AN: Hello again, and welcome back to Ruby's Lore! I'm your host, ShadowedCalling. Somehow, someway, I passed the 100,000 word mark last chapter, though I'm not sure how much that counts since most of my Author's Notes have been a few hundred words in length.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews last chapter. You guys: guisniperman, Hige the Bearded, Anon, and rammieson are the best.

Anon: Yep, the Wrath of Xan is underway, and a town made of wood can only take so much heat before it burns. Xan himself will be taking center stage soon, and his fiery personality will be a real showstopper. As for Drakath, of course he's being a sneaky little weasel, that's the only way the spiky haired loser can accomplish anything. Though, his accomplishments do tend to be surprisingly tremendous ones.

Guisniperman: You, uh, didn't get the whole AleXANder thing before now? Not sure how you managed that, but whatever. Konnan's reaction the Xan's actions won't start appearing until the end of the war, since that's when he actually has time to respond.

Hige the Bearded: I'm not certain I'd label my fic "dark and gritty," I see it more as a case of removing various game mechanics that make things very easy (like full heal via sleeping or knowing enemy weaknesses right off the bat) and adding a few more realistic interactions as opposed to the occasionally hamfisted dialogue of early DragonFable. That being said, I can't wait to finally reveal Sepulcher, though I'm still working on the exact characterization for him.

Rammieson: No, Ruby won't be unlocking her Semblance or Aura in the future. While I haven't gotten a chance to explore it in story, I plan on having Aura and Mana be roughly the same thing, with highly differentiated usage methods. Basically, Mana is the internal usage of the soul, focusing it through body parts to push them far beyond their usual capabilities, or used through foci to produce magical effects. Aura, on the other hand, will be the external usage of the soul, using its energy to grant a constant boost to physical abilities along with a protective shield. However, this constant, singular use results in Aura being less fluid, and as such only capable of manifesting a single specialized magical effect, or the Semblance. In short, Mana is a powerful active skill that has little influence when not in use and more varied abilities, while Aura is a weaker passive skill that has a constant influence and more rigid abilities. Because of this, Ruby's combat style will be far too Mana reliant for a switch to the Aura methods to be reasonable. As for Crescent Rose, Ruby won't have access to technology capable of creating something like that for a while, and Mana's ability to be used for bursts of strength will render much of her reliance on CR's gun form moot. She'll get scythes, that's for certain, and one in particular will have a similar name, but she won't get Crescent Rose itself.

Now, about your last question, rammieson, no that small bit of soul-bit swapping won't affect Ruby or her dragon that severely. There won't be too many physical changes, though the power of a Silver Eyed Warrior has been, fractured, for lack of a better word. Neither of them will be able to use those powers to their fullest potential, on their own at least. Similarly, Ruby gained the ability to use dragon magic, though to neither the strength nor proficiency of someone like Nythera, who's half-dragon, or even Elysia who has submerged herself in the studies of that sort of thing from a young age. Aside from that, they will develop some personality changes because of the mess Warlic made of their souls, Ruby will be a lot more willing to skip talking and get straight to fighting, and the dragon won't be as prone to destruction due to Ruby's soul diluting some of his more World Destroyer-y tendencies.

And then war broke out, so this chapter is late. Sorry, but I've got Defender's Medals to earn, and that took up all the free time I usually use for writing. So yeah, sorry for the wait, but committing genocide against edgy vampire ghouls was too important. On the plus side, I'm officially a (Fresh) Warmonger.

That was a long AN, like, over 600 words long. Sorry about that. Without further ado, let's get right into the fic!

Chapter Twenty

The air was thick with smoke by the time Ruby, Ash, and Robina made it back to Falconreach. Guardians ushered them through the town gates, directing the burned youths towards the inn, which Reens had already converted into an extension of her office. Once they were there, Reens began cleaning their wounds while a distressed Twilly healed what he could.

A distraught Serenity made her way too Ruby's side, "Are you alright, Ruby?"

