Giant Dragons, Answer the Call

A pillar of blood-red fire shot into the sky, its blazing flames hurtling straight at the silver dragon tearing through the black mist.

The dragon had scales as pure as silver and a small yet still regal crown of horns. It nimbly folded its membranous wings and dodged the pillar of fire that split the sky. Then, like a seabird hunting prey, it dove toward the source of the flames: the gigantic Fire Dragon Worm that had suddenly burst from the ground. The creature raised its long body high and let out a silent roar at the heavens, refusing to yield.

Roar!

A thunderous dragon cry echoed through the ruins.

Golden flames no weaker than the pillar of fire poured down like a waterfall from the sky. The two streams of flame exploded in midair, and countless firebursts rained down like a storm of fire. Lonzell yanked Lynn, whose upper body was still exposed, beneath an overhanging piece of rubble.

"Amos, Hofa, gather everyone. We need to join up with our lord as quickly as possible."

The people in the camp realized something was wrong and did not wait helplessly. Under Sebastian and Aslan Longdell's lead, they swiftly moved toward the ruined tower.

The bronze dragon passed through the mushroom-shaped cloud of fire produced by the collision, raised its sharp claws, and struck at the Fire Dragon Worm's enormous lizard-like head. Its spread brown membranous wings blotted out the sky. Even from some distance away, Lonzell could sense its immense size.

The Fire Dragon Worm refused to back down. It allowed the dragon's claws to tear through its rocky shell, then twisted its long body nimbly and opened its jaws to bite at the dragon's chest and belly.

But it might have underestimated the bronze dragon's combat prowess. With a savage swipe of its claws, the Fire Dragon Worm's open jaws were slapped shut, and its head was sent flying upward.

The silver dragon seized the opening, beat its wings, and shot upward. It opened its jaws and viciously bit down on the Fire Dragon Worm's "neck," if it even had one.

Sharp dragon teeth crunched through the rocky shell protecting the Fire Dragon Worm's body. Scalding blood, hot as magma, gushed out in streams.

The Fire Dragon Worm let out a soundless scream of pain. Its serpentine ringed body writhed madly, spewing sheets of flame into the air, but all of them were blocked by the bronze dragon's scales, which gradually glowed like molten gold beneath the fire. Its claws dug firmly into the Fire Dragon Worm's lizard head, then it breathed Dragonfire downward, thoughtfully avoiding the silver dragon biting its neck.

Bathed in blazing Dragonfire, the flames where the Fire Dragon Worm's eyes should have been grew weaker and weaker. The armored shell protecting its head began to crack and melt.

Lonzell swallowed nervously.

Was this the gods' reward?

Wasn't this a little excessive?

The heat in his blood gradually faded, and he could sense the burning things awakening underground rapidly fleeing the area.

After all, this was only the outskirts of the Valyria ruins. A single gigantic Fire Dragon Worm could rule this place. Now that the king of these monsters was being hunted by even stronger creatures, how could the little things hidden throughout the city ruins not be terrified?

After exhaling a breath of Dragonfire, the bronze dragon bit down on the Fire Dragon Worm's head, whose eye sockets no longer held any flame. Its fangs effortlessly tore through the flesh beneath the shell.

The silver dragon gave a tug, and the Fire Dragon Worm's head separated from its body.

Only then did the bronze dragon slowly turn toward Lonzell and the others, carrying the Fire Dragon Worm's head in its mouth.

The two dragons swayed as they folded their wings and descended beside the ruined tower, bringing the Fire Dragon Worm's corpse with them.

The silver dragon tilted its head to glance at the skeletal remains of its own kind, then turned back and continued tearing at the Fire Dragon Worm's flesh. It seemed especially fond of the creature's burning-hot meat.

The bronze dragon looked down coldly at Lonzell, who was hiding beneath the ruins with the gathered group. There was a faint hint of agitation in its dragon eyes. It was at least a full size larger than the silver dragon. Its jaws, more than a size larger as well, opened to reveal jagged, sharp teeth. Unlike the silver dragon, whose horn crown was small and sparse, thick spikes were arranged neatly across the bronze dragon's body. Its horns were thick and long, some pointing straight backward and others curving downward, together forming a savage crown. Spikes like a beard also lined its jaw.

