Wyvern Encounter

How many days has it been since I've been chased out of that spot I had made for myself? How long have I been walking like this? I've slept four times now, so I'm inclined to say four… but for the 1000th time, I don't have any concrete grasp of time down here. Maybe it would just be better to stop thinking about time. Yeah, I'll stop thinking about time. Just keep walking.

Eventually I walk up to a fork in my path. Two directions are available to me.

The first is a low incline down into a large open area filled with holes and stalagmites. The tops of the stalagmites have glowing moss on them, but they only go down so far. As the incline goes further down, the darker and darker it gets, until I can't see a thing.

The second is a ledge on one of the walls that gives me hardly any space to move around on. The glowing moss does seem to be growing on the walls just fine though, so it's a whole lot more lit up than the first path.

So my options are lots of space, bunch of stone pillars in the way and no light, or a ledge I can hardly move around on that's all nicely lit up. There's a whole lot of factors that can influence this decision, but I decide to only focus on one. I'm trying to get out of the surface, and going down seems really counter intuitive. That's the only reason I'm picking option two.

I walk to the wall and begin trying to walk over the ledge. Depending on where I'm standing, it can give me anywhere from a meter of space between the wall and the ledge, to just two or three inches. The ledge also is sometimes on an incline, which makes it all the easier to fall. My foot and my walking stick also don't exactly make this any easier.

I decide to play it safe and grab onto the glowing vines to keep myself supported. It's a bit embarrassing, but I put my walking stick in my pants, since I don't have anywhere else really to put it. If all else fails, I guess I can just fly.

That said though, it's still quite scary not knowing just how far down you're going to fall if you do mess up. The combination of the fears of heights and the unknown makes a really awful mixture. I'll have to write about it as soon as I get some paper…

What I assume are minutes pass and I'm still walking on this damn ledge. This is honestly starting to get less scary and more annoying. I know for a fact I'm quite high up now, but I'm still nowhere near getting my feet on solid ground again.

I see an elegant looking bird with blue feathers and four wings land on top of one of the stalagmites. It's something interesting to watch as I press on, I guess. It starts chewing at the glowing moss on the stalagmite before walking down.

It gets just below the line between where the moss grows and where it doesn't when it gets pierced right through the heart by some long needle looking thing. It came from the darkness below, so I can't see where the needle came from. All I know is that the needle looks like some sort of bone, and is probably longer than I am tall.

The bird yells with all its might as it's pulled into the darkness where it and the needle disappear from my view all together. It keeps on yelling, until it abruptly stops with a loud crunch. After that, loud chewing sounds that gradually got quieter and quieter until I couldn't hear a thing, no matter how hard I listened in for any sort of sound.

Yeah… I'm really glad I decided not to go down there…

I'll have to write about that later. I'll ask Freware and Inell whatever monster that needle could belong to. I'll also have to start really paying attention to my surroundings. Kari… I'm going to be constantly thinking of you, so let me use your power at a moment's notice, alright?

The fact I haven't been doing this since the very beginning really makes me angry with myself. I've already nearly died twice down here, and I was still treating this like it was some sort of vacation.

I'll be constantly on guard now. I have to always be ready to use wind magic to dodge within a moment. I really should have been doing this since the start… I guess I'm just inexperienced and weak right now, so this was kind of expected. Still, those aren't excuses for not doing any sort of growth. I go on guard, and start walking again, ready for anything.

What I assume are several more minutes pass until I hear some sort of loud, distressed roar. The ledge right now gives me some space to work with, so I let go of the glowing vines and take a battle stance. I scan the area all around me, and pay attention to where any sounds I can make out are coming from.

I realize now that the black I'm wearing contrasts a lot to the pale green of the glowing vines. This area is also really lit up, and my walking stick is still glowing, both making it even easier to see me. Damn it. Rookie mistake after rookie mistake. What do I expect to happen if I don't bother wearing any camouflage?!

Oh well. It's not like I can change into anything well hidden right now anyway. For now I just need to focus on surviving. If I can just survive this, I can think about this mistake the next time a similar situation comes up. That time I'll definitely bring some sort of camouflage.

Forget about it for now. Focus. I keep hearing that painful roaring. Whatever's making that noise is incredibly loud and is definitely in a lot of pain. I can hear it getting closer. Crap, what do I do?!

