14th July, 605 BNM

Late Morning/Midday

Imperial Pandina, Tabit Province

Hilomeyan Mountains, Xigongyian Valley

Zenglansi Village, Market street

The stone walls of the village, many Pandas strolling about with their everyday business, along with the odd dog, panda and even some recent tiger arrivals too, was a calming sight.

In a bid for some better food than normal, the Wizards and the Eastern Dragon had ventured into town as one.

Sat at the table of a small noodle and soup kitchen, there was a bit of peace as the strange travellers simply came to mingle in their own ways. And after all, food was aplenty in a Panda village, by necessity given their rather large appetites. Only meat was banned, but for taste alone, despite carnivores visiting the village, many of the vegetarian soups and dishes made up for it.

Hinai, being an Eastern Dragon, could eat anything, but had a liking for meat. Even so, as she spooned another lot of the soup to her mouth, she found no complaints at the velvety, smooth and rich liquid meal running down her throat.

Siral was sat on the other side of the table, his muzzle down as he read over a scroll he'd borrowed from the local chief's book collection, on loan for now as many scrolls were. While the black Unicorn enjoyed the meal also, he was just as engrossed in his scroll.

On Hinai's other side, Starswirl moved his chopsticks with his magic, frowning as he tried to [for knowledge's sake], learn how to use the accursed utensils just to pick up a new skill every now and then. Ever since he heard not using utensils was rude, as he had previously just used his magic, he'd learned to do it for the sake of learning customs.

"Cursed, pieces of, grr…"

Suppressing a giggle, Hinai looked around at the town, noticing the pandas, family, merchants or otherwise living their lives freely.

"Excuse me, may I get you anything else?"

In surprise, Hinai turned to see the Panda, the restaurant owner's wife, come up expectant and polite. Politely shaking her head, Hinai replied to the Panda female, while Starswirl continued to fumble with the chopsticks in his magical grip, and Siral kept his muzzle buried in his scroll, soup forgotten.

"No thank you, but it is wonderful food."

Beaming, the Panda bowed her head ecstatically, remarking: "Oh you know not how pleasing it is to hear that from one of your kind. Your kind is held in high regard here, and to have two here at once.."

"Pardon me, but, two Dragons?" Starswirl suddenly asked, the chopsticks dropping into the rice bowl he was struggling with. Siral too looked up, interested now, while Hinai listened to the Panda female at their table's end:

"Yes. Orange scaled, came a long way from the North by the sounds of it. A group of dogs and tigers too came with him, but he looked much less unruly than those, thuggish mercenaries."

Shaking her head, the Panda female then heard her husband call from inside the kitchen, and with a quick thank you, she briskly took off to help back in the kitchen.

Looking oddly at Starswirl, Hinai wondered aloud: "A loner from a clan maybe? They often live up here in the high mountains."

"But why here?" Starswirl wondered, while Siral was clearly deep in thought at this. The Black Unicorn asked Starswirl: "Do we know any Orange Eastern Dragons?"

"That's hardly much to go by. Orange is actually a common scale colour for my kind." Hinai reasoned, while Starswirl began to suspiciously eye about. All of a sudden, his eyes began to glow a slight blue colour.

As Siral clutched his head from the vaguest of dizzy spells, and Hinai did also, the Black Unicorn saw what Starswirl was doing, remarking:

"A mind probe field?"

Hinai marveled at the sight, unknowing of the extent of Starswirl's mental search of the entire village. What thoughts lay at the forefront of everybody's minds.

He sensed a few with eyes for them specifically, but one mind was strangely clouded, distorted, and powerful.

Snapping his magical gaze back to normal, Starswirl hissed lowly: "We're being watched, hunted maybe."

"I thought some a tiger yesterday was following me beyond just curiosity." Hinai remarked, while Siral rolled up his scroll, placing it back in his robes.

"We must leave, if they decide to try anything."

"Don't make a scene, any of you. We don't want to draw attention." Starswirl reminded them. With a dour expression, Hinai pointed out as they stood up, Starswirl dropping money on the table to pay for the meals when the Panda wife came by to collect:

"We're a Dragoness and two Unicorns, attention is certain to be on us."

"I know that, but the attention I fear is of those actually looking for us." Starswirl reminded them.

As they left, Siral hesitated in his walking slightly, sensing something in the back of his mind, a tingling in his spine.

He'd experimented, replicating the draining effects of that lethal magic in the Shengdu Palace attack at night, enough to recognise them. The feeling was unmistakable.

