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Path to Chaos - Malefor´s Downfall

Chapter 3

From up close, the city looked even more impressive. The streets were crowded with dragons, cheetahs and moles. Even a few Atlawa, a peaceful tribe that usually lived high above the ground on the tall plains, could be seen. Small wells could be found at every corner. In most cases, they were accompanied by a small grassy area that was surrounded by a couple of trees. Small, green oases in the middle of all the marble and sandstone that invited travelers to sit down and rest for a bit. The skies above Warfang weren t less busy: Wyverns darted through the countless flags that waved in the wind. This made it quite difficult for Firion and the others to land at one of the checkpoints. Firion, being a longtime-member of the city´s guard, had no problem getting through the checkpoint. Malefor jumped off Firion´s back to observe his new surroundings closer: From the ground he could see, that the city was set on several terraces. On the top-terrace there was a large fortress. This is where the Guardians lived and trained their students. This is where they had to go in order to get help for Kor.

"Jump on my back. I don´t want you to get lost in here!", came Firion´s commanding voice.
"But dad, I think I can´t feel my legs anymore from all the sitting still and not doing anything! I will stay close, I promise!", Malefor tried to convince his father.
Firion looked down, unsure if he really wanted to invest the energy to argue with his stubborn son. "Alright, stay in front of me. We have to hurry, so don´t wander around!". With this settled, they set course for the fortress. Firion guided Malefor through a few smaller side-streets that weren´t as crowded as the rest of the city. A few guards stood in front of the entrance to the fortress, and they didn´t look like they would let anyone pass. Firion didn´t recognize those two, they seemed to be new recruits, so his status as former guard wouldn´t help him with those two. "Halt! The fortress is currently closed down for visitors. Important meetings considering the situation in the east are being held!", one of the guards, a skinny orange one, barked their way. "It´s okay, I have important information considering that matter.", Firion tried to reason with the guard. "Oh? So you carry "Permit A-38" then?", the second guard, a blood-red dragon with piercing green eyes, asked. "Since when do you need a permit to deliver important news?!", Firion asked the guard, rage starting to boil. Malefor watched as the grown ups started to argue louder and louder. It made no sense to him to just stay there and do nothing while his village and his mother were in great danger. The guards haven´t noticed him yet, so he took the opportunity and snuck past them, up the stairs and into the fortress. Now, he only had to find Varian, what was easier said then done. The inner of the fortress were huge. The guard had mentioned that an important meeting considering the east was been held at the moment. Varian was most likely part of that meeting. He decided to not look on the outer areas of the fortress, the meeting was surely held in some sort of room, where no one could listen in and disturb them. One of the structures had the fire-emblem engraved on top of the door, this is where he will start his search. It was silent in there. Most of the students were out on the training-field, and so, Malefor was alone once again. He came to a huge set of doors. He decided to enter the room.

There were only two persons in the room: A Cheetah and a dragon. The dragon looked at him curiously while the cheetah gave him the most toxic glance he could fabricate. "Get lost, youngling! Don´t you see we are busy?!" he snarled at Malefor. The cheetah was tall and muscular, but still pretty skinny, a scout as it seemed. His fur was white with blueish-grey spots all over the body. On his back he had a huge bow that seemed to be made out of Vjecnost-wood. Only the best marksmen of the cheetahs were deemed worthy enough to carry such a weapon. "Seeker, calm down again! Don´t scare our guest!", the dragon berated the cheetah with his calm voice. The cheetah backed down immediately. Seeker was no ordinary cheetah, Malefor could tell this from the first second on, so he wouldn´t take orders from just some ordinary dragon. But this dragon wasn´t ordinary after all, this was the Guardian of fire, Varian. Varian turned to face Malefor. "Tell me, little one, what brought you here?". "My name is Malefor, and I´m from village Kor..."

Malefor told the two everything he knew about the actions in Kor. Seeker and Varian looked at each other. Their years of partnership made words unnecessary to them. "What´s up? What about my mum?! She isn´t lost, is she?", Malefor asked in a panic as he saw the gaze the two exchanged. "Don´t worry about her. I know Lyrisa, she just doesn´t give up, no matter what. I´m sure, she´s still alive.", Varian tried to reassure Malefor. He simply nodded, not sure if Varian meant it honest or if he just wanted to calm him down. "Seeker, fetch Flare before you join me an Firion in the yard. He can show Malefor around a bit. ". Seeker nodded in agreement, face frozen in an emotionless manner. Varian left the room. Those new information the kid had given him worried him. The newly formed ape-alliance was becoming stronger with every day and Warfang couldn´t provide enough troops to protect the far away lands that bordered the worlds of concurrent skies with their rouge shadow-clans and the badlands behind it. "May the ancestors watch over us!", Varian exclaimed in his frustration. The pattern of the ape-attacks didn´t make much sense to him. Kor had never been of great importance, it simply existed. There was no tactical advantage the apes would get for burning down Kor, or did they? As much as he hated it, they had to wait til the pattern becomes clear to them before they could deal with the apes effectively.

Seeker kept looking after Varian as he left the room. Malefor could tell, that the cheetah was in deep thoughts. Something about the news he had gotten them must have been really off and menacing. He cleared his throat to get Seeker´s attention once again. The archer just starred at him for a few more moments before he signaled him with a nod to follow him.

Author s note:
Short chapter. We´re now officially at the point where page 19 of the comic ends! So chapter 4 will feature all new stuff for you! (and this chapter was so hard to write, it´s incredible XD ! - That´s why it´s rather short!)

