The Dragon Rider: Shadows before the moon

Warning: contains vore and... blablabla... Don't like, don't read.

Everything is different now. Once we were the only ones.

There was a past without them!

But everything is going to change. They're in danger!

Lars woke up, panicking. He was breathing heavily, his face covered by sweat. For the third time in a row he had this nightmare. It was always the same. He saw complete cities, destroyed or on fire. And lots of people, more than he could imagine, running between the buildings, as if they were scared of something. But in his dream he wasn't there on the ground but above them, flying around and chasing them. And above the screaming coming from below him he heard a female voice, repeating those words.

There was a past without them.

Lars didn't know what to do with it. Should he tell others about his dream. No, that was certainly not a good idea. They already thought he was crazy.

To calm down he looked outside the window. The sun was still hiding behind the hill in the east but the village already bathed in the light of dawn. The cloudless sky promised a beautiful day. And it was a special day too. Lars put his dream aside and stood up from his mattress. At the other side of the wooden room there was a small, square mirror in which he looked at himself. It was still him, he confirmed. Still the same green eyes and messy, dark brown hair. Still the same Lars. He quickly brushed his hair and took some water from the full bucket next to him to wash his upper body. Then he took some clothes and ran downstairs. His mom, Liz, was already preparing some breakfast. Roasted bread and beaked eggs.

'Good morning. Slept well?'

Lars nodded and went to the water bucket to get something to drink. He took a glass and held it below the water surface, letting it fill itself with the refreshing liquid.

'Exited for tonight?'

He nodded again, his mouth half full of water. Suddenly his father opened the wooden door and came in, cloaked and with a dead chicken on his back.

'Damn that piece of a villain, he priced up the chickens again.'

'Martin?' his mother asked, 'don't worry about it Charles. He just needs money. You know how his egoistic wife is like.'

'What do I hear? Is old Martin taking money from everyone once again? It wouldn't surprise me. Last year he sold little lambs for the price of a cow.'

Lars' grandfather, Charles' father, came down the stairs wearing his usual blue night clothes. He just walked straight past Lars, giving a little nod, stopped at the water bucket and snorted.

'No tea?' he asked, looking at Liz.

'There were almost no leaves on the market this summer. We have to economize them or we won't make it through the winter,' she explained without even looking at him.

Instead she lifted the frying pan with the eggs off the stone stove and put it on a polished stone plate in the middle of the table. From a gap in the stove his mother got four slices of bread which she laid on four large plates. She passed them to Lars who put them on the table. His father soon returned and they all sat down.

'Any news about tonight?' Lars' grandfather asked.

'No special news. But they asked me to help preparing the square. There'll be lots of people, even from other villages,' Charles said.

'Shall I take care of the farm?' Lars proposed, wanting to help.

'No, you have the full day off. That work can wait till tomorrow. Just do your chores.'

'Oh let that boy do something if he wants to. I'll help him, don't worry,' his grandfather said.

'Alright,' his father admitted, 'but only till noon. Take the rest of the day off. You've worked hard enough the last month.'

Lars nodded. It was true, October had been an exhausting month. But now the long expected day had arrived. Tonight, when the first full moon of the autumn would light the sky, there would be the harvest festival. There would be music and the whole town would be illuminated by all kinds of lights. And of course there would be lots of food. Everyone would show off his products. Lars was looking forward to it.

After breakfast he did his usual chores: cleaning the kitchenware and getting fresh water. Then he went with his grandfather to the empty field next to the house. They passed along the grain field where Lars had spent the past week, farming. But there were still lots of bags that had to be transported to the water mill at the other side of the village. Together they went to a wooden garage where they held Betsy. She was a monster made of steel: a rusty pickup truck. She was probably centuries old but she still worked. Once every year a trader that sold fuel passed through the village. According to him it was a miracle she still worked and that she would be worth a lot. But she had been part of the family for a long time and was also very helpful. Lars and his grandfather opened the garage and there she was. At the most places she was still black but here and there she was a little rusty. After having quickly washed the front window his grandfather gave Lars a rusty metal ring with a small key attached to it. This was something he liked a lot. Lars almost jumped into the car and started it in no time. It was pleasantly to hear the growling of the engine below him while he slowly rolled forwards, almost like she was purring at his touch. As soon as he rolled off the concrete ground his grandfather closed the doors and jumped into the rolling vehicle.

