With a strong clap of its wings, the dragon shot forward. However, compared to its speed at the beginning of the fight, it was considerably slower.
Facing the incoming colossus, John didn't retreat nor he dodged. He moved ahead as well, but just like the dragon, he was already showing signs of tiredness and weakness due to the long and exhausting.
There was just a few dozen meters between the two figures when the dragon opened its maws and fire started to gather in it.
Here we go again. John thought, preparing for the tsunami of fire that was about to come his way.
However, to his surprise, the fire never came in the way he expected.
Suddenly, the dragon started to spin around itself, breathing its fire everywhere around. And instead of moving directly towards the boy, it moved around him.
The fire spread rapidly, suddenly forming an enormous cloud of fire. For those observing from a distance, it seemed like a miniature sun had descended onto the world.
Inside the fire, John had cast a telekinetic shield around him. It was almost glued to his skin, just the perfect size to save energy.
He expanded his senses into the fire, trying to locate the dragon amidst it. However, he couldn't find anything out there. The fire hindered his senses of hearing, vision and even his magical sense. All he could capture from outside the barrier was a form of static.
I can't let myself be unaware of my surroundings for this long in a fight like this. John thought in urgency, knowing he had to act quickly.
The barrier that worked like an armor suddenly expanded, pushing off the fire around him to reveal what was hidden.
However, just as he knew he couldn't be blind for long, the dragon also was aware that his opponent wouldn't stay idle for too long.
From the barrier behind him, John felt it brush onto something that was dangerously close – something that treated his barrier that could hold bullets as paper.
Shit! Knowing the approaching danger, John tried to urgently move out of the way of the incoming dragon.
However, the surprise factor was too effective in this situation. So, even if John avoided the worst scenario – being eaten whole – his left arm was still in the way the dragon was passing.
With open jaws and baring his sharp teeth, the dragon strongly closed its mouth around the young man's arm.
"ARGH!" John screamed in pain, feeling the bones in his left arm breaking and the flesh ripping apart. And if the situation wasn't already bad, the dragon carried him around as it didn't let go of his left arm.
The sudden pain was enough to distract John from everything, making him disperse the telekinetic barrier that was already partially shattered by the dragon.
Holding its opponent between its teeth, the dragon dived into the fire. Its scales resisted the fire perfectly, not harming it in the slightest. However, John suffered immensely. He felt his skin slowly burn and the magical properties of the fire invading his body, impeding him from healing properly.
After the initial pain, John's instincts kicked in, and his first reaction was to get out of his situation.
Bang! Bang!
With all the strength he could muster, he punched the teeth and scales around the dragon's mouth.
"Get off me!" John shouted, punching how many times he could in the smallest time possible with every bit of strength he could gather.
Following his consecutive punches, some of the scales began to crack and a few teeth shattered. Blood soon followed, but compared to the heat of the flames, the boiling blood over his skin was nothing.
If these punches continued for some more time, it would be just a matter of time before John could free himself.
"Grr…"
Listening to the low growl of the dragon, John immediately thought it was reacting to the pain of the scales breaking. However, when he felt the only part of his body that wasn't engulfed by the surrounding fire suddenly heat up, he knew what was happening.
Between the dragon's teeth, fire spilled out crazily while the smell of burned meat followed soon after.
The pain of feeling his arm scorching made John bite his lips, enough to draw a bit of blood from them. But instead of falling in desperation and not knowing what to do, a menacingly focus took over his eyes.
Using his free hand, John shot the fingers of his right hand into the dragon, piercing its scales and locking himself on him. It was almost like he was climbing up a small rock when he compared his size to that of the dragon's head.
Moving a little upwards – enough to feel the flesh and muscles connecting his shoulder and arm stretch a bit too much – John was now almost face to face with the dragon's eye, enough for what he planned.
"Burn!" John shouted, his eyes glowing in crimson before two scorching rays of light shot into the dragon's eye.
"Roar!" The dragon roared in pain, muffled so as it wouldn't let go of the young man's arm.
