Nari found himself walking the narrow line between waking and dreaming, as he had done many times before. He was beginning to get used to the feeling, learning to differentiate what was happening in his dreams and what was happening outside. The smell of smoke for example, was part of his dream; his brother however, stuck to his side, was real. The feeling of panic rising in his throat was a mixture of both. It was like walking through quicksand, the images looking as real as they had been when he had first witnessed them.

He shook himself awake, tightening an arm around Varan so that the boy shifted and mumbled in his sleep. Nari smiled and curled his body around him, pressing his lips briefly to the top of his head. It was good to see him sleeping, his sleep had been as disturbed as Nari’s own. As much as everyone’s had been since the attack.

He lay still, looking up at the sun shining through the canvas of the navy blue tent he had managed to scrape from the meagre pile of supplies provided by nearby villages. The air was damp and condensation had formed overnight to drip from the top of the tent down to the ground next to Nari’s head. At least they weren’t having to share any more. After Varan’s last nightmares, the family they had been sharing with had moved out, leaving them the tent to themselves. It wasn’t much of a luxury, given that it was a two-man tent and there had been six of them jostling for space, but it was better.

“Varan.” Nari kept his face hidden in Varan’s hair, saying his name quietly to wake him without startling him. Varan shifted again and stretched his little arms up over his head. Nari smiled and breathed in his comforting smell. He smelled like home, or as close to home as he was likely to get these days. Nari called him again, moving his face away from the younger boy’s hair and rubbing his back gently.

“No.” Varan batted his hand away without opening his eyes.

“No?” Nari prodded his brother in the ribs. Varan rolled away, mumbling something in his sleep. “Varan!” Nari prodded him in the back, harder this time. “Wake up!” Varan giggled and burrowed down into his pillow, pulling his sleeping bag up over his head. Nari smiled and tugged the sleeping bag away, letting himself be drawn into the struggle. It was just like being children again, fighting over the duvet in the bed they shared. Varan shrieked and pulled back, his little legs windmilling towards Nari.

“Hey, hey, stop that!” Nari scolded, gripping Varan’s ankles in his hands. “Watch it or I’ll get…” He stopped but the word hung in the air between them. Varan went still immediately, his face dropping to a blank mask. Nari swore silently to himself. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. Varan met his eyes, a film of tears across the golden sheen of his irises, and then rolled away, kicking his way out of his sleeping bag and beginning to pad around the tent, getting ready for his day. Nari followed him silently, still cursing himself, and shook off his own blankets, finding some day clothes in the pile off to the side. Some people had unpacked and turned their tents into a home away from home, but Nari preferred it to look as if they could up and leave at any moment. It made him feel like maybe they could, if only they had somewhere else to go.

“Wait up,” he called after Varan, his younger brother slithering out of the tent while Nari was still trying to get his long legs into his trousers. Everyone had lost weight through the long trek through the forest and the scarce portions of food that showed up from time to time. Nari had always been skinny but now he was painfully thin, rib bones protruding all over his pale chest and his hip bones jutting out at odd angles. He’d stopped noticed now, but he noticed every ounce of baby fat dropping from Varan’s cheeks.

“Varan, where are you?” He burst from the tent, his shirt still only half over his head. His heart pounded with anxiety at the separation but he was calmed almost immediately when he saw Varan still standing at the side of the tent, waiting patiently for his older brother. Nari took a moment to smooth his shirt and then eyed up Varan in the early morning sunlight. It was a familiar sight but he still scrutinised him, looking for any outward sign of his mental state today. His toffee coloured hair had grown longer, and hung dank and greasy in his golden eyes, which were sunken deep into his face and surrounded by dark circles. His lip was bloody from anxious chewing from his small, sharp milk teeth. He did have one adult tooth coming through, Nari remembered. Or maybe it was two. It had been a long time since they had celebrated the loss of baby teeth in their family. Maybe they should start that again.

“Hey.” Nari rested a hand on Varan’s bony shoulder. “Are you hungry?” Varan raised his face to look up at Nari, his thin mouth breaking into a smile. Nari sighed inwardly with relief. On a bad day, his mistimed comment would have sent Varan spiralling into himself and condemned them both to a day of isolation and darkness. “Let’s go get some breakfast.” He nudged his younger brother gently and Varan offered him his hand. Nari turned to face outwards, scanning the camp with dark green eyes. He still couldn’t pinpoint where parts of the camp were, the landscape was constantly shifting and changing as people moved their tents, always expanding as newcomers from other cities joined them. The camp sprawled along the valley as far as the eye could see, flanked by grassy hills and forest on each side. An ancient river had flown through here, carving its way through the landscape before drying up and letting vegetation grow in it’s wake.

