<span style="color: hotpink">The dragon roared loudly as chaos and confusion erupted around iit. There were screams, trampling feet, andâ€”Wait, what was that? Someone speaking in his language? It twisted its huge head in the direction of the speaker and then roared again at the words it heard. In the language of the dragonsâ€™, it hissed an answer. â€œNo! I will not leave!â€ It roared again and swiped a paw at a nearby building, utterly destroying it. â€œThe champion of this village has slain my mate. I am here for my revenge!â€ More roaring punctuated this sentence, which ended when the dragon bent its head forward and snapped up a man who had been running past him.</span><br/><br/><br/>It all happened so quickly. One moment, Ryelle was standing in the tavern looking up at the beast, and the next, sheâ€™d been flung over Tomâ€™s shoulder, and the ground was moving under her nose. She barely heard Yovela say something about retreating. Retreat? But no! They had to help these people! Ryelle started squirming then, trying to free herself. As she did, she saw a man running by her grin in her direction. Feeling greatly creeped out by his delighted expression, she turned her head and saw the crystal man staring up at the dragon. Then she saw the dragoin turn its head to the crystal man. Were they communicating? â€œTom! Stop!â€ Ryelle screamed loudly. â€œWe canâ€™t just abandon these people. We have to help them get rid of this menace.â€ To her relief, Tom did stop, and she started to wiggle out of his grasp, ignoring for the moment the person trying to introduce itself to her. Once her feet were on the ground, she sprinted towards the crystal man. â€œCan you understand it?â€ She asked as she came to a halt next to him.<br/><br/><br/>Tom had no intention of staying near that dragon or anywhere it could reach easily. However, Ryelle was the leader here. If she said they stopped and helped, then they stopped and helped. Yes, it was probably suicidial, but so was disobeying the elf, who he knew would have no problem killing those who were disloyal to her. Tom sighed softly as he followed his leader, though much slower. He paused for a moment next to the man who had introduced to himself to Ryelle. â€œAye, thatâ€™s the leader of our group. Her nameâ€™s Ryelle. Iâ€™m Tom, her bodyguard, which she makes hard for me to be sometimes. Excuse me.â€ He nodded his head in a polite fashion to Jasper before trotting off to catch up to Ryelle and the Shardmind, keeping a tight grip on his club. He didnâ€™t much like the look of that Shardmind, but if it kept them all from dying, he could trust it for now.