'To the grain field. Your dad had planned on getting all those bags to the mill before this evening. The rest can wait till tomorrow.'

And so Lars drove them to a place on the dirty road where at the side a lot of large bags stood. He stopped the car and went to work.

Finally, after half an hour, the first load was on board of the pickup truck and ready to go. Lars started the black car and drove along dirty roads between empty fields towards the village. The sun had appeared above the hill in the east, creating shadows in front of them and illuminated the stones and wood of their beautiful village. It looked old, mainly because it was designed like the middle aged cities he had seen on drawings at school. Lars turned to the right, onto a slightly bigger road that went all the way around the village. A few times he and his dad had went to this road to race a lap around the village. But now he couldn't make any speed because otherwise the bags of grain in the back could fall off.

Now they came closer to the village and through one of the small streets Lars could already see lights dangling from the edge of the roofs. They passed close to a house that stood a little further from the other houses. It appeared to be a blacksmith. At the stone wall there hung a large, white cloth. On it there was the painting of a pumpkin with the text:

Harvest Festival, year 2628

The village wasn't as old as it seemed to be. In fact it was barely one and a half century old. The ancestors of almost all the villagers had all lived in Arkan, a once wealthy city only a few miles north of the village. It was widely known for its skillful blacksmiths and it grew every year as more people came to share in the wealth its markets provided. But the peace wasn't allowed to last forever. It all came at an end on that tragic night in 2486.

Stories tell about a sudden thunderstorm that night, with lots of rain and cold winds. And suddenly, they were there. The winds had carried rumbling noises along with the thunder. And when a bolt of lighting had illuminated the sky, the attack had begun. It weren't humans, but dragons. Dozens of dragons had, according to the stories, dived onto the city and destroyed the tallest buildings. And before anyone could have fled, the whole city was already on fire. Almost all inhabitants died that day. After that the dragons went away and weren't seen anymore. Only few had survived.

After the attack the survivors had traveled south. They weren't just rich and arrogant people. They really were survivors and fighters. Lots of them had wealth in other cities so instead of going to other cities they stuck together and built in fast pace a village of their own: Goldbridge, named to the gold colored grain fields that surrounded the village at first and the beautiful, colored bridge across the small river that flew through the central square. Now, in 2628, the debts with the other surrounding cities were reimbursed and the fears about the dragons were almost forgotten. But the villagers were still watchful, because they knew there were other dangerous creature too. So was the whole world. Humanity had learned its lesson, hopefully. But this situation of fear had been there for a long time, ever since the twenty first century. It had always been like this. And it seemed like it would stay like this forever.

The Big Collision was without a doubt the biggest event in the history of humanity. Scientists had found a way to open up a portal to another dimension and hadn't seen any danger within it. But when they opened the portal for the first time, a catastrophe had happened. The dimension of humanity had collided with another dimension and the two worlds had fused together. The shape of the world had slightly changed and new plants and animals had appeared. But there was another problem. With the Big Collision four other intelligent species had invaded the earth and killed lots of humans, although it can't be denied that humanity has also killed lots of them. One of them consisted of dragons, flying, fire breathing creatures with red scales. Another species consisted of giant wolfs called wolfas, as tall as one and a half human with brown fur and dark green stripes. Then there were the nagas, snakelike creatures with the upper half of a human but only twice as big. They had a long tail with blue scales and could breath under water. And finally there were some kind of giant eagles with brown and purple feathers and long tails. They were the eaglas. Multiple attempts to establish peace had failed, partly because they didn't like each other too, and war on global scale had caused a relapse for humanity. The total population of people had been reduced and technology became forgotten. People were forced to stay in their city or village and transportation was very limited. There was almost no news from abroad. The way of life had become a mix between as it was in the Middle Ages and as it was just before the Big Collision. Over the course of the years nature had slowly taken back the lands that had ones belonged to the human race. And humanity, or what was left of it, had adapted itself to the new conditions of the world. Peace wasn't the right word because there were still attacks of dragons, wolfas, nagas and eaglas but in their own way all human settlements had found peace. It was in a world like this that Lars grew up.

