Chapter 144: Ash and Flame

The world was filled with fire. Fire and ash.

I stood among the inferno, unable to discern a thing within the gouts of fire and vast plums of smoke. Sinister shadows danced between the sheets of flames, filling the air with mocking laughter.

"We come, child." The dark voice reverberated through my mind, raised to a blistering crescendo. "You shall be avenged."

I recognized the voice, even though it hadn't haunted my dreams for nearly a year. The flames parted, revealing a demonic creature – black scales, serrated claws, and towering thirty feet tall. But the worst were its eyes, which blazed with infernal light. With a wave of its hand, the walls of fire exploded outward, unveiling a city in ruins.

Screams pierced the air as survivors, their bodies marked by severe burns, scattered amidst the wreckage. A dragon's roar ripped through the city, and a blast of ice and fire consumed a nearby tower.