He stepped upon the summit of a nearby mountain, where he could still see. He gazed into the darkness and thrust his balled fist to the side, forefinger extended, and cried out,"Letoreth!" A small glowing bead of red light formed at the tip of his finger. He lifted the digit to his only eye, and the light detached from the appendage to merge with the eye.
He returned his gaze to the darkness, which he could now see clearly through with his modified vision. He lingered upon the smoking volcano; it could erupt any minute. But the lava trenches, he thought as he lowered his head to view the city, would catch most of the lava; resulting in few deaths.
The actual city,if it could be called that, was built in a circle around the volcano. In lieu of the usual walls around a city, there were trenches. Two main trenches around the base of the volcano and the outer edge of the city, a few large ones connecting the two, and a lot of smaller ones leading off away from the city were each about forty feet wide and far too deep. The city is composed of mostly tents and a few small stone buildings, most likely leaders, and inhabited by kobolds, goblins, and the like.
He caught a movement in the top of his vision and glanced up to see his familiar, Sereth, flying above. Scouting for danger no doubt, the thought flashed through his mind when he whistled.
Yes? queried the raven telepathically as he swooped down to land on his shoulder.
"It is time," he stated, bringing his ornate staff to bare. He waved it in the air and chanted, "Soralis ter kaltu, vilent cor tahn."
The air split in half as a two-dimensional plane of swirling blue light flashed into being.
"Farewell my loyal friend," he said as he stepped into the portal.
"I shall miss you too, Master," replied the familiar as everything became a blinding light.
The light had begun to fade, but he could not see just yet. He knew better though. "Kolorik lel torinen," he cried with both hands outstretched to his sides, and the now visible flames rolled around the transparent globe he had shielded himself and the raven with.
He heard screams as kobolds and goblins behind him were instantly disintegrated by the flames; one less threat, he thought.
The flames died away to reveal a terrible beast. It had two pairs of heavily muscled legs that ended with lizard-like feet tipped with razor sharp-claws as long as his arm. The massive body led into a serpentine tail. A pair of membranous wings mounted at its shoulders were spread wide, ready for flight. A sinuous neck led into a monstrous head with a pair of solid red eyes set deeply in glowing sockets, with a crest that ended just between them. Two smoking indentions marked its nostrils and its bottom jaw hung open, revealing rows of sword-like teeth. Two flaps, tilted upward defined its ears and horns covered its face.
A red dragon was fearsome enough, but this was the oldest one in existence. This was Tialus' Naaxil, the Red Lord.
It lowered its wings and raised its head to stare down at him, and its mouth began to move in a very articulate manner. "Why do you present yourself, Nelasten? Did you hope to overcome my power?"
"Not to defeat you, but to stop your foolishness," replied the Wizard.
"But the stars have dictated, Wizard, that the time is at hand. We are prepared to reclaim what is ours to possess." It spaced its legs and lifted its wings, ready to act.
"The metallics will never allow this; they will do whatever is in their power to stop you." He raised his staff.
"They cannot accomplish anything; we outnumber them." The dragon let out a growl.
He glanced around the structure. This place was obviously sustained by magic; they were standing on a large circular platform carved with magic runes. Heaps of gold, silver, platinum, precious stones, and magical objects were scattered about the platform that was floating upon a lake of lava inside the volcano.
Then he saw it.
It was a sphere, maybe a foot in diameter. The inside glowed a fierce red and swirled about chaotically.
"What are doing, Wizard?" The dragon's eyes narrowed, apparently noticing him looking at the orb.
The sphere was embedded at the center of the platform.
"I know you are not foolish enough to attempt to steal from me, Wizard. Surely you do not intend to fight me over my treasure." the creature growled.
"You must be stopped, dragon," he replied. He had to goad the dragon into a blind fury. With a dragon this old, that would be no easy task. Luckily, he had prepared for this, but his timing would be the key.
"Teliva," the Wizard cried out and leapt through the portal that opened in front of him. "Dia seleris," he screamed as he plummeted out of the portal that appeared near the apex of the volcano. His fall halted and he experienced the now familiar feeling of gravity's release.
"If you wish to fight, Wizard," the dragon bellowed, "Then you shall die." It snapped its wings open, buffeting golden coins all about.
Nelasten pointed his finger at a segment of the platform and screamed, "Liodes cor thias!" The dragon's eyes widened as a green ray shot from the Wizard's fingertip and struck the platform. A hole instantly formed in the platform where the ray hit all the valuables sitting atop that area toppled into the lava and began melting.
"Go, now," he whispered to Sereth.
The dragon let out a deafening roar that made the entire volcano resonate with a low rumble. "Wizard!" He yelled in Draconic, "You shall pay for every coin in blood!" It took to the sky.
