The Raze

There weren't always dragons in the Valley, or so they say. The people of Sola would tell you that they were the first to inhabit this great mountainous land. They would tell you that dragons came hundreds of years after they made this land what it is today, and that dragons were a plague to their beautiful home. I thought that was strange when I first heard it, because when I was a young boy a dragon saved my life.

It all started when my family was traveling from the city of Llarahu far to the west, a colorful city built beside the ocean. Llarahu is a smaller city, and not very wealthy or renowned, but its people lived well off the fishing trade. My father wanted more for us, and so we set out to reach the great city of Sola, known far and wide as the greatest city in the realm. It’s well known as a land of opportunity and wealth for the people of all the surrounding cities. So like so many others before us, we packed up all we had and left for Sola when business was failing and resources were scarce. The journey was long, and we still had a few days of travel before we set foot in Sola. Though from days away, we could see our new life that awaited us in Sola. The city’s towers gleamed in the distance.

We had walked through fields and woods, across overgrown highways and through tunnels in our travels. Fellow travelers warned us of dragons plaguing the outskirts of Sola, and bandits hiding among the crumbling buildings of a once great city that lay between us and Sola. Like all the destroyed cities that were found across the land, it was a remnant of the world that came before, when great glass towers called skyscrapers were a common sight. Before the plague of dragons brought their world to its end, and turned all their great cities into ruins. Now these ancient kingdoms were home only to outlaws and outcasts. Travelers called this one the Raze.

We set up camp that night at the western edge of the Raze, surrounded by tall structures of this concrete jungle, our voices echoing among the empty streets of what once was a bustling city center. A large sign towered over the area, spelling out “Sola Market.” Several letters appeared to be missing from the sign. I had to climb a nearby wall to see Sola’s bright heraldic flags flying through the old towers and thick branches. In our journey we’d grown used to camping in the many decaying cities that littered the land. They offered ample safety from the elements, and cover from the creature that plagues Sola’s fields. We spent long nights guessing who had lived in each building, and who had ruled over each city. We knew better than to travel too deep into the Raze and risk attracting unwanted attention from those who lived there.

This particular night we took shelter in a building that may once have been someone’s home. It was modest compared to the structures deeper into the Raze, with rows of empty shelves and strange doors along the walls that led nowhere. Behind each door was another series of shelves, though many were missing. I recognized a cash register on a table at the back and realized this was some kind of shop. The shelves and strange doors would have held whatever wares were sold here. Now, the building housed only broken glass, weeds and a thick layer of dust. Collapsing stairs led to a second floor where we found empty bedrooms, but we huddled among the shelves downstairs, hidden from sight. Late that night, my father shook me firmly awake. His hand was covering my mouth, muffling my startled gasp.

“Atticus, take Amelia and go out the back. Quietly.” He spoke in an urgent whisper. My mind shifted from confusion to fear as understanding dawned on me.

“Where’s mom?” I asked. He shook me again.

“Atticus, there’s no time!” I nodded and he let me go, picking up his sword from the ground beside me. He turned to watch as I shook my sister awake, then nodded and disappeared through the door out into the street. There were a few brief moments of silence, and then the sounds of shouting.

Danger was ever present on our journey. We weren’t always welcomed by the inhabitants of each Razed city or abandoned home we took shelter in. My father made sure we always had a plan for these situations. I helped Amelia strap on her backpack and guided her quietly out the back. Once we were outside, we crept carefully through the abandoned streets until we spotted the treeline to the lush Sola forest to the north.

“There’s more of them over here!” Someone shouted in the distance. “Let’s see what they’ve got!” I turned to see a tall, thin man waving a torch in the darkness, pointing right at us. Other voices responded, growing louder and closer as we darted into the woods of this strange and hostile new land. As we ran, my mind raced with all the worst things imaginable. What had happened to my mother and father? Will I be able to keep Amelia safe?

I ran as hard and fast as I could, jumping over bushes and roots, never letting go of Amelia’s hand. I could hear men calling out to each other as they followed. Vines and branches grabbed at us as we passed. I ran until my lungs burned and my legs shook, until long after I’d stopped hearing them.

“Stop Atticus, please!” Amelia begged. “I can’t run anymore!” I slowed my pace but did not stop, listening for any sign of pursuit. Hearing nothing, I looked around for somewhere safe to hide, walking on shaky legs, but in every direction I saw only more woods. I looked back at Amelia. Her clothes were filthy and torn. She was bleeding from a small cut on her cheek. I wiped it away with my sleeve.

“We’ll stop soon,” I promised. But I wasn’t sure it was a promise I could keep. We were lost out here, and I had no idea if we would find shelter, or how to get back to the Raze. After another hour of walking, we finally came across a clearing in the woods. I stopped at the edge of the woods and surveyed the area. Thick weeds and wild bushes filled the area, but with the trees gone we could clearly make out a massive building at the top of a hill. It was a very old building, and yet it looked nothing like the buildings in the Raze, or any of the other ancient cities we had seen. Its sheer size reminded me of the great castles of Alawri I had read about. But the great castles were scattered throughout the city as homes to the Guilds, while this one was atop a hill in the middle of the woods. My father said they used to be called mansions, and that they were home to people of great wealth and power. What kind of lord would make their home so far from everyone else, I wondered. The moonlight illuminated the clearing as the mansion towered over us. And if a building this imposing was only a mansion, how big was a castle?

