Breathing in deeply, I thought I caught notes of wild flowers and something sweet on the wind, as well as the more earthy damp of the distant forest. My Praxis was topped up again from my early practice and I was finally about to face off with Cad again, my one arm out in front of my in a guard position, like a spear or sword, trying to cover as much as possible to make up for my lack of a backup. As much as I had sort of become used to only having one arm, I was also growing frustrated with it; I knew that no matter how proficient I became at fighting with the imbalance, I would never reach my true potential in that state. But that did not mean I was not going to give it my best, and I fully intended to drain a good-sized chunk of my reserves in this fight, if only to distract Cad from my less... earned abilities.

Taking another deep breath, I looked out over my fist at my waiting opponent and Focused hard, not bothering to ramp up over time. Violet-white lightning sprang to life around me, tearing the air around me into ozone with a shrill scream. The strands of light were thicker than my leg, and I was sure they obscured my body somewhat as they danced across me in flickering sheets. My Core thrummed like an engine as I drove my Praxis through it and my Exemplar lit with strange light as I also drew upon it, as much as I ever had, focusing on the edges of its power and pulling it tight about me as I sprang forward.

The world was etched in stone as I closed the distance, the only thing seeming to move besides myself being my opponent, who bore a wide, almost manic grin within his almost-neat beard. It was hard to gain an exact gauge, but at a guess, with my lightning and Path working together at maximum power, I was moving and experiencing the world at almost five times my normal speed – almost two-hundred-and-fifty times faster than a normal human could move.

It took significantly more Praxis to brace the ground against my steps moving at that speed, but even with all the drain – which was significant – I thought I had enough for at least a couple of fights, if they did not drag out too long.

The two of us came together with a snap of displaced air and while at first I was gratified at the surprise on his face as I drove him back, attacking at a pace far above my cultivation level, that soon faded as he tapped into more of his Foundation, quickly catching up to me and then once more surpassing me as his hammer flicked and spun in barely perceptibly arcs, though I could tell that at full blast, my lightning was making at least some headway in making it past his defences as we clashed and I conducted the stuff directly into him.

I managed to dodge or deflect, making use of my Instinctive Precognition, but I knew it was because Cad was still holding back; he was at least near the peak of the Foundation stage, meaning his own maximum speed and strength was somewhere around five-hundred. Moving at the speeds we were it, was sometimes confusing to have my ability take over to save me from a particularly vicious attack, and on several occasions I found myself moving strangely for seemingly no reason, taking giant leaps over blank stretches of grass. Having to hold my breath did not help, only risking it when I managed to gain some distance during a dodge.

Despite all that, my hand felt bruised from where I had been forced to deflect Cad’s long-hammer, and I thought I might have some broken bones in my hand, as despite my relative speed, my strength and endurance was still at my normal levels which meant that my opponent was hitting five or six times harder than I could really deal with. I knew I would heal out of anything that happened, but even so, it hurt. Luckily, I had been able to avoid any serious blows to my body or legs but as the fight drew out into the seconds, I knew that I had to do something dramatic or he would just keep playing with me until I ran out of energy in order to try to ferret out what was interacting with his own ability. I really only had the one trump card, having pushed myself to my maximum from the start, but I was not sure how much damage it would do at this level of output, I did not want a repeat of the chest-exploding incident that I had had with McCreepy.

The hammer whistled past, fractions of an inch from my face and I knew I was going to try it; I would not go all out, and I would aim for his shoulder, but it was the only way I could see this ending in anything but either a total loss or exhaustion. But in order to do it, I knew I was going to need to accept some pain in order to create the opening and get off the back foot.

Over the next second or so of frantic dodging, I waited for my chance until finally the hammer spun around and I deliberately stepped into its path, forcing aside my instinctual reaction in order to brace myself with a surge of Praxis. Pain exploded like fire in my left shoulder as the hammer’s head struck and I felt both flesh and bone smash and crush together. But I had been expecting it, and absorbing the force – barely – I twisted and concentrated on focusing my Path on my one arm, and with a frisson of sensation I lost control, my fist aimed squarely at Cad’s own shoulder to return the favour. Regaining access to my limb, I stood still and let my Focus fall away as the pain throbbed and radiated from my shoulder and hand. I had missed, or rather, the Foundation level cultivator had somehow dodged a moved I had been certain was effectively instant, if not actually instant.

“How?”

The world shuddered into motion again and I felt a breeze brush against my skin.

“That punch is somthin’ else, Sparky! Even I couldn’ see it. And yer speed in general’s kicked up a notch’r two! I bet ye’ll be hell against somebody at yer own level.

I raised my eyes expectantly and pulled a healing pill from storage, nestled between my thumb and palm before dropping it into my mouth and swallowing; even with the pill, I could feel that my shoulder was damaged sufficiently that it would take a few hours to fully mend.

Tired of waiting for the grinning man to explain how he had dodged a blow that he himself has admitted he could not follow, I asked again, my voice tight with creeping pain.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“If you couldn’t see it how did you dodge it? As far as I’m aware, it should be close to instant.”

“Oh, I didn’ dodge it, Sparky, I just wasn’ where ye was aimin.”

“What? Some sort of illusion ability, like the panther-thingies?”

“No, nothin’ like that. I told ye me Path was based aroun’ th’manipulation o’fate. Just before ye lashed out, I felt a stone shift beneath me foot and by the time I adjusted me balance ye’d punched where I’d been. Fast ye may be, Sparky – and freakishly so, if I may say – I'm still about an entire stage above ye, 'n’ I simply adjusted faster than ye could perceive. Sometimes I get lucky, while some say ‘tis better t’be lucky’n good, I say, why not both? Havin’ said that, ye do only have th’ one arm, so ‘tisn’ difficult to see where yerpunches’ll be comin’ from.”

