The three days journey was tremendously shortened to a trip of only a few hours. It was an hour after noon when the vast sea of sand and rocks came into view as Henry flew into the southern region of Ulrum. Henry could immediately feel the scorching heat that was the south’s wonted climate.

“Oh god… I’m melting,” Yula grumbled.

“T-truly?” The Augru messenger’s tone was shivering.

“You don’t feel the heat?”

“I don’t, Lady—”

“Yula.”

“Lady Yula, I don’t feel the heat probably because I was born and raised here.”

"Lady..." Yula muttered silently as she turned her face away giggling with her cheeks blooming red. She was elated over her sudden newfound title. It was a tad awkward but the feeling of superiority eclipsed her shame.

Henry was aware of the terrible heat but it was not particularly dreadful to him as the heat could not hold a candle to the flames he could produce and warmth burning within him. Moreover, he was fireproof. If flames could do nothing to him, what could the heat even do?

“Does the height not frighten you, Lady Yula?” asked the Augru who had a face paler than before as he timidly snuck a glimpse down below.

“No,” Yula answered. “Are you afraid of heights?”

“N-no… it’s just… I have never been so high up in the sky and the gust… it feels like I could be swept away by the strong winds if I loosen my grip even a little.”

Yula tittered. “Well, if that happens, I’m sure Henry will catch you before you hit the ground.”

“W-what?” The Augru paled even further. “W-who is Henry, if I may ask?”

Yula pointed downwards, at Henry. “The Great Dragon who’s letting you ride on his back.”

“I-I see… So, the Great Dragon’s name is Henry.”

“You didn’t know?”

“I wasn’t told,” the Augru admitted.

“Hold on tight!” Henry uttered with a loud voice and folded his wings.

Gravity was momentarily absent for the two on the back. When it returned, cries erupted from the two. Yula was screaming in glee with a smile adorning her face as it reminded her of a roller coaster ride. It was much safer too as she had her shadows holding her tightly to Henry’s back. The Augru, on the other hand, was screaming for his life. He held onto the spikes on Henry’s back for his life. Tears were leaving his eyes in strings and snot pouring from his nose in ropes.

Henry unfolded his wings once the clouds were high above their heads but the ground was still a long fall.

“Do that again,” Yula said, panting from the excitement.

“P-please don’t,” the Augru begged, wiping away his tears and snot. “W-why the sudden drop just now… Lord Henry?”

“The sun,” Henry answered. “It was blinding.”

“I suppose that would be a problem if one’s too high up in the sky. But p-please, an earlier warning next time, Lord Henry.”

Henry chuckled. “No promises.”

As Henry flew deeper into the south, a range of hills entered his sight. There was a slightly deep depression on the hill range. Various buildings and structures riddled that depression for as long as it spanned across the hill range. The pass was so red that it resembled a burn wound to Henry from this high up.

“Wow…” Yula gasped in awe. “It’s very… novel. It’s beautiful. Now, this is fantasy…”

“That’s the Red Pass?”

“It is,” the Augru answered. Relief spread across his face at the sight of home and also the prospect of no longer needing to be so high up in the sky that he could be carried away by a strong wind at any given moment.

“Where can I land?”

“There.” He pointed at a huge bungalow built atop a vast hillock that overlooked the other buildings and structures. “That building is the residence of the chieftain. You can land on the field beside it.”

Henry saw quite a few individuals were already waiting at the field. More came to join when they appeared to notice Henry’s approach. What was only a small party quickly grew to an assembly. Henry could already smell their trepidation even before he was close enough to make out their faces.

“The Great Dragon really came…”

“It has real wings… Didn’t the Warchief say the wings were made of Murux?”

“It’s bigger than I expected.”

“What happens if it doesn’t like us and decides to unleash its displeasure on us?”

“Oh, Divines… please watch over us….”

Henry heard such whispers being passed around among the large group below. They were all voices he didn’t recognise. However, the next words spoken were all too familiar of a voice.

“Silence, all of you!” shouted a woman with a set of impressive thews. “The Dragon is our last hope. If any of you blunders it, you will be fed to the Great Ravager. Understand?”

Everyone nodded and the whispers died down. Not a single word among the reception assembly was exchanged after that.

“They asked for your help but they all look like they wish for you to be gone as soon as possible,” Yula muttered as she glanced at the reception. “Did you have some bad history with them?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Forgive us, Lord Henry. We meant no disrespect. It’s just—”

“I understand. I would be afraid too if a giant talking monster with the ability to raze a whole town to the ground with ease just flew right in.”

“I-indeed, G-Great Dragon…”

There was also the fact a Dragon simply emanated a very imposing and overwhelming presence to all those the Dragon was unfamiliar with or hostile to. But Henry kept that fact to himself. He shrugged his mind and made his landing. The ground was unlike the volume he was used to and he ended up using too much force in his landing. The hillock shook and the bungalow trembled. A few of the awaiting Augrus had their souls frightened out of their bodies and some lost all strength in their legs and collapsed with foams frothing out of their mouths.

The Augru messenger climbed off of Henry and trotted with an expectant smile towards the commandeering woman.

“Well done,” the woman praised.

“T-thank you, warchief…” the messenger said and gave into his consternation, collapsing right in front of the woman.

The woman stepped over the fainted messenger and gestured for someone to carry the unconscious Augrus off. Once she was in front of Henry, she got to her knees and lowered her head. The rest of the Augrus followed. “Greetings, Great Dragon of Ulrum. I am Eria, Warchief of the Augru Tribe. We have met before lest you forget, Great Dragon. As the—”

“Save it, Eria.” Henry interrupted. “I don’t do greetings or any of those superficial formalities. Just tell me what you want me to do and reward me accordingly. Don’t leave out any important details. If I find out that a piece of crucial information had been left out in the middle of the task, I will be extremely mad. Understand?”

