2 Havoc

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CHAPTER 2

Raven flew as fast as her wings could carry her, skipping her initial mission to rescue her pet fox.

Increasing her speed, she activated her senses, searching out the first point of attack and the closest village.

With her face contorted with worry, she hoped to begin her warning from there and have them light the torch of Dradevows and blow the ancient horns of war to signal to everyone the danger to follow.

***

Meanwhile, the angry being finally broke free from the uncomfortable chains, ignoring the destruction that followed as more of his rage returned in full force.

One thing Raven remained oblivious to was the fact that when the Dragon King was sealed years ago, his emotions were bottled within those chains, ridding him of the rage from the past.

As such, the ancient rulers and council members ensured he would be less powerful enough to break the seal.

This had been good, considering the seal was strong and they lived peacefully. Sadly, now that the chains were broken, his rage returned with an even greater force.

"Aaaahhhh!" He roared out, his body glowing a bright light as his transformation instantly took place.

Painful images from ten thousand years ago kept flashing before his eyes. He was made to relive a moment he dreaded in his life because of his emotions and the reasons for them had returned.

"Xavier…" A soft voice trailed off in his mind, haunting the very memory he cherished and hated to the core.

A tear escaped from the brim of his eyes, recalling the sight of his dead wife and the smile she had on her face as her body lay cold on the bare floor.

"Saphira…" his voice trailed off in a whisper filled with unreadable emotions.

"Saphira," Xavier called out audibly now, causing the rubble to fall on his back, pulling him out from his reverie and back to his rage.

"Saphira!" His eyes blazed with untold fury, snarling as he seemed to be in search of something but found none.

"They shall all pay for what they have done. Be it now, in the past or the future."

With that, he flapped his giant wings, controlling the wind as he roughly burst through the crumbling cave, soaring into the open sky.

*****

'He has awoken. I… No. I must set things straight.' Raven recounted in her mind.

She flew in, heading straight for the village and coming to an abrupt stop in the air, as she yelled out her warnings.

"Run! Hide! The Dragon King has broken out!" She quickly alerted.

Several blank gazes flew in the direction where she hovered, wondering what she was googling about.

"Isn't that, Lady Raven?" In confusion, a young man inquired from his neighbour, pointing at her in the sky.

His neighbour nodded as she too spotted something different. "Why is she up there? And what is she rambling about in the ancient tale?"

Seeing their hesitation, Raven decided to take matters into her hands. She knew it would be difficult to convince them to run at this point as her words seemed silly to their ears.

Quickly, her piercing gaze searched for the main entry point as she lifted back up in the sky, going for the torch.

Soon enough, she found it and surprisingly without any guard or watch protecting the ancient pillars, ready to make an announcement.

"Seriously!" Raven complained through gritted teeth as she made her way to the top of the wall and gathered her powers in her hands.

Instantly, a spark flew out and a small flame erupted in the space between her hands. Her brows furrowed deeply when she saw the minute flames that fanned out as her fingers trembled.

"Come on!"

She knew better than to be so nervous about performing this little ritual. It required complete calmness to produce a big enough flame.

Normally she wouldn't have had any problems but with all that had happened, she was at a loss.

'Calm down. Think of them. You got this.' After preparing her mind, she closed her eyes shortly, inhaling deeply.

Immediately much bigger flames ten times the size she once created pushed out from between her palms.

Satisfied by the outcome, she moved her hands back and sent the flames straight at the empty three feet moulded lamp holder, lighting up the torch.

Wasting no time, Raven swept her gaze to the side just in time to see the three other torches in the village lit up in response.

Her heart swelled a bit as she released a deep sigh. With the torches lit, she was sure of the other villages and in turn the kingdom.

At the very same time, she heard a loud shriek, cringing at the ear-deafening sound that came from the danger zone.

Her eyes flew wide open and she returned to the village, alerting everyone.