“What now?” Amelia asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. Her voice was weak and afraid. “Will mom and dad be able to find us?”

“I don’t know, Mia,” I admitted. “You see that mansion up there?”

Amelia nodded.

“We’re going to see if we can find somewhere to sleep in there tonight.”

“In there?” she asked, frightened. I turned to look at her. Tears were welling in her eyes.

“It’s going to be okay,” I reassured her, even though I wasn’t sure it would be. I hugged her, unsure of what else to do. We thought we were safe in the strange store with its empty shelves and its doors that led nowhere. I wished father was here to tell us whether we’d be any safer. To tell my sister what she needed to hear.

Suddenly I remembered the danger we might still be in, and pulled Amelia along toward the mansion. We made our way up the hill, and as we got closer I could make out more detail in the moonlight. Vines and leaves covered most of the building’s walls. Soon we were face to face with the biggest door I had ever seen. It hung open, like the great maw of a terrible beast.

We slipped inside and found ourselves in a large foyer, and I motioned silently for Amelia to wait near the door. She shook her head, gripping my arm tighter. Together, we crept through the building to the other side, to locate another exit. It wasn’t hard to find- most of the ceiling had caved in, and a large section of the rear wall of the building had collapsed into the mansion, revealing a small, overgrown garden behind the building. Confident we had an escape route, we walked back into the building and searched for a secluded spot to sleep. There were so many rooms, and most of them were connected to at least two others.

“Do you think they’ll find us soon?” The question hung in the air between us.

“Yeah,” I said, hugging her. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Entering what was once the kitchen, we found a smaller, windowless room which appeared to be a pantry. It seemed as safe a place to sleep as any, and I motioned to the door.

“Over here,” I called to Amelia. She did not respond. I turned to find I was alone in the kitchen. Panic rushed through me as I headed back the way I came. Amelia was standing in the middle of the foyer, staring into the darkness upstairs.

“Amelia? Don’t run off on your own!” I said, trying to keep my voice down. But Amelia didn’t respond. “Mia! What are you looking at?” I moved beside her, trying to get her attention. She stood frozen, her eyes wide with fear. I followed her gaze up into the darkness, where two enormous eyes shined back at us. Amelia began shaking, a sob of terror rising in her throat. I felt a lump in my throat, and for a moment I couldn’t move. The building shook around us as a deep, thunderous grumble sounded above. I felt the vibrations course through my body, and it jolted me out of my stupor.

I grabbed Amelia’s hand and we dashed out the back of the building and through the garden, screaming in terror as an enormous shadow loomed overhead. Across the garden, I could see more bushes, but no trees to hide beneath. I sped up, tugging Amelia along, hoping to find some cover as the creature’s shadow eclipsed the moon. I glanced up to see a beast with claws bigger than I was flying after us on mighty wings. Suddenly I felt the ground give way beneath my feet. There were no trees on the other side of the garden- only a cliff, one we had run headlong over. As we were slipping over the edge, I pulled Amelia onto my back and looked for anything to grab onto.

“Hold on tight!” I shouted. Amelia wrapped her arms around my neck as I took hold of a root sticking out the side of the cliff wall. In that moment, with the ground no longer beneath our feet, time slowed and my mind raced. I thought about how I’d failed to protect Amelia. I thought about my parents. Would I meet them in the afterlife? Only now facing death could I finally admit the fate that almost certainly befell my parents. We’d all come to Sola for a new life, and instead, we all would meet our end. Far below us, a river drifted peacefully by, waiting to catch us. But from this height, the impact would kill us.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold us forever, and I could feel the root straining under our weight. The only question was whether it was going to break off or get pulled out of the soil. All I could think about was Amelia. I could feel her panicked breaths on my back, her chest heaving with every breath. Her arms were wrapped so tightly around my neck that I could barely breathe. The root began to snap. I felt our weight shift, and I knew this was the end. I braced myself.

“Atti?!” she screamed. “Atti we’re going to fall!”

“Close your eyes,” I said.

“Atti please don’t let go!”

“Do you trust me?” Amelia nodded through her tears, squeezing tight. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Feeling the root begin to give way, I counted down.

“Three…”

“Atti….”

“Two…”

Then the root snapped, and we were falling.

My stomach went up into my throat. It felt like every second we fell, we picked up more speed. I looked up, seeing the cliff's edge taunt me from above. I listened to my own advice and closed my eyes. I knew the river was near, as the sound of the current broke through the rush of the air as we fell. My eyes tightly closed, my hands holding Amelia's trembling arms as she still tightly grasped them around me. I was prepared for oblivion.

My body thudded against something hard. The impact knocked the wind out of my lungs, and yet it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it should have. I coughed sharply as I rolled over. I heard Amelia do the same and looked over at her. Somehow we were both alive.

“Mia!”

“Atti!” she cried. “What happened?”

I sat up and looked around, confused. I could still hear the wind rushing past. The ground beneath me felt strange, shifting uncomfortably. I couldn’t quite tell what had happened, or where we were. Suddenly I was jolted and fell back down, and I turned to see huge flapping wings to my left and my right. We were on the back of the creature that was hiding in the mansion. I looked at its wings again, and slowly shifted my eyes across its massive, scaly form. It was bigger and more terrifying than I’d ever imagined. These creatures were responsible for the destruction of the old world. This very one may have turned the Raze into the dilapidated ruins it is today.

“It’s a dragon,” I mumbled, dumbfounded. “It saved us.”