May his reign last long and his Kingdom prosper.

Hours later, a filthy brass hand was found. "She's nute breathen." Bilbanus stated. The Dwarven team unburied the lifeless dragon and through much training in leverage tied and pulled the Great Wyrm's corpse from the cave. Paziameira's lifeless form laid on her stomached, looking as majestic as when she were alive. Gehran gave his orders "Let's fetch the cleric and see whute she cune do." Bilbanus interrupted, "Gehran, she bae dead." With but one glance Bilbanus knew it didn't matter to Gehran.

Florellia approached the Great Wyrms corpse and placed her hands upon the Dragons chest where the heart lied beneath. She prayed for 2 hours straight without any results. An already exhausted Florellia fell asleep with all hope lost.

The dwarves held their head in silence. No one noticed the group of Earth Elementals that entered the cave.

The sun peaked up over the trees and hills waking the army of Althainia. A battalion of Calvary and a handful of knights had arrived this morning and were discussing their orders with Kalaman. The smell of a freshly killed cow took over even the awful stench of Dolund'ir as many men enjoyed what could very well be their last meal. Kalaman thought to himself," If this is our last meal, at least it will be one of fresh meat and not anything dried. That food is for Rangers."

The smell of freshly grilled steak carried over to Florellia, which awoke her. She stood, still very exhausted and tried to open her eyes. She stood in complete shock. "The dragon, its gone!" And then it hit her. Florellia ran towards Kalaman screaming and throwing her hands and cursing. "You animals! You ate the Dragon" Many soldiers' faces turned sour as the spit out the chewed up meat in their mouths. A couple of Dwarven soldiers shook their heads, a few muttering that Dragon meat was not half bad. Kalaman laughed heartedly. "This is cow!" He blared trying to talk in mud laugh. Suddenly, a great gust of wind blew Florellia's hair back and the Brass Dragon landed before her. "Where is it? " asked Paziameira, blinking innocently. Florellia blushed a deep red and muttered something about a long night.

The Althainian force had armored up and prepared for another long day of battle. As it had the days before, the catapult began launching boulders (some supplied by Jormunganders lightning blast) at the Goblin city.

Jerluk readied his troops. The goblins numbers had dwindled, but 2 units of infantry had been gathered from their reserves and a handful of knights had formed. Grozz and Brudon received their orders and left to their units. Gaira eyed the Calvary outside the city and gathered his pikemen, ready to take out the riders. He grinned as he thought to himself what a hero in also killing the horses would make him. The meat would be well met. Cetjem rounded his knights and prepared for battle.

Back in his throne room, Tarion could do nothing but ache. Every breath he took and every word he muttered lit the back of his head on fire he thought. He was comforted by his blurred vision since most units now seemed twice as big.

(Continued in part 2)

Snarkerl raised his head from the ground and yawned. The Dragon's large pointy teeth were the same size as the Balanx who was trying to wake him.

"You've missed the entire war, or at least the first wave!" Austanis said. "I can't tell you what's to come, but I can tell you what you've missed if you like." He said without any emotion in your voice.

"So some mortals went to war and killed one another. What do I care?" The Green Dragon hissed.

"Not quite" Austanis said, "a bit more than that occurred."

The green dragon yawned. "Didn't you alter something historic by waking me up? Go away!"

Austanis "No, you'll be dead in an hour anyway."

Now the Balanx had the Green Dragon's attention.

Snarkerl changed his expression from careless and tired to serious. "Speak. Or you'll be joining me."

"One day, but not today, my green friend." Austanis replied. "The Gods have started a War with each other."

Snarkerl asked "A full war?"

Austanis nodded his head, "All out war. The Good Gods against the Evil with the Neutral Gods caught in between trying to find peace before the world is destroyed. Many in Algoron are dead, much is destroyed."

"How long did I sleep?" asked Snarkerl.

"Not long, especially for a Dragon. You slept about 3 days." Austanis replied. "But as you know, when the Gods choose the affect the world, it happens quickly. Many Dragons slept, as did many mortals. That was not by choice, but by the protection of some Gods."

"So I slept to be protected only to be killed in 1 hour?" The dragon snarled.

"Yes. Your protection has run out." Austanis said without emotion.

"Wonderful!!" The Dragon said sarcastically. "What else happened? Who's dead?"

"The Dragons who did not sleep launched a full assault on the Slayers keep. Much to the mortal's credit, they fended off the Dragon coalition. Their downfall occurred when a Blue Dragon landed awkwardly on top of the keep. It was crushed under the Great Wyrm's weight."

"The Slayers Doom was the result of a fat Blue Dragon landing on them?" The dragon laughed.

"I wouldn't call him fat, big boned for sure, but he was a Great Wyrm, just as you are. Anyway, other clans fell to the Gods themselves. Armada was destroyed by the Pirates. The Gypsies wagons were burned by the Kingdom of Verminasia as order by Malachive. Malachive, son of Necrucifer single handedly destroyed the Pirates killing many and reducing their hideout to rubble. Malice fell before Nadrik and his Knights while Valor was destroyed by Necrucifer and his knights. Eclipse was terminated from within by Renegade Yinn opposition."

"Knighthood and Shadow took out Malice and Valor?" the dragon asked. "And Malachive? I already refused to join him! I knew he'd destroy the world instead of conquering it!"

"Yes." The Balanx replied. "It seems the honorable factions had the discipline to accomplish their lord's goals quickly. There are a lot of survivors and it's my understanding that those left alive are seeking a place in the newer starting clans. The people are calling these new orders Bloodlust, Wrath of Justice and the Order of the Talon."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" The dragon asked.

"I am here to document your death. I am just passing the time with this story. It feels refreshing to share my knowledge, especially knowing you can do no harm with it."

"I suppose I should feel privileged. Continue." The Dragon said again sarcastically. "What of the rest of the World?"

"The Elves enclosed themselves in the forest avoiding the war, as did the Dwarves who shut the mountain's gates. Both thought it was the rest of the world's problems since they were not attacked. A natural reaction I suppose. The Conclave finally did the inevitable and merged the towers under one ruler. They are the same as they were, except unified as 1 conclave with the 3 factions. They are also building a non-warring faction to teach magic. Sebatis even moved the Red Robe tower out of the main focus of these battles, to Ice Wall.

"The Austinians were destroyed by Goblins who simply sought out loot in the time of turmoil. The survivors are now calling themselves the Gray Church and are opening their doors to anyone without constraints.

"A lot of artifacts and magical items were destroyed in the world. Mages seem to have an awful advantage, for now, as the fighting types tend to figure out how to counter that. They've already starting manufacturing better armor types. The Banks have crumbled as they were looted. Looters ran rampant on those kept sleeping as well. Hundreds have been executed for their part in that. Yes, it appears the first wave of this war is over and order is coming back - for now."

"And what of me? How am to die? And why?" The dragon asked nervously.

"You're going to die by Malachive's hand for not joining him." Austanis said.

"And where is he?" The dragon asked.

"You are speaking to him, idiot." Austanis said.

"What?" The dragon asked as he watched Austanis' form change to Malachive's.

"I hope you've enjoyed today's report. Enjoy yourself in Hell dragon." Malachive said with a smile.

Malachive struck his hand into the dragon's chest and pulled out its enormous still beating heart before the Dragon could react.

The dragon's mouth flew wide open as to yell in pain, but before it made a sound, Malachive threw the heart into the dragon's mouth, forcing it to swallow it whole.

Malachive grinned as he simply said "Heh"