“Understood, Great Dragon,” Eria responded without a trace of hesitation or unease in her voice.

“Good. Also, my name’s Henry. You can call me that.”

“Very well, Lord Henry.”

“You don’t need the title.”

“I insist, Lord Henry. You are the Great Dragon of Ulrum. It would be disrespectful and belittling towards you if I didn’t use any titles.”

Henry sighed. “Do what you will.”

“If I may be so bold to ask, Lord Henry, who is this lady?” Eria asked, looking at Yula who was still on top of Henry.

The other Augrus were also looking at Yula but their gazes were more focused on a certain part of her body.

Noticing those stares, Yula crossed her arms over her chest and glared at them.

“This lovely lady here is Yula, my bride,” Henry answered and pressed his glare on all those who were staring intensely at Yula. More specifically, they were staring at her bountiful bosom which was bigger than all of the women and girls present here.

Eria turned around and snarled at her peers. The Augrus snapped out of their daze and lowered their gazes. She turned back to Henry. “Forgive my people for their rudeness, Lord Henry. I will make sure they will never even think of having such discourteous thoughts.”

“Good,” Henry snorted.

Yula moved behind Henry’s folded wings, hiding her body behind the flaps with her head sticking out like a totem. Though no one was staring at her chest any longer, she was still apprehensive about them.

“Now, tell me, Eria, what has been plaguing your people?”

“It is a slightly long story. Shall we move to a more comfortable place to—”

“No need, Eria. I’m not here for leisure and I doubt you’ll find a more accommodating place than here given my size.”

“As you say, Lord Henry. The Great Ravager is a colossal scorpion-like monster that has been living in the Scorching Sands since even the time before my great grandfather. Not once has it attacked the Augrus unless we provoked it first. But just around a week ago, it left the Scorching Sands for the first time in forever and it has been terrorising us since.”

“Do you know why?”

“We don’t but we can figure that out later. For now, the Great Ravager needs to be stopped first and foremost before it wreaks any more havoc unto us. Hundreds of Augrus have already died trying…”

“What of the Lavans?”

“They have also suffered some casualty but no deaths on the Lavans. However, there are only a few of them left who could still fight. They are currently hunting the Great Ravager as we speak along with my sister as the guide. While we are grateful for their assistance, I fear they would only be able to stall the Great Ravager. You will be a decisive factor in the battle to come, Lord Henry.”

“Anything else I should know before I take my leave and go fight this great beast of a sand dweller? Such as its weakness or anything I should be cautious about?”

“So far, we know nothing about its weakness. It’s fast for something of its size. Its carapace is very strong and none of our weapons is able to make a crack on it. It can spit acid from its mouth and it can spit very far. Its tail is also not to be underestimated. It’s not venomous but it does hit extremely hard and fast.”

“No weaknesses at all?”

“I’m sorry, Lord Henry. Not that we know of.”

“Hmm… anything about its behaviour that might be exploitable?”

“None, Lord Henry.”

“I heard from the messenger that the Great Ravager is bigger than me.”

“It is. The Great Ravager is very gigantic. Our ancestors called it the Titanic Maw of the Sands.”

“And you think a meagre Dragon like me can defeat it?”

“If you can’t, Lord Henry, then no one can. Please, Lord Henry. You are our last hope. We—”

“Enough of that. I already said that I would do it. I expect proper compensation in return for my aid.”

“You shall receive your rewards if the threat is quelled.”

“Well, then.” Henry nodded. “I will be off.”

“Wait.”

“What? Something to add?”

“Allow me to accompany you, Lord Henry.”

Eria’s words stirred the surrounding crowd into a clamour.

“Quiet!” Eria roared at them and they all instantly fell silent.

“Are you sure, Eria?”

“My sister’s out there, leading an expedition. I can’t just sit here and do nothing. How can I call myself the warchief if I don’t even participate in a significant battle.”

“Will your absence not cause any problem here?”

“It won’t.”

The whispers from the crowd disagreed but Henry acted like he didn’t hear them.

“My father can handle things here as he should be. If my father wasn’t busy with a Lavan Elder, he would have been the one talking to you right now. Besides, fighting is more of my speciality rather than coordination in the backlines.”

“As you wish, Warchief. I’ll be needing a guide anyway. Who better than the warchief herself?”

Eria grinned and hopped onto Henry’s back in a single leap. Her agility reminded Henry greatly of Rayne’s prowess before she was enervated by Vishara.

“Lady Yula,” Eria bowed slightly at Yula.

“Warchief Eria,” Yula greeted back.

“Just Eria is enough.”

“Then just call me Yula too.”

“But you’re the Great Dragon’s bride. You are not any less—”

“I know, Eria, but I’ll be more comfortable if a splendid woman such as you addresses me casually.”

“As you say, Yula.”

The two women on top of Henry shared a laugh.

“Warchief, wait!” shouted an Augru who looked desperate to stop Eria but also too afraid to get too close to Henry.

“What?”

“What do we tell the chief?”

“Tell him I’m doing my job as the warchief.”

“But you’re going alone?”

“I’m not. Can’t you see I have the Great Dragon with me?”

“B-but what if the Great Dragon—”

Henry narrowed his gaze and the Augru shut up immediately.

“I understand what you’re saying, Leo, but even if something like what you imagine happens, I don’t mind.”

The crowd gasped.

“W-warchief, please don’t joke about this. The chief will lose his mind if he hears that.”

“My father was always complaining that no man is fit for me. I used to agree with him but now? Who knows?”

The Augrus had their mouths agape from Eria's bold words.

“Shall we depart, Lord Henry?”

Henry chuckled at Eria’s question and took to the skies, raising clouds of dust behind him.