Dragon Slayer

The black cloud lingered in the air for some time as Fesha began to spread her arms out. The air around her began to glow in a faint yellow. Heat began flowing in my direction, slowly getting hotter. The heat soon became unbearable, forcing me to shuffle my way behind Fesha where there was more room. The air emanating from her was still rising in temperature and the glowing air surrounding Fesha began to take shape. As the atmosphere brightened, the black cloud began to spark, almost like a series of fireworks firing off. The shape of Fesha's light became more apparent, forming the shape of wings that sprouted from below her shoulder blades. The wings of light were bent closed, then spread wide open as they burst to life in a garden of fire and sparkling yellow light. I looked over to Tenebris who stood still at the site. He snapped himself out of his trance and pushed his arms forward. Fesha's wings began warping as Tenebris's invisible forces attacked, but her wings quickly reformed to their true shape.

"Listen closely." Fesha spoke. "Giveth up thine devotion and I shall let thee live. The evil thou praiseth shan't be known once more." Her voice boomed throughout the church.

"There is no evil in those who giveth strength to the weak." Tenebris responded. He clasped his hands together and began to pray.

"So be it, I have felled many great dragons in my time, what's a meager human." Fesha said. With those words alone, for the first time I had felt nothing but fear in the presence of her. How could I have known such a seemingly caring person could also be this merciless. Still, I had no idea what drove her to this. Perhaps the god Tenebris worshiped truly was evil, or perhaps Fesha's devotion to her god was unmatched. Either way, throughout all the time I spent with her, I now knew that she could've killed me in an instant.

Fesha's wings of light began to pulse, then exploded in a haze of embers as she dashed forward toward Tenebris. Tenebris did nothing but continued to pray with his eyes tightly closed. Then Fesha made contact. Light shot out in every direction and there was a bright yellow explosion. Dust and debris blew its way outward from the center of her impact. Then Fesha's wings shot outward from inside the explosion. She lunged back and landed, the end of her skirt now more dirtied and torn. As the dust began to settle, a large ominous shape took form from within the grayish yellow cloud. Tenebris stood at the very center, grabbing his left arm as it dangled. However, another silhouette took shape from within the cloud. Two large jagged spikes stood tall behind Tenebris. Black threads waved from atop of the spikes. Various tendrils seemed to wrap around the spikes. As the air around Tenebris clears, I had realized that the growth was not behind him, but bursting out of his back. Finally, the air cleared up, revealing Tenebris and his newfound power. He stood their smiling, dirt and blood all over his face and cloths. His blindfold, now fully worn, had fallen off, revealing his wicked devotion. The top half of his face had been completely carved out, no eyes, no skin, just a scar that stretched across his face.

"Pillaging brute, I shall show thee what my worship has cometh to. No longer will I be shackled by those above." Tenebris spoke in a darker tone.

Fesha responded with a follow up attack. Needles of light began firing out of her wings nonstop. The growth coming out of Tenebris's back started moving, arching over his head and stabbing the ground in front of him. They shielded him from Fesha's oncoming barrage with not a single light beam reaching him. Fesha stopped firing, realizing it was pointless, and instead dashed straight in once again. Tenebris's new appendages unbounded themselves from the stone floor and whipped across the room sporadically, attempting to block Fesha's path. Fesha dodged each swing effortlessly and attacked in between each strike, but to no avail. Despite her efforts, she couldn't close her distance. Eventually, it wore her out and she began to slow down. I watched Fesha's strength start to dwindle, and then she slipped up. As she jumped over one of Tenebris's wild attacks, it caught her foot, twisting her in midair. Tenebris roared as he engaged another appendage and knocked Fesha into the church's large wooden doors. Fesha's wings began to slowly vanish and there was blood dripping down her face. I ran over to Fesha while looking through her bag, in hopes that I could find something helpful. She wiped the blood from her head with her sleeve, leaving a crimson streak against the white frills. She took the bag from me and continued looking through it herself.

I looked over at Tenebris to find that he had stayed put rather than continuing the battle. He just stood there, still clutching his arm and breathing heavily. As a stared longer, I noticed his dangling arm twitching and convulsing. Tenebris seemed to be in pain, groaning with agony between each breath. Then his arm burst into a series of twisted black threads. Tenebris screamed as they wrapped around each other, breaking his bones and severing his skin, Eventually, his arm had been fully replaced with the pitch black growth.

"Ahh, I really am not use to fighting." Tenebris said haphazardly. "So, in the end thine god rewards thou with pathetic strength. Though thou has slain dragons in thine past, thine miracles have never granted thee the power to face god."

Desperate I shouted. "Listen, we'll leave now, we don't need to take this further."

"I'm sorry that thou had to get caught up in this despite thine efforts for peace, however, I can not let that woman go anymore. She has defiled this sacred altar, a sin worthy of death." Tenebris said.

I looked down at Fesha, whom I could tell wanted to keep fighting, but did not have the means to do so. I took a deep breath and turned to face Tenebris. Though I was scared for my life I had to do something, after all, Fesha had saved my life so I felt I had to do the same.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you take this further." I said to Tenebris.

I have no memories from my old life of being some sort of master of self defense, yet something deep within me was telling me I had a chance. The scars on the back of my hands told me that whoever once owned this body has been through war. It was almost as if battle was simply muscle memory for this borrowed body. With that, I stood tall and prepared to face Tenebris head on.