The Misplaced

CHAPTER 1: EVAN

Evan’s fist connected with another of… he didn’t really know what to call them, exactly. Mindless ones, perhaps. At the moment, he was only sure of three things:

1. He didn’t know where he was.
2. He didn’t know how he got there.
3. The welcoming committee wasn’t very nice.

He took in enough of his surroundings to figure out he was in a cave of some sort. The cavern was of decent enough size and must have been close enough to the mouth of the cave to benefit from rays of sunlight. There would have been enough room to maneuver had it not been for the sheer mass of mindless ones encompassing it. He and his friends were doing their best, but for every mindless one they took down, more kept coming, like a colony of ants whose home had been disturbed. They were gaunt human like figures with sunken eyes and emotionless faces. Their skin was pale, yet despite their frail features, Evan noted they were unnaturally strong. Despite his own levels of strength, it took an effort from him to break free if one of them got hold of him. Evan considered ways to get them to safety, but no good strategy seemed to work. If they stayed and fought, they would be overrun. If they turned and ran they would be overrun. Evan felt a surge of anger, but he didn’t know where it came from. Despite his frustrations with the circumstances, it seemed unusual. No, wait; he did know where it came from. He looked over his shoulder and there she was. Alectra’s eyes shone with fear. A look Evan rarely saw from her. She stood on a platform like ledge above him, different colored arrows of light shooting from her fingertips. Evan knew how they were going to get out.

“Alectra,” he called out to her as he continued delivering punches to the mindless ones. “Give me all the anger you can then get out of here.”

“But,” Alectra started to protest. She was continuing to release her emotion manipulation arrows against the mindless ones to no effect. They didn’t cower in fear or break down in tears. They steadily continued to advance on her.

“Just do it,” Evan cut her off. “It’s the only way.”

Alectra nodded in reply, biting back any further objections. Evan knew she didn’t like what he was asking her to do. He wasn’t a fan of it himself. She turned her hand in his direction and an arrow of red energy connected with him. The second it connected, Evan felt his anger return this time growing into a fiery hot rage. He turned to face the mindless ones knocking another two away as he felt the changes. Changes he normally could control himself, but this time, the rage was fueling them. He was growing in size and strength. Punches that previously knocked them down were now flinging them into the wall of the cave five feet away. Still, the mindless ones kept coming, undeterred and unafraid. Evan risked a look over his shoulder and he saw her standing there. Jadin was never very far from Alectra’s side. The two of them were virtually inseparable. Jadin’s eyes shone with concern. Evan knew it wasn’t just for what her friend was being asked to do, but for him as well. He wanted to reassure her, to tell her everything was going to work out fine, but he was finding it harder to form a coherent thought. All there seemed to be left was rage. The changes were continuing. His fingernails were extending into razor sharp claws his facial features were morphing into that of a wolf. With his last vestige of self-control he spoke two words. “NOW GO.”

He would not let his friends be hurt. In fact, no one or nothing would touch them again. The rational part of his mind, so far distant from his consciousness, knew he could no longer distinguish friend from enemy. He flung himself into the midst of the mindless ones and the world turned red.

CHAPTER 2: JADIN

Jadin’s eyes never left the entrance of the cave. She was joined on each side by Alectra and Panga. There were five of them there, everyone accounted for except Evan. Once they realized what Evan was going to do, they ran and didn’t stop until they had gotten out. They stood there breathing heavily as they attempted to recover, both from fear and their sprint from the cave. No one suggested they should leave. They would wait for Evan, no matter how long it took. No one knew where they would have gone or in which direction to go if they did leave. Trace and Eric had recently returned from scouting the surrounding area and reported that they had not found any familiar landmarks. Beside her, Alectra kept repeating the same words, “It’s going to be alright, it’s going to be alright, it’s going to be alright.”

Jadin wasn’t sure if she was trying to reassure herself or the rest of the group. The two of them were best friends, but in many ways couldn’t be more different. Among them Jadin hated her abilities and had little control over them. Alectra, on the other hand, loved her abilities, especially when they could benefit her most. Still, it wasn’t in Alectra’s character to subject a person to enough rage to manipulate them into being an unstoppable force of destruction as she had just done to Evan. There just hadn’t been any other choice.

As Jadin continued to wait for Evan to appear, she began to take in the forest around her. The trees were huge, standing at least 25 feet tall with broad leaves. Jadin heard the sounds of birds singing, a peaceful sound in direct contrast to the terrifying scene that they had just escaped. What caught Jadin’s attention the most was the sun. Before they had found themselves in the cave, she and Alectra had just sat down at the table in the house they shared in Haven, a sanctuary city for people like themselves. People with abilities. It had been sunset then. Now the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon.

