The glowing male watched as the large fire dragon moved forward to dig their way out of the Keep, watching intently as more and more of the rubble fell away. He dropped his weight onto his forelegs, lifting his wings and pressing them against his side. If he wanted to get out of the entrance quickly and fly, he'd have to be more stream-lined then the clunky way his wings and legs were made.

And then, of course, Akhentan and Raija had their debate on who should leave first. The male was all of two seconds away from deciding to simply push past them, impatience settling in his chest like a thorny bush, when Akhentan left the Keep and announced to the others that it was clear. He allowed only a few moments for those already moving to get passed him, but the storm dragon was hot on their tails, pushing out of the entrance and using his legs to pus himself into the air.

Rhyhor took a few moments to survey the damage done to the academy. The Eastern Keep seemed significantly worse off then their own Keep had been, but helping the dragons there was an afterthought. Instead, the storm dragon focused on the school buildings themselves. The experienced riders dorms were completely destroyed, demolished. If the attack weren't cowardly and against his own people, he might have even been able to appreciate the art in the wreckage.

He saw a few smaller figured escaping the destroyed dorms, and decided none of them were his, and so turned his attention towards the inexperienced riders dorms. It was where his rder was, if she wasn't already outside. But the pull of their bond was leading him to the building, to a hallway. He circled the academy once more, looking for those that had done the attacks, and decided that they were far too close, too close for him to simply wait for Maze to leave.

'Incoming.' Was the only warning he gave her through their bond, tucking his wings and descending towards the school. He flared his wings before he barreled through, grabbing the roof with one of his forelegs while his wings flapped in an attempt to keep him somewhat stabilized. His growl was low in his chest, flinging the roof away, the wall giving way beneath his weight.

He crushed the stones and bricks in his forepaw, his tail smashing the wall outwards, and the glow in his spikes illuminating the hallway in a blue light. His hind leg collided with the ground as the wall beneath it gave away completely, and he lifted it and kept pushing forward, knocking more of the wall down and out, using his weight and legs to push it away from Maze as much as he could, completely ignoring anyone else that happened to be in the hallway with her.

Once Rhyhor was close enough, he put his weight on one of his wings and reached out with a foreleg to grab his rider, the built-up lightning strike crackling between his teeth. As soon as he had her in his grasp, he used his wings to push his weight back onto his hind legs and tail, the long appendage causing more chaos and carnage was it smashed through the wall repeatedly.

He hugged Maze to his chest, using his powerful hind legs to practically leap out of the massive opening in the ceiling and wall he'd created, unfurling his wings and giving powerful flaps to get him and Maze airborn.

When he was comfortable with their height and once more circling the building, he spoke into the bond again: 'Where do you want to go? I suggest the armory, you need my saddle.'

Kitisho proceeded to grip his talons on each rock, chucking it behind him. It was going very slow, well that was until Akhen joined in. The dragon was swiftly digging, but carefully making sure none started to fall. How does he do it? He wondered, watching the dragon dig. It started to get tight as more dragons volunteered to dig, making Kits squeeze himself as far to the right as possible, his wings unable to spread out. The air inside was smokey and unpleasant, and bothered his lungs with every breath he made. It was overwhelming, and he wished it could just be over already. Why did this happen?

~

Kitisho focused on the rocks in front of him, digging like a madman. He had to get them out soon. Skaista... He must get to Skaista as fast as possible. What if she'd already been killed? No, she can't die! Not today! He dug as ferociously as possible, he had to get to Skaista. And fast. But when a big fire dragon joined in, who looked about as tall as a mammoth, the big dragon broke a hole in the wall, sending fresh air cascading into the now demolished cave.

~

As fresh air flooded into the room, an exit was finally opened. It looked as if nothing had happened except a lot of ash. "Come on out! It's safe! For now at least!" He gestured with his wings, telling them basically to move fast, then crawled out into the open space, turning around to watch all the dragons emerge from the exit. "Be careful out here! I'm going to go find Skaista!" He yelled to all the dragons before making a one hundred and eighty degree turn and charging towards the burning academy.

~

As Kits ran through, he anxiously panted. "Skaista!" He yelled, attempting to call the human over to him. He had to find Skaista. And Fast. "Skaista!" He yelled again, letting out a thunderous roar that was similar to a lion's but deeper, and louder. "Where are you? We have to get you away from there!" He yelled as loud as he could. He didn't want to fly, but he had to. Skaista would probably die if he didn't get to her, and fast. But who knows? She's full of surprises.

~

When he reached the smoke, he plunged through it before stopping behind a fallen rock. Come on abilities! Work please! Work please! He chanted as the purple and gold stripes began their dance in his head. His breathing was slow and focused; he had to get it to work. He must see what is going to happen next. As cracks began to appear in them, they snapped in half like a stick being stepped on.

