“And that’s why the Mythoi are at war with you?” Nova frowned. “You’re stealing their magic?”
“Hmph, not stealing,” Korgad defended with a huff. “Ragond draws magic from the other worlds, which produce more in its stead. So much more, in fact, that if it weren’t for Ragond, the magic being produced in both worlds would continue to amass and place great strain on itself, building up until, with nowhere to go, it would tear apart your very planet, as it would Mythos. Your species certainly hasn’t been relieving the leylines; if it weren’t for us, they would have burst a thousand years ago. But no, we’re not stealing your magic, silly girl. We draw from an endless supply. The Mythoi have always known this, and once upon a time, existed peacefully with us, free to come and go. That was before they grew monstrous, before they turned to darkness and destruction.” He glared around at the bodies, beginning to walk past them carefully as he paced the battlefield, the girls following in his path. “They’ve been this way for hundreds of years now, but it was twenty years ago that they began to attack and fight in earnest, starting this war that has all three worlds destabilizing.”
“Destabilizing?” Nova repeated. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“No,” Korgad agreed. “It’s not good at all. They come through now in hordes, armed and ready to fight, disrupting the balance of magic and leaving the world portals unstable, which is why I had such trouble getting us here earlier. The portals come seemingly at random, popping in and out of existence at a moment’s notice, and the rate at which they appear is increasing as well—all while other portals are opening in places they have no business being, and no one knows how or why or when it might happen. The magic being drawn from the worlds is erratic and unpredictable, affecting both Ragond and Earth in ways we’ve never before anticipated.”
“The earthquakes,” Zephyr said, her eyes wide.
“Ehh?” Korgad turned to her, tilting his head. “What’s that, girl?”
“On Earth,” Zephyr explained, putting a hand to her head in disbelief as they kept walking. “There’s been a massive increase in earthquakes and volcanic activity in the past few decades. Could that have something to do with these—these leylines you’re talking about, and the unstable power drains?”
“Hmm, could be…” Korgad blinked his large eyes at Zephyr, looking thoughtful. “Of course, there would be other factors, as well, but yes; if the portals are overdrawing from the magic keeping Earth alive, it could very well cause nature to react in such violent ways.”
Zephyr opened her mouth to say something else, but suddenly one of the nearby creatures—a harpy—lunged upward with a choked, rasping scream, blood streaming from her mouth as she grabbed wildly at Zephyr with her clawed wings. Zephyr screamed, as well, and Nova reacted without thought, grabbing Zephyr’s arm and hitting the harpy away as she yanked Zephyr back. They were suddenly knocked backwards by Korgad, who jumped between them and snarled loudly at the harpy, swiping at her with his claws and striking her hard enough to send her flying, the already injured beast crumpling with a sickening thud against some rocks a little ways away before falling to the ground to lay still.
Korgad let out a sharp growl, stamping his front legs again and beating his wings menacingly, but nothing else in the field moved or responded, so he huffed decisively, turning back to the girls and looking Zephyr over. “Are you hurt, girl?”
“N-no,” Zephyr said, slowly getting to her feet and wrapping her arms around herself as she drew closer to Korgad, looking around warily. “No, I…she didn’t hurt me. Erm, th-thank you. Is she…dead?”
Korgad turned back to the harpy, moving forward and stretching his long neck out before sniffing at the creature, who didn’t move. He straightened back up, sighing deeply as he gave the girls a nod.
Nova pressed a hand to her mouth and bit her lip, not having ever witnessed something die before. Beside her, Zephyr let out a bit of a whimper, shuddering and turning away quickly to cover her eyes with her hands.
“Hmph,” Korgad grunted, looking around the battlefield again and then crouching low. “We’ve lingered long enough,” he announced. “Get up. It’s time to move on.”
“What about…the bodies?” Nova asked, looking around as Zephyr shakily climbed onto Korgad’s back with his help, the dragon boosting her up with his talons again. “There are dragons here, too. It isn’t right to leave them like this.”
“Others will come,” Korgad said, nudging at her with his head to prompt her to start the climb, then boosting her up with his claw. “The dead are not my responsibility.” He turned his gaze back towards the sky as he spread his wings, the girls bracing themselves for the flight. “I tend only to the living.”
As he started to fly again, leaving the battlefield below them, Nova looked down for one last glance. What did all this have to do with her? Korgad had been dodging her questions, but that just made her wonder even more. Why her? What connection did she have to this place? She reached up and grabbed her pendant as they flew, frowning at the etching of a dragon along the front. It couldn’t be a coincidence. This necklace was the one thing she’d always owned, the only item she’d had from before her mother left. The odds of her happening to own a dragon necklace, considering her present circumstances, were slim. Besides, Korgad had said he could help her find her mother, so he must at least know who she was. And then he’d taken her here, to this other world, through a portal he said was unstable and hard to predict.
Was her mother here in Ragond? Was that why she’d never come back? Had she somehow been pulled into this world? Had she been trapped, trying to find a way back all this time?
But then, if that were the case, what did Nova have to do with ‘saving’ Ragond?
Urgh, this was all so confusing, and although Korgad had explained portals and magic and the Mythoi, he still hadn’t explained what it all had to do with Nova.
They flew on in silence, questions circling through Nova’s head as they passed mountain after mountain and town after town, until they circled another peak and she was distracted by a magnificent, huge stone structure climbing up the side of the mountain, towers and pillars and a wide balcony rising up from the rock. Tons of dragons milled around the crags and the valley below, and even more people were visible around the structure, climbing up wide staircases and walking in and out of the buildings built into the mountain. As they circled around the structure, Korgad beginning his descent, five other dragons took flight from below, speeding towards them almost impossibly fast to surround them. Nova noticed with a bit of surprise that, although these dragons all bore a resemblance to Korgad, with the same coloring of scales and eyes, they were all significantly larger than him, and she braced herself, catching her breath and tightening her grip on Korgad because she half-expected them to attack.
“Korgad!” Korgad announced to the new dragons, his voice taking on a deep, throaty tone, as if it were close to becoming a roar. The other dragons all veered off, circling back around and diving back to the building in a perfect, straight line, zipping down to the huge balcony halfway down the mountain. Korgad didn’t follow, instead dropping more slowly down towards the base of the mountain, landing in a field outside the lowest part of the castle among other dragons and a small crowd of curious-looking people, all of whom were keeping their distance but seemed interested in Korgad, Nova, and Zephyr.