And on the other side of the kingdom — far from the screams of humans and their struggle against the unknown...
In the heart of the ancient green forest — a place no one dared to approach — where the trees rose so high they nearly swallowed the sky, and the mist slithered between the ancient trunks like lazy serpents...
There... a black dragon lay in silence. His massive body like a mountain, his folded wings wrapped around him like stone walls shutting out the world.
His name had long been forgotten by the people of the kingdom... but among his kin, among the dragons who had cast him out long ago... he was known by one name only.
Alpha.
Alone... exiled... retreating into the solitude he had chosen for himself... indifferent to anything happening beyond his dead world.
His silence was like death... and his stillness heavier than the darkness.
But something... broke that stillness.
A distant sound... faint cries at first... carried to him by the wind as if from another world.
One heavy ear twitched slowly... his eyelid lifted lazily... his deep breathing shifted its rhythm for a moment.
Then — silence again.
But the voices didn't stop... they grew louder... the air trembled in the distance... the earth beneath him stirred as if waking with him.
At last, he opened his eyes — slowly, painfully — his gaze burning like embers beneath thick ash.
He stared into the darkness before him without care... but those cries... this time they were not mere noise.
Something deep within him... felt it.
That ancient sensation he had long tried to kill — began to stir in his chest once more.
Anger? Nostalgia? Curiosity? Or perhaps... the call of blood.
Alpha exhaled slowly... his breath cold like a wind rising from the depths of forgotten caves.
He didn't move yet... he didn't rise... he simply listened — as if waiting... or remembering...
A faint growl rumbled from deep within him — not terrifying, but heavy, slow, burdened — like a beast disturbed by a swarm of insignificant insects.
He shifted his massive head ever so slightly, his claws pressing into the earth beneath him, cracking the ground as if to say: "Silence... leave me to sleep."
But the voices persisted... distant, yes — but irritating... invading his mind against his will.
He clenched his eyes shut, turned his head to the other side, exhaling heavily enough to shake the mist around him.
...
Silence.
But... again... those cursed cries...
He opened one eye halfway — his gaze heavy, tired — as if cursing everything that dared move beyond the borders of his forest.
He muttered in a low, rough voice, barely audible: "Damn you... even here?"
He dragged his enormous tail slowly across the ground, scattering small stones far away.
He tried to ignore it all... closed his eyes again, his breath growing slower... deeper... as if slipping back into sleep.
But no... the noise did not stop.
And in one brief moment... one of his eyelids twitched — clear irritation.
He growled again — this time louder — his voice echoing through the forest, shaking dry leaves from the trees in fear.
Finally, he opened his eyes completely... and there — a dark gleam lit within his deep gaze.
He raised his head slowly, muscles moving with a heavy lethargy — like a creature forcibly torn from its slumber.
He spoke — grumbling in a tone closer to a tired man than a dragon: "Has sleep become a crime in this wretched world?"
At last, he stood — his colossal body rising slowly... his heavy wings unfurling at a dreadful pace until he loomed like a towering black shadow devouring everything around him.
And as he stood there — still as an ancient tree unshaken even by storms — a group of foolish goblins wandered into the cave he had claimed as his home for years.
Their annoying laughter, their quick footsteps, their crude weapons clattering against the walls... all of it pierced his head like needles.
At first... he ignored them.
But they pushed their luck.
They ventured closer... began kicking stones, chattering in their broken tongue, screaming and laughing like savage children playing at the edge of a cliff.
And in one moment...
Alpha's tail twitched.
Everything stopped.
The air... movement... sound...
That was the final warning.
Alpha parted his jaws slightly — still standing in place, not even glancing at them — and exhaled a heavy breath, like a roar rising from the depths of hell.
The air inside the cave changed instantly... becoming heavier... colder... the shadows growing deeper and darker.
Alpha lifted his head at last — his glowing eyes reflecting off the cave walls like twin embers.
Then...
He roared.
Not an ordinary roar — but a monstrous explosion of sound, erupting from deep within his chest, shaking the entire place like an earthquake.
The sound was so terrifying that the rocks above the goblins began to fall — their feet froze in terror.
For a single moment — it was enough.
And then — as if reality finally struck them — they screamed in sheer terror, scrambling like frightened rats, tripping over each other, falling, crying, fleeing blindly out of the dark cave.
As for Alpha...
He hadn't moved an inch.
He stood there — staring blankly into the void before him — like an ancient beast who desired nothing but sleep.
He whispered quietly — filled with mockery and cold indifference:
"Fools..."
Then, he sat back down slowly — folded his wings around his body once more — closed his heavy eyes — and returned to his eternal stillness...