Skarlet pressed her nails into her palm as she squeezed her fists tighter, her knuckles turned white. She frowned as her gaze traveled to the cave in front of her. A dark yawning abyss that swallowed the light from the sun. the bag of food was warm at her hip and for some reason her sword felt heavier as she thought about the dragon she was to face.

"Maybe I should've brought Cody at least, or maybe joined a party. No they would have stopped me." She sighed as she drew her sword and took her first, uncertain, step into the cave. Unknown to her she wasn't alone out here, as she disappeared beyond the gaping maw of the cave a figure stepped from the forest. Her black cat ears twitch slightly as she gave her surroundings a quick survey before heading towards the cave herself.

Skarlet cast a familiar flame spell, the same one she'd used to explore the spider infested ruins from before. Holding her finger up she lit the path, revealing a cavernous corridor she didn't Believe wide enough for a dragon that was too big.

"Maybe it'll be a small dragon and that's why the reward was sketchy." She tried to give a reason for the little hiccup all the while blatantly aware if the fact that this whole quest was fishy as hell.

After a couple minutes of walking she paused as she noticed an odd marking on the wall of the cave, though as she ran her fingers through the cracks she came to the conclusion that they were claw marks, and rather big claws at that. With a new found enthusiasm she leaped into a jog and soon Came to a much larger cavern.

Skarlet extinguished her flame as there was a natural light in this cave, luminous Moss and other fungus like plants lent a blue and orange glow to the whole cavern. And to her utmost delight, ahead, sleeping on a pile of luminous Moss, leaves, and other plants was a massive red dragon about twice the size of the wyvern she'd fight previously.

Skarlet approached cautiously, the beast seemed to be asleep, she stealthily crept towards it neck. When she got within a reasonable distance she quietly chanted the wind spell and leaped while casting it and giving herself a massive boost skyward. She raised her sword high as she faced the dragon, it was a a large lizard like beast with four legs, a tail, and large bat like wings. Two horns grew out from it's majestic head, a beautiful fiery red beast of great power. "I'll slay you with one strike!" She breathed before smashing her sword into the dragons neck.

Skarlet felt her sword strike the red scales on the dragons neck, sparks flew as a pain vibrated up her arm like a bolt of electricity. She struggled to hold onto her sword as she rolled off the dragon and into a patch of glowing shrooms and moss. She was stunned for a moment, her sword that had never failed to cut anything before had just been deflected by the skin of this creature.

She sat up just in time to see the dragon glare at her before a tail the size of a small building smashed into her and sent her flying. She heard and felt her ribs break, she tasted iron in her mouth as blood dripped from her lips and nose. She was sent skipping and rolling across the rocky ground before coming to a painful gasping stop, she felt something wet beneath her.

She lay still for a moment as she caught her breath, then as she say up she realized she'd landed in a small little puddle of water, a droplet landed on her nose and she glanced up to see a stalactite above her. Her back was wet and glowing softly, there was a luminescent algae growing from the moss dipping it's leaves into the puddle. It would have been pretty if not for the circumstance she watched as the water turn a slight red as blood dripped off her chin.

Skarlet Steeled herself and got to her feet, she faced the beast before her as she wiped the blood from her lips. She lifted the sword and placed it in her sheath before leaping into the air with a wind spell. She cast a water ball spell from one hand and a earth spear spell in the other. She smashed the two spells together before launching them at the dragon's face.

The dragon shook it's large head as the mud splattered onto his face and covered it's eyes, she smirked softly as it clawed at the mud. She landed with a slight stumble at it's back feet and drew her sword, she cast a mix of ice and fire against the scales on its leg before smashing her sword against it with all her might.

Roooooaaarr! Skarlet was rewarded with a howl of pain and a splash of dragon blood against her skin, she was forced to recognize that she didn't do much however as she realized the wound was shallow. She leaped back as the beast tried to stomp her, she was forced to reevaluate and decided that she wasn't capable of beating this creature currently so she turned and bolted for the entrance while it was distracted.

Though as she did she felt a swelling of mana, a quick glance over her shoulder revealed that the dragon was casting dragons breath, a spell unique to dragons. This one was of the fire element. She quickly Chanted a wind spell and blasted herself towards the entrance just as a loud bang resounded in her surroundings. She was approaching the entrance rapidly, suddenly a familiar face a appeared and leaped through the entrance and shoved Skarlet back into the cave.

"What the fuck, Aiko we need to get-" before Skarlet could finish a loud crash and crumbling sound rang out as the entrance Collapsed into a pile of rubble. "Oh, um, nevermind." Skarlet pulled herself to her feet and glanced at the dragon behind her. It eyed them with a glare and flared nostrils, a snort left it's nose as she faced at it.

"Don't worry, I'll help you Skarlet we can do this together!" Aiko whipped out her dual swords and dashed forward causing Skarlet to roll her eyes before following quickly.

