Faelix was bored out of her mind. For the last four hours, she had been enduring the two things she hated most in her life; undercloud-rains and standing still. The seven members of Violet Valor and their dragons were fighting in the clearing below her, barely visible through rain and mist.

The dripping water even smelled nasty. It made her skin feel sticky. It didn’t even feel cold to her now that she was used to the icy winds above the clouds. Duchess had curled up behind her, under the cover of a large rock formation where the downpour couldn’t reach her as much. Out of habit, Faelix patted her frockcoat’s pocket to confirm she still had her pills in there. In addition to creating a most dreary atmosphere; the rain was also toxic, even to dragon riders.

Both Duchess and Faelix herself were not strangers to going undercloud for missions, as the Golden Vanguard mainly operated near the surface. However, what they weren’t accustomed to was being told to stay out of a fight.

“If it goes on like this, they won’t even going to need us,” Faelix muttered angrily. “How does this prove I’m capable of leading my squadron anyway?”

Are you asking me how trusting others to complete a job, while you stay still and help in case you are needed, relates to being a captain? Duchess’ voice appeared in the back of her mind, while the dragon opened her mouth to yawn behind her. Faelix shot the coldest stare she could muster at the creature. How would I know? I’m a dragon.

“That’s right, you overgrown lizard,” Faelix muttered. Her hands were antsy as she watched the riders close in on a large hut, where their intel said the chieftains of several different tribes of giants were.

The tribes in question had already climbed halfway up the fifth spire when they lost the leader that brought them together. Then they had set up camp for the previous few months, where they stayed to select which of their chieftains were to act as raid leader in their attack on the spire. Today was the day they gathered for the decision, and security was lax, as each chieftain only brought one or two guards with them to this meeting. For the hundredth time since she joined them, Faelix wondered where the Valor got their information.

All of them were decent fighters too, and they looked totally in their element as they fought the giants. Every time one of the monsters changed its shape to gain an advantage, their opponent adapted quickly to the new circumstances. It was such a primal combat that Faelix had to resist its temptation with every ounce of willpower she could muster. If it wasn’t for the severity in Skybreaker’s expression, she was sure she would already be down there dancing among burning corpses of giants.

How hard did you wish for that? Duchess stretched her wings as all the laziness disappeared from her flaming eyes. Send the signal, I’ll go intercept.

“I like it when you are bossy,” Faelix said as she took out a flare gun from her pack. Duchess’ angry grunts disappeared into the loud boom coming from the bright pink projectile exploding above her.

The other backup riders would immediately fly to join them when they saw the flare, which gave Faelix about two or three minutes of freedom to have as much fun as she could. She ran and jumped off the cliff towards where Duchess was already awaiting the marching giants. They were about thirty strong, mostly larger than nine feet tall.

The excitement for battle rose inside Faelix, filling her body with mana. Her muscles tightened and her vision cleared. She gave the air beneath her a slight curve to guide herself towards Duchess. She let her body become warmer and warmer until raindrops sizzled and disappeared as soon as they contacted her skin.

She hit the ground running next to her dragon and crashed into the closest Giant. Its skin was as tough as rock. With a flick of her wrist, her dagger shot out of her coat’s wrist. It traveled around the giant’s body and came back to her hand. The steel rope secured to the dagger’s base was wound tight around its neck. Faelix focused her mana on her legs and arms, white skin glowed with fiery veins. She pulled as she willed the air behind her back to harden and form a wall. The stupefied giant crashed into the ground headfirst before it even realized what was going on.

Duchess fell in the middle of the crowd like a meteor. She let out a bone chilling scream as flames came forth from her mouth, bringing a little bit of light to the forsaken world underclouds. Giants around her, with their skin hard as stone and wet with rain, caught fire as fast as a bunch of dry wood.

Faelix focused her energy on her knife, guiding it into the exposed back of one of the nearby giants. She let the rope pull her to her prey. She pulled the knife free, grabbing the panicked monster by the hair. Its neck exploded in gray blood when she slid it from behind. Its heavy body fell like a sack of rocks.

She jumped, barely avoiding a crude axe that was aimed from behind, right at her neck. Most of the giants had already overcome the initial shock of a feral dragon creating flaming chaos amidst their formation.