“Big,” Varan said solemnly, breaking Nari out of his reverie.

“Yeah.” Nari sighed, glancing down at their linked hands. “It’s grown a lot since we’ve been here, huh?”

“Breakfast.” Varan tugged on Nari’s hand, leading him towards the middle of the camp. Food stations had been set up in the middle and it was a constant battle between everyone to get a place near enough, otherwise the stations ran out of food before everyone had eaten.

***

The brothers meandered down towards the centre of the camp, letting the smell of burnt porridge lead them towards breakfast.

“Smells like Melaina’s getting better,” Nari joked, and was rewarded with a small smile on Varan’s face.

“Kassia,” Varan said quietly.

“That’s right, or Kassia could be cooking. Whatch your step there.” Nari paused to help Varan over a network of rabbit holes, seemingly long forgotten by the rabbits in question. Before long, the breakfast line appeared ahead of them, stretching snake-like between the tents. Nari’s stomach growled in anticipation but he hung back, his eyes scanning the area for familiar faces.

“Aida!” Varan tugged on Nari’s hand, pointing to the little black-haired girl about half way down the queue. She turned at the sound of her name and grinned at Varan, looking up to say something to the tall blonde man by her side. Nari gave a small wave as they both turnd around again, then let out a relieved breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding. Aida had been Varan’s friend back home, and he was constantly giving thanks to whoever was listening that she and Jared had wound up in the same place as them.

“Bit of a shock to see you two up before noon,” he joked as Jared and Aida joined them at the back of the line.

“Jared snores,” Aida said loudly, wrinkling her small nose in disgust. “I’ve been awake since before the birds.”

“You have not,” Jared said, cuffing her good-naturedly around the head. “You were the one snoring. I barely got a wink of sleep.” Nari looked from one well-rested face to the other and felt a prickle of irritation. Banter was fine, it made them all feel more comfortable in their strange surroundings, but Varan had only recently stopped waking everyone around with the screams of his nightmares. Nari still considered himself sleep-deprived.

“Don’t look like that.” Jared elbowed Nari affectionately. “You don’t have a monopoly on rough nights.” Nari forced himself to smiled and shuffled forwards as the line began to move.

“Actually, we did sleep pretty well last night,” he admitted, placing a protective hand on Varan’s head. Aida was the type of child to talk at someone rather than to them, jabbering away without letting her conversation partner get a word in edgeways. This suited Varan perfectly, as he had had very little to say before leaving their home, and had been effectively mute since.

“Really?” Jared raised one eyebrow. “Even after…?”

“Well, yeah, mostly.” Nari shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal but pride radiated from him like heat. “Even after that moron shouted at him yesterday. No night-terrors, no bed-wetting, nothing but sleep.”

“Wow.” Jared raised the other eyebrow to join the first beneath his floppy, straw-coloured fringe. “I’m impressed. Coming on in leaps and bounds, isn’t he?”

“Yup,” Nari beamed, giving up on trying to seem nonchalant. It was a huge deal, after three months away from home, the six-year old had finally had an undisturbed night. His heart fluttered with hope at this first sign towards gradual recovery.

“Don’t look now.” Jared moved his head closer to Nari’s so he could whisper. “But that lunatic is back.” Nari sighed, hearing the heavy footsteps behind him.

“I hate him,” he sighed, more out of resignation than true venom.

“I’ll have a word,” Jared nodded and set off to speak to self-proclaimed “prophet”. Varan hadn’t clocked the religious nut yet but when he did, nothing would calm him down. Nari tried to catch Aida’s eye and gesture for her to turn the other way so that Varan had his back to the naysayer. Aida, bless her, understood almost immediately and shuffled round without drawing attention to herself.

“Did you hear the news?” The woman serving the porridge lit up as Nari passed in front of her, eschewing a more traditional greeting in favour of unburdening herself then and there.

“Thanks Melaina,” he murmured, hearing the arguing between Jared and the loon heating up behind him. “No, what news?”

“The fighting has reached Lindow.” To anyone else, this news would not have sounded as exciting as the look on her face made it seem. She had handsome features, high cheekbones and vivid green eyes against flame coloured hair. She was tall, taller than Nari, and had square shoulders, making her broader than Nari too. She always unnerved him slightly, as she could clearly beat him if it came to a fight, and she was renowned in their home town for being quick to blows.