Whoever it was, was here.

Zenglansi Village, rural outskirts

Walking along the dirt path, a few rice paddies beside them, Starswirl and Siral kept a high alert, while Hinai decided to idly fly beside them in orbiting circles low to the ground, wanting to stretch her wings.

Starswirl noticed that Siral seemed quite on edge, but he didn't blame him. Though he had to keep a level head among the two of them, for Hinai's sake, and for their own safety in general.

Approaching the riverbank, where a wooden constructed bridge crossed the shallow stony river to the other side, the riverside their stone house was upon further down the valley, the way seemed clear. They kept to paths to avoid suspicion.

Beside them, as a child Panda working in the rice fields suddenly cried out excitedly, Starswirl heard something splash, and leap out of the water.

Beside him, a mud covered Dog had been hiding in the water, waiting to pounce, while behind and in front a handful of dogs, 4 males and 2 females, joined the male in surging onto the path from the rice paddy field depths.

Blade slashing out, Starswirl leapt back instinctively, his blue magic horn flaring as he fired a repulsion spell, flinging the dog backwards to land in the watery rice fields. Beside him, Hinai grew large all of a sudden, defending her teachers and sort of friends with her larger physical size, one magic she knew well and accepted.

Stomping down, the yellow serpentine dragoness breathed a forest of flames towards the dogs, sending them fleeing into the rice paddies for cover, though 1 male and female dog each were caught in the flames, screaming as they fell to the ground ablaze.

Siral heard more splashes, and then at his hoof he saw a narrow, short wooden shaft bury itself into the ground from behind him, tipped with feathers on the ends. The black Unicorn turned, and saw a pair of male Tigers surging forwards from a long way down the path, ignorant of the fleeing Panda farmers behind them, each also wielding a bow and arrow.

While Starswirl focused on the dogs ahead, Siral turned, his magic flaring the usual grey as another volley of arrows came at them. The arrows deflected in grey flashes, breaking in midair as they went, while behind the black Unicorn, Starswirl focused his magic on the dog attackers before him, having an easy time with Hinai breathing fire at them and keeping their heads down.

"Who are they!?"

"I don't know, we have to-"

"DRAGON!"

Siral's warning cry from behind, and a rush of air, cut off Starswirl mid-sentence. A long orange shape leapt like a snake from the village a half mile away, surging forwards as he'd spoken, wings extended and a pair of bright green magical flames in his hands.

As the tigers he'd hired fired arrow volleys to keep them busy, despite them seeing him, Ghung Chian flew forwards, firing a shockwave of magical energy at them in a sweeping green arc.

As it washed over them, a cold burning engulfed them, even the tigers and dogs, though to a far lesser extent. Starswirl visibly shuddered, as did Siral, whilst Hinai suddenly grew worried for them, forgetting about the enemies for a moment:

"Are you alright?"

"He did it!" Siral bellowed, finally confirming the suspicions. He recognised that Dragon, Ghung Chian. But as soon as Siral had bellowed, he saw a pair of orange scaled claws surging forwards.

Hinai shoved Starswirl and Siral each off the path, into a rice paddy pond, but as she made to duck the incoming attack, she felt claws grip her side, and her large 40 foot form get dragged away, the thrashing she let loose only serving to make Ghung Chian hold her in his forehands much tighter.

"We'll leave them alone for now I think." Ghung Chian remarked, dragging Hinai across the river, to the other side of the landscape of the valley.

Zenglansi Village, rural outskirts

Riverside bridge

Dripping wet, Starswirl and Siral charged forwards, intent on pursing the dragons up the mountain.

Behind them, arrows rained as the tigers kept up their attacks, but Siral kept up the field deflecting them. Up ahead, at the footbridge, a trio of dogs charged them, one of them throwing a set of tangling leg traps at Starswirl. Leaping over it, Starswirl fired a spell at the river, satisfied as the river beneath the bridge surged upwards like a giant hammer, smashing down on the bridge's land joint, swamping the trio of dogs off onto the ground.

Running now, other dogs and tigers still pursuing them, Starswirl angrily kicked a dog as it struggled for a weapon when they passed over it on the bridge, while Siral caught an arrow and deflected it to hit one of the tiger archers in the head.

But up ahead, as they ran full pelt to escape the backup, Ghung Chian took Hinai higher into the mountains above the valley, as he began to recite a familiar spell in his head.