Description
Path to Chaos - Malefor´s Downfall

Chapter 3

From up close, the city looked even more impressive. The streets were crowded with dragons, cheetahs and moles. Even a few Atlawa, a peaceful tribe that usually lived high above the ground on the tall plains, could be seen. Small wells could be found at every corner. In most cases, they were accompanied by a small grassy area that was surrounded by a couple of trees. Small, green oases in the middle of all the marble and sandstone that invited travelers to sit down and rest for a bit. The skies above Warfang weren t less busy: Wyverns darted through the countless flags that waved in the wind. This made it quite difficult for Firion and the others to land at one of the checkpoints. Firion, being a longtime-member of the city´s guard, had no problem getting through the checkpoint. Malefor jumped off Firion´s back to observe his new surroundings closer: From the ground he could see, that the city was set on several terraces. On the top-terrace there was a large fortress. This is where the Guardians lived and trained their students. This is where they had to go in order to get help for Kor.

"Jump on my back. I don´t want you to get lost in here!", came Firion´s commanding voice.
"But dad, I think I can´t feel my legs anymore from all the sitting still and not doing anything! I will stay close, I promise!", Malefor tried to convince his father.
Firion looked down, unsure if he really wanted to invest the energy to argue with his stubborn son. "Alright, stay in front of me. We have to hurry, so don´t wander around!". With this settled, they set course for the fortress. Firion guided Malefor through a few smaller side-streets that weren´t as crowded as the rest of the city. A few guards stood in front of the entrance to the fortress, and they didn´t look like they would let anyone pass. Firion didn´t recognize those two, they seemed to be new recruits, so his status as former guard wouldn´t help him with those two. "Halt! The fortress is currently closed down for visitors. Important meetings considering the situation in the east are being held!", one of the guards, a skinny orange one, barked their way. "It´s okay, I have important information considering that matter.", Firion tried to reason with the guard. "Oh? So you carry "Permit A-38" then?", the second guard, a blood-red dragon with piercing green eyes, asked. "Since when do you need a permit to deliver important news?!", Firion asked the guard, rage starting to boil. Malefor watched as the grown ups started to argue louder and louder. It made no sense to him to just stay there and do nothing while his village and his mother were in great danger. The guards haven´t noticed him yet, so he took the opportunity and snuck past them, up the stairs and into the fortress. Now, he only had to find Varian, what was easier said then done. The inner of the fortress were huge. The guard had mentioned that an important meeting considering the east was been held at the moment. Varian was most likely part of that meeting. He decided to not look on the outer areas of the fortress, the meeting was surely held in some sort of room, where no one could listen in and disturb them. One of the structures had the fire-emblem engraved on top of the door, this is where he will start his search. It was silent in there. Most of the students were out on the training-field, and so, Malefor was alone once again. He came to a huge set of doors. He decided to enter the room.

There were only two persons in the room: A Cheetah and a dragon. The dragon looked at him curiously while the cheetah gave him the most toxic glance he could fabricate. "Get lost, youngling! Don´t you see we are busy?!" he snarled at Malefor. The cheetah was tall and muscular, but still pretty skinny, a scout as it seemed. His fur was white with blueish-grey spots all over the body. On his back he had a huge bow that seemed to be made out of Vjecnost-wood. Only the best marksmen of the cheetahs were deemed worthy enough to carry such a weapon. "Seeker, calm down again! Don´t scare our guest!", the dragon berated the cheetah with his calm voice. The cheetah backed down immediately. Seeker was no ordinary cheetah, Malefor could tell this from the first second on, so he wouldn´t take orders from just some ordinary dragon. But this dragon wasn´t ordinary after all, this was the Guardian of fire, Varian. Varian turned to face Malefor. "Tell me, little one, what brought you here?". "My name is Malefor, and I´m from village Kor..."

Malefor told the two everything he knew about the actions in Kor. Seeker and Varian looked at each other. Their years of partnership made words unnecessary to them. "What´s up? What about my mum?! She isn´t lost, is she?", Malefor asked in a panic as he saw the gaze the two exchanged. "Don´t worry about her. I know Lyrisa, she just doesn´t give up, no matter what. I´m sure, she´s still alive.", Varian tried to reassure Malefor. He simply nodded, not sure if Varian meant it honest or if he just wanted to calm him down. "Seeker, fetch Flare before you join me an Firion in the yard. He can show Malefor around a bit. ". Seeker nodded in agreement, face frozen in an emotionless manner. Varian left the room. Those new information the kid had given him worried him. The newly formed ape-alliance was becoming stronger with every day and Warfang couldn´t provide enough troops to protect the far away lands that bordered the worlds of concurrent skies with their rouge shadow-clans and the badlands behind it. "May the ancestors watch over us!", Varian exclaimed in his frustration. The pattern of the ape-attacks didn´t make much sense to him. Kor had never been of great importance, it simply existed. There was no tactical advantage the apes would get for burning down Kor, or did they? As much as he hated it, they had to wait til the pattern becomes clear to them before they could deal with the apes effectively.

Seeker kept looking after Varian as he left the room. Malefor could tell, that the cheetah was in deep thoughts. Something about the news he had gotten them must have been really off and menacing. He cleared his throat to get Seeker´s attention once again. The archer just starred at him for a few more moments before he signaled him with a nod to follow him.

Author s note:
Short chapter. We´re now officially at the point where page 19 of the comic ends! So chapter 4 will feature all new stuff for you! (and this chapter was so hard to write, it´s incredible XD ! - That´s why it´s rather short!)