The Dragon of Charred Scales

Fallout

Oculeera

"It is a rather difficult spell for me to break," said Servina, the elf Neihai referred us to. He welcomed us with open arms, especially since Jheecu had managed to lose all our pursuers by then.

"Then find someone else who can. They need their dragon forms," said Jheecu tiredly. Despite having several minutes to transform into human form and sit down here in Servina's basement, she still breathed heavily. The marks from where Harogbas grabbed her neck transferred to her human neck, leaving angry red patches of skin.

Novayar sat near her, and I know he just wants to comfort his mother and be comforted. His hands shook a little. I sat away from them, closer to Servina. All of us sat on some huge L-shaped couch in the basement, watching the stories on the flat device I remember being called a television.

We were spotted. So were the other Laku and dragons involved. And it has caused a frenzy.

"Time is of the essence. You three need to head to Talbagu. Harogbas will be on his way there to start a second wave of sightings. And perhaps conflict, since Talbagu is a fighting clan. So, I must try."

Being the closest, Servina placed cold hands on my own, closed his eyes, and bowed his head. It took him a few minutes before he started speaking.

I glanced at the mother and son duo while the elf stumbled along and tried his best. Jheecu looked too tired to do much more than sleep. A cut on her leg, a remnant of our escape from Harogbas' underlings, slowly oozed blood. I think she received a few more scratches, mostly on her tail, but those do not show on her human form. The paradox of our transformation, you never know if an injury will show in one form or two.

Poor Novayar. He would have made a good nested hatchling, openly caring for his mother. Not a troublemaker like me who drove her mother crazy at times. I can see it in his facial expression, his posture. He is hurt emotionally while she is hurt physically. I see his eyes dart around, but spending some time looking over Jheecu's injuries. Stuck as we are, we can't help her, and Servina cannot help her until he helps us.

Whispers of Draconian reached my ears, words that I could make out over the television, and understand if I put in some effort. Servina spoke with an accent, not unlike what I remember hearing from Nikola, but stronger. A refined accent, indicative of the melodic language of the elven Laku. One of the few Lakis types with a language of their own.

Bright pictures appeared on the television, followed by a picture of a man with a microphone.

"It is like monsters emerged from the pages of our mythology textbooks and came to life," said someone from the news television. "People all over Yellowstone have gone ballistic, especially those who actually saw the aerial show."

"Are you safe where you are reporting?"

"Yes Dave, we believe we are safe here, at the east entrance. The incident occurred south of here. But we have interviewed park visitors, and while they are quite shaken, they all seemed to say the same thing: that the monsters winked into existence, then eventually winked out of existence. One man believes they are just invisible, hiding amongst us."

"Glad to hear you all are fine right now. Please be safe. That was Brendan out in the field reporting."

The picture changed to a man sitting at a desk next to a woman. "Experts are still weighing in on the incident, but few are calling this a hoax. Honored and distinguished scientists in many fields have already called this footage genuine. Unfortunately, this has caused waves of chaos and confusion throughout the region, with ripples extending across the world. It seems that here, in Yellowstone, there be dragons."