Chapter 27- Dragon

I run at full speed away from the heat of the battle as Alice tugs at my fur trying to force me to turn around. We are already back in the forest and far away from the village. Behind me I can hear the battle start. The dragon breathes in heavily before unleashing a scorching barrage of flames. I not only hear the very earth burn up and the life sizzle out of everything green but the heat radiates through the trees hitting my back as I flee away. Beowulf’s war cry’s echo out as the heat dies down reassuring me of his survival.

“Fenrir you need to turn around! We can’t leave Beowulf behind! We can’t let him die!” literally screaming and kicking my sides Alice puts up a fight, but I am far too determined to keep her alive to give into her whining. I must not let her die.

Everyone I ever care about die’s around me as I am forced to move on to the next world as if nothing happened. I can’t allow a repeat of what happened with Aarushi. I must make sure Alice survives.

“Fenrir put me down! You can run but I don’t want to!”

I don’t care what you want! You are not like me. If you die you die for good.

Calming down and resting her head on my back I can hear small sniffles as tears mesh into my fur. “I can’t lose someone else I care about Fenrir.”

As Alice cries into my back I catch up to the other villagers. I approach one of the one’s I recognize and pat my nose against the back of their hand. When they see Alice they gather more villagers to help her off of me.

“Alice you need to stay here with us, we are headed south.”

“Don’t worry about your father; he is stronger than you think.”

As the villagers calm Alice down I give a small bark to catch her attention. I glare into her eyes trying to translate my intentions to her. After another moment I bolt back toward the dragon.

Alice screams out “Please make sure to come back alive! Do whatever you have to too survive!” I can almost feel her reaching her arm out towards me as I run back to help Beowulf.

…

I don’t know how I can fight this dragon, but I can’t leave Beowulf behind. I know my species does not have any type of resistance to fire, only cold. If I am caught in the dragon’s breath I will be burned to a crisp in a matter of seconds. If he catches me in his claws then I might be able to withstand the pressure from him crushing me with Dei or I might just die in an instant. If he catches me with any part of his body without me fully activating my entire Dei I will die. The only thing I know Dei will not help me with is the dragon’s fire breath. Basically if I am hit once then I will die, unless somehow I get lucky.

As I arrive near the village I look around at the destruction. All the snow has melted away into nothing, not even a puddle. Several buildings have been knocked down and destroyed, and even more were on fire. Most of the trees surrounding the village were ablaze while the ones not on fire had fallen over into the snow. The ground in several places had been torn up and split open. The very earth would be scared from this fight.

The only thing I do not see is the dragon or Beowulf. Had he already won? Or did he lose and the dragon flew off? Where could they be? These questions are all answered in one instant as Beowulf plummets from the sky like some Greek god descending from the heavens.

His fist slams into the ground splashing rock and dirt everywhere. He is covered in golden armor from head to toe. Imbedded in the ground with his fist is a giant golden shield with a dragon’s body carved into it. His other hand wields a six foot long glowing blue double edged sword. Under the armor is his normal set of clothes. In a single motion Beowulf stands from his crouched position wrenching his shield above his head.

Red flames pour from the sky onto him. The shield repels the flames like a rock in a stream of water. They part on each side of him arcing around in every direction. The earth below him turns black but Beowulf still stands strong. The dragon lands with a thud putting Beowulf between it and myself.

As I stand frozen to the spot my blue eyes widen in fear. His head alone is the size of my entire body. The jet black claws could spear through me. His iron hard Die infused scales seem to be impenetrable. The red scales shine in the light like a crimson armor. His wings stretching outward block the sun out. Spikes protrude from his back. His tail flails around behind him knocking over trees like toothpicks. His orange eyes with a vertical black slant in them seem to pierce the soul of anyone who sees him. I become entranced by the presence of this great creature.

The shouting of Beowulf breaks me from my stare. “Fenrir, it’s good to see you! I am not as strong as I once was and need someone’s help to slay this beast!”

Looking over Beowulf I see blood dripping from his brow. His usual clothes are charred black, and the upper portion of his shirt is ripped off. How has he been able to still stand?

