Smoke plumes just a few streets over as I can see small floating lights drift in the night wind. These cinders must be from a raging fire. I rush through the street towards the light that illuminates the nightlife of our town. As I turn a corner my snout is met with a strong scent of acrid smoke. The source of this cloud is a small heap of wood that looks on the verge of full collapse. No one is in sight as the crackling and burning intensifies. Before I have any more time to contemplate my options I hear a small croaked “Help me….. Please” calling from past the cavernous flames.

I act far faster than I can think as I leap and bond into the shoddy building. I can’t rely on my keen sense of smell here or I’d quickly succumb to the poisonous smoke, instead I wrench my eyes open to peer around in the fallen lumber. I see a fur covered hand sticking out from under a large ceiling beam that had fallen to the ground. I rush to the beam and attempt to lift with all my strength. As I begin to feel my muscles reach their limit only one thought comes to mind, he’d have cleared this with no problem and been completely unfazed by this inferno. As the thought crosses my mind I dig into a well of strength I didn’t realize I possessed and leverage the beam rolling it off of the ash covered gnoll. I support him under his shoulder and rush to the exit. The flames have only grown stronger as they feast on the wooden hut as I push through the final curtain of the burning red sea. I feel a gust of wind as the building collapses in on itself. 

My eyes covered in ash I quickly grab for my water pouch which is unsurprisingly burnt and leaking down my leg. I rush to the side searching for any source of water and am met with a familiar voice. “Here let me help!” I feel a cold rushing sensation as water streams down from the top of my head. As my vision recovers I’m met with the worried look of a blue dragonborn. No surprise a kind soul like Delphet would rush to a fire to try and help. I turn to see the gnoll I had carried out and Delphet has already thrown her second pale on him. As he lifts his face and the ashes begin to clear from his fur a large scar shows on his left eye.

At this moment time freezes. A similar memory comes to mind of a tattered and wet gnoll muddied in some fields. A fresh cut through his left eye drips down into the muddy farmland beneath our feet. Many other pools of blood fill the crops from bodies of dead bandits and mercenaries. My mind comes back to the present as I yell “Stay away from him! He’s dangerous.” Delphet stumbles back in confusion.

What should I do? He was a vicious brute in the past that just barely got away from us after their group attacked the muddy field crops. I should cut him down while he still can’t fully see. My hand rests upon my hand axe, ready to cut the line between life and death. Yet what if he’s changed, do I have the right to take his life? Is it up to me? I think of capturing him and turning him into the city guard. My eyes glance over to the small shoddy hut you could barely call a home. Was he living in that? Maybe he had his reasons. . .Perhaps I just let him go.

My thoughts quickly cease as the gnoll I had turned away from has a dagger pointed towards me and is aiming directly for my torso. I got careless. Unable to pull my axe in time I compromise with an attempted elbow block, but before I can even execute a shining crimson red dragonborn steps ahead of me. His sword, already drawn, carves from this man's shoulder all the way to his opposing hip. Blood splatters as two separated thuds hit the ground. By the time I look up the man I saved lay as two separate pieces on the dirt street. My eyes pan from the bandit left in the dirt to the trail of blood dripping from Morz’s sword. As I look up to see him, he pauses, and looks back at me with a large toothy grin, “Well, I think that deserves a good tavern trip for tonight. On you of course.”Really that's what's on his mind right now?! I'm practically broke! I always fret over the small stuff, but he can just make decisions on the fly with confidence. I wish I was like him, unbothered and unfazed. A feeling of pride and a bit of annoyance in my friend swells within me. He stands tall like always. I look back to Delphet tears pooling to her eyelids. “Hey I’m fine. Luckily Morz was nearby.” I say trying to comfort her, but come to the realization she’s not looking at me, the dead bandit, or the raging fire. Cinders continuing to fall around us illuminate a crimson dragonborn reflected in her eyes. No her tear filled eyes are planted directly on Morz.