A clumsy shuffling alerted them to the cave where Evan staggered out. His features shifted as he approached them shrinking and returning to his normal size. Without considering her safety, Jadin ran to him heart breaking. Evan was drenched in blood, his eyes were unfocused, and he struggled to take each step. She took his hand and unbidden, her ability washed over him, filling Evan with pure ecstasy. That kind of joy might seem harmless, but Jadin had seen its dark side far too often. She had watched as a person walked off a building, turned a gun on themselves or others, simply on the misguided notion that they could fly, were invulnerable, or not aware of what it was that they were doing. Evan barely seemed effected. As his eyes cleared, he seemed more aware of her presence. He stood up straight, and his steps were sure. His words, though came out slow and purposeful. “We have to go,” he said.

Eric and Trace came over, each wrapping an arm around their shoulders. Under normal circumstances, it would seem odd that their strongest member should need help walking. They turned and walked away from the cave.

CHAPTER 3: PANGA

Panga hated walking. They had seemed to keep moving for hours through the forest. They found no indications of society. They didn’t hear the sounds of cars on a highway. The same for any airplanes or helicopters overhead. At one point Panga had pulled her cell phone from her pocket to discover she had no signal. Even a call to 911 went unanswered. They stopped only once at a stream so Evan could wash off the blood. Panga hadn’t meant to intrude on Evan’s emotions, but the amount of shame and sadness that he was feeling about what had happened in the cave was too intense for her to block out. They would have to talk about that, but right now wasn’t the time. She looked up to see Trace coming down from one of his reconnaissance flights. Lucky guy, here the rest of them were trudging along wearing out their legs and he got to flit above the treetops every now and again.

“I found something interesting a few miles west from here,” he reported. “There’s some kind of settlement. Some kind of village, maybe. They speak English, but they don’t seem all that inclined to talk to a stranger. Maybe one of you will have better luck with them than me.”

He had looked directly over at Panga as he said that and she had shot him a look before answering him. “Well lead the way then.”

A few miles later, Trace led them into the village. The best way Panga could describe it was medieval. The buildings were a mixture of wood and clay with steep thatched roofs. A dirt road led through the town. The people talked and dressed like something out of Game of Thrones. The women wore low cut full length dresses with ruffled sleeves. The men, light long sleeve shirts with a vest and ankle length trousers. As Panga reached out with her empathic abilities, it became more apparent as they hadn’t stumbled upon a Renaissance festival. The townspeople weren’t looking at them with disgust for being out of dress code, but a certain amount of confusion and curiosity. Panga herself wore her blue culottes with a loose fitting multicolored blouse and New Balance sneakers. After about thirty minutes they stopped in the town square. Everyone turned to Panga looking to her for answers. She loved it when they did that. Her ability allowed her to read the emotions of those around her. She knew what people were feeling, not so much what they were thinking, so she knew only a little more than what any of them did. Despite living in a city entirely populated with people like herself, she often fielded questions for which she could not give complete answers. My boss appears angry at me, am I going to be fired? (I can confirm your boss is angry at you, but I don’t know what he plans to do about it.) There’s a girl I’m attracted to is it worth it for me to pursue her? (Yes, she feels the same way, but I have no idea what she will say if you ask her out.) Still, she gave it her best guess. “They don’t seem unfriendly as much as they seem to be protecting us from something.”

“What do you mean?” Evan asked. During the walk through the woods, he had fully recovered.

“I think they are scared. Their emotions keep going to that castle on the hill like there’s someone there they don’t want to upset,” Panga answered.

“You see those guys in the chain mail,” Eric pointed out. “They have been going into the shops collecting maybe gold coins from the shopkeepers. Maybe something like a protection racket going on?”

“So,” Evan thought out loud. “I don’t think anyone here is going to give us any answers, but what if we put an end to what they are afraid of?”

“You think then they might be a little more willing to help us?” Alectra asked.

“It’s worth a shot,” Evan said.

“I love this idea,” Eric said. “Let’s go have ourselves a chat with whoever runs this joint.”

CHAPTER 4: ERIC

Eric did not in fact love this plan. Somehow he doubted that someone who held an entire town under his sway by fear alone was going to walk away because they asked him kindly. The first sign of concern was that the castle wasn’t guarded. The castle wasn’t spectacular in design. It was a stone rectangular building with circular towers on each corner. There were landings along the entryway for archers, but none were present. The central entryway was open with no guards. They walked in uncontested. From there Panga led them through the torch lit hallways of the castle avoiding some more of the chain mail wearing tax agents for lack of a better word.

