Flying at a steady pace, Mason frowned. He hadn't been able to see the purple bushes, nor the goats from below, which made sense due to the angle. But what else could he have not seen? A sudden movement from the side caused his heart to skip a beat. He saw Baudron shoot forward, towards a goat that stayed a bit to the side, its gaze constantly shifting about. It was larger, with a cracked horn and many scars across its back.

Shit, that's the leader! Mason thought as he remembered how strong those could be if they caught you unaware. He angled forward and shot after Baudron. A hundred meters from the ground, and close to the goat, he saw red mana particles drift up from a narrow rift. It looked like a red glowing cloud.

With a grin of expectation, he changed his course and, moments later, shot through the cloud, sucking in the specs like a vacuum cleaner. A reddish haze turned the world red and angry as his energy levels spiked up higher and higher. Barely through, he felt so stuffed that the energy overflowed, surging through his body like intense bolts of lightning. Small jets of flame shot from his nose, singeing the air, and his speed increased.

Oh shit… Mason barely managed the thought as he shot past Baudron and straight at the large horn pointing up in the air, aimed at his face. As he tried to change course, he saw the goat's black eyes glitter dangerously, the muscles on its shoulders and flanks rippling as it braced itself for impact.

A torrent of fire rushed up Mason's throat, and he opened his mouth while flames already surged across his lips and between his teeth. His protective eyelids slid into place at the moment the orange and white flames struck the goat's face. Then he reached it, trying to angle his chest away. A tearing, piercing pain came from his flank, and then he slammed into the hard stone ground, crushing part of the goat below him.

Mason blinked as dark blots and flickering lights shot across his vision. Something struggled below him, and angrily he slammed down with his front paws. Something bleated, and he struggled upright, slicing down his long claws. Between the blots, he saw the goat below him. Its front paws cracked, white bone sticking out from them. The longhorn was covered in red, golden flecked blood.

Furious and in pain, Mason snapped at the purple neck biting down just below the head. The tough leather resisted for only an instant, and then a wave of hot blood poured into his mouth as his teeth severed muscle and sinew before closing together. The goat shivered a few times before hanging limp from his mouth. Mason spat it on the floor, swallowing the remaining blood and slivers of meat as he raised his head and opened his mouth to roar. Something slammed into his head, closing his mouth, and he snapped around, his claws raised, flames licking from his mouth, ready to strike.

"Calm down! If you roar now, whatever is out here will know we are here!" Baudron hissed as he stepped away from Mason's raised talons, the lids across his eyes sliding down.

Mason drew ragged breaths as he focused on the other. The anger raged unabated inside, trying to make him jump the brown dragon.

Baudron stepped back, his eyes narrowing as he lowered his stance, his claws gripping on the stony ground. A deep growl sounded from his wide chest, causing the stones around him to jitter.

The sound finally snapped Mason out of it, and he blinked twice. He felt the fire raging inside, appearing ready to burn him up from the inside if it found no release. Fear replaced the fury, and he turned his head to the side. A long flame shot from his mouth, lasting for seconds as it lay waste to a long stretch of red bushes. When it stopped, Mason sat down on his haunches, out of breath and so tired he wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep.

"All better now?" Baudron asked, still staring at him from some distance away.

Mason nodded, too tired to speak.

"You need to eat..." Baudron said although he eyed the carcass hungrily.

"Can't..." Mason managed to croak.

"You have to! Can you even fly like that? What if something dangerous shows up right now?"

The soft bleating of fleeing sheep answered him, and Mason looked around the dark and shadowy mountain. He is right. He struggled up and grabbed the goat around the neck. Raising it, he almost toppled over from the small weight. Dropping it before him, he lowered his head, slicing away at the open wound on the neck. Ripping chunks of meat from it, he swallowed them whole.

From the side, Baudron kept watching as he struggled to devour the corpse. After a few bites, the empty, tired feeling faded, and he began ripping larger chunks off, sitting on his haunches as he ate. A raging hunger filed him, as ferocious as the anger from before, and blood and slivers of flesh pelted flew everywhere as he tore into the goat.

All too soon, he finished it, even cracking the bones to suck at the marrow, but it barely relieved the burning desire to fill his empty stomach. Looking up, he saw Baudron scan the surrounding mountains.

"I need more," Mason growled, rising and searching for more goats. Someways back were the last stragglers as they fled.

"Then let's hunt! But this time, let's stick to the smaller ones!" Baudron said, with a hungry grin.

They leaped into the air, streaking across the dark, shadowy mountain towards where the goats fled.

--

Emma stared at the wall, tears running from her snout.

"So, Ter is dead, and none of the others ever came back?"

Jake looked at the small dragon and stretched his long tail towards her, lay it against her back.

