[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

“Governor, please keep such accusations to yourself, Aisha has been a most precious patron, she is nothing more than a fragile old woman, shackled to a fifty year old dilemma...”

“A facade! Her words are poison, just because she showered you with a smidgin of “kindness”, anything that beast does is to pursue her own faceless ideals! Don't be gullible.”

I mutter discontentedly. Grinding together my molars in annoyance.

“Look, governor, we are getting no where like this, now is not the time to bicker, monumental events are unfolding around us and we are having at the other, we need to reel in and focus.”

The governor nods in silence. “Please lad, just call me Yuu, and you may not like what you see, but I will show you the grizzly truths. Come, let us move to the grove. It's definitely a hike, and I am going to need your aid with this useless leg...”

“Alright Yuu... I'll take you to the house.”

I grab Yuu by his wrist and lead him out of the room, back through the gardens and to the streets.
Outside the majority of the flames had died out. Most of the structures have been reduced to heaps of melted rubble. The fire had nothing left to burn...

“My god....” Yuu cries out.

“It looks much more terrible than I had imagined!” He falls to his knees in despair, clutching at humps of dirt and stone.

“Sir, please, stand up...” I lean over, placing my hand on his back.

After a moment, he places his hand into mine and stands.

“Shinkirou...It has been my home for sixty years. It was such a marvelous hub of life. Now I can't recognize it anymore. There is just about nothing left here...”

“Yuu, please, we need to move on, it is not safe here, I do not know what could be out there. We might be attacked.”

Yuu doesn't say anything, he simply follows me out of the city, to the grove.

After awhile, the green of trees peek up from the horizon. The forest is intact, the fires never spread this far. We follow the old road, the only road leading in to Aisha's shack. Yuu pauses for a moment, and leans against a tree, breathing to regain a regular pace. “This is a lot of activity for one day...” he smiles, inhaling deep.” I look off past the road and into the clearing beyond...All is quiet in the grove. No sounds of birds, not even a breeze. It seemed too quiet.

“Aisha's house is just around this bend.” We move side by side, around the corner.

We were just about to approach the old shack when most unexpectedly, a massive tremor shakes through. The quake knocks Yuu clean off his feet, the governor falls to the ground. With outstretched arms, I establish balance.
I move to his aid, crouching to a stabilizing position, kneeling on one knee.
“It's okay sir.” Yuu is cowering with his hands upon his head, burying his chin in his chest.
I stand strong, and unsheathe Sora.
Continued rumbles, it becomes more violent... trees collapse off in the distance, something that sounds like a roar.... This isn't an earthquake, some sort of massive force is creating this.
This succession of events, the perfect set up for the appearance of a dragon....

“Sir! Take cover!” I swing my left arm back, gesturing for him to crawl his way to safety. “Stay away from any tree, for they may decide to topple upon you!”

“Finally!! SHINKIROU!!!” I hear a powerful voice, reverberating into the grove.

Then a massive shadow looms over, I direct my view overhead to see quite the unsightly sight.
A large dragon, with flaming wings hovers just above, the beating of its wings sends heat waves in my direction.

He lands hard upon the earth, the ground shakes again. He is quite the impressive looking dragon, much more fierce looking than any I have seen up to this point... Thick silver-ish armour is fitted around his head and torso, a crest in the fashion of a flame is etched into his headgear.

“I am Zanden!” He shouts out, “The most powerful of all of the Dragon Elites, my power is matched only by my lordships Leinurus and Thrandos, and our most beloved Queen! And you, you are Tatsu! The object of my vendetta!”

Well, this guy likes to make sure his opponents know who he is eh? Gotta make sure you know about that status... I roll my eyes.

“Don't roll your eyes at me you pathetic creature!” Zanden points a long claw at me. “You have been a nuisance to us for some time now, always managing to sneak your way out of our claws like the little rat that you are, but finally, I am given the honor to squash this squeaky rat!”

I don't say anything, I stand strong, and grip Sora tight. Zanden continues on.

“We finally find you, and this city at last, for years we have been working to take it down from within so we can lay siege...It would seem espionage is the ultimate form of warfare..” Zanden laughs at himself.

“Yes the barrier masked this place from us, but in the chaos that just transpired, we were able to take advantage and destroy the shield, but it would seem our work was done for us...A shame, I wanted to personally scorch these structures...Hopefully my right hand, Lyren, is having more fun in Asgard...AHAHA!” Zanden laughs again.

“What?! What do you mean!”

“Ahh, finally got you to speak up, ehehe, yessss, it is true, just as we set out for Shinkirou once the barrier was knocked down, I heard that my personal unit reached Asgard, my best soldier, the beauitful Lyren, she is a deadly thing, one of the most powerful warriors in the Dragon Army, she is an expert in fire, perhaps just as well as I....” Zanden smiles.