The redhead nodded, "Yeah, those monsters were just a lot craftier than I expected. I won't make the same mistake next time."

Robina scoffed, "That's what you call 'making a mistake?' I distinctly remember seeing you fly across the clearing while on fire."

Ruby turned away, face somewhat flushed, "I just didn't expect that many things to explode at once, that's all." Ruby stretched a bit once Twilly was finished healing the burns that marred her body, "Besides, we all made it out without any major injuries, so I couldn't have been blown up that badly."

Robina rolled her eyes, "You know, I think you're the only person who can be so flippant about exploding. I'm starting to think you may need a psych evaluation."

Ruby stood up, making sure she still had her weapons on hand, "Don't be stupid, I'm not concerned about exploding because, as far as I can tell, I didn't lose any important pieces when I did."

Serenity gave Ruby a light tap on the head, "Please try not to get too hurt out there Ruby, things are starting to look dangerous."

Ruby smiled confidently at the blonde, "Don't worry, I'll be fine. In between the Guardians, the townsfolk, us, and any reinforcements we get, this'll be a piece of cake."

"I'm not so sure about that," Robina said, "They overran the three of us pretty easily, and their numbers will just keep increasing as more show up."

Ruby chuckled, "Yeah, but there's more of us now too. Geeze, you guys need to lighten up and just fight some monsters. We'll be fine, Falconreach will be fine, everything will be fine."

"And if it's not?"

Robina's question gave Ruby pause. The redhead thought for a moment before shrugging and replying, "Dunno. Guess we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen."

Robina dragged herself to her feet, having closed the holes in her burned clothing, "I can't tell if you're an optimist or an idiot, but either way you're right. The only other option than fighting is to run away, and Robina the Hood isn't some coward who would do that when innocents are on the line."

Ruby grinned at the auburn haired archer, "That's what I like to hear!" Ruby flipped open the bag Cysero gave her, and fished around for her potion bottles. Upon confirming that they were all full and unbroken, she turned to Robina and said "I'll be heading out to help the Guardians, you check with Reens about potions and see if Yuglar can supply you with arrows."

Robina rolled her eyes, "Since when were you the boss?" She then smirked playfully and said, "I doubt that someone so short could be all that high on the totem pole, after all."

Ruby stuck her tongue out defiantly, "I'm not that short! Besides, I'm still growing, it's just taking a while."

Robina chuckled, "And what will you do if you don't get any taller?"

"I'll just get a tall hat so I look like I did anyway."

With her ingenious plan of 'Get tall hat' confirmed, Ruby made her way towards the exit to the inn, and into the smoky streets of Falconreach.

Ruby didn't take long to join the group of Guardians and adventurers who had formed a defensive block just outside the Eastern entrance to Falconreach, and were engaging the first waves of advancing fire monsters. Blades and spells flashed through the air, impacting the various creatures and elementals who had dared to invade the small but surprisingly battle-happy town.

Ruby was quick to lob a throwing knife into the gem-like foci of an approaching Fire Elemental, causing it to dissolve into raw mana. Several nearby adventurers gave her shouts of approval as they disposed of a few monsters themselves. One impaled a Fury on his Longsword before launching it towards one of its fellows while a Mage blasted a large shard of ice into an approaching Flamewing, freezing the dark red bat solid.

Ruby dodged out of the way of an approaching fireball, before dashing forward to stab the offending elemental. However, her attempted counter attack was foiled by the sudden appearance of a massive, molten fist. Ruby shrieked as the burning hand impacted her, throwing her to the ground.

The deceptively small Lava Glob raised its massive arm again to hammer it into the downed redhead. However, a quick blast of magic from a nearby Mage downed the Lava Glob. Ruby thanked the woman before dragging herself to her feet and returning the favor by knifing the Flamewing that was about to stab its fangs into the back of the Mage's neck.

