Lorenzen rushed his way to the Citadel. Dawn was breaking but the air was as cold and thin as it always was. Not that it bothered him, he was used to it. All the dragons were to some extent but he, in particular, had made this journey a few thousand times.

  This time, he was returning from the field. He had been sent out to help locate the missing human army that had made an entire city vanish. It was only within the last few hours he had received the news…

  While many under his wing had been disappointed or even downright furious, he was actually relieved. War was something he detested, he much preferred to be back at the Citadel doing something boring like escorting the queen.

  But I’ll do anything for her, he thought, spotting the Citadel in the distance. He was loyal and no matter what she asked him to do, he would do it.

  Suddenly, he felt a presence enter his mind, the weight and authority he felt told him exactly who it was.

  Your Highness?

  Lorenzen, I am commanding you to disregard your current orders. Instead, you are to head straight for the dwarves. They are under siege by a massive army and are under threat of being overrun. I have sent Ithea and Nevrim as well, but they are to be your back up. You have operational command.

  Understood, he responded, already changing his course.

  The feeling of Fea’s authority receded and he let out a sigh. Duty calls and this loyal subject will answer…

  Fea sat quietly upon her throne as a projection came to life before her. She saw tens of thousands of soldiers gathering and preparing for an assault. The scene had come from the dwarves themselves as proof of what they were dealing with.

  “Is this the missing army?” someone asked in a hushed tone. However, it was clear what they were trying to do.

  Maybe it was a mistake to bring in all these advisors… She thought to herself. On some level she could understand their mistrust of the human but she had already made her decision, and her decision was law.

  Fea was about to remind everyone of that when the human in question spoke.

  “That is definitely not my army. Those banners belong to the 2nd Herald’s Calvary.” Felix said, pointing to one of the massed groups. “Besides, as I’ve already reported, my army was wiped out.”

  A silver, metallic dragon stepped forward, their eyes narrow and focused on the human. “We are fully aware, but do not think we trust–”

  “Enough,” Fea said, interrupting them. “Nevrim has already confirmed everything, the human did not lie then. I don’t see why he would lie now.”

  “Your Highness, with all due respect to Nevrim, he is not impervious to being fooled,” they responded.

  Typical, stupid and useless infighting… “That may be true, but I have confirmed things myself. Do you believe I too would be fooled?”

  They lowered themselves to the ground, a draconic version of kowtowing. “No, Your Highness. I mean no disrespect to anyone, especially you… I just think we should still be cautious. Having someone that was, until recently, an enemy being so close is unwise.”

  “Your concern is noted. However, I’ve made my decision.” Fea waved him away, and looked towards the human. “Felix, what can you tell us about this army?”

  He gave her a bow. “Your Highness, the army most likely belongs to General Salvius. I am surprised to find him already in the Wildlands. He was supposedly still recruiting as of a few weeks ago.

  “And, as for his tactics… He is a brutish man who sees his men as nothing but tools, sacrificial ones at that. However, he is probably the most suited against fighting the dwarves, since both love to have their brawls.”

  “In effect, he knows how they think. Is that what you are saying?” she asked.

  “It is, Your Highness.”

  “Then it is good that I’ve sent my best. I have to hope they will be enough…”

  Lorenzen stared down at the enemy forces attempting to break through the dwarven defenses. The sheer number of soldiers was alarming and more than he could have imagined. To make matters worse, he could tell the humans were planning something dangerous. The mana in the air felt sick.

  No wonder she sent me here and made Ithea and Nevrim hold back. Fea’s orders had puzzled him, the other two dragons should have been enough. But now that he was here? It all made sense.

  He knew what he had to do.

  Gods forgive me… He folded in his wings and began a dive. The clouds streaked past him, covering his brilliant sapphire scales in mist. He sparkled as he made his appearance.

  Reaching for his mana, the personal guard to the queen made himself known to everyone.

