Fantasy & Horror
Omar - English shortstory

Omar

Omar flew through the air as the jaws of the beast finally let go, taking a chunk of her leg with it. It was a giant thing, all armoured scales and claws and wings black as night. Burning eyes fixated on her with an intelligent, ancient hatred she could barely describe. It was not the largest Dragon she had ever seen. But certainly, the first from this close. And probably her last. It had landed on the destroyed battlements of Xihutzins eastern wall, torn through what remained of her company like a whirlwind of death. Men were reduced to bloody paste under its fangs and claws.

Men she had served with for years, people she had believed could face everything… dead or screaming in fear in their last moments. “Stand.” , she screamed more out of habit then that she believed these men needed any instructions. “Stand fast or here we die. For the Empire and House Lotheran. Destroy it.” Muskets fired without as much as slowing the thing down. It shook the bullets off as if they were nothing but annoying insects. The few that found their mark doing little more then enrage it. A burst of fire clothed it for a moment as one brave fool detonated a grenade in his hands as it snapped at him. An uttered oath of

loyalty then he was gone in the inferno. The dragon flew back howling in pain, blood dripping from its snout. Blood that boiled where it hid the scarred stone of the wall. Then it had turned on her. She did not try to run it would have been pointless anyway. Instead, she drew her blade and charged the monster. If this was the end, she would damn sure that thing would remember her. Omar ducked away beneath a claw, then drove her sword as deep into the though flesh of the dragon’s leg as she could. Burning blood splashed on her, ate into her skin. She ignored the pain, drew the blade back as the creature howled and

with one beat of its giant wings catapulted itself into the air. The blast sent her to the ground… and then it was upon her, her leg in its jaws like a rabid dog… shaking her. Pain raced through her as the teeth scraped against her bones, poised to shatter them. Then it let go and send her flying, from the broken wall and down into the ashen wastes beyond the city. Not that there was still any difference between the city and the wasteland that surrounded it now. The once lush jungles had burned to charcoal weeks ago, the once gleaming towers and Pyramids of the crown jewel of the eastern Empire reduced to ash covered

ruins. She landed hard on the soiled, poisoned ground, the impact driving what air remained from her lungs, else she was sure she would have screamed. Her leg was a bloodied ruin. The creature leapt from the wall at her, ready to finish the job it started. Omar drew her pistol, knowing how little that would do against the beast. But she wouldn’t go out without a fight. Her vision was blurry but the dragon filled almost her entire view. She would hit something. Omar pulled the trigger. The flash blinded her, the stench of burned sulphurous gunpowder filling her nose.

Then the world went black for a moment. She did not expect to awake again but she did. Coughing blood and ash but… alive. Still laying in a pile of burned soil. It took her immense effort to just sit upright and look around. The land had fallen silent. As had the city. In the distance she could still hear screams and shots ringing out but her section of the battlefield was empty. Scattered bodies both of friend and foe now unrecognisable beneath the falling ash. She grabbed a musket from a fallen body, used it as a crutch to get on her feet. Or foot. The other was barely more then fragmented flesh and bone now. Probably rive for an amputation even if by some

miracle she made it out of here. Not that they had any field surgeons left. The last had died last week. Screaming after being hit by a lance of dragonfire when he tried to rescue that poor fool… what was his name? Did it matter? Names and numbers and entire regiments all had become nothing but a blur. There one moment, gone the next. To defend… this. Omar looked over the dead ruin of the city. Even if Xihutzin held on… it would never raise again to the glory it had once known of that she was all too sure. She carefully made a step. The Pain was unbearable but what choice did she have then at least to try to drag her sorry behind back to friendly lines. Wherever

those may even be currently. The outer wall had been breached a month ago. After that everything had turned into the insanity of street-to-street fighting. Then she saw it. It was immense. A large spined back the size of a house. Jaws open revealing fangs the length of a man’s arm. The dragon lay still in the dust. The fire in its eyes gone out. Omar stumbled closer. “Serves you right you big scaly bastard.” Her bullet had to have hit something important, maybe a hearth. Dragon anatomy wasn’t exactly a set and easy thing she had seen beasts lite as a feather able to move with incredible speed through the sky and others the size of a

mountain, cumbersome but almost unbreakable, with the weight to crush a fortress. Or the grenade had done more damage then expected… did it even matter? It was dead. Some high ranking general in a pristine uniform would probably pat her on the back for that and put another shiny metal pin on her and call her a hero of the empire. Not that they had anything left but Heroes. Actual victories had become few and far between and even then… they barely deserved the name anymore. And then she heard it. Deep, melancholic almost… hauntingly beautiful. Words in a language she did not understand but recognised as the throaty old empire

