Already fleeing from the scattered corpses of humans and elves alike the militia would have been quickly flanked by the charging cavalry if not for the warriors of the Sorahito, flying down from their station high on the peaks they landed in The Field of Frozen Roses, inevitably resulting in some of the warriors and their rocs being added to the carnage. Hundreds of elves piled onto the massive avians and took to the skies in retreat as flaming balls and lighting were shot at them from the ground. They flew for hours to the ancient fortress city Belvenia to recuperate and devise their next move with the elders after this harrowing defeat.

After two long days of drawn out debates between the elders they came to a decision. They would station themselves here in the city and fight from the skies and walls. It would take about a week for the invaders to reach the fortress through the pass, all the while the Sorahito were performing aerial assaults on the army to dwindle their numbers, slow their march, and lead them to Belvenia. By the time the King Charles' forces had reached Belvenia they had lost about a third of their men and their food supplies had been greatly diminished.

Despite having lost so many men they still had more than double as many available fighters as the elves. Before King Charles launched an attack on the city he had his men prepare a weapon they had been keeping secret until now. A weapon that causes the very forest the elves hold so dear to wither and decay, only to rise back up and fight against them. The Decay.

After a few days of gathering information, supplies and getting to know the terrain surrounding Scheirenstein, Egret decided that he would slip out of town with the miners that were heading up to the dragon's nest to collect quicklime. Sure in his plan he went to sleep early that night so that he could be up before the miners set out. Everything was going great, he woke up on time, he was able to sneak into one of the miners wagons roughly an hour before dawn, and he made it out of town totally undetected. Having made it well into the forest Egret figured it would not be long before he should sneak out of the wagon, deciding he would wait until the miners stopped for a break to hop out and make a run for it.

Just half an hour later the miners came to a sudden halt on the trail, and all of the miners fell silent, having prepared for this chance Egret burst out of the back of the wagon, Egret hesitated momentarily being blinded by the sun that shone in his eyes. He had a fleeting thought that it was odd none of the miners had looked in his direction even though he was quite a bit louder in his escape than he had intended. The thought left his mind as his feet hit the ground with a start, quickly looking around he noticed that all the miners seemed to be looking in the same direction, before darting into the forest. After crashing through about a hundred feet of dense trees he looked back and saw what had all of the miners transfixed.

A large red wyrmling stood in front of the miners wagons, looking at the curiously. It slowly approached one of the miners that stood in front of the wagons, sniffing him before dragging its tongue across his face. Breaking the miner let out a scream that was quickly cut off as the dragon pounced on him, swallowing him whole.

Egret found his gaze fixed to the dragon as it spat out the mans charred bones in front of the miners. Unable to look away he started to walk backward, as the battle unfolded in front of him as if in slow motion. As the miners drew their weapons and tools, rushing the wyrmling with their weapons raised, Egret realized where he recognized some of these men from. They had been his guards from when he was little.

When they were still little Egret and Heron (Egret's best friend who go executed) would sneak out into the streets of Burgdalin to visit a small tavern where they would gamble away money that Egret's mother had given him in secret. Every night that they did this they would have to 'sneak' past Egret's guards. More often than not some of the guards would accompany him and Heron on their journeys through the city. Egret got away with it for a few years without repercussions. That was until the night before Egret's 10th birthday, his father had come to his room late into the night to leave a training sword for Egret's in his room so that when he woke up he would find in for him. However all the king found, was his son missing, and his guards away from their posts. Immediately the king raised the castle alarms to find the crown prince, and ordering for the capture of those who had taken him.

When the guards and Egret returned from their night of merry making and gambling they found the castle in shambles, immediately as they approached the castle all of Egret's guards were surrounded and taken away, Egret was brought to his father. He tried to plead with his father but if fell on deaf ears. His Father gave the order that the crown prince was not to be take or let outside of the castle grounds without his approval, indefinitely.

Until now Egret had never been able to find out definitively what had become of his guards, he had heard rumors that they had been executed or sent away to a distance village, both of which appeared to be false. For just a moment he had the thought that if he could make it to them, he might be able to help scare off the dragon, or at the very least give them a moment to escape, as recompense for what had happened to them as a result of his childishness. The wyrmling rose up on its rear legs, before dropping down on all fours with a crash as it let out the terrible sound of a wildly raging fire. Loud pops sounded out from the flames the poured over the guards. For a brief second Egret saw figures standing after the fire ceased. He felt an immense hope swell up inside him only for it come suddenly crashing down, along side the scorched remains of the men. As the bones crashed to the ground they exploded into dust, coating the road with piles of smoldering metal slag and a fine layer of dark soot.