| abstract | - Tarqinder entered the cave with his sword in his hand. The cave's walls were lined with torches, all burning strong flames of orange. Tarqinder passed a man dressed in armour with a halberd in his hand which was pointed in the way of Tarqinder. "You may enter," the man in armour said. Tarqinder glanced at him and walked deeper inside the cave. The sound of talking could be heard, and as he rounded the corner he was greeted by a number of his fellow slayers all sat around a large square table. "Ah, Tarqinder, good to see you again," said the head of the group who sat on a higher chair than everyone else. "It is good to see you too, Dalmius," Tarqinder said. Tarqinder was a dragon slayer, and this group was the Slayers' Union. Each member was a slayer of a specific species that plagued Gielinor. It was funded by the various monarchies across the globe, but now the money was becoming scarce, the group was facing a dark time. "Right. Now we are all here I shall begin," Dalmius said. "It is with great regret that I have to announce that the funding we were receiving from Lumbridge has been withdrawn, as they simply cannot afford to keep donating and funding us. These are dark times, but I am sure we will prevail." "But surely Dalmius, we do not have such a need for money? So what if we cannot have training grounds, or captive foes to train on, we are slayers and should be able to work through any condition!" Exclaimed Lathiki, a demon slayer. "That may be true, but we need money to pay for the recognition of being a real society, or else we will be nothing and will lose our work and titles." "Well then, it would seem we have no choice but to pray to Saradomin things work out for the better." "Yes, it would seem so. In the mean time, let us not forget our work! Tarqinder, you are required to investigate activity of a large beast in the deepest Wilderness. Stories speak of a dragon which has been long dormant, which has now awoken. But you shall not go alone, Ferdinand, you shall accompany him and slay any revenant that wanders in your path." "Then I shall be off, Ferdinand! Hurry up, I wish to be back by tomorrow," Tarqinder ordered. Ferdinand sprinted after Tarqinder who had begun to walk off. Dalmius dismissed the other slayers and picked up a book he had been reading. Tarqinder and Ferdinand stood on the border of the Wilderness and breathed in the final breath of civilization before they crossed the ditch and were in. The ground was scorched and mounds of earth were crumbling into piles of dust. Dead trees stood bare and pointed out in all directions with their long sharp branches. "I have never seen a dragon up-close, I've only ever looked a revenant one in the eye," Ferdinand said. "Did you kill it?" Tarqinder asked. "Nearly, but it managed to get away. If I see another one, I shall kill it straight." "Those are strong words, but will you fulfill them?" "Why, I am Gielinor's greatest revenant slayer, of course I will!" The two stopped as a large stone was shot into the air and crashed downwards, a tail of fire following it. Another one shot up and hit a dead tree, setting it alight. "There must be lava springs round here, well we are near that volcano aren't we?" "Yes, and fortunately for you there is little revenant activity in this area." "Fortunately I've got you around to help out." From behind there was a growl as a revenant vampyre materialized and lashed out at Ferdinand. Ferdinand lifted his sword and slashed away at the revenant causing it to growl in anger. "Now you've got it angry!" Tarqinder exclaimed. "Bah, stupid beast it is." Ferdinand proceeded to impale the ethereal beast even more. The creature became less aggressive and began to drift away, but Ferdinand pursued it and struck it back down into the ground with one final blow. "Revenant vampyre - easy," Ferdinand stated. "Have you ever caught a revenant outside the Wilderness before?" "A Revenant Werewolf was sighted near the Lumber Yard at Varrock, and there has been rumours for years now of a revenant cyclops in the Varrock Sewers. I took a look in there and found nothing but a nest of bad-tempered arachnids." "Fortunately for me dragons aren't found that much above ground, but in the Wilderness it's an exception. There are colonies of green dragons near the coast which many adventurers go to slay, but their bones now litter the ground." Ferdinand tripped over a large rock and fell down a hillside, landing directly on his foot crushing it beneath his weight. Tarqinder ran down and helped him to his feet. "You should be more careful, these grounds are uneven," Tarqinder said. "Ouch, I believe my foot is injured." Tarqinder removed Ferdinand's shoe and looked at his foot. It was definitely showing bone out of place; it was clearly broken. "Your foot is broken, just my luck." Tarqinder put an arm around Ferdinand and helped carry him onwards. The ground was a lot more mountainous as they approached the volcano range near the mid-Wilderness. Tarqinder and Ferdinand had come to a standstill. Ferdinand's broken foot had caused him so much pain he had to stop walking, despite Tarqinder's best efforts. They were perched near the bottom of a volcano which was spouting ash and smoke into the sky. "Not wanting to be rude, but could you hurry your rest up?" Tarqinder asked. "Because I think that that volcano is not as dormant as we first though." A blast of large stones showered down on the two, with Tarqinder pulling Ferdinand out of the way. "Oh my Saradomin, that volcano is going to blow!" Ferdinand said, gesturing at the the increase in smoke. "Yes, now do point out the obvious why don't you?" Tarqinder grabbed Ferdinand and pulled him away, only for them both to fall to the ground again as the volcano shook the ground. They got to their feet once more and turned to see a river of lava falling down the side of the volcano. "You're gonna have to try and run!" Tarqinder ordered. "I can't! I'll just fall over!" "Goddamnit," Tarqinder muttered putting an arm round Ferdinand. As the two hurried