Ruby and the Mage grinned at each other as they continued fighting side-by-side, slashing, freezing, and otherwise slaying monsters while watching each other's backs. Eventually, the armored male who impaled the Fury earlier joined the two by kicking a Flamewing out of the air and stabbing into a Lava Glob, forcing the small elemental to collapse into a puddle.

"Hmph, looks like you two are hogging all the fun over here," he said as he blocked a wave of exploding feathers, "Hope you don't mind one more."

The mage smirked at him, raising a shield of magical energy to block a gout of flames from a brightly glowing Inferno Elemental, "That depends, think you can carry more weight than just that tin can you're wearing?"

"More than Short Stack over there," he grinned back at her, jabbing his thumb at a slightly offended Ruby.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I'll be getting taller soon!" Ruby threw knife into the open beak of a screeching Fury, "Besides, I'm stronger than I look."

"Not the most observant though," the Warrior said as he punched an approaching Flamewing out from behind her, "You may want to work on that one."

Ruby paled slightly before throwing a smoke pellet behind him and dragging the man out of the way of a semi-molten arm that slammed into the ground where he was standing, "So could you, apparently," she said, before glaring at the towering golem had attacked them.

The new Bassault roared as it charged the trio, arms spewing lava as it went. The Mage responded by producing a gale of wind that pushed it back and slowed its charge, "Isn't this the thing that attacked town earlier?"

Ruby nodded as she stabbed a Fury that tried to impale its talons into the distracted Mage. "Yeah, I was really hoping that there wouldn't be more of these though. I can't fight it unless we cool it off first."

"Too hot for you to handle, huh? Don't worry Short Stack, I can keep a cool head, and an even cooler sword," The Warrior then withdrew a smooth, curved sword that was made of a glimmering blue material. He stabbed his blade into the Bassault's chest, eliciting a roar of pain from the golem and a blast of steam from the rapidly cooling lava.

The Mage followed up with a large burst of ice, cooling much of the golem's body and reducing its fiery aura from a blazing heat to a slight warmth.

The Bassault let out a pained bellow as its rapidly cooling body cracked under the pressure of its forced movements. It made to strike out at the Mage who's attack nearly immobilized it, but was stopped by Ruby.

Ruby threw herself forward, arms cocked back and Seafangs at the ready. She stabbed her arms forward, reinforcing them with mana and forcefully shattering the golem's neck and severing its head. The construct of stone and lava toppled to the ground in a pile, smoking slightly.

Before any of the three could catch their breath, they were set upon once again by more of the elementals and avians that had made the town their target. "Geez, these things really want to burn Falconreach to the ground," the Mage shouted as she conjured a gale of wind to blow a small flock of approaching Flamewings away.

"Seriously," the Warrior grunted as he used his body to shield the Mage from Fury, "I've never seen monsters so aggravated that they'd migrate like this before." He then swung his sword, severing the Fury's head.

Ruby ducked under a jet of molten rock that was sent her way by a Lava Glob and shouted, "I just don't get why they're coming here! Why Falconreach of places? We're right next to the bay, so it's not like it would be a good place for them to live."

The Warrior nodded in agreement, "It is quite odd."

The Mage launched a volley of lightning bolts through a flock of Furies, "A better question is why are there so many! In all my years of travel I've never seen this many monsters of different classifications gather together into a single unit."

Ruby dodged away from a torrent of flames that a trio of elementals, one Inferno and Fire, shot her way, before shattering the left Fire Elemental's gem, dispelling it. "I'd have thought fire monsters would naturally be together, is it not like that?"

The Mage shook her head, "No, it's very unusual to see Furies, who are normally found in tropical forests, Flamewings, who are fond of caves, and elementals, who can be just about anywhere, working together. Elementals aren't known to migrate, and the other two shouldn't have any contact."

The Warrior scoffed as he grabbed a Fury by the leg and used it as a makeshift club against its fellows, "Does it matter why? Or how? As it stands, they're enemies, plain and simple. So, we should just fight them!"

