Adventure of Tarran 1

The ash stops mid-whirl as a dragon of light gathers above Tarran, huge and sharp-edged. Green fire burns in its eyes, matching the pulse in her throat. The air feels crushed flat under its gaze.

From the black drift ahead, a cloaked warrior steps into view with a dragon-bone spear. Ash strips from his shoulders as he plants his feet and lowers the weapon toward Tarran.

The Cultist huddles back in the distance, clutching their own arms. The dragon-shape towers still, a silent threat made of smoke and omen.

Tarran’s tail cuts a furrow through the ash as the warden braces for her next move, his spear trembling but ready.

Tarran snaps forward and catches the warden by the jaw before he can shout again.

Her claws wrench hard. Bone cracks, blood flashes dark in the ash, and the dragon-bone spear skitters sideways from his grip.

The Ash Warden staggers with his mouth torn loose, one hand clawing at Tarran’s wrist. A ragged cry escapes through ruined teeth.

The green glow in Tarran’s throat flares brighter in answer, and a pulse of hot ash hammers outward from her maw.

The Cultist flinches at the burst, staring over clasped arms as the dragon apparition shudders above them all.

Something about the warden’s torn jaw pulls the echo toward Tarran instead of away, like the beast’s old death has found a new mouth to crawl into.

Tarran rips upward. The warden’s body jerks, then gives way in one brutal pull, and his head comes free in her claws.

The severed form drops slack into the ash. The dragon-bone spear clatters nearby, half-buried in the red-black grit.

The green fire in Tarran’s throat surges through the wound, and the dragon echo spills toward her like smoke sucked into a furnace.

Above, the apparition lunges, but its shape frays at the edges, dragged thin by the pull of Tarran’s hunger.

The air shivers once, hard as a struck bell. Then the echo dives into Tarran’s blaze instead of escaping it.

When the flare settles, the warden lies still, the apparition is broken open above the ash, and the cultist stares at Tarran as if waiting to see what she becomes next.