• Chapter 1


    Karin Arc Twin Blade peered through the sparse leaves of a large bush at the gatehouse guarding one of the bridge crossings between the Dragon and Arc lands. This particular bridge was currently illegally occupied by the Imperial Army. Her visor was adjusting to the dark as she whispered into her com unit, “One, two, three… seven, no wait… make that nine guards.” The voice of her superior officer, Kyle Arc Twin Blade, sounded quietly through the com, “Rodger that Karin, everyone else in position?” Three voices answered him simultaneously, “Yes sir.”
    “Okay. Sasha and Hallsoor, neutralize the gun emplacements at the base of the tower while Karin and I eliminate the snipers. Join forces and finish off the rest when your objective is complete. Ready? Go.”
    The four burst from their cover and silently sprinted across a quarter-mile of dry grassland. Sasha and Hallsoor reached the tower first, killing two men each before the rest of the guards knew what was happening. A sniper opened fire, but was only able to miss twice before twin blades danced their way across his body, carving intricate designs into soft flesh. Kyle looked down at the gore spread around the sniping platform and shook his head disapprovingly, “I should really stop doing that…” The second sniper’s head turned in Kyle’s direction. A thin line of red appeared on the sniper’s neck as Karin landed behind him.
    Karin pushed the lifeless body off the platform, she watched as the head separated from the neck as it fell. Sasha looked up at Kyle, “Should’ve come down here a little faster, Kyle. I might have saved you one.” He was about to reply when a pillar of fire split the night sky, his gaze locked onto the light, and he thought to himself, “looks like someone got creative. Was it the Imperialists, or the Dragons…?” Then aloud, “It seemed like you had everything under control. Let’s get through the gate and on our way, we don’t want to be late.” Karin dropped to the ground before Kyle did, and deactivated the mechanism controlling the gate lock. The four dashed over the ancient stone bridge spanning the deep abyss below, and swept silently into the forest.


    In a small glade, several miles south-west of a small village, General Arvode of the Imperial Army woke from a nightmare. “Ugh… What time is it…?” He looked at the moon, and sighed. “Almost dawn huh? Might as well wake up all the way…”
    He stood up and looked over his small encampment. “Including me, there’re seven of us… In my dream there were seven gravestones… No! Premonitions are all lies told by homeless waifs trying to steal your money. I will not delude myself into believing that my own death is imminent.”
    He looked into the sky, and stepped back as a pillar of fire scorched its way into the sky. “Blood and fire! There’s a dragon this close to the border?!” His yelling woke the nearest soldiers, who in turn expressed their shock and surprise at the shaft of light. Arvode took control quickly, “Boys, wake up and pack camp. It’s our lucky day!”


    The Blue Dragon Gates were nestled in a long canyon. As the second strongest grouping of enchanted defenses in the known world, they did not need very many soldiers to ensure safety. A lone sentry patrolled the first of the nine wall tops, his gaze locked onto a light far in the distance. He did not see the shadow rushing the gate at that moment, and so was unable to sound an alarm as a dark being engulfed him and left nothing but ashes. The shadow perched on the balustrade, and looked to its next target. It nodded its head once, as if to confirm something, and left the wall as a black blur.
    Seconds later, as it approached the second Gate, a blast rocked the canyon, the echoes intensifying to deafening proportions as the first Gate vanished in a red flash. Two sentries on the second Gate fell to the wall top, covering their ears in a futile attempt to ward off the sounds. The shadow chose that moment to strike, killing the first sentry instantly, and then turning to the second, realizing too late that the second sentry had activated the silent alarm.

    In a rage, the shadow lunged at the second sentry, its body briefly illuminated by the burning wreckage of the first Gate. The second sentry only had enough time to look surprised at the grotesque misshapenness of the enemy before her body was torn asunder by the claws of the beast. The beast’s plans were ruined; all chance of stealth was gone. It dropped a black, pulsating, spherical object onto the wall top and leapt to the ground, eyes dead-set on the next wall.


    Pyra Faolan, Red Dragon Elite 3rd class, woke from a pleasant dream in her room at the Dragon Academy. She had just gotten back from a long assignment and had spent the last nine days asleep. She crawled out of bed and was in the middle of her morning stretches when a light in her window caught her eye. “Hmm? What’s that?” She glanced out to see a brilliant pillar of fire in the far distance. “That’s rare. I wonder who else saw it.” She finished her routine and was about to leave her room when her com unit started beeping…