Screams echoed out into the air. 

"Please!! Someone please! Hel-" CRUNCH

"Don't worry buddy! I got- AARGHHH!!"

"Princess! Please run away, for the safety of the kingdom! These dragons seem to have a weird mutati-" Silence.

I stared at the carnage around me. As soon as the dragon caught sight of us, it had started shooting fire into the ranks of the soldiers. Two of the generals were vaporized instantly, along with a sizable chunk of soldiers, leaving only 5, oh wait. I looked at the dragon who had begun to shoot flames again. Four now I guess.

Anyway hunters were able to remain unharmed due to the actions of the giant man, who had used his shield to block the flames. Thankfully, an artifact on the prince had created a shield around him and the princess, along with me and unfortunately, the guard, and we had remained unscathed. 

Currently, it was chaos. The hunters had engaged the dragon, and I could see violent blue shots of spells and the twirling body of Matthias in the air, slicing at the dragon with the swords. But what added more to the chaos were the hatchlings, or so one of the dying soldiers had called them before violently getting ripped apart by their teeth. They were the young of the dragon I supposed,  some red and breathing flames and another two black, shooting what seemed like poison out of its mouth. They were ripping through the armor-wearing soldiers as if the metal was butter

"Priests!" yelled Matthias, "Spread out and give heals to the remaining soldiers! We need them to defeat the hatchlings and help with the dragon.'' He continued to encircle it, dodging bouts of flames and retaliating, though it barely left a scratch from what I could see. 

The two priests, who had been healing the hunters, bowed slightly and began to go around. I could tell they were good enough healers, being able to recover most major injuries, and the soldiers on the field all began to be revitalized and start a new wave of assault against the young dragons. 

As the priests went around, supporting the soldiers, they finally reached us, still standing under the shield. One of them, an obviously old priest, began to speak to us in a raspy voice.

"Princess' ', he bowed deeply, "I recommend you leave this part of the battlefield and head toward the dragon," he glanced toward it, "The hunters may need the help. We will continue to support the soldiers, so that they can help us"

"Thank you for the help, priest Matthew" the Princess said. The priest bowed again, and began to walk away with his partner, occasionally slinging heal spells and dodging flying young dragons.

The prince looked toward the princess. "Let's go."

"Yes."

I stared at the dysfunctional pair, who had stopped maintaining the facade of closeness as soon as the fight started and no one was there to monitor them. The pair looked around, and as soon as the coast seemed clear, the prince motioned the princess forward, as if to say 'ladies first'. She only took a glance at him before sprinting forward. I followed closely behind her, of course my leg, slowing me down a bit, and I heard the prince running behind us.

The princess weaved throughout the fighting soldiers and dragon kin, sometimes firing fire spells at the ones that came to close. Eventually, we made it close to the dragon.

I winced as soon as the heat hit us. I had been able to bear with it standing a distance away, probably more so because of the shield, but now that I was close to the dragon, enough to feel scorching flames, my hair raised at the thought of fighting. Thankfully, I was a slave, a healer at that.

A loud crashing sound came from my right, and I saw the princess turn toward the sound. I, since I obviously had to follow the actions of my master, turned and looked. too.

It was Matthias, holding his two swords in the ground. For a second, my dead eyes met his, and my heart thumped for a second. It was a burning gaze, one filled with bloodlust and that would kill anyone. I glanced with the corner of my eye at the dragon, and saw the hunters being supported by soldiers who had finally been half-freed from fighting the hatchlings.

"Princess", said Matthias, rising from his position, "Thank you for coming. The dragon's currently being restrained for a moment and it's a crucial time in defeating it. We would greatly appreciate your magic. " He turned toward the prince "And we would also greatly appreciate your sword skills your highness."

"Of course Matthias," the prince said, drawing his gold encrusted sword, "We will help you defeat the dragon."

"Is it a standard party position?" questioned the princess,

"Yes, Olaf is taking the brunt of the flames of the dragon. Flora and Ember are whittling down the dragon, and I have been trying to locate its reverse scale. The princess should support the dragon, and your highness, please help me locate the scale."

I haven't heard of a reverse scale before, but from his speech, I assumed it was some major weakness of the dragon.

"And for your slave." Suddenly, Matthias turned toward me, and I struggled for a second not to immediately look away from his gaze. "Since the priests are busy saving the soldiers, he must take the role of main healer. Unfortunately, Jasmine… is out of commision."

At his words, everyone looked toward the dragon, and through the corner of my eye, I could see black, charred markings on the ground along with a broken staff. I assumed it was the out of commision mage, who was probably their reserve healer.

The prince let out a loud chuckle. "This slave," he motioned toward me, "is defective. Obviously sending those priests away was a… mistake seeing as to the state of your… teammate" he grimaced, "Leaving such an important job to the useless slave will only end in disaster. You must order the priests back. "

Matthias shook his head.

"If we order the priests back, the hatchlings will massacre the soldiers and we will be at the mercy of them attacking from two sides. We must use the slave." He glanced toward me again. "And I've heard this slave is a fifth order healer." A loud roar from the side made him turn his head. "There is no time to waste, we must move now."

The princess opened her mouth to speak, but Matthias lept away with the same power he had come with, reengaging the dragon. She glanced toward me, and I tried to remain motionless, ignoring my increasing heartbeat and spiking pain in my head.

"Protect us at all costs," she said with a straight face. before she leapt away, slinging a fiery spell in her wake. The prince looked at me with disdaining eyes. "The slightest mistake will end with your head rolling," he spat at me before leaping away.

