The ground shaking and the ear-deafening sound of screeching woke the civilians, including Klein and Les, and they came rushing out of the tents to see a dragon flying in the sky and sparks of lightning zapping at the behemoth of a creature. There were gasps of wilderment as well as terror, and the children instinctively huddled close to their parents, afraid, as everyone stared in disbelief.

"What is a dragon doing here?" Klein said.

"In all of my life, I've never seen one this close," Les said.

Klein said, "Shouldn't we be evacuating?"

"We must find Lady Norsewood immediately," Les said, and they scanned around the place, searching for the lady in charge. They noted several soldiers, and Klein tsked in outrage. Were these Norsewood warriors crazy? Why were they not protecting the civilians and initiating an evacuation? The Mountain Dwarves would have acted already, vacating the premises and taking refuge in the depths of the dungeon of the mountains, hiding away from the carnage that would follow wherever a dragon appeared.

"What is that?" Les said, pointing at the magnificent airship parked a small distance away.

Klein widened his eyes, having only realized that such a splendid-looking thing, the likes them Mountain Dwarves could only dream of and fantasize of building with their imaginative minds, was here. He felt his knees weaken, the desire to closely study the contraption mounting in his chest, despite the dire circumstances. Suddenly, an echo of screams from the civilians caught his attention, and he, as well as Les, turned to see the dragon falling in the distance, crashing onto the side of the mountain. The two looked at each other, and they wondered who could have managed such a feat, to bring the behemoth down.

"Mama! The dragon falls. The dragon falls," one boy said, tugging at his mother's sleeves.

It was then Klein and Les saw Lady Quinn running down from the airship, and following behind her was Lord Colt Templeton. The two rushed over to Lady Quinn, and Klein said, "My lady, we must evacuate the civilians immediately."

Quinn, her eyes on the dragon, said, "And where would we go? It's safe here with the barrier."

"Safe? Here?" Klein said, flabbergasted.

"Barrier?" Les said, confused, for none had ever heard of such a thing before.

Quinn turned to Uncle Colt. "I must go to Aldric."

"Then I'll come with you," the man said.

Quinn shook her head. "No. You're in charge of looking after the civilians." She marched forward as a large group started swarming around her.

"My lady," one man said. "We must evacuate. There's a dragon." He pointed to the sky. "We all will die if we don't."

Quinn said, "You should all be safe here. The barrier should be sturdy enough against the dragon." No time to explain the specifics, she raised her hands and summoned her magic.

The moment the circle appeared, gasps of astonishment rang out from the civilians, and Les said, "Ancient magic?"

A vehicle materialized, and Klein could only stare, stunned, at the sight of the sleek vehicle with small spinning wings on either side at the front and back.

"What a marvelous vehicle," Uncle Colt said. "Is that a motorbike? But where are the wheels like the ones in the movies?"

Quinn chuckled. "It's a speed bike, or a hover bike. This one, magically made as it is, can fly." She hopped on as Klein and the Mountain Dwarves stared at the contraption with fascination. "I'll be back," she said as the engine revved at the same time the dragon flew up to the sky over the mountain. "Let's get going, Vicky."

Roger that, came Vicky's voice, and the speed bike lifted and then swiftly flew into the air as the children pointed and shouted, "The lady is flying! The lady is flying!"

"It flies," Klein said, breathless and astounded. "Why, I've never in all my life... It flies..."

"I've never seen the likes of such a thing before," Les said, dazed.

Uncle Colt, standing behind him, said, "Trust me, I've seen many miraculous things, but I'm still stunned every time she conjures new gadgets from thin air."

"New gadgets from thin air?" Les asked. "How is that possible?"

"Well, it's her type of magic," Uncle Colt said.

Up in the air, Quinn glanced around the chaotic scene before her, searching for Aldric. She saw Juan, sprinting up the stairs and slaying numerous guards charging at him in the process, and Theo, Liam, and the warriors fighting against the monsters using their elemental magic and their swords, with flashes of bright, glowing light of circles here and there as blasts of fire, ice, wind, and water continued to shoot out. Vincent was busy releasing his arrows at the priests lined up along the bridges, chanting, controlling the monsters, and finally, she spotted Aldric, slashing his whip at the dragon.

She flicked her gaze to the behemoth, and when it opened its mouth and she saw the inferno forming inside its throat, she knew down below would be turned into a field of burned corpses if she didn't do something. She'd be damned if she allowed her beloved husband as well as the warriors to leave this world before their time.

"Vicky," she said. "I'll be using a shitload of mana for this."

Roger that, Vicky stated. Adding in a large pool of mana into the circle.

A magic circle appeared in front of her, and she said, as the dragon expelled the gigantic flame down, "Water blast! Tsunami style!"

***

Aldric held his breath as he watched the flame of inferno come down toward them, and when he thought that this was it, that he could do naught, once again, to go against the monster that had annihilated half of his people, tidal waves of water spiraled toward the dragon, engulfing the creature as it extinguished the fire, snuffing out the inferno at the same time forcefully blasting the dragon back across the distance.

Loud cheers from the soldiers echoed across the mountains, and Aldric scanned around to see Quinn in the air, riding a motorbike-like gadget he had never seen before. An overwhelming sense of relief washed over him, and he watched as his wife came down toward them. Some of the soldiers hailed, "My lady! My lady!"

