Chapter 1: The Rumbling

The town of Claralux was a colourful and peaceful place which was often home to a rather large market due to its placement on the edge of The Grand Desert that separated the Northern and Southern continents. Mostly it just has a lot of inns to accommodate the large number of journeymen, wondering traders and mercenaries that pass through, but at this time of year it’s a booming, bustling town with the market in full swing. The difference between booming and rumbling however, is quite obvious… and this was definitely a rumbling. A rumbling can only mean one thing: a Ground Dragon.

Red and Green Dragons are very proud and secretive creatures and tend to avoid the hassle of dealing with humans, but ground dragons clearly have a much more murderous side to them. They seem to enjoy travelling around the deserts and killing everything they see, even if they’re not hungry. Ground dragons are slightly smaller than other dragons with an adult standing at about 10’ at the shoulders and moving around on all fours much like the big cats. They are covered in large obtruding bones, even down to the end of its strangely elegant tail, that work well as defence and they tend keep their head low so they can see how their typical prey sees. Again, unlike the other dragons they spend all their time underground digging tunnels and because of this their wings have turned into more like a second pair of arms with enormous claws. At this point it’s like they are a mix between a dragon and a wyvern except they don’t even have any membrane left to their wings. They are just a set of arms now. Ground dragons are dangerous, ferocious and quite simply, a pain in the ass.

Two figures stood there in front of the Ground Dragon in the ruined market square, ready for the difficult fight that was about to unfold. Dragons themselves are difficult enough to deal with let alone ground dragons, but this one in particular was in an abnormally foul mood and it obviously didn’t appreciate their presence.

“You ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Then let’s finish this quickly.”

            The boy burst into action and began his onslaught with the girl’s long range support, however, with all the dust in the air it wasn’t very effective as they couldn’t see too well. The Ground Dragon was able to see fine, defend itself against the boy’s quick and powerful attacks and block the girl’s incoming arrows. Even so, the constant attacks the two could keep up meant the dragon couldn’t find any opportunities to attack. It was a stalemate with no serious damage being possible for anyone. The dragon struck the ground with full force and sent up a large dust cloud. The boy quickly backed off and found the girl and the two instinctively went back-to-back in preparation. It was eerily quiet.

‘I don’t like it being this quiet. Or dark… wait.’

            He quickly turned, shoved the girl as hard as he could and leapt backwards just as the dragon slammed down into the ground with incredible power. Large clumps of the ground shot into the air as even more rubble was created. Just the shockwave of the attack was enough to send the two flying in opposite directions and shatter all the windows in the area. But the boy was quick to react and even the dragon was caught off guard. He emerged from the dust at point blank and sliced up easily through its right arm.

“Haha! That’s all it takes!... Hey! ... Hey?”

            He looked over his shoulder and saw the girl unconscious on the floor with blood pouring from her head.

‘Shit!... Alright, time for all out assault then. If not, then she’ll just be taken out.’

            The boy continued his barrage as he did before, but this time he was much quicker and far more powerful. His speed had increased almost two-fold as he let fly strike after strike. Each strike and slice getting closer and closer to their target and leaving more and more damage behind even as they missed. Suddenly, mid swing, his spear shifted to a shield and his body automatically twisted to the left as a heavy swipe came from its front right leg. The claws of the dragon were so large they wrapped around the shield and ripped through his left arm as he was fired across the square into a wall.

He slumped against the wall as blood dribbled from his mouth and gushed uncontrollably from his arm. His vision began to fade, and his body felt weak, but not enough for him to raise his shield again to block another punch from the dragon that sent him through the wall. He lay in the rubble as blood now began to run down his face as well and his ears held a high pitch ringing. There was no time to rest. He leapt out of the building and stumbled and rolled into the square again as the dragon proceeded to crush the entire building he was just in. It turned around and began to walk confidently towards him. He climbed to his feet and stood in the centre of the completely destroyed market, which was turned into a battlefield and now resembled a graveyard more than anything. The Ground Dragon stood in front of him, raised its head and opened its mouth. He no longer had the strength to move.

‘Huh. So this is how I die… I guess I got up to more than I originally thought I would… How can you define a meaningful life?... Does it really matter how many people remember me? I’m sure it’s more than before... But I guess none of that stuff really did matter to me anyway… I hope she’s managed to get away… if she’s even conscious yet… if she is okay… would she cry for me? ...’