Above the skies of Audiria, not even a day after the Cult dragons attacked the walls and main gates of the beleagured city the alarm bells ring yet again. Black smoke drifts above the desert sands creating long thin trails into the upper atmosphere in the clear bright morning sun from buildings still burning from the attacks the day before.
The bells ring loud and clear, those brave enough to venture out on the streets that morning run quickly for underground shelters in various buildings around the city that still stand. Once again pikemen, nervous and sweating already from worry and stress move to positions designated around the city to mount what minimal resistance they can offer against the sheer power and brute force of the Cult dragons that have brought their nation to a standstill and killed or made refugees of thousands of their countrymen.
A Synod Cabalist, one considered to be amongst an esteemed order of the elite of the Sand Sea Synods forces waits beneath the overhang of a building with thirty pikemen at his back. He waits with his hand shadowing his dark eyes against the already burning morning sun as he seeks the tell tale specks in the sky that will signal the position of the attacking dragons.
Soon he has them, coming from the west. He watches as they descend from up high a number of miles out from the city over the desert itself. He watches as they gather momentum tucking their wings into their bodies for greater speed generation. In that moment he cannot help but admire the sheer natural power and grace of the beasts but nor can he ignore their potential for destruction. Glancing back at the men behind him he can smell the fear in them. Many had not eaten properly for days, some had lost family and friends already and most were simply not trained for war such as this. Motioning for them to wait and stay hidden he continued to watch the west soon losing sight of the Dragons behind the city walls. At the speed they were coming he estimated it would only be minutes before they would reach the city walls and the attacks would resume.
Closing his eyes the Cabalist called on his ancestors to be with him and prayed as he had done so every day for the last few weeks as if it would be his last day on this world. Touching a sacred relic of his family to his forehead and his lips he walked from the place in which he had hidden and stood to the middle of the dusty street. He signalled his men to stay hidden. There, alone in the middle of the street he called on the Al'noth, words of power that wrapped and twisted around him in currents of energy and the flow of magic that he believed came from his ancestors.
Deep into his castings he heard the first roar and glimpsed the flash of a dark shape as one dragon hit the western wall and rock and debris, men and dust exploded into the air. Fire filled the air in the street ahead and more buildings burst into flame. Then there was a second flash as the other dragon landed on top of the temple to Azatta and breathed fire into the streets around it setting more buildings alight.
Within moments the morning had been shattered in a cacophany of bells, dragon roars, flying debris, fire and the sounds of the wounded or dying.
The Cabalist spoke words of power and ice fell from the skies striking the dragon breaking through the cities western wall. That wall held the gate to the desert road that led to North Fort. Then, more words and harsh crackling lightning arced out in raging blue tendrils to wrap around the creatures neck and wing.
The dragon roared its fury and launched heavy boulders torn from the walls itself at its attacker. The rocks thundered into buildings around the Cabalist and he glimpsed quickly that one struck the place where his men were waiting. He could hear their screams in the dust that now filled the street but forcing his mind to the task at hand their cries become just part of the background noise as he released himself to the magic and cast everything he could summon at the dragon.
Some attacks fizzled and brushed off the dragon, others ran like rain down its skin while others seemed to cause the creature harm. Enraged it advanced on the Cabalist down the street taking time to tear down and destroy everything around it, buildings were smashed into pieces, people who ran into its path were torn apart, the road was clawed into jagged chunks, and clouds of dust and sand were raised by the massive wings as the creature slowly advanced.
At the same time in another part of the city the other dragon that had caused destruction from atop the temple had moved into the streets and was systematically hunting for any people it could find, buildings were either torn down or turned into raging torrents of fire in its rampage.
All the while far into the desert to the west a storm was rising. Winds picked up across the desert and slowly formed a maestrom that rose slowly and gradually until far in the west the sky was filled with a tall whirling tornado of sand particles. All around it hot winds sucked cold air from far above, drawing it down into the spinning vortex at its centre. The sudden condensation causing an intense build up of electrical energy within its core that was realised by sharp and jagged flashes of lighting and deep peals of thunder. The storm gathered strength building higher and higher, wider and wider and then it began to move eastwards.
Oblivious to the rising storm the Cabalist watched his death advancing on him. The massive enraged Cult dragon had allmost reached him and been able to shrug off most of the energy he had thrown at it leaving him nothing in reserve. Waiting for the inevitable he closed his eyes as the dragons claw moved towards him and its violent roars filled his years.
Then...far above the storm from the desert broke over the city, the sky darkened all at once and the spinning vortex of sand enveloped the city. The violent wind blown sand cut vision to no more than a few feet, and the winds howled through the streets, lighting lashed out and struck at any object that rose above the main level of the city and thunder roared within its depths.
Blown off his feet the Cabalist was flung against a building by the force of the sudden wind, sand lashed at his exposed skin and forced its way into his eyes and mouth. The Dragon that had been about to strike him tried to leap into the whirling maelstrom to escape and was all at once smashed into the ground as two smaller forms tore into it. The Cabalist fought to blink away sand and fix his gaze on the confused images, his mind barely able to adapt to the sudden change in the air around him and the battle before him. Awe and shock filled him, disbelief rose in his heart and then the thought that his prayers to his ancestors had saved his life filled his mind.
Struggling to see or even move in the vicious sand storm he could barely make out the shapes tearing and ripping into the larger dragon, blood splattered on the ground as the larger dragon tried desperately to escape its attackers and gain some height. The combat was ferocious between the three combatants but it was clear the two smaller foes had gained the element of suprise over the larger. The Cabalist fought to regain his feet fighting against the fierce winds as the larger dragon managed to break away from its attackers and leap into the air. There, a massive discharge of lightning thundered into the creature and with a stench of burning flesh and a loud thump its lifeless form hit the ground. The shockwave from the blast sent the Cabalist back against the wall again where he collapsed unconscious.
Meanwhile the other dragon had noticed the approaching storm and leapt into the air to evade it. The storm seemed to surge towards the fleeing creature and just as it reached it a huge blue skinned shape emerged from the storm. Lightning issued forth from its open maw along with hundreds of tendrils of electrical energy from the storm it had created. The massive discharge enveloped the fleeing Cult dragon and when the flash dissipated dust and ash, all that remained of the dragon drifted slowly towards the desert floor.
With a deep throated roar the Long Storm circled the city, the storm he and his kin had created starting to dimish, leaving a thick layer of sand over the entire city.
With another deep roar, answered in kind by two smaller dragons, a gold and a slate coloured one that rose from the city to join him. The three dragons headed west once again.
And as the dust settled, the people emerged to behold the wonder of their salvation from the Cult dragons.
