Einar broke apart the old chairs and table, piling up the wood a few feet from the brazier. He then went downstairs to repeat the same with several more ancient furniture to gather enough wood for the night. The giant returned upstairs and locked the hatch behind him, lighting a fire in the brazier before pulling out his bedroll from his bag. Sleep came fast after eating some rations, and the sounds of the night did little to disturb him.

When the morning finally came, the young giant broke camp and turned into his raven form, flying out through the lookout spot of the tower. His next target for exploration was the glade on the opposite side of the ancient path. It took him nearly three hours to reach it, switching between walking and flying, several wild herbs finding their way into his mystical drinking horn along the way.

When he arrived at the entrance of the glade, he found jagged rocks jutting up from the ground in a circular fashion, small overgrown craters in their centre. One of them was strangely clear of foliage yet filled with the bones of animals. At the other end of the clearing, a long scar marred the ground, stopping a foot or so away from a tree. Einar slowly and carefully walked closer, finding broken and overgrown corpses in and around the craters along the way.

‘This must have been a terrifying battle.’ He deduced, his eyes drawn toward the dark scar on the rocky ground. Getting close enough, the seeker could see some light glint through the faint layer of dust on the darkened ground, a glassy surface revealing itself after he stirred the dirt with his feet. ‘Obsidian?’ He asked himself, baffled by the thing he saw.

It was as if whatever made the scar had turned the rocky ground into pure obsidian. He had no idea if that was even possible to do, but if it could be done, then whoever did it had to be far more powerful than anyone he had met so far. A step ahead of the scar on the ground grew a red-leafed tree with a twisted trunk that was ashen grey, its roots digging into the obsidian as if it were ordinary dirt. The cracks on the tree’s bark glowed with a faint red hue and there were five fiery-red fruits the likes of he had never seen before.

The seeker stepped closer to the tree that was nearly twice his size, trying to reach up for the low-hanging fruits when a spear whizzed by his head. He stopped for a moment and turned around, finding a lone warrior walking toward him. He had seen people wear similar armour on the proving ground before, but it didn’t belong to the Falling Sun Empire or the Eastern Alliance. The warrior kept walking toward him, one hand holding a circular bronze shield, the other held out toward Einar.

“That treasure doesn’t belong to you,” the stranger said with a firm yet feminine tone. “It is a bounty meant for Hellada.”

“Hellada,” Einar repeated the name, vaguely recalling the distant kingdom from his father’s tales. “What makes you think it belongs to your people? I don’t see your flag beside it.”

“Do you even know what that fruit is?” The woman asked back, not with anger or reproach, but in a calm tone.

“I can’t say that I’ve ever seen anything like it, but I can feel the might of fire from it. It... it calls to me.”

“Calls to you,” the woman looked at him with honey-gold eyes from behind her bronze helmet. “Do you possess the blessing of fire?”

“In a way.” The seeker admitted, surprised by how... civil their meeting was so far when every other person either tried to kill him or ridicule him.

“That is a Promethean Fig tree,” she explained while walking closer, the spear she threw away now flying back to her grip. “It is a gift from the ancient god of fire and smithing from the old world. The Magos had told us about it, warning us that it should not be allowed to fall into the hands of outlanders.”

“And now you want to stop me from taking it.”

“I am bound to do so by my oath to Hellada.”

“I’m not giving up on this treasure.” Einar said with a deep growl as his hair began to light up.

“Then you leave me... what?”

The warrior’s words were cut short as the ground slightly trembled beneath them. A roar came from the forest where some of the trees looked bent and crooked, as a giant beast rushed out of it. It shattered whatever tree or stone got in its way while spewing flames from its mouth.

“A drake!” The seeker recognised the beast that looked like a lizard that grew nearly as tall and thrice as long as the giant bear he fought the previous day.

“It’s the guardian of the tree,” the woman said as she retreated behind the nearby jagged rocks. “It must have left to hunt for food but sensed our presence.”

Einar followed the woman’s example and rushed toward the circle of stones, hoping it could stop the beast long enough for him to decide whether he would stay to fight or fly away. The drake rushed toward the tree, sniffing at it for a moment before it turned its attention toward the intruders.

“Have you ever fought one of these before?” Einar asked, earning a head shake from the warrior.

“I’ve only heard tales about them,” she said, taking up a battle stance with her shield held forward and her spear close to its top. “A relentless beast that would chase its prey to the end of the world once it caught their scent. Its scales are as hard as steel and its breath is hotter than a forge’s flames.”

“Any weak points besides the eyes?”

“The scales on its belly are thinner, but it hangs too close to the ground to be attacked. The Magos also told us about the fire-stones in its throat.”

“Fire-stones?”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Gems the size of a walnut, connected by strings of metal-like sinews. When it breaths out, the air touches the cords, catching on fire. That is how it spews flames.”

The seeker listened to her words like a hunter gathering tips on how to kill its prey. Meanwhile, the drake decided to rush toward them, surrounded by fire as it roared.

“Here it comes!” The woman said as the beast rammed the circle of stones that barely reached up to its body.

The two large rocks that stood in its way exploded into pieces, barely slowing it down. Einar rolled out of the way while the woman did the same, just after stabbing toward the beast’s eye with her spear. The tip of the spear skidded along its scaly face bone, missing the eye by a few inches. The drake came to a grinding halt when it realized it had missed both targets. Einar ran up to its hind leg, taking a low swing at the back of the creature’s ankle. A tactic Björn often used with his old hunting group to injure and slow down larger enemies.