“Something's not right,” Panga said as they moved to the great hall.

“This has been way too easy,” Evan agreed.

“It’s not just that,” Panga said, “those people are scared, terrified even of whoever’s here, but I don’t sense anything I would expect from someone who commands that much power. No pride, ego, anger, nothing I would associate with someone like that. Even worse everything I sense is passive. I should be able to lead us right to him just from the headache I should be getting from him.”

“Maybe he heard we were coming and decided to skip town rather than get his butt kicked by us,” Eric said. “Yeah, that was wishful thinking,” he thought as they entered the hall.

Sitting on the throne was a man who looked as if he could challenge Evan at his most powerful. He stood at least seven feet tall with a bald head and to say that his muscles were ripped would be an understatement. He wore a simple purple robe and had no weapon nearby, though Eric doubted he would need one. On either side of him stood a guard. Each restraining a villager with a knife pressed to their throats.

“So these are the knights that Merlin brought to aid Arthur. I see nothing to concern Mordred with, though I imagine he will be grateful when I bring him your bodies,” the giant said.

Eric was beginning to understand why Panga wasn’t receiving anything from this guy. He said each word as if it was a matter of fact, there was no emotional inflection in any of them.

“You knew we were here?” Evan asked.

“Of course,” the giant answered, “there is little Morgan Le Fay does not know in this kingdom and I sensed what happened to my pets. That raised my suspicions that you were in my serfdom. Very nicely done,” he said his comments directed to Evan. He reached his hands out to each captive, “but as you can see Lord Dyson can create more easily.”

As Eric watched, he saw the captives stop struggling and their eyes and facial features changed to ones Eric recognized. They were worn on the faces of the mindless ones from the cave.

“Below”, Panga suddenly cried out, “he has more prisoners below, maybe the dungeon.”

“How didn’t you notice this before?” Evan asked.

“I don’t know, maybe they were blocking me,” Panga said, looking at the new mindless ones in front of them, “but now...” she let the rest hang they knew what she meant.

“Alright, fine. Trace you go with the Big 3 see if you can free them,” Evan said.

“You know we hate when you call us that,” Alectra interrupted.

“Let’s discuss that when we all get out of this alive. I’ll take the guards and the mindless ones, Eric, can you deal with the big guy?” Evan asked.

“You mean the buff dude who can remove all my best redeeming qualities with a touch,” Eric said his fists glowing with white energy. “Oh yeah, sure, no problem.”

“You have redeeming qualities?” Jadin asked.

“Very funny don’t you have somewhere to be?”

As everyone scattered Eric focused on his opponent, he sent a volley of concussive force blasts at Lord Dyson. They got his attention but they did little to slow him down as he approached Eric. As Dyson got close enough to throw a punch Eric responded instinctively throwing up a concussive force field between the two. His suspicions about his strength were confirmed as he felt the blows even on his side of the shield. “Dude, you’re crowding me here,” Eric said. “You need to give me some SPACE.”

He extended the force field outward knocking Lord Dyson half way back to his throne. “Well, that went better than I expected,” he thought.

He stole a moment to look over at Evan. Evan had gone to his full strength mode, but now that he knew his opponents were victims he was pulling his punches. The mindless ones weren’t returning the favor and of course there was still the chainmail’s to deal with. He was doing a good job of keeping them away from Eric, but that just meant Eric wasn’t getting much help anytime soon. “That means it’s time to turn up the volume,” Eric thought.

He returned his focus to Dyson, unleashing a steady volley of concussive blasts, but this time he wasn’t holding back. Each blast was enough to stop a bull elephant. Dyson was still shrugging them off, but he wasn’t able to move towards Eric. As Eric maintained the intensity and speed of the volleys Dyson began to fall back until he fell down unconscious. Eric wasn’t doing much better. The exertion was almost too much and he struggled to maintain his consciousness. Evan may still need his help. He turned to offer Evan his aid, relieved to notice that it wouldn’t be necessary. “Ok, good we’re done here,” Eric said before collapsing to the ground.

