A Warlock's Ascent

Chapter 9 That Is Not A Bird

?Death. Destruction. Despair.

Things that the Black Dragon of Clamamity, 'Roghorth, The Dark' leave behind whenever it invades one of the great cities. Since ancient times, whenever Roghorth had left its nest and wandered in the skies of Midgard, it had destroyed everything that came in its path.

For so many years, many braves warrior and mages had tried to kill that beast, but still, no one was able to kill that monstrosity. As time passed, the great cities change tactics, rather than trying to kill it, they started preparing countermeasures against Roghorth. And most of the time, these countermeasures worked like a charm.

But this fine evening something happened in the Great City of Ravenshade, that shook the city to its core…

Like every other day, the city was bustling with people. Vendors were doing brisk business, trying to sell as much as they could before the sun sets. Soldiers of the city were patrolling the area diligently, and children were running around from here to there in the streets, in all, the city was peaceful. But it was then it fell from the sky…

Without warning, without a sound, the Great black Dragon, fell from the sky like a falling star, the behemoth body of that great beast when fell in the middle of the city, it destroyed half a kilometer area around it. The loud noise created when the Dragon fell was enough to stop the whole city in its tracks. There was a pin-drop silence in for a whole, everyone was trying to understand what had happened. And it was then…

ROAR!!!

The elders of the city were all very familiar with that roar, after all, to them, the sound itself was like the blazing horn of death. Chaos ensued in the city. People started running towards the shelter. The soldiers around the city were in disarray as they didn't understand how can the Dragon made its way inside the city, without anyone noticing.

The Dragon wreaked havoc around the city. With its Acidic breath, it destroyed and killed hundreds of people. By the time the Lord of the City and her other subordinates came out to face the dragon, it had flown off toward its nest.

The Dragon only stayed in the great city for 10 min or so. But in that time, it had ruined a major chunk of the city and killed many people…

***

Ravenshade was one of the proudest and greatest great cities of Midgard. Because of the efforts of previous city lords, this city was able to make a security network around the city. The security network consists of various watch towers and patrols of soldiers. Because of the strategic location of these towers, any beast wave or attack from any other city could be reported to the main city within seconds.

Because of how tight their network is, Ravenshade had been a proud fortress for more than 100 years. But all of that changed today…

For Brock, this was worse than a nightmare. He was an honest man and as the General of all the units under the city of Ravenshade, he is a proud man. He had been commander for the past 50 years, during his regime he had set a record, no beast tide or dungeon break or any attack from Roghorth had been able to cross of the borders of Ravenshade. But his record was broken today…

He stood in a lit room, wearing his traditional Black color armor with a blue flying raven inscribed on his chest, for an old man in his late 60s, he had a very strict face, short hair, and a long gray beard. But his body still resembled any strong man in his 40s.

In front of him were his 6 commanders that were responsible for communication and manning the walls that surround Ravenshade.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING?" Brock yelled at the commander that was stationed at the wall when the Roghorth attacked the Ravenshade.

"Sir, I swear on my newborn daughter's life. We didn't see anything. You can even ask every one of my men that is stationed on the wall whether they saw anything or not. And their answer would be the same as mine." The commanders replied.

"So what the fuck are you suggesting commander? A mother fucking dragon who as big a fucking small mountain somehow got through all of our defensive measures and somehow ended up in the middle of our city?" Brock yelled.

"Sir, I don't know how he got in. But I can assure you that it didn't get in because me or any of my men were lazing around." The commander answered confidently.

"If none of you dimwits saw the dragon, then how the hell did that Dragon barge into our city?" The commanders didn't have anything to say, more precisely they didn't what to say.

Brock then picked up the glass of water on his table. He then gulped all the water in one whole sip. He then turned around and said calmly...

"Listen carefully… George and Lucas go and help the soldiers handle the mess that the big lizard had left us. While doing the rescuing, gather any information that you can about the incident. I believe that some of our citizens may have seen something. Investigate every single detail and get me something on which I could work. Anything at all." Hearing his command two of the commanders saluted him and went away.

"As for the rest of you. Lock down the whole city. No one comes in and no one goes out. I want the list of every suspicious person that had left or enter the city in the last week. Round everyone that is suspicious. Don't leave any rock unturned. Understood?"

