Blazing roars burned across the planes. Heat scorched past my arms, and back; the intense heat caused the horse to buckle. Holding tight to the reins, I steer the horse forward and dip from side to side, avoiding the occurring breaths of flames blasting the planes around me.

"Come on! Just need to slip past it and return it to everyone!" The dragon flies past and drags its massive tail behind it. It attempts to run me over with the maneuver, yet the enormous creature slams against the face of the mountain while doing so. The scales on its left-wing chip away, and large rocks of the mountain crumble and hit the path in front of me.

Dodging each stone that fell, I eventually came to an open crossing with the arching mountains obscuring most of the dragon's flight, forcing it to either hit the ceiling or fly above it and lose sight of me. I draw my bow and fire arrows at its head. Hoping to agitate it into slamming into the rocks, which could stun it long enough for me to get away, I've been more than lucky that I haven't perished by such an ancient beast.

Snorting in anger, the dragon beats its wings, using air pressure to slam into me and the horse, throwing ourselves off balance. It wasn't long before the horse tumbled over its own legs, and I was thrown out of the saddle. I braced myself for the moment of impact, which stopped my body from taking any significant injuries, but the curse mark started to stab through my entire body with the most intense pain. Debilitating and paralyzing, I couldn't move from the ground. My mount wasn't fully recovered either from the sudden tumble, and my chances of making it out of this alive went from barely anything to genuinely impossible.

"G..Grr...Grraahhh!" Breathing hurt more than moving. Looking around to find any cover from the dragon in an open plane with a low ceiling caused my options to be limited. Intense heat emitted from the dragon's body in such a tight spot. It had to be no bigger than two hundred feet standing up. With such a size, it couldn't move freely on the ground either without slamming its entire head and body into the ceiling.

Rearing its head, a single bleeding red eye gazed upon my still body. I stared back at the impending death before me. It slowly licked its snout before letting out a huff of black smoke through its nostrils. Intending to cremate me with its breath, I held out my hand to fire a spell, but the moment I summoned any of my magic, the curse slammed into my body a thousand times worse than before.

Unbearable pain, burning, piercing, and lingering, spread even further throughout my body. I prayed for a quick death if this were to be my fate, my eyes clutched hard, hoping for the bright yellow hue of flames consume me instantly.

"Bramble Shot!" Lukia's familiar voice bounced off in echos within this plane. Unleashing her arrow, it strikes the jaw of the dragon. Vines and roots explode from the arrow and wrap around the creature's head. The wooden obstructions enter the dragon's throat, causing it to choke violently, stopping the breath attack.

Lukia rode on her horse from where I entered and fired several more of the same spell to immobilize the massive creature. Frantically shuffling, the dragon slams its head into the ceiling and wall of the mountain, clawing and ripping away at the roots, suffocating it. Lukia aims her next shots at its wings, hoping to cause some damage in slowing it down. Her attempts prove to be fruitless as the size of such a creature as this dragon wouldn't be nearly as fazed by such attempts.

Lukia continued to provide covering fire and shouted to me to hurry up. I responded with a cough and nodded, dragging myself to my feet and climbing onto my horse. It was still reeling from the blast, but I corrected its posture and rode past Lukia, leaving the plain, and she followed after me. Gaining as much distance as possible before it frees itself, we hurried ourselves quickly back to the group.

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Distant sounds of the dragon continued to ring through the mountains, the muffled roars obstructed by the roots and vines begin to die down. After several minutes of riding, an explosive voice rang throughout the mountains...

"RANGERS!!! I HAVE YOUR SCENT!!! YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE MY WRATH! I LOTHE YOUR KIND! YOUR ASHES WILL BE ALL THAT REMAINS!" The speech of the dragon pierced our ears, its fury known to us. Lukia picked up the pace, and so did I. Hearing such a vow from a dragon as old as that one was one of malice. Pure adulterated anger poured through its words. Simply put, he didn't like losing to such a tiny morsel of prey so easily. I had the sense it was toying with me when it chased me and had every chance it could have vaporized me with its breath or crushed me with its talons. Swallowed me whole with the horse if it wanted to. We would fit its mouth perfectly.

Lukia didn't speak a word, just focusing on moving forward without looking back to find a shadow of death looming over us. We rode on until we reached the spot where we split up. Riding down the path, Gale and Yann quickly greet us to hide in the crevice in the mountain. The place was well hidden, and even the dragon wouldn't see it unless it looked closely.

"How the hell did you guys get out of there?!" Gale took the horses and slowly pulled them inside while we climbed down from the saddles. Lukia turned to me before looking back to Gale.

Her voice sighed and spoke with a soft tone. "Caleb got it close to the ground in a massive opening in the side of the mountain. The dragon had no choice but to be on the ground in order to pursue him. I used up all of my bramble shots in order to immobilize it so we could escape. If I were a second later, there wouldn't be any trances of Caleb's existence or his horse, for that matter."

"Shit... I'm glad none of us stopped you from going after him. Thank you, the both of you. Who knew such a creature would be this close to Barou? They have magical defenses that hide them from something like a dragon, but if it tried attacking, the chances of them winning are debatable."

When mentioning the circumstances of this encounter and what it could mean, a horrifying thought popped into my head. "Hey, Gale?"

"What? What is it?"

"Did the Guild say how many parties they gave this quest to before they reached out to us?"

"I...-Wait... Now that you mentioned it, when we discussed it with Nana and the representative, they said anyone who has gotten quests to or from Barou in the past several months has never reached the other side. Are you implying that this dragon-"

"It's him...!" Lukia stops and shouts in the middle of the discussion. I looked at her, a little confused. Thoughts of what she meant went past me. I held my breath, and my voice kept silent.

"Him...?"

"I-I heard the stories... But it could be possible... Not many dragons of this size are spotted every year... Migration patterns... Finding new territory to hunt...prey upon..." Gale stops, and everyone looks at Lukia. As she continues to mumble the words, her eyes grow deeper and deeper into despair. As I listen to her, I feel my body grow cold from the sudden realization of what we are facing...

Before she could finish, I grabbed Lukia's shoulder to calm her down. I retain my composure while sweat builds up. My mouth is dry from anxiety; I cough and look at everyone. "I think this dragon... The one we just escaped... It's Slyr, The Crippling Dread...!" The name, echoing off the cave walls, causes everyone to freeze. They've heard the name before. I've been told by one of the only people who managed to permanently injure this dragon. This is the dragon that killed all of Julia's friends, the one that she always feared when speaking about it.

We have found ourselves in Slyr's domain. The remainder of our journey in these mountains would become a game of survival and running for our lives... The one-eyed dragon with blazing magma scales and breath, The Crippling Dread, leaves all those who witness it in despair for as long as they live. The one thousand-seven hundred and twenty-four years old ancient dragon had claimed the Barou Mountains... While we are sat right in the middle of it all...