“Urgh..” Edge sat up, having lain there for an hour. “There” was the Garil Desert, a place on the continent feared by many and avoided by many more. The Garil Desert was so hot that if anyone took water with them while crossing it, it was likely the water would boil before any of it could be drank.

Edge looked around. He recognised most of the landscape from the last time he was here. Sand was a large part of the scenery. So were rocks. And those Stryders.

Stryders?

Oh crap.

Edge picked himself and found energy he did not even know he had. His legs started moving totally independent of any thinking that was normally necessary. And it was no wonder. In case there are any out there unaware of the Stryders, they are large creatures, similar in many ways to wild bulls. They can run across the sand like a fish swims through the water. And they don’t stop for anything, even if something is in their way. Many villages have been emptied of all life when Stryders have become hungry, or have taken a wrong turn in their hunt for water. Stryders run over you and don’t look back. From the air, they are harmless, unless can get ahead of you. But on the ground, they are organic bulldozers. Edge looked back, praying that these Stryders were old. If they were old, he would have a chance. But it didn’t look like they were old. Rather that they were young, and very fit indeed. That was a bad thing. Edge willed his legs to defy any limits that his state of fitness placed on them, but the legs laughed at his wishes. They weren’t going any faster than they were used to, regardless of what was chasing them.

So this is it, thought Edge. I’ve been trapped in the Astral Plain for 10 years, and now I’ve returned, only to be run down by a pack of bloodthirsty wild beasts. It isn’t fair. Life hasn’t been fair since the day I got on that dragon. I’ve met people, lots of people that I would never have met otherwise. But most of them are dead. Killed by monsters, killed by Imperial craft, dead. And now I’m about to join them, it seems. Unless, he scoffed, a flock of dragons flies out of the sky and take out these things.

The Gods were smiling on Edge that day. But the budget didn’t extend to a whole flock of dragons. And they didn’t pick the one that Edge wanted either.

A single dragon dived down on the Stryders. Stryders aren’t very smart, and didn’t realise that they were about to get blown to pieces by the Dragon’s arrows of light. But they were. The force of the blast threw Edge onto the ground. He was getting a bit sick of his face spending a lot of time in the sand, but at least he was safe from the Stryders. Thanks to that dragon.

“I hope you appreciate my help, human.”

Dragons could talk now? Edge wondered. He looked at the dragon, and suddenly realised that he might have preferred the Stryders.

The dragon that had saved him was one he had not seen before. It wasn’t like any he’d ever seen before. This dragon had three heads, each one looking as malicious as the others. The eyes on each head glowed a crimson red, a shade, which rather scarily resembled blood. The heads moved in a way that seemed to resemble snakes. And most bizarrely of all, the dragon had no feet. It was hovering above the ground rather doggedly. It looked like it enjoyed the height advantage over Edge. And, between you and me, it did.

“Who are you?” Edge asked.

“I’m a dragon.”

“I can see that! Don’t you have a name? Or a rider?”

“A rider? What would I want with a pathetic mortal riding me? I’m stronger than any of them, I don’t need their help.”

“Well, do you have a name then?”

The dragon sneered.” Names are for humans.”

“What is your problem with humans? ‘Names are for humans.’ ‘What would I want with a mortal?’”

The dragon flew closer to Edge. All three heads looked into Edge’s eyes, and each had a very nasty look in them. Then, a different head, it’s left one, spoke.

“Humans are stupid.”

“Why?”

“You are one of the few species to be blessed with intelligence. Unlike those things…” one of the heads gestured to the remains of the Stryder pack, “…you creatures have the ability to make things, to create ideas. You have the ability to create weapons, to have a diverse diet of plants and meat. All these talents, and all you do with them is fight each other.” “But we stopped fighting years ago!” Edge burst out, “The monsters destroyed the Imperial fleet, holding all the high-ranking figures of the Empire. That put the Empire out of commission. The black fleet was wiped out by the Empire themselves. All the factions that fought are gone! Surely we don’t fight anymore?”