It's incredibly close now. I refuse to die because I hesitated! I quickly jump off the ledge and use my magic to start flying in the air. I fly up as fast as I possibly can to dodge whatever's coming my way.

I feel a huge gust of wind below me, and hear that characteristic woosh sound you hear whenever something fast rushes past you. A bunch of the glowing vines get torn from the wall I was just standing on. I catch a brief glimpse of a wing. Dark red, and absolutely huge.

I turn around, and see some of the glowing vines stuck to the wing. I can't see the rest of the creature though. How big is that wing? I can't really tell, but I can guarantee that whatever creature the wing belongs to is a whole lot bigger than I am.

I hear a pained screech and then a thud. The creature just crashed into the wall to grab onto it. Since the wall is full of those glowing vines I finally get a good look at the creature.

It's a huge, dark red dragon-like creature with two legs and a pair of wings. It's a wyvern. It's covered in huge cut marks all over its body. There's blood everywhere. There's burn marks, and some of its wings have been torn off. It's just overall majorly injured.

As for its size, it's probably about… If I had to guess its wing span is probably about 30 feet? It's a bit small for what you'd think a dragon would look like, but it's still a whole lot bigger than me.

Wait. Weren't some wyverns being put under mind control curses? And there was a possibility that some of them were hiding in the caves under and around the Antisor mountains?

As soon as I think that, the wyvern roars at me, and jumps off the wall to begin flying again. It's mouth starts to glow, and- Kari! Winds! Please! I blow as hard as I can from the wall and dodge a huge ray of fire coming at me from its mouth. I feel the air around me heating up.

One thought permeates my entire body. "I need to get away."

Kari, please… I need your winds more than ever. So lend them to me!

I begin to fly faster than I ever have before. I don't even stop to consider just how much mana I'm wasting by increasing my speed this much. Since I haven't been using magic at all for the past few days, I'm definitely at 100% mana capacity right now.

I can feel the Gs gained from my acceleration. I know that if I accelerate too fast, I'll black out, but I know I'm not at that skill level yet, so I don't need to worry.

I can hear that wyvern flying after me and roaring at me. It keeps firing those fire beams at me. I can hear when it charges them up, so I time a huge sideways gust onto myself in order to dodge. It's kind of like a video game, except I get burnt alive if I mess up the timing even once.

Damn it, I can feel the heat coming from that damn fire… I need to get away. Why is it even chasing me?! Look at how beat up you are! You clearly have more important things to do!

The area ahead of me is pitch black now. Looking around I can't see any light. I'm probably flying at around 60 miles an hour. If I hit something, I'll die instantly. I can't afford to slow down, either!

I look behind me. I can't see the wyvern, but I can hear it. It starts charging up another fire blast, which reveals its location and the rough details of its head. It's even missing its right eye.

Instead of a sideways gust, I blow down as I dodge this time. After that, I keep turning down until I'm heading backwards upside down. That was such a tight turn, I definitely felt that… Damn it, that wasn't even the tightest turn I could make. I could really wind up blacking myself out like that if I'm not careful…

I take the opportunity to slow down. I hear the wyvern coming after me, but it couldn't replicate such a tight turn, so I have a bit of time.

Adad! Power! Power! Power!

I fire a lightning bolt ahead of me. I barely bother charging it. It's so weak it'll probably feel like a static shock to whatever it hits. But it generates light, and light is what I need. I'm finally able to see ahead of me, if only a little. Alright, I think I'm finally able to know where I'm going enough so that I don't splat into a wall.

That wyvern manages to catch back up with me again. It's absolutely relentless. My entire life just revolves around listening for the fire beam, dodging, and firing a lightning bolt ahead of me every now and then so I can see.

This can't keep going on, I have to lose this thing or I'll run out of mana! What the hell do I do in this situation, though?!

From what I've seen, dragons are intelligent creatures in this world, having their own language and culture… This one must be under one of the mind control curses that Inell mentioned. If it's doing this against its own will, is it really right for me to be fighting it? What would Inell think?

I dodge again and barely manage to dodge it. My clothes were this close to catching fire, and my lungs feel like they're burning. I can feel myself sweating. It's too hot. I need to think of something.

