The Kingdom of Izunyth, a peaceful place. Home to inhabitants of every race. Home to the biggest trade industry in the country Xopis, and a hub for adventurers from any known land. Its castle rests atop a cliff overlooking the vast lands that make up its kingdom. This story however, starts in a small tavern. One of many that make up the edges of this land, and are the first place an adventurer would visit on their way into the kingdom. The Scarlet Wind is one of these many taverns, and per usual it is a populus environment in the evening hours. Full of life and energy as bards fill the space with music, and bartenders dart from table to table. This lively environment soon will go silent, as this story begins.     

A door burst open startling the patrons, as a tall elven woman walked inside the now silent tavern. The piercing gaze of her grey eyes darted from patron to patron. Almost as if she was looking for something. She looked back and made a gesture, as she trudged her way over to one of the few unoccupied tables in the tavern. Following her was a group of what seemed to be other adventurers. Leading them was a younger human girl. She carried a staff lined with roses with an glowing orb hovering by the top. Behind her was a half elf boy wearing monk robes, he was holding the hand of another who was hooded and dressed in dark clothing. The hooded figure was straying behind a little but was being dragged along by the other. The clientele continued to stare in silence as this entourage continued to make their way to the table. 

“Are you done staring yet?” Inquired the voice of another person walking into the tavern. 

She was a tiefling with bright pink skin that would stand out in any crowd. In an attempt to counter this, she wore mostly dark clothing that still seemed to flow behind her, almost as if she was constantly surrounded by some form of powerful energy. In her hand was a guitar. She laughed, and made eye contact with the bard already occupying the stage, almost as if she was planning on taking the stage for herself. Alas, to the surprise of everyone occupying the tavern she looked away and joined the rest of her group at the table in the back. The stares were so focused on the tiefling woman, that no one seemed to notice one last person entering the tavern. She had her face buried in a book and she was running into chairs, and people. Yet somehow she found herself in the back of the tavern with the rest of her party. A bartender cautiously made her way to the table, as the tavern came back to life with music flowing through the space yet again.

“Do uh, any of you want anything to drink,” The bartender asked with a nervous tone. 

“I think we are okay, we’re here for a different reason,” the elven woman said, “We have heard that there have been threats of a possible dragon attack in an area right outside of this kingdom.”

“W-where did you hear something like that?” the bartender inquired. 

“We've been to a lot of different places. When you go everywhere, you hear a lot of things, we're just waiting for it to strike,” She looked back at the rest of her party, and her eyes settled on the pink haired girl, “Keya, I hope you have rested, the probability of our group gaining injuries is high, you better be ready to heal like it's nobody's business.” 

“Yeah Elyon I am,” She said, as she adjusted her hat and stood up to address the towering woman. 

“Good, and we can rely on Aneki to take care of anything you can't,” the tiefling perked up at the mention of her name.

“Oh of course,” She said as she tuned a chord on her guitar, ”Elyon, can someone else please stay around Pixie. Can’t we leave her with Keya instead?” She glanced over to the girl lost in a book. Her ear twitched when she heard her name but she found herself lost back in the story moments later. 

“Aneki. Keya constantly has to have her eyes out from the back lines, I have to be on the front along with the lovebirds over there,” she said as she gestured towards the two sitting together towards the end of the table. The hooded one had removed his hood revealing a head of messy brown hair, and a nervous expression planted on his face. His fingers were still intertwined with those of the one next to him. He looked down after hearing Elyon’s accusation, and the black haired half elf next to him stared at Elyon before finally breaking the odd silence that had taken over the area. 

“Elyon, I could easily punch you in the face and get away before you have the chance to get that axe of yours out,” He said as he stood up. 

“Calm down Zelan, we all know how protective you are of Alanis,” Elyon laughed. The bartender seemed to have snuck away in the midst of the conversation, and the clientele of the tavern had returned to their normal business. Things seemed normal, almost perfect with nothing going wrong. Almost as quickly as things seemed fine, it only got worse. Pixie’s ear twitched and her quiet voice caught the groups attention, 

“It's here, inside the city,” Pixie commented as she finally closed the book that she had been buried in for the past 20 minutes. She threw it in the air and made a motion with her arms causing the book to vanish into thin air. 

“Are you sure?” Aneki inquired.

“Positive,” she replied. 

In an instant Alanis had disappeared, only to come back to the group a few moments later, 

“She’s right, it hasn't attacked yet but it's coming this way,” He commented as he looked across the rest of the group. They were all up and ready for a fight, his eyes settled on Elyon almost as if he were waiting for instructions.

“Send out an evacuation order for this area, things are about to get messy,” Elyon yelled. She ran outside followed by her group and the terrified clients of the tavern. You could hear the screams of the citizens as they ran. The clatter of heels across the ground, and the cries of children. For in the sky was a gigantic golden dragon. The sheer force of the flapping of its wings was enough to stir up an intense wind. It didn't show any intent of making its way towards the ground. Keya ran forward and called for the group to circle around her. She slammed her staff to the ground and a ripple of magical energy flowed outwards from the epicenter. The sky was soon filled with sparkles and constellations, and with a flash of bright light they were brought to an endless void of stars. The Astral Plane. 

