Pursuit

Fires still burned throughout the city of Nivged as Reinhardt searched for Roas. The battle that raged outside the walls had ended. An eerie silence befell the night as people mourned the death of so many innocent people. A once beautiful Nivged was now charred and toppled. It would have been hard for the dragon to kill everybody within the short time it was here, but the casualties would be uncountable.

Reinhardt cursed himself for not having been able to keep Roas nearby, but circumstances hadn't allowed him too. Briver was a blood thirsty elementalist and far more experienced than Roas in combat. If given the chance he would have fought both men but he hadn't known what unleashing his powers would do. There was nothing he could have done to change what happened so running, searching for her. Bodies of fallen soldiers lay all over the battle field. An eerie silence now rested over the battle field as countless numbers of people lay dead and burned. Without the chaos the dragon had wrought the place was devoid of all life.

Wind rolled through his hair as he ran through the streets. Reaching the entrance of the city he was happy to see that the fire had burned human size holes in the thick wooden gates. Leaping through one of the holes two stories above where he was standing. After his full powers awakened Reinhardt had never felt so strong, fast, or alive. Blood had begun slowly dripping from the tattoo's on his body, and he could feel all of them burning into his skin.

Landing outside the city walls and back onto the original battle field, he turned and headed in the direction of the first ball of fire. It was strange how this much destruction could be brought down upon a single place in such a short period of time. Only a few hours ago they had broken through the cavern wall and rode into the battle field. Now hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children were likely to be dead.

That dragon had expanded the battlefield into the city itself and before long had killed more, by itself, than him and all of his men combined. Even with many of them being armed members of the military, there were still countless innocents among them.

Arriving where he saw the ball of fire he began searching for Roas. He was surprised to see that most of the bodies lying around were that of the Duzee army and not his own men. What once had been grass and plant life was only charred dirt and blackened blood.

Nearby Reinhardt could hear the sound of something dragging slowly across the ground. Slowing from a sprint to a jog, he began to search for the cause of the sound. It wasn't hard to find the source of the noise. A trail of displaced dirt lead him straight to a badly burned person dragging themselves across the ground with a single arm, the second arm having been completely removed from the shoulder. Around the disfigured person was hundreds of bodies

t was obvious she were in extreme pain. With every pull Roas managed to pull herself closer to where she had last seen Reinhardt fighting. Tears soaked what he could see of her remaining clothes. Only a few long black hairs remained intact, tied hopelessly to the burned shirt. Moving next to her he watched her legs dragging helplessly behind her. Long shards of ice had been driven into her back, paralyzing her from her waist down.

"Roas, it's me, stop moving." Placing a gentle hand on her back he rolled her into his arm, cradling her head like a baby's. Most of her body had been damaged beyond hope of healing. Her will to fight on surprised even him, but it would be unlikely for her to live more than a few minutes.

"I was...looking for you. When I couldn't...find you...I asked for that...dragon to help." Dried blood lined the sides of her mouth, and her right eye was swollen shut. The fight with Briven had been worse than he imagined.

"What do you mean, asked for it to help?" If she honestly believed that she had been behind that dragon's arrival on the battlefield than she was losing her mind as well.

"I felt it...up there. I sent my energy out to it... and it came." Considering her words he thought about the strange blast of fire that shot into the night sky after Zephyrus had killed Astraeus. There was still worlds of unknown knowledge about the powers of elementalist. Maybe there was something to what she had said, but this wasn't the time to consider the option.

"It's okay Roas, Please stop moving, I'm here for you now." Cradling her head in his arm like a baby he looked over her wounds. One of her eyes was swollen shut and the other had a large cut across it. At least he wouldn't have to explain that he would be joining her soon.

"Reinhardt... Klaas lied."

"I know he did. I'm going to make him pay for it."

"You...don't understand. It wasn't...just Briver. Fire, Ice, and water...we did what...we...could but they were too much."

This was wasn't about making an alliance between all of the masters. All of the people he had led into this war, everyone who had trusted him to lead them, had been thrown away in an attempt to make sure one of the masters couldn't break away from that union. They were playing with the lives of everyone on the planet, and he needed to know why.

"Thank you for telling me this Roas. They can't surprise me now. I'll kill all of them if I have to, but Klaas will die for this."

"Reinhardt, just leave. You can... still live a normal life... somewhere." Tears were pouring from her eyes, honestly pleading with him to save his own life, knowing that fighting a group of masters would be a guaranteed death. With the inability to see his body, she hadn't been able to tell how hurt he was. Blood was flowing more freely from the tattoo's and blisters were begging to form along the burning lines. He probably didn't have much longer than she did.

"Roas, these men are responsible for this war. I don't know why they are doing this, but I can't let them continue." Unable to get any more words out she just clung to his arm with hers and cried. Rain had begun falling over the destroyed city, and the gentle patter dripped down his hair, onto the dying woman. Not knowing what to say to her he just sat in silence, holding her gently until her breathing stopped, and her tight grip on his arm loosened.

Placing her on the ground with care, he rose to his feet and opened his mind, searching for the masters. He caught a slight hint of their power and knew where they were heading. With all of his remaining strength he took off running, set on filling the night with just a little more blood.

Author's Note

This is the last time Roas shows up in any of my stories, but not the last time she's mentioned. Her actions make her a key player in how the world develops hundreds of years down the road.