Midday

Imperial Pandina, Tabit Province

Hilomeyan Mountains, Xigongyian Valley

Mountainside, forest slopes

She felt weak, tingling, drained, being eaten from the inside, and she knew this was the same thing as had claimed her parents, almost claimed her.

Writhing, she angrily made a last effort, and lunged her head forwards and bit Ghung Chian in the forearm, hard enough to draw blood. The Orange, serpentine dragon howled in pain as he released her, Hinai having been drained of her energy a noticeable amount. But she flapped her wings, diving into a forest lining along the mountain face, obscuring her from sight. Around the forests, the cliffsides, snow and trees loomed, natural threats that paid witness to the unnatural one that had come to claim her.

As she hid, Hinai breathed as calmly as she could, but found her heart raced. She felt raw fear now, her parent's killer had been the Orange Sorcerer that had visited. He killed her parents, and he was a Sorcerer of Royal standing.

Two reasons for her to be fearful of her chances, and she suddenly realised just how vulnerable she was now.

Hiding, hiding her magic as much she could, key trick she learnt that she readily adopted from Starswirl and Siral, Hinai heard the wingbeats settle on a slope further down the mountainside, unseen to her.

She slowly shrunk her body to a height of around 10 feet, her 'civilisation interaction' size, and peered cautiously around the tree.

There, orange scales, and a red/green striped spine. Ghung Chian was searching for her, his back turned to look downhill right now. Looking carefully from around the tree, her senses hearing all animal noises had ceased in the forest area, she saw the Orange Eastern Dragon fiddling with something in his hand.

Some sort of object on a chain, too much like the family necklace of gold and jade she had on right now. But he was fondling it in his grip feverishly.

As he shook once, Hinai suppressed a gasp as she saw Ghung Chian suddenly begin to glow a slightly cold blue, exactly the same colour as that mist that consumed her family from within during the night.

"Where is she?" The whisper to himself carried up the slope, eerie and piercing as he said it, right as a misty cloud of blue shadows and fog began to spread up, down, and across the mountain slopes. As Hinai saw it spread, she saw leaves on the trees closest begin to very slowly change, withering and turning brown.

She saw the decay approaching, but kept hidden behind the tree, higher up the slope than the Sorcerer dragon was. As Hinai hid, the yellow and red/green back striped Eastern dragoness heard the voice of Ghung Chian carry up the slope, him clearly looking for her.

"Step out of your hiding hole Princess. You can't withhold your power, nor should you. It is always a waste to see such potential go to waste, and I could ensure it sees proper use in serving the Emperor."

Shaking her head, Hinai stifled the urge to yell an accusation back, as she heard the rustling of the fog of decay, that which claimed her family that night, spreading.

"I know you were withholding for reasons of being a less intimidating wife in future, your brother Peng told me so when I oversaw him taking his place in Shengdu as king. He was grateful of my efforts to hunt down the one that killed his family, and swore more service directly to the Emperor.."

Breathing hard now, her pink eyes wide, Hinai realised now what this had been all about.

The Emperor was building the Great Wall, itself a response to the Muttgolian raiders increasing their efforts to the north. But the Emperor was expanding his power full stop, forcibly bringing provincial governments under his direct influence.

Her father had been cooperative, but on the condition of being more self-governing, given how far from the north border Shengdu was. But now it seems the campaign at the north was bad enough to need much more cooperation from the south.

The disappearances, deaths, like her parents, all to ensure greater loyalty to the Emperor from the successors. And at the same time, Ghung Chian improved his reputation by tracking the murderer, which he framed as one who looked like her.

He gained political influence in killing her, as a loyal and accomplished servant of the Emperor, and added to whatever his way of magical power growth was.

Claws to her head, she bit down on her wrist to stifle her scream of outrage, remaining hidden. The Emperor's need had prompted this, monster, to come after her and her family, and he grew stronger every day.

The decay reached her, and as she saw some small grasses on the mountain slope begin to slump at her feet, she felt the familiar draining sensation. As she felt it build, Hinai let out a small gasp, and began to stifle her magic, a way to fight this draining.

Down the slope, Ghung Chian snapped his head upwards, sensing something resisting his energy absorption spell. He gripped the pendant in one hand tightly, as he flew upwards now, above the treeline, a magical echo in his voice as he bellowed a curse of assault.

From his free hand as the orange Eastern dragon flapped his wings, a ball of green energy shot forth, firing fast up towards the top of this mountain's peak. As it landed amidst the forest slopes, the ball contracted, then detonated in a bright sphere.

