2 Chapter 1: The Road

The landscape before Lilia was painted auburn by the fading sunlight. She had stopped bleeding, but the adrenaline had worn off, as well. Pain racked her tiny body. Fatigue shot through her with pounding force. Even so, something else burned brighter. She felt the inescapable gravity of revenge pulling her toward the next town. Toward survival.

Lilia's feet dragged. The miles had dragged on well past sunset, and she had yet to find civilization. Her sword, an object that held both terror and comfort for her, hung heavily across her back. Every muscle, every bone, begged her to stop and lay down where she was. Lilia refused.

The quiet road, lined by trees, gave Lilia nothing in the way of landmarks. She had no idea where she was or how far she had gone. Every so often, a woodland creature would dart across the way. Aside from those occasional encounters, her walk was haunted by an eerie silence. The pallor of the moonlight bled into the dry soil that she trod upon. Her rythmic footsteps barely registered. All at once, the silence shattered.

Four wolves came barreling out of the wood and directly toward Lillia, their giant frames decorated by long claws and dripping fangs. Feebly, she pulled the sword from her back and stood firm. Her feet pointed awkwardly inward as she held the blade at point, using all the strength she could muster just to hold it up. The wolves stopped cold to analyze their prey, and only one stepped forward, growling. "Speak, human!", it barked, "Why are you in my wood?"

Lilia was utterly shocked. She had never met a talking animal before, let alone a rather large one that seemed intent on eating her. Taken aback, she set the point of her sword down and rested on it. "I...", she sputtered, breathless. "I said speak!", the wolf growled, arching its back in preparation to attack. "My village is gone!", Lilia managed to push out. A few tears made their way out as she remembered her old life, and it dawned on her that it was really over. Everybody was dead. "They... they're all dead."

The wolf didn't back down, and his cohorts inched closer. "You smell of dragon. I think you're lying." The remark stirred Lilia's blood. "I am not one of them!", she screamed, "A pox on dragonkind! They killed my parents, my friends! I have nothing now!" The wolves all sat on their haunches. The leader tilted his head, peering quizically at her, then stepped slowly to her.

"Child.", he spoke calmly now, "Touch my snout."

She did as she was commanded, and felt a tingling in her hand that traveled up her arms and into her head. The wolf stiffened. "Such... such horror I see." The tingling became stronger, until Lilia could no longer feel the cold wetness of the wolf's nose. After a few seconds, he sunk away from her and the feeling was suddenly cut away. He sat again, then met Lilia's gaze, locking eyes with her. "Peace, child. I mean you no harm. Your situation saddens me. Nobody so young should have to see such things."

"I've nothing left. No home, no loved ones to go back to. 'Tis only vengeance that moves me now.", Lilia hissed between sobs. The wolf, seeing her tears, moved forward and nuzzled her cheek. "No tears, child. They profit you nothing. Come." Without further ado, he turned away from her and began to walk slowly back into the forest. Not knowing what else to do, Lilia slung her sword back over her shoulder and followed.

The lush foliage overhead thickened as they went, turning the silvery moonlight into thousands of beams raining from above. Lilia followed calmly, wondering if she would be able to take down any wolves if this were to all be a trick. Her bare feet padded the earth, scratching against twigs and bending over mounds of dirt all the while. In the grass, however, Lilia noticed a strange vibration. It was as if the earth itself hummed with some sort of resonance, reacting to something nearby.

"You are confounded by the vibrations of the planet here, child.", the lead wolf suddenly yelled over his shoulder. "I am.", Lilia replied, "What is it?" The wolf sniffed deeply of the air, then sighed. "This was once sacred ground. A wolf god lived here, guiding and protecting our people." The landscape faded away around Lilia as the wolf spoke, his story painting the hills and trees through some unknown magic.

The other wolves, the massive clumps of trees, the lacerated sky above, and even the ground beneath Lilia's feet all faded away in the span of a few seconds, leaving only darkness. From that darkness, another landscape began to emerge. "The wolf god, the one called Ward, heralded our safety and security with a special kind of magic. He cast a barrier over these lands, keeping them pristine and the earth bountiful."

As the lead wolf spoke, a sort of green paradise materialized around everybody. Where there had been gnarled trees, Lilia saw a verdant ceiling spanning as far as her eyes could see. Where there had been rough-hewn grass and soddy ground littered with branches and detritus, Lilia's eyes and feet instead agreed that there was a carpet of plush grass, with flowers of all colors dotting the land. Even the smell of the air was different, seeming somehow more pure.

The group walked by a massive wolf, easily twice the size of a horse. Lilia concluded that this magically projected image must have been Ward, but she didn't know how exactly the wolf she followed projected it. "The memory of the land doesn't lie, child.", the wolf said, again all but reading her thoughts. "I am but a conduit. Now, observe." Lilia obeyed, and watched as a rainbow prism of magical energy cascaded from Ward, engulfing the paradise they now strode through in its light.

