Sarah flew ahead of everyone straight to the wall, and the source of the roar became obvious. Behind the dark mage stood a dragon with emerald green scales and the characteristic black eyes of the Torra. It looked enormous as it stood roughly eight meters at the shoulder. Its left wing looked broken, however.

The soldiers looked at her terrified and hopeful and Sir Lundir rushed from the tower to her.

‘That’s so awesome!’ Sarah said stunned.

‘Are you stupid?’ Linea asked in disbelief. ‘A Void dragon is nothing to be happy about!’

‘Yeah, right. Sorry. But since you told me about dragons, I wanted to see one. I didn’t expect it to happen so fast.’

‘Please, don’t try talking to him!’ Linea pleaded.

‘I’m not that fanatical about dragons.’

“My Lady, the dragon was behind the illusion!” Sir Lundir reported.

“I guessed as much,” Sarah said and rolled her eyes. “Are you and your mages capable of handling the dragon?”

“I… I fear not, My Lady,” he admitted. “Dragons are known for their tough scales. If we had someone proficient with curses, we would have cursed him, but…”

“We don’t have such a mage,” Sarah guessed and looked back to the dragon who moved towards the city. The orcs followed him in closely. It seemed the dark mage wanted to end this fight now.

Sarah ran into the gatehouse and searched for the Void Huntress who worked here as the first aid.

“You there! Huntress!” She yelled through the room, and the Void Huntress rushed to her.

“My Lady?”

“Have you heard about a Void dragon before?” Sarah asked her hoping to get at least some rudimentary information.

“I haven’t. As far as I know this is the first time we have encountered one of those,” the Huntress explained and looked out of the window. “It’s possible that there may have been such dragons in the Great Cataclysm, but we have no recordings.”

“Perfect…” Sarah noted, but she questioned the Huntress further. “Can you tell me anything about this dragon?”

The Huntress looked out the window and examined the green scaled monster.

“It’s not a young one and should be rather strong, but it’s not an elder. You should watch out for it, but I don’t think he can spit fire,” she said.

“Well, that’s something at least,” Sarah noted. “Thank you.”

The Huntress bowed, and Sarah left the gatehouse onto the street where Lady Lalana, Lady Talura, Sir Bilandir and Evira had arrived. Sir Lundir followed Sarah out of the gatehouse.

“Listen, we have a dragon coming at us. I don’t think he can fly due to an injury, but it’s still a dragon. I will try to kill him, but for that I need cover from those orcs and the dark mage, in case he attacks,” Sarah explained. “Lady Talura, you need to get rid of the remaining Torra in the city.”

“Yes, My Lady,” Lady Talura confirmed and rode back into the city.

“Lady Lalana, I want the knights to attack the orcs,” Linea ordered. “Be aware they are corrupted Moon Elves and perhaps they are people you know. Show them mercy and kill them. Sir Bilundir will assist you with what forces he has left.”

“We shall ride in your honor!” Lady Lalana said and banged her armored fist against her chest. Sarah smiled and reciprocated the gesture.

“Sir Lundir, I want you to get the sorcerers,” Sarah continued. “I don’t think the shield will help us any longer as there is a hole in the wall. We may need their remaining power in the offensive.”

Sir Lundir bowed as well and left.

“Please, don’t fight a dragon,” Evira said and for the first time in Linea’s life, she saw the tough captain of the Royal Guard on the verge of tears.

‘Hug her!’ Linea said affectionately.

Sarah felt awkward, but she had a role to play and so she hugged Evira.

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan on dying,” Sarah said. “But Senia might. Go back to her and protect her. I can watch after myself.”

Evira wiped something from her face, and Sarah was sure she just had something in her eye.

“Please, be safe,” Evira said.

“I will,” Sarah said with a smile and floated upwards with her blade wings opening out.

Sarah learned fast why fighting a dragon was considered suicide. Without her telekinesis she would have been dead already. Their fight was like a mosquito against an elephant. Sarah couldn’t hurt the dragon’s scales, but the dragon was too slow to hit Sarah, who was flying around him in circles. The only thing Sarah had managed so far, was to blind the dragon. Her swords had no problem gauging out the dragon’s eyes as they weren't protected by steel-like scales.

But that was all she was able do. She noticed her Psy-Energy dropping drastically with every minute of the fight, while the dragon looked like he could go on for hours.