I can make out light a bit ahead of me. Good, I can stop using my lightning bolts and conserve on mana. I do everything I can to fly closer to the light. When I get closer though, I realize it's a huge ravine with tight walls and a lava pool for a floor. Whatever, it's better than nothing. The wyvern might not even be able to fly through a space that thin.

I fly into the ravine. The walls get closer and closer to me as the ravine gets thinner and thinner. There are also streams of hot lava pouring down the sides of the ravine every now and then.

Worst of all, it's hot, and humid somehow. It's well over 100 degrees, definitely. It's like Arizona temperatures with Florida humidity. It's just completely awful. I can't help but think back to those stupid fire beatles. I want to throw up. I need to get out of here. Oh God, oh God.

Whatever! Push past it! I don't have to be in here for long! Just keep flying! There has to be an exit here somewhere!

There's sweat all over me already. I'm already starting to have trouble breathing. Damn it, damn it. This is already so much worse than anything worse I've experienced. I begin to get dizzy. I bite down on my lip in order to stay focused. Oh God, not knowing whether or not I was going to go splat was so much better than this!

I start punching myself in order to stay focused. I'm right on the edge of falling unconscious. My skin's starting to get itchy now. Like, extremely itchy. My mouth's starting to go dry and I want to throw up.

I swear, I'd rather have that wyvern rip me to shreds with its claws than stay here any longer! I need to get out, I need to get out. Ahh! This is hell! This is actually hell! Why did I come this way! Why?!

Just about every part of my body is about to ache. My vision is growing more and more hazy by the second. I'm dizzy, I want to vomit, every last inch of my skin feels like it's covered in a rash. I need it to stop. I need it to stop. I don't care how I do it, I just need it to stop!

For the first time in either of my lives, I'm actually considering suicide… I can't even think about the repercussions of that because it's so damn hot. I need out. Any way out, no matter what. If I don't find one soon, I'll use a wind blade to cut my own damn head off. I can't stay here. I need out.

I keep flying to find anything. Anything at all. I really want to kill myself. If I don't find a way out of this hell on earth soon, I'm actually going to decapitate myself. Come on, anything! I don't want to die down here! I want to fly in the sky one more time! At least let me feel the cold one last time before I die!

I found it! A small hole, just up ahead! It's so tiny, I may lose an arm trying to fly though it at this speed, but I don't care. I'd much rather lose a limb and bleed out than stay here for just a few seconds longer!

I blaze towards the hole at top speed. Just a couple more seconds! Just a couple more seconds! The peripheries of my vision start to go dark again. I feel a throbbing headache, as I slowly lose my focus, even with how hard I'm biting on my lip. If I bit down any harder it would tear off.

I feel myself slowly start to descend as I find it harder to keep flying. No! I don't want to die here! Anywhere but here! I wouldn't mind dying in the freezing cold or by falling to the ground as I'm flying, but I don't want to die here!

Just a few more seconds!

Just a few more seconds.

Just a few more seconds…

Just a few…

Just…

><><><><

I slowly wake up, the first thing that comes to my attention is that I can't breathe. I'm completely surrounded by water. I struggle like crazy to go up, whichever direction that is. Eventually, I somehow reach the surface, and gasp for breath.

I begin to check my surroundings. The part of the cave I'm in now is filled with huge pools of water. Inside the water are strands of something glowing that let me just barely see. Even better, it's humid here too, but it's also cold! Aha! Cold! Amazing! This has got to be the best thing that's ever happened to me! I don't think I've ever felt relief like this.

My clothes are definitely soaked, that cloth I had around my foot is probably coming off, but I'm still so happy! I'm cold! I'm actually cold! After that hellish, hot nightmare, I'm finally cold! It finally ended! It finally ended…

Haha, I always liked the cold but I never thought that I'd start crying because of it… I'm just so happy that I'm out of that damned ravine…

Wait, that just raises questions. How did I get here? I don't remember how I escaped that hell. I definitely blacked out from the heat at some point, but when? Was my momentum enough to throw me through that hole, and I just landed here? There is a huge wall right beside me, so that's plausible…

More importantly though… I am never going out in the heat again. As soon as I get out of here, I'm asking Cesre how to break my connection with Florian, and I'm dressing in all white during the summer. White reflects light, so it doesn't get hot as easily, but I don't really like the color, so I never really wore it, even when it got really hot. I just put up with black. That's all changing now though!

