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I focused instead on the maze of rocks and fragmented stone which stood between me and the way out of this forsaken place.

A feral shriek went up from somewhere within the labyrinth of stone followed by an enormous bellow which was punctuated by a blast of fire exploding from beyond a ridge of rocks around a hundred feet away from me.

The heat of the fire reached me through the icy wind and the scent of smoke and ash filled the air.

“Found you,” I purred, a smile catching the corner of my lips before the howls, cries and screeches of more salivating monsters than I could easily count came in reply to my Dragon’s roar. “Shit.”

The bull stopped slamming its horns into the rock I balanced upon and I turned at the sound of its pounding hoofbeats. It was circling to the left, charting a path around the largest of the stone structures while hunting for a way to pass between them.

More movement filled the gaps between the rocks, beastly creatures, their metallic armour glinting in the sunlight, all racing towards my quarry and looking to rob me of my prize.

My upper lip curled back, the thought of being denied my shot at Cayde for this failure flicking through my mind, then I banished it behind a snarl of refusal.

I broke into a run, racing for the edge of the huge boulder and leaping to the next one. Red rock crumbled beneath my boots as I landed, spilling into the ravine below me but I barely even glanced down, shoving away from the edge and racing on.

The air was thick with the sounds of beasts on the hunt, every narrow space between the huge rocks filling with movement as they appeared from lairs and crevices. This place was obviously some kind of den where they congregated and we’d strode straight into it like a walking buffet.

I leapt to the next stone then the next, my muscles burning with the effort of how fast I was moving. On the next jump I barely made the landing, throwing my weight forward so that I fell onto my front, gripping the rock and kicking my legs wildly to haul myself up again.

Fire flared once more, the Dragon bellowing as it fought against the monstrous beasts which had come to feast upon it.

I scrambled upright, looking for my next jump and fixing my attention on another monolith standing several feet away.

But as I leapt from the edge of the rock, movement to my right made me snap my head to the side, a yell of alarm breaking from me moments before a beast - which looked to be part ape, part bird - collided with me and hauled me into its grasp.

Boney talons ringed in metal clamped around my right arm, wrenching me off course as the beast flapped ragged wings with pockmarked black and grey feathers tipped in iron.

I thrashed and kicked, my fist colliding with its face as it twisted in the air, lunging for me with sharp teeth bared.

It flapped its wings harder, trying to gain height but we were sinking towards the ground, the creature clearly more suited to gliding than flying and unable to hold my weight aloft alongside its own.

Jagged rocks and snarling monsters swum beneath us as we sped along, sinking with every strained beat of its wings.

I punched it in the face again as it snapped its jaws at me, looking to rip a bite of flesh from my bones before its competitors got close enough to steal its prize.

I swore at it, punching it twice more until it jerked its head backwards in fury, lurching aside and crashing into one of the towering spires of stone.

I kicked, my foot landing solidly against the rock and allowing me to twist in the beast’s grasp. It shrieked furiously as it slammed into the rock, losing its hold on my arm and dropping me ten feet to the ground.

My hand snapped out before I could collide with the dirt, precious drops of magic flaring from my fingers, catching me in a net of air before tossing me down on my feet.

An army of gnashing teeth and ravenous eyes met me, the beasts falling into fights between themselves as they fought to get to me first.

Fire blazed beyond the rocks to my right and I sprinted for it, pink hair tangling in the wind at my back as I circled a towering pillar of stone in the hunt for the beast I’d come all this way to capture.

Flames licked the stones all around me, cries of pain and rage carrying from the monstrous creatures who hunted us, and I was forced to throw a shield of air magic up to protect myself from the blaze.

I ran within the dome of magic, flames wrapping around me, obscuring my vision in every direction before finally dying away and revealing a creature of legend and myth in the full light of day.

My breath caught in my lungs as I took in the enormity of the Dragon before me, its steel grey scales catching the sunlight and glinting between patches of burnishes, stains and scars like a finely-crafted sword left to moulder in a fortress.

Its beauty undeniable but edges dulled by misuse and neglect.

The Dragon’s wings were still hanging unevenly, the one closest to me drooping to the ground, the bones bent unnaturally.

Despite myself, I fell still, my focus moving from the enormity of the creature to the jagged green gemstones which still pulsed with jade light where they were embedded in the flesh at its throat.

Two of them were missing now, the claw marks in his skin telling me the Dragon had ripped them free.

But two more remained in place, though one held a jagged crack down its centre.

The Dragon twisted sharply, baring rows of vicious teeth at me before falling deadly still. The beast blinked as it took me in, recognition flaring in those steel grey eyes and for a moment which stretched beyond all sanity for our situation, I simply stared back.

“Hello,” I breathed, my hand inching towards the hilt of my sword.

The Dragon dipped its head by no more than an inch but in that infinitesimal gesture, I felt its reply. “ It’s you.”

“It’s me,” I agreed as if the words I’d imagined in its gaze had been more than just my own interpretation of its movements.

Thunderous hoofbeats snapped me back into the present, my head whipping around as the bull rounded into the ravine and charged straight for us with a bellowing moo.

Beyond it, at least eight more of the monstrous beasts raced for our blood too, and more howls and shrieks echoed from the stone passageways surrounding us.

The barrier was close but even if the Dragon could punch through it again that would do us no good with a pack of monsters taking chase. And though it would cause me no regret to set a pack of these beasts loose on Pyros, I had no intention of becoming their meal to pay for the luxury.