“Oh.” Nari looked confused. “Is that… Good?” Melaina gave a huff of irritation and shoved a bowl towards Varan.

“I’ll explain later. How’s Varan? Is he sleeping any better?”

“He was,” Nari nodded, holding out his bowl to receive the gloop she was spooning into it. “And then that guy came along.” He jerked his head back to gesture towards the man Jared was arguing with, and spilling a bit of his porridge at the same time. “Oops, sorry.”

“What did he do?” Melaina spooned some into Varan’s bowl, her eyes fixed on Nari so she almost poured the porridge down Varan’s shirt.

“Ugh, he comes up and yells about how the world’s going to end in dragonfire and blood and pain and it’s all because of our sins,” he explained, looking disgusted. “And everything that’s happened so far is our fault and everyone we’ve lost is on our conscience.”

“Oh no.” Melaina rolled her eyes. “Another one?”

“Yup,” Nari nodded. “He decided it would be a great idea to stand right behind Varan and shout at him until he cried. Every time Varan sees him he starts screaming and then he has nightmares for a week. I swear that guy is just following us around now because he knows he got such a great reaction from him the first time, he wants to see if he can make it happen again.” He rolled his eyes and licked a little bit of his breakfast off his grubby sleeve.

“How about you?” Melaina asked, her voice quieter now, softer. “Are you sleeping better?” Nari pressed his lips together and shook his head. Luckily, the commotion behind him saved him from having to respond. Melaina cracked a slight smile, diverting her eyes while Nari turned to see what had happened.

The man with the billboard had been confronted by a tall man that none of them had ever seen before. He had messy black hair and a slim physique, though obviously he was muscular, judging by the harsh words he was exchanging, before catching the prophet hard with a fist in the gut. The man was on his knees coughing and gasping for air before Nari could blink. Jared looked vaguely bemused and said something to the tall stranger, the wind too loud to hear what they were saying, but the man’s face cracked into a smile and he laughed out loud. Jared grinned at him, clearly pleased with himself, and the two began to walk back to the group.

“What did you say to him?” Melaina asked, her eyes crinkling in amusement.

“I asked him if he was targeting this man and his brother,” the dark man shrugged. “He told me yes, so I slugged him.” Nari just stared at him, hearing his heart pounding in his ears. Melaina shoved him and he realised that he was being addressed directly by this beautiful stranger.

“Do you mind?” The stranger was asking. “I didn’t mean to butt in but we’ve all seen some shit… No one should be targeting anyone like that, especially not a kid.” Nari nodded breathlessly.

“Thanks,” he managed to breathe, smiling a little bit. “I’m Nari, by the way.”

“Seathan, but call me Seth,” the man grinned in return, offering Nari his hand.

“Vulgar.” Lorel pushed his way into the line between Nari and Varan. The younger boy looked around in a panic and opened his mouth in a wordless cry. Nari reached around Lorel and pulled Varan close to him, rubbing his shoulders in a comforting motion.

“Hey, watch out.” The way Seth saw it, he was merely offering some friendly advice. He didn’t know the power structures of Kiesset or recognise the relics of their monarchy. Jared and Aida turned away, their eyes respectfully downcast. Lorel drew himself up to his full height, glaring daggers at Seth.

“Do you know who you’re speaking to?” He thundered. Nari and Melaina rolled their eyes at each other as Varan clutched at Nari’s shirt, hiding his face.

“Should I?” Seth addressed his question to Nari, which only infuriated Lorel further.

“My name, is Lorel Elysium.” This haughty declaration brought nothing but a blank stare from Seth and a smothered chuckle from Nari, trying and failing to turn it into a cough.

“The Elysiums ruled Keisset,” Melaina supplied, dumping the porridge carelessly into Lorel’s bowl. Lorel wrinkled his delicate nose in disgust.

“Oh.” Seth shrugged, unconcerned. “Well, whatever. Just be more careful where you walk. This kid was really freaked out when you separated him from his brother. You could be more considerate.” Lorel glared, but turned his attention to the specks of porridge on his decorative robes. Granted, they were grubby now, and frayed at the hems, but it never failed to remind the people he had once ruled that he had once ruled them. Or so he thought anyway. In reality, the refugees from Kiesset found the child-prince flouncing in his impractical clothes ridiculous, although the majority of them were still too scared of the Elysium’s power to address him. He had the same dark red eyes as his father, set in the same marble face and the same cold manner as his mother and sister. His hair was pure white and he pulled his hood right up over his head to avoid the sun. The delicate framework of blue veins beneath translucent skin was a mark of the Elysium’s inherent superiority, and Lorel did not consider himself to have fallen into inferiority just yet, despite being forced to rub elbows with commoners so often now.

