Evan turned around, clutching two gleaming swords in his hands. One, a well-crafted blade, polished to a mirror-like shine, etched with intricate runes, a testament to his father’s legacy. His other was a reinforced enchanted sword, bearing an aura of otherworldly strength, pulsing with a quiet hum that resonated with Evan’s soul.
The monstrous dragon loomed before him, its eyes blazing with eerie intelligence, almost as if it dared him to attack. The noise of the previous battle was still ringing in Evan’s ears, and the world narrowed to the relentless beating of his heart. The dragon’s searing gaze only narrowed Evan’s resolve further.
Evan charged the dragon with a swift, fluid motion, sprinting forward, his enchanted sword slicing through the air as he lunged at the beast’s colossal-clawed foot.
The enchanted blade landed, Glancing off the dragon’s armoured scales, leaving only a shallow scratch in its wake. Evan’s enhanced strength was the only thing that allowed him to maintain his stance despite the impact, “Shit.” mutters Evan, shaking his head, “Those scales are no joke.”
Unfazed by Evan’s initial attack, the dragon attacked with a sweeping strike of its tail, destroying trees in its wake.
Evan’s instincts flare, a sense of alarm screaming in his head. Diving to the side, he avoided the deadly arc of the tail as it passed overhead. The ground shuddered from the force of the dragon’s assault. Earth and debris launched into the air, raining down on Evan forcing him to throw his arms over his head.
Rolling back onto his feet, Evan charged again, unleashing a series of blows with his reinforced sword. The enhanced blade delivered power unlike any ordinary weapon, allowing Evan to carve deep cuts into the dragon’s scaly hide. Evan smiled. He knew it would take more than a few well-placed slashes to kill such a formidable foe, but the dragon roared in pain as thick, dark blood welled up from the newly formed wounds.
The dragon twists its massive body, its wings sweeping forward in a violent gust of wind. The sheer force of the attack sends Evan tumbling backward.
Regaining his footing, Evan grabbed for the sword that was just a second ago in his left hand. Finding nothing, he looked around, noticing it was now embedded in a nearby tree. “Come on!” yelled Evan as he turned to face the dragon again. “I needed that damned sword.”
Evan didn’t get to dwell on the loss for long as the dragon launched a fiery breath attack at him. Scrambling, he cast his self-enhancing magic as he ran, fortifying his agility and reflexes as the fire from the dragon’s breath chased him, narrowly evading the inferno. The blistering heat washed over him, causing his skin to prickle and his clothes to smoulder.
Evan patted his vest, trying to stop any fire from taking hold.
“Come on, you damn monster,” yelled Evan as he re-engaged, his enchanted sword tracing intricate patterns in the air, twisting around as he timed a powerful thrust, the blade sinking deep into one of the dragon’s front legs, piercing between its armoured scales. Black blood spurted from the wound, covering Evans’s hand as he pulled the sword free.
The dragon roared as it whipped its tail around in another sweeping arc. This time, however, Evan was ready. He leapt into the air, flipping over the tail’s trajectory as he landed with the grace of a stumbling drunk. His reinforced sword had landed a strike on the tail, but his magic-enhanced body was starting to wear out. Looking at the dragon’s tail, he noticed a long gash. “Well, that’s something, I guess.”
Evan pushed himself even further, his ability allowing him to move with a grace and speed that defied mortal limitations. Dancing around the dragon, his blade darting to land precise strikes on the creature’s armoured hide. Each strike was a dance of fury and deadly grace, a symphony of strength and agility, as he pushed himself beyond the limits of a mere swordsman, showing every bit of his A-level ranking with the years of experience to back it up.
The dragon, now enraged and badly wounded, thrashed wildly, its massive wings beating a howling storm of wind and debris. Evan clung to his enchanted sword, his enhanced strength anchoring him to the ground as the gusts threatened to send him hurtling.
As the dragon’s blind fury raged, Evan noticed the enchantments on his sword glowing. He realized he’d been pushing the sword far beyond its limits for too long. The runes etched into the blade pulse with intensity as tiny cracks form down the weapon’s length. His magic-enhanced body begins to slow down, the weight of the battle and the pain of pushing to the edge of his abilities becoming too much.