"That's the short of it. Although nobody saw Ter's body… so I keep hoping…" Jakes sighed, not even believing his own words.

Emma pulled away, wiping her face with the back of her scaled hands before turning to him. "So what do you want to do? Just stay here?"

Her words were snappy, almost like a challenge, and Jake blinked at the change from her happy self from before. Staring into her piercing eyes, he realized she was right. He had found what was drawing him, and although he still felt the urge to head down below, that should be easily solved. Or so he hoped. What would he do after that? Staying here was the easy choice if the dragons would have him. But then, how would he ever find Mason?

He imagined traveling through the deep ocean again, alone with no idea of direction, searching for his friend. A wave of hopelessness threatened to drown him.

"So?" Emma asked, still staring at him.

"I don't know where Mason is or how big this world even is. How are we ever going to find him like this?" His own words caused him to flinch. They sounded like some little kid whining to his mother.

Emma didn't respond for a moment, seeming deep in thought. Slowly a smile formed around her snout, and she grinned at Jake.

"Perhaps I can help with the where."

She didn't elaborate but got up and put the sleeping Tir behind her head as she padded towards the door. "Come with me. I want to show you something!"

Jake looked around the room, spying the meat on the table. Moving past it, he quickly snatched two large fish and gulped them down, about to leave when he realized he was hungrier than he thought. Grabbing more of the fish, he quickly cleaned what Tir had left from the plate. As he turned to the door, Emma was staring at him, shaking her head in disapproval.

"You shouldn't always eat when you're hungry, you know? It will cause you to grow fast and out of control."

Stopping in front of Emma, Jake looked down at her in curiosity. "Didn't you say you learned nothing at school but fighting?"

"Fine. Perhaps we learned a few more things! Anyway, don't eat more than once a week." Emma turned and shoved the large door open.

Jake followed her out into a spacious, very high hall made from the same coral material as the room. The ceiling was covered in a blue and purple vine with bulbous pink flowers that glowed slightly. Doors covered the walls to the left and right, and both sides of the hallway ended in a balcony.

Emma moved to the right, still talking, and Jake quickly turned back in.

"-and when you do, eat things that have the same mana-attunement as you do."

"What?" Jake blurted, moving beside Emma and wondering about the width of the hallway.

"Mana-attunement!" Emma said, and when she saw his confusion, she laughed.

"Look, you see these?" She said, pointing at a small stream of blue mana-particles that floated on an invisible current through the hallway.

Sticking his clawed hand out, Jake drew a few of the particles inside as a response.

"Well, they are blue, right?"

Jake snorted. "Yes, they definitely aren't red!"

Appearing to Ignore his remark, Emma pointed her hand at an empty space beside her. "And these?"

"There's nothing there," Jake said after a second.

"There is. You just don't see it. To me, there are purple manalits drifting here."

Jake stared at Emma for a sec, trying to get to grip with the new terms she used, and he shook his head. Changing his voice to a mock high pitched version of Emma's, he drawled. "No, Jake, they only taught us about fighting… nothing important at all." Then he snorted.

Beside him, Emma burst out in a laugh that quickly increased to a full-on laughing fit. She sat on the floor, her chest heaving up and down.

Jake waited, a sad smile forming on his lips. He could see the pain, the loneliness hidden behind Emma's laughter. After a short while, the laughter changed to sobbing, and he stepped forward, wrapping his long neck around hers as she hid her face beside his shoulder.

They stayed like that for a long time until Emma finally sniffled and pushed herself away. Wiping her red and puffy dragon eyes with her arm, she glared at Jake.

"You shouldn't have kept me waiting this long!" Sniffling, she straightened her shoulders and walked down the hallway.

Jake followed her, trying to imagine going through what she had at her age. He wasn't sure if he would have coped half as well as she had.

At the end of the hallway, Emma walked onto the large balcony, and as Jake followed her, he looked outside and froze. His eyes widened as he stared at the immense city that sprawled out in front of him. Hundreds of white coral pillars, filled with blue and purple glowing plants rose up into the dark water. Each had multiple levels of massive balconies, and Dragons in various shades of blue and purple swam between them. Sprawled out below was an enormous, chaotic coral reef city. Houses were hacked out on different elevations. To the left lay a giant square filled with small houses with spacious streets around them, and a mass of Kobolds moved through them.

A soft giggle from the side made Jake look to Emma, who was grinning at him.

"Welcome to Azurill, first amongst the dragon cities!"

Jake returned her grin before looking around the city. This is incredible, he thought as he watched an enormous dragon, far bigger than he was, tow a shiv-like boat. It was laden with blocks of some sort of stone, and a Kobold sat on top, looking forward towards a large plateau, bustling with Kobolds dragging similar blocks from another shiv.

Mason would love this… he thought, wondering if his friend was even still alive.