The guardians set foot out to the base of the south cliffsides of Rayhaven. They went up the long, sloping, packed dirt to a large flat plateau. High enough to be above the treeline, they could oversee the Forgotten Forest for many miles from this vantage point. The Dragonguard set a camp atop the flats where it protruded into the forest just a bit.

Azier, Ivis, Sören, and their companions walked along the cliff's edge, having a casual conversation and periodically glancing at the small ridge that resided within the forest.

Upon reaching a spot where the cliffside was doubling back, the group heard a faint, bloodcurdling cry. It sounded like a dragon distress call coming from the bottom of the cliff.

The guardians quickly found their way down, only to find themselves at the bottom with no sign of any dragonkin around.

“We all heard that, right?” Asked Ivis. Thornfire nodded.

“Yeah, I thought it might have been a dragonling or something, judging by how quiet it sounded. Yet, the cliffside here isn’t too far from the bottom here.” Azier remarked, looking up at the top of the cliff. “Well, maybe. Actually, it seems a bit higher than I thought from down here.”

“It almost sounded like it was like an echo or something,” Ivis added.

“Hey guys, I found a cave opening here!” Sören yelled to the others. The rest of the group trotted over.

“Maybe that’s where the sound came from?” Sören said.

“Man, this forest keeps holding secrets from us. I never knew there’d be a cave here.” Ivis said.

Azier took a flashlight, aimed it into the dark cave, and said, “Something doesn’t seem right about this. Look at the claw marks on the wall.”

“And it looks like… blood?” Sören observed.

“Great. Totally not the most terrifying thing we just happened to stumble upon.” retorted Ivis.

A low rumble echoed out of the cavern’s entrance, followed by the faint sounds of metal chains rattling.

“Despite the unsettling entrance here, I think something down there needs our help,” said Azier.

“Are you insane? This could be a trap, probably from Vexx!” Protested Ivis.

“I agree with Azier; that kind of a call we heard wouldn’t be to lure in something; it sounded like a call for help,” Sören said, agreeing with Azier.

The guardians started to walk into the cave, their flashlights darting around, illuminating the walls. Ivis muttered to himself, “I should have stayed behind.”

The cave seemed to extend much deeper into the rock than anyone anticipated. Along the entire corridor were claw marks and periodic blood splotches.

Eventually, the cave expanded into a large chamber; lit torches and several long tables lined the walls. A dragon was chained down in the middle of the room, thrashing about, trying to break free. It stopped and looked up when the guardians walked in. The group froze at the horrific sight.

“It looks like a shadescale, but it looks like someone clipped its wings,” Sören said.

“I think they did a little more than clip his wings. They just whole ass ripped them off. Look over there.” Ivis remarked, pointing to a pile of mutilated remnants of a dragon’s wings in the corner of the room.

“Help me with the chains,” Azier said to the others as she approached the dragon. She noticed its tail and remarked, “God damn, they also tore off his tail fins.”

The group looked around for tools that could help remove the shackles or break the chains. Unfortunately, there were no tools anywhere to be seen.

“Hey, maybe our dragons can break some of the links in the chain,” Ivis mentioned, studying the chain intensely.

Sören responded, “Worth a shot, I guess. Don’t see anything else around here that could help.”

Azier’s temporary drake and Thornfire grabbed hold of the chains on either side of the dragon while Ari held the muzzle to which the chains were attached. With an impressive, mighty pull, the metal creaked, then snapped with a thunderous sound. Thornfire was propelled backward, almost crashing into the table behind.

The muzzle was still on, but at least one side of the chains was broken. They snapped the remaining chains, and the dragon breathed a sigh of relief.

“We should wrap up those open wounds before we take him outside,” Azier said, reaching for a gauze roll. She paused for a moment, “Huh. It looks like they’ve been cauterized. Like someone didn’t want him to bleed out.” She continued to wrap the stubs of the dragon’s wings.

The guardians decided to take the injured dragon into Rayhaven for rehabilitation.

While walking down the road, Ivis asked, “Who would do such a thing?” He paused, thought for a second, and then continued, “How much do you wanna bet it was Vexx?”

After a few moments, no one answered, and then he added, “No, really. How much? Bet.”

“I guarantee it was him, I have no doubt,” Azier responded. She gazed into the dragon’s eye and said, “Rest assured, my friend, he will pay for this.”

A whirlwind of excitement filled the air as they strolled through the city's bustling streets. Curious onlookers turned their heads, their expressions of disbelief. Whispers floated through the air, speculating on the extraordinary sight walking among them.

The group finally made it to the Academy grounds, where they took a well-deserved rest. Azier thought for a moment, then decided to ask if her mother could do something to help the dragon.

Zella made her way outside, her bronze-colored prosthetic left leg making a distinct metallic noise with each step she took. She walked up to the dragon and he sniffed her prosthetic arm and leg as she examined the wing stubs closely.

“Hmm, there might be enough of an appendage left for prosthetic wings, but I don’t know if it’s enough. He might have limited mobility with the wings if he could fly at all. At least he still has the flight muscles that connect to this upper part of the wing, so that’s good.” Zella explained.

The dragon followed her as she walked around, examining the rest of his body. Zella continued, “The tail fins should be easy enough; the rest of the tail, and everything else, looks intact.”

Her brow furrowed as she stepped back, “This doesn’t look like it was an accident; this was done with precision. And, of course, the cauterization. Where did you find him?”

Azier recounted their discovery of the dragon hidden deep within a cavern along the cliffsides in the Forgotten Forest. Along its walls, the entrance to this hidden cave was marked by jagged claw marks etched into the stone the entire way to the large chamber.

