Biting back the sudden sensation to cry, Amrielle straightened himself up, just as the cloud dragon opened its maw and unleashed a stream of black-red energy aimed right at him. Amrielle flinched, and a large wall of water towering over the two rose in defense of Amrielle.

Behold, the power of seas, the call of the ocean, heeding the voice of its master. Use its fury, its purity and combine it with the ferocity of the storm to aid you in your battle. Tendrils of seawater hovered over towards Amrielle, who was instantly terrified. Instead of attacking him, the tendrils began lapping at the blood dripping from the open gashes, before lightly tapping the skin, mending the wounds as the droplets of water absorbed the red liquid. It was just like his mother had said, the water and wind was healing, strengthening him, and protecting him.

Alright, he thought, I-I think I can work with this.

The storm dragon roared again, its form shifting in anxiousness as it defiantly tried to wrest control of the storms from an unsuspecting Amrielle. In response, several more dark clouds swirled toward it, attaching themselves to the patches of skin that were bare, covering them in shadow and lightning. Looking onward, Amrielle thought he could see spears and chains sticking out of its skin, piercing its hide, and fleshing hanging from the open wounds they created.

Mom’s right, the creature is pain.

That’s it my son, you now understand.

“But I-I don’t”, he responded, “what—“

Billions of years ago, the creature before you was a servant of Heaven, an angel of justice and wisdom, but millennia of strife and pain lead it and its brethren to be feared and exploited, hunted down to near extinction.

Enraged by the abuse of his race, he and several others brought forth the anger of God and cast their judgment upon their abusers, abandoning the remaining people to themselves and hiding their existence in plain sight. They almost destroyed the world, but only fought those who warranted their ire. The one you see before you is one of their progeny; a holy creature and servant of God, defeat him and free him from his pain.

“But—“

I understand your fear my son, but death is not the end, not for a creature like this one. It is merely a transformation. Now ready yourself, here he comes!

Quick as a snake, the dragon lunged at Amrielle. Cursing, Amrielle ducked back and using his left hand, punched the creature in the underside of his jaw. The power of his knuckles impacting the dragon’s scaly underside was like having a fully loaded metro bus crash right into his fist. He winced and bit back a curse as the bones in his hand popped out their sockets. Despite the pain he felt, his attack knocked the creature off balance, but only momentarily. Snapping back, the dragon countered using its long body to broadside Amrielle, scratching him with the its scales, that vibrated and stood upright when agitated. Flinching, he brought up his broken arm in an effort to shield himself from the blow, wincing even more as the sharp scales slashed his naked body, before catapulting him away like cannon fodder.

“Waah!”

Launched toward the edge of the space they inhabited, Amrielle flung his right arm upward in cover, the wall of seawater whooshed past him, creating a large oval-shaped object that flattened like a pancake and quickly caught him. The movement was so quick, he didn’t even have time to process the feeling of being in water. At first he thought he would drown, and the fear sent his hyperventilation into flaring, but a few seconds in, he realized in shock that the water was hurting him, nor was he drowning.

I can breathe?

Underwater?

As he was thinking, he could feel his pain becoming numbing to the point of nonexistence. As he watched, he was amazed at how the water seeped into his powers giving him peace and calming his agitated nerves. The dragon roared, and lunged at the boy. Instead of cowering, Amrielle instinctively jutted his right arm outward, pointedly towards the dragon. Following suit, seawater shot in that direction and Amrielle watched amazed as the creature was knocked back by the torrent, the blow pulverizing a swathe of dark clouds and dissipating them, to reveal more of the creature underneath.

“That’s it”, he surmised.