Staring at the dragon as it raised its head, about to unleash its fire breath again. Evan glanced around the battlefield, looking to see if Lily was gone.
Evan sighed in relief, unable to spot her. A sense of peace settled in his mind; she had made it to safety.
Raising his sword high, Evan screamed a wordless cry as he charged. He knew he wouldn’t be able to attack again after this. He was out of time. His enhancements begin stuttering as they come to an end.
Leaping up with the last of his strength, he managed to land in the dragon’s open mouth, staggering on the tongue’s surface. Evan’s thoughts returned to his father’s advice on killing a dragon.
“The best and only real way to kill a dragon is to pierce the roof of the mouth and hit the brain, though, mind you, no one has ever tried it and lived. Well, that is unless you are some beast that can take the things head off. Ha-ha, don’t get your hopes up for that one kid.”
Driving the enchanted blade upwards, he pierces through the roof of the mouth, sinking deep to the hilt. His eardrums burst as a roar erupted from the dragon’s mouth. Evan twisted the sword around, pulling it out before driving it back to the hilt again. The dragon groaned as it collapsed to the ground. The life faded out of the beast’s eyes.
Evan lowered his head as the fire it had been about to unleash didn’t stop growing larger. Every second that went past only increased the fire in size. The dragon’s control over the fire finally failed, launching the last attack that it had been building.
Evan watched the world turn crimson red before him. Standing before the flames, his magic was gone, his body and mind drained. He brought his hand up to his heart, muttering a prayer. “Goddess Cora, please watch over my sister and mother, protect them now that I have failed.”
The fire washed over him. Evan smiled one last time, glad he could save Lily.
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Lily had been running away from the chaotic battlefield, clutching the magic stone her brother Evan had entrusted to her just moments before. He had urged her to escape, use the stone, and teleport herself safely. She had appeared far from the battle, the magic within the stone now spent. But Lily’s heart refused to leave her brother alone to face the monstrous dragon.
Her thoughts raced as she gripped the magic stone tightly. She couldn’t bear the thought of him alone, facing that thing with no one by his side. Tears began to run down her cheeks as she sobbed. The deafening roar of the dragon and the clash of battle sounded in the distance, the sound a painful echo of her thoughts. “I’m coming, Evan. Just hang on a little longer.”
Moments later, she had made her decision. She was sprinting back to the battlefield. The world around her shifted. She pushed her magic to make her move faster. She had always been the better at magic. Evan could only use it to enhance his body.
“I won’t freeze this time, I won’t,” she said. The images of the dead face flashed across her vision. She had killed him, the bandit. “No, it was me or him. I had to. I had to….”
Lily quickly found herself back where she started, shaking her head to clear the image away. Lily stopped. She hid behind a tree near the fight between the dragon and her brother.
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The sight that met her eyes was both terrifying and heart-wrenching. The massive dragon loomed, its fiery breath lighting up the night sky, and Evan was in the centre of the inferno. He stood defiantly, his enchanted sword raised, buried deep in the dragon’s mouth as he was engulfed in the dragon’s flames.
Lily’s heart sank as she collapsed. Her scream of horror cut across the battlefield. She watched in disbelief as the flames died away.
There was nothing left.
Her brother was gone.
Lily crawled forward, tears streaming down her face, unable to tear her gaze away from the nightmarish spectacle.
“Brother… no… no… come back. Please. Come back.”
Tears running down her face as she struggled to keep moving. Lily barely noticed as a group of soldiers emerged from the tree line. Swords were drawn, and they slowly circled the dead dragon. They were checking to confirm if it was dead.
One of the group noticed Lily still struggling on the ground and approached. His expression was stern. Giving little away.
“Lass, you should not be here,” he said, his voice flat.
Lily’s voice trembled as she responded, “My brother. He… he was fighting the dragon.”
The man looked back and exchanged a glance with the group. They had seen what happened. “I’m sorry, lass. The dragon’s flames… there’s no way anyone could survive that.”