"Sir yes sir." The commanders saluted and then went away from the room.

After they all went he sat down on his desk and started ruffling through some papers, Roghorth may have left, but he had wounded the old man deeply. He didn't know what had happened or how it happened, but he blames himself for this attack.

He was angry at himself as he let all of this happen on his watch. He was also angry with another person, the City Lord of Ravenshade. She was pretty young for her position but Brock had judged her to be a competent person, despite her age. She was a very reliable leader who was very smart as well.

But today she did something pretty stupid. After the dragon's attack, instead of helping around the city, she flew away towards Roghorth's territory behind the Dragon itself. He tried to stop her, but she didn't listen to him and flew away.

There was no way that she would be able to defeat The Great Black Dragon. So then why did she follow him home? It was a very bad move from her end. The worst part was, that the city council was in the dark about whether the city lord is alive or not.

'She should have returned by now. Oh Great Lord that created this world, please don't let Carlin die.' Brock prayed, after all he could only do that for the moment.

***

It was a very strange thing. Roghorth made it inside the city without triggering any alarms. Carlin knew that there was nothing wrong with the traps and alarms that her ancestors had put in the net surrounding the city. So the big question was how the hell that Dragon made its way there.

There was no way that someone would have done something to alarm. As the highest-ranking Mage in the city, she regularly makes sure that there is nothing wrong with the alarms. She had done the inspection not too long ago. Yet still, somehow Roghorth made it to the center of the city.

Another thing that confused Carlin was the fact that Roghorth fell from the sky. Dragons don't just fall from the sky. Usually, the attack pattern of Roghorth is that it spews that toxic bile on his enemies. And after he had made sure that there was no danger to his life, only then he lands. But this time it fell from the sky, and didn't take any people or livestock with it. It just attacked the people around him. And then it flew away. And this is the very odd behavior of Roghorth.

That is why Carlin suspected that something else is at play here. She decided to follow Roghorth home. To hide from him she used many precious artifacts that her ancestors left for her, but she didn't regret it. She wanted to know how the hell that Dragon came to the city. And her only guess was that someone used a teleportation array to send him there.

Roghorth was a pretty fast flyer, so he left Carlin behind in the dust. But still, Carlin persisted and went to the dark forest, while pursuing Roghorth. As she was not strong enough, she didn't dare to approach his territory. So she stayed at the border of his territory and used a telescope to spy on him. Sure enough, she saw that Dragon was in his nest resting. While several silver color poles were erected, surrounding him, at the center of his nest.

As soon as Carlin saw the poles, she instantly knew that her suspicion was right. There was someone who used a teleportation array to send the Dragon to Ravenshade.

BOOOM!!

It was then that Carlin heard a loud explosion near the edge of the territory of the Roghorth. She looked at the Dragon who had also heard the explosion. But to her surprise, he just ignored the explosion and went back to sleep. She sighed with relief as she saw that Roghorth was not interested in the explosion, but it certainly had rasied her curiosity.

****

Dave struggled with the roots that were wrapped his hands and legs. He tried to break free of them, but to no avail, he could do anything. As he was struggling, he heard footsteps. A woman was standing in front of them.

The woman in question looked like she was in her thirties. She had short red hair with blue eyes. Her skin was pale white as if she had not seen the light of the sun in ages. The woman was wearing a blue color cape, a white shirt, and black tight leather pants. Dave saw that the woman had a small cane in her hand which had intricate carvings on it. While similar to Sanjay's magic staff, this staff also had a crystal on the top. But her crystal was more defined and was shining very brightly in the dark.

"Identify yourself scum or die a worthless death." The woman yelled.

"Woah Woah… Easy lady. We mean no harm. We… We should talk it out. What do you say?" Dave said while struggling with the roots.

"What are you guys doing here?" the woman questioned.

"Don't wanna talk? Fine. All four of you will answer your crimes against the Great City of Ravenshade. I Carlin Nornorin with the authority of City Lord of Ravenshade arrest you all." Carlin said.

She then started waving her staff in the air and started making a complicated magic circle in the air. After she had completed the circle, it started expanding and went up in the air. After getting to a sufficient height, the circle glowed brightly and teleported all 5 of them to Ravenshade city.