The vision of Ward padded alongside the group, surveying his domain. His expression was serene, and his billowing fur shone in the rainbow light he cast. Lilia couldn't help thinking that it looked soft, and she wished she could touch it. She reached out to do so, and was shocked to find her fingers greeted by pillowy fur with hot blood beating beneath. The wolf leader's great power of illusion had indeed engulfed all her senses. The illusory wolf god was oblivious to her touch, so she simply enjoyed stroking his soft fur as the group continued to trek through the lush wood.

"Ward's protection, which we affectionately referred to as 'the ward', kept this land and its inhabitants safe and pure for millennia. The land was untouched by outsiders. All who ventured through fell victim to a power of illusion not unlike the spell you're under now, and simply passed through a plain and uninhabited section of forest. This was Ward's way. Rather than guarding against and attacking threats, he allowed them in our midst on the condition that they didn't know we were here. This would prove to be the downfall of our people."

All at once, the rainbow light shattered, and a dragon roared overhead. Lilia flipped her sword to a ready position and faced the new threat, ready to tear it to shreds. Her blood boiled at the sight of the scaly beast. "Wolf god...", it snuffed, sparks raining from its mouth as it spoke. Lilia turned to Ward as realization dawned on her. This was part of the illusion. "I have nothing for you, dragon. Leave.", Ward's strong voice rang out. The dragon shook its head, and the colossal creature landed in a nearby clearing. "I will not accept... Need control.. Need order... This forest will be annexed into the kingdom."

The dragon's calm tone betrayed a threat.

Ward stood firm, his fur bristling under Lilia's hand. A new kind of energy ripped its way out of him and licked at the dragon, knocking the creature onto its side. "Know your place, reptile!", Ward's voice boomed, louder than any explosion. "My people's sacred land is not yours to annex!" The dragon, all glittering blue scales, rose slowly and regarded Ward with beady black eyes.

"You have sealed your fate, wolf god, and that of your people." Without another word, black and blue wings covered the sky. Winds were stirred up and trees uprooted. Ward's size increased until he dwarfed the dragon, rising far above the treetops. The dragon called his bluff and belched jets of blue flame. The wood caught ablaze, sending creatures of all sorts running for cover. Ward was hit by the fire and howled, his singed fur smoking as the illusion he had cast faded and he returned to his former size.

Ward leapt out of Lilia's grasp and over her head, darting toward the dragon's throat with incredible speed. His fangs sunk deep into the dragon's throat, and he thrashed. As the reptile's long neck threatened to give under the strain, Ward doubled his assault with magic, battering the dragon's face, wings and body with gouts of magical energy. Lightning, plumes of razor-sharp leaves, powerful wind, and daggers of ice all rained from around Ward, smacking the dragon with their terrible fury.

The creature buckled under the might of Ward's attack, overwhelmed. Plumes of blue flame erupted from its mouth, catching more of the wood on fire. The flames never touched Ward, the dragon's head bent sideways with its neck in Ward's iron grip. The tide of battle changed not long after the dragon loosed a shrill cry that shook the heavens.

Seconds later, the clouds opened up and a veritable army of dragons spewed out. The tide of dragons acted as a unit, blanketing the forest in flame. The screams of woodland creatures pierced Lilia's ears, and she felt intense heat as the fires passed over where she was standing. Ten different dragons descended from the heavens and tore into Ward with their fangs. In a matter of seconds, the whirlwind of teeth, claws, and fire left Ward broken on the burning ground. The dragons ate some pieces of his body, and scattered others about. As Ward breathed his last, the illusion of him and the dragons faded.

Lilia's tears flowed freely. "That's so terrible!", she cried, "The dragons can never be forgiven. I see you know my pain..." Her voice echoed through the somber silence cast by the wolves before her. "This is our pain, child. This is our burning hatred, the reason we study magic. We lost everything on that fateful day, and it has taken us generations to rebuild to this point." As he finished his sentence, the lead wolf snapped off the illusion completely.

Lilia found herself in a bustling wolf city, full of talking wolves tarrying this way and that. To and fro they darted, through streets hewn smooth by centuries of footfall. Huts of stick and clay dotted the landscape, along with larger brick buildings that were no doubt built using magic. At the center of the village stood a macabre monument. A glass statue of Ward stood tall in the square, and up its spine was a crease with a hinge in the middle. Inside the statue were pieces of Ward's body, right where they would be if he were whole. "Wh... why is...", Lilia stammered as the color drained from her face.

"He is not dead.", the lead wolf answered, "And all is not lost. Ward, as a god, is immortal. He just needs his body to be whole again." Lilia stared in shock and horror. "So... his pieces..." The wolf walked closer to the statue and studied it.

"Yes, his pieces. Should we find them all and reassemble them, he can return. The only pieces still missing are those that were eaten by dragons; one leg, one ear, his nose, and his heart." Lilia gulped, the nodded. "How do we get those back, if they were eaten?" The wolf snarled his lips into a semblance of a human smile. "The dragons can't digest his pieces; he yet lives, and continues to struggle within them. Thus, we find these dragons and end their stomach aches."