Night had fallen over Whistler Crest like a dark cloak tinged with red. The sky, once studded with stars, had turned into a whirlwind of smoke and flames. Fire danced across the rooftops, consuming wood, stone, and dreams with the same voracious appetite. At the center of the chaos, a deafening roar echoed. A furious nostraumbus spewed incandescent torrents of fire upon the city, turning everything into embers.
Egan, being a fire draken, was immune to the creature’s fiery breath, its most deadly weapon. Knowing that fire could never scar his skin, he decided to face the nostraumbus and try to contain its mass destruction.
The surroundings were covered in a haze of ashes, and while countless finleys fled in despair, Egan made his way through the wreckage, walking toward the heart of destruction where the embers spread like infernal fireflies. In the distance, he saw the creature land amid the ruins, and his heart pounded with determination. Egan carried a thick rope; he knew he could not wound a nostraumbus of that size, but if he could prevent it from breathing fire, that would be enough.
He approached silently, using the rubble as cover. The air around him shimmered with heat, and the crackling of flames echoed in his ears. The creature moved its neck slowly, sniffing the air, restless. Its wings vibrated with energy, the glow of fire reflecting off its scales in shades of deep crimson. Egan took advantage of the moment when the nostraumbus turned its attention away to move forward; he leapt onto a block of stone and, with a swift motion, cast the rope over the nostraumbus' snout, trying to bind its jaws. For an instant, time seemed to stop.
The wild creature roared in surprise, a thunderclap from a collapsing world. Egan held tight; the rope burned in his hands, but he pulled with all his strength, wrapping it around the creature’s snout. The Nostraumbus reacted with fury, beating its four wings in perfect synchrony, raising a storm of dust and embers. The ground trembled, and the beast spun violently, trying to shake him off. In one abrupt motion, a claw slashed across Egan’s arm, opening a deep wound in his shoulder. Blood ran hot, contrasting with the chill of adrenaline in his gut.
“You’re not…” Egan growled through his teeth “…getting rid of me.”
The Nostraumbus let out a roar that shook the trees around them, and with a violent flap of its four wings, it took off, dragging Egan along. The wind struck hard, ashes scattered, and within seconds the city had shrunk below them — a red stain beneath a black sky. The creature struggled desperately to break the rope, twisting its neck, snorting, spitting sparks through its nostrils, but the rope held firm. The draken and the beast fought a battle of sheer strength without a single word, only the sound of slicing wind and muffled roars echoing across the heavens.
After several minutes of resistance, the Nostraumbus no longer roared as fiercely and began to tire. Its once-imposing, majestic flight had grown unsteady. Finally, after thrashing about for so long, the creature descended from the sky in a staggering spiral. It landed in a clearing outside the city, where the grass had not yet been touched by flames. The impact made the ground tremble and sent a ring of dust into the air, its four wings fell heavily beside its body. The nostraumbus lay still for a moment, exhausted, its eyes glancing at Egan with burning hatred.
Egan slowly climbed down from the beast’s back, his arm still bleeding, the rope held tight in his grip. His breathing was shallow, he too was exhausted. He approached the creature’s snout and, for the first time, admired it up close. The wind whistled between the trees, and the smell of smoke began to fade. The fire had ceased, and the cause of all that destruction closed its eyes, having no choice but to rest within the draken’s bindings.