1 Chapter 1: A Dream of Destruction

"Cat! Wake up! We must go now!"

Cateile's eyes shot open. It should be close to midnight, but the room was illuminated as bright as the day. Shadows filled the air and dark clouds floated into the room from the balcony opening. Jumping out of bed, bewildered, Cateile tried to gather her thoughts. Panic rushed through her as she realized that she was choking. She couldn't breathe!

"Here! Cover your mouth with this. Let's hurry! We must get to the Heliar!" Kilik placed a damp cloth over Cateile's mouth as he pulled her towards what she believed was an opening. She coughed violently as smoke continued to fill her lungs. As they navigated out of the room, she looked back towards the balcony and realized the night sky was ablaze. Fire! The sky was on fire!

"Kilik! What is happening?!" Cateile scurried behind Kilik, racing down the corridors towards the Grand Hall. They ran as fast as their vision would allow them. Smoke permeated the halls and grew thinner as they passed by open doors. Torches that normally lit the corridors were distinguished and toppled over. Checking each room carefully as they passed, Kilik often slowed to a halt and peaked inside before entering them. "Kilik! What is happening! Tell me!"

Kilik slammed a hand over her mouth to silence her as he neared the Heliar's quarters. He placed his index finger over his lips and frowned at her. His left hand reached out, maneuvering her body to line up behind his against the wall. He brought that same index finger up to tap his ear. Listen. Cateile had just now noticed the sounds of swords clashing off in the distance. Men, women, and children's screams pierced the night. Loud bangs rocked the palace as objects collided with the walls. Of what, Cateile did not know. Giving a slight nod, she signaled to Kilik that she understood. They were at war.

Hugging the wall, they neared the Heliar's double door. The door was edged with hieroglyphs, sacred incantations of protection that High Priests used to protect the ruler. The door was solid gold which glistened even at the slightest flicker of flames passing over it. Two circular hooks dangled from the centers of each door. The door symbolized the weight of the world, and thus required several men to open it. How they were going to get in, was a mystery to her.

Kilik took the one torch that was still lit in front of the double doors and slowly bent down. There were two men's silhouettes sprawled on the floor, directly across from one another. His hand went out to touch one of them as he slowly handed the torch to Cateile. The flame from the torch revealed that they were the Heliar's guards…lifeless on the cold stone.

Inching towards the center of the door, Cateile tiptoed around the dead guards and reached her hand out. She stopped just inches before touching the blood-stained hooks. Her hand flew to cover the gasp that almost escaped from her lips. Panic once again settled in as she realized that the door was slightly open. A bright light flashed through the crack as the torch's flames reflected off from the object. Steel. Someone was waiting on the other side of the door with a sword in hand!

"Kilik!" Cateile barely had enough time to warn Kilik as the door burst open and several men rushed out of the room. They whisked their swords towards Kilik. Being a skilled Heza, or swordsman, Kilik dodged the first blade aimed at his throat. Side stepping, he was able to grab a metal torch that lay near them and connected it with the second man's sword that was shooting for his chest. The first sword lunged again at him, barely connecting as it sliced through the cloth on his sleeve. Kilik connected the torch with the enemy's back as he dodged the second man, making him fall to the floor. Whirling around quickly, Kilik connected the metal torch to the second enemy's head knocking him unconscious. As his sword clanged to the ground, Kilik managed to use the momentum and stepped his right heel into the handle of the sword, popping the sword upward and into his hand. Seconds after the handle reached his palm, Kilik launched it into the chest of the man who had fallen from the knock in his back.

"Kilik are you alright!?" Cateile picked up the torch that she had dropped in shock and ran to his side. She handed him the torch as he started inspecting the fallen men. They were all dressed in foreign robes that she couldn't recognize.

"Kill the other one." A deep, raspy voice rippled down the corridor towards them, startling them to their feet. It was a familiar voice, filled with honor and pride, that she had heard so many times before during her years growing up in Kajor. That same voice had commanded many men and women on the battlefield and built a kingdom. Rich and deep was such a voice of the Heliar of Kajor.