With the sound of fluttering wings, a smaller giant, only about twice Faelix’ size, flew into her body. It had luminescent wings on its back and its hands were shapeshifted into long, bladed claws. Faelix pushed on a spot of air and narrowly avoided getting decapitated by throwing herself sideways right under the claw. She grabbed the monster’s wrist and let its momentum carry her. She focused her mana into her palm, the beautiful smell of burning skin filled the air as the giant screamed in pain. The sound of its agony drowned as Faelix punctured its lungs in several places with repeated stabs from below.

Faelix didn’t want to spend much time on the ground. Instead, she jumped as soon as she touched down and used one of the giants as a ramp. She willed her blade to travel through the air towards a larger giant near where Duchess was thrashing in anger. The blade sunk into the monster’s neck. Faelix pressed her palm on the chest of the giant she was using as leverage and let out an exploding burst of mana. The gray skin turned bright orange, and the creature screamed in pain as its lungs burned to a crisp.

She created a tunnel of wind to carry her towards her knife. She hit the large giant like an arrow. Sparks exploded as her shoulder met its chest. She kicked herself away and with a spin landed on Duchess’ back. She grabbed the large spike that her dragon had sticking out of her back, to stabilize herself. She was heaving with effort, her whole body was on fire as Duchess’ anger ignited her mana.

The pain felt so good she couldn’t help but smile. “Calm down a little, girl,” she shouted towards Duchess as the dragon snapped its jaw, disconnecting a giant’s head from its body in progress. “I don’t want to fall unconscious before the fight is done.”

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I’ll try. Duchess mumbled in the back of her mind. I don’t know why but I feel very agitated.

Faelix knew why. Her own feelings towards giants were seeping into her dragon’s psyche. As Duchess forced herself to calm down, Faelix felt the burning sensation relax a little. It relaxed enough to let her breath again at least. Using the relative security granted by staying on the back of her dragon, she closed her eyes and took a measure of her mana reserves.

When Duchess ignited Faelix’ mana, she required rest to gain the burned amount back. It was rarely worth the added strength as Faelix didn’t usually need the boost. Just now, in about twenty seconds, Duchess had already burned about thirty percent of her mana. That was a third of her strength that she would not be getting back for at least a month. Besides, it’d be a shame if their backup came and found her sleeping. In addition to that, the effects that burning mana had on Faelix’ organs were still unknown.

“Even a dragon rider’s body isn’t suitable to house such destructive flames” was what the doctors on Dragon Spire told her when Duchess burned around fifty percent of her mana in one go.

I will try to cool down, Duchess said, sounding apologetic. With a strong flap of her wings, she took off, scattering giants around her. The sword is ready, by the way.

Faelix knelt and put her hand in the small opening in Duchess’ scales, just behind the shoulder blades. She grabbed the familiar hilt of her sword and pulled it out from inside her dragon’s body. The blade was well warmed up. Its steel, which was normally pitch black, glowed crimson with Duchess’ flames.

Faelix exhaled, extending her mana into the blade. Glowing steel flared up with dancing golden flames. She jumped again, this time letting gravity do its job without interfering. She landed with a roll; her blade flared. Giants around her spread out. Their eyes, ugly ice blue orbs embedded in stoney gray skin, were wide with fear and anger.

She threw herself towards the closest enemy. With a swipe, her blazing blade cleaved the giant clean through. The others staggered backwards, clearing the area around her.

Then the ground started shaking. An alarming sensation rolled up Faelix’ spine as Duchess silently warned her from above. Giants kept clearing the area until a corridor was formed in front of Faelix. At the end of that empty space, surrounded by larger giants stomping the ground melodically, was a smaller giant.

Its body was covered with markings, signifying it as a raid leader in one of the clans. Its upper body was marked with the symbol of the bear spirit. It was the giants’ deity of savagery. It had a beaded rope, functioning as a belt. The rope was decorated with dried remains; fingers, eyes, ears, and whole hands dangled like grotesque jewelry.

The image broke a dam in Faelix’ mind. Images of battle-marked giants rampaging over her friends and family came onto her like a drowning wave. The fire blazing in her chest disappeared along with the flames dancing on her blade. The stone teeth of giants dripping with the blood of her people were burned in the back of her eyelids, she couldn’t avert her gaze.

The marked giant slowly walked towards her. Its veined muscles glistened with the poison rainwater. It carried a double-bladed axe that was long rusted. It approached with a disgusting smile on its face. Its teeth were broken in places, its body was covered in scars.

Faelix willed her body to move, to fly, to jump. She begged her muscles to flex, her mana to awaken. There was no response. Her body trembled with fear like it hadn’t done since she was eight years old. Long forgotten faces kept flashing in her mind. The short giant closed the gap with its threatening grin and rusted axe.