“Come on guys, we’re all in the same boat now.” Melaina pressed a bowl of warm gruel into Seth’s hands, distracting him from Lorel. “Here, you’re holding up the queue. Get lost, I’ll see you all later.” She pushed a bowl at Nari’s chest, then at Jared’s and one in each hand for Aida and Varan.

“Well, it was nice to meet you Seth” Nari broke in, making his escape. “We’ll probably see you again soon.” He tugged Varan’s sleeve, directing him towards their usual eating place, near the tree line and away from other groups. A lot of people liked to reminisce about their lives before the war and it did Varan no good to hear it.

“Is it okay if Jared eats with us?” he asked, trying to lower himself to Varan’s level and walk at the same time. Varan looked thoughtfully at him, then back at Jared and Aida.

“Okay,” he shrugged, pulling away from Nari a little bit.

“And me!” Aida skipped to Varan’s side, leaving Jared to catch up with Nari. Varan spun and gave Aida a big smile, racing her over to the treeline. Nari gave a half smile to Jared over his shoulder, pleased to see Varan on one of his good days.

“Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself.” Jared offered his hand to Seth. “I’m Jared, and that’s Aida, all the way over there.”

“Seathan,” Seth nodded, returning the smile. “Good work with that wackjob.”

“Are you kidding?” Jared gave a chuckle, clapping Seth on the shoulder. “You did far better. I wish I’d thought of doing that far sooner!”

“Well,” Seth shrugged, pretending not to be flattered. “I find that being direct is the best way to get through to people like that. Anyway, you’d better catch up with your daughter.” Jared looked behind him, then back at Seth.

“Oh, she’s not my daughter.” He took a few steps away from Seth. “No blood relation. Where are you from?”

“Lindow,” Seth answered, the mention of the name still painful in his mind.

“Make sure to speak to Melaina,” Jared offered with a wink. “She’s very interested in Lindow right now.” Seth gave him a puzzled look whilst Jared jogged to keep up with Nari.

“Oh, don’t forget.” Jared bumped Nari with his elbow once he’d caught up. “We have to meet Melaina again once everyone’s eaten.”

“I know.” Nari smiled contentedly. “And Kassia. I didn’t forget.”

“Good,” Jared said, swinging one leg over the make-shift wooden chair at the make-shift wooden table. It was much better than the old things had been, the fold-out chairs and tables they had managed to scavenge on the journey to relative safety having rotted into pieces in the rain. “Do you mind if Seth eats with us?” Nari looked up to see the stranger hovering aimlessly a few paces back.

“I guess,” Nari shrugged. Jared waved him over, a look of relief crossing his face.

“Hey, have you heard about Yenyra?” Jared shifted to make room for Seth to put his bowl down.

“No, I haven’t, have you?” Nari avoided eye contact with Seth, focusing on his hand to keep it from shaking.

“Who’s Yenyra?” Seth asked, eager to join in.

“She’s a friend of ours from Kiesset,” Jared explained. “Her partner Myyka was badly burned in the attack, he made it all the way here but died the day he arrived.”

“Oh.” Seth looked down.

“She was pretty badly burned too,” Nari murmured, mechanically spooning food into his mouth without really tasting it. “And she crushed her… What was it? Her arm?”

“Her wrist,” Jared nodded. “She carried him all the way here with her crushed wrist but he didn’t make it. She’s heart broken. We’ve been trying to visit her as much as possible, but it’s hard with… Well, you know.” Jared waved one hand in the direction of Varan and Aida playing together, having already wolfed down their food.

“Hey, Melaina and Kassia are doing the breakfast this morning, so we’ll have loads of time before we have to meet them.” Nari jabbed his spoon towards Jared, splattering a little porridge in his excitement. “We should stop by and see her!”

“I don’t know,” Jared said, chewing his lip. “It’s not a good idea to take Varan.”

“He’s having a pretty good day,” Nari pointed out. “I nearly mentioned… Y’know… to him this morning, and he’s still alright.”

“Wow, really?” Jared raised an eyebrow. “That’s amazing.”

“Isn’t it?” Nari glowed with pride, scraping the last of his porridge from the bottom of the bowl. “I think it would do him good to go see her, he always liked her when we lived next to her.”