"Father!" Cateile sprinted over to her father with tears welling up in her eyes. She was overwhelmed with joy as the Heliar's face appeared from the shadows. Her Father, Saith, was a tall muscular man with dark melanin skin that shimmered with gold in the daylight. A few of his long locks sprung out from his normal wrap atop his head. His golden garment was tattered to shreds and stained with blood, but she didn't care as she nestled her head in his chest. He stood a foot taller than her, which was intimidating to other men, but not to his daughter. Finally noticing that there was another shadow behind him, Cateile peaked around his arm to discover her mother, Helias Ifira, the queen of Kajor.

Ifira was a petite woman, with the appearance of a Goddess about her. She dawned an all-white gown that had dirt and blood smudged on it. The garment draped down to her ankles with gold thread was embroidered in the borders of it. A makeshift mane outlined the top of her gown around her neckline. Her beautiful brown hair was piled atop her head, slightly secured by a golden headwrap. The curls outlining her face were slightly stuck to her skin from perspiration. Cateile could only imagine how she herself looked at the moment but looks were the least of her concerns.

"Mother! You're here as well!" Ifira brushed her hand across her daughter's cheek, smiling gracefully and nodding. A bow was clutched in her other hand and a basket of arrows were strapped across her chest.

Suddenly, a loud slash was heard from behind Cateile and a then a yell. Kilik had thrusted the sword through the fallen enemy's back. She whipped around and could hear the man take his last breath as Kilik wiped the blade off on his victims' clothing. Picking up the other sword, Kilik saluted the Heliar and handed him the second blade.

"He is from the East, Heliar. His clothing shows that he's from Kilian West near Mawith. He doesn't seem to be anything near to a Heza. A pawn perhaps."

"I'm aware, give the torch to Cat and let's go. Nara and Furok are waiting at the Overlook."

"Heliar, do you know why....?" Kilik questioned, as they gathered their wits and began jogging down the corridor once again towards the Great Hall.

"We'll discuss this later. Our focus is catching up to the others."

They raced through the corridors as swiftly as they could. The sounds of the battle neared them as they ran towards the East Hall.

Nara and Furok were daughter and son of the Heliar. Cat's sister and brother from a previous Helias before she passed, but brother and sister, nonetheless. They were running to the Overlook outside of the city to meet them. Cateile knew they would be fine, because Furok, the Crowned Prince, was the best Heza in all of Kajor.

She couldn't wait to be rid of this nightmare that she had awaken into.

They fought as they ran, stopping only to search the bodies of the fallen occasionally. Ifira showed prowess with her bow and arrows. Kilik and Saith dominated any man that came into arms reach.

The smoke grew stronger as they escaped the palace. Looking down onto the city from where the palace sat atop the stairs on the largest hill, it was all on fire. The city was burning to the ground right before their eyes. Corpses lay strewn in the streets as they continued to pry their way towards the outskirts. As they sprinted through the city, Cat noticed that there was an unimaginable amount of fire. From where? There were no trebuchets beyond their walls as far as she could see and even if there was, there was no way it could reach the palace from that distance. Having no time to piece things together, Cateile ran. It seemed like they had been running forever and with no time to catch her breath.

They made it to the outskirts. They were now beating through the desert sands to the dunes outside, east of the city. Sitting on top of the highest dune in front of Helok Forest they could see two figures in the distance. It must be Nara and Furok! Suddenly, all of her exhaustion was gone! She was almost free and reunited with her family. Her legs moved as fast as they could, kicking up sand as they hurled her towards the forest.

"There's the Heliar! Kill him!" A group of soldiers were chasing them! The sound of arrows whipped past Cateile's ears as they nearly missed her head. Sound from the bow's strings being pulled and released alerted Saith. A second array of arrows was heading towards them! He reached out to grab Cateile, pushing her out of the arrow's way just in the nick of time.

"Go! Run! Don't look back!" The Heliar and Kilik were swatting the arrows out of the sky with their swords. By the time Cateile could glance back, the soldiers were already surrounding her father and Kilik, engaging in battle. Swords clashing franticly as they outnumbered them six to two. There were still 4 men chasing Cateile and Ifira as they ran towards Nara and Furok. Ifira turned and shot her bow to pierce one soldier in the neck, outraging the other men. Cateile continued to run, knowing that she would be of no help to them. Almost to the forest, Furok flew past Cateile as he headed into the fight with his mother. Engaging into battle with the soldiers, one was able to break free to continue the pursuit of Nara and Cateile.