In an attempt to stop the torment, the dragon started to shake its head violently. No matter what, it had to stop the boy.
However, even if he felt his arm dislodging more and more from his shoulder, John kept his fingers firmly planted into the dragon's scales while he put more of his energy into the rays of light.
"Ahhhh!" John screamed, channeling more and more energy into his eyes.
In a quick sequence, the laser beams coming out of his eyes changed colors. From the crimson red, they changed to scarlet, then orange, and finally – yellow.
The heat was so much that the dragon felt its eye – that could be opened in molten lava – melt in real time while the laser beams moved threateningly deeper and deeper into its head.
After its eye and flesh burned, the dragon could feel the very same heat trying to break through its bones, shielding its brain from suffering directly under the scorching heat.
As someone would expect, the dragon reacted instantly upon feeling the threat. It tried to shake off the young man from it by shaking its head and moving violently in the air.
However, even after his left arm was fully ripped off from his body, John just pressed his right hand more strongly onto the dragon's scales, depleting every single bit of energy he had accumulated through his eyes.
Even if it was a creature used to extreme heats, with its own boiling blood running through its veins and bones more resistant than obsidian, the dragon felt dreadful as it felt the bone protecting its brain giving in to the rays of light.
In an ever increasing desperation, the dragon continued to move violently. At the same time, countless thin wind blades surged around it, with all of them shooting toward the young man in expectation to cause enough damage for him to let go of it.
But despite feeling his back suffering from a thousand stabs, John gritted his teeth and continued to channel whatever energy he had in him while absorbing what he could from the surroundings.
With blood escaping its throat, the dragon frenetically thought of what it should do.
As if the world presented an idea to it, the cloud of fire it created dispersed and the sight of the scorching land below came to sight.
Knowing it needed to act quickly, a loud clap was heard from the dragon's colossal wings, with it head-diving directly into the ground.
The distance – despite long – was crossed almost instantly as the loud boom of the sound breaking spread through the skies.
When the ground was dangerously close, the dragon turned its face with the pest on it towards the ground.
Noticing what the dragon planned to do, John immediately thought of running away as fast as possible. The faint thought of how much pain he would go by landing at sound speed with a dragon over him almost made him forget the pain of not having one of his arms anymore.
However, just when the heat vision ceased and he was about to jump, John felt what he could only describe as chains of pure air around his wrist and waist pulling him closer to the dragon.
"Fu-"
Boom!
Just like a meteor impact, the ground cracked and sunk while the trees still standing after sustaining the fire were blown away, bending in the opposite direction of the impact.
Cinders raised up to the sky and soon, it felt like ashes were raining.
Inside the crater, the first movement came after some time.
The dragon crawled weakly out of the crater, with blood flowing between many of its scales. Some of its bones were sticking out, with its tail twisted in a way that sent chills just from looking.
As it tried to move forward, the dragon coughed some blood. And alongside the blood, an amputated arm fell as well. It was scorched and completely shredded, almost unrecognizable as a human limb.
Its attempt to move forward was met with a low growl of pain since one of its front legs was completely broken with the bone sticking out amidst its scales.
Still, despite the broken bones, damaged scales, exhaustion and the fact an immense amount of blood continuously gushed out from its left eye cavity, the female dragon knew it must continue walking.
For them… for my kind to prosper again… This thought made the dragon keep moving, stumbling ever so often on itself while the influence in its mind ordered it to retrieve what was requested from her.
Alone and with only the sound of the rain quenching the flames, the dragon moved as its eyes were locked on the building in the distance, knowing the key for her species to prosper again was there.
However, a sound caught its attention.
Sshhhk…
Even among the countless raindrops hitting the ground, the sound was still clear and distinct enough for the dragon to hear.
When it turned its head to the side, thanks to its large neck and where its remaining eye was located in its head, the dragon could see what was happening right behind it.
Just behind the arm, a small trail was left on the muddy ground. It was the result of the very same arm apparently moving by itself in the direction of the crater.
Actually, that would be wrong to say. For the arm didn't move, it seemed more like something was pulling on it.
