"They're coming!!"

Nena fell to the ground with a thud as a result of Eimid's clumsy landing, and her exclamation caused some uproar, Ecrians from the various guilds gathering around her as the sun slowly set behind the largest mountain on Moon Valley. I too walked hurriedly toward her, wondering why she was so rushed. What in the name of Brutheo did she do this time? 

I made my way to the front of the circle around the girl, and my eyes immediately met her panicked gaze as she shakily made an attempt to stand up, leaning on Kindle for support.

"Aros, we have to leave, right now!!"

The sheer hysteria in her eyes made something crack inside of me, and I had to make an effort not to let Brutheo bubble up as I tried to calm my friend down. 

"Zig, what happened? Take a deep breath first. Okay? You need to calm down!"

The girl looked up at me, and the fear in her eyes turned into a frustrated, angry panic.

"Calm??  HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO BE CALM? I was FOLLOWED by a VORTEXIA!"

From one moment to the next, the entire curious atmosphere in the group had turned to panic, and a whole host of questions flooded me, coming from all of the guild members around me, as my heart just about sank to the ground. 

"But it's sunset! We're doomed!"

"Is Kleim's force field still working?"

"We can't let the children go to sleep!"

"We're all going to die!!!"

My last bit of self-control vanished, and a raging pain shot through my spine as Brutheo pushed forward and took control of my body, trapping me in my own mind. 

"SHUT IT!"

When Brutheo took over, it seemed as if I was placed outside of my own body, watching completely helplessly while my body acted as a marionette, instilling unnecessary terror among the guild members. The pain continued to pound through my skull, and I watched from above as my body crumpled under the sheer power the patron dragon was exerting on me.

Then, the worst part began: the pain intensified, scales shone through in a green haze in certain places on my face and arms, and an immense pressure arose between my shoulder blades, my eyes becoming completely animal-like, staring at the group of Ecrians as the dragon within me began to walk around the terrified Nena in a smooth, reptilian manner. 

"There is no time for crying. If you wish to stay alive, listen to me, the mighty Brutheo; the human has provoked an upcoming Vortexia-attack: I sense them already, lurking in the dark. Prepare for battle: fight with us, and you'll live. Drown in your own panic, and you will fall. The power is in your hands, do not disappoint us."

From one moment to the next I was back in my own body, and the pain was replaced by sheer exhaustion. I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head, and I fell to the pavement with a thud. 

...

"Aros?"

"Aros!"

A tap on my cheek.

And another one.

And another one, harder this time.

My eyes jolted open, and I quickly sat up straight, trying to catch my breath as I felt sweat bead on my forehead. The world seemed to tumble around me, which made me feel nauseous, and I felt heartburn coming up in my chest. I fell back down with a thud, and looked up at the sky, exhaustion weighing down on me. 

"Ho ho, calm down mate, you almost gave us a heart attack!"

The blurred faces looked at me with concern from above; one of them came closer, and I saw Mali put her hand on my forehead, which she promptly withdrew in a hissing manner.

"Holy Imocré, you're practically on fire! You can't leave us now Aros, we'll be attacked any moment." 

Another voice joined the conversation: "We could all use a little Imocré right now. At least it does more than our Patron Dragon."Kindle grabbed my hand and pulled me upright, and the circle of Ecrians that had formed around me diverged slightly.

"Don't enable him.", I mumbled, and I checked the weapons that hung on the belt around my waist so I wouldn't have to look anyone in the eyes; I knew they were all scared of me, even my own bloody sister. 

"Can Vortexiae even get up here? Since we're like, on a floating island."

Wayne's snarky remark drew all attention to him. 

"We can never be sure of th-"

Before Kindle finished his sentence, an all-crushing sound ripped through the valley. Everyone cowered as the sky swelled bright purple, and animal-like screeching, which seemed to come straight out of nightmares, filled my ears.

"I think that's our answer...", Kindle mumbled, but I didn't hear the replies, as I ran away, in the direction of the screams. 

And that's when I saw her.

Despite her completely disfigured face, which had been wrought by the mantis-like legs of a life-threatening monster, I could still see who she was. 

Vega.

My sister.

I fell down on my knees as I screamed, louder than ever before. All the faces of my fallen brothers and sisters flashed in front of my eyes, and now, she was with them. 

Peclore. Aster. Ree. Tina. Rellian. Vega. 

All of them gone, like flower petals in a windstorm. 

I watched as the tips of Vega's blond hair turned red and her scarf became completely blood-soaked, startled when someone put a hand on my shoulder.  I looked up and locked eyes with Nena, who clamped her other hand around an awfully familiar dagger. Rellian's dagger.

I pulled myself together and stood back up, watching as everyone clutched to their weapons, lined up in organized rows, each with their leader in front. Ref, the leader of the yellow guild, looked at me, and he nodded mournfully at me as a sign of sympathy. After all, Vega had been one of his guild members.

Angry, I pushed away the all-consuming thought that we weren't even going to be able to bury her.  

I felt myself climbing on Myrdor, my dragon, as did the other leaders. Now was the time to stay strong, to encourage my guild, to stand by my found family in this battle. 