"Run! Hide! He's broken out, please. Inform the cap…"

"Aaaarrghh!"

Raven's eyes widened some more when she felt the dreadful aura begin to close in behind them.

She instinctively whipped her head to the side, turning her body to see firsthand the dreaded horror she had unleashed flying fast in their direction.

She had wanted to warn them but now it was too late.

Peeling her gaze from him, she averted her gaze back to the village only to see them standing with petrified looks on their faces as they watched the majestic being fly forward.

'Damn it!' She cursed within.

She wasted no time in flying down into the village and raced through the street, screaming at them.

At the same time, Xavier swept past the village, with his mouth wide open, spraying flames without a second thought on the several buildings along his path.

That singular action seemed to have broken them from their trance and everyone took to their heels.

The village immediately was enveloped by screams the second the fire began to touch the buildings and people close by.

'This is bad!' Raven voiced out in her head, while her gaze hurriedly searched around, looking for a way to help them out.

This was a village in Drakenflare, the kingdom of the Dragons. They were all dragons and it was useless to fight fire with fire.

Although there were other types of dragons, now fear was the only thing that reigned in their minds. There was no way to combat such flames as they were now.

Her heart clenched from the sight that had begun to transpire before her eyes.

Raven peeled her gaze from the destruction and looked up, only to see Xavier making a turn, heading for the village once more.

"Hide, stay out of sight!" She screamed once again and heeded her own advice, running along the houses, far from his sight for fear of being caught.

She did not need someone telling her the fate that awaited her should she be found by him, especially after all that happened in the cave.

With the passing of time, Xavier enveloped the village with his flames due to his fury.

Once satisfied by the buildings falling and the wails coming from the village, he charged on, heading for the next village to do the same destruction.

He had his reasons, one they knew not and what made matters worse, the people of Heartfire were stupefied by the mighty dragon hovering in the sky while he purged his destruction on them.

He was once their king, one feared and of the true bloodline. His power was unmatchable.

Even if they had dared to act and fight, anyone who did would be met with a gruesome end.

With those thoughts left in mind, all they knew how to do was take to their heels, running, flying into hiding and staying out of his sight.

No one knew exactly why he went berserk in the first place which caused him to be sealed.

All they knew, was whoever or whatever made him break the seal was to blame.

Raven watched in horror as buildings collapsed into a mound of heavy dust and the terror spoke of replayed itself again before her eyes.

However, unlike the others, she was least bothered by her fright and sped up to help those she could, assisting their escape from the flames and buildings.

While she did that, just close to the entrance of the village, she heard a crack and shot her eyes in that direction.

To her deepest surprise, a young child stood under the big pillars holding the mighty gate as she watched in horror what was about to happen.

"Run! Child, run from there!" She yelled at the top of her voice, but the little one remained rooted on the spot, clutching hard to her doll with her head lowered.

Just watching the crack speed up the long pillars, Raven felt her heart tighten as fear rose in her mind for the safety of the child.

She balled her hands into a fist at her side, releasing a deep sigh as she charged for the gates, risking her life and being seen by Xavier should he come back, all for this child.

"Aah!" Raven grunted in frustration as she watched the pillars begin to crumble.

Increasing her speed beyond what she had done before, Raven dove right for the young child just before the pillars crashed on the child.

Sadly, her timing was both right and wrong as the pillars rained down on her instead.

Spreading her wings to the side, they curved around her and the child, acting as a cover as she managed to dodge some of the fallen pillars.

With her head lowered, Raven failed to see the obstacle before her and swerved to her left side in full speed.

She had felt doing that would lead them out and into safety. Little did she know where she rushed at.

BRAAGH!

She crashed fast and hard into the gate, sending herself and the child straight to the ground.

Everything had happened too fast for her and in that rush where her full strength came to play, she had no control of her speed.

Still being held in Raven's protective hands, the young girl remained safe from harm. However, Raven slipped into unconsciousness.