The raven fluttered down from his shoulder and dove through the shadows, staying far away from the dragon. Nelasten screamed out, "Olitajith corit nelis!" A white bead flew from his fingertips towards the dragon. The dragon folded his wings around himself and went into a spin, tearing through the blast as the bead exploded into a shower of ice shards.
It unfurled its wings, maw wide. "Reltinayis kertal!" A brilliant blue globe appeared around the Wizard. The jaws clamped upon an impenetrable sphere.
The dragon held the globe tightly and Nelasten could hear a rumbling from the back of the great wyrm's throat. He was going to dispel the globe!
He placed his feet upon the side of the globe, angled away from the mouth. As soon as the last syllable was rasped, he pushed off with his feet. The globe shattered as he leaped from the dragon's maw.
He spun about, "Arylt del rith!" A wall of pure force appeared to stop the dragon's approach. "Turren arna." A quintet of spheres, each the size of his head and constructed of pure force flew from his figertips. They swerved around the force- wall, veered back towards the dragon, and struck him in several places. Five scorch marks were the only signs it had been injured.
The dragon flew over the wall of force and lashed out at him with a claw. It happened too quickly for him to react and he went flying. He struck a wall and heard bones snap as a blinding pain went through his body. He hovered away from the wall and his vision returned to see the creature's throat.
"Teliva!" He cried, falling forward into the open maw.
- - - - -
Sereth tugged and pulled at the stone, but it would not budge. He looked up to see the dragon close his mouth upon his master. He was not dead, though. The mental connection between him and his master told him so. This feeling was reassured when a volley of magicl blasts came from an alcove up above.
He brought his attention back to the stone and noticed a Draconic inscription on the ground. He searched the valuables scattered all about and found a cloak. He cleared his throat and read the inscription aloud. "Caelin diectis corsalia valxirith yarid." He heard a click as the sphere was released. He pushed the sphere into the cloak and wrapped it.
Master, he projected his thoughts to the Wizard, I have the orb.
He looked up as his master stepped into another portal, and stepped out of the air beside him. He unwrapped the sphere, cast a spell on it, he could never hear the gibberish clearly. His master began another casting on him and spoke, "This will make you invisible to his senses, now go." With this, Sereth took wing for the peak of the volcano, and he could hear the roars and magical explosions below.
- - - - -
Nelasten drew a scroll from his robes and read it aloud, "Lasarovniactilus torniliorietal SECITINIST CORICTALINIV!"
The runes on the scroll vanished. The volcano rumbled violently and lava below began to rise slowly. The walls began collapsing inward, the large pieces of rock spraying molten liquid about, and the structure split in two.
The dragon landed on the platform with a thud, "What have you done Wizard?" The dragon roared.
"I have destroyed your resources, dragon; soon enough, this volcano will erupt, destroying your treasure. Your lava trenches have been caved in, and soon your army of minions will be wiped out."
The dragon took a step forward. "Niltes Foyuln," the Wizards spoke firmly and a red glow enveloped him. The platform broke apart, and lava began to fountain through the cracks. The dragon stepped through the fountains unharmed with a presence of pure rage surrounding it. The dragon shot out an inferno of twisting hellfire from its open jaws.The flames rolled right over his body, the spell protecting him from any heat.
The lava had risen - or had the platform sunk? - up to his knees. He backed away at the same rate the dragon stalked forward. Something struck the back of his leg, and he reached behind him, daring not to avert his gaze. He quickly pulled his arm back and he cut his hand on, he couldn't believe it, a cold blade, floating in the lava.
"Dorithnayis," he spoke aloud. The dragon roared and leaped forward. Nelasten grabbed the blade by the hilt and snapped it in front of him. He let the spell guide him as the dragon closed.
He leaped over a claw and positioned the sword at the dragon's chest. Normally, he would have no chance of harming the dragon, but the spell guided his arms and sword had some magical properties as well. He quickly lowered the hilt and slid the blade into a groove in the scales, and jast as fast, he pulled the hilt back up, raising a scale from the hide and pushed the blade in.
His vision flashed and he flew, head-first, into the lava. He had nothing left he could do but fight an impossible battle, but it worth a try. He had no idea how deep he was when he heard a rumble approaching him.
He saw the silhouette of a great maw lined with fangs when he stabbed upward and everything when dark.
- - - - -
The volcano was alread miles behind when he felt his master's life end. He suddenly felt weaker and flew with less vigor. He must hurry, he thought; everything could depend upon it.
Hours later he spotted a large house in a forest. He could barely lift the cloak that held the orb, and his intelligence was beginning to wane.
"Bring the orb to my apprentice," his master had told him before the occurance, "if I do not return alive."
He heard a very familiar voice from down below call his name out, and he angled downward into a dive towards the dwelling.
