“Titan,” the dragon growled in a voice that shook the ground, a voice that haunted the edges of Arylos’s dreams and the depths of his nightmares. The creature gave Arylos a smile with its mechanical maw, plates and fangs repositioning to create a haunting animalistic grin.

“Eikon,” Arylos said, acknowledging his enemy by its proper title. He eyed the creature’s mechanical body, finding hints of stone scales beneath the armor plating. Arylos recognized the obsidian colored scales of the dragon that once lived within the Eikon and a sigh escaped Arylos. “Or should I say ‘Lord of the Burning Sky’?” Arylos asked while gritting his teeth.

“Call me what you wish; it matters little what you think I am,” the Eikon growled, the bass in its voice shaking the ground.

Arylos groaned and shook his head, his face furious yet his eyes sad. “Alright then; you have my attention now, so what is it you want?”

“For your death,” the Eikon answered as it growled, air violently hissing from its throat as machinery hummed inside it.

“Evidently not that much; you missed me with a cannon,” Arylos said with a sarcastic laugh.

“Bold of you to assume that I missed?” the Eikon said as its grin widened. Arylos watched as multiple plates on the creature’s shoulders unfolded and several mechanized turrets followed suit. Before Arylos could react, the turrets opened fire with deafening blasts as burning projectiles flew through the sky, landing on various buildings behind Arylos with violent explosions. Arylos gasped as he watched the barrage, knowing just what came to this world.

“Fuck! Leave them out of it! This fight is between you and me!” Arylos demanded as he grit his teeth while turning back to face the Eikon.

“And so includes them as well,” the Eikon growled as it narrowed its burning purple eyes.

Arylos growled as the blood in his veins began to boil. He reached out for his sword once more but before he could straighten his arm out, one of the Eikon’s turrets quickly turned and fired several rounds at him. Arylos growled as the projectiles tore at his flesh, burning him from the inside as his arm was shredded by the weapon and holes punched into his torso that his human body could not stop. Arylos’s growls turned to groans as he lost his balance, falling off the pillar he stood on. As he fell, he ran behind one of the buildings and leaned against it as black blood gushed from his wounds like a geyser.

“Do not think you can run, Titan!” the Eikon howled in an echoing voice as more gunfire filled the air. Before long, Arylos felt the bullets once more shredding through him like parchment. The Titan groaned in pain as he limped away from the gunfire as blood continued to pour from his wounds. Arylos found cover behind another building with a thick stone wall and leaned against it, falling to his knees as he vomited blood.

“Fuck,” Arylos groaned while leaning against the wall, waiting for his body to stitch the wounds back together. He winced as he tried to reawaken his human body, to remind it what combat was like. He could feel the wounds start to close, but at an alarmingly slow rate. Arylos turned his gaze to his right arm and saw that it had been shredded apart; muscle was torn from bone, leaving the bones of his forearm exposed and gaping holes in his hand where some of his fingers once were.

In the distance, he could hear the roaring of the Eikon as a loud humming roar filled the air. Arylos groaned and slammed his head against the stone wall as pain wracked his body as all he could do was sit and wait for his body to heal. He glanced over the wall and could see the engines on the Eikon’s back reignite with a loud hum. With a few wingbeats, the Eikon took to the air and opened its mouth. Arylos watched as bright flames gathered in the Eikon’s maw and a blast of fire filled the air. As the shockwave hit Arylos, it knocked him against another wall as the buildings all shook under the mighty whirlwind and deafened his ears.

The disoriented Titan groaned as he felt the debris fall on him, pinning him to the ground as his body struggled to hold his weight. Arylos pushed himself up as the buildings were shredded by the blast around him, surrounding him with shrapnel and flames. He groaned as he pushed himself up, trying to fight back against the pain and trauma and the weight of wooden beams that landed on his back. Arylos growled inhumanly as he pushed himself up to his knees and leaned back, feeling the burning flames around him. He looked down at his hands, weakly moving them as he saw his vision blur and the Titanic magic he once held fade from him.

Arylos turned his attention to the building in front of him and within the burning wreckage that nearly blinded him, he could see a young family, cradling themselves for comfort as the flames consumed their bodies. He heard no screams and saw no movement as their blackened forms faded in the ruby glow of the searing flames.

Arylos felt the ringing in his ears grow like a macabre melody as the sounds of screaming danced just on the edge of his hearing. He turned to the side as his eyes regained their ferocious glow. He watched the street as a sea of flames he could not hear flooded the street. He watched as a dozen bystanders were caught in the flames, glowing brightly in the searing ocean of pain before falling like dust in a desert wind. As their screams faded, the ringing filled Arylos’s ears once more as his gasping breaths accompanied the ringing.

The Titan gritted his teeth as the sensations dug into him like red hot nails that clawed at his skin. As Arylos rose to his feet, his deep growls were replaced by a soft laughter as brilliant and searing rage wracked him like claws that dug into muscle. Each scream, each explosion, each death only fueled him and he felt a second wind come to him as the flames consumed the dead. His body healed faster yet the burning pain remained as his muscles clenched and his veins felt hot as flames ran through his body.