"Hey, slow down! I don't think you're swords are gonna, woaah hey!" Skarlet suddenly blasted herself forward with her wind and grabbed the girl and dragged her out of the way of a large scaled foot smashing into the spot she'd just been. She went silent after that, Skarlet skidded to a stop and frowned as she looked up at the creature. "One of the legs has a wound on it already, if your fast, you can work on that wound while I try and find a weakness to exploit. We might get out of this alive." Aiko nodded at her as a serious look appeared on her face, she dashed beneath the dragons feet as Skarlet rose into the air with wind magic. The dragon had managed to clean it's face previously that's probably why it was glaring at her.

Skarlet decided to target the eyes, if she was lucky she could dig through the eyes and attack the brain directly. That was her best chance. She cast a wind spell and blasted herself at a high speed directly towards it's face.

Skarlet watched the dragon begin to react to her when suddenly it seemed to winced and let out a low growl before it's attention turned to it's feet. The opening didn't last long but it was enough as Skarlet slammed into the dragons nose full force and dug her sword into it's flesh.

Almost immediately it began shaking it's head and Skarlet struggled to hold on, as it was shaking her sword slowly began to slide out of the wound before finally slinging her from it's nose. Skarlet couldn't even react as she smashed through a stalactite and crumbled to the ground with it. She barely cast a wall of earth before being buried alive. She managed to displace a majority of the rocks. "Casting it's to slow I need to be faster!" She exclaimed in frustration before a thought dawned on her and she remembered her fight with the Wyvern, upon killing it she seemed to pick up it's rudimentary knowledge on runes. "I could turn some of my basic spells into runes." She suddenly came to that conclusion as she quickly yanked her boots off and grabbed her knife, she quickly carved a simple wind rune into both heels before sliding them back on.

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She then pushed Mana into the heel of her shoe and it blasted her up. As she flew towards the dragon she drew a fire rune on one side of her sword and an ice rune on the other. Her sword became a mix of ice and fire as she swung it at the dragon's approaching claws. With effort she managed to slice through them, and kept her momentum before landing back on the beasts snout. The dragon would occasionally wince and growl as Aiko repeatedly slashed and stabbed at its ankle wound. It kept trying to stomp on her but she kept escaping.

Skarlet leaped up and threw herself at the dragon's eye, going for a stab, as she did though she suddenly heard a scream, it rang out right as she sunk her sword into the red reptilian pupil. Skarlet turned to see Aiko get kicked from under the dragon, she went flying towards the rock wall. Skarlet abandoned her attack and pushed a large bit of mana into get runes before blasting herself after the girl. Skarlet barely managed to smash into the cave wall ahead of Aiko in order to catch the girl. Skarlet winced as Aiko slammed into her chest reminding her of her broken ribs. Skarlet looked Aiko over, she had a broken leg and probably some internal damage she was bleeding heavily from her nose and mouth.

"You're done, stay here I'll finish this. For some reason, I think that it'll leave you alone. It's mad at me for disturbing it. Your out of the fight Aiko." Skarlet announced and turned to leave, but Aiko tried to move before wincing in pain.

"No, I, I c-can still help." She began but Skarlet looked back at her with a cold expression while lifting her knife, she glared at her.

"Aiko, I won't let another person die for me. If you won't stay put I'll make you, without the tendon on the back of your ankle you'll have to stay here. Don't make me hurt you to protect you." Skarlet warned, for once since this started Aiko felt fear from this girl. And she wondered what she meant by another person. She sighed and resigned to sitting it out.

Skarlet turned and leaped into the air once more pushing mana into her boots she soared up only to realize the dragon wasn't where it'd been before, suddenly the hair on the back of her neck rose as she quickly pushed more mana into her boots and barely dodged a swipe from claws only to realize she was now directly above open jaws racing towards her. Skarlet reacted immediately and pushed more mana into her boots only to suddenly feel a weird sensation before a sharp pain stabbed both of her feet as the runes exploded and waves of chaotic mana erupted.

Skarlet forgot to scream as she fell backwards, straight into the mouth of the dragon. Thinking quickly she held her sword above her head in a horizontal position. Gritting her teeth as she removed one hand from the hilt and grabbed the blade. Pain sliced through her palm as blood dripped down her arm. Moments later the jaws snapped shut and she was trapped between the dragons gums.

A growl vibrated the air around her as blood dripped from the gums. Skarlet chanted an ice spell before freeing one hand to cast it downwards. A louder growl erupted as the ice stabbed into the back of the dragons throat she watched with slight satisfaction as blood welled up. She then began to panic slightly as she recognized the signs of dragons breath. She pulled herself up and climbed into her sword, earning herself some more cuts on the way up.

As the draconic magic circles began to appear in the throat of the beast she summoned a powerful wind spell and blasted herself upwards, she quickly cast a second and blasted herself out of the way right as a torrent of fire burst from the dragons mouth and lit the cave brighter than the sun would have. Skarlet let herself fall before blasting herself upwards once more, she watched as her sword had stabbed into the ceiling. She barely reached it and gripped the handle once more.

