Director Lucas sat back in his hand-made, leather office chair that was imported from the mainland. He breathed out leisurely and took a sip of his favourite amber drink.

Life was good.

It had been over a week since the last time Diako, his god, had invaded his mind and demanded something from him and he was glad for the reprieve.

The only critical voice he wanted in his head was his own. He wondered absently how the examinee team was getting on with their quest. In all honesty, he hoped it would take them a little while longer to complete it.

He wasn’t mean spirited by nature and he didn’t hold anything against any of them, but his life was just a lot more… simple, without Kaleb Akabane in town.

It wasn’t the outworlder’s fault of course, and he’d never hold it against him, but Diako mostly left the director alone when Kaleb was away and he liked the peace that came with that.

Of course, peace never lasted.

He sat bolt upright, woken from his lackadaisical serenity by a disturbing quest notification: The Sacking Of Havar.

“What the hell has that outworlder done now?” Lucas said aloud after reading the quest, rushing towards a shelf at the side of his office.

It was obvious that the reference to certain Adventure Society members meant Kaleb and the examinees.

That boy is addicted to causing trouble, he thought exasperatedly.

The office was pretty bare, he liked the minimalist approach to decoration. The shelf, however, had a purpose.

He was a practical man after all, and as he placed his favourite glass, half-full of his favourite alcoholic beverage onto an intrenched coaster on the shelf, he realised that practically was best served with dash of flourish.

The shelf dipped lightly as the wall slid smoothly to one side, revealing a hidden room. Lucas stepped inside; he loved this part.

No matter how many times shit hit the fan, the act of opening a secret door and walking out as a superhero, never got old.

That is exactly what he did. Inside the room was a walk-in wardrobe where he kept his most treasured and expensive adventuring gear.

Of course, he didn’t need a wardrobe. No one did. Celestia was a system planet and everyone had access to an internal storage space, but what’s the point of being rich and powerful if you don’t get to indulge yourself every once in a while?

Nothing made Lucas feel like more of a badass, than walking into his secret room to put on his expensive gear and then walking back out looking like a completely different person.

He stepped back into the office and he was no longer Director Lucas. He was The Hero of Havar. Dressed in golden armour like Athena herself, with a white cloak draped down his back and a matching masquerade mask covering his eyes, he felt awesome.

Ah, I see you’re already dressed. Diako said, entering Lucas’ mind and completely ruining the good mood he had cultivated for himself.

“I am.” He replied. “How long do we have?”

Not long. You can travel the entire island by car in less than a day, flying is faster. I would estimate a few hours at the most.

Lucas looked out of his penthouse window and sighed. It was hard to stay pumped up when he’d have to wait for his fight.

Oh well, I guess it can’t be helped, he thought, pouring himself another drink and sinking into his chair to watch the skies. When the beast arrived, he would be ready.

***

Yerma roared through the jungle as we skidded along the dirt roads. Sally poured so much power into the vehicle that it felt more like a supercar than a jeep.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Panda asked her sceptically. “You’re the strongest one here and you’re draining your mana to make this rust bucket go faster than it has any right to. What happens when we get there and you’re too exhausted to fight, or worse, when Yerma falls apart on us and we get stranded in the jungle?”

“Shut it, furball,” Sally yelled. “If we don’t get there on time then none of this will matter anyway.”

I rolled my eyes at them and folded my arms. If we were chasing down the dragon I’d need to be as fresh as possible.

The rickety jeep wasn’t the best environment to meditate in, but I had to try. My stamina was practically non-existent after the last bout.

With a bit of concentration, and a lot of pretending I was the only one in the vehicle, I managed to dive into my soul view.

I quickly fixed my stamina coil. Doing so was second nature now. However, my attention was more firmly drawn to the little blue and green ball circling in the depths of my core.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

It felt more tangible than last time, almost as if I could touch it, manipulate it, if I really wanted to. I reached out with my mind towards it, it was so close now. I almost had it when a shout woke me up.

“Gonads!” Sally shouted.

I opened my eyes with a start and saw Panda’s face mere inches from my own. I gasped and pushed him away as Sally’s voice cut through my surprise.

“Get rid of that fucking thing before it destroys our car!”

I looked around and, to my surprise, a huge spider was chasing us through the jungle. It was twice the size of the jeep and its mouth frothed white, bubbly foam as it sprinted after us.

I immediately conjured my bow and started charging my Soul Shot ability.

“Why can’t Bell take care of it?” I asked incredulously as my shot charged.

“Because she’s a fire hazard and we don’t have time to prevent the inevitable forest fire she’d start.” Panda said, sighing and shaking his head. “And before you ask, Jamie’s recharging for our fight with the dragon and he doesn’t meditate as well as you do.”

He wasn’t as openly hostile towards the fireball mage anymore which was an improvement on his part. I still wasn’t sure if he actually liked her though. Hell, I wasn’t sure if I did either. She was nice most of the time and I enjoyed having someone to talk Earthen pop culture with, but she was also completely fucking nuts.

As we spoke, she pouted on the back seat. Her arms were folded and her chin was tucked into her chest as she stuck her bottom lip out and narrowed her eyes, it would have been kinda cute, if she wasn’t an adult.

I sighed as my Soul Shot infused arrow charged up with about half of my stamina. Then I took aim at the spider’s face and fired.