I hear a huge crash behind me. Then a pained screech. I look over at where I heard the noise, and the wyvern had busted a hole through the edge of the wall. It's flying straight towards me now, faster than ever.

Kari! Let me soar! I fly up and out of the wyvern can hit me. Right as it's about to hit where I was it turns around and hits it with its tail. I instinctively know that if that had hit me, it would have broken a couple bones, at least.

I begin to fly up into the air. It's absolutely covered in burn marks from that ravine. One of its eyes is even burnt beyond usability. Why are you even still chasing after me?!

It soars at me way too quickly and I have to use my wind magic to its absolute limits in order to dodge the dragon. I twist and turn every which direction to avoid its claws and teeth, which is wreaking havoc on my body. Humans aren't meant to deal with changes in momentum this extreme!

You know what, actually? Compared to that hell from just now, this really isn't all that bad! It's almost fun, actually! It really helps that it isn't using that stupid fire beam attack! It's humid but if anything, it's actually kind of chilly! Ah, chilly! Oh how much I love chilly!

We keep flying in all sorts of different maneuvers. It's like a well and true dog fight! I have to keep dodging it's huge body, but I have to keep myself from making too tight of a turn so that I don't black out!

At some point during all this, we wind up in another area. Vines with glowing berries hang down from the ceiling all the way up to the floor. There's probably a good 1000 feet between the two, easily the largest area I've run into yet.

The vines are few and far between, so they don't pose all that much of an obstacle. Their berries still glow bright enough to light up the entire area though. Even though I'm literally fighting for my life right now I can't help but appreciate just how beautiful they all are.

Our dog fight continues, and it's strange. Even though I'm so close to death… I'm having fun? It's like when I first learned how to fly. But why? Why am I getting so thrilled here when before I was so terrified? Is it just because of the heat, or is it something else?

I pay more attention to the wyvern that keeps trying to swat me out of the sky. I don't think I caught this before, but for some reason I can't help but think that it's having fun. Was it having fun before? No, back then it seemed well and truly angry. So why is it suddenly having fun now?

Well, if you're having fun trying to kill me, I don't think you can really complain if I do the same? Florian- No, I'm not using fire ever again unless it's absolutely necessary. Kari, give me your winds! I want to fight! This is way too fun not to! Come on and watch me! I'll give you a spectacle!

I turn around and start flying backwards. I feel the mana pouring into my hands.

"Wind blades! Rapid fire!" I scream in excitement.

The blades of wind pour out of my hands like machine gun fire. This reminds me of a dogfight so I took a bit of inspiration from that with this new magic. It tries to fly faster to avoid getting hit., but I start leading my shots so I can keep hitting it.

I'm hitting the wyvern, but I'm only barely hurting it. If I really want to kill it, I'm going to need to use more fire power. Huh. I'm talking so easily about taking another intelligent creature's life… We're fighting to the death and I'm not thinking anything of it. If anything, I'm having fun!

The wyvern charges at me again, and I dodge. It keeps on me. It won't allow me to get any distance.

Adad! Give me-

I try to use a lightning bolt, but it charges at me with insane speed and I have to fire it prematurely and dodge. Does it know what I'm trying to do, and trying to prevent that? Amazing, this is really amazing! Those mini bolts will eventually wear the wyvern down, but my mana will run dry long before that. I also refuse to use my life force, since I don't want to ruin my perfect hair, so I have to figure out something.

What have I seen that I can use? "Spatial Awareness" seems pretty useless in this situation… I think that Cesre made a beam of fire that one time, but I'd rather die than use a heat based attack… Lucidna knows a whole bunch of interesting things you can do with a connection with Adad but she never taught me anything and I know full well it's all far too complex.

That just leaves three people… Freware has a completely different build than mine. I doubt anything she knows could help me in a situation like this. Aubrey has… what does Aubrey have? Damn it, he's the most experienced out of our little trio and I haven't picked up a single thing from him… I mean, he burnt that goblin village down but that doesn't help here and also heat.

That just leaves Inell. What has Inell done that I can use here? I remember… He used those giant wind blades during the chase, didn't he? Yeah, I tried to replicate them but I failed. Maybe I could figure out just what he did, or could even my incomplete imitation prove useful here?

I dodge another claw strike as I decide what I need to do. This is going to be really difficult, but I'm going to do it anyway. I won't try, I'll just do it, isn't that right, Azariah? I begin flying straight up to execute my plan. The wyvern chases after me, as expected.

