Wings of Fire: Secret of the Bushes

Post-Epilogue

Somewhere in the Scorched Desert, back when the two moons were brightest...

A small caravan was traversing along a long stretch of dune over the sandy desert at night. The evening darkness had always been the best shield against dragon attacks for the people of the desert; a dragon cannot kill what they cannot see. So the cover of darkness should be the best time to travel to avoid any predatory eyes from befalling on this desert caravan.

The night had other plans.

The brightest night, when all three of the moons were alight and the night glowed as if it were day. It could easily have been avoided. Two moons would still be manageable as what should be the case when this caravan had set off towards the night earlier that night

But fate had decided that tonight would be a great time for a comet to show up and shine its light upon the desert brighter than any of the moons combined.

Our cover is being blown! Lacerta had thought the moment the bright spark illuminated the sky.

It didn't help that, for some reason, dragons throughout the continent had decided to flock towards the desert at this time of night.

Something was happening in the middle of the desert. The caravan leader Lacerta was scared half to death by the sudden appearance of the dragons the moment the skyspark lit up the night.

Lucky for him and the rest of the caravan, the dragons have paid them no attention thus far. Lacerta wondered what might be the occurrence or what the significance of this comet was to the beasts.

Lacerta decided to press on instead of pondering. He wasn't sure how long the dragons would choose to ignore them and he didn't want to press his luck any further to find out.

The caravan was heading towards the Silent Oasis Camp to rest up after the entire night's travel. It was almost past midnight and there were about half a dozen of his men who were getting tired after walking the entire night.

The goods they were carrying were headed for Valor. His client had stated that it needed to reach the village by the next light if he wanted the full payment for the goods.

They were paid a hefty sum in advance while the rest will be given when they return. But it was a demanding request, especially from where they were from. Luckily, Valor is just a few hours walk from Silent Oasis. Maybe he could give his men enough time to rest to wait out the comet before moving on to Valor.

Maybe after all this, I can finally have enough to move to the Indestructible City.

The caravan halted all of a sudden. Lacerta's horse heaved as the line of camels stopped short ahead of him. Some of his men were bickering amongst themselves until one of them approached him.

"Sir, there's a lone figure blocking the path up ahead."

His horse trudged along to the front of the caravan to see what the interference was about. He caught sight of a cloaked figure some distance ahead of the line.

Some of his men were at the ready with tower shields and giant maces at hand, weapons that were meant to fend off against dragons but are suitable enough against any ruffian who dares assault them.

Lacerta dismounted from his horse and stepped forward. He was careful to maintain his distance from the shady figure.

He observed the figure from head to toe. Despite the brightness from the skyspark, a heavy cloak hid most the figure's features.

"What is your business here?" Lacerta demanded. He swore he could see smirk forming on their face.

"It must be so tiring having to carry all of those goods across the desert. Let me relieve them from you so that you can be on your way."

His men bursted out in laughter. Lacerta merely scoffed at the dry humor.

Who does this guy think he is?

"I'm not in the mood for jokes tonight. And I have not time to deal with a jester right now."

"I assure you, it was no joke."

Lacerta huffed. Something was off with this guy.

"If you don't move along, we'll be forced to remove you by force. As you can see you are gravely outnumbered. I suggest you comply."

Lacerta gave his warning as his men came forward with their shields in hand.

The mysterious figure spread out their cloak to reveal what was under. Admittingly, there wasn't anything special under his cloak. He was wearing normal desert garbs and he didn't even wear any armor. The only thing striking about his attire were a pair of silver bangle bracelets on each of his wrists that Lacerta swore was glowing with a faint, eerie purple.

He didn't have time to inspect it clearly before the figure responded.

"I like those odds."

Lacerta felt a growing dread crawling up his spine. He prepared to grab his sword, but before he could reach the hilt, the figure flashed right in front of him and past his guards as if he just jumped the wide gap in seconds. He couldn't react in time as a fist smacked him straight in the gut.

The impact lifted Lacerta off his feet and made him feel like he would retch his entire stomach out. He keeled over, clutching his gut as if he massive hammer had struck him. Tears and spit trickled down his chin as he struggled to keep from passing out.

He lifted his head up, one eye struggling to keep his gaze at the assailant as they held a snarky grin. He could see his men standing in shock at what had just happened in an instant.

Before Lacerta could say anything, the hooded figure gave him a back hand in the head and then everything went black.