‘We need another strategy,’ Linea said.

‘You don’t say!’ Sarah replied while she ducked under another wild swing of the dragon. She had hoped that the beast wouldn’t be able to hit her anymore after being blinded, but apparently it had additional means of locating her.

‘Could you rip his head off with telekinesis?’

‘If I do that, I would have to focus on it. His muscles are substantially stronger than those of a human or elf,’ Sarah explained. ‘I would have to land right in front of him. I don’t think he would let me!’

‘But we have to do something!’

Sarah took one step back from the fight and looked around. Lady Lalana and her troops were still in combat with the orcs, but it seemed as they were able to win this fight. What concerned her more was the inactivity of the dark mage. She had expected him to join the fight, as he saw that his dragon being stopped, and his orcs being overwhelmed, but instead he watched from afar. The only time he got active was when a spell from a Hunter missed its target and raced towards the dark mage. He raised a hand and a Void shield protected him.

‘I may have an idea…’ Sarah said as her gaze fell on the orb on the dark mage’s staff.

‘Please, don’t do what I think you’re thinking about,’ Linea said in horror.

‘Well, you said we need to do something,’ Sarah replied.

‘But not that! Do you remember how you nearly lost yourself to the Void the last time?’

‘I remember, but this time I'm prepared.’

‘This is a stupid idea! Do you even have enough power left?’ Linea asked.

‘No…’ Sarah admitted. ‘But if I overcharge my psionic ability, I can draw on my full potential. That should be enough.’

‘And the drawback?’ Linea asked further. ‘There has to be side effects.’

‘I may fall unconscious afterwards,’ Sarah admitted. ‘I only did it once for a short amount of time. It took me three days to recover.’

‘Unconscious? No way, we’re doing this,’ Linea decided. ‘I can’t protect us in the meantime.’

‘All right, princess,’ Sarah snarled. ‘Come up with a better idea!’

They kept silent while Linea thought about it.

‘I don’t know…’ Linea said. ‘But if this blows up in our face somehow, I’m blaming you!’

Sarah rolled her eyes and flew back to the wall. She signaled the mages to attack the dragon to keep him busy. With a loud rumble the earth beneath the dragon caved in and buried its lower half. Ice lances and fire balls landed in its face.

“Sir Lundir!” she yelled as she entered the tower from which the mages cast their spells.

“Up here!” he yelled back between two chants.

Sarah climbed up the ladder, her swords following her diligently. In the room above the free mage were throwing spell after spell against the dragon. The sorcerer had arrived as well but had cast nothing.

“Keep going with the spells, I want that dragon pinned down right where he is. Don’t let him come closer to the city,” she ordered.

“We’ll try our best,” Sir Lundir answered.

“All right,” Sarah said and looked out a window, but from their position the dragon covered the dark mage. “The sorcerers follow me!”

They left the tower and walked over to the gatehouse. From there they had free sight on the dark mage. Sarah turned towards the sorcerers.

“I want you to shot small spells at him,” she said and pointed at the dark mage. “Be conservative with your mana. I don’t need you to hurt him, but to keep him busy.”

The sorcerers looked at each other and nodded.

“He will hopefully raise a black shield. I will charge at him and just before I reach him, you stop your attacks. Got that?”

“Yes, My Lady!” a sorceress said for all of them.

Sarah nodded and left the gatehouse again. She jumped over the wall and flew towards the dragon. Only when the first spells rained down on the dark mage and he erected his dark shield again, she turned away and flew towards him. On her way she reached the fighting orcs and knights where she cut down every orc that came into her way. She beheaded a female orc who jumped into her way, but due to her momentum, the bodiless head collided with Sarah.

She lost control and crashed into the muddy, blood-filled earth.

‘Not again!’ she cursed and got up again. The stench of blood and excrements filled her nostrils, but she shook her head to banish her disgust. She picked up speed again and closed in on the dark mage. To her dismay the sorcerers hadn’t allowed for the traveling time of the spells. When they stopped casting, the last spells still flew all the way towards the dark mage. Sarah feared to crash into the shield which the dark mage hadn’t lowered yet and stopped in her tracks right before the shield. Her nose nearly touched it.

