I die?"

The Great Sir did not want to answer that question and it showed in his eyes, their eerie pupil-less glare becoming vicious.

"I need to know before I make my wish."

"You will be reborn, perhaps as a fish perhaps as a king...I do not know but you will be reborn."

Fercilas smiled, it was a charming smile from bloodied teeth and chapped lips, "In my next life I want to meet you before I die, I want us to be friends."

"I am only friends to those whose hands are bloodied because they give me purpose."

"Then I will become the bloodiest beast." he declared an accepting smile on his face, " I had been good here, look where its gotten me."

The Great Sir laughed it was a hollow bone-chilling sound, like the rattling of a vipers tail.

"People would call you mad if you were."

"I do not mind. When I see you again we'll be the best of friends." he had said in a sigh,

"Very well, I can grant that wish but we will be called the worst of fiends by the world, does that fare well with you?"

There was no answer, blue eyes looked up to the sky but saw nothing, The Great Sir sighed pulling his soul into his palm, the flames held a beautiful shade of pink, a colour of affection in souls, he had died smitten.

A pity,

who had he felt for?

"Oh well, you'll meet them again little man though you will be a blackened soul by then...if it helps, I'll pull a few strings and have you born a noble, it will be a whirlwind romance, how does that sound?"

He saw the soul off, adding its pink flames to the light of the sun, when ready the sun would cast them back to the earth like a sower sowing seed, the life giver.

It would be many years before he saw, Fercilas again.

Millenia would turn, mountains would rise and fall, entire civilizations would grow and crumble to dust and he would always be there to sweep up the pieces, collect the soul fire of the fallen and add them to the suns garden till they were ready to bloom and be cast back into this world.

But watching the battle before him, this world was no longer suitable for sowing, it would soon be time to build a new garden, maybe in a millennium or two he'd collect the last of this worlds soul flames- till then he could sit back and revel in the show before him.

The dragons had called off the truce they had sacrificed one of their own for with a vicious attack but the humans held them off admirably.

Archers fired arrows of dragon steel into the hides of low flying dragons who breathed red flame onto the incoming troops, their screams filled his ears it was thrilling he hadn't seen a battle so all-consuming since his last world!

Twang!

An arrow was set free and it flew true right in the eye of a smokey grey dragon, this creature wasn't old just two hundred years a young lad in the prime of his life, he would join his ancestors before the next dawn.

It screamed hissing red fire as it fell into the human encampment, swords, clubs and axes in hand the humans swarmed it in a frenzy hacking, hitting and cutting.

It looked like a scene from a fable.

The viper and the ants.

Once there was a viper that coiled around an anthill deciding to build a nest in its caverns, a lone ant on guard charged forward and was killed without much though crushed under heavy scales but the scent of their fallen friends blood called the other ants and they attacked the viper climbing its flanks bitting it between the scales till eventually all there was, was a carcass in the sun.

A single ant would perish at the hands of a viper but a viper would perish at an army of ants.

In the dragon army, fully grown dragons were only fifty-five and as the final slash cut down on the dragon's throat, they were now fifty-four.

The loss was significant for this army wasn't even the prince's full arsenal,

A low chuckle left The Great Sirs throat, it was cold like the rattling of bones, what a beautiful night this was!

The sad moon was blue and the red light if the dragon's flames painted the sky purple, chainmail and armour in a sea of soldiers glimmered like stars in the sky and swords shone like shooting stars as they sang their bitter melody and oh, what a song it was,

Slash!

A scream of a man who just lost his leg.

Jab!

Right through the stomach filled with beer and keg.

Rain fire on thy enemies!

Rain arrows on the beasts!

You will all be legends so go forth and grab your victory in the bloodied remains of your enemies.

Ah, what a sight it was.

Pupil-less eyes shut in a sigh as he leaned on the trunk of the hickory tree.

What a glorious sight it was.

A shadow rushed over the bushes by the tree silent as a wolf.

Blade glimmering in blue light, a dagger was held at deaths throat startling him awake, what an ironic scene. Who was mad enough to threaten death?

More-so how could he even see him?

"This young master is being rather disrespectful," he stated voice as cold as ice.

"Who are you? State your name and rank." The hooded figure asked in a clipped tone

"Just a very old man watching the world go by." he answered, "I am more concerned that you can see me."

Pupil-less eyes met cold blue ones

The ageless one smiled.

The mad one scowled the dagger bitting harder into the man's throat, this boy meant business,

"Apologies, I am Durion Frey."

His face was hidden but blue eyes shone brightly, just as they had for his first flame.

Ah Fercilas, you finally found me!