The sun hovered just above the western horizon when music started to sound from the village. The lights were on, running on the few gas powered generators there were, and illuminated the corners and streets with many colors. But the central square was the most illuminated place of all, with long slingers of colored light bulbs attached to the buildings at the side. On the square there were many people, sitting at the small, wooden tables that were placed all over the place or standing at the longer tables in between on which the many products were stalled. At the four sides of the bridge four metal fire pits were placed, providing some extra light and warmth. They also beautifully accented the polished, multicolored stones of the bridge. The many lights danced on the surface of the water below, that split the scene in two. Many people walked across the wooden planks of the bridge all the time. But most of them were eating and talking at the many tables and listening to the music played by four men on a small wooden stage. It was some kind of folk music and in the space between the tables some people danced in pairs. Lars sat at a table of four and watched while Charles stood up and reached his hand out at Liz. The two stood up, looking at each other lovingly, and started dancing. Lars smiled and leaned back in his chair as he looked around the whole square, seeing dancing and laughing people all over the place, which made him happy. His gaze fell on two tables at the other side of the river, where the youth sat. The cool guys, causing nothing but problems all the time. But he was not like them.

In his free time there really wasn't much to do for him. He was sixteen years old but the other teenagers didn't want him around. He had had one true friend, Sam, but he had moved away with his parents about three years ago, to a city miles away. They hadn't seen each other again since then. Partly because of this Lars had started reading books. History or fiction, it didn't matter. Unfortunately this had caused the other guys of his age to call him a bookworm and destroy the little reputation he had, not that he cared. But there was one thing he liked more than anything else, to the distress of the adults. It was exploring. There was a big forest in the east, behind the hill, stretching from the far north to the far south. They said it protected them from dragons and other dangerous creatures, living in the east. He liked spending time in the woods, even if he knew it was forbidden. Often his grandfather and father had taken him with them on the hunt and in the time he was there alone he had learned himself many survival tricks. He knew he was odd and liked it in some way.

'I can still remember the day I was young and danced the same dance with your grandmother for the first time. She must have fallen for my dance skills,' his grandfather said jokingly.

After the dance had ended his parents returned to their table while the music players started playing another song. But they only sat down for two seconds when a man and a woman, probably his wife, approached their table. The woman wore a long, pink dress that made you think she was a princess from the New Age. It made her look like the stereotype that waisted the money of her husband.

'Hey, Andrew. How are you doing?' Charles asked, obviously not pleased by their appearance.

'We are doing well. But we still haven't seen those potatoes you had for us.'

Charles sighed deeply while rolling with his eyes.

'They needed two extra helping hands on the square today. Don't worry, those potatoes aren't going to run away,' he responded calmly.

'But I heard the mill has had its grain. So you did have time for that?'

'We did that. I don't know what your son does at the farm but at least our boy helps in the business,' Lars' grandfather said while laying his hand on the boys shoulder.

Andrew seemed hit by this and pointed angrily at him.

'Watch out, Dave Woodsman...'

'Woodsfire,' Lars' grandfather responded irritated.

'If you say so. Come on,' he said to his wife and after one last angry look they turned around and stepped away dramatically.

'So far our reputation,' Charles said.

'Don't worry about it, Dave. He isn't worth it,' Liz said, taking his hand to calm him down a bit. Dave sighed.

'I know,' he said.