Skarlet pulled herself up and placed her feet on the ceiling as she pulled, her eyes trained on the dragon below as it leaped up, spreading it's wings it soared towards her with it's jaws wide once more. She pulled as hard as she could, the sword slowly inching out of the ceiling, she felt like she wouldn't get it out in time.

snap! Skarlet barely dodged the snapping jaws, letting herself fall as she watched the dragon smash into the ceiling. Skarlet had to expend a bit more mana to dodge the falling stalactites and rocks. She then landed on the ground and stumbled as she made her resolve and she drew her knife.

"Alright you beast, one last push. Let's fucking do this!" Skarlet exclaimed as she began carving runes into her skin. Wind runes on her ankles and palms, fire and ice on each forearm, then a collection of earth runes around her body. She felt her blood dripping and soaking what was left of her clothes.

Skarlet stood up and pushed Mana into all the runes at once, an armor made of earth and roots grew around her as she soared into the air, the dragon landed in front of her and shook it's head as blood dripped from its nostrils. Skarlet manipulated the air runes to zip around the dragon at high speeds. Manipulating the ice and fire to weaken the scales before slicing gashes into its flesh.

As she flew she felt the mana flowing through the runes in her skin, blood evaporated due to the powerful mana circulating through it. She was actually doing damage to the dragon as she slowly pushed it back into a corner. The whole fight the dragon hadn't taken more than a few wounds, but she was finally managing to inflict injury after injury. Though Skarlet felt her mana getting unstable and knew there was a time limit. Skarlet soared towards the dragons face, she thrust her sword into it's eye and a loud roar rang out, before she could react it smashed it's paw into her and sent her flying.

Skarlet stabilized herself Before blasting forward once more, aiming for the same eye. As she reached striking distance the dragon reacted again by trying to swipe at her, she pushed Mana into her feet to dodge. An explosion of pain let her know that the runes had burst, she wasn't really capable of acknowledging that though as moments later the paw smashed into her and she slammed into the ground, coughing blood. Her entire sword arm felt numb as she moved to get to her feet and jump back into the air. She pushed more mana out as she soared towards it's injured eye, this time the dragon didn't manage to react.

Skarlet went for the strike, putting her all she pushed Mana through her arm and, that's when she realized that something was wrong. She felt a sea of nausea overwhelm her as she felt her eyes pulled to an object on the ground below the dragon. It was someone's arm holding a sword, Skarlet felt a little confusion as she looked at her shoulder. The blood, the torn flesh, and shattered bones, then she was falling.

She didn't even cast magic to reduce her fall, she was doing calculations, she only had enough mana left to heal her critical injuries. . . Or to heal Aiko's injuries, they would become fatal if she didn't get help. Skarlet had already made her decision as she landing with a painful tumble. Her eyes scanned till they landed on the girl slumped against the wall, she was unconscious or dead.

Skarlet began dragging herself towards her, it was hard and took what felt like hours and the dragon behind her, she heard it settle, it was watching her with contempt.

Skarlet finally reached Aiko, pulling herself onto the girls lap she reached a bloody hand out to her chest and healed her internal injuries.

Suddenly the ground seemed to tilt, she fell forward and as she contacted with Aiko's chest she was falling through it. Her body shattered like glass as she crashed into the water, ahead of her she could see faces. The first was Cody, he seemed as confident as ever, his smile never fading.

"I'm sorry." She felt the need to call out to him, "I see you, I do, I see the efforts you make. I'm sorry I never managed to reciprocate, always running." He didn't look at her, he turned away. She felt rooted in place, unable to chase him.

Maria showed up next, her long hair and soft smile. She never made Skarlet feel like something was expected of her. "I'm sorry, I wanted to spend more time with you, I respect you. I know I never said it, but I do. Thank you for always trying to help and include me." Maria turned away as well, she showed no sign that she'd heard.

Another face appeared, an old man, he was hammering away on an anvil.

"Yofen, I, thank you so much. I owe you my life and my gratitude for helping me when you did. Always fair, and you always seemed to care for me. Like a father. I'm sorry, my death will probably hurt. He turned away, no kindness in his eyes, only sweat, and determination.

Suddenly a new face appeared, young with short black hair and cat ears, he was about sixteen. A fledgling adventurer, his eyes brimming with eager curiosity. He had his hand out to her, looking back every so often, his other hand pointed into the distance.

"Oh, Cyrus, I'm so sorry. . ." She gazed at him longingly, he turned to her and her heart tightened, half of his face was gone, blood poured down the side.

"Skarlet? What's wrong? Come on we'll make it out, I see the light we're almost there." Skarlet screamed a roaring sound filled her ears, she ran, letting go of the dead boy's hand she ran. Falling into the depths of the watery dream, her regrets and failures assaulted her, she cried and screamed. She couldn't close her eyes, she couldn't run. She was already dead. . .