The Mage rolled her eyes, "Don't be a brute! Understanding why these things are attacking could help us repel them, or at least prevent another attack like this!"

As the two began bickering, Ruby cut in, "Shouldn't we focus more on fighting the monsters than fighting each other?" When she didn't get an answer, she turned around to look at them, "Guys?"

"SHIT!" Suddenly, a massive wave of feathers impacted the area near them, shattering the ground and launching the trio into the air. Ruby impacted the ground, her head ringing and skin tingling with first degree burns.

She struggled to her feet, patting out the various smoldering fires that dotted her clothes. She looked around, looking for her companions, smoke stinging her eyes as she did so.

However, try as she might, Ruby could no longer make out the forms of the two adventurers who had been fighting alongside. They had been lost into the slowly thickening smoke. Ruby lept backwards, trying to get her bearings, realizing that she couldn't quite make out where she was.

Ruby moved back towards the sounds of combat, Seafangs at the ready as she prepared to rejoin the line of combatants. Through the smoke, Ruby spotted a Fire Elemental that was preparing to slam its flaming fist into the head of a staggering Guardian.

Ruby surged forward, impaling the elemental and dispelling it before it could land a hit on the unfortunate Guardian, who Ruby ironically recognized as Fortuna. The female Guardian thanked her as she regained her balance, "Thanks Ruby, things would have gotten real bad real fast had you not stepped in."

Ruby smiled back at the Guardian, "No problem, glad I could help."

Fortuna raised her Guardian Blade, its jagged edge gleaming in the glow of the surrounding flames "Well, that's enough talk for now, let's get back to fending off these beasts!" With that she engaged a group of nearby Furies, slashing at them with her sword.

Shouting in agreement, Ruby lashed out at a trio of elementals, A Fire Elemental, Inferno elemental, and a large Lava Glob. Ruby rushed forward, twirling her daggers in her hands before stabbing into the Fire Elemental's gem. She then dodged out of the way of a pressurized jet of lava that was launched off by the Lava Glob.

Before Ruby could retaliate, the Inferno Elemental followed up its ally's attack with a burning fist to the chest. Ruby screamed as the searing heat set her armor ablaze and threw her back into the ashen dirt. The fall managed to put out her burning equipment, but also left her open to the Lava Glob's molten fist as it crashed towards her.

At the last second, a male Guardian wielding a bulkier set of armor than his comrades stepped in, using his shield to block the attack. He swung his dark grey Guardian Blade multiple times, reducing the Lava Glob to a puddle, then he turned on the Inferno Elemental, shattering its foci with a shield bash and dispelling it.

"You alright," he asked, hefting his shield to better defend the downed girl behind him.

Ruby groaned as she pushed herself to her feet, "Yeah, I'm fine. A little crispier than I'd like, but I'll live."

The Guardian nodded, "Good. Be more cautious out here, a single misstep could end your life, understood?"

Ruby grimaced, but nodded in acceptance, "Got it." She lifted her Seafangs and struck out at an oncoming Fury, knocking it out of the air.

The Guardian suddenly burst into movement, once again moving in front of Ruby to block a flurry of explosive feathers from the Fury's friends. As the incendiary quills impacted his shield, the man turned to Ruby and said, "What part of 'be more cautious' sounded like 'piss of a flock of Furies?'"

Ruby crossed her arms and grumbled, "The part where I was gonna take them out one at a time. This really isn't a situation where I can just pick and choose enemies, what with us needing to take down as many as possible."

The Guardian scowled, "Hmph, there shouldn't even be a 'we.' Avatars know why the others are letting someone as young as yourself fight in a battle like this."

"Hey! I can fight along with everyone else if I choose to! Falconreach is my home, and I have every right to help defend it." Ruby punctuated her claim by charging forward, jumping onto the surprised Guardian's shield, and kicking off it, gaining the air she needed to easily down a flock of Flamewings who were trying to fly over the line of warriors and burn the town to the ground.