The night came quickly and it was almost midnight when they finished eating. On the stage another group of two men and a woman had started playing old songs on some ancient looking electrical instruments. One of them played on what could only be a keyboard with still some old electrical sounds within it. At many tables people had started telling each other stories while the full moon that always accompanied the harvest festival stood high in the sky. At the table of the Woodsfires Lars listened to a story about a catastrophic hunting trip from before his birth his grandfather was telling. Suddenly he saw in the corner of his eyes a shadow flying in front of the moon. It was gone in the blink of an eye but it was enough to let both sides of the square become silent and many people looked up, what meant that he wasn't the only one who had seen it. A few seconds later a loud screech could be heard. The music stopped and some people started to panic as everyone looked at the sky with a mix of fear and confusion.

'What the hell,' Lars whispered while looking up too.

For a moment nothing happened until there was another screech, closer now. Suddenly something big dived down through the night sky and slammed with a huge force into a tall building at the other side of the river. People started screaming and ran away as more creatures crashed into the buildings around the central square, sending stones and pieces of wood flying around.

'Run!' Charles yelled.

Lars stood up quickly and helped his grandfather out of his chair. While he leaned on Lars right shoulder they ran after his parents in the direction of a small side street between two still untouched houses. The creatures, that looked like giant birds, kept diving into buildings, sending debris flying, after which they took off to the skies again.

'What are those?' Lars asked his grandfather, knowing better than to scream.

'Eaglas!' Dave said, having trouble with running.

But he didn't look afraid and instead of looking around to see what was going on he just stared in front of him. At the moment Lars looked to the side he saw a large shadow slam into the house next to the opening of the main street at their side of the bridge. He looked away when he heard the high screams of the people underneath the rain of stones die away. They had reached the side street that was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. His parents had already disappeared between the walls of stone and their were about to follow them when the building at their left seemed to explode. Large stones and other debris were thrown into the air, only to come down with a crushing force.

'Back! Back!' Lars yelled while pulling his grandfather backwards.

Stones rained down into the street, blocking it from the square. And he just stood there, paralyzed. His parents had been there just a moment before!

'Mom! Dad!' Lars yelled, expecting the worst.

Seconds passed by as chances became smaller and smaller.

'We're okay!' suddenly sounded from behind the debris. 'We're heading for our house. We'll meet each other there!'

Lars realized he had been holding his breath. Dave shook him slightly, getting him out of his state of paralysis.

'Come on! We have to go.'

Lars nodded and together they ran across the square to another side street. On the other side of the bridge he saw an eagla landing in the middle of the square. And it was terrifying. It was a giant bird, looking a bit like an eagle only it was about twenty feet from head to tail. It had brown and purple feathers and evil black eyes behind its sharp, brown beak. The extremely long tail whirled around the whole time. It spread its wings and screeched, making people cover their ears. With its wings it knocked the people close to it to the ground. Lars saw how it picked up a woman with its claws and opened its beak around her upper body. He heard people screaming as the kicking legs disappeared in its beak, becoming a lump in its throat, traveling down. He again focused on getting out of here. But as he and some other people approached the gap between the two buildings an eagla landed on top of the roofs in front of them. Lars looked at his grandfather, starting to panic. But when all hope seemed to be gone someone wearing long green clothes and holding a gun started to yell in the middle of the square at the other side of the bridge.

'Hey you! Little birds! Come and get me!'

The eagla close to him turned around and looked at him while another one landed on the stage. The two birds had him and some other people who were hiding under the tables trapped. Some tried to escape by diving into the water to swim to freedom but the quick actions of two birds diving down from the sky made two houses next to the river explode, blocking the river at both sides with some large stones. Now the whole square was blocked by three birds that stared at them mischievously. But Lars looked at the man in the green, on the other side of the bridge.

'On my command!' he yelled. 'Shoot!'

The two eaglas jumped forwards but from behind the pile of debris came several shots, hitting them in midair. The eagla above him screeched, getting Lars' attention again, and dived on the group of people in front of it. Its claws penetrated a man near him. The giant bird also picked up a running and screaming woman with its beak and threw her high into the air. But this gave Lars time to run into the protection of the houses. After him he heard the eagla getting shot, after which the bird pushed itself into the air and flew away. A few times Dave almost fell but Lars helped him up each time. They rounded a corner and a wider street with smaller houses of red stones stretched out in front of them.