CHAPTER 5: TRACE

Trace unleashed another bolt of electricity, stunning a guard. He was grateful for their insistence on wearing chain mail. It required less of a charge to stun them and he was running dangerously low on reserves. He rarely thought he would miss a world with electricity, but here without it, he had few means to recharge. Flight was reactive, he ionized the air and essentially floated on it, but utilizing bolts of electricity required him to maintain a certain amount of an electrical charge in his system. When that was gone, he would be powerless. Back home absorbing electricity was far too easy and he spent most of his life moving from place to place before he found his way to Haven and this group of friends. Not too many people were happy when they made the connection between the new kid in town and the blackout they were just experiencing.

Now he flew above Alectra, Jadin, and Panga as Panga led them further down towards the dungeon occasionally alerting them to a group of guards ahead of them. At one point, a guard made the mistake of trying to put his hands around Jadin to capture her. Now he was curled up in a fetal position babbling incoherently. Alectra hit another two with red arrows. Making them angry wouldn’t have been Trace’s first choice, but it seemed to pay off as they turned their swords on each other. Trace took out another two, but now he was getting concerned. He didn’t know how much more of a charge that he had left and of the four he was the only one who had a physical power.

“How much further,” he called down to Panga.

“We’re almost there,” she answered him.

As if to prove her right the dungeon and its prisoners spread out before them just as they made the next turn. Trace didn’t have to be an empath to know how scared these people were it showed clearly on their faces. Trace had to fight back a smile. The nice thing about the dungeon is it was made of metal bars and most metals were excellent conductors of electricity. That made their electrons easy for him to absorb. That gave him a solution to both their problems.

“I can get them out, but they need to step back,” he told the girls.

Alectra sent arrows into the prison. The result was sudden as the prisoners calmed down.

“Please step back,” Jadin told them, “we can get you home to your families, but you have to trust us.”

As they did as she asked, Trace placed his hands on the metal bars and focused his attention on them. He felt the familiar tingle as electrons flowed into his system. He knew his eyes would be glowing with energy as the bars dissolved to dust. If he was lucky and didn’t have to overexert himself this charge would last him a few days. He looked over to Panga. “We aren’t going to get back the way we came. Can you get us back to the others with the least amount of resistance?”

“Yes, I think so,” she answered.

“Alright everyone follow them please I’ll follow behind and look out for trouble.”

Panga led them true and they found their way back to the great hall reuniting with Eric and Evan. They still encountered some resistance along the way and to protect the innocents even Jadin had been more proactive with her abilities, but Trace hoped she hadn’t seen it when the occasional guard she touched turned his sword on himself. He looked over at Evan. “We got ours,” he said.

“And we got ours,” Evan answered. “Now let’s get out of here.”

CHAPTER 6: ALECTRA

Alectra was thinking about Aaron. As they were leaving the castle, her eyes had focused on a pair of the captives. They were talking with each other in hushed voices, their hands were reaching out, fingers barely touching. While they didn’t look happy, how could they after what they had just been through, it was obvious that they were a couple. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Husband and wife. Fiancé’s. Whatever the designation Alectra couldn’t help but think that now that there were free they had a future to look forward to. Aaron was her boyfriend. They had spent two months of dating to decide on that. A week ago, they had shared their first kiss as an official couple. Now Alectra had been whisked away to some mysterious land without knowing where she was or how to get back to Aaron. She was sure of two things. She was going to get home and she didn’t care what she had to do to do that.

“What do we do about this Dyson character?” Evan asked drawing everyone’s attention back to the present. Eric had been telling the story of his exploits to anyone who would listen which, of course, was no one. They had all heard his stories one time to many.

“Bury him,” Alectra said without hesitation. “We can’t let him come out of that castle.”

“What about the guards?” Panga responded. “There may still be innocent people in there.”

“How innocent can they be Pangs,” Alectra countered. “We all saw those two in the hall. You think they didn’t know what he was going to do to them? They all but helped him do it. They didn’t seem all that broken up about it.”

“Alectra’s right,” Evan said. “We can’t let him do this to these people again and I don’t see a better alternative. Eric, Trace let’s bring this castle down on him.”

Trace flew above the castle as Evan shifted into his full wolf form and approached the walls. Eric stood just outside the gates. On a signal from Evan they struck together. A few well-placed lightning bolts, concussive blasts, and punches and the castle collapsed like it was made of Lego bricks. It may not have killed Dyson, but he wasn’t making his way out of the rubble any time soon.

Alectra turned her attention over to where Panga was talking with the former captives. She was doing her best to get them answers, but her empathic powers were passive and were having little effect on people who had been subjected to abuse for so long.

“You think you have helped us?” one of the men said. “Mordred will hear about this and will send a new Dark Lord here and will you be here when they do?”