“Sure, okay,” Jared shrugged, scraping up the last of his. “Seth, do you want to come with us?”

“No, that would be a bit weird.” Seth laughed self-consciously. “It was great to meet you all though, I’ll catch up with you maybe later?”

“Sounds good.” Nari smiled and gathered the empty bowls into a neat pile.

“Oh, here, I’ll take those back to the kitchen station.” Seth took them from Nari’s hands and walked away quickly before anyone could notice his hands shaking.

“He seems nice,” Jared said, watching him go.

“Don’t you feel like he’s trying too hard?” Nari cocked his head a little, his eyes on Seth’s disappearing behind.

“He’s the only one from Lindow,” Jared pointed out. “He’s got to be lonely. He hasn’t had a chance to adjust like the rest of us have.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Nari tore his eyes away and raised on hand to shield his eyes from the rising sunlight. “Come on, we need to hurry before Melaina sends out a hunting party.”

***

They could smell the medic tent before they could see it. Wounds festered in the heat here, and the few medics who had survived were painfully under equipped and understaffed. From deep inside, fevered moans could be heard and every now and then, a forehead shining with sweat would flash past the opening as the injured convulsed in their blankets. Varan reached for Nari’s hand and wrapped his little fingers in Nari’s bigger ones. Jared reached for Aida but she shook him off irritably.

“Daitu? Are you there?” Jared called, taking a step towards the tent.

“Not now, not another one.” A small round man bustled out of the tent, wiping blood off his surgical gloves. “I don’t have time, there is not enough- Oh, it’s you.” He relaxed as he realised that no one there was injured or sick.

“You seem busier than usual,” Nari observed, squeezing Varan’s hand.

“Of course.” Daitu sniffed, his lip quivering under his moustache. “More and more people arrive every morning. We are not able to cope with this.”

“Really?” Jared exchanged a worried look with Nari. “Every morning?”

“Have you not heard?” Daitu raised an eyebrow. “There are attacks every night.” Nari’s hand clamped down on Varan’s, feeling the fragile bones in his hand shift under the pressure. Aida reached for Jared’s hand, suitably scared now.

“A-Attacks?” Nari croaked. “Like-?”

“No, thank Kihsh.” Daitu made the appropriate religious sign with his hands. “No burns, nothing like we’ve seen. But it’s sadistic. No one has seen them yet but whoever it is is targeting children.” Nari bit his lip until it bled, trying to resist the urge to squeeze Varan’s hand even tighter. “It’s a knife, with an obsidian edge,” Daitu explained, oblivious to Nari’s discomfort. “Too sharp to feel. Someone servers the artery and the child bleeds out in their sleep. The ones we’ve caught before it was too late have developed some kind of infection that we can’t even identify, let alone treat. They’re dying like flies.”

“We thought we’d be safe here,” Nari half-whispered to Jared. The blonde man shook his head slowly, unable to believe what he was hearing.

“Who…?” He couldn’t even finish his sentence.

“We think someone from a nearby village,” Daitu shrugged. “They’ve made their opinions on us being here quite clear. But for now, where else can we go?” Nari nodded, his body on autopilot.

“I’d better go.” Daitu clapped Jared on the shoulder, leaving a bloody handprint. “Between you and me, we’re so swamped right now that all we’re really doing is providing is a place to die.” He turned to leave, hurrying back towards the sick and the hopeless as quickly as his stubby legs could take him.

“Oh, your friend Yenyra!” He spun around, jogging backwards. “So sorry. She didn’t make it.”

Kalinth stretched his massive limbs as he lumbered out of his family cave. The sun was already high in the sky, making him squint as his pupils adjusted. The valley was already humming with activity, the hunting party having returned only recently, so families with young were already at the kill pile; the bigger, unmated dragons hovered nearby, waiting their turn. Every now and then, a youngster would make a dash for the spiked tails that flicked so tantalisingly. The more patient would play for a few minutes before chasing the young away with a good natured snap of giant teeth. Those who were less patient sent jets of fire from deep inside their throats, missing the young by a scale’s width. Kalinth’s eyes crinkled contentedly. He tilted his head upwards towards the sky, plotting the familiar route between his corner and the summit of the furthest mountain where he was due to meet his patrol. He could just about make out a sprinkling of snow where there had been none yesterday.

“Are you ready, Brother?” Kalinth swung his head around to greet his clanmate, smaller than him and emerald green in colour.

“Brother.” Kalinth dipped his head in greeting. “Raziel. It is good to see you.”