'Come on, let's keep moving,' he said, noticing his grandfather had some difficulty with breathing.

They ran through the street that was covered by large, flat stones. Above them there were slingers of light bulbs, going from house to house in a zigzag pattern. For a moment it was quite. There were no eaglas falling from the sky and the screams had died down, although there were still shots, coming from the square that could be heard. Suddenly, out of nowhere an eagla appeared above them. It landed on the roofs just before them that were covered by red panels and screeched at them. There were about twenty people in the street and they all stopped. The street wasn't wide enough for the giant bird to fit in between the buildings and one man started to sprint underneath the eagla. But it just lowered its head and picked him up with its beak. With a great force it threw the man into the air and held its beak wide open to catch him. The man screamed but became silent as soon as he landed inside the beak and slid straight into the gullet. But then the eagla lost its balance and slipped off the roof. It got tangled up with the many cables of still burning lights and desperately tried to flap with its wings.

'Let's go!' Lars yelled and they all started to run underneath the dangling eagla. Surprisingly he and Dave were one of the first ones to reach the end of the street where two smaller pads led into a maze of houses. But then the eagla managed to tear the wires apart and immediately all the lights in the street went out. Lars turned around and saw some last electrical sparks around the silhouette of the evil bird. It no longer cared about its size and just smashed with its wings, that were stronger than they looked like, into the houses in order to get forwards. And it approached them with great speed, killing as many people as possible with its blood red beak.

'Shit,' Lars whispered. 'Run!'

He helped his grandfather picking up speed again as they turned to the left. There came at another corner, and another one. Then the stone underground disappeared and in front of them the buildings became more open. The houses were mainly made of wood and clay  and there were large candles in metal cages instead of electrical lights. They went around a house and came on a wide dirt street that led outside the village to the large ring around it. Lars ran onto the street, accompanied by Dave and four others, but stayed in the shadows at the side. Suddenly they saw the end of the street and their way out of the village. They were running in the direction of the black gap in between the last two houses when a black mass appeared in the sky above them. Before they could do anything another eagla collided with the house just in front of them at top speed. Their world exploded as pieces of wood were sent flying all over the place and splinters became deadly projectiles. Lars let himself fall onto the ground as time almost seemed to stop for a second. When the world became silent once again he crawled up as quick as possible. Were once was a house there now was a big pile of debris. Dust rose up from it as smoke from a fire. When Lars looked around he saw that two people, a young man and an elderly man, had giant splinters in their head and chest and were dying. Dave was still trying to stand up so Lars helped him by taking his hand. His grandfather was still out of breath and needed some rest but it still wasn't safe enough. Lars had barely thought that or suddenly the eagla appeared out of the debris, spreading its wings dramatically and screeching angrily. They frantically looked for their way out of the village but a wall of shattered wood had blocked their path. Then the eagla pushed itself into the air and soared towards the wall of debris, that was spread out through the street, where landed on top. Lars looked around and saw a small passage between two houses a little behind them at the other side of the street.

'Go! Go!' he yelled and all four of them ran towards the passage.

He and Dave reached it first and ran between the two walls of stone, in the direction of some kind of garden at the end. They almost pushed themselves from between the grey walls onto a small courtyard with grind paths between the grass and some trees at the sides. At the side of the paths and at the walls were lots of lanterns, illuminating the whole place with a soft, yellowish light. In the middle they saw that two of the four paths were blocked by stones from destroyed walls. Behind them the two other people had almost reached the courtyard when the wall of the house at their right crumbled with a thundering noise. The screams died down immediately when the avalanche buried them under a pile of rubble. Above it the screeching eagla appeared. Lars backed up, looking at the brown and purple bird in fear. He was about to help his grandfather sprint towards the passage at their right, that was still free from debris, when suddenly several shots came from the street behind the eagla. They hit the bird but the guns seemed not heavy enough to really injure the creature. It turned around and screeched angrily at the shooter.