Zella looked at the dragon’s claws, which looked worn down. She sighed lightly and said, “Well, I’ll see what I can do. For now, it’s time for him to rest. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’ll do well in the wild, so he might just have to stay. Either with us or a nature center somewhere.”

The group started heading back to the camp on the plateau, but Azier lingered behind. Zella noticed she had something to say and waited for the others to be out of earshot.

“Mom, I don’t know if I should, but I have something to say,” Azier said quietly. “We found some Ancients, Golden Claw and Drake of the West, just before the ridge in the forest.”

“What? Ancient Dragonkin, here? Alive? Are you sure?” Zella interrupted, expressing both surprise and skepticism.

“Yes, Drake of the West told us his name was Zolt. I mean, I kinda knew Golden Claw’s name was Airigold, but I had no clue what West’s name was.”

Zella’s expression changed, realizing Azier was telling the truth. Azier continued, “Anyway, Airigold mentioned that the Wyrm of Chaos was still alive and apparently up to something. But, he told us not to tell anyone, or until he at least finds out what the wyrm's plans are.”

“The Wyrm of Chaos? Well, he should be up the far north in Frostcrest, so I don’t know what he could really do,” Zella said with a puzzled look.

“I don’t know, but Airigold said he was here to inform Zolt, and we just happened to come across them in the forest. He said not to tell anyone for the fear of causing panic amongst the people.”

Zella nodded in agreement, “Yeah, makes sense, smart.”

Azier continued, “He also said not to tell Blackthorn; didn’t also want to cause a panic within our ranks. He wanted to make sure his speculation was true before telling the Commander himself.”

“Well, if he plans to show himself publicly, after all these years, and inform the Commander directly, I say to listen to what he wants you to do. I wouldn’t argue with an Ancient; I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.” Zella reassured Azier while placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Thanks, Mom. It was just something I wanted to get off my chest,” Azier said, hugging her mother.

“How many others know about this?”

“Ivis, Sören, and a few others in our squad at the time. As far as I know, unless someone else has told the others, but I don’t think anyone has,” responded Azier.

“Alright, good. Hopefully, Vexx wasn’t around to hear about this. I wouldn’t doubt he’d try and use this information to strike fear into others to increase his influence.” The two broke up the hug and glanced over at the injured dragon sitting beside them.

“If this was Vexx, I wonder why he would do this,” Zella said to herself, thinking out loud. She approached the dragon and asked, “You’re not an Ancient, are you? You don’t talk by any chance?”

The dragon tilted his head slightly and blinked, as if he understood he was being addressed but did not comprehend the words.

Zella turned around and said to Azier, “Well, anyway. You should catch up with the others, don’t want Blackthorn to yell at you now.”

Azier nodded in agreement and gave a quick hug. With a last glance back, she climbed onto her drake and, in a flash, shot off into the city.

Zella turned back to the dragon and said, “Come on, I have some work to do. And I bet you’re hungry, aren’t you?” She playfully booped the dragon's nose with her finger, and he perked up. “Oh, so you understood that one, huh?” she teased the dragon as they walked into a building.

Over the next few days, Zella worked on designing and crafting prosthetic wings and tail fins for the dragon. She began with the fins since they were simpler and had fewer mechanical parts compared to the wings. 

She attached the piece to the tip of the dragon's tail. She took a step back to get a better view of it. The dragon looked at his tail shortly, then whipped it around a few times. He glanced at the fins, then at Zella.

“Testing to see if it stays on, huh? Well, aren’t you clever,” Zella remarked with a smirk. The dragon released a brief, forceful breath through his nostrils.

As she spent time designing the mechanics of the wings, she would sometimes stop and watch the dragon practice attacking the bayonet dummies. She was entertained at first, but then the more she watched, the more intrigued she became, studying the movements of the attacks.

After a while, she noticed that the dragon liked to use his tail to swipe the dummy and knock it down, but he also used a different version of the attack that seemed to slice with the fins. The dummy had slash marks in it from this, but they were not deep; they almost looked like a paper cut. She also noticed that this sometimes damaged the tail fins if he didn’t do it just right.

Zella then had an idea to reinforce the part and incorporate a bladed edge into the fins. This would make him an even more formidable attacker.

She paused the crafting of the wings and decided to add a blade to the tail fins. After doing so and equipping it back onto the dragon, he tested it out. With an impressive, powerful slash, the dragon cut the head of the dummy clean off. Even he seemed surprised at what he was able to accomplish. Zella walked over to examine if the tail had any damage from such a hard strike. The blade’s edge was completely fine and did not have any chipping.

Zella looked up at the dragon in amazement and said, “That was incredible! You know, I think the name “Sabretail” would suit you. What do you think?”

The dragon perked up and seemed to like the new name. He then resumed attacking dummies while Zella returned to her desk to refine the design of the wings further.

The platoon of guardians returned to the base, unsuccessful in their mission to find Vexx. Azier found her mother training the injured dragon; she and her friends walked over.

As they approached, her mother cheerfully expressed, “I’d like you all to meet Sabretail! I put a blade on his tail fins, hence his name.”

Sabretail, with a proud look on his face, brandished his tail at the group for them to admire.

“Ok, that’s pretty badass, not gonna lie,” commented Sören.

“That is terrifying… and I love it!” said Ivis, running his fingers along the flat of the blade’s face.

“I’ve still got to work out the wings,” Zella mentioned, gazing at the bandaged stumps of the arm wings.

“Wings?” Azier said intriguingly, “You think that’ll work?”

“I don’t know, but I want to try at least.”

“That would be awesome!” Exclaimed Ivis with such energy to startle Sabretail. “I think he’s my favorite. No offense, Thornfire.” His dragon scoffed in very much offense.