"It seems the magical contamination in the Valyria ruins is no longer suitable for dragons to live in." Lonzell keenly caught that trace of agitation. The dragon had only just arrived and was already being affected.

Combined with their unmistakable physical traits, it was highly likely that these two dragons were the dragons of the surviving Dragonlord family mentioned in the intelligence reports: the Targaryen family. One was the ill-tempered, battle-hardened Bronze Fury, Vomysor, named after the forging god of Old Valyria and once the companion of Jaehaerys I, the Old King, Arbiter, and Conciliator. The other was Silverwing, dragon of Good Queen Alysanne Targaryen.

In other words, they were the dragons of Lonzell and Valar's grandfather and grandmother.

Among the known living dragons of that time, Vomysor was second in size only to the old dragon Vhagar.

The gods really were generous.

Assuming he survived Vomysor's Dragonfire.

"Valar." Lonzell called to his younger brother, cut open his palm, and smeared blood across both his own face and his brother's.

Blood tinged with silver slowly ran down the two boys' faces.

Valar was only confused for a moment before immediately following his brother with growing excitement.

The dragons that had landed nearby seemed not to notice these two "little bugs." With a crunch, Vomysor bit apart the Fire Dragon Worm's head and swallowed the jelly-like, lava-like viscous substance inside. It closed its eyes contentedly, as though savoring the taste, though the thick smoke continuously billowing from its nostrils suggested that it was not in a particularly good mood.

Silverwing lowered its head, bit through the rocky armor covering the Fire Dragon Worm's body, and leisurely tore into its steaming flesh. Vomysor searched around inside the Fire Dragon Worm's head for a while, then turned and roared angrily at Silverwing.

Roar!

Silverwing froze for a moment, then actually shuffled several steps aside as if feeling wronged. But it quickly seemed to come to its senses and roared back without the slightest restraint.

Hiss-roar!

But after only one roar, Silverwing flicked its head and tossed a chunk of Fire Dragon Worm before Vomysor, then continued swallowing the remaining flesh in small bites.

Seeing this, Vomysor did not press the matter. It lowered its head and began tearing into the meat Silverwing had thrown over.

Meanwhile, Lonzell, who had already reached the edge of Vomysor's wing, had gone pale. Now he understood why dragons were so terrifying.

Vomysor's enormous body stretched hundreds of feet long, with a wingspan exceeding a thousand feet. In his magical vision, it was a blazing volcano. Endless flames burned violently within its core. Fire flowed through the dragon's blood, and fire dwelled in its muscles.

From a magical perspective, dragons were living flame. If the two dragons were not slowly absorbing the magical contamination within the ruins, and if the protective runes on his body had not come from his father and the mages' research into that contamination, Lonzell would have had no way to secretly influence the two dragons' emotions through their connection.

In truth, he had barely affected them at all. Perhaps because of their former owners, the two dragons shared a strange harmony. Even with their emotions affected by the contamination, they had not begun tearing at each other over food like ordinary beasts.

Lonzell grasped the black faceted stone threaded with silver wire hanging from his neck. It was something his father had left him, along with a specific note that if he ever encountered an adult dragon that could be tamed, he could take out this Shadowbinding Stone from Asshai.

As for what the stone did, even his father did not know.

Having made up his mind, Lonzell grabbed one of Vomysor's spikes and began climbing onto its body.

Vomysor sensed something crawling over it and shook itself in discomfort. Lonzell clung desperately to a spike and barely avoided being thrown off.

"This can't go on."

Lonzell knew perfectly well that if Vomysor moved again, he would not be able to hold on. Gritting his teeth, he slapped a spike with his palm.

Blood instantly surged from the puncture wound, but it did not drip down. Instead, it slowly seeped into Vomysor's scales.

Silver light stirred. The wound on Lonzell's palm quickly stopped bleeding and healed completely. Seeing Vomysor settle down, Lonzell continued climbing toward the depression on its back.

There were several bony spikes there that he could grip.

Vomysor had just torn off a chunk of meat and swallowed it when it suddenly realized that the little bug from before had not been shaken off. It had actually climbed onto its back.

How could it tolerate that?

"Vomysor, fly!" Lonzell shouted in High Valyrian.

Vomysor unceremoniously twisted its neck and breathed Dragonfire straight behind itself.

Roar!

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