'Come on!' Lars said, surprised by how calm his own voice sounded.

He pulled Dave with him towards the small, black gap between two trees. Behind them they heard the screams of the shooter and then some sounds like he was choking. Lars silently thanked him because they probably wouldn't have survived this passage with an angry eagla on their sleeves. After a full minute of stumbling through the dark they reached another wide dirt road. At their left, towards the center, they heard people screaming and saw smoke rising from the flames that licked at the roofs of the houses. Above the scene several eaglas flew around in circles, like scavenging birds, looking at their prey on the edge of death.

'Poor souls,' Dave said softly.

Lars didn't want to look for any longer.

'Come on. We can't stay here,' he said, taking his grandfather's hand.

He nodded and turned around, looking at the ground. Together they ran towards the darkness at the end of the street. No eagla came towards them as they left the village. The fields in front of them were unnaturally illuminated as the fire spread across the whole village. Trying to get away from the buildings as fast as possible Lars decided to go through the empty field in front of them, straight towards the ring. The moon behind him confirmed the thought he was going north. They reached the ring but Dave looked to exhausted to run for any longer. Lars slowed his pace as he walked onto the road and to the left. Slowly they made their way towards the big shadow in the west that was the hill of Goldbridge. Somewhere at the bottom there was their house. Normally there would be lights, marking its position, but for safety Charles had extinguished them before going to the festival. It made him nervous, not knowing if the house or even his parents were okay. He hoped so.

They went through two other fields before they finally reached the strip of grass in front of their house. The wooden construction loomed in front of them as a shadow, even darker than its surroundings. There were no eaglas near them so Lars ran towards the house, hoping that his parents had survived. Suddenly two dark figures came from behind the corner and ran towards him.

'Mom! Dad!' he yelled, almost screamed, of joy.

When they were close enough so he could see their faces in the light of the fire Lars saw it were in fact Liz and Charles. They almost flew into each other's arms and he heard his mother slightly sob while they embraced each other tightly.

'We made it,' he said, suddenly realizing how exhausted he felt.

Eventually they let go of each other while Dave finally caught up with Lars and came to stand in front of his son.

'You look good,' Charles said.

Dave just smiled. Then they all stood side by side and watched how their town was turned into ash. Screams, shots and screeches kept coming from down there while most eaglas just soared above the scene.

'We have to leave this place. They'll soon come here,' Charles said while he kept staring at the burning village.

Then he looked at his father.

'Do what you have to do. We'll wait here for you.'

Dave nodded and ran towards the house. Lars didn't know what was going on but kept his mouth shut. 

They'll tell me if it's important.

'Come on. Let's get Betsy,' his father said.

Lars nodded and with the three of them they ran along the side of the hill towards the wooden garage. It was a relief for him to see that it was still there. His mother quickly opened the doors and his father jumped into the car. Lars opened the right door on the second row and sat down on the bank of which the fabric was full of holes. His mother stepped in too while Charles tried to start the engine. At first it wouldn't start and his father cursed until suddenly the car became alive, sputtering and growling. With the wooden doors still open they drove out of the small construction and raced towards the house.

'Watch out!' Liz suddenly yelled.

Behind them an eagla loomed from the darkness, soaring above the car. It screeched and flew up, towards the top of the hill. Lars looked through the with sticky dust covered window but could see nothing but darkness.

Where did it go?