Arylos looked up at the sky and saw the Eikon flying overhead, preparing for another bombing run. Arylos’s laughter faded until he let out a growling and blood-chilling scream like a banshee burning at the stake. Arylos’s scream continued as he lowered himself down. With a mighty heave that broke the ground beneath his feet, Arylos launched himself skyward, hurtling towards the Eikon and striking the creature in its mechanical throat with enough force to dent the metal plating.

The Eikon screeched in a loud roar as it lost its balance and landed on a few buildings, lashing out violently as it tried to correct itself with complete disregard for those trapped in the buildings. As it lifted itself back up, it saw a shadow in the corner of its vision as Arylos struck the Eikon once more in its face, the shock of the impact kicking up wind as Arylos’s hand fractured under the strike. Yet the Titan continued his attacks, screaming wildly as each strike found joints in the Eikon’s armor.

One of the turrets on the Eikon’s shoulders turned towards Arylos but before it could open fire, Arylos grabbed it and ripped it off of its mount and rammed it into a gap in the Eikon’s neck. Arylos quickly manipulated the wires, forcing the weapon to fire repeatedly into the creature’s neck. The Eikon screeched as the weapon blasted through metal components under its thick plating as Arylos continued his inhuman howls.

The Eikon growled and lashed out with its jaw, violently pulling the weapon away and ripping off Arylos’s left arm in the process. Yet the rage drunken Titan disregarded the dismemberment and climbed onto the Eikon’s back as the dragon stood up on its legs. As the Eikon reared up to shake Arylos off balance, Arylos’s sword finally returned to his intact right arm, screeching and humming as liquid flames danced around it. Arylos howled as he rammed the sword into the Eikon’s back armor, the burning sword slowly melting the metal as it pierced the creature’s armor. The Eikon roared as the engines on its back roared to life.

With a violent blast, the Eikon took to the air, dragging Arylos skyward as ash fell across the city.

“Come on! Let’s get going!” Iris hollered to another group of refugees joining her small group, shouting over the sound of the thundering blasts and the flames that swam through the city streets. She beckoned them to follow as she guided them along the wall to where the walls meet with the mountain.

As she led the group, she gritted her teeth, secretly wishing she had brought Helion with her. As she ran, she reached out her hand as small sparks of lightning spat from her hand, trying to find some way to command Helion to her hand just like Arylos could summon his own sword. Yet her display of magic gained her nothing except weird looks from the group following her.

Iris grunted, giving up on trying to get a weapon and continued along the wall. She heard the telltale screeching sound in the air again and she quickly turned around to the group. “Everyone get down!” she shouted as she took shelter against the wall, watching her small group of the escaping civilians join her against the wall. Not long after hiding, burning projectiles fell from the sky and struck the city, the blasts of the shockwaves arriving long after the fireballs rose up into the sky.

Along with the projectiles, she saw the mechanical dragon fall from the sky and land in the old shopping district she spent her time in just the day prior. She could make out a small shadow landing with the dragon and lashing out with violent clashes that caused the dragon to screech, howling as it recoiled against the assault. As the two monsters collided, Iris wondered just how much Arylos could contain the beast.

Iris was shaken aware by a hand grabbing her shoulder. She gasped and turned around, locking eyes with a familiar fair-skinned warrior wearing red and gold armor.

“Bellona! Where the hell have you been?” Iris said as she tried to catch her breath.

“Getting these people out of the way,” Bellona said with a smirk before turning her attention to the survivors. “Everyone, follow me; we’re going into the caverns in the mountain.”

Iris let out a sigh of relief as she pushed herself away from the wall as the refugees took a collective breath as if they had been holding it this whole time. Iris excitedly turned back to Bellona, about to ask for a weapon.

“You will continue to funnel these people towards safety,” a stern man’s voice ordered. Iris watched as Moviron stepped forward wearing silver armor that Iris recognized was of Templarian make with Arylos’s own modifications. “We will hold the line against the creature; your concern is the people caught in the crossfire.”

“But I can fight too!” Iris pushed back, following Moviron as he walked towards the fighting.

“I don’t doubt you can, but right now my people are my concern,” Moviron said as he planned his strategy, examining the state of the wall and watching the monsters fight in the distance, breaking clouds with their strikes.

“But I’ve killed a dragon! I can help!” Iris cut in following Moviron as he gestured for soldiers to follow him.

“Again, I do not doubt your capabilities,” Moviron said while turning around and nodding towards Bellona who returned a salute before guiding the refugees towards the caverns. “I don’t care if we can kill that thing; I will not let it cost me my people. So, you are more useful to me getting these people to safety than killing that dragon. Do you understand?”

Iris furrowed her brow and lowered her head, trying to shake the shame from her. She clenched her fists as she nodded with determination. “I’ll get them to safety,” she said through clenched teeth.

Moviron nodded before resting his hand on Iris’s shoulder. “I know you want to help Arylos, but trust me; he would want you here, keeping your people out of harm’s way.”

“No, I understand,” Iris said while looking back up to Moviron as her brown eyes began taking on their blue glow. “Doesn’t mean that I’m not pissed about it.”