“There’s that name again,” Trace said. “Mordred, Arthur, Morgan Le Fay, Merlin. Who are these people?”

Alectra went over and approached them. “You tried your way Panga,” she said gently, “now let’s try mine.”

She reached out and impacted the man with a pink arrow. Affection was her go to emotion when she wanted to get something from someone. The most mild arrow would still generate a she asked - they would do reaction from those she used them on. It’s what she often used at the drive thru to get Jadin, Panga, and herself a free meal. She had never tried to see if she could get someone to hurt themselves or worse in that way, but after seeing what Jadin’s power did to people with her having no control over their actions, she was certain she would never find out. She gave the man a gentle smile, “Who is Mordred?” She asked.

The man’s tone hadn’t changed, but he answered the question willingly. “Mordred is a former knight of Arthur's Round Table but a few years ago, he rebelled and with Morgan Le Fay he gathered a group of knights with dark magic and began a takeover of Arthur’s kingdom. Now they control about 2/3 of the realm.”

“And Arthur, where is he now?”

“He and his knights cower in his castle. He cares little for his people. They have done nothing to stop their spread. As long as his own land is not threatened, he will do nothing.”

“Merlin, who is he?”

“He is the greatest wizard of our lands in the service of Arthur, but his magic pales in comparison to that of which Mordred now commands.”

The six of them gathered together, taking a moment to gather in what they had just been told. “So did that clear anything up for anyone?” Eric asked.

“Dyson thought Merlin brought us here, but for what reason?” Jadin asked.

“If he did bring us here, he can get us home,” Alectra said, ignoring Jadin’s question “How would we get to Arthur's castle?”

“It’s a week’s journey west from here,” the man answered again unhesitant.

“We don’t know if Merlin is responsible for us being here,” Evan said. “Even if he is, there’s no guarantee he can get us home, but he’s still our best chance for answers. Especially given the others want us dead.”

“Great,” Panga said. “So that means more walking.”

“I think I can arrange us some transportation,” Alectra said.

“So it’s settled,” Eric said, clapping his hands and then he burst out into song, “We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Wherever We Are.”

CHAPTER 7: PANGA

The good news, Panga didn’t have to walk. The bad news, she was riding the smelliest, most uncomfortable horse in any land.

“So are we seriously looking for Arthur and Merlin?” Trace asked. “As in THE Arthur and Merlin. They’re just legends, aren’t they?”

“Says the kid who shoots lightning bolts from his hands,” Eric responded.

In addition to the horses they each had a canteen of water and a saddlebag full of bread and dried meats. They didn’t like taking advantage of the villagers in such a manner, but as none of them were skilled hunters there was simply nothing else they could do. They rode on until dark before setting up camp alongside another creek. With the aid of a spark from Trace they cooked and enjoyed their first meal in this strange world. As the other four quickly drifted off to sleep Panga went over to sit beside Evan, who naturally had insisted on taking the first watch. “So do you want to talk about it?” she asked him.

“Talk about what?” he asked.

“You know it’s not really possible to be evasive with an empath right,” Panga said. When he still refused to talk Panga pushed him gently a little further. “You’re going to have to talk about this sooner than later and you know how much I HATE when people try to put it off.”

She didn’t say anything more and as she looked over at him even without using her abilities she knew she didn’t have to. He was just trying to find the right words. “I killed them Panga and all they were was innocent victims.”

“You didn’t know that at the time,” she reminded him. “If you hadn’t done it, we wouldn’t have gotten out of that cave. You saved all of our lives.”

“That doesn’t make it any easier. When I left that cave there wasn’t one of them left alive. Despite all that rage I can still see their faces.”

“I don’t know if there is anything I can say that makes it easier,” Panga conceded, “but I know this. We need you. We need your leadership and your A game if we’re going to get home.”

“No pressure right,” Evan said.

“A ton of pressure,” Panga said, “but you’re up for the challenge. I’m going to get some sleep.” She held up her fist to him.

Evan smiled. It looked good on him and Panga couldn’t remember the last time she saw him smile. Then again, they hadn’t had a lot of reasons to smile lately.

“You and your fist bumps,” Evan said and extended his fist to hers.

“Hey, they’re good stress relievers,” Panga said.

“Good night, Panga.”

“Good night, Evan. Who knows, maybe its flying monkeys for us next.”

CHAPTER 8: PANGA

Two days later, Panga was regretting that flying monkeys comment. On the other hand, she really wished it was a flying monkey on the other side of Eric’s force field.

