Wynd Academy
The Fall of Rivenlake

The town of Rivenlake had fallen silent, the dragon was still perched in the cliffs above the town. A lone Crystalliam Knight was slowly walking down the old high street, most of the shops were no longer recognizable, the Knight was using his sword as a crutch, he looked to his side, there was a dead scorpion fiend, just outside a shop, it had been cleaved in half, inside the shop, hew saw a pool of blood.

The Knight carried on walking down the street, he looked up at the hill the dragon was perched upon, it was looking directly at him. The man sighed and fell to his knees, he wiped the dry blood from his brow. He gazed up at the morning sky, it was blood-red, smoke still billowed from the various buildings throughout the town. The Knight pulled a shard of the gravity crystal from his pockets, shards of crystals were only given to the most accomplished and devoted Knights. There was only one purpose for a crystal shard.

The Knight took the shard tightly into his hand, and drove it into his heart.

"ARGH!" The Knight yelled out in pain as he rose from the ground into the air, wings sprouted from his back tearing through the armour. He drew his celestial weapons from thin air, a blade and a shield, he looked directly at the Dragon and dove toward it. The Dragon reacted quickly by firing a wind blast at him, he deflected it with his shield and it bounced right back at the Dragon, sending it rolling across the ground.

The Knight slashed the Dragon across the eyes, blinding it, the Dragon bit toward the man, tearing off half of his leg, but the man didn't react, he plunged the blade deep into the Dragon's neck, then turned his blade sideways and ripped outwards through it's neck, the Dragon fell to the floor, the Knight's job was done.

He lowered himself to the ground, and looked out toward the ruins of Rivenlake, a single tear dropped from his eye, he tossed the shield aside and took the Celestial Blade into both his hands, turning the sword onto himself, he took a deep breath, then drove it through his heart. The Knight slowly began dissolving, his ashes flowing up into the sky, within seconds, nothing of him remained.

In the woods outside town, Ashe and Dex were sat beneath a tree. Ashe was tending to Dex's wounds, she'd had to sewn together Dex's ear, without pain relief, Dex was staring up at the morning sky, with his eyes puffed up and red from crying.

"Any word about Ros?" Dex asked. He held Ashe's hand as she bandaged his arm, Ashe shook her head, she too had been crying, her voice was croaky due to all the shouting and yelling from the night before, the inhalation of smoke couldn't have helped either.

"We've gotta get back to the village, see if we can get word to the Academy, they will be able to send some kind of rescue team..." Ashe sighed. She finished bandaging up Dex's arm, he sat up, he was still weak from the blood loss, but they couldn't waste any time. Ashe put Dex's arm over her shoulder and helped Dex walk back toward the village.

"I hope Victoria is okay too... despite our differences" Dex looked at the floor, remembering the argument they'd had on this very same road less than a day ago. All of that seemed so insignificant now, it felt as though in that short space of time, his whole world view had shifted. Nothing would ever be the same again, nothing could ever be the same again.

"She's strong, I'm sure her and Roisin got out of there alive... if we'd have stayed together, maybe..." Ashe looked away and wiped a tear from her eye.

"You can't think like that Ashe, you did what we needed to do, thanks to your decision-making, dozens of civilians escaped with their lives! We knew the risks when embarking on this mission, and we came along anyway" Dex placed his hand on Ashe's face and looked her in the eyes "You are not to blame" Dex smiled, Ashe looked down, and nodded slightly, the village wasn't too far away now.

When Dex and Ashe entered the village it was deadly silent, as if there was no one around, belongings were scattered all over the streets and doors were left half open. Ashe felt a feeling of dread deep in the pit of her stomach as the pair entered the tavern. Thankfully there was no sign of a scuffle, no blood, only one broken glass, many drinks had been left half full.

"They must have evacuated" Dex said, as he sat down on one of the benches. Ashe nodded as she headed behind the bar.

"I'll replace the communication uplink, it should be in the back room" Ashe headed into the back room, Dex sat back and let out a deep sigh, tears rolled down his cheeks, the pain from his ear was still searing, he looked out toward the window, the skies were grey with smoke from the distant town. He hoped beyond hope that Roisin was alive, he needed her to be alive, he needed to tell her how much she meant to him, how important she was.

After a few minutes Ashe walked back out into the bar, looking relieved, she sat down beside Dex, and he rested his head on her shoulders.

"They're sending out rescue teams to Rivenlake, they will pick us up on the way back" Ashe looked around the abandoned tavern, so much had changed in the last 24 hours, it felt as if all the colour had drained from the world, all that remained was a dim grey painting, with only small hints of colour. Ashe closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.