His blade reached the hefty leg, cracking some scales before the drake swept its tail toward the seeker, sending him flying. It was about to turn around, opening its mouth when a spear stabbed toward it, piercing the corner of its mouth. Blood trickled down the weapon’s tip, forcing the beast to snap toward its other attacker. Einar got up from the ground with his sword in hand, anger flaring up in him as his hair lit up with a pale flame.

He rushed forward once more swinging the sword to the same leg, the blade biting an inch or too deep into the sinewy flesh. The drake roared in anger and pain as it whirled around to retaliate, finding a spear of ice that flew toward its opened mouth. The flames spewed out by the large lizard melted most of the incoming spear, a small piece of it striking the roof of its mouth. It snapped its mouth shut with a yelp while swiping at Einar with its barrel-thick forelimb.

The seeker backed away, his eyes on the enemy that soon got stabbed in its leg at a low angle by the warrior. This back-and-forth battle went on for a few minutes, the drake slowing down as its limbs got more and more wounds. When its rage reached the breaking point, the ash and soot-covered scales began to glow at their meeting points and its body released a heatwave that sent both Einar and the warrior tumbling back.

The seeker was already feeling weak from the passing of ‘dragon’s pride’ and couldn’t defend against another tail swipe that sent him crashing into one of the nearby rocks. The warrior didn’t get away scot-free either as the drake swiped at her shield and chest at the same moment she managed to finally stab it in the eye. She bounced and rolled on the ground from the force of the strike, skidding a few feet before a large stone stopped her.

Einar watched as the raging beast was about to belch fire on her and couldn’t do anything besides swing down at its tail with all of his might. The empowered downward swing chopped off a good foot-long piece from the tail’s tip, forcing the drake to roar in pain as it tried to turn toward him. The next moment it was stabbed in the throat from below, the warrior using up the last of her strength to throw her weapon at her enemy. It gurgled as the spear’s tip drilled into its windpipe, its one good eye locking onto her.

‘A chance.’ The seeker thought as he rushed forward on the drake’s blind side and stepped under its neck, stabbing upward with his two-handed sword. The drake was in the middle of lowering its head so it leaned into the attack, causing the blade’s tip to slip between its scales and sever both its windpipe and some major blood vessels. It cried out in agony as it yanked its head sideways, creating a wide gash while freeing itself.

Its clawed front limb swung out, shattering the ice shield the giant summoned, sending him rolling again. Blood spilt from the open gash in large amounts, covering the ground in a steaming red liquid that burned to the touch. Einar staggered back, his eyes widening as the drake opened its mouth to shower him in flames, but its mouth was forced shut as a familiar-looking spear stabbed it at the chin, pushing the weapon upward. The beast seemed to have decided to crush the warrior with its head as it endured the pain and slammed its head down, the bottom end of the spear hitting the ground as the weapon bent under the beast’s weight.

The seeker snapped out of his stupor at this sight and moved beside the warrior, his sword shrinking to a shot-blade which he stabbed into the gaping wound he previously made. Stifling a scream of pain the young giant pushed the sword as deep as he could while the steaming blood scalded his arms and twisted the blade sideways, completely cutting the drake’s neck apart. It reeled back just long enough for the seeker and the warrior to retreat and the two of them watched as the beast shook its head while roaring to get the stuck blade out of its wound. At this point it was bleeding like a struck pig, its movements growing erratic and slow as it tried to back away.

“It’s over.” The young woman said with a raspy voice as the drake finally collapsed after trashing about for another half minute.

They watched the light leave its large eyes, the young woman stumbling backwards a few steps until her back knocked against one of the still-intact jagged rocks. She slid down into a sitting position, leaving a trail of blood on the rock. It was then that Einar noticed the jagged claw marks that shredded her armour on her left side, large red cuts showing beneath.

‘Damn!’ He hissed as he tried to move toward her, his own body aching from the cracked bones and torn muscles he earned during the fight. Reaching into his word eater pouch, the seeker pulled free his drinking horn as he hobbled closer to the wounded warrior. He willed the horn to use up one of its charges, kneeling beside the woman.

“Drink this.” He held out the now-filled horn.

“What is it?” She asked with a weak hesitation, her eyes slowly losing focus due to the heavy blood loss.

“Drink.” The seeker repeated as he held a horn close to her mouth, helping her lean her head back.

This time she didn’t hesitate and drank what he offered in a few short gulps, her eyes widening as her wounds began to close up nearly immediately. Einar summoned another round of healing nectar, letting her drink that too before he used up the last of the horn’s charges to heal himself. He sat down for a minute, revelling in their hard-earned victory while his injuries mended themselves.

“It was a mighty foe.” The seeker said with a heavy voice as he finally stood back up, holding out a hand toward the warrior.

“That it was,” she replied, accepting the help as she got back onto her feet. “An arduous challenge that left behind a treasure of a corpse.”

“Those scales are though,” Einar remarked. “They would be a good material for armour.”

“And the claws would make fine weapons. Not to mention the fire-stones in its throat.”

The two looked at each other with a knowing smile, exchanging a nod before they slowly walked closer to the drake’s corpse. Einar held his drinking horn toward the carcass, watching as the warrior pulled out a small jug-like thing from her pouch. The blood around the corpse was steadily waning in its glow, but it still heeded the call of the God-marked’s vessels. It released a golden-red mist that split in two, filling the horn and the jug with a glowing red dew. Einar held his horn toward the warrior with a hopeful look on his face, the woman hesitating for a moment before slightly knocking her jug to the horn. They then drank the nectar to receive whatever power they could gain from the drake.