Lily’s eyes squeezed closed as the reality of her brother’s fate sank in. “But I have to find him. I have to be sure. He might still be okay.”
The man placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. “We’ll look for him, I promise. But first, let’s get you up. Can you tell us what happened here?”
Lily stared in front of her, eyes blank. She couldn’t think. The image of the fire surrounding Evan was the only thing she could focus on.
The man signed as he knelt. “Lass. Look at me. Come on, Look at me. I need you to tell me what happened.”
Lily slowly looked up into his eyes. She nodded after a few moments went past. Stumbling to her feet with the help of the man. She slowly recounted the events leading up to when the dragon attacked. Tears came all too easily again as she struggled through the end of the fight she had witnessed. Her heart grew heavy. She knew her brother was gone, and the dragon’s defeat offered her nothing.
“Is…. is there anything left of him?” asked Lily.
The man nodded, his face hard. “Aye, lass, we’ll look around. And we’ll find the one who summoned this beast. But first, we must search for any survivors of the group.”
As the warriors began combing through the battle’s aftermath, they could only locate one of Evan’s swords, stuck halfway up a tree. The group’s mage pulled the blade free with his magic after a few other guards failed to remove it. He passed it to Lily.
“Here, it’s not much, but…” said the mage, not knowing what to say.
“Our father’s sword.” Replied Lily as tears ran down her cheeks. Lily sniffed as she ran her fingers over the intricate runes on the blade. “Evan must have lost it in the fight.”
Lost in her thoughts, Lily didn’t notice as one of the group approached the man next to her.
“Lord Thaddeus, I apologize for interrupting you, but we have cleared the area. Kairos is not here.”
Lord Thaddeus turned his head. He nodded, acknowledging the information. “Search again, Otto. He should be around here somewhere; this lass said they were part of the group escorting him.”
“Yes, Sir,” said Otto as he turned around, shouting orders to the group.
Lord Thaddeus turned back to where Lily was still sitting on the ground. He reached down, brushing a few of her hairs that had fallen in front of her eyes away from her face. “Did you see anyone with a scroll? It would have been old, around this long.”
Lily looked up, her eyes not focusing on anything as she replied. “No. I don’t remember anyone having a scroll. Evan did… oh god, no. That man K… Ka… Kairos had one, I think. I remember the guards talking about how…… he had some old thing of power.”
Lord Thaddeus looked up as he quickly ordered his men to search again before turning to the mage beside them, “Reuben, cast your spell and search for any magic in the area.”
“My Lord, the whole area is a mess of magic. It’s everywhere you turn.” He swept his arm wide, gesturing to the now sizeable open landscape. There were black burn marks everywhere. Large holes scattered the ground where trees had been torn up, roots and all. The landscape before them was far from the forest they had entered in the morning.
“Yes. Yes, try anyway,” said Lord Thaddeus. “We have to assume that Kairos used the damn scroll to summon the dragon here….”
“Wait….” Said Lily as her eyes came back into focus. A cold fury hardened them as she stared at Lord Thaddeus. “Lord Kairos caused this? He is the reason my brother died? That worthless shit killed my brother?”
The mage’s eyes grew wide as he felt the rise of magic in Lily. The power pulsed out as arcs of lightning darted around her, striking randomly.
“Ah, miss. Miss, please stop. MISS! Shit. Shit. Shit.” yelled Reuben, the mage, as he threw up a shield just as a lightning bolt crashed against it. Lord Thaddeus moved to stand behind the mage quickly as another lightning bolt struck the shield.
It Isn’t Fair!” screamed Lily, rage now etched across he face. “It was that stupid Lord’s fault! he caused this. Where is he? I’ll kill him! He deserves to die.”
She extended her hand skyward, summoning the very forces of nature to heed her call. Like serpentine veins of electrified chaos, lightning bolts descended in a harrowing display of raw, untamed power, casting erratic patterns that defied prediction.
The ground itself quivered and groaned as she harnessed her magic, compelling not only pebbles, loose branches, and formidable rocks to ascend from the very ground beneath her but also causing the earth itself to ripple and churn in disarray as if the very fabric of reality were unravelling before her barely controlled rage.
