My experience with large monsters was not enough to stop my heart from freezing in fear. No amount of time spent staring down the gaping maw of a hungry creature could acclimatise a man to it. The drake threatened to swallow us whole – with sharpened teeth and a long, serpentine tongue. I didn’t want to die today. I wasn’t going to die today. I was going to beat the shit out of it and get my ten years.

The dragon lashed out at whatever it could. Its immediate response to the explosion was to turn on Cali, who stood to my left. The side profile provided me with a million targets, but in my haste, I decided to go for the part of its body that was the closest. I hefted Stigma up and over my head and brought it down against the creature’s skull, only for the swing to glance off of the hard ridges that covered it with a loud clang. It was tougher than any man-made armour plate I’d seen.

The blow was so inconsequential that it didn’t even turn to attack me afterwards. It continued to hiss and posture in the general direction of where Cali had ducked for cover. I turned right and ran along the length of its body, finally settling on a vulnerable looking section of its stomach. Again, I hoisted Stigma into the air and stabbed it as hard as I could. The momentary resistance I felt made me fear a similar outcome, but as I pressed my weight down into it the wall gave way. Stigma’s long blade slid through into flesh and blood.

I gripped the hilt with both hands and pulled with everything I had, trying desperately to pry the injury open even further. A gallon of blood poured outwards onto my legs and feet. The creature's body quaked, winding up to move and strike back. I pulled Stigma free and ran. I hadn’t gotten it as deep or as wide as I had wanted to. My lower body was drenched with its warm essence, though it would soon cool and turn into a temperature dropping liability.

Cali wasn’t sitting idle while I danced around the dragon. It was her job to keep the beast off-balance. She emerged from her hiding place once more with a fresh batch of powder in her halberd. The drake was being pulled in two directions by our simultaneous assault. Just as it started to regain its bearings after having an explosive detonated next to its earhole, Cali delivered another that sent it scrambling all over again.

I ducked under a tail swipe, exploding bark pattering against my back. The drake lost its balance and skittered over to one side, crashing through another rocky pillar and bringing it down on top of it. That weight was not enough to prevent it from moving still. It lashed out – swinging limbs and tail in every direction to ward us away.

Just when it thought it had a moment of respite, another one of Tahar’s arrows flew and embedded itself into the side of its front left leg. An injury like that was going to do the kind of damage that we needed, but every moment that it struggled against us was another moment where the bleeding had a chance to weaken it. I could already see its frightening speed becoming inhibited by the internal damage we had caused.

I wasn’t going to be lulled into a false sense of security. Even at half of its usual strength it could splatter me into red mist with a single strike. Cali knew that her normal attacks would not pierce through the tough hide and scale – so she kept her distance and ran for a new hiding place, taking the time to reload her weapon in case we needed to stun it again.

The drake turned to Tahar, who was hiding between some of the trees across the small river that ran through the area. The arrow had gotten its attention. It charged through the basin like a mad bull, demolishing smaller vegetation and tearing up the ground to try and get at her. Tahar was too wise to be caught by that. She was a master hunter, she was already moving to a new position the moment she saw its body language shift. As she faded back into the shadow covered canopy, the dragon skidded to a halt. Its sense of object permanence was compromised.

Chasing it over the river was not my best or brightest idea. As I splashed through the shallow water and up the embankment on the other side, the dragon turned back on me. I swung wildly with my sword as it attacked me again, trying to push me aside with its head. The unknown metal that Stigma was made from did not do any damage yet again.

“Shit!” I cried as my feet left the ground. My arms and legs flailed uncontrollably as I tried to find purchase somewhere, anywhere, to no avail. Stigma flew out of my hands and into a nearby brush. I soon met a similar fate - crashing down onto the ground and feeling the breath escape from my lungs. I was just lucky that it hadn’t tried to bite down on me.

I rolled over onto my front and scrambled away as it chased me through the trees. I could hear it chasing me, but had no idea how close it really was. The only thing that I could say was a string of vulgar obscenities; “Shit, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Those kinds of words were not a defence against a dragon a hundred times my weight.

Just when I could feel the hotness of its breath against my back, I found a refuge behind a row of nearby trees. They were too large and deeply rooted for the drake to come through with me. I turned back just as it tried to squeeze through the gap, only to be stopped dead with a loud thud. It backed away and roared temperamentally. Unlike with Tahar it refused to move away and find new prey. It stared me down with the intimidating yellow slits that it called eyes.

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This was the mother of the child that Stigma and I had killed earlier. My hands were empty. I couldn’t attack the monster. I needed to find out where Stigma’s body had landed. The entire time I kept my eyes locked directly onto the drake.

“What happened to you?” I asked.

“What kind of master are you? Letting go of your beloved weapon at a time like this,” she said in response.

