“What the fuck are you doing! You are going to get stomped on like that!” I screamed as I picked up a man in a suit of plate covered in ash and dirt off the ground. I looked up at what I could only call a nightmare of claws, scales, and fire. Fucking dragons. Lord Byron wanted this dragon's heart… and he would let 200 men die to get it. Ass. As the red-scaled beast swung its clubbed tail, smashing into the trees and taking half a mage corps with it, I ran and hid in the crater my squad had been using as shelter and slammed the whimpering soldier next to me. We kept our backs pressed against the upturned earth as I looked at the two remaining men of my squad.
“Captain Imgal.”
I turned to look at the younger of the two remaining Guardians in my squad, the Ironwolves, his face covered in sweat dirt and blood. He looked at me, fear in the eyes.
“I don't want to die. Not like this.”
We are all fucked. I looked into his eyes trying to keep my expression calm.
“We are going to make it, Aldred,” I assured as I patted his shoulder, the sound of a fireball exploding over my voice, knowing full well that we had lost nearly half of our forces.
“Now when I say go, me and you are going to go for its left hind leg. I go right, Aldred, you go left. Alvin, you are gonna guard us on our retreat path, do you follow?” The two looked at me as of I was insane. I'm fighting a dragon, so maybe. I prepared my warhammer and looked at them again.
“Do you understand”. They nodded in unison.
“Good.” I gave them a moment to breathe. I looked over the edge of the crater and saw the beast had turned away from us to attack some other poor souls.
“Goooooo!” I screamed. As we ran to the monster, I kept in mind the first rule of fighting dragons: limit its mobility. Thankfully, a few mages had frozen and shattered its left wing before they got taken out.
As we approached the dragon, I swung my warhammer, its momentum crushing the dragons ankle. The man running next to me managed to lodge his heavy spear into the back of the knee of the beast. I quickly retreated under the beast to his right side, as the blood red beast roared and turned to look back to his left at what had caused it so much pain and let out an indiscriminate wave of fire and ash. All I could do as watch as the wave of fire washed over the men. Shit. I didn't have time to worry about others. I had to survive.
As I was lost in thought the dragons right wing flared as its body flailed as it fell to the ground unable to support its weight, launching me into the air. I flew back, finally crashing into some trees, the sound of my bones breaking accompanying the splintering of wood. I felt my body shutting down, my lungs unable to supply me with air. I felt the blackness of death as I closed my eyes in pain.
It was dark and all sound had faded. I was going to die. I felt only pain. And for what. All so some rich fucker who never held a sword can eat the dragon's mana sphere and become a Dragonslayer? I thought of my sister, my mother, my father, the woman I loved as I fell into the inky blackness. However, through the darkness, I heard a voice.
“Maxima Heal.” I saw a light emanating from the darkness and I reached out for it. I felt small strings pull me together like a puppet. I felt something fly out of my lung, the pieces of my shattered ribs coming together like a puzzle. I opened my eyes to a elven healer, who promptly helped me onto my feet. I was a little disoriented and stumbled as I got up.
“Stabilize” the elf said as the feeling of a bucket of cool, refreshing water that had been dumped on me rushed over my body. I felt my surroundings come back into focus.
“Are you good to go?” she asked.
“Yes,” I didn't have time to say thanks before I was pushed out of the way to help the next broken body that was carted over. I knew she wasn't trying to save me out oh the kindness in her heart. She did it to save herself. If I died who would distract the dragon. I chuckled. All I could do as thanks was to kill this fucker.
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I ran back into the fray and found where I had dropped my weapon when I was hit, running to pick it up. As I ran, I reevaluated our position and saw that in the time I was away the remaining soldiers had managed to get ropes over its body and had staked them into the ground to pin the creature. Its front right leg had been blown off and was laying near it, the beast spitting fire at any that dared approach, tail swinging wildly.
Now we go for the head. I ran towards the beast channeling mana into my weapon, magic seals floating around the end of it, changing its form from a warhammer to a greataxe. I saw the beast turn to me and saw fire explode out of its mouth. As the wall of flame approached me, a mage sent a fireball that intercepted it causing an explosion that knocked me to the ground next to the blown off leg.