Kari! I'll show you something awesome! Lend me wind after wind so I can make it!

Adad! I demand power from you! More than ever! Give me every last ounce you can muster! That's what I need!

The spell I'm making for Kari is something new. It's also extremely complex, so it's really hard to imagine. The fact I'm trying to cast two spells at once is also making this much harder than it needs to be. Luckily, the spell I'm making from Adad's power is something I have some experience with, and is as simple as possible. The humble lightning bolt.

The air around me begins to go static. The wyvern charges at me with new speed, trying to stop my casting of the lightning bolt like it's been doing. This time though I have something in store other than a dodge!

"I have a new, original spell just for you, mr. wyvern! I hope you like it! Gale Blade!"

Suddenly, a huge wind blade bigger than the wyvern is created. It isn't one wind blade, though. It's a massive assortment of regular sized wind blades blowing in every direction organized in the shape of a wind blade! This is my new, original spell! Gale Blade!

The wyvern is assaulted by the stupidly overkill spell. It begins to fall, blood flies everywhere, pieces of its wings are ripped off, and its wounds are worsened. Sounds all really bad, but that's only because it was already wounded.

It quickly gets a hold of itself again, and flies up at me as fast as it possibly can. It roars in what I assume in desperation. It knows exactly what's coming.

Adad! Give me more power you stupid idiot! This isn't anywhere near enough!

It uses magic to create an explosion behind it just to launch itself at me faster. It even lit itself on fire like that.

In the face of this desperation, I have one thought. "Get that repulsive heat away from me."

I release the spell. It turns at the last possible moment to dodge. It hits anyway. A thundering boom and a flash of light fill my senses, and-

I wake up. The first thing I notice is that I'm falling. The second thing I notice is that my entire body hurts like hell. My chest and my left arm specifically.

I hear what sounds like laughing. I turn my head and see the wyvern falling with me. Kari! Please let me fly! I need it right now more than anything!

I begin to fly. The wyvern also manages to catch itself before it plummets into the ground. Damn it! It wasn't dodging! It was turning around to hit me with its tail! That's why I blacked out and everything hurts so much!

Adad! Power! Power! Power! Please! Give it to me!

I fly into the air, despite all the pain. The wyvern chases at me again, but noticeably slower this time. Because of that lightning bolt no doubt. Looking at it, it has lightning shaped burn marks all over its body, and I wound up shooting out its one good eye. However it knows where I am, it's not through sight.

Before it can get to me, though, it stops flying at me, and exposes its stomach towards my direction. It laughs again, and says something in a language I don't understand. It's smiling.

I don't put any thought into what that could possibly mean as I release the lightning bolt I had been charging, blowing its head apart into a confetti of blood and gore. There was nothing personally behind it. Had it killed me in a similar way, I wouldn't have found any fault against it.

I wound up getting its blood all over me because of that. It's now lifeless body plummets to the ground. This fight is finally over. I fly down to the ground to finally be able to stand again.

When I place my feet on the ground though, I feel four sharp pains in the ribs on my left side. It feels like being stabbed. I immediately fall to the ground. Yeah, I guess I really can't walk away from that tail swipe unharmed, huh?

When I put both my arms on the ground to catch my fall though, I put pressure on my left shoulder, also causing a great deal of pain. It's better than the pain in my ribs, but it's also bad enough to cause me to fall again.

I'm laying face down on the ground of a dark cave. Damn it, these injuries are going to make finding an exit so much more difficult.

As I'm thinking about that though, I hear the sounds of crunching plant matter. I roll over and look towards the sound.

A bunch of pieces of clear ice, all roped up together by white vines and moss. Making eerily organic sounds without anything resembling a vocal organ . It's like the cold version of that rock monster that had stabbed through my foot.

Like that monster, this one's about the same size, with a similar number of limbs. Unlike that monster, this time there's four of them. And they're walking right towards me.

"Damn it… not again…" I can't help but say.

As soon as I open my damn mouth, they all start screeching. Like some sort of disposable, idiot character in a bad horror movie I just let them know I was here for no good reason.

How much mana do I even have left? Can I even keep fighting in this condition? How do I get away from here? It's just an open cave, there's nowhere for me to lose them. What do I do?