More creatures were closing in, our chances thinning with every moment we lost and I growled my irritation as I realised what I had to do.

“Don’t eat me,” I barked in warning, refusing to so much as balk as I ran at the Dragon who bared those teeth at me through a mouth big enough to devour me whole.

I threw my palms out either side of me and launched myself into the air, vaulting over the Dragon’s head and narrowly avoiding those teeth as it snapped at me in warning.

I dropped onto its back, making it bellow furiously, the heat of a furnace building beneath the scales below my boots as fire rose in its chest. But I didn’t have time to fear death at the hands of a Dragon.

I took hold of one of the huge spines which lined the back of its neck, gripping tightly, then threw my other hand out and released my magic in full force, hurling us up and into the sky at a tremendous pace just before the bull could collide with us.

The Dragon roared, fire streaming from its jaws, filling the sky as it bucked and thrashed beneath me. I ducked low, gritting my teeth and narrowly avoiding the strike of its flames as it whipped its head around to try and aim them at me.

The ground sped away beneath us and the Dragon’s wings snapped out on reflex, though the broken one barely extended half way.

Ragged holes torn through the steely grey membrane let the wind whip through the mutilated appendage and a pang of horror scored through my chest at what had been done to this stranger.

The Dragon lunged for me again and I cursed as I was forced to throw myself backwards to avoid the snap of its teeth.

Higher and higher my magic launched us, the power of it burning through me even though I could feel the limits of it approaching.

I scrambled backwards, almost losing my footing as the Dragon roared and lunged for me again, flipping us in midair, only my magic keeping me on its back at all.

“Stop!” I yelled, drawing my sword and striking it against one of the huge spines which rose from its back, but the Dragon only spewed a torrent of fire at me in reply.

I threw myself aside once more, the world spinning beneath us, my magic burning out faster and faster. I was almost spent and we were at least a thousand feet in the air, fighting like a pair of alley cats while a pack of wolves lay waiting to tear us apart below.

“Stop!” I yelled again as the Dragon almost managed to catch me in its jaws, the roll I threw myself into nearly hurling me from its back altogether before I managed to wedge my fingers into its scales and clamber back to my feet.

I sprinted up its back, the web of air magic that connected us the only thing stopping me from falling. More fire blazed over my head and I swung my sword in a savage arc, striking it against the scales of its neck which achieved little more than to make the beast angrier.

It twisted its head around, jaws wide and I leapt forward, landing on its neck and wrapping my arms and legs around it tightly. Even its neck was bigger than a fucking tree and I struggled to keep my grip as it thrashed and bellowed beneath me.

My power was almost gone and though I tried to reach for the Dragon’s desires, not a single drop of magic lingered within its body for me to lay claim to either.

Clouds licked my skin before enveloping us, stealing the sight of the ground and the monsters that awaited our return.

The Dragon roared, the sound tumbling through every fibre of my body as I clung to it with all my might. Its wings were catching the wind but I knew it couldn’t fly us out of this.

I turned my head, hunting for some slice of land beneath us while fighting to hold onto a beast which was trying its hardest to buck me free. I’d lost my bearings, the world now stolen from sight by thick clouds and the power ripping from me was almost gone.

We couldn’t risk falling back into the wilds but I didn’t know where Stormfell lay either and I was out of time.

The sun was high overhead, giving me little help so I threw my hand out and blasted what remained of my power at us, launching us in the direction I hoped was east with all I had left.

The Dragon threw its weight to the side, rolling us in midair, trying to take advantage of my poor grip and almost succeeding in tossing me off of it.

My sword slipped and fell while I scrambled to hold on and I had no choice but to let it drop so that I could take hold of another spine and save myself from that fall. Except it wasn’t a spine I grasped, the thing I took hold of was cold and slick in place of the fiery heat of the Dragon’s scales.

I cried out as my grip threatened to fail, the Dragon’s roll leaving my legs dangling above that lethal drop before the beast was finally forced to roll upright once more.

Its wings snapped out, the wind catching in them again, though the broken one strained and flapped almost uselessly at its side.

An agonised sound broke from the Dragon’s lips as it fought to straighten it, but there was no denying that we were falling now.

The clouds tore away from us, revealing the ground rushing closer and closer with every passing second.

I heaved myself upright, tightening my grip and the thing in my hand shattered, green light flaring brightly then fading away entirely as I was left with the broken shards of the cracked crystal in my palm, leaving only one embedded in the Dragon’s flesh.

I dropped the fragments, my eyes on the ground which sped closer and closer, my hand smearing through hot blood as I hunted for another spine to take hold of, tightening my grip again.

It had been a long time since a fall had terrified me. Years on my windrider and touring on the floating isles of my kingdom followed by the Awakening of my air magic had banished that fear. Or so I’d believed.

The Dragon roared as the ground closed in, pain and determination echoing in the sound. With a tremendous effort, it forced its broken wing wide.

The effect was immediate, nearly hurling me off of the beast as the wind caught in its wing properly, jerking us level moments before we could hit the dirt.

But we were by no means flying.

I gritted my teeth, bracing as I dug my boots into the Dragon’s neck, my training for crash landings on Ironwraith kicking in as I waited for the moment of impact.

Dirt exploded all around us as the Dragon hit the ground, its claws gouging into the earth and cleaving it apart in a spray of mud and gravel.

I leapt free at the last second, throwing myself into a roll and covering my head as I tumbled across the ground, but something still struck me hard enough to steal the light of the world from around me and I fell into the darkness where nothingness greedily awaited my arrival.