From within the crater, the dragon listened to something move. It was a watery sound since the crater was filling with the rain water.
Thud!
A hand surged out of the crater, landing on its border while a figure crawled out of it.
As he tried to stand up, it was obvious John was not in the best shape of his life. Besides the mud and ashes on his skin and hair, his blood was mixed with them, not leaving the most beautiful sight of him. Also, the lack of his left arm and a twisted right leg left him with a pitiful image.
John was far from exuding the same confidence and arrogance he had in the beginning of the fight. Right now, he looked no different from a soldier who lost everything throughout a war.
However, the dragon couldn't picture that image when looking at the young man.
Those eyes… The dragon thought deeply, seeing a different light in the young man's eyes.
The same golden eyes – that always seemed to burn with enthusiasm and fervor – now were calm and soothing, just like a field of ripe, golden wheat underneath the summer sun.
The dragon's features imitated a frown, with it growling while unconsciously taking a step back.
What is happening? What is that? It asked itself, an uncommon fear taking over its consciousness. Enough to silence the dark whisper in her mind.
Completely ignorant of the dragon's thoughts, John moved.
He ignored the fact blood was undulating from the location where his left arm once was, like small tendrils. He didn't even pay attention when that blood reached out to his left arm on the ground and picked it up from where it was once connected to his body.
Right now, all John could focus on was the last strike he could muster today.
He recoiled his right arm and closed his fingers in a fist.
Inside him, every little bit of energy he could muster, he mustered. It all was gathered right in the center of his chest, with it continuously circulating.
Both of them – the dragon and the boy – stared at each other. The first was wary and the latter was calm.
Their stand-off lasted a long couple moments, dragging the dragon's patience and already tired mental state to the edge.
It was about to launch itself forward in an attempt to end this once and for all. But, when the wind inconveniently blew in its remaining eye and the dragon blinked, the young man wasn't there anymore.
"Survive." Was all that the dragon listened to before a strong blue flash exploded amidst the rain and ashes.
A pain the dragon never felt before – worse than feeling its very bones melt – struck the center of its body before the world around suffered a black down to its eyes.
…
"John! John!" Hope screamed at the top of her lungs.
By now, the rainy clouds were already scattering and the rain drops were thinning. Thankfully, most of the fire was extinguished already, with the remaining flames slowly dying.
Running through the burned forest, leaving her steps on the muddy ground, Hope tried to reach the place where her boyfriend and the dragon had fallen.
During the fight, they moved farther and farther away from the school, with them almost disappearing at the horizon.
For normal people, the place where they had fallen was a little bit too far. It would take Alaric and the others a long time to get there, a time too long for Hope to wait. So, she sprinted ahead to see how the fight was progressing or – hopefully – if it had ended.
Just when Hope was imagining to be approaching the place where they had fallen from the sky, a blinding blue light flashed from amidst the burned and bent trees. Following it, an explosion echoed, followed by a sharp sound and then a shockwave.
Even if she raised her arms to shield herself, Hope was still pushed a few meters back, with the shockwave almost sending her flying.
When experiencing this phenomenon, Hope's kind traveled to a few days ago, where she had seen something similar.
John? She thought, ignoring the last bits of the shockwave before running forward.
After passing by the trees that were bent on a diagonal, Hope reached a small clearing that was clean of any ashes or cinders.
There, at its center, was the crater she imagined where they had fallen. And just around it, she found his figure.
He stood next to the colossal body of the dragon, with the dragon showing no immediate signs of life. There was a severe-looking, large injury that completely encompassed the right side of its body, with no scales remaining around it and the flesh on the surface being in a shredded and sunk state.
"John?" Hope called him, trying to get his attention.
Slowly, the young man turned his head. When he saw Hope approaching, John gave her a faint smile. "Hey, love. I said I would win, didn't I?"
Before Hope could reply, John started to fall back, his eyes closing.
By reaching her hand out, Hope stopped John from falling through magic before rushing to him, accessing his physical state.
Thankfully, even if it was weak, he was still breathing. However, when Hope studied the rest of her boyfriend's body, the worry crept over her face.
