The Giant Drake

Then out of no where a giant mana signature appeared in front of him, seemingly rising from the ground. This signature was unfamiliar and the biggest he had ever seen. It had a wild and ferocious feel to it and he inspected it and was felt a little incredulous. Silas let out an exclamation of shock and questioning, "Dragon?!"

'But there is no wings' He thought after another second. The large scaly lizard was much, much bigger than any of the other ones he had encountered in the jungle up to this point. Then he felt the mana move and out of no where he felt a large pain on his chest and the wind rushing around his body with a weightless feeling. He flew through the air for a bit and struck the ground hard. 'How did that thing come out of no where? I should've felt that thing for miles.' Then it struck him that he wasn't focusing on his sense for at least an hour when practicing the formations.

Silas got struck by the Giant Drake and returned all the way to the camping spot of the family. He then unclenched his hand and dropped the boot while blood was flowing out of his chest and mouth. Silas had never felt this amount of physical pain before, his training coming only somewhat close to it.

Hearing the sound, John and Rebecca came out of the surrounding brush and rushed over to the downed Silas. "What happened, can you hear me?" Rebecca half shouted at Silas who only responded with a groan. He squirmed on the ground a bit and let out his mana sense again. "It was you?!" She let out, but her attention was quickly taken by the boot next to him on the ground. John helped Silas sit up taking a look at his chest while Rebecca examined the shoe. " Isn't this..." She then turned it over and noticed that there was still something in it and her eyes shot open.

She gagged and put her hands to her mouth and stepped a bit away, dropping the boot with the foot still inside of it. As she neared the edge of the clearing a rustle was heard in the distance and the large head of a lizard. Its gaze flashed down to the woman standing before it and opened its maw. The mouth descended on the unsuspecting Rebecca, biting her In half from the waist up. Swallowing it down in one gulp.

She died before she realized and had not time to cast or chant any of the spells she was known for. John saw the half of his sister and the lizard and screamed out. "Holy Fuck! Rebecca!" He took out a sword from his waist a raised it towards the unsightly beast. "Why is there a Giant Drake in this part of the forest, unheard of." He said still in shock.

Hearing the scream the Giant Drake looked in his direction with its malicious eyes and Ed and Anne, also hearing the shout from John, started running over. The Giant Drake eyed John for a moment longer and leaped forward and crushed John's head with his claw, leaving it a bloody heap as soon as Ed and Anne got back to the clearing. Silas quickly got to his feet and jumped back at this moment, feeling the massive mana signature fly towards him.

Silas drew his saber out and prepared to defend himself. He raised it at an angle directly in front of him and the Giant Drakes claw met with the saber. Silas was pushed back his feet leaving a crevice in the dirt, but he didn't fall over. They clashed a few more times as Anne and Ed both got to the clearing.

Seeing the dead bodies of John and Rebecca, Anne fell down to her knees in shock and Ed stood there his body not responding. They had been together just a short while before and now Ed's brother and sister were no more. Silas noticed there arrival through the edge of the mana sense he was sending out and yelled out, "Run get out of here!!"

The Drake heard his shout and glanced in the direction he yelled to. The giant Drake seemed to have some form of intelligence and figured they would be easier prey than this pesky human in front of him. It did a slight turn and struck Silas with its tail sending him backwards and leapt over at the couple still in shock. Ed recovered from his moment of shock upon the Giant Drake leaping at him and set his massive shield in front of him. The Shield took a slight impact but seemed to withstand the blow for the most part. Anne dodged to the side at the same time to avoid the strike but at the very next moment, the Giant Drank swept out with it's other claw slicing her, leaving her in ribbons.

Ed faltered at the sight of this and his hand slipped on his shield causing it to fall to the side slightly. "ANNE!" Was his last bellow before the Giant Drake stabbed through his stomach is insides showing its glory to the world. The Giant Drake had a look of delight on its massive face as he ignored the two he just killed. They could be savored later, first he should deal with this pesky one on the other side.

Silas felt both of their mana's dissipate and his voice choked and he was overtaken by grief. "No." He let out hoarsely from his blood stained mouth. He gritted his teeth and had scales form all over his human body and claws come out of his left hand. Small wings that would also have no ability to let him fly sprout from his back, tearing his tunic. His tunic now in tatters fell off his body leaving his scaly chest visible with the gash now seemingly healed.

Silas' new form granted him more strength and defense but still kept some of the mobility of his human form. The only downside was the increased drain from his mana. The Giant Drake stopped for a moment but leapt forward at him anyways and Silas stepped to the side and lifted his saber blocking the tail that flew at his head. Once it was deflected the Giant Drake spun a little sending out a claw that was met by Silas' own claw.

Taking this chance, Silas slashed at the Drake leaving only a small cut on its side. Blood slowly trickled from this rare wound and the Giant Drake was enraged that the human? was able to hurt him. It sent out a flurry of claws that Silas was barely able to block. He missed one of the hits and it left a huge gash on his shoulder, broken scales fell to the ground. Silas took a step back and a let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He gritted his teeth and stepped forward again. The Giant Drake saw the approach and opened it's mouth for the new snack in front of it.

Silas plunged his saber at the gaping maw that came to bite him. He made a slashing motion and he managed to slice off the Giant Drake's tongue and it bit down directly afterwards, snapping the saber in half. The Drake then sent out another claw as Silas felt a brief moment of victory and it made a deep cut on Silas' waist knocking his somewhat away and onto the ground again.

Holding the broken saber in his hand, feeling pain all over his body, he stood once again and his only thought was, 'I'm going to die!' He thought back to what he was doing earlier and let out a cry for the family of five that had just perished in front of him. In an almost trance like state he summoned fire all over his body, his mind was encompassed by rage, hatred, and fear. Mana poured in from all directions and the trees started to sway violently. The mana from Silas' body was rapidly leaving and a portion of it flowed into his now broken saber.

The fire converged onto the broken saber as well and turned bright blue. It reached a critically high point where it was difficult for even Silas to wield and he flung the half saber at the Giant Drake as hard as he could and jumped back. All the scales on his body disappeared and his wings grew larger.

The word 'run' reverberated through the young dragon's mind and he took off into the forest not waiting for the Drake to recuperate from his final strike. Silas had spent almost all of his mana on that last attack and the last of it was being wrung dry in order to escape as fast as he could. He had no other thought than to get as far as possible before he would end up like the rest of them.

For almost an entire day he ran at top speed in his injured condition without rest. He passed by many smaller beasts that would try to attack him but he paid them no mind as his thoughts were occupied by the terrifying Giant Drake. Some lucky beast managed to get a hit off and left Silas with multiple new wounds that didn't stop bleeding. He paid no mind other than to the thoughts in his head telling him to escape.

The next morning he saw that there were no more trees ahead of him. It was the end of the forest. Distracted by this his speed fell and he tripped slamming into the dirt. He crawled forward until he was no longer in the forest finally leaving the domain of the Giant Drake. His head landed against the hard ground and the fatigue finally caught up with him as his eyes closed. Before he fully lost consciousness he had half a mind to retract his wing and his human form returned to normal.