*

Three days later, all the blood of the killed was absorbed into the ground and dried up long ago. At dawn of the next day, in the glimpses of the morning sun, Aidan continued to lie in the same place where he passed out from an excess of energy. His body was covered with dried mud and bloody crust, his eyes did not open, and his heavy breathing was still confused. Even if the external injuries continued, he was still injured inside, perhaps even more seriously. He could lie here for a long time, but, suddenly, the noise of hooves came to replace the croaking of ravens circling around this cursed place. Someone was running at impressive speed and then suddenly slowed down.

A couple of men dismounted from their horses next to the lonely carriages, covered with a gloomy atmosphere, and nervously took a look. The oppressive aura of death in this desolate place frightened even them, experienced magicians.

Brown horses, in addition to their riders, also carried cargo in the form of two living people with bags on their heads. It was becoming clear that a couple of wizards were not so easy walking in such places.

- Well, horror ... - the blond swallowed, straightening his red robe, identical to the color of the old man's robe next to him. The young man's name was Cedric and, like many of the kingdom's magicians, he did the simple job of capturing the Dragon Slayers. Recently, they paid a lot for this, and only a fool or a little wizard among wizards would ignore such a profitable method of earning. Simply put, they were hired as killers for other killers of special strength. Sadly, in fact, users of dragon magic are not only rare, but also very powerful. During these times, magic guilds were not divided into Dark or Light, so their laws were completely different, and they resorted to completely different methods to achieve the goal. During the war with dragons, some magicians died, many organized groups, and a new elite of the Magic Guilds was formed, of which there were very few. Cedric was part of one of these groups, along with his teacher Anu.

A gray-haired old man nearby, nodded at the student's remark, and walked over to the nearest cart. Like most around, she just stood there, but the smell and aura ...

- Hmm ... - Anu walked around her and suddenly froze. His eyes trembled with fear!

`` Th-this is ... Cedric followed the teacher, taking a fighting stance, but he also fell into a stupor, as soon as he saw in the distance several severed limbs, eyes, chunks of flesh and entrails scattered all over the place. The bloody ground with trampled grass was like the bed of the devil himself! This place was reminiscent of the events of war, the deeds of the bloodthirsty of the Dragons!

In the center of the terrible wasteland lay a bloody young man and it was he who attracted the most attention.

"What the hell…" The place smelled of such a concentrated stench of blood and putrefaction that Cedric began to feel nauseous. Even if Aidan turned most of the people into Biomass, some of their organs and pieces of meat were still left to rot, and in three days, in the sun, worms have long started to grow there. The sight and smell would nauseate even an experienced warrior who saw the bloody battlefields. Moreover, this place was filled with some kind of invisible aura of power, something terrible and unknown! Even Anu, being an experienced and powerful wizard, had never faced such power, although he had fought real dragons in the past.

- There is a man, - the old man quickly calmed down and assessed the situation. Debris of armor and body parts were scattered everywhere, the carts were intact, the horses fled, and those who were less fortunate also met their death, the blood in the teams just matched. But there were no bodies! It was as if monsters had eaten them! It all started from the center, where one of the carriages was turned into scraps.

- Master, ahem ... - holding back gagging, Cedric turned away and wheezed:

- What ... What kind of beast did this? T-it couldn't have been a D-dragon ...

- Hardly, - the old man grunted, gloomily assessing the situation: - The dragons fled in horror, I doubt that they came to ditch the people of the Order of the Black Flame.

- Uh, Orders? "Take a look yourself," the starks nodded at the fragments of silver armor with a coat of arms in the form of a black ball of flame.

"N-no, I believe you," Cedric nodded quickly.

- Can we leave? If these are the people of the Black Flame, surely General Rank will send for them and find out everything.

Starkey shook his head slowly.

- You shouldn't leave everything like that. We have caught two Dragon Slayers for him, and if we bring such news, he might get a big reward. - Anu slowly unbuttoned his red robe and, remaining in one black shirt, handed his outfit to the student:

- Hold on, I'll take the boy, apparently, he is still alive. It seems to be breathing ... If we bring him as a witness, it will be even better, - he could not even shy away from such a chance and grabbed every opportunity to fulfill his goal of forming a guild:

- The general is quite quick-tempered, if he has someone on whom you can vent your anger, we're better off. After the death of our Master, we have become a bunch of pitiful mercenaries, I'm not going to watch you and the others run errands for the rulers. Maybe after that, we'll get an official patent in the kingdom.

- The master is wise, - Cedric nodded: - Do you think since that guy is covered in blood, he knows something?

- Perhaps, or, I would even say, probably. We shouldn't care about that, we'll load him onto a horse and hand him over to the General, then he will figure it out on his own.

Quite quickly, the old man, without unnecessary emotions, went through a series of torn off limbs and pieces of organs covered with worms. He kept his disgust aside, but still tried not to stare too much. It was the strong magical aura concentrated around this dangerous place that worried him most. Although he explained to the student about the impossibility of the dragon attack, he could not deny that the worst of them could not have done it!

"Such terrible magic ... The one who killed them, perhaps some kind of demon ... It is worthwhile to quickly leave, I am not at ease from this place."

In fact, Anu was quite lucky, if he was here right after Aidan absorbed Biomass, from the remnants of energy this magician could simply go insane. Negative particles still floated in the air, mixed with ancient magic, but they had already significantly dispersed..