“On the left flank of the beast I have been able to chip a few of his scales off. I only need to land one final blow there and I should pierce his heart.” The dragon swipes his tail over where Beowulf stood, but his reflexes are even superior to my own and he is able to dodge the dragons attack. Continuing with what he said as he runs toward the dragon he shouts “Fenrir, I need you to distract the beast while I gather up more Dei.” Instead of attacking he slides under the dragon into a pile of snow as the dragon jumps into the air to prevent him from touching his weakened spot. As the dragon flaps its massive red wings and rises into the air he shoots an orange flame from his mouth at the pile of snow he was standing on. It all melts away to reveal Beowulf raising his shield to guard against the flame attack.

I do as he says and attempt to distract the dragon. I howl at it from a distance and charge toward where it decided to land. The beast notices me in an instant and swats at me with his claws. He is incredibly fast for his size and I am forced to use everything I have to maneuver around the claw. I dodge it by sever feet but am still pushed back from the wind pressure he created. The ground where his claws passed over rip open and tear apart. If he simply grazes me I will die!

He attacks with his other claw a second later giving me almost no time to react. This time he slams his palm into the ground, indenting the ground and causing a huge shock wave in every direction. I am flung further back into a building. Before I make impact I coat my entire body with Dei allowing me to be injury free even though I break through the burning log wall of the house.

Not wanting him to take his focus off of me I burst out from the hole in the wall and howl once more. He is already building up his breath when I emerge from the building. Like a flame thrower on steroids the dragon blows fire several feet tall directly at me. I am completely covered in fire from head to tail. I can feel the flames scorching my fur and burning the earth around me. The ground turns black as it turns to ash. All my surroundings combust into flames as my vision fades. I feel no pain due to the adrenalin running through my body. I don’t know what it feels like to burn because in the last world I would never feel pain from fire. And now I will not find out because I can feel myself fading away, I can feel the very breath being stolen from my body as the heat envelopes me from the outside. I simply close my eyes and wait for it to end.

As the flames from the dragon diminish I stand completely still focusing my vision. I am alive? In fact I am completely unharmed by the flames? The only reason I felt like I was fading was the lack of oxygen I was breathing. How can this be? What kind of being am I?

I look around to see Beowulf in a meditative state past the tree line. His eyes are closed so he cannot see the battle between the dragon and I, and he has no Idea that I just survived the flames or that I even got touched by them. Either way I need to let him gather his Dei and keep the dragon distracted.

The dragon leaves his mouth open for a second after releasing the last bit of his fire. I don’t have time to react to it this time, but next time he breathes fire I shall strike the inside of his mouth. But tell then I will attack the place where his scales are chipped off.

I charge toward the dragon’s weak point with determination. The dragon sees I am still alive and bites down at my body. I quickly dodge away from his monumental teeth toward his injured side. Powering all my strength into the attack I slice into his flesh. It merely grazes him leaving a few small claw marks. He makes a quick grunt before jumping into the air while blowing down flames onto me.

The flames have little effect on me. The biggest problem they make is the heat blurring my vision and absorbing the oxygen in the air. Somehow I am resistant to fire. If the beast was not in the air I would charge in to attack his weak spot once more, although the fire does not hurt me, I will stay away from his sharp teeth.

After raining down flames for almost a solid minute the dragon lands in front of me.

A deep voice pierces into my mind. “Little one, I do not know how you keep dodging my attacks, or how you survived my flames, but why do you attack me? We are one and the same. We are both born from this world. Your kind usually hates humans just as much as mine.”

In my own head I think aloud “Did the dragon just talk to me?”

“Of course I can, I am one of the all-powerful beings of this world. I know you are a lowly creature but you should instinctively know to avoid me. Why do you fight me now?”

“Humph it is to protect the ones I love. I can’t let you kill these people any longer.”

“haha like you have the power to hurt me! Your last attack barely tickled. This time I will make sure you have no way of escaping!”

