'It's okay, he's okay,' she thought. 'The solders haven't got this far yet and nothing in the woods would attack a dragon, even a younger dragon like Seth.'Ale walked to the closest tree, again looking for footprints, but couldn't find any there either. Her stomach started tying itself up in knots. What if something had happened to him?She was about to start biting her nails when something brushed the back of her shoulder. She whipped around just in time to see Seth's tail lift up out of sight. She looked up and there he was, sitting there with a mischievous grin on his face. She was also pleased to see he had finished closing his wounds, although he looked like death warmed over."Are you done playing?" Ale asked.Seth nodded and hopped down from the tree. "Where to next? I'm wiped out.""I know a place nearby

"No, I really enjoy talking with you," he said. "It's just I'm not used to opening up to people very quickly. In my world, people tend to talk about little unimportant things for a while before diving into the deeper stuff.""Why would they do that?" she frowned. "I mean, if it's not important why would you bother talking about it?"He opened his mouth to reply, and then stopped. "You know that's a good point.""I'm sorry if I seem pushy," she apologized. "It's just my parents are... Well they aren't around anymore and I don't get to talk to people very often. That's probably part of the reason I started talking to Drousin; there wasn't anyone else around.""Makes sense.""So what do you like to do for fun?" she repeated. Seth hesitated, and that's when Ale came up with a truly devious plan."How about this?

Seth felt like he was drifting in a sea of warmth. All was right with the world and he felt a profound sense of peace. It was like slowly waking up from a long nap when you were very tired. He felt refreshed and content; almost happy."Wake up dragon," a strange voice said. Something was shaking him, but a dragon? What did dragons have to do with anything?"Wake up foul beast, or I'll put you down in your sleep," the voice said again.Seth's eyes slowly opened. He was in a dark room that was very blurry, or maybe that was his vision. The room was plain; there was no furniture and the floor was covered in grass - a

He was looking at her that same way."Father, I-" Mathilda started to say, but was stopped when the back of his hand smacked against her cheek. She felt the skin tear on one of his rings, probably his signet ring. He didn't hit her hard at all, but that single slap hurt more than breaking every bone in her body.Something in her broke.She could feel it.She didn't know if it was her mind, her body or her spirit, but she felt it. She felt like an enormous hole had been carved out of her body, out of her soul. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if he had planned for this to happen. But it was a fleeting thought, quickly replaced by a profound sense of emptiness.He still had that look of disappointment on his face.She had seen that look on his face earlier when he had ordered that poor soldier to

Seth was pretty sure he was dreaming.He was in the middle of a large battlefield covered in the bodies of dead soldiers. They were all wearing dark armor with the image of a stylized dragon on the chest piece. The stench was unbelievable. The foul odor of decaying bodies mixed with the congealed blood and excrement rose to the heavens, acting as a beacon for the vultures circling overhead.All around the battlefield, small fires were burning and thick smoke rose into the air. It was daytime, but the clouds were so thick it was impossible to see the sky. The smoke, combined with the light from the fires, bathed the entire battlefield in a red hue.A black dragon stood in front of h