I scrambled behind the leg and regained my bearings. I got up off the ground again looking over the top of the leg. I was about 15 feet from the thrashing beast as I saw an arrow pierce the beasts right eye, causing it to launch random bursts of fire in the direction the arrow came from. I'm in his blind spot. I vaulted onto the beasts scaled leg and raised my weapon and jumped. I went for the base of the monstrosities neck. It roared in pain and I was flung away. Though I penetrated through its scales into the flesh, it was not a deep enough wound. Great, now my weapon is stuck in its fucking neck. I ran away trying to find a weapon on the way.As I ran I saw another crater and I dived in. Crashed into another body and slammed to the ground.
“Sorry.” I said turning to the person I had crashed into. The sight I saw made me want to vomit up all I had eaten over the course of the last three days. I saw the upper half of a man, intestines hanging out of his body, blood soaking into the loosened earth beneath him. I held my reaction to the visceral scene in front of me back and reach down and picked up the dead man's sword and shield and promptly jumped out of the crater.
As I got out I turned my focus on the dragon again. I saw a giant thundercloud form. Those crazy mages. Not one second later a giant bolt of lightning hit my greataxe, still lodged in its neck like a lightning rod. I saw the behemoth writhe in pain as electricity coursed through its body.
All of a sudden the dragon stopped moving. Normally an attack like that would have just bounced off,or chipped away at the dragon scales, but not kill it. Its body twitched violently as it finally stopped moving. I and a ring of the remaining fighters, warriors, and guardians slowly approached the beast, making breathing had. The men closest to its head slashed its throat and stabbed a sword into its remaining eye just to be extra sure. It took us some time to comprehend what had happened but we had definitely killed it. After a few minutes of discussion we figured out the lighting had fried its nerves and overloaded its brain. As we all cheered, a man ripped open the dragon's chest with his sword to recover our prize, the heart.
We regrouped back at our camp, far from the dead dragon withering away into dust. We started the fight with 200 men. We ended with 86. Most of the survivors were healers, archers, and mages as they were furthest from the beast. Only 15 of the close ranged fighters remained.
We carefully locked the heart away in a chest that only captains had the keys for. After that, most of the group proceed to party into the late hours of the night, drinking and eating their way to exhaustion. However, I had other plans.
I waited till the people around me had all passed out from there drunken partying. I snuck back to the tent that housed the chest and drew my knife as I approached in the darkness. A dark elf was watching over the chest as I approach his long ears twitching. As he turned around to look who was approaching, I rushed him and quickly sliced across his throat, the sound of his gurgling voice fading as I entered the tent. I pulled the chest onto a large table, unlocking it to remove the heart. I placed the heart onto the table, making sure none had followed me.
I took out the heart and sliced carefully into it. The sphere was nested behind the three of the dragons ventricles, if I remember correctly. By consuming the sphere you gain the powers of the dragon you killed. I slid my knife into cutting away the 3 ventricles to retrieve the sphere. I plunged my hand into the section I had cut away and felt around, blood splashing on my clothes as I drew it back. In my hand I held the pulsating red gelatinous sphere in my hand as it glowed faintly in my hand. All this work for this.Its time. And I took a bite. And another. And then the last. The powers only manifested if only one person had eaten the entire sphere.
All of a sudden, I felt something I could not explain. The Awakening. The moment the sphere bonds with you. I felt a fire burn in me, starting from my stomach radiating outward. I looked at my hand the blood of the dragon evaporating as I felt my body overheat. I felt the raging flames in me take over me. Become part of me. My blood boiled as I felt the skin on my body harden and small embers began dancing in my hand. I ignited as I roared out, an explosion of flame burning everything in a massive radius around me, leaving only ash, and incinerating the remaining survivors. The Overload. Don't know why I ever worried myself with this garbage. Wait, what. I felt there was something locked away deep in the back of my mind, wanting to release death and destruction. I closed my eyes and I fell to the ground exhasted. And naked. This must be the rest. As I faded into slumber, I swore I could hear a chuckle from the recesses of my mind.