dialect of their enemy that soon went over into nothing but weeping. Whaid had always been a mystery to her and as far as she was aware the entire imperial high command. No one knew why they had started attacking. Or where their numbers had even come from. A few decades ago, everyone had thought the dragon worshippers a small sect hiding in the mountains and around the vast deserts of Helike. Omar dragged herself around the fallen carcass and saw the man laying there, besides the creature, sunken to his knees. Or at least it had once been a man. The face was covered by a thick dark beard and even darker hair. Eyes that still

shone with a rapidly fading fire slowly reducing to a simple warm amber. Hands placed on the side of the fallen beast that had once been human but now were covered in scales, nails transformed into claws. His clothing must have once been something marvellous to behold. Shining gold and silver, a curved blade on his hip, fingers and neck laden with jewellery. It all had lost its lustre beneath the ash and now looked dull and ancient. So, this thing had had a rider. Omar pulled her sword up. Now just a broken fragment. It would have to do. “Hey! This is for my friend’s you

bastard.” She lifted the sword. The Man didn’t move, didn’t even seem to recognise she was there. Her hand shook. Damn it all I am not killing someone not even defending themselves she thought. Then slowly let the weapon sink again. Then she punched him. Hard. The man fell to the ground without making a sound, just starring up at her in… confusion. As if he wasn’t even sure anymore where or who he was. He simply got up and returned to his fallen mount and cried. Omar had half a mind to beat him again but… what was the point? What she had before her was merely a broken shell of a being. Whatever he had once been had

died with the dragon. Now here was just a disoriented mortal, no longer even remembering his own name. Only that he just had lost something irrecoverable. And mourning it. “At least get up so I can kill you. Probably what you want right now anyway.” All she got in response was more whispered words she could not understand. Except a few sentences. Some standard phrases the Guard had drilled into them. A single word she could decipher. “Mercy.” “Yeah, it would be one so get off your knees and die standing.” She took a deep breath. She didn’t have time for this.

Omar looked over the silent battlefield. The next wave was sure to arrive. As it had the last few times, they had beaten them back. But for now, nothing remained. Just wind carrying Ashes. And then she heard it. Not the noise she had feared of ancient hymns and the beating of giant wings in the darkness. But something else. A low hum she couldn’t place at first. It became louder until finally she spotted the glimpse of something large in the clouds. A shape no less massive than a dragon. Dark against the black sky even. A second followed. Then a third. Airships… Omar almost fell to her knees in relief. Had their call for

reinforcements finally been answered? They had held out her for weeks with no other orders then to hold. And hold they did by all the Immortals. Finally for the first time in how long she could remember there was a glimmer of something else then despair. Hope. Hope to see another day to get out of here to leave these Ashes behind one day. It didn’t last long as the shadows became silhouetted by the blast of cannons. Shells rained on the dying city. Not outside the walls or into the streets they had lost. They struck wherever. Into the battlements, shattered in an instance, broke a Pyramid and its steps. Another salvo reduced the remains of the outer

wall to further rubble. It was not salvation that had come. But annihilation. No regard for the few survivors on the ground or what they had given to hold the town. Only to extract one last toll from their attackers. Bathe into flame whatever remained and destroy as much of the enemy force as was still in the city. She could have told them it wasn’t much. Both sides were reduced to individual units struggling on now. But of course… the decision had not been made by her or anyone here, no? They had held. And now the end had come regardless. Omar turned away from the city, now caught in an entirely different rain of

fire. What had it even been for then? Not to save anything. Just to be a sacrifice for a war that had dragged on longer than anyone cared to admit. They had held. She wanted to shout it up but… what good would that do. They had done their duty, every single soul still here and the thousands resting now beneath ash and rubble. Was this all the reward they had earned? Was this their Emperors idea of honouring those that had laid their lives down for him? For the realm? For the fleeting hope of restoring the peace they once knew? If so… it was dead, she realised. No matter what. The glorious Empire they had been told of, had been raised in before this hell started… was

no more and could never be. Not if this was what it had been reduced to. And it was in this moment she made her decision as she turned to the former dragon rider. This… shell of a man. What did it matter if he lived or died? They were both at the end of their war. “No idea if you understand me, but looks like today is your lucky day. Get up. I have some people to lead out of this hell. You too if you don’t do anything stupid. So, get moving or die here your choice. We are leaving.”