The guard, who had remained curiously silent, most likely because of Matthias, ran together with them, leaving me alone, stuck between a chaotic battlefield of fighting soldiers and hatchlings, and an increasingly fiery battle between a giant dragon and hunters.

I began to heal the hunters with my abilities. The reason I was considered a fifth order healer was because of my ability to heal people, even up to recovering lost limbs. As long as the person wasn't on death's door, I could heal them as long as I had mana. The people above me, the final orders people call, are rumored to be able to even recover people from the dead, though compared to me, who became a slave, they're powerful enough to topple kingdoms with a fist. 

Regardless, I continued to cast healing spells as the prince and princess joined the battle. More and more soldiers began to engage the dragon as well, as they had slain most of the hatchlings. They dodged the huge dragon's swings and roaring flames now that they were expecting it, and kept distracting it for Matthias. He was what caught my eye first, his movements much faster than I had seen before, leaping on the air and continuously cutting the dragon's scale. 

"We are on the last stretch, the dragon is weakening" he yelled out, "If we just find its reverse scale, the battle will be over!" A loud wave of roars greeted his cry, as I continued healing the hunters and soldiers.

I then saw the two priests rush past me toward the dragon. "Hunter Matthias! All the hatchlings have been slain, now only the dragon is left!" I glanced around, and sure enough none of the hatchlings were left, and all the remaining soldiers were rushing to the dragon to help.

Suddenly, the dragon stretched out it's neck and let out a roar toward the skies. It had seen that last of its kin slain. A wave of invisible force which uprooted the surrounding rocks followed with its roar. I covered my eyes with my hands, digging my feet into the ground. I hadn't ever felt anything like this before. Then without notice, it felt like the mana around me was escaping, and even from my body. I started to panic, trying to cast a spell.

"What is this!" exclaimed one of the women, Ember, "Why is my magic not working!" She stared down at her hands, trying like me to will her mana, which was obviously not working. This was happening to all the hunters and soldiers. All around the dragon, I saw the soldiers and hunters trying to activate their mana to no use. But Matthias, Matthias was standing on the ground without a hint of worry on his face.

The dragon let out another roar, spreading out its wings and casting an enormous shadow which seemed to swallow us. I swallowed as the dragon turned its head and I could see its red, lizard like eyes glaring at us. It felt like seeing one of those psychotic druggies out in the slums, their eyes unfocused and deep with hatred.

For a few seconds, the air was silent. Then the dragon began to spit fire into the air. Then it started to rain fire. Droplets of burning wisps began to come down and explode and fire exploded around me.

Eyes burning from the heat, I got down in a fetal position, and activated one of my few like-saving spells, living sanctuary. A green shield surrounded my body, and I shut my eyes.

For the next few moments, it was like hellfire, my ears ringing from the continuous explosions. My heart thudded in my chest, and I tried desperately to keep my body as small as possible.

As then, as suddenely as it had come, it went away.

My ears still ringing, clothes covered in dust, I had miraculously survived. My shield had taken a couple hits, but thankfully it had survived. I stumbled to my feet, my legs barely able to support me. I couldn't see anything around me due to the dust. I stared panicking and blindly went forward. 

I  then desperately activated a finder spell. It was one to locate my master, the princess. If she died… I would too. Stumbling over fallen rocks, and what I imagine to be bodies but I tried to ignore, I continued forward. I could see and feel flames which were ongoing on the ground, and I went around them. I needed to find her or my life was in danger.

Finally, still unaware of where I was or where the dragon was, I made it to where the spell indicated she was, but all I could see was black earth. I dropped to my knees, and began to desperately claw at the ground, trying to find her. My finger bled, but did it matter? When I caught a glimpse of dirtied, but still porcelain skin, my heart starting erupting. I dug faster and faster, until an arm popped out, then I pulled. When the person wouldn't come out, I tugged harder until the person came out of the dirt, and I fell backwards. Not caring, I crawled looking for the princess and the red armor she wore. As I examined her, my breath caught in my throat.

It was the princess, her armor torn in all the places, and part of her hand burned, but she didn't seem to be in a critical position. I needed to bring her to safety, not knowing where the dragon was. I quickly slung her unconscious body over my shoulder then began to stumble forward again, where I thought her carriage was located, if it was still there.

I constantly tripped, and bloodied my legs and feet, but I persevered. The princess was too important. Thankfully, the more I began to walk, the dust began to clear until finally, my vision was freed. Taking an arm, I wiped my eyes, at the sight in front of me. It was like a hell-scape, if there was one on Earth. Fire continued to burn, and the ground was missing pits and chunks of rock. 

However, looking further, I saw the carriage, covered in dirt, and most of the horses except two mysteriously gone. I thanked the heavens and I continued forward.

My feet hurt. My head hurt. And my back hurt from the princess. But I continued on, walking through the rough stone, until finally, for what seemed like an eternity we reached the carriage.At this point, I was exhausted beyond care, and I roughly put the princes down. I then slammed open the carriage door, and began to drag the princess. It was a wonder she hadn't awakened yet. 

I finally moved her body onto the seat, then in a mindless state, got out of the carriage to the front. Taking the reins, which were thankfully still there, hit the rains, ordering the horses to move. They bellowed next, before they began to run. 

As we finally were able to leave the zone, my mind slowly began to fall into a slumber. I tried to keep myself awake, but black slowly began to invade my vision.

And then, in my half delusional and asleep state, I saw the dragon as the dust cleared next to us. It was… kneeling? And in front of it was Matthias, putting his hand against its snout. I blinked, and the scene disappears behind. FInally, I fell asleep, with the reins still tightly in my hands.