  MY NAME IS LORENZEN…

  ***

  His vision flickered, his body ached, and he barely registered the air rushing around him. Blinking, it took himself several seconds to realize he was falling.

  Slowly, almost lazily, his wings unfurled but still he fell. Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong.

  Come…on! he shouted to himself. Flap damn you!

  His wings ached, the muscles stiff. There was a missing buoyancy he was used to.

  The ground below was rushing up to meet him. He needed something to slow himself down or else it would almost certainly be his doom.

  In a last ditch effort, Lorenzen tried to cast a spell. His mana spurted and his soul cried out in agony. There was almost nothing left. Almost.

  At the last possible moment, his spell activated. His free fall stopped and he touched the ground softly. But that was it. He immediately collapsed, writhing in unimaginable pain.

  “Zen!” A voice called out to him from a distance. It sounded familiar…

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  “Zen! Hold on! I’ll help you!” It was closer now, almost on top of him. “Ithea! Help me!”

  Ah, right… Nevrim and Ithea were here too. A cool, almost cold, hand touched his scales and he went numb.

  “Listen to me, we’re going to help you! We’ll…”

  Nevrim’s voice faded out. Lorenzen felt tired, so very tired. I’ve lived long enough. If the Gods think my time is up, so be it.

  He gave in to his exhaustion, not caring if he would wake up.

  The entire throne room was stunned silent as the news reached them. Lorenzen had, in one single spell, destroyed an army of a hundred thousand.

  But at what cost? Fea asked herself as she waited for his fate to reach them. Zen was a legend, a loyal subject, the captain of her guards. And, most importantly, he was a friend.

  “Y-Your Highness,” another of her advisors said, stammering. “Nevrim reports that…” The advisor gulped. “He reports that Lorenzen has burned up all of his mana. His soul, it’s dying.”

  Her world shattered then. For a dragon, and like the fey, they needed mana to live. To consume all that they had stored within their soul meant causing irreparable damage. Worse, it meant a slow and agonizing death. There was no healing that could be done to repair it.

  I could let him die and bring him back! It was a desperate thought and one that would almost certainly not work. The sacrifice needed would be great, perhaps more than she could afford.

  There has to be something! I– We can’t lose Lorenzen… But how?! How can I save him? She looked out upon the gathered crowd, the distance between her and them grew. The feeling of isolation and loneliness struck her then.

  If she did nothing, she would lose one of her only true friends. If she did nothing…

  Her hands gripped the armrests of her throne tightly. A cold, cold chill ran down her spine as her heartbeat quickened. Faced with the prospect of seclusion, an idea came to her.

  He needs mana– The crystal! “Yarnel!” she shouted.

  “Yes, Your Highness?” the small dragon said as he suddenly appeared in front of her. The entire room fell silent and brought their attention to them.

  “Your project… The crystal, can it be used to save him?” she asked, struggling to hide her fear and anxiety.

  The small dragon regarded her for several long and tense moments before he spoke again. “Perhaps, but…”

  “But?!”

  “But there is no guarantee. And besides, it would set us back severely. I’ll have to cannibalize several key components besides the crystal.”

  Fea fell back into her chair, an air of hopelessness settling around her. “I see,” she whispered.

  In truth, Yarnel’s project was something too big, something too important to sacrifice for Lorenzen. She had known that but still had to ask, still had to desperately try.

  Fea could not give up on her friend.

  However, as reality began to set in for her, her eyes drifted over to Felix and she felt a spark of hope. But, maybe, we can still make it work…

  “Yarnel, what if I could get you another crystal?”

  He raised an eyeridge at her question before subtly glancing behind him towards the human. “Can he?”

  “Can I, what?” Felix asked, realizing they were talking about him.

  Fea ignored him for the moment. “He can tap into it,” she stressed the last word.

  Yarnel pretended to remain stoic, but a slight smile betrayed his true feelings. “Is that so?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wait– Your Highness, what is it that you are wanting me to do?” Felix pushed as he approached.

  She finally acknowledged his presence. “Atonement.”