Trees, dirt and rock blew upwards, and an entire section of the mountain slopes was deforested by the blast. Hovering above the slopes, Ghung scanned the ground he'd destroyed, searching for a tell-tale set of yellow scales.

"Give up now, to let your gifts serve a greater, more useful purpose! I shall not kill you if you do!"

On the ground, hidden amidst a pile of dirt and debris that had coated her, Hinai seethed now, knowing Ghung was lying. That magic of his always killed when absorbing someone's magic entirely. But she kept her magic low, hiding from him, and it was working.

Overhead, Ghung hovered about, flapping his wings as he gripped the amulet in his clawed hand, and with a roar, he fired another green burst at another part of the mountain slopes.

He would level the forests of this mountain if that's what it took to find her.

Imperial Pandina, Tabit Province

Hilomeyan Mountains, Xigongyian Valley

Mountainside, climbing pathways

Dashing up the mountain, they took the fastest route up to the forest slopes, up the steep cliff faces where a path had been carved.

The dogs and tigers were in pursuit, the odd arrow flying in their direction from the slopes and pathways far below.

Up above, the mountain lit up green in the midday sun as the orange dragon overhead in the distance fired another of those detonation spells.

"Hurry!" Starswirl beckoned, leading them on. Behind him, Siral span around in their flight, looking up as he also saw some dogs round the pathway to the ridge they ran along. His grey horn flaring, Siral aimed at the ridge above their path, and sent a shockwave at it.

Rocks tumbled down, and the avalanche of dirt and terrain falling onto the path, collapsing part of it as it continued to tumble down onto the winding mountain pathway sections below.

But the path blockage would merely slow their pursuers, and Siral galloped fast up the steepening mountain slopes after Starswirl.

Further up the path, Starswirl nearly stopped as he saw some grappling hooks land on the pathway they had yet to reach, and saw a Tigress and 2 Dog hunters climbing up. Focusing his blue magic, Starswirl fired a shot at the lines, managing to cut them all.

One of the dogs fell down to the path below, whilst the other dog clung onto the rock wall with his claws. The Tigress however scrambled upwards onto a ledge, pulling off a crossbow on her back to aim at Starswirl, taking only a second to fire the triple shot crossbow.

Raising his magic horn, Starswirl deflected 2 of the bolts, and stopped the 3rd in midair, sending it back at the Tigress. As she ducked her head on the distant ledge, Starswirl saw Siral catch up, calling out:

"They're over the landslide!"

Gaze snapping back, Starswirl saw the dogs and tigers, about a half dozen now, running up the slope, with 2 more dogs coming up from below. The Tigress was reloading her crossbow as he was distracted.

"BEGONE!"

Losing his temper, Starswirl let loose a massive spell, a blue sphere that expanded in all directions.

The Tigress on the ledge shrieked as she convulsed, the spell forcing her to tumble off the ledge to her death. Back on the path slopes, the dogs and Tigers roared as the spell attacked their bodies, wracking them with pain enough to subdue them.

Higher up, Siral had his magic up, as the spell was easily blocked by any level of magic wielding. But the black Unicorn turned his gaze to the mountain as Starswirl breathed to recover from the spell.

The forests up there had been flattened a lot, but there was worse yet to come.

An Orange Eastern Dragon, a slight yellow glow fading on his body, was surging through the skies now, down towards them.

Minutes earlier

Early Afternoon

Imperial Pandina, Tabit Province

Hilomeyan Mountains, Xigongyian Valley

Mountainside, forest slopes

Surveying the levelled forests, Ghung Chian knew she was here. But she was good at masking her magic. Or else, she really had weakened herself from years of self-restraint for the sake of being a more subdued wife as a political tool.

Something then flared in his mind, a warning. Right then, as he turned to fight, a searing hot magical bolt hit him on the left arm. Howling more in outrage than pain, the Orange Dragon Sorcerer coiled his serpentine body in the air as he turned to see the yellow shape that had emerged from some dirt and tree debris piles on the slopes.

Her hand outstretched, Hinai stood like a cornered animal, horrified that had single powerful shot had not hit him in the head like she'd hoped. Up above, Ghung Chian swung around, his left arm waving to cool the burning, while the pendant it gripped in the left hand swung free in the air.

Right as the green blast left the Sorcerer's other clawed hand, Hinai braced herself with a shield spell.

