Red and Silver (Part 1)

A succession of sonic booms ripped through the air as a thunderous roar resonated high in the heavens. "Foolish northerners!" "Since you so recklessly provoked this war—" Cassius spread his broad wings and plunged from the heights, the dragon crystal upon his chest churning with searing energy and radiating dazzling light. "—then I shall grant you utter ruin!" *Boom!* As his words fell, the air detonated with a deafening crack, and a pillar of incandescent white dragonfire erupted from his maw. Spiderweb cracks crept across the supposedly impenetrable barrier of ice, followed instantly by billows of thick steam. Then, with a sharp, resounding crash, it shattered completely, collapsing into ruin. "Long live the Lord of Cinders!" "Long live the Great Red Dragon!" "Behold our master's godlike might!" "No, the master has surpassed the gods! He is greater still!" "Your Majesty! We are invincible!" Every soldier in the Kingdom of Cinders erupted in fervor. Tieflings, hobgoblins, and ogres alike raised their weapons, bellowing at the peak of exhilaration, as though witnessing the advent of their god with their own eyes. Driven to frenzy, an ogre artilleryman even fired his cannon several times into the empty sky, sending massive shells arcing like fireworks into the desolate waste. Yet the commander of the ogre artillery brigade paid him no mind, swept up in the very same zeal. The hulking ogre bounced and leaped while waving his standard, nearly churning the trembling ground beneath his feet to dust. "*Roar—*" The red dragon slowly beat his wings in midair, letting loose a protracted roar that reverberated across all of Anzeta. He said nothing more. He simply looked down upon everything below. As his roar shook the wilderness and his vast wings beat again and again, stirring gale-force winds, the weather behind him underwent a drastic transformation. The temperature skyrocketed, the air turned restless, and fiery orange clouds swept rapidly across the horizon, dyeing more than half the sky crimson in the blink of an eye. Dense vapor rose from the river's surface, and the drifting ice shards in the rapids melted away in moments. *Control Weather.* This was the red dragon's domain. Wherever he appeared, a blazing hell was sure to follow. Beneath the suffocating, terrifying weight of his Frightful Presence, countless dread-filled eyes gazed up from below at the colossal dragon. Though dragons had ravaged the Northlands numerous times throughout history, most had been white dragons. Never had a dragon of this scale appeared—indeed, a dragon of such size was extraordinarily rare on any plane. Even though they had witnessed him through magical projections, standing before this horrific beast in the flesh still overwhelmed them with unspeakable shock and terror. The northern nobles could not even muster the will to fight him. This red dragon seemed less like a living creature and more like an elemental force of nature—a terrifying catastrophe akin to an earthquake, an avalanche, or a hurricane, entirely beyond the power of mortals to withstand. "Tempus above, how can such a creature exist?" "How could this happen?" "He... he's grown even stronger." Viscount Luton muttered in disbelief, a large dark stain spreading across his silk trousers. Yet beneath that overwhelming pressure, no one noticed such details. "No..." Even Grand Duke Leo stood frozen like a wooden carving. He tilted his head slightly, his hand clutching the hilt of his sword trembling uncontrollably. There was no point in drawing the Sword of Lion's Honor—none whatsoever. Before a dragon that had reached the absolute limits of the Material Plane, any being below the legendary tier was a mere ant, fit only to be crushed beneath its claws. Now, his sole glimmer of hope rested upon that other being—and, perhaps, in the few hidden cards he kept in reserve. Grand Duke Leo nervously raised his head. "*Roar—*" Another draconic roar rang out, but this time it came from the coalition's side. "I come executing the will of the Lord of the North Wind; I am a guardian of draconic order..." "I am the protector of the world's balance..." "The observer of material beings..." A whisper surging with magical ripples echoed across the boundless wasteland. Above the coalition's battle lines. Beneath the azure expanse, a colossal wyrm silver dragon slowly unfurled his wings. The powerful downdraft parted the roiling mist and clouds, revealing his full silhouette—it was none other than Oszedro, the "Silver Wings." His gargantuan body measured thirty meters long, his dragon head held high. A pair of draconic eyes shone deep and luminous, seeming to perceive all truths of the mortal world. The surrounding air seemed infected by his presence, causing ripples to spread through the Weave and filling the atmosphere with solemn majesty. A powerful aura no weaker than that of the red dragon instantly washed over the field. Yet his carried far more order, inspiring reverent awe rather than paralyzing terror. Dragons were inherently creatures of magic. Wyrm dragons, through countless years of casting spells, radiated thick magical ripples within their Frightful Presence. And for a legendary Spellhoarding dragon like Oszedro, his presence was so dense it felt nearly tangible. Every gesture carried an aura akin to a personal descent by a Chosen of Mystra, making it hard for mortals to resist the impulse to prostrate themselves in worship. Under the gaze of countless souls across the battlefield, the silver dragon's scales shimmered in the sunlight, resembling a peak cast of pure silver standing tall above the pristine white clouds. Every movement of the wyrm silver dragon was brimming with power and grace. As he soared, a bitter, howling wind swept in, laden with frigid snowflakes and a hazy white frost that transformed half the sky into a bleached, icy world, leaving the coalition soldiers huddled beneath it shivering violently. It was *Control Weather* once more. This was an innate spell of silver dragons, castable by any silver dragon of sufficient age, let alone Oszedro. In an instant, heaven and earth were severed into two distinct realms of red and white. One half was a restless, blistering inferno drenched in scarlet clouds; the other was a bone-chilling, pale expanse shrouded in howling blizzard and freezing mist. The clash between red dragon and silver dragon had not even begun, remaining merely a stage of mutual probing. Yet the environment had already been thoroughly transformed by their dread might—a disruption that would take years to return to normal. "Ye gods..." "Have I gone back to the Second Era? To witness a battle of this scale..." Viscount Luton could not help but shudder. The biting frost wind made him tremble all over, freezing even his soaked trousers stiff. Meanwhile, a heavy gloom fell over Leo Bosque's face as he stared toward the sky with a grim expression. "Such monsters..." His lips twitched, murmuring beneath his breath. Indeed, before such power, boundless authority and noble status were entirely meaningless. All his schemes, efforts, and struggles were reduced to pathetic jokes. Either of these two dragons could effortlessly destroy his country and wipe out the foundation House Bosque had accumulated across a thousand years, generation by generation. What made it truly laughable was that as the person most affected by the outcome of this war—as the leader who had staked his family and his realm on this single battle—whether Grand Duke Leo survived this "Calamity of the Red Dragon" did not depend on himself at all. It depended entirely on whether that silver dragon, who looked down on him with utter contempt, could secure victory. *If only...* *If not for this red dragon, our rule over the Northlands could have lasted another thousand years!* *Why do such monsters even exist in this world?* Without Grand Duke Leo even realizing it, his expression grew increasingly sinister, a venomous hatred simmering within his eyes. He recalled once more the silver dragon's disdainful words, and the pathetic humility he had been forced to adopt. At this moment, Leo Bosque wished that every transcendent being capable of hindering his rule or threatening his survival would vanish from the world forever—including that sanctimonious, radiant silver dragon.