The green-tinged arrow flew through the air and sliced through the spider’s multi-eyed face, practically cutting it in two.

I guess that’s what happens when a speeding arrow collides with a charging spider. Force multiplication makes the impact that much more deadly.

The spider crashed to the ground and a few moments later it disappeared from sight as Sally continued to drive the jeep like a formula one car.

The notification announcing its death came but I didn’t level up. It was much harder to do that these days, gone were the days of gaining multiple levels from every single fight.

I kind of missed them, but at the same time, it was much easier to track my progression now each fight wasn’t a near death experience. Looking back, I really got through some of those early fights by the skin of my teeth.

Now though, I was beginning to feel like I kinda knew what I was doing it. I felt strong… for my level at least.

“We’ll be arriving soon.” Sally announced.

I nodded and immediately dived back into mediation. I’d wasted too much stamina on that damned spider.

***

It’s here. Diako sang into Lucas’ mind. He didn’t need the warning; he’d sensed the dragon’s extreme mana signature from a few miles out.

He stood up and opened his penthouse floor window, flying out to meet the creature. The dragon was massive and as it approached the city of Havar it let out an ear-splitting roar and fire shot from its mouth coating the nearest bridge and gate in sticky, purple flames.

“I don’t think so.” Lucas said, flying towards the dragon at a ferocious speed and pulling back his arm for the haymaker.

He threw the punch, just as his speed hit maximum velocity, and socked the big red bastard right in the jaw.

The dragon flew backwards slightly, recoiling from the impact, and looked at Lucas inquisitively, rubbing its chin with a clawed hand… paw? It didn’t matter.

“Are you this settlement’s defender?” The dragon asked in a deep, intelligent growl.

“Nah…” Lucas mused, stroking his chin as if he was searching for the right words. “Your face just got in the way of my regularly scheduled flight training.”

The dragon chuckled. It was a deep, throaty sound that reminded Lucas of the sound a dog makes right before it throws up on your mum’s new carpet.

Poor Mimsy. He thought, remembering a time when that exact scenario had happened. May you rest in peace.

“What is your name human?” The dragon asked as the two hovered above the city.

Lucas wasn’t one for mid battle small talk, but this fight was going to be very destructive and if a little distraction would allow more civilians to get to safety then he’d happily take one for the team.

“In polite society, the person asking gives their name first.” He replied to the dragon.

“Humans know nothing of polite society.” The dragon chuckled amusedly. “But I’ll play along. My name is a Soromir.”

“Lucas.” The director replied, struggling not to laugh at the dragon’s ridiculous name. He may as well have said Frank or Dave. Why did a dragon have a human-like name?

It made no sense.

“It is nice to meet you Human Lucas.” Soromir began, looking below himself as people the size of ants scurried through the streets, desperately fleeing from him. “And it will be a pleasure to kill you.”

“It’s just Lucas.” The director replied cooly. “Human Lucas is my father’s name.”

Then he placed his hands together in front of him, like an artsy cameraman lining up the perfect shot, and fired.

A beam of pure, tangible, white light shot from the space between his hands like a hyper beam. It crashed into the dragon’s chest who was forced backwards with a yelp. Lucas had caught him off guard.

“This is why I fucking hate humans!” Soromir screamed as he caught himself in midair. “You always fight so dirty. Have you not heard of honour?”

“Honour doesn’t win battles, power does.” Lucas replied as he lined up another shot.

Soromir was faster. He snorted at the director and two fast fireballs shot towards him. Lucas quickly disabled his flight skill, dropping a few feet, before reengaging it again.

Dodging in midair was never easy, but he had good control over his abilities. He sneered as he went back to lining up his next shot, but something impacted the top of his head and he went flying towards the ground.

The fireballs were chasers, designed to follow their target. Lucas hadn’t accounted for that as he smashed through the walls of a lycanid couple’s home.

You’re losing your edge, Diako sneered in his mind, actually, I think you might have put on some weight as well. That armour seems a little tight around the mid-section. Lucas ignored him.

He shook his head and checked his HP. It had dropped but it wasn’t too low just yet.

“Sorry about that.” He muttered before flying back towards the fight, leaving the bewildered couple to stare after his golden visage.

His light powers were ill suited to fight a fire dragon, but he was the only person for miles who had a gold rank adventurer card, the highest rank attained in Havar. If he couldn’t kill this thing then no one in the city stood a chance.

He poured all of his mana into a single shot. His first hit had barely tickled the dragon. Soromir was too powerful it seemed. Lucas had more than one trick up his sleeve though.

He held his hands out in front of himself and channelled all of his stamina into the shot. Soromir sensed his attack and turned towards him, a smile forming on his scaled lips. His moustache twitching in the breeze.

At the same time, the two unleashed their attacks.

Lucas’ beam of pure light energy poured from his chest. It was amplified by the position of his outstretched hands and focused into a condensed laser beam of pure light energy.

Soromir roared and a condensed stream of black, all-consuming fire, shot from his open mouth to meet his foe.

The two attacks met in the middle, pushing against each other as their owners struggled to push their power further and further towards the other.

It was too much though, and as the black energy fought with the light, a huge ball of mixed mana erupted from the centre engulfing everything in sight.