“Anyone have any bright ideas before we all find out what it’s like to be chestnuts roasting on an open fire?” Eric asked.

“Who dares intrude upon the lands of Grimflame,” a voice called out from somewhere above them on the opposite side of the field.

“The dragon talks,” Jadin said surprised.

“More than that,” Panga said, “it has a conscious. I can sense its emotions.”

“So could it be someone like us in the form of a dragon?” Evan asked.

“I don’t think so,” Panga said. “I can sense the emotions, but I can’t understand them. They’re all alien to me. He might be hungry, angry or amused. I think it’s just a dragon.”

“That’s nice and all,” Trace said, “but how do we deal with him. He’s already shrugged off one of my most powerful bolts.”

“It’s going to take all of us together and since none of us are fireproof, we’re going to need a little extra help,” Evan said as he looked over at Alectra. “Panga said she can’t understand his emotions, maybe he won’t be able to understand ours.”

“So what you're saying is your thinking Dragonheart here will be able to drag in some human emotions,” Eric said.

“You seriously did not just say that,” Jadin challenged him.

“My material gets a little thin when I’m under stress,” Eric answered her.

“So we have a plan,” Alectra said. “If it works, do we kill this dragon or what?”

“No one’s killing it,” Panga said. She hadn’t meant to but her definitive feelings on the matter were broadcast to each of them. She was sure only Evan would be able to kill the dragon and he wasn’t going to have any more blood on his hands if she could help it. None of them would suggest that course of action again.

“Panga get Jadin and the horses,” Evan started to say.

“I can take care of myself,” Jadin interrupted him sharply.

“Fine,” Evan continued, “Jadin and Panga please get the horses somewhere safe. The rest of us, let’s see if we can bring down a dragon.”

CHAPTER 9: EVAN

Evan wanted to smack himself upside the head. The one thing he knew about Jadin is that she hated to be protected. He couldn’t deny that his tone of voice had been protective and that was why she had snapped at him. He would have to apologize to her for that, but for now one problem at a time. He turned his attention to the matter at hand where a second course of action had occurred to him.

“Eric, can you hold your shield for a bit longer?” he asked.

“Yeah, but a very short bit,” Eric answered him. “Too much longer and I won’t be any help to us. So whatever it is your thinking do it quick.”

“Mr. Dragon,” Evan called out over the shield.

“Grimflame,” the dragon insisted.

“Ok Grimflame,” Evan continued. “We’re strangers to this world all we’re trying to do is get to Arthur’s castle. Crossing your land is the most direct and only way we know to get there. Would you please let us pass?”

“No one crosses my land,” Grimflame said, unleashing another blast of fire at the group. “It is MY land.”

“So plan A it is,” Trace said, launching himself into the air.

“Trace,” Evan called after him.

“That kid’s impulsiveness is going to get him killed someday,” Alectra said.

“Let’s hope it’s not today,” Evan said. “Eric give him some backup.”

As Eric dropped the shield, Evan got his first real good look at the dragon. Grimflame was easily fourteen feet long from head to tail tip, with a snake like head and a bulkier body. Each web - like wing was another seven feet long and ended in a wicked spike - like tip. The hind legs were longer and more muscular than the front legs and would support him equally well on land as in the air. Essentially, Evan felt he resembled a brontosaurus with wings. That and really, really sharp teeth and claws. Neither Eric’s concussive blasts or Trace’s lightning was having much of an effect and another wide stream of flames from his mouth sent Eric back behind his shield and forced Trace to do some fancy flying.

Evan looked beside him and was happy to see Alectra there as he shifted into his wolf form. He didn’t need to give Jadin any more reason to be angry at him such as getting her best friend killed.

“They need help. Let’s see how well he handles emotion,” he said.

Alectra didn’t answer as she sent a rainbow of arrows at the dragon. Red (anger), yellow (fear), green (envy), and more. Evan breathed a sigh of relief as the arrows had the desired effect. Grimflame staggered in a confused state. He wasn’t any less dangerous, but wasn’t acting in a controlled manner. Evan ran closer to him as the dragon drifted lower to the ground getting within range of his fists. “Now together,” he said.

Each of them hit Grimflame with a series of successive blows. The dragon’s hide largely protected him, but under the relentless attack, he eventually succumbed. Evan reached underneath Grimflame, straining as he held the dragon’s weight, and slowly lowered him to the ground.

“Alright,” he said, exhausted as he returned to his baseline form. “We don’t want to be here when he wakes up. He’s not going to be a very happy dragon.”