September in Salus

September 6th

Caelum hurried down the hallway and into the Memorial Garden. As always, he stopped for a moment in front of his parents' statues. Some nights he could stand there for a long time, thinking and wishing and praying, but that night he simply gave the statues a small smile and wave. He strode toward the arch and walked under it, through the barrier between Salus and the outside world. In front of him, moonlight glinted off the river. He turned around to see the city spread out in front of him, lit up and bustling. He was tempted to stay for a minute and enjoy the unseasonably warm night, but Pittsburgh needed him. He took a step forward and vanished.

Caelum had gotten the text from Dr. Nichols about a magical threat in Pittsburgh just as he was about to put his pajamas on. He'd quickly reattached his gun to his belt and slipped out of the Osbourn building. He was exhausted, but he had no choice but to take the quest.

Caelum had been to Pittsburgh once before, so he envisioned exactly where he wanted to go and when he stepped down, he was standing in a square with shops all around. To his right, fountains sprayed into the starry sky. He turned slowly, trying to feel the magical presence of the dragon. Caelum closed his eyes. He felt a strong magical tug somewhere in front of him and to his left, but far away. He opened his eyes and squinted against the bright lights of the square. Directly in front of him was a river. Caelum carefully relocated across the river, to where he felt like the magic was coming from.

He was now on a triangle of land, with another, much bigger fountain. People milled around, bundled up in coats and scarves. No one noticed him appearing out of thin air. The dragon was on the other side of the fountain. It looked smaller than dragons usually did. It was sitting on the other side of the fountain with its tail curled around its legs. Caelum sighed. He never like killing dragons. Despite popular opinion, dragons had no taste for human flesh, but they were still a danger to humans. They were narcissistic creatures, and if they got an idea into their reptilian minds and a person or a building was in the way, they didn't hesitate to use their fire. Many a building had been burned down to make room for a dragon's nest. When a dragon attacked before a Salusian could kill it, the outsiders always attributed it to arson or a freak accident.

The dragon turned its head in Caelum's direction. Caelum caught his breath. He could sense the dragon because of its magic, and likewise, the dragon could sense him. Caelum walked slowly away from the groups of people. One of the first things he'd been taught when he had started going on missions was that there should never be outsiders between you and the threat. Collateral damage was unacceptable.

The dragon stood. Caelum could swear it was glaring at him. He reached down and unclipped his gun. The charys inside glowed green. Caelum flipped the switch in the side of the gun two notches, and the charys turned yellow and then red. Caelum raised the gun. Best to get this done as quickly as possible. He aimed and shot at the dragon. The shot hit, and the dragon howled. The outsiders nearby didn't bat an eye. Caelum fired off another shot, and the dragon vanished. Caelum lowered the gun and took a deep breath. He frowned. The dragon was gone, but he could still feel a strong magical presence.

Suddenly, something huge dropped out of the sky and landed directly in front of him. Caelum almost screamed, but he found himself unable to breath. Standing in front of him, wings spread, was a dragon far bigger than the first.

Caelum felt a stab of horror. The mother dragon. It had to be. There was a flicker around the dragon's nostrils as she drew in a breath. Caelum backed up, and he dove out of the way just as the dragon spewed flames, scorching grass and cracking the pathway around the fountain.

The outsiders noticed this. There were several screams. As the dragon breathed fire a second time, people started running away. No one noticed Caelum crouched behind the fountain.

No one but the dragon. As she took another breath, Caelum tried to get away from the fountain, but was a second too late and the fountain shattered, dousing him with water. He gritted his teeth as he landed on his back and flakes of pavement rained down on him. By now, the outsiders were a safe distance away, but they were taking pictures of the wreckage. iPhone cameras flashed like a mob of paparazzi. The dragon walked across the ruined fountain and stood over Caelum. She was taking her time now.

Caelum realized, with a sickening pang, that his gun was no longer in his hand. The only thing to do was to try to relocate back to St. Louis and get reinforcement, but Caelum knew he was too weak to relocate right away. He watched the dragon loom over him with detached interest. Was the dragon going to kill him? She was taking a breath. That meant fire. He could feel himself smiling, but the situation didn't seem particularly funny. Was he going to die?

And then there were flames. Lots of flames. And Caelum had only had a fraction of a moment to process this when something- someone?- landed on top of him, and suddenly the heat of the flames was gone, deflected, and then the dragon was gone, and whoever had killed the dragon had vanished. Something hit Caelum's chest and Caelum's trance was broken. He felt singed. He stood shakily, picking up what had landed on him. His gun. He looked around. The outsiders were taking no notice of him. He heard a siren in the distance, and he could see flashing lights. Water from the destroyed fountain pooled around his feet.

Caelum took a deep breath. He didn't know what had happened, but he needed to get out of there. He put his hands on his knees, trying to summon the strength to relocate. He was starting to register pain in his arms and chest, and he felt oddly cold. After a minute he straightened. Knowing he had the strength for only one relocation, he pictured the Arch. He landed directly in front of the barrier, took a few steps into Salus, and collapsed.