“And you.” Raziel arched his neck, letting the sun fall in a way that made each individual scale glitter.

“Did you contact the Inioth?” His voice was a low growl, vibrating through the rock of the mountains on each side. The raw power emanating from him made less experienced dragons quiver in terror, but Raziel was well used to the ways of his clan leader and only stepped back a little.

“I regret that I have not.” He hung his head at his chest, the proper and deferential way to report failure to the clan leader. Kalinth said nothing, waiting for an explanation but his concern was betrayed by the rasping of his claws against stone beneath him, carving neat rows into the slate.

“I flew to the lake,” Raziel reported, lifting his snout so he was facing Kalinth. “I stayed for weeks trying everything to communicate with the Inioth. It has never been so difficult before. I was forced to return before the last phase of the moon to arrive before this gathering.”

“That…” Kalinth paused, wondering how far he should confide in his clanmate. “…Concerns me.”

“And me.” Raziel lifted his head quickly, forgetting himself and snapping the air briefly in frustration. “I have never before failed to contact the Inioth. It angers me that I am unable.”

“Calm yourself,” Kalinth growled, his muscles rippling beneath deep ruby scales. Battle scars adorned his belly and chest; he had earned his place in this clan, risen through the ranks with his own strength, and he never let anyone forget it.

“Yes Brother.” Raziel dipped his head again but fixed his gaze on the mountain summit that Kalinth had been looking at before. “The sun gets high. We must go.”

In answer, Kalinth unfurled his massive wings and, with a single thrust, had taken off from the ground, the membrane stretched almost transparent between the delicate bones that built their structure. Raziel huffed, smoke dissipating from his nostrils in irritation, and stretched his own wings behind him. He took off less abruptly, letting his wings adjust to the redistribution of his weight. Kalinth liked to remind everyone of his power, though it made Raziel cringe to see those wings creak that way.

“You will not be able to do that forever,” he reminded Kalinth as he caught up with the older, larger dragon in the air.

“I will not be doing anything forever,” came the terse response. It was a short flight to the gathering point but it was done in silence. Kalinth was worried about Raziel’s failure to contact the Inioth, the First, in the old language. Raziel was a fundor, born very rarely with an innate ability to communicate with the Inioth wherever they were in relation to each other. To have Raziel within metres of Inioth and still be unable to sense him was very unsettling indeed.

They landed gracefully, one after another, on a grassy plain just under the summit. The ground thudded beneath them with a satisfying amount of bounce beneath their clawed feet.

“Are we the first?” Raziel tried to hide the surprise in his voice.

“No.” Kalinth slowly swung his head from side to side, drinking in the air. He raised his head and fixed his eyes on a hollow behind the waterfall.

“Galzra!” He bellowed, making Raziel cower in fright.

“I’m here.” Galzra fluttered to the ground lightly between them. She was a pretty, sapphire blue female, an outsider originally to their clan. Her growth had been stunted, so although she was fully grown, she was smaller than Raziel, who was still only a juvenile.

“You’re late,” Kalinth growled, fixing her with his golden stare. She turned away and began to preen, her scales still wet from her emergence from the river, and the sunlight gave her a dappled appearance.

“I have important news,” she told him, flicking her tail nonchalantly. Kalinth began a growl that originated from his fire belly and amplified through his throat. Raziel thought he could actually see sparks leaping from inside his leader’s mouth. Galzra stepped back hurriedly, her preening forgotten. Kalinth usually had much patience for her, but today he was tense, distracted and anxious for confirmation of his suspicions.

“Briam is planning war,” she reported, her voice barely trembling. “He plans to fight in the name of Hudraer.” Raziel shuddered at the name, and even Kalinth couldn’t suppress a shiver down his spine.

“Then it’s true,” Kalinth said quietly, his eyes fixed on something only he can see. “Hudraer’s influence has found a place in his heart.”

“Is that why I can’t contact Inioth?” Raziel was practically dancing on the spot, so agitated from the return of the ancient evil. “Maybe Hudraer has struck first.”

“No!” Kalinth roared, snapping his teeth together. Fire blazed in his eyes and he launched himself into the air again, quickly followed by the two smaller, more agile dragons.

“We must move fast,” he huffed, his breath forming small clouds of steam as he flew. “Inioth will need the help of those loyal to him.”

“What must we do?” Although Kalinth was older and bigger, Raziel was struggling to keep up, his wings straining to keep the same pace through the air.

“We must prepare the unmated,” Kalinth grunted. “We must mobilize to protect the others. Galzra, do not visit their clan again. We must focus on moving forwards.”