~

Then, the pain flooded into his head, and he squeezed his eyes closed and put his front paws over his temples. Why did it still not work? What else was going to happen? He wondered as the pain faded from his eyes and he stood up to run deeper into the burning academy in search of his rider, Skaista. He would not leave without her. If he has to, he will die in here, but he will not leave her here.

Desmodus Draculae observed from his spot as the dragons dug. It was going too slow. Too slow for his comfort. He anxiously tapped his tail on the ground, impatiently waiting for when he could leave. Everything was happening too slow.

~

Then, some dragon known as Apopis, began to ferociously dig through the rocky blockage. It was still slow, but much faster than before.

~

When Beollán joined in and broke an exit, Desmodus bared his teeth a little at the exit. It could've dropped more rocks on us! He thought at stood still for a moment before doing a relieved sigh. The exit was still there. I'll wait to leave until everyone else is out of the cave. He decided as he watched the dragons leave one by one. It was starting to take way to long, to long for Desmodus' liking.

~

Then, Rhydor shoved himself past, Akhenaten and Raija before they squeezed out. Then- who was that? He didn't know or care. He slowly stood up to get ready to leave as he walked towards the open tunnel. When all the dragons had left, he shoved himself out and ran as fast as he could towards the burning academy in his sight. Though the dragon was kind of mean, he couldn't and wouldn't just leave the students there. ' ' Fergus! ' ' He called, trying to get the attention on his rider. As he ran closer, he launched himself into the air, enjoying the fresh breeze. It was nice the smell fresh air, but that wouldn't last as he plunged into the smoke cloud that was erupting from the academy. Those who didn't know what the academy was could probably confuse it for a volcano at this moment. ' ' Fergus. This is Desmodus. Where are you? I need to get you out of there. ' ' The dragon hissed in their connection as he plopped himself down on the ground to look around the burning academy. Where will I check first? He thought. Maybe I'll just wait for his response before doing anything else... He though before launching himself up in the air to get a grip on the weak, stone ceiling that was practically falling apart.

The man stopped, turning slightly to look back at Henry, nodding slowly along with his words. He reached out and gently patted his friends arm, ihs face solemn and serious. He knew how bad this attack was, how serious it was, and the fact that many of their friends may not have survived it. Who knows if whoever staged this attack had stopped at just the academy. Honestly, Kaia doubted it. They had to have hit other riders first, maybe the whole kingdom.

"I want to see you on the other side of this experience, man," he said, keeping his voice as steady as he could. "If you don't come out of that building so help me god, I will drag you out of whatever afterlife you ended up in by your hair." And with that, Kaia turned and took off, picking his way across rubble and avoiding any eyes he could see before they saw him.

He'd have to send someone to check the rest of the kingdom, or the whole squad could go, check it out, and leave. He needed to know if other dragon riders were around, if they'd escaped, or if they'd all been systematically slaughered in the way he feared they may have. The attackers risked other dragon riders returning to the academy if they didn't take them all out first, and they seemed more than prepared and organized.

It was then that he got K'issuk's message. Trapped again. He swore under his breath, turning to look towards the mountains. Out of the Western Keep, he saw dragons beginning to fly, the massive form of the old fire dragon taking up most of his attention. He was headed to the Eastern Keep, where he could, hopefully, help K'issuk and the others out.

'Beollan is on his way there, he'll be able to help,' he said into the bond, frowning as he watched more dragons pour out of the Keep, before turning and continuing his trek. He was going to do a lap or two of the new riders dorms before heading to the armory, if things went to plan of course.

Blood fell down his leg, slipping between his fingers and running down his leg, staining his pants and hands. Sedna scrunched his face, taking big and slow breaths, ignoring the tightness in his chest in favor of trying to keep up with everything going on around him. Maze was gone, so was Rhyhor, and he couldn't tell who was or wasn't near him anymore, his ears ringing, as if everything was finally catching up to him now that he had no one to look after.

And then a long tail wrapped around him, and he practically collapsed into the hold of his dragon, allowing her to carry him onto her back, barely managing to hold on with his blood-slick hands and keep a hand on his wound. He listened to her words, leaning on her as much as he could, but then the mention of the squad leader had him sitting up, fear striking a shot of adrenaline up his spine.

'I haven't seen Kaia, no,' he said, frantically looking to try and see the dorms his brother would have been in, his heart dropping at the damage he saw. The whole place looked demolished, completely and utterly destroyed. When he felt his eyes start to tear up, Sedna blinked rapidly and roughly wiped his face on his shoulder and arm. There was no time to cry and grieve, not now, not yet. Not until he knew for certain.

'I need my saddle, and first aid, the wound is shallow but bleeding a lot, no artery hit,' he said, taking in a shaky breath. 'Fergus was headed to the armory to get saddles, I don't know who else.'

Henry | Male | 23 | Rider

M: Kaia (dir)

Kaia stopped running and Henry came to a screeching halt to stop himself from bumping into the man. Suddenly, Kaia grabbed his arm, looking more serious than ever before. Henry glanced away from the man until he heard Kaia’s instructions as he instantly looked back. Smiling, Henry grabbed Kaia’s shoulder as he nodded with a sense of warmth that was friendlier than the blistering, violent fires around them.