The dragon sniggered.

“What?” asked Edge.

“Where have you been the last five years?” the dragon enquired.

“If you really must know, I was trapped in another part of space and time, saving mankind from a monster that was controlling them. I was saving the world! Does that mean anything?” The dragon froze, apart from its wings.

“You are the one that destroyed Lord Sestren? YOU?!”

“If that is the way you want to think about it, then yes.”

“YOU are the one that destroyed Lord Sestren!? YOU!? You’re a human! You’re at the very bottom of the food chain! How could YOU destroy him?”

Edge laughed at the dragon’s disbelief.

“Well, I didn’t do it alone. I had my friend helping me.”

“Another human?”

“No. One of your kind. A dragon.”

“A dragon destroyed Sestren? But… that cannot be true. We were created to serve Sestren, to protect the towers. We were Sestren’s guards. We existed to control the humans.”

“One of you didn’t.”

“True, but he’s just a myth created by humans to give themselves a reason to keep fighting. The Heresy Dragon does not exist.”

“He does. And he defeated your precious ‘Lord Sestren’. Live with it.”

“I will NOT live with it! Ah wait. I see now. The Heresy Dragon and you teamed up. And the only way for you to be powerful enough to destroy Lord Sestren would be for you… to be the Divine Visitor! I can’t believe I have let you live this long…” the dragon roared, “ you meddlesome insect!”

“No, that’s not it! The Divine visitor….”

“Well, Divine Visitor, you’ve had your fun. Now I shall do what Lord Sestren could not do. I shall destroy you!”

“Wait!”

Edge’s screams came too late. As soon as the word “destroy” was out of the dragon’s mouth, the other two heads blasted their lasers at Edge. Luckily, they weren’t aimed very well, and landed harmlessly by his sides. Edge stood up, and tried to run. But his legs were still weak from the marathon escape from the Stryder pack a few short minutes ago. There was nowhere to run. It looked hopeless, again.

Then Edge remembered his gun. The one had carried around in the Astral Plain for 10 years. It should still work. He picked it up, and aimed it at the dragon. He pulled the trigger. It fired.

The dragon screamed with a roar sounding like a car screeching round a corner. Edge fired again, and again. He wasn’t going to stop until that dragon had flown off.

It took 15 shots, but eventually the dragon backed off.

“Ok. I’m going now. But I’ll be back for you, be you human, or be you the divine visitor. And as a matter of fact, I do have a name. My name is Tyrune. Remember it well, human.” And with that, the dragon flew off.

Edge let his gun fall to the ground. All the anger that went into those last shots had drained him of all the energy he had. Without any water, he was all but doomed. He closed his eyes and laughed. He had been saved from a Stryder pack by a dragon, who had then tried to kill him. It failed, and now he was going to die of thirst. You gods up there, he thought, are complete bastards.

---

“Sir, isn’t that a human over there?”

The hunter looked in earnest. He knew that if it was a human, then there was little chance of him surviving out here alone.

“Go and see. If it is, pick him up, along with anything around him, just in case he needs it.”

“De-na, sir.”

“Forget the formalities, just go! It won’t be too long before we have Nanyds chomping at us if we don’t get back to the camp soon!”

“De-na.”

The hunters, riding some tame Coolia, rode up to the mound. There, they saw Edge, and his gun lying beside him.

“Yep, it’s human, sir. What do we do now?”

“Get him. We’ll take him back to the camp. Give him some water, some food. He might make a good hunter if he managed to get this far into the desert without dying.”

“How do you know he isn’t dead now?”

“Just a hunch. He is wearing the right clothes for this situation. It wouldn’t surprise me if he actually is a hunter.”

---

“Are you OK, son?”

Edge woke up with a start. His first thought was: so this is what heaven looks like. But then he saw the hunters. It was then he realised that he wasn’t dead.

“Uh? Where am I?” asked Edge.

“Relax. You’re at our caravan. We rescued you from the desert. You’re quite lucky, kid. A few minutes more and you would have been toast. Literally, knowing the weather in the Garil Desert.”