There wasn't a part of him that she could immediately see that hadn't suffered from burns. Many of these burns were at the level which his skin had melted. Most of his hair was gone as well and his left arm was fully scorched, with someone potentially mistaking it to be covered in coal dust.
With her hand on his back, Hope felt something. When she looked at it, she noticed the countless cuts he had suffered, the amount not even comparable to the one on the front of his body.
Holding him in her arms, Hope almost cried when seeing the poor state John was in. She couldn't even begin to imagine how someone was alive after suffering so much damage.
However, when he looked at his face, Hope noticed his smile was still there. Even after fainting, he was still smiling for a reason she could only imagine to be a stupid one.
And amidst her worry, that single smile drew one of the same kind from her lips as well.
"You idiot…" Hope whispered, touching his forehead with hers.
…
After some time, Hope listened to footsteps approaching. With John resting his head on her lap while she casted healing spells on him, she turned her head to see Alaric and Dorian.
When they noticed her, they stopped running and walked slowly closer to her.
"Is he…" Alaric looked at John.
"Alive, but weak and out of energy apparently. He is barely healing by himself." Hope said, her hand constantly over her boyfriend's chest with a soft glowing light around it.
Giving her a weak nod, Alaric turned to see the colossal creature just a few meters away from them.
After observing it for a couple moments, he muttered. "So, he killed it…"
"No, he didn't." Hope corrected him, looking up at her headmaster.
With a surprised look, Alaric turned to her. "Are you sure? I see no breathing here."
"I was doubtful at first, but I am sure. I can still hear its heart beating and it has been so for the past few minutes." Hope said, keeping a wary look at the dragon. "Whatever it is doing, it's keeping itself from dying to its injuries. If it was not responsible for John's current state, I would say it's impressive."
"Well, I will say so. For I look at it and think it is dead, but if you say so…" Alaric said, retreating a couple steps.
Dorian, however, was a bit more courageous and approached the dragon. He touched its scales and felt a lingering heat on it. "What should we do with it, hum? Should we… you know."
"I don't know. I have questions and doubts that can possibly only be cleared by it." Alaric said, crossing his arms. "But leaving a threat of this size alive surely is not helpful for my mental health in the long run." He turned to Hope. "Hope, any ideas?"
"You probably know what I think."
"Yeah, but I want to hear." Alaric said.
Continuing to look at John's face, Hope caressed his cheeks. "Keep it alive for now. I'm sure that after he wakes up, he would love to ask some questions to a dragon. We still gotta learn why it came after the dagger and Landon."
"So, it was after Landon." Alaric hummed, a little bit curious.
As they talked a bit more about how to proceed with the situation, Alaric felt his phone vibrate. When he pulled it out of his pocket, he looked at who was calling him and frowned.
Putting on his phone, he greeted the person. "Damon?"
Despite recognizing the name, Hope ignored it and continued to tender John's injuries, seeing some improvement after some time.
However, as time passed by, Alaric started to walk around in a way that screamed irritation and nervousness, and his words just made those emotions even more clear.
"The entire town?" Alaric asked, rubbing his forehead. "No, it's solved. But focus on the matter, is it circling already?" A moment passed. "Shit… Okay, okay, you don't need to say it. I know how bad the situation looks. So, let me solve it and I will call you back later, okay? Okay, bye." By saying that, Alaric ended the call. "Fuck…"
"What happened?" Dorian asked, knowing things didn't seem good.
Scratching the back of his neck, Alaric shook his head. "Problems, a lot of them." He sighed loudly in annoyance. "The first of them all is that apparently, the barrier around the school broke."
That sentence alone made Hope and Dorian widen their eyes, knowing what that potentially indicated.
"And because of that, it seems the entire town watched part of the fight and recorded it. So, by now, videos of a huge dragon are circling through the internet and maybe the secret of the supernatural was blown up." Alaric added. "From there on, you two can imagine the situation."
The two of them sure could imagine the repercussions of what just happened leaking to the entire world, and their reactions basically said it all.
"Fuck…"
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