Before him, Quinn said, "Hop on."

Aldric wasted no time and got on the bike behind Quinn, and within moments they were airborne. Indeed, he had never imagined he'd be riding a flying motorbike with his wife driving, but there was always a first.

In front of him, Quinn said, "I'll take you as close as possible to the dragon."

Aldric nodded. "Mm-hmm." To Vicky in the tablet screen attached on the bike, he asked, "Does the dragon have any weak points?"

Vicky stated, According to my analysis via Lady Quinn's appraisal skill, the dragon, whose name is Gydris and is merely two hundred years old, has an extremely weak point at his neck where his fire core resides. Destroy the core, destroy him.

Quinn said, "He's two hundred years old? That's old."

He's not old. He's merely a baby in comparison to many other dragons, especially Hellfire, whose real name is Eorlaid, the Great Eternal Inferno, presiding over Blackfield, who is over six thousand years old.

"Ah, I see," Quinn said. "Then this one is indeed a mere baby."

As Aldric had already suspected, this dragon, the one who had annihilated half of his people four years ago, was not Hellfire. He said, "The throat then, and the core."

Correct, Vicky stated. Combining your lightning chi with your sword might just do the trick in piercing that fire core.

"Got it," Aldric said.

They followed the beast, chasing it as it maneuvered through the sky. Thanks to Vicky operating the bike, they managed to stick as close as possible to the dragon above it, never letting it out of sight. Once he found the opportunity, Aldric leaped off the bike across the empty space in the air, and Quinn held her breath as she watched, praying he wasn't going to fall to his death. Aldric managed to land on the back of the dragon, in the superhero style three-point landing no less, and Quinn sighed in relief.

Down below at base camp, the civilians and the soldiers watched, their eyes glued to the flying dragon and the man on its back. Some got down on their knees and started praying while Klein simply shook his head in disbelief. "Lord Aldric is mad."

"He means to kill the dragon?" Les said, astounded. "How is that going to be possible? A battalion of blessed knights have never been able to slay a dragon before, let alone a solo man."

Uncle Colt snorted. "A thousand blessed knights is nothing compared to Aldric alone. It will be possible." He smirked. "He's a Templeton with blood blessed by not only Isaris, the Goddess of War, but Zuesis, the God of Chaos, too."

Both Klein and Les turned to Uncle Colt, stunned that the man seemed so confident in Lord Aldric's ability. Les asked, "Lord Aldric is blessed by two deities? How is that even possible?"

Uncle Colt said, "Everyone is blessed, gentlemen, and most of us are blessed with more than one. Everyone also has the ability to use magic, as with us Norsewood men and women can now use magic. We are not meant to live in fear of the monsters. We are meant to survive and thrive. We are all loved by the deities. The concept of blessings where the elites, the blue-blood royalties and nobles are the only ones loved and blessed by the deities is hypocrisy." He turned to look at both Klein and Les. "We Norsewood citizens will rise above the rest in Eseron, and Aldric Templeton slaying that dragon will mark the beginning of that."

Up in the air, Aldric unleashed his lightning whip and let it go ripping in the air again, sparks cracking, sending electric waves across the beast. The dragon roared and screeched as it spun on its axis, and Aldric held on to its back until it was positioned upright again.

Now that there was enough damage to bring down the monster, Aldric wasted no time at sending out ice lances, each hitting smack-dab on the dragon's neck, its weak point where its fire core resided, piercing into its flesh as the dragon crashed to the ground, rubble flying as it slammed into the side of the mountain.

Quinn, up in the air, sent out ice lances, aiming the elemental magic weapons on the dragon's wings, the sharp pointy end piercing and tearing them, rendering them useless.

When the dragon came to crash-land at the base near the camp, causing the civilians to gasp in astonishment and some to scream in terror, Aldric took the opportunity. He raced across the length of the dragon's back, leaped into the air, and then came down again, his sword firm in his hands as he infused lightning chi, the martial art style he had learned through Vicky, into the sword.

The sharp blade went piercing through the dragon's neck as the lightning chi teared through the beast's solid scales. Blood spurted out like a geyser as the dragon roared, and Aldric sliced the blade around its neck, circling it once and then twice and then a third time until he was deep inside the dragon's flesh, the blade stabbing on the enormous core, the source of the dragon's lifeforce and its fire breath. As the dragon took its last breath and then flopped its head to the ground, its eyes closed, Aldric sprang out and landed on his feet on the back of the dragon, his face and body covered in blood.

Down below at camp where the dead dragon was only a stone's throw away, the civilians and soldiers stood shocked and frozen stiff, staring at the sight before them in stunned silence.

Uncle Colt shook his head, chuckling in delight. "Well, I'll be damned," he said, his eyes twinkling as pride warmed his chest.

Suddenly, a cheer erupted as those on their knees and praying stood and cried that they were saved. Klein said, his eyes large and round in disbelief, "He... killed a dragon. Lord Aldric slayed a dragon."

"He did," Les said. "He slayed a dragon."

A soldier roared into the air. "My lord slayed a dragon. My lord slayed a dragon! My lord saves the citizens! My lord saves the citizens!"

The other soldiers joined in, and soon, the place was echoing with the chant, "My lord slayed a dragon! My lord slayed a dragon! My lord saves us citizens! My lord saves us citizens!"