“My gun! Do you have it?”

“Here it is, Edge.”

There was a moment’s silence. Everyone, including Edge, wondered how this hunter knew his name. That was, until Edge looked at his face.

“I know you. You’re… you’re… Dammit, where have I seen you before…?”

“Perhaps you don’t remember, after all. My name is Raul. Does that help?”

“Raul…? …Yes…you were in the caravan…You’re a hunter…”

“So he does remember me! I was beginning to feel insulted.”

“Is this An’jou’s caravan?” asked Edge.

“No, no, no. An’jou and his family found a place to settle down. I stayed with them for a while, but then the wanderlust took hold, and I set off again. I joined this caravan five years ago. Now, that’s my history. What’s your story? How did you get into the middle of the Garil Desert? And why were you just lying there?”

Over the next few minutes, Edge told them his story; about how he defeated Sestren, how he found himself in the desert, and how the Stryders and Tyrune attacked him. At the mention of Tyrune, there was a general growl of discontent.

“You know this dragon?” Edge asked.

“All too well.” replied Raul.” A week or so ago, Tyrune attacked us. He claimed to be an “emissary” or something. He took a lot of our food, and many of the weapons we used for hunting and defence. Then he flew off, saying that what he had taken was just “Living” tax. He claimed humans had no place left on this world, that we were only being kept alive for the monster’s amusement… if that’s true, then could someone please shoot me now!”

No one shot Raul.

“Tyrune talked about ‘dragons’. Are there more dragons?”

Raul nodded. “Yes, there are dragons. Lots of them in fact. The only problem is, most of them are on different sides. Most are working for the Brotherhood of Sestren. Others…” “THE BROTHERHOOD OF SESTREN!?” Edge screamed.

“You’ve never heard of the B.o.S?” a different hunter asked him.

“Never! Who are they?”

Raul grimaced. “I don’t like talking about the Brotherhood. They give the creeps. I don’t understand them, and I think their aims are evil. They want to return the world to the way it was, under the control of the Ancient Age. And Sestren.”

“Well I guess you don’t need to worry about them any more then!” a hunter perked up, “The kid says he took Sestren out!”

“Somehow… I don’t think so, Edge. You might have damaged Sestren, maybe even injured him, but you aren’t going to kill him just like that, even if you were riding a powerful dragon.”

“But I saw it myself! I saw Sestren break up into pieces! I heard his wail as he split!”

“I DON’T CARE!!! Sestren is evil incarnate. No, scratch that. Sestren is evil, period. All he wants is to control the world! Those towers that have controlled the world since the Ancient Age are still functioning. If Gash told you that Sestren being destroyed would stop the Towers functioning, then he wasn’t right, or Sestren isn’t dead. It’s one of two. Or both.”

Edge sighed.

“So all my years in the Astral Plain were for nothing?”

“It looks that way, yes…”

“Wait a minute, Raul. The kid says he had a dragon. Where is it?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t come back with me. Although I do remember him saying he would follow when he could.”

“Typical. Dragons are supposed to be the messengers of the gods, and now all the dragons seem to be hell bent on destroying us. Is it that the gods want us dead? Are they still the messengers?”

“Calm down Falder! It’s enough that Edge and me are turning insane without you as well!”

“I’m not insane, Raul. Just dismayed. I feel hopeless without my dragon. I was just his rider, he was the real power that destroyed Sestren, injured Sestren, whatever. If I’m the only one out of the two here, then we might as well give up….”

“Edge…”

At this point, the entire room turned to the tent’s opening. A woman was standing there with a face of amazement. She looked out of breath.

“Raul! Falder! Everyone! One of the Coolia is giving birth!”

“So? It’s all part of life, Eri. It’s nothing unusual.”

“Yes, but this Coolia wasn’t pregnant!”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive! It just gained 30 pounds, and started to give birth all in the space of 5 minutes!”

“By the dragon…!”