“Stigma,” I warned gravely. This wasn’t the time to be making jokes.

“Very well. I am in the place that you dropped me. There is no need to be concerned at the moment. Even if your clumsy hands somehow threw me into the river, my weight would have prevented me from travelling any further.”

I ignored the sly jibes and slowly backed away from the dragon. It continued to press its muzzle through the small gap between the trees, rocking them back and forth as it tried desperately to uproot them and get at me. It was a sight to behold. A true-blooded fantasy creature just like in the novels. It occurred to me then that most of the fantastical things I had seen were simply varieties of humanity in different shapes and colours. To see a dragon put that into perspective for me, it had an entirely different effect from seeing a giant, lich or dryad.

Every time the huge creature exhaled, I could feel the warm air blowing over me. It was so strong that my clothes and hair wavered in the stream. I had to keep it in place. Tahar and Cali would be in pursuit, and when they arrived they would attack and draw it away from me. Then I needed to get my sword back. Moments later, true to my belief, another arrow sailed through the air with a loud crack. It glanced off one of the creature’s scales and ricocheted into the air harmlessly.

Finally – it turned away from me to try and find the woman responsible. Tahar was a long way away from us, meaning that she had only intended to distract it so I could move. I hooked a left and pushed my way through the underbrush. The ground was treacherous. Tangled roots and small ditches threatened to rob my balance from me. The hit had left me with a seriously nasty bruise on my chest. I could feel the injured skin rubbing against the inside of my shirt.

I had to trust that Tahar could keep it away from me for long enough to find where Stigma had landed. As I burst back out into the clearing where it had clobbered me before, I released a frustrated yell as I discovered that she was not where I expected her to be. “What the hell is this bullshit!” I seethed.

Stigma appeared and pointed across the way, “Over there!”

I couldn’t see the sword, even with her helpful direction. I charged blindly towards her outstretched finger and surmounted a small rocky outcropping. A glint of black metal caught my eye. It had flown out of my hands and embedded itself into a nearby tree. I slid down the other side and ran over. I grabbed it with both hands and pulled as hard as I could.

It gave way easier than I had expected, causing me to fall back into the snow. The rampaging lizard was getting closer again. Tahar came through the same way that I did and leapt over the creek in one giant bound.

“Apologies! My foolishness has injured you.”

I shook my head, “This is nothing! Stay focused on the fight!”

The last thing I needed was for Tahar to start worrying about me in the middle of all of this. We were doing this for my benefit – but I didn’t want to kill Cali or Tahar in the process. Becoming distracted and concerned for my well being would make things harder. It would compromise her decision-making ability.

The drake burst through the trees with a surprising amount of speed. The injuries we had dealt had not slowed it down enough for me to safely attack it head on. Much to my shock, Tahar continued to look at me instead of the monster charging her down with killer intent.

“Move!”

I reached out and pushed Tahar as hard as I could. I didn’t try to temper my strength. I needed to get her out of the way before it reached us. Despite her size, Tahar could not resist the force of my push. Both palms connected with her chest and sent her flying through the air like a ragdoll. The next thing I knew, the drake crashed into me. My vision went black as my brain was knocked offline, only to sputter back to life a few seconds later, face down in the dirt.

And god above, did it hurt.

I couldn’t stop myself from yelling. It burned. Something was broken. I crawled back up onto my knees. In the chaos of the situation I couldn’t possibly keep track of what was going on. All I knew was that the dragon was on top of me, waiting to finish me off for good. What I couldn’t see was Cali charging with halberd raised.

With a mighty cry and plunged it deep into the wound that I had created previously. Her hand gripped the trigger of the catalyst tight. She refused to let go even as her arm was submerged in blood and guts. As I lay there in agony on the ground, I witnessed something I would never forget for as long as I lived.

“[Blast!]”

I could see the white-hot heat of the explosion through the skin on the other side of its body. Orange, then white, and then the pressure became too much. The bump that had grown exploded outwards, launching chunks of organ out of the newly opened hole. Cali was left standing in the blowback as a torrent of blood drenched her from head to toe. Whatever she had destroyed using her magic was important.

The drake wailed one last time and staggered away into the creek. The smoking crater that had been blown through it was fatal, and it could no longer support its gigantic body after suffering from so much blood loss. It slumped down into the water and closed its eyes for the last time. Somehow, we had succeeded in our task. It was a short, brutal battle.

“Quickly! Consume it before the soul escapes!” Stigma cried.

Using the last of my strength I rolled down the creek and to its side. With my still working arm, I slid Stigma into one of the wounds and did as she demanded.

“[Consume.]”

I passed out standing, still holding on and draining the spirit of the drake. All I know for certain is that I was left ‘in a shocking state of affairs.’ What happened after that still eludes me to this day.