Call of the Dragon

With everyone lined up and with their squads, Soul gave a speech.

"I know we've had our fair share of...unfortunate moments, but we can do this. All races, as one. All orders, as one. All of us, as one. We can kill Mordremoth. We can save this beautiful jungle. We can save Tyria." He paused to let the troops shout and clap for him. "Now, we have a battle plan that all of you have heard, but I know that in the heat of battle memory can fail us. I'll go over the plan one last time before we charge in. Isaacs squad is to go in first, and I go with them. The engineer squad will be going with the main Vigil force. Priory and Whispers will be in the back, they will fall in behind the Vigil to heal and support. Does everyone understand?" He paused a second time to let the crowd scream. "Okay, good. In that case...Let's go kill an Elder Dragon!" He thrust his fist into the air and everyone in the crowd of troops did the same. All as one voice, they let out a cheer.

That day, somewhere deep in the jungle, I know Mordremoth heard the mighty war cry of the army that would soon destroy him.

Soul got everyone's groups and squads together and then walked off with Isaac and his group into the jungle. I followed behind Alwyn and Cai, who were talking about their game plan.

"Well yeah, sneaking in is good, if you wanna lose a battle! I'm telling you, charging in is the only way to win this. Take him by surprise and use that to win! It'll work great!" Alwyn sighed and put his head in his hands.

"No. That's not what we're gonna do this time. It's an Elder Dragon, not some random drake in Queensdale. We've talked about this so many times...I thought you would get it by now..."

"Fine..." Cai hung her head and slowed her pace to match mine. "Hey, Rhys! How are you feeling about this mission?"

She caught me off guard and I recoiled a bit. "Oh! Uh...I....I think we'll be fine. We have Alwyn, Soul, and Eugeo. We got this. Plus, Mordremoth lost the fight the second Eugeo showed up."

Alwyn looked behind his shoulder at me and raised his eyebrow. Cai looked shocked for a second but then suddenly was almost jumping around. Then Alwyn spoke up.

"You...What happened while you were gone? You're a totally different person..." He faced forward again. Then Cai spoke up.

"Yeah...You're much more...intense." She looked at me with a look that clearly told me she was examining me.

"Soul didn't tell you? I was uh....I was Mordrem for the year I was gone. I had new thoughts and wanted to kill all of you...I fought Eugeo, I think that's what really changed me. He made me realize a lot. That fight changed me. Pretty sure I'll never be the same..."

Alwyn shuttered and Cai gave me a concerned look. Then Zack, who had been talking with his brother in the front, was suddenly in between me and Cai.

"Hey, Rhys...Soul told me what happened. I know the new thoughts you had were because of dragon corruption, and I know they're gone now, but some of the other troops of other races might not understand. I guess I'm saying be careful who you tell." He patted my shoulder and walked back up to his brothers.

I suppose I should say that yes, all Sylvari are brothers and sisters, but there are rare groups, normally first, second, and third gen, that are closer than normal. They wake up at around the same time and immediately know that they are connected on a deeper level. That was the case with Soul and his two brothers. All of them are connected to the color red, and all of them have spilled their fair share of blood. They are all famous in some way, and their fans have been known to call them "The Crimson Brothers."

Isaac has two brothers, Ren and Ren, one of the twins is away and they never see him. The second Ren is pronounced more like "Reen", he would be the groups' second guardian if he wasn't away on a ship in Orr somewhere. That group of brothers, at least Isaac and Ren, are known as "The Snowfall Brothers."

People have said that me and Alwyn are long-lost brothers but honestly, we just get along really well. I've heard people still trying to come up with our group name. I've heard terms like "Jungle Brothers" or "Vine Brothers" thrown around. It seems that nobody can decide on a name for us, despite us not even being brothers.

By the time my train of thought was over, we were standing at a gate-like thing. Alwyn spoke up. "Let me try something." He stood back from the gate that looked more like a blighting pod and took out his bow.

He shot right in the middle of the gate. His blue arrow cracked the surface but didn't shatter the gate.

Soul stepped up. He shifted into his Reaper form and used his scythe to smash the gate. It cracked more but didn't break.

Eugeo stepped up. He drew his new bow and shot where Alwyn did. It cracked more than it had when Alwyn or Soul attacked it, but it still didn't break.

I stepped up. I aimed for above where Alwyn and Eugeo had shot. I let my arrow go. The arrow shattered the glass-like gate. That arrow was a thorn arrow. I guess they have an effect on dragon corruption.

Everyone cheered for me and a second later charged into the cave-like tunnel that was ahead of us.

I ended up next to Wynn. I forgot that he was a total giant compared to all of us. It didn't help that I wasn't that tall.

Wynn was frantically switching elements as we charged into the dragons' territory. I could hear Ren muttering something about healing and how he's a Chronomancer and how hard it is to concentrate when Wynn is fighting in the same battle as him.

Zack was reloading his rifle while running. The skill that man had was unmatched by many. Isaac was shouting orders to small groups of Priory men that were in his squad

Soul was summoning minions while Cai was lighting her torch. Islwyn was switching to his bow, and Canach was clearing his voice so he could buff us with shouts.

Somehow, Alwyn was inspecting his bow while running. Eugeo was pulling off the same skill and making sure his blades were sharp while running. Light tossed her pet hound a treat and pulled out her longbow.

We were all making preparations while running, even the trained Vigil troops that were scattered throughout our group. We finally made it to an opening. A path that led out onto a dozen floating islands.

We could use the updrafts to get onto those islands, but it wouldn't be effective or fast enough. We needed a different way. And we didn't have one. Ren looked behind him at all the troops and friends and spoke sad, muffled words. "I...don't think we'll make it in time."