“Of course Brother,” Galzra replied respectfully, on her best behaviour now that her news had been delivered. Raziel rolled his eyes so hard he nearly lost his balance and tumbled out of the sky.

“He will attack the holy land first,” Kalinth said, almost to himself. “We must take the city known as Kiesset. The humans must be driven out.”

“But…” Galzra could barely believe what she was hearing. “But it’s their land, Brother. Inioth has declared it to be so. We cannot interfere-”

“If we do not, it will be the worse for them.” Kalinth set his jaw, leaving no room for argument.

“Gather the warriors, my Sister. Prepare them to fly for Kiesset tonight. We must secure the holy land before Briam.” Galzra nodded and peeled away from the other two, clamping her wings to her body to make a fast descent back to the valley.

“There is no time to lose,” Kalinth announced, just as Raziel was hoping for a respite. “We must fly ahead and begin the preparations.”

“You mean…?” Raziel felt bile rise in his throat, drawing his foreclaws in towards his body in horror. “We will be the first?”

“We will be the first,” Kalinth confirmed. “There must always be sacrifices. There will be many human casualties. We must do what it takes to make them leave the holy land. We will certainly destroy much less than Briam.”

An ancient evil has reared it’s head and thrown the once peaceful world of dragons into all out war. Most important in their geography is a city known as Kiesset, the site of the battle where evil had been laid to rest, which has been the home of humans for thousands and thousands of years. Thinking it the lesser of two evil, Kalinth gives the order to destroy the city in the hopes of chasing the humans out and avoiding a greater number of casualties.

Kiesset is home to a diverse range of people, from the ruling Elysiums in their tower, to the little girl living on the streets with her guardian. The attack on their town forces survivors to escape together, travelling many miles to find a safe place to settle. But when this safe place turns out to be less safe than it seemed, a group of friends decide to make their way back to their home, no matter the dangers. There’s simply no place like home.

Or is there?

A novel about friendship in the face of disaster, and finding your home where you least expect it.

The internet at the flat where I live with Laura is unreliable at best. It’s been out for the last two weeks, and we’ve had to use what intermittent wifi we can latch onto from the pub downstairs. This leads to a lot of refreshing pages and waiting (and cursing). As my browser of choice is Google Chrome, I have recently discovered the little dinosaur game where you play a dinosaur running and you have to jump over cacti. I think it’s very cute but cute is not a professional opinion and this is a professional review. Let’s move on.

Let me begin by saying I am not a gamer. I play games, sure, as a way to pass the time. I’ve played several games, if you accept that my definition of play means “watch someone else play while lying in bed”. In this vein, I have “played” To The Moon, Gone Home, The Stanley Parable and the Mass Effect series. In the more literal definition of play, I like hidden object adventure games, most versions of Bejwelled (though I hate Candy Crush, my favourite version is Cupcake Mania) and Solitaire. I like Age of Empires, which is a strategy game, but only because my friend taught me how to play it when I was nine and now I find it really easy. I am not a person who likes to lose. I always set the level when possible to the easiest setting. I generally give up on a challenge. I did go through phases of playing games similar to what I shall dub “The Dinosaur Game”, such as Run, where you play a little space blob running through tunnels and have to jump over gaps, the helicopter game where you have to pilot a helicopter and avoid obstacles and Bug on a Wire, where you play a bug running along a telephone wire avoiding crows who will eat you if you run into them. I got quite far in all of those, given that I played them obsessively for several months and then never touched them again.

Right, so The Dinosaur Game. Firstly, there are graphics. They aren’t very good ones, I think. They’re not very realistic. I mean, I never got fully immersed in the dinosaurs world. It was very sparse and pixelated but apparently some people like those graphics. They were consistent at least, the style was the same all through the game. I think. I don’t know though as I am not good at this game. My first attempt scored me 45 points. It took me 20 minutes to score above 100, at which point the game beeped loudly at me, startling me so that I squealed and ran into a cactus, thus losing the game. At this moment in time, my high score is 189. I keep misjudging how long to jump for.

Gameplay is very simple, press the up arrow to jump. You would think that having played this game for 45 minutes now, I would be getting the hang of that, but apparently not. Well, I seem to have had a lucky streak because since writing that sentence my high score is now 283.  The cacti are different heights and different widths so it’s difficult to judge how long to press the arrow for. The longer you press the arrow for, the longer you are in the air. Sorry, I should have mentioned that earlier.

