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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Undercover_Dragon1 on 2025-05-10 22:00:23+00:00.

Sorry for the delayed posting today! I got caught up building a fence and it took much longer than I first thought.

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— Grendor —

The great war for salvation had been grinding on for months now and there had been nothing but silence. The great unclean tools had been unleashed in massive repeated waves for many, many cycles and yet no word had begun circulation. The pack master stationed nearby had been its usual greedy self as it consumed many hundreds of citizen’s weight in rations over that time.

Grendor was not bothered since his fellow dirtborn sisters and brothers were feeding well for once in all their lives. Grendor pushed past a pack of wandering kobolds, holding back his disgust as he made his way to his work station for the new day. They were unpleasant little creatures that reminded him too much of his and their kind’s dark history and their eternal war. Alliances and promises had changed that but Grendor himself was skeptical at best. Despite that it wasn’t his place to judge or make decisions. His mind quickly shifted gears and his mind began to work overtime as he stepped into his workshop and eyed his unfinished project.

Its large stone form was complete and Grendor had only to finish the binding ritual of birth. After some beginning preparations he tapped into his internal river and pressed one hand onto the stone form while the other pressed down against the restrained beast that had been tied down nearby in preparation. Grendor hummed along as he yanked, pulled and freed the beast’s inner being from its body and thrust it into the stone form. He then tightly bound it to its new form and activated the prelaid magical guidance. His creation shivered and rose slowly as it began to glow. His new construct had been born, and all of the guiding principles in place seemed to be holding firm. This marked his twentieth completed work in his lifetime, and he prayed for many more to come.

“Welcome to the world my fellow dirtborn.” Grendor proudly broadcasted his ceremonial words as he bowed in front of the cold, emotionless construct. He finished up his work and as he was about to set the newborn loose the calls of horns, and bells began to rattle in the morning light.

“The Queen’s enslavers come for us! Prepare! Prepare!” Howled the local crier in the square. Dirtborn, and kobolds scattered as the alarms rose. Many rushed to the walls and prepared for the defenses and Grendor quickly finished his work and sent the new construct free and directed it towards the walls.

He turned and watched as an immense red dragon was flying towards them and horrifyingly there were four smaller dragons following behind it in formation. A single dragon they could handle but five was another matter entirely. Grendor’s heart began to tremble but he quickly bit down on his lip to center himself. He would not let his kindred be slaughtered and he refused to let them fall back into hiding. With a renewed heart Grendor began to summon the other stone constructs stationed nearby and only looked up as he heard a menacing roar and then an answering one from the city’s pack master. Grendor was surprised as the greedy dragon leaped into the air and engaged with the oncoming group head on. Arrows and bolts began to fly skyward in response to the pack master’s call to battle. Grendor was glad to have the massive dragon on their side and he was certain his ancestors would spit at him for that sentiment.

He cursed to himself for getting distracted and having a moment of softness, “Damn greedy beast will ask for double the amount of food if we survive this.” He grimly turned back to his task at hand and continued to help where he could.

— David “Onyx" —

David had once again been reminded that keeping his magical pores open was a bad idea. Arrows and rocks being flung skyward lost much of their speed but they were still able to slip through his defenses here and there and he grunted in pain. One of them was now dead and Muansi’docar had swung downwards to meet the equally large enemy dragon.

His massive red jaws spread wide and in a blaze of his affinity a monstrous wave of fire poured out. Muansi’docar’s affinity lacked any finesse but made up for it in sheer volume and ferocity as the wave of fire lit up the morning sky and like a collapsing sun fell down onto the valley below. The heat and light partially stunned David as he continued to dive and pivot downwards.

The mighty roar of Muansi’docar could easily be heard, “Attack! Burn it all down!”

The tingle of David’s bond reinforced the red’s command and David aimed his dive towards the fortification walls. The mass of skeletal bones standing at attention had begun to charge forward as David, Usag and Rako all landed and begun to tear at the crude dirt walls. It appeared that Xiga had been the unfortunate target of the enemy dragon, but David considered it a blessing in disguise as it wasn’t him.

David debated if it was worth using a breath against the animated skeletons but instead leaped away from the crumbling wall and began to swipe, bite and slash at the approaching army. They crumbled far easier than the still fleshy corpses from before, almost too easily in fact. David pivoted on his hind legs and cracked bones with a hefty tail swipe causing a dozen skeletons to crumble. They still carried the strong scent of the affinity that was animating them but David guessed these were very old.

Three events unfolded all at once in the next instance. David let loose a breath after a second consideration, causing a massive cascade of explosions to erupt outwards knocking over or outright destroying most of the clustered skeletons. The second was Usag and Rako both breaking through the fortification wall at the same time and a toxic gas-like breath being expelled out of one of the pair’s mouths overwhelming the first wave of kobolds that charged out. The third and final thing was the enormous boom as Muansi’docar and the serpent-like dragon clashed once more in the air. The enemy dragon was burned and its flesh crispy but it was still striking back with a vengeance as it had joined the battle with its impressive leap. They were exchanging vicious blows that caused flesh, blood and gore to fly out. The serpent had curled itself only partially around Muansi’docar as it struggled to get a grasp on the monstrously sized red dragon.

As they tore chunks of flesh out of each other it appeared the fight could go either way till Muansi’docar tore one of the other dragons’ thick forearms off and hurled it away. David nodded his head and was about to turn when the sudden smell of ozone hit his nostrils. In a flash lightning erupted from the entangled pair and Muansi’docar took the blunt of four consecutive, massive flashes of lightning. The pair started to spiral downwards towards the ground and Muansi’docar’s movement had slowed significantly.

David weighed if it was worth letting the massive red fall here. He finally sighed as he made his decision. We aren’t even at the real battle yet and I need Muansi’docar to ensure that I make it through. David rumbled as he aimed upwards and prepared his Healing Orb. He easily condensed his affinity now into a ball and poured four full charges into it before holding for an opportunity. Muansi’docar regained his senses and spread his wings wide which slowed the pair’s descent and in that moment David let loose the orb. The wind howled and the other two lesser dragons looked back in shock as David’s hissing orb of pure affinity launched out at impossible speeds, quickly breaking the sound barrier with a loud crack.

The massive bleeding red dragon let off a gasp of shock as the orb slammed into his backside with perfect precision. His massive head glared back at David before softening in realization as the condensed healing powers of the orb began to curl around his form, his wounds sealed as his stamina returned. He bucked and thrashed with a renewed energy and threw the massive serpent off of him just as the released healing fog folded completely around him in a green haze. The haunting and titanic laughter of Muansi’docar filled the air as he shot out of the healing fog a renewed dragon. He dived downwards at the dragon serpent, who’s eyes went wide in horror and terror.

David turned and met the eyes of his two companion dragons, “We need to move!”

His words shocked the pair into motion as they both dived into the fortress with snarls and growls. More toxic gas erupted from what David could see was Rako, and a torrent of tiny sand particles shot up and curled around Usag like a torrent of constantly moving armor. Squat, thick muscled humanoids charged forward with hammers and clubs in hand. Sprinkled in between each of these creatures were smaller, less well armed kobolds charging forward.

David could best describe the grey humanoids as moving rocks. They had two legs, two arms and a head but their flesh looked like rough granite. If they were motionless it would be hard to tell them apart from the valley and mountain rocks. Their rock appearance didn’t stop them from bleeding through as Usag and Rako tore into them like they were nothing. The green and orange dragons demonstrated why they were apex predators as David followed up the re…

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