When Ruby landed, she turned and smirked at the man, "See, I'm more than capable of fighting with everyone else."

The Guardian gave her a flat look, "So was landing right next to that Bassault also part of your idea to prove who capable you were, or was that an accident?"

Ruby barely had time to pale before another one of the semi-molten golems introduced itself by backhanding her into Grams's Pet Shop, whose wall immediately caved in when she impacted it. Fortunately, Grams and Aria had already taken the various animals and retreated to the Guardian Tower. Unfortunately, they left all sorts of items and tools for Ruby to painfully crash into when she went through their wall.

"I'm," Ruby coughed slightly, feeling some pain in her ribs as she did so, "really gonna need to apologize to Grams for that wall." She looked around the abandoned Pet Shop, "And everything else, apparently."

Ruby stood shakily to her feet, knowing she'd have a lot of trouble dealing with the Bassault without access to water or a mage who knew ice/water magic. Her eyes eventually fell on a large pitchfork Grams used to move hay and straw for her larger animals. Ruby smirked as she grabbed the large farm tool, "I guess I'll need to apologize for this one too."

Ruby painfully pulled herself from the damaged Pet Shop and looked around for the Bassault who smacked her away from the battle. She quickly found it and the Guardian fighting, the Guardian's shield glowing brightly as it blasted the golem with a burst of light magic, temporarily blinding the monster.

The man swept in, his grey Guardian Blade easily carving through the molten parts of the Bassault's left arm and severing it from the main body. The golem roared in pain, rearing back its right arm to fire a burst of molten rock at its assailant. Suddenly, a three pronged piece of metal slammed into its neck, cracking the more solid portions of its body and piercing through the more molten ones.

Ruby grinned as she threw all her weight onto the Pitchfork's handle, using it like a lever to pull up on the Bassault's head and tearing it from the rest of its body.

The Bassault crumbled to the ground, a now semi-melted pitchfork laying beside it. Ruby turned to the Guardian and grinned at him, "You're welcome."

The man gave her an unimpressed look, "You do realize that I had that creature, right?" He gave her a once over, frowning as he did so, "Also, you're beginning to bleed. A lot. You should probably return to the med station."

Ruby began to argue against his point, but winced when she felt something warm and wet run down her side, which was slowly turning a dark red. "Yeah. I guess that wall did more to me than I thought."

The Guardian sighed and grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder, much to Ruby's displeasure. "Come on. The sooner I get you to Reens, the sooner I can get back to fighting. The man ignored the redhead's protests all the way to Falconreach Inn.

After getting her cracked ribs and open wounds patched up by Twilly, an activity that took about an hour, Ruby was ready to return to the frontlines. She burst back into the smoke filled streets of Falconreach and almost instantly ran into a blonde wall of steel.

"Hehe, good to see you're still kicking, Ruby," Rolith chuckled as he caught the stumbling redhead.

"Ouch," she grumbled as she held her slowly bruising forehead, "Hey Rolith, what are you doing here?"

The blonde rose an eyebrow at the redhead, "What, did you think Falconreach could get attacked by an army of fire monsters and the nearby knight outpost wouldn't get involved? I brought most of my knights to help, and sent a couple to request King Alteon for help."

Ruby smiled up at him, "Well, glad to have more help then. I've already been slapped through the Pet Shop, so any help is appreciated."

Rolith flicked her in the forehead, eliciting a yelp from the younger girl. "I bet you just got back from having broken bones mended then, didn't you." At Ruby's nod Rolith groaned "This is why I keep telling you to wear actual armor."

Ruby pouted, "I can't move as quickly in big clunky armor though."

"You don't need to move all that quickly if you can actually survive getting hit."

"Yeah, but you also hit harder if you move in quickly."

"Or you could just do actual exercise and weight training so you can actually hit hard without charging in first."

"How dare you, I exercise plenty."

Rolith scoffed and grabbed one of Ruby's lightly muscled arms "These things are pretty thin, Ruby. Do you even do pushups?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Why would I. Weapons are a lot heavier than I do, so messing with them lets me lift me more weight."