There is very little storytelling in this game, which I think is deliberate. It creates a sense of mystery. I spend a long time staring at this little running dinosaur, wondering who he is. Where is he going? What is he running from? So many questions. I feel like if I could keep running till the end of the game, I would have all the answers. Unfortunately, I still have not beaten 283. It is unlikely at this point that the little dinosaur will ever make it to where he needs to go.

In conclusion, I like this game, because I tend to like simple games with simple aims that kill time while I am waiting for something else. If that is what you look for in a game, then you might like this game too. If not, then you probably won’t like it as much. Which is fine, everyone has their own opinions. Who’s to say what makes a good game anyway? It’s very subjective. So long as you’re happy, who cares?

My new high score is 440 by the way. Still no sign of what the little dinosaur is running from.

So this is my blog. Do you like it? I haven’t seen it myself yet but I’m pretty excited.

I’m starting this blog as a prompt, hopefully it will encourage me to write more and develop SOME sort of personal style. I love writing fiction but I developed a problem with depression and couldn’t bring myself to do it for several years. I’m now a year into my treatment of antidepressants and feeling more able to work on my ability because writing something that I liked and was proud of used to be a really big deal to me and I would love to have that feeling again rather than hating everything I work on.

So anyway, it’s New Year’s Eve and I’m in Malta on the coldest day since 1971 and the first time it’s snowed since the 1950s. History in action man, I am living the dream. I’m with my family, my dad lived out here with my stepmom but she passed away in September so now he lives here by himself. We do what we can to help out but being in different countries makes it hard. Usually I live in the UK with my wonderful Laura, my partner in crime (and life in general).

New Years resolutions are a thing so I guess I’ll pop them on here so I can keep an eye on how well I do as the blog gets older.

1. SAVE MORE MONEY oh my God I am so bad at this. I was on a zero hour contract for half the year and the other half I was a student living on student loans, so now that I have a stable income, it is VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT I SAVE AT LEAST SOME OF THAT every month.

2. Drink at least a litre of water every day. When I was at uni during the worst of my depression, I put on about 4 stone and wow I hate it. I still don’t have the energy or mental health to push myself to exercise regularly but drinking water every day is a start to getting back on the road to a healthy weight

3. Exercise on days where I feel able, even if that means walking into town instead of taking the bus. Otherwise there’s a gym down the road from where I live that offers some group classes that you can pay for individually, I need to at least try out some of those.

4. Keep going to counselling, preferably more regularly than I am now. I feel like this time counselling is helping me much more than it has previously, but I find it really hard going. I’m supposed to go every Tuesday but I cancel it a lot of the time because I can’t face it. Hence wanting to go more regularly.

5. Get my driving licence and a car. My anxiety makes driving difficult and so I’ve been having lessons on and off for the last three years, but I’m getting fed up of public transport now, I make enough trips abroad that I really need to be able to drive to an airport now. Also my dad promised that if I get my licence by my birthday he’ll get me the car!!!

6. Be more on top of housework, an untidy flat really runs down my mood so I need to stop letting it get to that point. I rarely have the energy to do a big tidy up so I need to get into the habit of tidying as I go.

7. Make more time for self care. I need to (figure out how the shower works!!) take long, hot showers, buy fancy shampoos, learn to do my make up perfectly, buy different coloured nail polishes and paint every nail a different colour etc. Just little things that help me to look after myself and make me happy. I’ve come to realise the importance of stuff like that this year and I’d like to carry it on.

8. Go to Jelly and write more. It doesn’t matter if I just write for 5 minutes or just 10 words so long as I get out of the house and meet people and do something productive. I really need less duvet days and I need to work on stuff I can feel proud of. That’s also sort of where this blog comes in!!

9. Make more of an effort with friends who live far away and extended family. My friends and family are scattered pretty much all over the country and I don’t always put as much effort into maintaining the friendship as I should. A lot of them live in London so I could easily go see someone while Lozzy is covering an event (she’s a big time games journalist and I cannot tell you how proud of her I am seriously thinking about it makes me squeal.)

10. Go to every single one of my writing classes. I paid £229 for 10 weeks so the least I can do is ACTUALLY GO TO THEM. They might be a huge help and even if they’re not, they’ll be a good excuse to meet people. I get so lonely sometimes it’s unbearable, I would like to get out more and make more friends.

That’s pretty much all of them, it basically boils down to write more and be healthier. Woop! I think those are pretty doable.

Anyway, let’s call it a night, I am completely shattered. Goodnight wordpress, and hopefully this will continue!!!