Words came to her mind as if in a dream.

“Remember, Fae, the smaller a giant is, the more dangerous it is.” They were words spoken into her ears, in a hole where her mother had lain the relatively soft leaves for them to sleep on. She always smelled of giant blood, her mother. The very smell that now filled Faelix’ nostrils made those blurry, almost lost memories as fresh as if they happened yesterday. “Bigger ones are strong, which means you can dispatch them easily if you can outmaneuver them. The small ones are smart, which makes them unpredictable.”

Unpredictable meant deadly, in these desolate deadlands under the clouds. IAll she could do was to cling to her sword; it seemed impossible to prepare herself for the incoming attack.

Faelix hid under those same leaves her mother had gathered, as she watched a giant with markings –similar to this one– dismember her. Her tongue kept numbing with the memory of her tears mixed with rainwater and her mother’s blood.

Amid that cold numbness, a single cinder softly radiated warmth.

A thundering broke through the simple pattering of raindrops and melodic thumping of giants’ feet.

Lieutenant Faelix of the Golden Vanguard, the battle beast of rider corps, snap out of it.

With a forceful push from Duchess into her mind, Faelix’ eyes snapped open. She raised her sword just in time and with just enough force to push the rusted axe to avoid losing her head.

“Duchess,” she whispered, mana rising inside her chest, “forget what I said earlier. Burn it all. Burn it with enough fire to consume me.”

Faelix jumped, using the bent knee of the seven-foot-tall giant as a steppingstone. Bright marble veins of orange flame appeared on the black steel of her blade. The cindered coal that replaced her heart the day she bonded with Duchess, came alive with roaring flames once again.

She threw that whole fiery power into her fist, as she punched the giant’s chin. She kept her momentum and somersaulted over it, coming down with her blade carving a good chunk of its back on the way down. She landed on her feet, satisfied with the damage she had done.

And fell to one knee when her left leg refused to carry her weight.

The giant in front of her snickered. It created a chain reaction in those watching from around them, sound of laughter created a bizarre melody, coupled with the thumping of their feet. The rusted axe fell to the ground splashing water around. The giant slowly turned around holding two shining steel stilettos.

“Didja think I’d fight a ryder with a rusted weapon, little human?” it asked in a broken way. Sounds hissed and cut around as they left through its broken teeth and out its scarred mouth.

It attacked with a flurry of combination stabs, which Faelix barely dodged by rolling left with the help of her stable right leg. She took half a second to look at her left leg. Blood sprayed out of a long cut that covered the entire length of thigh. It was thin like a papercut, and the pain from it was sharp when it finally hit.

Faelix willed her knife to appear out of her coat again and fly towards the nearest giant’s neck. She jumped with one leg, above the marked giant’s kick, and used the rope attached to the knife to pull herself up in the air. She looked up to where Duchess was, hoping to get some of her liquid breath to heal her leg.

The dragon was engaged with three shapeshifting giants with large falcon wings and long, sharp claws. In fact, her state was barely better than Faelix’s. She was bleeding from both wings and a large cut that covered her chest from the base of her neck to one of her legs.

She pushed the unexpected fear down. She let anger and mana fill her entirety. She pushed through the sharp pain and stinging doubt, to arrive at her signature smile. It was a smile that gained her vary looks from every dragon rider for years now. It was what made the others give her the name “battle beast”, the one who smiles at death’s door.

It was a smile that was the very last thing many creatures saw before they died.

She felt her blood boil as Duchess stopped inhibiting her feelings. Her lungs flared up, its pain overshadowing the cut in her leg. She put up a wall of air before reaching the giant that she had thrown her knife to and pushed with her stable leg off it. Sparks ignited her veins, the blood gushing out of her leg flared first.

She spun with a push of mana-infused air. Burning blood rained on the marked giant and the monster’s broken, lifeless smile disappeared, as it faced Faelix’s radiant one.

Her vision became red, and color bled back into the dreary, dead world of the surface. She pushed the entire reserve of her mana around her and created an armor of flames.

Like a comet, the battle beast crashed into the giant.

When the members of the Violet Valor came to back Faelix up mere minutes later, what they found was a demon. Flames dance on her shoulders, her blade was still on fire. Her eyes glowed bright orange. She was surrounded by burning corpses. She smiled, tears evaporating as soon as they left her eyes.