Clutching Nara's hand in her own, they scurried towards the south of the forest towards the Overlook. It was located at the southeast of the town that overlooked the city's gates and palace. You could see the entire city of Kajor from the overlook, but it was only known to the royal family. So that enemies did not know of this sacred location, a protection veil was placed upon it by High Priest Jarhod. Only those with the strength of a God could lift the protection veil.

"Nara?" Cateile had been so deep in thought she'd just noticed that Nara was no longer with her. Stopping to a dead halt, Cateile searched around the pitch-black forest. Hoping to hear traces of her sister she held her breath and listened. She proceeded in a crouched position so as to not be discovered. Cateile did not dare call out to her sister any louder for fear of enemies discovering her location. She tried her hardest to hold in the whimper that was threatening to escape her lips. Her entire body was shaking uncontrollably at the thought of something ill happening of her sister.

The ground started shaking violently. She grabbed onto a tree as she tried to keep her grounding. It was almost as though the earth was splitting into two. A violent roar filled the night and the shaking intensified. The roar was coming from off in the distance ahead of her. The sound penetrated her ears, prompting her to cover them from the pain it brought. Pushing off from the tree, Cateile swatted away familiar brush leading to the Overlook determined to see what was making that noise. Then she saw it. Him. She saw him.

A lightly tanned man with long black hair cascading down his back, stoodat the Overlook, facing the city. He looked nothing like the men that they had been fighting. He seemed to be from an entirely different place. She couldn't see his face, but she just felt that he was.... different. He was disrobed up top with his muscular back to her. A large divine dragon was embedded into his back, gold and red outlined the dragon's scales. The strange man had a long sword attached to his hip in its sheath. The sheath was black with a golden tip at the hilt. He slowly unclasped the belt from his hip and laid his sword down on a nearby rock, making the metal clank as the golden tip connected with it. Cateile was not sure if he was aware of her position or not, so she dared to not move in fear of alerting him. And then..... the sky opened.

Head tilted upwards to the sky, his gaze held at a particular spot above the city. The clouds had a red circular glow illuminating from them directly above the palace. Red lightning struck out from the clouds violently making a loud crackle every time they touched down. He slowly reached his hands to the sky and drooped his head back. His very muscular arms were bare, the veins rippling through them as he began his ritual. Red light began sparking from each of his hands, matching the sky. Then another loud roar pierced the night. This time the roar was longer. The clouds began opening slowly and the lightning worsened. Then there was fire. Balls of fire began to rain down from the opening in the sky towards the city's direction. None collided with the palace as if missing it on purpose. The man began to grimace as though in pain and a low groan escaped his lips as he gave one last push of his powers.

A large ball of fire fell very slowly from the clouds. As the fire dissipated, a dragon could be seen in the ray of light. At the same time the man's back began to glow where the dragon tattoo was. The dragon in the sky slowly descended, directly down towards the palace. The ground continued to shake violently and then it all became still. Complete silence spread throughout the night as the dragon collided with the highest tower near the palace. For a moment, no swords clashing, no men's screams, nor even the blaze of fire could be heard. Just complete silence. And a bright light flashed quickly as the wave of fire hit the palace. The after waves of it spread so far that it hit Cateile like an explosion, knocking her to the ground. The ring of fire spread from the castle to the city turning everything to rubble.

The mysterious man jerked his head at the sound of Cateile connecting with the ground, alerting him. All she could see was the outline of his body as the fires blazed behind him. Her entire body trembled at the sight of such power and destruction. Her entire body shuddered, but she was frozen in time, unable to move. All she could hear is her exasperated breathing and the calm patter of rain that began to fall down. His back still facing her, he turned his head ever so slightly to glance in her direction with a smirk that she could see. The dragon in the night sky disappeared into the red clouds and so did the glowing tattoo on his back.