Her world exploded around her, the blasting spell sending the dragoness cascading down the slopes, into the edges of the non-levelled forests. Wincing, the yellow Eastern dragon scrambled to her feet as she heard Ghung Chian come to flap his wings nearby, and she caught a good glimpse of the pendant that swung free from Ghung's neck, much like her family amulet necklace.

It was a silver chain and holder, with an odd looking blue/grey crystal in the centre, which seemed to glow a sickly blue that was too familiar to her for coincidence's sake.

"A sneak attack, how cowardly."

"You murdered my family while they slept! You have no right to call me as such!" Hinai spat back, her voice faltering as she saw the blue fog seeming to leak from Ghung Chian's body itself, enclosing around her on the slopes.

"Your family's legacy lives on, their power, with me. Yours, what little you seem to have left, will too."

"To think the Emperor has such monsters like you as loyal servants!"

Growing angry now, Ghung Chian hoarsely yelled as Hinai gave a pained gasp, the blue smog catching her and beginning to glow as it fed on her.

"I WON'T LET IDEALISTS LIKE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY STOP ME! The Emperor wishes for peace, and I and many others want that too, for the sake of the lives of those ruined by the invaders, like so many including myself! Living a life of luxury and peace in the south makes you blind! To fight monsters such as the northern hordes, sacrifices must be made!"

As Hinai let out a scream of agony, collapsing onto the ground as the blue smog around her became slightly yellow now, Ghung Chian breathed deeply, his eyes glowing a malicious blue as her magic became his. The pendant and blue/grey crystal inside it glowed a brighter blue as he drained her magic and life force, perhaps the final light Hinai would take as a memory before death, even in broad daylight.

As if aroused by the sheer power he could feel growing, Ghung Chian make a last cold remark:

"Even if you resisted, your sacrifice for the good of my power, to bolster a loyal servant of the Emperor, will put you in good stead with the spirits."

With a last spasm, Hinai slumped on the forest slopes, very weak, and likely to die up here. Inhaling deeply, Ghung Chian casually walked past the near unconscious Dragoness, spreading his orange wings, the Sorcerer waved his left arm as he took off, the cold air passing over it cooling the blast damage Hinai's lucky shot had done to it. With his free right hand, as he took off from the mountain slopes, he gripped the pendant hard, focusing his wealth of magic into healing his left arm at a faster rate of only a few days.

But down below, Ghung Chian saw a large sphere of blue energy fire outwards from a mountain path, and his dog and tiger service hunters howl and roar in agony. The 2 Unicorns, those Wizards from abroad, were stronger than anticipated.

There was always room for more magic to be had for proper application on the Imperial will's behalf.

Early Afternoon

Imperial Pandina, Tabit Province

Hilomeyan Mountains, Xigongyian Valley

Mountainside, pathway plateau.

"Starswirl, he's coming for us!"

Looking up, Starswirl grunted at the new danger, and worried for the fate of Hinai if Ghung Chian was coming for them. He had no idea what was supposed to happen to his senses if one of the exemplars died before they displayed their defining act of their hidden attribute.

"We shall meet him Siral, do what we must!"

"That's all we can do!" As Siral bellowed back, his grey horn readying, Starswirl flared his blue horn as he clambered up the slopes to join Siral on a less steep mountain section they'd been climbing to.

As the Orange dragon soared down, a green pulse fired from his free hand, another blasting spell. The shockwave and green light brightened the already noon soaked mountainside, incinerating grasses and bushes, but not the 2 Unicorns who raised their magical protective shields against it.

The Orange Eastern Dragon reared up, magically going to his full size. The 100-foot-long dragon loomed atop the 2 wizard Unicorns, green magic seething from his one good forearm, his left one burnt badly from some sort of magic attack it seemed. As the Orange scaled Sorcerer reared up, wings casting a shadow over Starswirl and Siral, they noticed a strange pendant around the dragon's neck, the silver chained, blue/grey crystal pendant glowing an eerie blue.

"You two are strong, but you will fall like others have."

As Ghung Chian threatened them, his mouth filled with scarlet fire, pouring forth the sea of fire onto the mountainside plateau ahead of him.

Starswirl dashed sideways, magic deflecting the raw heat of the fire upwards. Siral leapt the other direction, blown backwards as he was caught more by the sheer heat. Tumbling backwards, the Black Unicorn's grey cloak flew about as he scrambled with his forehooves to grip onto the cliff edge, magic granting him strength to easily do it.