“I can keep us here for maybe 15 minutes,” Keya yelled out, “but you can fly here.” 

It took almost no time for Alanis to leap into the air while grabbing a knife from the sheath on his belt. Elyon acquired the massive axe that was on her back and she too made her way towards the looming figure looking down on her. Alanis struck right on the thin part of their wing, he sliced downwards creating a devastating slash that would make flying a difficult feat for the dragon. The dragon lost some of the air that they had, as they stumbled to recover from the force of the blow. Elyon on the other hand had a different approach; she went right for the dragon's head, likely in an attempt to strike its head or eyes. Her axe came down on the dragon's head, only to ricochet off and send Elyon flying backwards. 

“What, how, that was a perfect hit,” She groaned as she flew down to the ground. 

“Those are the downsides of being here,” Keya floated down from her perch in the air, her wing like cape glowing, just like the stars surrounding them, “Even though our power has improved, the same is said for the dragon. Unfortunately, until my astral projection fades, the dragon will have improved use of any of their abilities-” 

“One of which being armor,” Zelan interrupted, “Keya, it can only concentrate its armor at one location on its body, correct?”

“I uh, I think so.” 

“Well, we can see,” Zelan looked over at the still agitated Elyon, “If we both strike at the same time there is a chance that one of us will be able to do some damage,” Zelan told Elyon this and she nodded in agreement, they were both discussing possible attack strategies when Keya snapped her fingers at them to grab their attention.  

“Honestly could you two go be useful or something, Alanis is over there by himself actually hurting the dragon while we just stand here,” Keya noted with agitated tone. But she was right, the wings of the dragon had sustained more gashes as the dragon sank lower and lower in the sky. 

“How does he hurt the dragon? I thought the dragon had armor,” Elyon inquired.

“It does, Alanis is just incredibly fast, and when the limitations of gravity go away it really shows. The dragon barely has time to concentrate any armor so Alanis just has free reign,” Zelan said with a smile. Elyon noticed this and laughed before returning to the serious gaze she had had once before. Zelan made a break for the left with Elyon running to the right. As Elyon was about to strike she felt a burst of confidence and power that she hadn't felt in a long time. She glanced back and saw Aneki in the middle of a song. The magic of her words were enough to change a person, even something as simple as an emotion, but with the potential to inspire people in incredible ways. On the other side Zelan went in for numerous attacks and was joined by Alanis for the last of them. The armor was concentrating around where Zelan and Alanis were. Leaving Elyon with the chance to bring her axe down onto the dragon. The attack hit, breaking the skin of the dragon and leaving it falling lower and lower to the ground. Alanis and Zelan had returned to where Keya was perched as Pixie finally stepped forward. She opened her book and muttered an incantation under her breath. 

“Pixie, h-hurry up I can't hold the projection m-much longer,” Keya stuttered, her grip on the astral plane was escaping and soon they would be back in reality. 

Pixie nodded and flew up to the dragon, she threw the book at the dragon and threw both of her hands out to the side. An Explosion. In the last few moments of Keya’s hold on the astral plane, Pixie had triggered a massive explosion. It knocked the dragon down to the ground at almost perfect timing. The astral sea was gone and they were back in the panicked city of Izunyth. But the dragon was falling to the ground, and so was Pixie. Aneki immediately played a melody to create a major illusion of a mattress. Pixie landed there safely but was still passed out. 

“You three go finish off that nuisance, Keya and I will take care of Pixie,” Aneki said as she waved Elyon, Zelan, and Alanis away. 

“Let’s finish this shall we?” Elyon asked. 

“With pleasure,” Zelan laughed.

The three of them made one last strike on the dragon. One axe, a few fists, and a knife. This was enough to take it down. Aneki walked over carrying a very tired Pixie, with Keya walking behind. 

“Well, we did it,” Aneki said. 

“We really did,” Keya replied.

“I think we should collect what we came here for,” Elyon looked at Aneki, “You want to try and find it?”

“You bet I do,” Aneki walked over to the limp body of the dragon and examined around its neck area, “I got it,” she said with excitement. From on its neck she acquired a gemstone. It shined a brilliant emerald color in heavy contrast with the gold of the dragon. 

“That’s it?” Alanis said. 

“It’s a magical artifact, I don't exactly know what it does but I do know that the royal family of Izunyth wants it,” Aneki replied.

“Well let's go return it then,” Elyon said.

“Can we at least get a drink first, I think we deserve it,” Zelan pointed towards the tavern. 

“I agree,” Keya said as she began walking towards the open doors of The Scarlet Wind. 

“I guess drink first, return later,” Elyon said.

“Yeah, I think that sounds about right,” Aneki laughed, “we did kill a dragon after all.”

“Exactly,” Elyon said, “Izunyth is safe.”