Dragon

The entire mountain shook as the base cracked open. The roar of a horrid monster echoed through everyone’s ears as they raced down the mountain side. As they breached the edge of the tree line they reached a sheer drop off from the mountain. From there they could see the wound in the mountain that was being torn open from the inside. “We need to get down there!” Rosalind.

“I can do that, hang onto me.” Rune said, drawing their sword.

“Got it.” Ataru grabbed onto Rune’s waist without hesitation. “Come on Rosalind!”

“O-Okay?” She grabbed on as well. Rune turned to Claire.

“Hell no. I’ll take the long way.” She said, before sprinting down the side of the mountain. Rune nodded, before jumping from the cliff.

“What the hell!?~” Rosalind screamed as they plummeted towards the ground. “I thought you would fly!”

“Why would I be able to fly?” Rune nonchalantly said as they jammed their sword into the side of the mountain. Rock splintered off of the cliff face as they fell, until Rune finally kicked off of the wall near the bottom, landing on the grassy plain. Rosalind let go of Rune, her legs shaking like a newly born fawn.

“That’s a pretty neat trick, I should learn how to do that.” Ataru said, letting go as well.

“Oh, I’ve never done that before, it just seemed as though it would work.” Rune said with a nod.

“I see why you two get along so well, you’ve both got beef for brains!” She brushed her dress off before standing straight. “Now, we’ve got a dragon to deal with, any ideas?”

“We can’t let it take off. If I know mana corrupted monsters, it’ll ignore us and head straight for the city once it senses all of the people there.”

“Got it, keep it grounded.” Ataru said.

“That’s easier said than done.” Rosalind shook her head. “But regardless, we’re out of time to think!” The side of the mountain burst open, and a terrible creature crawled out from inside. Its head was as large as a bus, its wings as wide as a soccer field. This being was surely a dragon, but just as surely it was a twisted image of its former self. Terribly curved fangs, misshapen nostrils, clear white eyes, and a body covered in sickly rust colored scales.

“It’s coming!” Rune reached for the greatsword on their back, before instead raising their longsword. The monster charged forward, already flapping its wings. “Try to tear its wings!” They yelled out before leaping forward. The dragon turned its head towards Rune and with terrifying speed swiped them out of the air with its left claw. They blocked the brunt of the attack with their blade, but the weapon shattered upon impact and they were knocked far away. Rosalind shot blades of ice towards its wings as Ataru jumped towards it. The dragon furiously beat its wings, creating gusts of wind that knocked the ice off course, and blew Ataru back.

The dragon slowly lifted into the air, before flying upwards into the sky. “Dammit!” Ataru stumbled to his feet. “What do we do now!?”

“Over here!” Rune called out, they were carrying something over their head. It was an entire tree. “Hurry up!”

“What is that for!?” Rosalind asked as she rushed over.

“I think I have an idea. You did say you wanted to ride a dragon.” Ataru smirked.

“Of all the insane… You know what, fine, let’s do it!” She jumped onto the tree along with Ataru.

“I noticed an old wound on the back of its neck, hit it there!” Rune said before planting their feet. “Now hold on!” They reared the tree back before launching it into the air like a professional Javelin tosser.

They soared through the air, the wind blasting against their faces as they flew closer and closer to the Dragon. “Now!” Ataru grabbed Rosalind’s hand as they both jumped from the tree. Rosalind formed a blade of ice onto the end of her staff and jammed it into the monster’s backside as they landed. The beast roared in annoyance, but continued flying towards the city. The nape of the dragon’s neck was right in front of Ataru. He could nearly see the bone of its spine. Rosalind touched her hand to the dragon’s back, spreading ice. It wasn’t strong enough to spread to the wings without breaking, but it was more than enough to plant Ataru’s feet onto it.

“Do it, Ataru!” He heard her yell out to him. He raised his bat into the air, his shoulder still stung with pain, but he ignored it. As the wind blew past his ears he could swear it sounded like the muffled cheers of a stadium. His mind went to a distant memory.

When he was only 8 years old, his mother had him join a junior baseball team. He didn’t really get it, he just wanted to run around a playground and watch TV all day. But when he walked up to the plate, second hand aluminum bat in hand, he heard his mother cheer for him, he heard his friends cheer for him. Something clicked then. He swung his bat as hard as his little arms could, and he hit the ball. He heard his mother yell for him to run, so he did. He ran faster than he’d ever run so far in his short life. He rounded every base, and slid into home. “Safe” He’d heard the umpire shout. He’d scored the winning point without even really knowing it. And for the first time in his life he knew what it was to feel proud.

“What is that?” Rosalind wondered aloud as she watched mana coalesce around Ataru’s bat. It wrapped around tighter and tighter until it formed a shape unfamiliar to her. A baseball bat. Ataru swung the bat down, and as it struck the nape of the dragon’s neck a sound akin to a ball being smashed by a baseball bat echoed as if from all around them. The dragon’s neck broke, and instantly it went limp. For a moment, Rosalind was stunned. As the dragon’s body began to fade away she snapped out of it. “Ataru, grab my hand!” She called out, but instead of reaching out, his unconscious body fell back into her arms. “A-Ataru?” As she held him, the rest of the dragon’s body faded, and they were in free-fall. “Hold on, I won’t let you die!”

A vortex of wind formed on the edge of her staff, she poured every ounce of her mana left into the spell and fired it downwards. The Wind shot down onto the surface of the earth and formed a ball of wind. As they landed into the swirling wind it acted as a cushion, softening their fall. “I… I did it. We really… Rode a dragon.” Her voice faded as she collapsed with Ataru in her arms.