The following weeks had been somewhat devastating to the Dacyirii. More of UreReode’s people continued to die, both from his Mountain Tribe and from the various other tribes around the world. The skirmishes were endless and the bloodshed seemed to have no end in sight. No matter how many of these ‘Humans’ that died, they always seemed to fight harder and with more ferocity. Only days after the attack on the convoy, another ten bodies of his own were brought back to the Great Cavern, eviscerated and decimated; torn to shreds by what the shaken witnesses would only describe as a ‘hovering metal bird’. Truly, these were the end days, the grand apocalypse from the sky as foretold in so many prophecies over the aeons. Could the Great Cycle be coming to an end? 
UreReode had stepped forth from his perch inside the Great Cavern of the Mountain Tribes as two of his kin dragged forth the bodies of the fallen. All ten of them. The entire cavernous interior, the size of a gigantic cathedral, was normally silent save for the harmonious, echoing songs of the Starsinger brood who called out to their Gods day and night to beg for prosperous days and safe nights among the sky-scarring mountains. Recently, the Starsingers were silent. The Dacyirii no longer prayed to Gods that allowed such atrocities to take place. The silence that resonated in their absence was quickly replaced by the pain-filled screams of wounded Dacyirii. The once-holy ground, sanctified and revered, had become just another refuge for the dying and wounded, the painful result of a war that was unlike any the world had ever seen. Traditional medicines did little to ease to suffering from the unholy wounds caused by the sorcerous weapons of the Humans and so those that did face their enemies with bravery were rewarded with a death more painful than any other; often screaming for their kin before fading out entirely into soothing release. 
The devastation was incomprehensible. Unstoppable. It had to end. 

“Brothers,” UreReode addressed the two body carriers as they dragged the remains of a Dacyirii resistance force into the Cavern with as much dignity as was possible to give, while himself setting aside a wooden bowl of herbal paste that he was applying to a grave wound of a fellow warrior. “Please tell me that this is the last time we will have to do this,” 
The body carrier shook his long, horned head. 
“I doubt it, Khula. The casualties get worse every day. More of them come from the skies, we cannot keep up with their expansion into the forests. Even the Uarshi have been feeling the pressure of the invaders.” 
“I see,” he replied bluntly.
“Khula… I… half of my hatchery is out there now. We haven’t heard from them in days. When will this be over? Are we being punished?” 
UreReode shook his head. “I do not know, brother. They can see us from the skies, they hunt us on the land. If we are to repel these demons then we will need to band together,”
“Khula..? The Mountain tribe is already united under your influence. How much more can we unite?” 
“No. All the tribes. The Swamp tribes, the Lowlands, the Seas, the Skies and the Forests and the Ice and the Desert. Between us the power exists to fight back, instead of simply throwing ourselves at a much superior force.”
The body-carrier’s saurian jaw dropped slightly, showing hints of a row of sharpened teeth. 
“But… It can’t be done. There is bad blood between us.”
“It has to be done, or there will be no blood left. We cannot simply send a single Dacyirii, it is too dangerous. But we cannot send a large force; they can see us from above and they will be hunted. We must send our best, ten of them, tasking them with uniting the Dacyirii for the greater good.” 

UreReode did not wait for the body carrier to respond to his news, instead simply asking him a rather important question:

“Have you ever flown by Ure-KhuklWing?” 

The screech of a very large, powerful winged beast that was almost synonymous with the Dacyiran mountains echoed through the caverns, and the dusty sunlight pouring through the cavern’s entrance was blocked for a moment by a fleet of powerful wings…