But before Sarah could think about her near-death experience, the shield dropped, and she looked into the black eyes of a surprised dark mage. Sarah didn’t waste a second and her swords impaled his torso and legs. Shocked he tried to stutter something, but his lungs were shredded.

As the dark mage reached for his orb, Sarah didn’t stop him, but while he activated the orb’s self-destruction, his hood came off his head. The man looked young but gaunt. His skin was gray and lifeless like an orc. But the most intriguing asset was the black collar around his neck.

Before Sarah could inspect the collar further, the orb exploded and consumed the dark mage and her swords in an instant. Sarah had already prepared the containment barrier, but this orb contained more Void-Energy than she had expected. A lot more.

‘Where does all this energy come from?’ Sarah asked in panic. She activated her overcharge and pumped all the Psy-Energy she could muster into the barrier. Her eyes glowed in lilac and some Psy-Energy, she couldn’t control properly, discharged as violet lightning into the ground.

‘The magic shield!’ Linea answered as she realized their blunder. ‘For days the sorcerers have pumped magic into this shield, and the Void-Energy had to go somewhere!’

‘Oh fuck!’ Sarah cursed.

Even with her overcharged telekinesis the amount of Void-Energy was barely controllable.

More psionic lightning sparked between her hands and the barrier which buckled under the pressure.

And then there was the feeling again. Sarah had expected it, but the gigantic amount of Void-Energy amplified the phenomenon even more.

‘Come…’ a female voice whispered. ‘Save me… Release me…’

The voice gave the impression of familiarity and Sarah was tempted to comply, but Linea screamed at her.

‘Stop! Don’t listen! Focus on my voice!’

Sarah snapped back into reality and Linea’s voice helped her to stay concentrated.

‘Fucking Void!’ Sarah cursed.

She forced the huge sphere of Void around to face the dragon who had freed itself from his earth prison. He was dangerously close to the city wall, but Sarah had no time to waste. The Psy-Energy that raced through her body burned her from the inside and it hurt like hell.

After Sarah had placed the sphere between herself and the dragon she released the Void in a more focused beam than the last time. At first the beam shot over the dragon, but after a short correction, the beam cut downwards. It went through the dragon like butter, but to Sarah’s horror the beam didn’t stop there. She cleaved through the wall into the city.

‘No, no, no, no, no…’ she pleaded and yanked the beam upwards again into the sky. The dragon fell to the ground in to halves, but there was a three-meter-wide cut in the wall. She opened the sphere even more to let even more Void-Energy escape. After a few seconds the Void had dissipated, and it was right in time, because Sarah’s overcharge just ended.

She fell on her knees and Linea noticed that she was in charge of her body again.

‘That was a stupid idea!’ she ranted and slowly got up. ‘I should have never agreed to such a half-baked plan!’

Sarah didn’t respond to that.

‘Sarah?’ Linea asked.

Again, she got no reaction.

Linea probed her mind and to her shock, she couldn’t find Sarah anywhere.

‘Sarah!’ she yelled in her mind, but she still got no answer.

Linea heard the patter of feet closing in on her. She pulled her Fulchar, which Sarah hadn’t used at all, and pointed it at what she presumed to be orcs. But instead she was greeted by the sight of Lady Lalana and a few of her knights.

“My Lady, are you all right?” she said as she stopped in her tracks avoiding the sword pointed at her.

“I… I’m fine,” Linea half lied. Physically her body still hurt from the psionic overcharge, but Sarah’s disappearance was way more disturbing.

“I’ve never seen something like this,” Lady Lalana said and looked at the wall.

“I’m sorry about your city,” Linea said with a quivering voice. “And your… your soldiers.”

Overwhelmed by what had transpired, Linea legs gave in and she started to sob. Lady Lalana rushed to her and caught the distressed princess. Linea realized that she and Sarah had most likely killed dozens of soldiers and that Sarah was now missing. She didn’t know if Sarah had died or if she was just unconscious. That she didn’t feel her soul-sister anymore was alarming. It was as if a part of her was suddenly missing. Which was the case somehow.

She took a few minutes to calm down enough to talk with Lady Lalana again. The young countess patiently caressed the princess and soothed her with kind words.

“We should go back to the city,” Linea whispered.

“Of course, My Lady,” Lady Lalana said with a nod.

Linea looked her in the eyes.

“You can call me Linea,” she said and offered her the faintest of smiles.