“Good, use that anger,” Moviron said with a reassuring laugh. “Come men! We have a wyrm to kill!”

Moviron’s soldiers cheered loudly before following Moviron as he climbed the stairs of the remaining wall. Moviron watched the fighting in the distance, hearing the roaring of the monster mixed with Arylos’s ethereal shouting, reminding Moviron of the war he was born into. He cast one last glance back to Iris who took off into the burning city streets and gave her a silent nod, praying for the best to come to her.

“That Windlance better be fucking ready by the time I get up there,” Moviron growled under his breath as he scaled the stairs, coming to the top of the wall with a large metal ballista being calibrated by other soldiers. Moviron ran his hands along the weapon’s black steel with ancient runes carved into it, remembering the day the weapon and its kin were created. He wished for the weapons to never be used again, yet he found little choice.

“Load!” Moviron ordered in a stern voice, keeping his eyes fixated on the weapon as soldiers pulled back on the cables and pulled levers, turning the weapon towards the dragon. A soldier took a single black metal spear from a rack of many and placed it within the weapon as levers locked it in place. Moviron and the other soldiers backed away as one soldier approached the weapon and began pulling the levers, properly aiming it and trying to get a solid shot on the creature.

“Aim for the neck or upper breast; wait for it to move towards us, that will use its momentum against it,” Moviron explained to the operator.

The soldier took a deep breath as it sighted the weapon on the creature’s neck, watching for an opening. The soldier could see Arylos in the flames wrestling with the creature, striking it with his burning swords warranting more ear-piercing howls from the monster. Arylos took a good shot and knocked the creature towards the side and the operator’s trigger finger kicked in.

With a violent gust of wind, the weapon fired the bolt with enough force that the operator felt pulled forwards by the vacuum. The soldiers watched as the bolt ran itself through the creature’s neck, shredding its armor and launching the dragon forwards, pulled by the inertia of the weapon until it crashed into buildings off to its side.

“Again! Hit it again!” Moviron ordered while reaching for another lance as other soldiers pulled on the wheels and levers to reset the powerful weapon.

Moviron watched in horror as the dragon howled loudly and turned its gaze right for the group, the glowing lights of its purple eyes shining brightly like the sun itself. “Come on! Faster!” Moviron ordered as the creature screamed loudly and began running towards the soldiers, knocking Arylos aside and crushing buildings beneath its feet as the engines sputtered, trying to spin back up. As the distance closed between them, Moviron quickly tried to come up with an alternative.

Before the creature could reach them, Arylos grabbed the creature by its head and pinned it down, growling as he pushed against the dragon with all of his Titanic strength. The creature growled and hissed as it pushed back against the human-sized Titan keeping it down.

Moviron placed the lance into the drawn weapon as the soldiers began locking it down for another hit. As Moviron looked back at Arylos and the dragon, he saw that Arylos was right in the way of the creature’s face, preventing a good shot.

“Sir! Lord Arylos is in the way!” the operator called out as he tried to resight the weapon.

“I know I know,” Moviron said with panic in his voice as he debated what the next step should be. “If you have a shot, take it.”

The operator looked back up at Moviron with fear in his eyes. “But what about–”

“Just do it, boy!” Moviron ordered in a loud voice as he tried to find a way to tell Arylos as he wrestled the dragon.

As Arylos fought with the dragon, he reached out his arm as his burning sword returned to his hand and he ran it into the dragon’s face, cutting out portions of the creature’s face and armor. He howled like a rabid monster as he tore the metal plates away and tore chunks of wiring out, showering him in sparks and shocking his body with electricity. He knew what he needed to do and he knew what it would cost him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care anymore.

He heard a blast behind him and closed his eyes as he felt the Windlance’s bolt run through his body, shredding his torso and organs as it rammed through him and into the Eikon’s face, piercing the creature’s skull through the hole in the armor he made. Arylos’s hearing went quiet as the screaming of the Eikon in pain began to fade and Arylos slowly lost the strength in his legs. He felt powerless as the Eikon lashed out with its wing and knocked Arylos through several buildings until he collapsed against a stone wall, cracking the back of his head against it.

The dazed Titan shook his head and looked up as his vision began to darken. He watched as the Eikon roared and opened its mouth as a bright blast of flames shot forth, destroying the Windlance and setting the alcove it was in on fire and blasting parts of the wall away.

Arylos gritted his teeth as he tried to push himself to his feet as his breathing became shallow. Yet before he could stand up straight, his legs gave out and he fell back down to the ground as his vision darkened further. Arylos let out a dying gasp of confusion as he raised his eyebrows, unable to feel the pain in him anymore. He tried once more to get up but could not get his body to obey him, leaving him squirming in a pool of his own blood as his body defied him. He looked down to his hands as his vision faded, as he felt confused as to what was going on. None of it made sense; he had strength left in him, the wound the Windlance gave him was not that severe by comparison. He needed to get up, to continue fighting, to find Moviron, to protect Iris.

It wasn’t until his vision went black and the world faded away that he remembered what he was; this body wasn’t his and he was dying. He felt tears stream down his cheeks before he fell into a cold and dark abyss of his own making, leaving this world behind.