Moonlight silvered the leathered sails that spread to catch the breeze for the first time in much too long. It spread to lend its pale glow to the land below, refreshing old memories of night flights in the past. This was right, this was good. Yes, the fire in his gut still lay dormant and cold, but that made hardly a scratch in the sense of contentment that lay within the breast of the dragon stallion.

Sadly, something did walk the lands that could do what his fire's lack could not. The distant firey glow of the Heart, forever lit even with the absence of the Gods, shifted strangely. Stirred, lifted, separated. What...? Curious, he beat his wings to carry himself closer, pupils widening to take in more light and better distinguish the strangeness. Baffled, he watched as the new fire-form shifted suddenly, with the air of a striking predator. It struck a chord within the hybrid's soul, a recognition born of the employment of similar hunting tactics. It's alive. Whatever it is, it lives. A dark thought, an uneasy thought.

Skin twitched as a deep hissing reached his ears, the instinctive reflex to shed irritant flies, woken in a vain attempt to shake off the shivers that hiss evoked. He watched as it moved, steady and methodical, westward, and rumbled to himself as it spawned a plume of fire. His rumble deepened as he realized the trajectory of the fire-beast. West. The Edge. Mirage! The girls! Fear for his beloved and his offspring sparked a fierce protective instinct. Louder and louder his rumbles became, until he cast them out in a single bellowing roar, prolonged and earth-shaking in its intensity, challenging the creature and proclaiming his fitness to face it.

Wings drew in as he began to drop, plummeting from the sky. Eyes were wide open as the the details of the beast registered in heartbeats. It was long, tremendously long, and reptilian in form and function, yet if he was any guess, he'd estimate it to be not much more than half again his height. An old, old memory surfaced, barely remembered, the sound of his mother's voice and fragments of a story. One word stuck in his mind, surging to the forefront.

Another tremendous roar burst forth from Vikram as he saw smaller, daintier pegasi dancing around the creature's head. Saw the forms of equines squaring off against it, the fire-lit green figure of Suli, lending identification to his herdmate, Destrier.

"You shall journey no farther, foul Salamander!" It was a fierce shout, wrenched from Vikram's throat as he averted his intended target, extending his legs to focus the impact. With moments to spare he flung out his wings to brake his momentum, to give enough mercy to his limbs that they should not shatter. His target was the beast's back, betwixt its shoulders, and he spared no thought for the possibility of the damage he might incur otherwise. A dragon was nearly fireproof, and he was half dragon, and bore the scales to prove it. They would protect his sensitive underbelly, and there were ample ways to tend a burn after the fact. But now? Now he wanted to destroy.