But as they approached the house they heard another screech and from the top of the hill they saw the eagla diving towards them. But it didn't go straight towards them. Instead it dived with all its force into their house. Lars could do nothing but watch while it was reduced to pieces of wood and other debris. The eagla soared straight through it like it was made of paper. Shattered stones rained down all over the place. In the car nobody said something. Charles just kept driving towards where once their house stood, too shocked to do anything else. The ground flour was still there and there were still some support bars standing upright but everything was covered with debris. Charles stopped the car, but kept the engine going, and stepped out, followed by his wife and son. They slowly walked towards the place of destruction. There was nothing left of it, and chances were small that Dave was still alive. Another screech made them aware of the eagla that was still there and that it was coming back. They looked at each other after which they ran towards the pickup truck. But they had barely set a step or the eagla soared above them and pushed the car over the edge of the hillside below them with its claws. The vehicle spun around until it came to a stop halfway the field. Lars turned around and sprinted away in opposite direction, along the former house up the hillside. His parents followed not far behind. Towards the forest. It was their only hope. At his right he saw the giant bird fly to the top to go for another round. The hillside became steep and because it was so dark Lars tripped over loose stones or even patches of grass. When he heard the screech of the terrifying creature again he let himself fall into the grass and laid still. He felt a powerful wind pass by as the eagla soared down, just inches above the surface. Lars rolled on his back and saw the bird knocking his parents down with its powerful wings. They rolled down a dozen feet before laying still. The eagla soon returned and landed in front of the unconscious people. It put its claws around his mother and lifted her limp body into the air. And Lars couldn't do anything. He hated that feeling. Then the bird bent its head down and opened its beak around her head. Tears welled up in his eyes as he saw his mother sliding into the giant creature. Finally only her legs stuck out of the beak but they soon disappeared from sight as the lump in the throat traveled down. Then also his father was lifted up and put into the gaping hole. Lars wanted to cry but couldn't. He just stared. The eagla lifted its beak into the air and soon his father was gone too. And then, the eagla looked straight into his eyes. He was to shocked to move and just watched the bird climb towards him. The bird was like a shadow, with the light of the burning village on the background. And from this close it was enormous. But fear got into him as he tried to crawl back. The bird kept coming towards him, step by step. It's evil eyes sparkled in the light of the full moon. When it was only a dozen feet away Lars tried one last attempt to avoid the inevitable and dived between the claws of the giant bird. He made himself small and rolled off the hill. The eagla spread its wings angrily and soared after him. He fell over to the side not far from what was left of his house, dizzy and slightly disoriented. He soon saw the fire in the distance and started to run towards it. But he had barely set a few steps or the eagla landed on top of him, pushing him firmly into the ground. The creature replaced its weight and Lars breathed in valuable air as the claws secured their grip around his waist. He was brought up into the air and for an instant his eyes met with the black ones of the eagla. The giant bird opened its beak and Lars faced the dark, cavernous space. He didn't want to die, not like this, but what could he do. The only thing he never did was screaming. He wasn't the naive or panicking type. The firm grip of the claws brought him into the mouth and he was soon met by the hot, smelly breath. He shuddered as his head made contact with the wet tongue. But he didn't move, like he was frozen. But not entirely out of fear. There was something else too. Something he couldn't explain. Soon his whole chest was inside the beak and his head made contact with the pulsating throat at the back. The creature let go of his waist and brought its beak high into the air. Lars' legs were left dangling into the air as his world shifted and his weight came to rest on top of the throat. He almost couldn't believe it. The creature was going to swallow him alive! It could happen any moment now. The eagla would swallow and the throat would open underneath him. He would join his parents and they would die a slow and painful death. At least they would be together, and this thought made Lars relax. He closed his eyes. There was nothing he could do about it. But suddenly his world shifted again as the eagla pointed its beak down. Lars slid out of it and fell down a dozen feet into the grass in front of the bird. His shirt was soaked with saliva and he almost missed the warmth of the eagla. He looked up at the bird, but it didn't look at him. Instead it stared at something behind him. Lars crawled up until he sat on his knees that began to hurt from the fall. Luckily he felt he hadn't broken anything. He slowly turned around and his mouth fell open in astonishment. There, a little further along the hillside and on top of the pile of rubble, his grandfather stood. With his arms stretched out above his head he held a large, glowing red stone in the air. It illuminated its surroundings like a fire. The eagla spread its wings and flew up. It screeched two times and suddenly, from everywhere in and around the village, dozens of eaglas screeched and flew up. They circled around the village a few times before taking to the skies and flying to the south, towards the full moon. Lars, still on his knees, had his eyes fixed on the bird that held his parents within it, until the clouds in the distance swallowed the birds and with that they were gone.