Turning, Ghung surged forwards on the plateau, a blue mist shooting outwards from the serpentine dragon to engulf the entire plateau, with Siral on the outskirts, and Starswirl right in the centre. Magical shields raised, Siral felt the sapping magic eating away at his shield, just not the magic from his body itself. But in the end, it was sapping his magic still.

Up on the plateau, as Siral peered over the edge, climbing as he kept up his shield, Starswirl strained to keep his magic shield up. The mist would begin eating not just his magic, but his body, if it failed.

"STARSWIRL!" Siral's cry was barely heard over the rushing wind and magical echoes emanating from what looked like a swirling whirlpool of blue aura atop the plateau, encompassing both Unicorns, Starswirl at the centre taking more of the brunt on his own shield.

Overhead, Ghung Chian was in a state of ecstasy as the magic being exuded to safe their hides was absorbed, and stolen, seeping into the pendant gem he wore, his bad arm gripping it to further fuel his own magic to keep it up. They were fuelling their own demise.

"See how you bow and submit! Your power will serve the empire through me!"

Utterly consumed by the raw power coursing through his body as the feeding loop of magic fed on the Unicorns, Ghung Chian trailed off from his declaration upon high, hovering above the blue mist vortex, as he began to slowly grin in triumph.

Off to the side, as they saw Ghung Chian give a swift nod to stay there, the 5 remaining dogs and 1 remaining Tiger hunter stayed on the path, watching their job finish. If anything, seeing those Unicorns die would be half their payment with no protests from them.

On the plateau, these foreign wizards would be robbed of everything and cast aside, for the greater defence of the Empire, bolstering the Sorcerer that went to any methods to acquire power to serve with.

If he enjoyed it at the same time, there was even less holding him back.

Early Afternoon

Imperial Pandina, Tabit Province

Hilomeyan Mountains, Xigongyian Valley

Mountainside, forest slopes

Slumped, drained, nearly unconscious, Hinai could barely sense anything, her senses numbed. She had crawled enough to see the spectacle down the slopes, see her teachers of a few months, friends and travellers, under siege, some of the hunters nearby.

The yellow Eastern dragon coiled up on the floor, cold, and helpless. She clawed at the dirt weakly, as she lay amidst the destroyed forests Ghung Chian's magic had levelled.

Her hand then clenched her family's necklace, the golden chained, jade gemstone a firm presence amidst her weakened state. The single hard stone, her last trace of what Ghung Chian had taken from her in a bid for power to serve the Empire with, proved warmer than anything else she felt right now.

As she clenched it, she relaxed, thinking it was over now, her family was gone, and she was unlikely to meet ever her 2 living brothers again.

But as she spared one last bleary glance down at the mountainside, seeing the swirling green vortex on the plateau, the triumphant orange Eastern Dragon sorcerer maniacally taking pleasure from his success, her mind became one track.

Her grip on the necklace jewel tightened, and she felt a surge of strength coming from a part of her she didn't know she had. Red hot feeling surged in every nerve of her body, as she devoted her every semblance of willpower onto the Orange Dragon below.

Without warning, as she willed herself to move, to get there and stop Ghung Chian, an electrifying sensation overcame Hinai, and a yellow glow began to heat her up. She felt the familiar pull of magic needing to come out, which in the past she resisted as it built.

But now, despite the pain from her long years of holding back, she let it build, and build. Whatever came forth, she wished it only to be directed. She had 2 brothers in life still, and she would not lose her 2 newfound friends to Ghung Chian like her parents and eldest brother.

Her bellow of utter pain, mixed with rage, was drowned out by the blaze of yellow light that suddenly flared and engulfed Hinai on the mountain slopes, trees and dead grass blowing as it flared out, lighting up the noon lit slopes just like Ghung Chian's green blasts had. She had felt her power surge, hit her mental blocks and physical restraint, and did nothing to stop them.

As the yellow magic engulfed her, Hinai had one focus only. Her friends were in grave danger, and she had magic that was buried enough for Ghung Chian to not get at. Now, she was unleashing herself, out of a duty to her friends, and to her family she lost.

The yellow glow suddenly vanished from the slopes, and on the mountainside, Hinai was gone, not a trace remained other than some heated dirt where the yellow Eastern dragoness had laid a second ago.

Author's Notes:

There will be one last chapter of MAGIC's arc after this, but a long one like this one to ensure everything crucial is told.