For quite a while, nothing happened. Here and there, bushes moved, causing some Ecrians to look up, startled, ready to strike. But we, the leaders, we knew the monsters all too well, we had all the necessary experience. They were lurking in the dark, waiting for our focus to fade. 

Mali raised her hand slowly, and the dragon riders climbed in the saddles of their dragons. I quickly glanced over my shoulder and saw that Nena was, fortunately, following Kindle's movements intricately. 

I was the first to make the idiotic mistake of letting Myrdor take a step forward.An almost Ecrian scream filled my ears, quickly followed by the pulverizing of the bushes across the already dark valley.I shook off the headache quickly, and Myrdor dove to the side just fast enough before the first Vortexia could hit me. Ref shouted something unintelligible, and as I quickly glanced over my shoulder I saw all the young guild members who couldn't fight rushing toward the tents behind the makeshift wall of branches and stakes.But I was distracted too easily. Myrdor caught the blow of yet another monster, and I flew out of the saddle, crashing to the ground with a loud thud, right next to a giant boulder.

I rolled over, taking cover behind the rock, and jaws snapped shut right beside my throat as I reached for my crooked dagger. The once tranquil clearing had now turned into a veritable battlefield, and everywhere the sounds of battle, clanging weapons, screams of Ecrians, and the revolting sounds of the Vortexiae echoed.  

misshapen, bony hands pinned me to the ground, and white drool from the beast that was once an Ecrian dripped onto my clothes as I struggled to pull my weapon from its scabbard.  I couldn't do anything but look death straight in the eye as I stabbed at it at random, blackened eyes in a pale, twisted face with sharp teeth staring straight back as I fought for my life. Before the Vortexia could strike, I rammed my dagger haphazardly into its neck, and black, syrupy blood spurted from the wound as the beast shrieked, and I cringed at the paralyzing sound. My head seemed to be on the verge of bursting from the headache, but I had to keep going: without hesitation I twisted the dagger, and the screeching turned to gurgling, the body of the former Ecrire convulsing in its last breath as its body fell on top of me.

With an expression of disgust on my face, I pushed the corpse away from me, and stood back up, quickly scanning all around me, weapon at the ready. 

"AROS! BEHIND YOU!!!"

Nena's voice came from the left, but she was just too late; I felt the blow against the back of my head, and I yelped, falling down to the ground. I just barely managed to roll over, and saw an arrow split the Vortexia's face in two.

Nena's arrow.

Then, everything went black. 

...

No no no no no no no no no no no...

The word repeated itself countless times in my head. 

A blurry image formed before my eyes, but then the headache came again, and everything became pitch black once more, in a flash.

But it was not the black of when your eyes are closed, for mine were wide open.

I was somewhere, yet nowhere at the same time.

A groan echoed behind me, and when I turned around I saw something I normally only saw when Brutheo took over my body: I saw myself lying on the ground. 

It hit me like a hammer in the face: my younger self was lying on the ground, my clothes soiled, my hands pressed against my ears, the tips of my blond hair blackened because of the fire. 

Seven-year-old me.

Around me, the surroundings began to take shape, and I saw something I never wanted to see again: my old village, all in ruins. People were running screaming back and forth across the sandy town square, but I-or at least, my younger self-just stayed curled up, as if it would help to pretend nothing was wrong. Men, women and children fled in all directions, tripping over dead bodies as they tried to save themselves.

This was the moment of the first Vortexia-attacks. The attacks that caused the Duke of Kleim to exile all of the children. The attacks that were lead by Sherdol, the bringer of death. The ground began to shake, just as hard as I remembered, and the dilapidated house next to me collapsed.

Without thinking, I grabbed my younger self by the wrist, dragging him to where I had found safety all those years ago. While running, I was constantly slowed down by the little guy, so I lifted him up, and ran on without waiting for a reaction from the little me.That's when I saw him. Giant scaly claws the size of huts rammed themselves into the dry soil of the agricultural fields beside me, and the shock almost made me fall to the ground, still carrying my younger self.

I certainly hadn't forgotten Sherdol's size: like a titan, he towered high above everything; even the capital's largest apartment buildings looked like fruit flies next to him.

Quickly I turned right, away from the monster, dodging bodies and carts, running towards the forest at the edge of the village: there was the city gate of Kleim, the capital. That's where I found safety last time. Suddenly I heard three pairs of feet running beside me.My heart stopped as I looked beside me: I saw three boys, all around seven, all covered in dust from head to toe, but I would recognize them out of a crowd of a thousand. 

The oldest pulled the middle boy along by his wrist, his dark brown skin gleaming with sweat, his afro cut short, his hand pressed against his injured left eye. The middle boy stumbled again and again, as his blond hair hung in his deep blue eyes again and again. The third boy looked at me questioningly with big, brown eyes, and his brown curls bounced up and down on the rhythm of our running. My first friends. Rexus, Rellian and Kindle. They were all here.

The gnawing feeling that something was not adding up finally cleared up as we left the town and ran towards the thick, stone walls of the capital: I had been unconscious the whole time during the attack. How did I remember this? When I woke up in front of the city gates Rexus had said that someone had carried me there. Someone he thought was familiar. 

As we halted to a stop, the realization hit me.

I saved myself on that day, all those years ago.

My future self saved me.