“The same goes for you, Seelen. I’ve got these bad boys—” Henry motioned half-heartedly to his muscles with a smirk— “to keep me safe, so I won’t get myself in trouble as long as you do the same, got it?” Henry replied before darting away as Kaia did so as well.

~~~~~

Sprinting through the halls, Henry only stopped and sighed each time he stopped and checked a dorm room. Charred bodies, crushed students, and dead children. Henry remembered every room he checked where there were bodies: 260, 258, 257, 255…

Stopping at door 232, Henry paused as the door had been forced off its hinges, bent almost in half like a child had messily folded paper. It looked inhuman how the door had busted open into the room. It was nowhere near any of the explosions so as long as the fire had not suffocated them or ate away at the wood above them, they could be—

No.

Henry added another number to the list of students dead inside, but their deaths were far more peculiar than the others. They had not suffocated, in fact, one student was bent over the open window so there was no way it was attributed to that. As Henry surveyed the scene, a black-haired student, with her mouth hanging open and blood spilling from her lips, lay crumbled by the wall, blood spattered behind her head as it seemed she had been thrown back with such force that— Oh Gods, I am going to be sick… Meanwhile, the other looked to have been trying to make an escape out the window, she must have been struck with a heavy, blunt object that made the faint outlines of her white skull visible. Who could have possibly—

“Heeeeeenry,” the corpse seemed to be speaking as Henry stumbled back. Suddenly, the limp body became reanimated as its neck gave a sickening snap while looking around to see Henry. The long braids covered the face of the victim but when they moved just enough that Henry could see her face— tear-filled with what appeared to be the flesh melting off of it. “Youuuu failed me… I died because of you!” The girl hissed the last words like poison as her mouth foamed while her arm reached up towards Henry. “What would your family do if they knew you let me—”

Henry slapped the corpse’s hand away with the flick of the wrist as it dared to mention his family. The odd thing was that his hand went right through the corpse’s. “What the heck…?” Henry tried touching the corpse once more before he narrowed his eyes as his hands phased through it like it was not even there. That was when Henry came to a realization: “This… isn’t real, is it?”

Just as Henry said this, the body reappeared back in place by the window and Henry could see someone creeping behind him just out of the corner of his eye. Whoever it was pulled their arm backwards to wind up for the shot before their arm shot forward, attempting to strike Henry on the side of the head. Turning partially around, Henry managed to grab the wrist of his attacker and locked eyes with the scrawny man just before the rock in his hand could connect to his head.

“Oops?” The other man said with a nervous smile in hopes Henry might not attack him.

The hope quickly fled the man’s eyes as Henry spun to fully face him while throwing a hefty left hook that would have connected with the man’s jaw if he had not dodged out of the way in time. Having knocked the other off balance from forcing him to pry his arm from him, Henry took the opportunity to punch the other in the gut before the mage could retaliate. The man gagged as he stumbled backwards in response. Henry brought his fist back to hit him once more in the gut. This was a mistake. As soon as Henry gave the man an opening, the mage took it.

Swinging the rock he had planned to hit Henry across the head with into his ribs, the mage caused Henry, even with his high pain resistance, to gasp in pain. Henry barely had time to recover when the mage grabbed his throat and shoved him into the academy bed so hard that he lost his breath when Henry could have sworn the man shoved him so hard his head met the skeleton of the bed. Henry struggled for a brief moment before quickly jamming his knee into the man’s crotch, causing the mage’s grip to loosen on Henry entirely before Henry shoved the man off him.

“H-Hey, maybe we can talk this out?” The mage chuckled awkwardly as he panted heavily and looked sheepishly up at Henry.

“No.” Henry took the chance to strike, and strike he did. As Henry hit him in the kidney, the man’s face was filled with pain before he stumbled. With a swift finishing blow, Henry socked him right in the side of the mouth, sending a mixture of the mages spit and blood flying as he fell backwards to the ground with a thud.

After watching the man lay perfectly still on the ground except for his faint breathing, Henry was certain he was out. Sighing, Henry turned to finally leave the room and continue the search for his brother before—

Bam!

A fist came flying out of nowhere and struck Henry right in the jaw with such force it sent him directly to the floor. Within an instant, everything went blurry and a loud ringing filled his ears as he could distantly see two figures in the doorway, one that did not even fit in the doorway and the other that saucily walked over.

“This is the Henry guy, right?”

“Oh this is him, alright.” Henry groaned softly as he squinted at the figure who was now standing above him. “Oh, would you look at that! He’s still awake!” Harsh hands grabbed his hair and lifted his head up just enough where Henry was forced to look into the amused and cruel brown eyes of his attacker. “Nighty night, pet~” Everything went black as the man shoved him into the floorboards.