“Take her out, Reuben,” said Lord Thaddeus, smiling as he watched the raw power on display. “But don’t kill her. She will make for quite a valuable tool once she is trained. Yes, very useful. “
Lily’s chaotic magic continued to surge uncontrollably, a storm of lightning and earth that defied everything that would control them. The soldiers struggled to maintain a defensive formation; they started running into the trees, desperate to escape the raw power pulsing from Lily that threatened to consume them whole. She was no longer the young woman they had found beside the fallen dragon; she was a force of nature unhinged.
Lord Thaddeus laughed. This is what he had been looking for: this kind of power. He called out to the mage, “Do it now, Reuben!”
With a swift incantation and a focused burst of energy, Reuben sent a tranquillizing spell directly at Lily. The shimmering power wrapped around her, slowly dulling the intensity of her magic. The earth ceased trembling, and the lightning bolts sputtered out quickly, the shock of her magic collapsing, leaving Lily disoriented and swaying.
“Finally,” Lord Thaddeus muttered as he stepped out from behind the protective shield created by the mage. “It took you long enough, Reuben. You had better pray to the goddess that she hasn’t injured herself with that display.”
Lord Thaddeus cautiously approached Lily, wary of any residual magic. As he reached her, he quickly struck her across the back of her head with the hilt of his sword. Lily’s eyes fluttered, and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
“That will be enough of that lass. Pick her up. It’s time to leave here, Reuben. We still have to find Kairos. He can’t have gotten far, as weak and pathetic as he is.”
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Lily slowly regained consciousness. Her vision was blurry. Her head throbbed with a deep, constant ache. She could make out the indistinct shapes of some soldiers around her. They were talking in hushed tones, unaware that she was awake.
“… didn’t think that old scroll would be as dangerous as it was,” one said.
“Damn, near could have been us if we had arrived earlier….” Said another.
Lord Thaddeus’s voice was stern and severe as it cut across the other soldier’s voices. “We cannot underestimate the potential harm such artifacts can bring. My brother Kairos should have never taken the damned thing from us. This will not be easy to cover up now. The dragon destroyed a massive section of the forest…”
Lily’s mind raced as she struggled to clear the last of the fog. She listened to their conversation. The scroll, they had mentioned a scroll, and Kairos. Her brother had said that Kairos had something powerful with him. An old scroll would fit that description, and maybe it could control dragons.
Realization struck her like a thunderbolt. Kairos, the scroll, and the dragon attack were all connected. Lord Thaddeus and his soldiers were involved, whether knowingly or unknowingly. It was the Stormrider family that was to blame for this. They were responsible for her brother’s death. They had had something powerful and allowed it to be used.
In the darkness, Lily’s rage settled into her. She made a solemn vow to herself. “I will hunt down Kairos Stormrider and his entire family, every last one of them. I will remove them from existence. I swear this to you, brother. You will have peace.”
She lay there. Pretending to be unconscious, she began to focus her energy, drawing strength from the anger and loss that coursed through her veins. “I will make them pay. They will know the pain I feel right now.”
The soldiers continued to discuss their involvement, oblivious to the brewing storm in Lily’s mind. They couldn’t imagine the awakened fury or the will Lily now had driven her thoughts to make them pay. But they would know her vengeance. Lily cursed them repeatedly in her mind.
As the night wore on, Lily’s determination solidified into an unbreakable resolve. “I will find out the truth. I will kill them all.” She thought. “Lord Kairos, you bastard, I’m coming for you first. But where could you be? Hmm. There was no trace of a body, so he must still be alive somewhere.”
Lily ran through the fight with the bandits again. “I need training,” she thought. “I need to become a mage, capable of facing anyone who dares stand against me. For my brother & my father, and to protect my mother, I will become stronger….”
“Hey, get everyone up. We found Kairos. He is running through the forest away from us.”
The group of soldiers scrambled up, grabbing their weapons as they left. Lily waited for the soldiers to move further away from her position. Silently, she sat up. They hadn’t even tied her hands. She brushed the dirt off her clothes. Looking around, she found her father’s sword. She had heard enough. It was time to start.