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Chapter 1: Clash of the Giants

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History promised dragons would never go to war again. But it lied.

Aeris stayed out later than her mother would have liked. The games the children played were fun, too much fun, and she was reluctant to spoil the game by leaving early. And so she stayed in the neighbouring village, frolicking with other children in the woods. Before she knew it, darkness had fallen and the parents called for their little ones.

When she left Griza that morning, it was a typical day. Merchants wheeled their goods down the streets and the older children darted around the carts and animals running errands, whilst their younger counterparts played outside the plain wooden huts. Farmers already had their harvests laid out, fresh fruits and vegetables of all shapes and colours and shining slabs of white and red meat. It was a bountiful year, accentuated by new trade deals made between neighbouring warlords, and Aeris's home village bloomed.

When she returned that evening, she came home to hell.

Even before she reached the village gates, there was a distinct, piercing smell in the air. She sniffed. She wasn't sure from where she recognised the scent, but it reminded her of the kitchen whenever the cook got upset. The sky was tinged with a pulsing orange even though the sun had just gone down and night crept round the corner. She moved as quickly as her short legs would carry her; her feet crunched on twigs underneath and she brushed her way through the low bushes, huffing as the hem of her dress caught on the plants.

The screams and explosions reached her ears moments before the village came within sight.

As she crashed through the thick undergrowth of the woods that separated her village and the next, the outline of Griza became swallowed in a storm of scarlet.

The squat thatched houses bathed in a liquid orange glow, throwing violent shadows across the cobbled road. The beautiful colours of fresh grass and weathered wood that decorated her home for years were devoured by stark shadows and a fearsome blaze. The whole sky came to life, lit by the flames. The deafening crackle from the fire drowned out all sound, interspersed by squeals and pops of expanding wood and roofs caving in. Aeris's eyes watered, her mind numb. Sparks danced in the sky like fairy dust. Aeris, coated in sweat, shielded her face with her hands as she toddled through the front gates, disorientated. How could a fire be so hot? She must have taken the wrong way home and gotten lost.

But no, she recognised the street signs. This was Griza.

People's screams rose over the roar of the fire. Mothers sprinted past with babies in their arms, their older children stumbling behind. Men yelled orders at each other, failing to put out the fires whilst their loved ones screamed for help beneath collapsed homes. The noises and the fear suffocated Aeris. Her senses slammed from all directions in a disorienting storm. Blood. Smoke. Fear.

She struggled ahead, against the waves of villagers flocking in the opposite direction in hysterical, panicked chaos The baker from down the road stumbled out of a half-collapsed house, clutching his arm, the skin blistering and shiny.

"Jace!" she called. Her voice was strained and alien to her. "Where's Mother?"

He looked up from his injury, dazed.

"Aeris!" His eyes focused on her, followed by a look of panic. "You have to run. It's dangerous here!"

"I need to find my mother," she said. A nearby house crashed to the ground, releasing a gush of hot air that whipped her dark curls off her face. "Where is she?"

He shot out his remaining good hand and grabbed her arm. Strong, thick fingers curled easily all the way around her limb. She struggled, but he did not relent.

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