“Great, I have two lucky idiots traveling with me. Some of us had to work hard to get where we are, you know.”

The voice was dry, and while the words could have been taken as criticism, I could hear the humour behind them, and as I turned to look at the diminutive apprentice who had joined us along with the risi, I thought I could even see a slight trace of her being impressed. I was however somewhat distracted by Cad’s comment about my arm – it did limit my direction of attack, and my ability to feint.

“I’ll have ye know I worked damn hard to get this lucky, lass. Do ye have any idea how hard 'tis t‘take down a sarimanok? Half a mountain tried t’fall on me! I only caught the Void blasted bird ‘cos it landed t’sleep, and even then, it chose t’sleep on top’f a damned giant emerald reptile of some kind.”

“My Exemplar is a dragon, so there’s no reason to brag about a bird.”

“Wait, wasn’t it a chicken? No, wait, it was something like chicken, but it was a dragon, I remember you telling me. But, you said it was tiny?”

Darina glared at me and I held my hand up in defence as she spoke again.

“A small dragon is still a dragon, Hunter. Small is a relative...”

She trailed off, her gaze focused above us. Curious, I turned to follow her gaze, but had trouble seeing what she was looking at, at first. But after a few moments of searching, I made out something in the sky, mostly transparent but I could just perceive a slight bending of the light, and as it turned the light scattered through it into a thousand hues and colours. The prismatic thing in the sky was long and sinuous, with wide wings stretching out to either side of it. It was beautiful, and despite its apparently transparent body, it was definitely a dragon. Size was hard to judge against the vast blue, but it did not look too big, and I wondered if we were seeing one of the things Darina had taken as her Exemplar, since we were so near her home.

“Is that a chicken, Darina?”

“Ch’en, Hunter, not chicken. And no, that is not a ch’en.”

“In wonderous amazement, it appears to be some kind of glass dragon.”

Riffa’s voice was for once filled with emotion, and the statement at the start of her sentence was unneeded. I could hear the awe and wonder in her voice and I had to guess that if dragons were fairly rare, glass ones were more so.

“Tha-tha’s not a glass dragon. Blasting Void, that’s a crystal dragon. On me Ma’s name, that’s the Apex of the Crystal Drake..!”

Switching my gaze back to the dragon in the sky, I recalled Aella mentioning the Apex of the Crystal Drake shortly after my arrival, but I had no real idea what an Apex was at the time, and had been picturing something like V, my torturer but with prettier armour. This, was something else, and though I did not think it was quite as impressive as a cloud of swords millions strong, or growing a mountain, it was still plenty impressive.

That was of course until I saw the figure pass above a cloud, and my brain fell into confusion trying to re-establish a sense of scale. The dragon looked to be about the size they were always depicted in media back on Earth, but that was assuming it was only a hundred feet up or so, but if it was above the clouds, then...

As I struggled to judge just how big the Crystal Drake was, the distant figure banked and my mind shuddered to a halt as I saw its wing almost touch the plain below, stretching between earth and sky like an optical illusion.

“With profound awe, the wingspan must measure in miles. It is no mere creature, but a living mountain."

“I was just thinking that it wasn’t as impressive as Walker or your brother, Reff. I think I changed my mi-”

Before I could finish speaking, there was a roar of thunder, if a sound so loud and so powerful that it knocked me off my feet. Turning my head, I saw my friends had also been knocked down, but more than that I saw a huge black cloud above the distant forest in the shape of an ape, with lightning dancing along its surface and balls of electricity that seemed to rip apart space itself lodged within the eyes. The great cloud ape opened its mouth and a few moments later another round struck us, pushing me hard against the grass.

Before we could begin to recover, another ape appeared above the first, this one a slightly lighter shade but with all the fury of the first and moments later we were battered by another thunderous roar. It was at that moment that I recalled the thundering ape Elders had seemed to really dislike dragons.

I turned to where I had seen the Apex of the Crystal Drake just in time to hear the cry of a beast so large that it could only be measured against mountains before the three cries blended together and with a sharp snap I found myself amidst profound silence, followed by ringing as my eardrums ruptured and burst apart.

Dazed, I looked up and over at the Apex who was rolling through the vast sky breathing plumes of many-hued flame before – and I swear this really happened – the colossal dragon flipped the cloud-built figures the bird and set out across the plain at what could only be described a casual pace.

The five of us lay in the grass until the Crystal Drake passed beyond the horizon and the clouds dissolved into nothing.

Darina and I were the first to sit, as our advanced healing abilities restored our hearing, though I did so with a loud groan, as being tossed to the ground had not helped my broken shoulder.

“The Elders don’t like dragons, even Apex dragons, I guess?”

“That was amazing. Truly, Apexes are worthy of respect.”

“Yup. And fear – let's make sure we’re extra polite to Apexes and Elders from now on?”

“I have never been anything but respectful, Hunter.”

“Sure, and I keep getting reminded why. Might sink in this time.”

“I doubt it.”

I almost suck my tongue out at the apprentice, but instead turned away to offer healing pills to out less healed friends, but they all shook their heads no and indicted – loudly – that they had already taken pills of their own.

Darina, finally realising that she could lend her assistance as a healer, and not just with her snark, walked over and assisted everyone in getting their hearing back, and even gave me a hand with my shoulder.

After half an hour or so, we were all healed up and ready to set out again – none of us felt like sparring any more, and I knew it would take me a few days to top up my Praxis again. I could not resist however teasing the apprentice as we set out again, however.

“So, size being relative, how tiny was your chicken compared to that?”