Cassandra's hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. "Dragon? Here? How can this be?!" she stammered, her eyes wide.

"It sounds just like the one that attacked Agamemnon when I was seven," Georgi said. "I remember it well. This farm isn't fireproof and the ward's shot. Lets make haste for the church!"

"The church?" Cassandra blinked. "But the..."

"Ishira will protect us." my dad replied, pulling my mom into his muscular arms to carry her. "The church has the strongest wards in town! Hang on tight!"

"Ishira will protect us," Mom affirmed with a nod as dad took off at a brisk pace down the path heading to the island in the middle of the river valley.

I sighed mentally. It was clear that neither of my parents knew that they were selling their souls to diabolical forces that destroyed Tricameron Citadel and brought down a far more magically advanced civilization. The fall of the Alanian Magocracy clearly cast Skyisle into a dark age where everyone was a level 20 pawn, not knowing their fate akin to sheep at a farm... simply waiting to be slaughtered.

I wished that I had a communication spell of some sort to warn my parents not to make more Vows... but then again Cassandra and Georgi would probably ignore a questionable, disembodied voice of their unborn son warning them not to trust their life-saving deity.

"How did you find me?" Cassandra asked, leaning her head onto my father's chest.

"The Goddess led me to you. I felt it in my soul that you were in grave danger," Georgi replied. "Did you..."

"I traded one of my skills for protection," Mom said.

"Which one?" My dad asked.

"Pest destruction."

"Ah, that was a good one," Georgi sighed. "But I'm glad you did it, Cass. You saved our little darling and protected yourself long enough for me to arrive."

"It's a mild inconvenience in the face of death," Cassandra muttered. "I'll unlock a similar skill and bring it to LV 20 in due time, don't worry, love."

As dad rushed down the valley floor with mom in tow, the forest around us came alive with terrified animals fleeing in all directions. Flocks of escaping birds fluttered through the air. The roar of the dragon echoed again, closer this time, and the ground shook with the sheer power of it. Deep rumbles of thunder followed. The sky overhead rapidly darkened. Judging by the cloud formations, it looked like a tornado was coming.

"I don't understand," my mother muttered as dad ran across the wooden planks over the rushing river water, finally reaching the church on the island and joining the throng of people heading into the gothic gate. "What's a dragon doing in Skyisle... there should be no worthy prey here for it to consume! High level beasts avoid our fault..."

"I have foreseen this," a woman loudly declared from the dark gray, stone stairwell. "It is a sign of dark times to come! The end-bringer is near and all shall be judged!"

The doomsday-announcer looked no different from any other villager in terms of her outfit, yet she somehow instantly commanded everyone's attention. Her hair was black with streaks of gray, pulled back in a neat bun. An old scar ran down the left side of her face, her left eye pale and unseeing and right eye dark brown and sharp. As we came closer to her, I noticed that a lilac string was wrapped snugly around her forehead featuring a single, large, violet bead with a stylized drawing of an eye on it.

I guessed that the string and bead was some sort of a sign of authority similar to the red armbands worn by the 'People's Druzhina' who were were voluntary detachments for maintaining public order in USSR.

The woman expertly began to guide the panic-stricken villagers down the stairwell, her eyes flickering with odd violet sparks.

"Head down! The catacombs will keep us safe from the dragon's wrath!" She declared.

"The gate is open?" one of the villages asked.

"The gate into the caverns is unlocked," the authoritative woman nodded. "I've made sure of it!"

Giovashi Incandictia Skyisle - female - human - LV 20 farmer