Before the purple worm Derinkork emerged again, a group of soldiers stationed on the roof of one of the city buildings is attacked by a trow war beast. The creature resembled a hairless bull with horns curved downward. It demolishes the building, killing half of the squad.

The orc archer and the goblin mage try to blind the creature, while the lionkin fighter momentarily startled the beast with his roar, but it knocks him out and charges towards the members of the group in the backline.

The giant hairless bull tramples one of the warrior, splattering his brains on the ground, and continues advancing in a frenzy. This would be the end of the soldiers.

However, a small-framed figure leaps onto the beast's neck, tearing its jugular with a longsword. The bull thrashes around while veering off course, missing the wounded soldiers.

The figure finishes tearing the creature's throat, killing it.

He's bald, one-eyed, scarred, and has a long, pointed nose. He wears an old heavy armor that covers his greenish skin. The longsword he used to kill the beast looked like a greatsword in his small hands.

He’s the Goblin Hero.

The surviving soldiers watch in astonishment as the hero takes down, one by one, creatures much larger than him. He slides under a man-eating spider and begins cutting its legs, causing the creature to fall to the ground, allowing him to strike its abdomen.

Then he kills a salamander-like monster that spits venom. He cuts off the creature's protruding gills and plunges his sword into its eye.

Although, something steals the spotlight from the little goblinoid hero. And he himself is stunned by the battle between the dragon emperor of Darog and the Elder Purple Worm. In disbelief, the Goblin Hero watches the arrogant wyvern fly towards the creature's mouth and be swallowed by it.

To his surprise, none of the soldiers around him seem concerned. No matter what happened, the soldiers were sure their leader would prevail. The Dragonlord is seen more as a kind of deity than a ruler. Not only by the kobolds and other beastkin but also by the gob races of the empire.

As far as the Hero knew, Akalani was a young dragon, impatient and with tendencies for outbursts of fury and violence. A cruel boy with a lot of power.

What could explain this devotion to the copper dragon? This fever spreading throughout Dro-Ur.

When Derinkork surfaces again, the Goblin Hero leads the soldiers to attack the frenzied creature. And soon after, the hero gets the answer to his questions. The copper dragon tears the belly of the purple worm with a beam of pure fire. He emerges from the creature's entrails, letting out a maddening roar. The soldiers respond with feverish cheers.

It was then that the Goblin Hero knew. That wyvern would either conquer or destroy this world. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

§ § § § § §

At a considerable distance from the battle, a winged cavalry is about to take flight. The trow prince and his most experienced soldiers prepare to face the Copper Dragon. The prince mounts a manticore-wasp, a giant insect resembling a wasp but with a lion's mane and a scorpion-like stinger. Following him, four generals riding deep-dwellers bats, and a swarm of giant gray hornets controlled by the prince himself.

The winged squadron observes the Copper Dragon from a distance. It has just defeated Derinkork and is now decimating the trow troops around the walls. The prince raises his scepter and makes circular motions with it, signaling the direction each member of the squadron should take.

The group splits and flies towards the wyvern, each coming from a different position. The prince would attack from above, while the swarm of hornets from below and the generals from the sides. Eight points of attack to minimize the area-of-effect attacks from the dragon's breath. A highly synchronized and deadly assault.

However, the beast Akalani does not fight alone. Before the trow assault takes place, an ice spear hits one of the generals, breaking the group's formation. The wyvern seizes the opening and focuses its breath on the swarm of insects approaching from below.

The prince attempts to reorganize his strategy, but another general has his mount wounded by yet another ice spear.

He commands the rest of his subordinates to deal with the sniper while he would handle the dragon by himself.

The manticore-wasp was more agile than Akalani and could dodge most of his attacks and spells. The prince counterattacks with hexes and necrotic beams from his scepter. He tries to cast control spells, but the dragon's will is indomitable.

Taking advantage of an opening, the manticore-wasp lands a hit. The creature's tail could quickly bend up and down. Its stinger moves towards the wyvern's abdomen, piercing it and injecting venom.

In response, Akalani starts to rage.

His attacks become more lethal, and his endurance becomes more steadfast.

The trow prince flies upward, trying to escape the frenzied dragon until reinforcements arrive, but one of Akalani's bites tears off the manticore-wasp's tail.

The mount starts flying erratically as its rider tries to regain control. The frenzied dragon follows both.

The trow prince soars upward as soon as his mount's condition stabilizes, while Akalani relentlessly pursues him. Above the clouds, the battle resumes.

Down on the battlefield, red lights could be seen breaking through the clouds. The lights in the sky indicated Akalani's crimson breath. The trow retaliates with more hexes and mental tricks to try to buy time, but it becomes increasingly clear that reinforcements won't arrive.

In a final move, the prince casts a powerful darkness spell, covering an extensive area. Part of the sky turns black as the trow flees, leaving the dragon behind. When Akalani escapes the dark zone, he sees the fleeing prince almost out of his reach.

The copper dragon takes a deep breath and then exits his state of rage. He opens his  mouth and casts a long-range spell towards the trow.

[Scorching Ray]

The fire beam crosses the sky and hits the manticore-wasp directly, killing the mount.

Seeing the prince plummeting in free fall, Akalani turns back to the battlefield once more and resumes the cleansing with fire.

By the end of the day, the trows had been defeated, and their army of undead and abominations destroyed.

The damage to the city was significant but expected. In less than a year, Gorkaki would return to its original splendor.

The casualties in the army defending the city were considerable, but they were nowhere near compared to the trow losses: Derinkork slain, the hordes destroyed, and the survivors captured.

Among the survivors, Akalani finds none other than the trow prince, unconscious after being somehow saved by Kheldash. The cambion justified that keeping him alive could give them an advantage in peace negotiations with the Kingdom of Eskira. Or at least, they could use him against his homeland in some way.

At that moment, Akalani was more interested in knowing how she saved the prince from certain death. Kheldash would hardly tell, so he would have to wait for the trow to wake up to ask him.

But that's a task for another day.

The Dragonlord, now exhausted, flies up to the roof of the tallest tower in his castle. He observes his city, which had just survived the siege, for a while, and then lies down on his back in his humanoid form to gaze at the stars.

As his eyes are almost closing due to sleep, he hears footsteps on the roof coming towards him.

The orc shaman Sarak and the trow mage Salutar. Both visibly tired, dirty, and with disheveled hair. 

As they approach, none of them say anything. They communicate only with their tired yet satisfied eyes.

The duo lies down beside Akalani to join him in stargazing.

A war that swept across the entire continent has just ended, but none of them wants to think about that. Let Kheldash take care of things for now.

The trio's responsibilities can wait for tomorrow.

Tonight, they just want to contemplate their achievements under the starlight in the skies.