Once the dragons collected their riders, they launched back into the air, and others landed immediately to get fitted and loaded. It was well-coordinated chaos.
I wondered if Kailin was still broadcasting a live viewing of the situation."She is, and it doesn't look good,"Onyx replied.
There was barely enough space between the incoming and outgoing air traffic to avoid collisions.
Onyx was already being fitted with his combat harness, the lightweight armor covering his most vulnerable areas. His golden eyes locked with mine as I walked over.
"General Zorian personally called General Bardaky, who is now overseeing the mobilization of all the ground forces stationed in the city,"Onyx informed me."They received no warning of the worms' approach."
The fact that General Zorian opted to personally call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Elucian Forces in the middle of the night, based solely on a dream broadcasted by a first-year cadet, was a clear indication of Saphir's conviction that Kailin was broadcasting actual events.
In turn, the Chairman could call General Zorian from a landline in his office to inform him about the situation in the capital, but riders were dependent on their dragons, who got their updates from Nyxath.
Our atmospheric conditions made wireless communications impossible, so in the air, telepathic communication was the only way for the Dragon Force to get updates and coordinate missions. Nyxath kept the channel to Saphir open so she could transmit information from Mission Control to our dragons and through them, to us.
"The squadron awaits your lead,"Onyx said.
I had fifteen riders and dragons under my command, divided into three units of five. All together, the Fury Wing had one hundred and forty-eight riders. It was a formidable force, but dragons were not well suited for urban warfare, and on foot, riders were just like any other infantry soldiers. In fact, we were probably not as good because we did most of our training in the air.
With a powerful thrust of his massive wings, Onyx launched from the platform, the cold night air rushing past as we climbed, joining the other dragons now getting in formation.
Major Lisha Merrick's position at the front of Alpha Section indicated our role as the vanguard of the response force. She gave the signal, and we proceeded with maximum speed.
Onyx's powerful wings beat hard, propelling us forward with such force that I had to brace against the harness. The rest of my squadron followed suit, and we were all streaking through the sky, a deadly arrow pointing toward Podana.
I hoped Kailin was seeing into the future and not what was happening right now, so we would have time to stave off the Shedun attack. Dragons were devastating weapons in open terrain, but nearly useless in densely populated areas. We couldn't use dragfire without civilians getting caught in it. If the Shedun made it past the outskirts and into residential neighborhoods, we would have to dismount and fight alongside the ground troops, losing our greatest advantage.
If Kailin truly possessed the ability to dream the future, she wasn't just a potential shaman—she was something entirely unprecedented. But the implications were too vast, too disorienting to process in the midst of deployment.
Twenty minutes felt like both an eternity and an instant. As we approached Podana, I could make out the city lights, and within a few heartbeats, the metropolis was spread out below us, peaceful and unaware. There was no sign of fires, no indication of the destruction I had expected to see.
Had we arrived in time? Or had Kailin raised a false alarm?
I adjusted my night vision goggles, scanning the terrain below. The city sprawled across several tiers carved into the mountainside, a blend of ancient stone structures and more modern buildings.
At this hour, most windows were dark, the streets empty save for a few late-night revelers or early risers.
"The commander says Alpha Section is to split and cover the northern quadrant,"Onyx said, relaying orders from Nyxath."We are assigned to the upper tier."
I nodded, then signaled to direct my squadron to spread out in surveillance formation above the highest tier of Podana. Fromthis vantage point, I could see the sprawling administrative buildings, the historic Great Hall, and the governor's mansion—all potential high-value targets.
Minutes ticked by, tension building with each passing moment.
"There!"Onyx's mental voice was sharp.
I followed his gaze and saw it—a subtle undulation of the ground near the western edge of the upper tier. It was barely perceptible at first, like a ripple in water, but it grew more pronounced with each passing second.
"Hold position," I signaled to my squadron, my hand movement clear against the illuminated night sky.
The ground continued to bulge upward, the stone plaza in the ripple's path cracking around the growing mound. This was it—the moment before the storm.
And then it happened.
The ground erupted.
The massive tunneling worm burst through the stone, sending chunks of masonry flying in all directions. It thrashed upward, its segmented body continuing to emerge until it towered three stories high. Behind it, the tunnel it had created gaped like an open wound in the earth, and from within, the Shedun demons poured out.
It wasn't the chaotic rush I would have expected. The first wave carried standard curved blades in addition to rifles strapped to their backs, with those behind them carrying the distinctive long pipes of explosive projectiles, weapons designed specifically to bring dragons down.
