Silence surrounds the military outpost at Keuruu, the soldiers stationed there having long since retreated to bed in their barracks. A single pinprick of light flickers between the densely packed trees in the forest, the last embers of that evening's bonfire simmering down to a low glow. The night hangs, undisturbed and silent, without even a slim crescent moon to banish the shadows.
In this darkness, muffled wingbeats trouble the still air. A dark shape, silhouetted against the stars, glides sinuously through the sky. The cold breeze of the upper atmosphere ruffles the fur on its back. It searches the land below with eyes that glow with a kindled light within. Spying its target, it draws its wings in close to its body and pulls into a dive, aiming for that tiny speck of light among the trees.
As it hurtles towards the ground, it extends its wings just before it hits the earth to abruptly slow its descent. The shockwave from its wingbeats rustles the tops of trees and extinguishes the last of the fire. A few of the Keuruu soldiers turn over in their beds, troubled by a peculiar dream.
The creature alights on the roof of the tallest cabin. Its claws cut into the thatch roof and its tail wraps around the sides of the building. The slit pupils in its glowing eyes widen as it searches through the darkness, using just the stars for light. It scans the camp, the soft and deep bellow of its breath the only sound in the still night.
The creature's eyes train upwards. A flagpole stands above the Keuruu gate, the flags hanging limp with no wind. With one flap of its wings, a breeze whooshes through the camp and unfurls the flag of the Kingdom of Scania.
Its pupils narrow to slits and the rumbling in its chest grows louder. Its mouth opens, lips curled back in a snarl, and a bright light begins to glow at the back of its throat. There is a soft click and then white-hot flames fountain out of the creature's mouth, striking the flag atop the pole and immolating it instantly. The creature snorts, spewing embers from its nostrils, and then spits another concentrated blast of fire onto a boat moored at the docks. With a flap of its wings, it takes to the skies again, spewing flames even as it propels itself into the air, igniting the roof of the building it had previously stood.
Now shouts start to emanate from the barracks and people begin spilling out. Fingers point to the silver-grey shape of the creature that hovers above, lit by the flames below.
"Dragon!" one soldier screams.
"Shoot it down!" orders another.
A crossbow bolt sails over the dragon's shoulder, just missing its wing as it swoops down low over the camp for a second pass. A line of fire burns in its wake as it scorches the ground beneath.
One soldier hurls a spear in its direction and manages to put a nick in its flank, drawing blood. The dragon pulls into the air sharply and circles overhead, swiftly weaving between each projectile as it continues its fiery onslaught.
More and more soldiers begin running to the docks, dredging up buckets of water to use in putting out the fires that tear through the camp, hungrily devouring all in their path.
The dragon pivots in midair to face the soldiers in the camp down below. Flames gather between its jaws as it expels a massive fireball, which falls like a meteor from the sky, colliding with the armory and setting everything within it ablaze.
Then, with another thunderous clap of wings, the dragon launches itself upwards, far beyond the treetops and out of range of the soldiers' bows. It propels itself up, up into the wispy clouds and out of sight, leaving only the screaming, smoldering chaos of Keuruu behind.