away, the lava grew ever closer. Daring to look back, Tarqinder saw it was now getting within the space of fifty meters. Tarqinder saw his chance of escape and heaved Ferdinand on to a teleporter. The ancient magic within whirred and flashed and with a huge pull the two felt themselves being sucked away. Tarqinder and Ferdinand landed in the ice. They had got away. Tarqinder got to his feet and felt the snow falling in his hand. He smashed his foot against the ground, splintering the ice which lay beneath the thick sheet of snow. "Tarqinder!" Ferdinand called. Tarqinder turned to see Ferdinand lying in the snow immobile, but he had company. A large electric blue ice spider had crawled up to him, and it lashed its pointy fangs at him. "Away with you arachnid swine!" Tarqinder exclaimed throwing a sword straight at the spider like a javelin. It struck the spider down immediately, causing it to writhe in pain as it died. Ferdinand still looked at it cautiously, expecting it to jump back up again. If Ferdinand hadn't broken his foot, he would've been able to easily kill the creature, but even the strongest of slayers cannot do much if they can't move. Tarqinder pulled Ferdinand upwards and removed the sword from the spider carcass. Tarqinder lifted the carcass up and put it under his arm. "I'll use this for bate," Tarqinder said. "Where are we?" Ferdinand asked. "Oh, deep deep Wilderness. We must be near this dragon now, if it is a dragon that is, and if there is even anything here." Tarqinder looked around, checking for footprints or blood, anything that showed something large and most probably carnivorous had passed through the area. "Then again, any footprints would probably get buried under all this snow," Tarqinder noted, slamming his sword into the ground. Tarqinder helped Ferdinand along and they both walked up a steep slope. Tarqinder noticed the ground was not covered in as much snow in this area, and that the temperature was not as cold. As he reached the top of the slope he looked down to see a crater which had absolutely no snow on it. There was what seemed to be a cave entrance at the bottom, which was surrounded by piles of charred bones. "Wait here Ferdinand, I wish to take a look in this cave," Tarqinder ordered as he ventured down the slope and to the cave entrance. He picked up a sharred skull, it appeared a not-so-lucky warrior had passed through here already. Tarqinder threw the skull out the way and then saw a rather large charred bone lying among the skulls and skeletons. "Whatever's in here is very big," Tarqinder murmured as he cautiously stepped into the gloom of the cave. There were no icicles or traces of even the slightest of snow on the ground. The walls were as dark as the scorched ground, which was obviously the work of something that could breath an exceptional amount of fire. As Tarqinder headed in further he saw something lying ahead of him; a nest. Going closer to investigate, he felt the temperature even hotter than before. There was a roar from the shadows, and Tarqinder decided now would be the time to lure this creature out into the open. Stomping his foot on the ground once, he felt the ground shake as if something was getting up. Heading further outwards, he stomped his foot again. The creature inside seemed to be getting even closer, and upon reaching the cave entrance he dropped the spider carcass on the floor. Moving backwards, he saw the head of a large red dragon emerge from the cave. Sniffing the spider, it breathed fire on the already deceased creature. The ice-like skin if the spider quickly turned a dark grey and began to decompose. "Oh my Saradomin, what a beautiful creature!" Tarqinder exclaimed. "A dangerous creature though, and you've killed one time too many!" "Tarqinder!" Ferdinand called from the top of the slope. The dragon turned its head up to see Ferdinand who was standing at the top of the slope. "No!" Tarqinder whispered, realizing the danger his companion was in. "Tarqinder! The lava is coming closer!" Ferdinand exclaimed. The dragon rose to full height and stomped forwards at the helpless Ferdinand who stood in shear terror. Unable to move from fear, he stood not too far away from the dragon now, who breathed out a strong blast of fire which hit Ferdinand immediately, killing him on impact. Ferdinand's scream rang out through Tarqinder's head like the wail of a banshee. His burnt body, now nothing more than a skeleton, crumbled to the ground. Tarqinder ran up to where Ferdinand's skeleton was, and glimpsed the flow of lava getting ever closer in the distance. "I'd cut your throat to give you a quick death, but I'd like to watch you burn to death, just like all your victims," Tarqinder said. The dragon reared up on its hind legs and was about to breath a deadly blast in Tarqinder's direction when a torrent of lava flooded into the crater and the cave entrance. Tarqinder watched the dragon die, but in horror he saw Ferdinand's skeleton being washed away by the lava as well. Dashing out of the way to avoid the lava himself, Tarqinder ran as far away as he could. Tarqinder stood under the moonlight at the Wilderness ditch which he crossed with a solemn expression sat on his face. Picking up a large rock, he threw it into the Wilderness out of anger. As dawn rose, Tarqinder entered the cave to the Slayers' Union. Dalmius was sat on his chair surrounded by everyone. "Ferdinand is dead," Tarqinder said. "What? How?" Dalmius asked. "He got hit by dragon breath. I've never seen a beast like it." "But did you kill it?" "It drowned in lava from an explosive volcano nearby. I watched it die, it was good." "Oh my Saradomin, you were lucky to survive!" "I walked by moonlight along the coast, watching out for revenants. I had to evacuate Edgeville as well, the lava almost made impact with it." "Well then, it looks like we have entered a very dark time, and it will not be easy, but we shall prevail; I'll see to that," Dalmius said with a very determined expression upon his face.
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