Read Dawn of the Aspects: Part II for Free Online

to achieve peace with Galakrond. She was not the only one, either.
    Malygos eyed the brown male. “I know you.”
    The other dipped his head. “Nozdormu.”
    â€œFight well.”
    Neltharion chuckled. “Fights almost as well as me!”
    Nozdormu’s smile was very brief. “Many not-living. Why here? Why now?”
    It became apparent to both Kalec and his host that none of the rest had witnessed anything akin to what Malygos had experienced earlier. Nor had anyone evidently seen Coros seemingly flying after Galakrond. For the moment, Malygos chose not to mention the latter incident, the ghastly sight he had seen before that obviously of much more importance.
    As clever as he was, Malygos was still a proto-dragon. The words he needed to explain properly what he had seen Galakrond do with his victims were hard to put together, especially with danger still close at hand. So bound to Malygos was he that Kalec not only felt the proto-dragon’s frustration but also wished that he could speak for him.
    Through halting words, Malygos did his best. His descriptions were short, but raw emotion filled in many gaps, enhancing his tale. He left the other proto-dragons shocked, even Neltharion. No one disbelieved him, all understanding that Malygos was to be trusted.
    â€œHow?” Alexstrasza demanded with much consternation. “How? What has happened with Galakrond?”
    Malygos thought he understood. “Galakrond must eat much. Galakrond could not find enough. He grew hungry. Too hungry. Ate one of us.”
    Although to Kalec such an act might have once seemed not so shocking—these were proto-dragons, creatures he had thought simply brutes—he saw that they had boundaries much like those of dragons. The proto-dragons might fight to the death against one another, but they did not eat their foes. No matter their savagery, this concept revolted them. Even though they had witnessed Galakrond committing the heinous act on a grand scale, they still did not want to accept it.
    â€œWas hungry,” Neltharion snarled, his generally cheerful demeanor at last broken by what they were discussing. “Ate one of us. Why eat more? Grazers came north! More food! You saw Galakrond eat! Enough food now! Why still do this?”
    Malygos shook his head. No one else had an answer, either.
    There came more hisses. The proto-dragons glanced toward the sounds. The hisses were still far away but seemed to be getting nearer.
    â€œWe leave,” Alexstrasza decided. “Now.”
    There was no protest, not even from Neltharion. They had no idea how many of the unliving might attack next. Malygos’s discovery of how the unliving came to be had altered everything.
    Malygos instinctively took point—
    Kalec’s world turned upside down, and despite trying to prepare himself for it this time, the dragon blacked out. As ever, the darkness passed swiftly, although in this case, only a brief passage of time—not a return to reality—occurred.
    The proto-dragons were on the attack, Talonixa leading the charge. Scores of proto-dragons representing nearly all the families with which Kalec’s host was familiar dived into the fray. Their enemy was not Galakrond, however, but several undead.
    Where Malygos and his companions had had a disadvantage in numbers, the opposite was true now. The proto-dragons faced perhaps a dozen of the animated corpses, which Kalec immediately understood had been purposely drawn to the deep canyon in which this battle played out.
    Through Malygos, Kalec caught a glimpse of Ysera and also knew that Alexstrasza and Neltharion were part of the effort. Nozdormu had refused to be part of it, although not out of any cowardice. Malygos did not know where he was and, at the moment, had no time to care. Outnumbered the horrors might be, but they still dealt death.
    The first to learn that terrible fact was an impetuous fire-orange female appearing some seasons older