"Pushups are about more than weight lifting. That's why weight lifting is a different type of exercise."

Sir Valence approached the playfully bickering duo and coughed awkwardly, "Umm, guys, there's still a war going on. Could you resume this lecture later?"

"Right, right." Rolith rolled his shoulders and hefted his Warhammer, "Come on Ruby, let's see if your 'exercise' is nearly as effective as you claim it is." Upon seeing Ruby unsheath her Seafangs, he snorted, "On second thought, those dinky little daggers of yours are proof enough that it isn't."

Ruby growled, "I've got a sword. It's just not very helpful since everything here is already on fire."

Rolith chuckled, "Just a sword? Let me guess, it's a short, one handed thing."

"That's it. I'll show you how strong I really am!" Ruby charged off to the heat of battle, daggers unsheathed and ready to strike down the flaming monsters.

Rolith grinned, hefting his own weapon and charging in behind her, "Time to see just how much she's grown."

The two joined the frontline and furiously began striking out at the invading fire monsters, Ruby's daggers gleaming dangerously in the firelight as the tore through enemies. Rolith's hammer similarly glinted as it smashed into monsters, crushing them under its weight.

Ruby practically flew across the battlefield as she stabbed every enemy she could reach, determined to prove to Rolith that she was perfectly capable of fighting on his level. Various adventurers soon increased the speed of their own combat, determined to not be outshone by a young girl.

Determined shouts rang out across the area as the combatants further stoked the flames of war. Ruby herself let out a shout as she impaled a Fury before kicking it into its fellows. Before they could recover, Ruby pounced on them, cutting them before they could launch any of their explosive feathers.

Ruby turned to lock onto more enemies when a massive stone fist slammed into her face. She felt her cheekbone crack as she was launched through the air and slammed into the ground. Yet another Bassault made a beeline for the downed redhead, only for it to receive a powerful hammer blow to the face courtesy of Rolith.

The blonde knight-captain threw his weight into another crushing blow, shattering two of the golem's legs under his weapon and crippling it. Before the monster could try to recover, he followed up by spinning on his heel and smashing his Warhammer into the face of the Bassault, shattering it into semi-molten fragments.

Rolith quickly moved over to Ruby, helping her up. "You alright," he asked, eyeing her rapidly swelling cheek, "That was a nasty hit you took."

"Yeh," Ruby mumbled, her voice somewhat muffled by the injury, "'M fine, dis ish nofin'"

"You don't sound fine."

"M fine, trusht me."

Rolith sighed, "Ruby, please just go get your jaw realigned. You don't want that sort of injury worsening, or setting, or really doing anything but healing correctly."

Ruby tried to glare at him, but considering she couldn't quite tell which of the three blondes was the real one, she settled for listening to his request and staggering off in the general direction of Falconreach Inn.

Ruby returned to battle an hour later, her cheek still bruised but no longer swelling, her jaw now working correctly, and her vision no longer swirling. As Ruby rejoined the line, fighting a tad more cautiously after having her bell rung, she noticed that the fighters had been pushed back.

The line had been slowly pushed back for the duration of the war so far, but it had finally reached the point where Grams's Pet Shop, the Easternmost building in Falconreach, had been set alight and was slowly being consumed by flames. Burning straw, hay, and feed could be seen through the Ruby-shaped hole in the wall.

Ruby and the rest of the town's defenders continued fighting against the fire monsters. For hours they continued holding the line, only ever breaking to eat, heal, and occasionally rest, all of them doing so in shifts so that the line was never broken.

For a time, it seemed that Falconreach's defenders would be able to pull through, that the fires would not spread beyond Grams's Pet Shop. Then, the Western sky exploded in light, smoke billowed up from the distance, an ominous glow lighting it up from beneath. Soon, the sounds of crackling wood could be heard from the Western edge of town, heralding the coming firestorm.