The dragon charges at me for the first time. He slashes both claws down on top of where I stand but I dodge backwards. While I still float in the air the dragon tears dirt from the earth and flings it at me. The boulder like clumps of ground hit me sending me further into the air and blocking my vision of the dragon. The next instant the rocks shatter into a million pieces sending me flying further and faster in the air. I am flying far above the town unable to control my body. I can see the dragon down below preparing a large breath of fire aimed at where I am going to land. As I rapidly descend I see a flash of gold inter the corner of my vision before the flames blind me and I hit the ground with a hard thud.

I am unable to move. My breath was stolen from me as I slammed into the ground and the fire is eating any air that I try to grasp. I can’t breathe. I can’t move. All I can do is sit and wait for the dam flames to end and for my lungs to finally fill with fresh air. My vision turns white from lack of oxygen, but I am unable to move. I simply lay there for several seconds until the flames dissipate. Pulling in air I lay motionless. After few deep breaths I look up, my vision still blurred.

As my vision finally comes back to me I see the dragon’s body fall to the ground. Beowulf stands with half his body facing away from me inside the dragons mouth. The glowing blue blade is piercing out of the dragon’s skull. Beowulf lowers his head and mutters “Dam, I was too late to save Fenrir.” He collapses to the ground.

I rush over to see him and am horrified when I reach his body. He did not have half his body facing away from me, half his body was missing. The only reason he can still live now is because of the round shield he had covering half his body. The other half is missing, and where it would normally be connect is charred black preventing him from bleeding out.

As I approach him I lick the non-burnt portion of his face. With what is left of his mouth he forces a small smile. “Fenrir… you survived… thank goodness…” with his only remaining arm he points at the blue sword. “Please give that to my daughter for me… it is the lunar blade… I love both of you.” The last breath of Beowulf leaks out of him as he passes on.

I grimace at the loss of someone I cared about so much and a single tear falls from my eye onto his face. In my mind I say “thank you for everything.”

I climb into the dead dragon’s mouth and grip the giant blue blade’s handle with my teeth. I slowly pull it out of the dragon’s skull as I back out of his mouth. The sword is much heavier than I predicted. I can’t hold it up right and am forced to drag is along the ground as I walk. It is nearly six feet long. I can feel an energy radiate from within the very metal. The great sword also holds a white spherical crystal at the base of the blade. I flip it around once in my jaw as I swipe it against the ground. This blade is amazing!

Not in the mood to play around I simply turn from the spot and rush forward with the blade in my mouth toward the villagers. The smell of smoke blocks out my ability to smell Alice and forces me to locate them by guessing their location. After I am an hour away from the village I can begin to hear footsteps in the distance and sprint in that direction.

When I get to the noise I find the village people. As I search though the villagers who are now used to my presence after many years living in the village one of them speaks up and says “Alice is over in the front.” He points toward the direction that everyone is walking.

I walk toward the front until I find Alice. When I spot her I nudge her lower back with my head. She turns around and with a big smile that fades away slowly when she sees the sword. She stops walking and falls to her knees.

“Fenrir… Does this mean Beowulf is dead?”

I set the sword down and nod my head.

She grabs a hold of my head and starts to cry. “Why does everyone around me end up dying?!”

I lick her face a few times trying to brush away her salty tears.

After several minutes she pulls back and looks me in the eyes. With one hand she shakes a pointing finger at me. “Don’t you dare die from anything but old age, got it?”

I give a loud bark as conformation. This is one promise I intend to keep.

One of the villagers intrudes and says “I don’t mean to interrupt, but is the dragon dead? Can we go back home?” I nod my head. He shouts the news to everyone else who then slowly turns around and head back toward the village. Everyone else starts to go back home except for one person.

An elderly woman turns to Alice and says “Are you coming back to the village?”

Wiping away her tears Alice shakes her head. “I have nothing there for me. Instead I plan to travel the world.” She looks up at me from her kneeling position and says “will you come with me?”

Without responding I lower my head under her armpit to pick her off the ground. Raising her off the ground I lower myself and display myself in a fashion similar to a hoarse. She understands what I am saying and picks up the blade before jumping on my back.

With a constrained voice mixed between sorrow and excitement Alice points her finger toward the south while yelling. “Forward to a new adventure Fenrir!”