  ***

  A little while later, Fea found herself deep within the bowels of the Citadel, with her were Felix and Yarnel. They were making their way to Yarnel’s workshop.

  “So how am I supposed to make a mana crystal? I thought those were near impossible to create.”

  “Wrong, they aren’t impossible, just tricky. But I’ve been working on refining the process for the last few decades,” Yarnel responded.

  “Okay… But why me? Can you not create one?”

  “Oh certainly, but it would take too long to complete by myself.”

  Fea interjected into the conversation. “What we need isn’t just any mana crystal. We need a pure one– A large, pure mana crystal. That takes a long time to form. However, I believe you can help accelerate the process.”

  Yarnel took back over. “Indeed. If Her Highness is right, you alone could speed up the process tenfold.”

  “I see…” Felix said, trailing off.

  Fea held back a chuckle, it was obvious that he didn’t. But, that’s okay, we can make this work. We have to make this work. Her humor fell away.

  I won’t let you down, Lorenzen. You’ve done too much for me to simply give up on you…

  They came to a stop before a large room. Inside, it was filled to the brim with tables and equipment. Notes and ancient looking tomes were strewn across the place. However, the very center of the room was cleared away of everything save for one thing.

  There, glowing in all its brilliant radiance, was a mana crystal. It floated above a small contraption that somehow kept it stable.

  Yarnel drifted past them and up to the crystal.

  “Whoa,” Felix gasped as he and Fea made their way over.

  “Beautiful isn’t it? This took nearly five years to grow, but I’ve already worked out how we can speed it up. The only problem is, I need a more powerful mana source.”

  “So, me then?” Felix said.

  “Indeed. Now you are starting to understand,” Fea responded, cracking a smile at him.

  The human looked nervous but after a moment he spoke. “I can’t say I fully understand how this all works, or if I will be of any help… But, I will do what I can.”

  Yarnel considered his words. “To be honest, I’m not sure how much you will be able to help either.” He put his hand upon the crystal and in an instant it vanished.

  “But we can easily test that.”

  Felix took a deep breath and approached. “Okay, how do we test this… Uh–”

  “Theory?” The small dragon interrupted with. “Simple, hold up your hand.”

  He did what he was told.

  “Good, now close your eyes and focus your mana. Bring it to a point.”

  Here goes nothing… Felix stilled his nerves and looked deep into his soul. He found the source of his mana and gently guided it out.

  A warm, comforting feeling took hold of him as it traveled up from his core. The feeling slowly spread outward before he coaxed it through his arm and into his hand.

  “Fascinating,” Yarnel muttered before speaking louder. “That’s it, keep condensing it. You’ll need to bring it to a fine point.”

  Furrowing his brows, Felix doubled down on his concentration. The mana gathering slowly began to form a ball. But something was wrong, something was off…

  From somewhere within him an image of a city vanishing came to him. Faces suddenly flashed in front of him.

  He tried to ignore them, tried to push past them. But it was in vain as his mind settled on the elven queen.

  Without warning, his mana grew chaotic, he was quickly losing control.

  Why?!

  “Felix!”

  Please! Just let me do this! A cold sweat formed on his brow as the elven queen’s appearance shifted into that of Floriana.

  Please… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry–

  Suddenly, Felix felt something wrap around his body.

  With a gasp, he found himself coming back to the present. He ended his mana and with it, the visions and torment were gone.

  “I’m sorry…” he muttered.

  “It’s okay, just take a deep breath.” The voice came from Fea.

  He began to tremble. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “For everything I’ve done.”

  “Shh, just focus on breathing.”

  He blinked and looked down, it was only then that he realized it. The Dragon Queen had pulled him into a hug.

  He returned the embrace.

  previous chapters? Naw, you're just imagining it. Actually, I've been making references to various dreams and fragments of memories that we've seen over the course of the series. This, though, was pulled almost word-for-word. Of course, I made a few changes and its from a completely different POV...