Chapter 12: Attack of the Killer Vines
Minerva, blonde-haired and blue-eyed woman, came to the park and went over to the bench. She had woken up earlier than usual and decided to take a short walk outside since it was close to morning. She found a brunette man, her age, sitting there and another person, a teen boy, laying down on a different bench. She went over to the man and asked, "Excuse me, do you mind if I sat next to you?"
The man replied solemnly, "...Yes." He moved the bag beside him to make room for the 20-year-old girl.
Minerva took a seat next to the man and looked at the view in front of her for a bit. She felt the gentle breeze blow onto her skin. "So are you an early bird, too?" she asked. "I woke this morning, because I slept earlier yesterday. And usually, I go to bed at ten," she said.
The man remained silent for a few seconds before reply, "Some noise at the house woke me up. Had to go somewhere."
"I see," said Minerva. She tried to think of what else to say to keep the conversation going, but no words seem to come to her mind yet. 'Hmm, what else can I say?' she wondered. She would have asked if the dogs barking woke him but, she figured that if it was that, he would have specifically said so. Which leaves her other guess... "Think it was some annoying neighbors?" she asked. The question sounded a bit funny
"…In the house," the man rephrased. "Old alchemist that owns a store in the market district." He lied back on the bench a bit with his arms crossed.
"Oh right," said the woman, feeling embarrassed that she made a misunderstanding about where the noise came from. "So I take it you must be his tenant? Or is it the other way around?" she asked. She didn't know if she was making another mistake, but the words have been said and she would have to wait for his response. Maybe he had a house on top of the store; that was another guess.
The man paused again before correcting her and asking, "Grandparent...Do you always make bad guesses to people you just meet?"
"I-I'm sorry," said Minerva, ashamed of making another guess. "I'm just trying to have a conversation, that's all," she said, looking away from his eyes. She worried that she might have made herself look bad in front of his eyes. That or maybe he was just grumpy. "I'm not annoying you, am I?" she asked, looking back to him nervously.
The man responded with a hand gesture where his index finger and thumb are almost touching each other. "A bit, but you're still sitting here," he said with a neutral tone.
Getting the hint that her presence was annoying, Minerva got up and said, "Oh sorry... Okay then, I'll get going now." Then she walked away to resume her little exercise. She walked around through the rest of the park like the basketball court and children's playground until she had finished her path there. The woman left the park and walked through town to get back to her home. She turned around the street corner and walked down through the neighbor. Just then a man in a white hoodie or rather a cloak, Minerva didn't know what to call his strange clothing in question, almost ran into her. "Wah!" she screamed and flinched in surprise.
"Woah!" the stranger shouted as he reacted at the last second by jumping and flipping over her, landing on the other side of her in a tuck and roll maneuver. He kept moving but he turned back to apologize, saying, "Sorry ma'am!"
Minerva forgave him and said, "It's alright, I didn't know you were around the corner either." He breathed a sigh of relief since he didn't harm her and resume his run. The woman walked on as well.
After halfway through the street, a lone gray-bearded man wearing a dirty brown jacket and a hat came out of the alley to see the pretty young woman passing by. "Hey missy, what's pretty little thing doing out this early?" he asked with a toothy grin.
The blonde stopped in her tracks and suddenly felt her nervous instincts telling her to beware of this man. "Oh uh, nothing... I was just on my way home, that's all," she answered as confidently as she could while trying to mask the shyness squeezing on her her.
"Oh really now? Well you might want to hurry up, because the dark isn't safe for a lone lady like you," said the man, taking a step closer to her.
Minerva backed away and said, "Oh don't worry. I think I can look after myself. I'll just run along and then..." As she made her way to the side, she bumped into a bigger and uglier man.
"Hey where you think ya going? We just want to have fun!" the bigger man said showing his missing teeth in a scary smile. At this point, Minerva was getting more nervous by the second. She looked from the approaching man and his buddy next to her.
The bearded man whipped out a knife and threatened, "Hand over your money, lady, or we'll have to cut you!"
"But I don't have any money on me," Minerva said timidly.
"Then I guess we'll just have to nab you and take you with us. Larry, grab her!" the bearded man said.
Before the blonde could get away, Larry the thug grabbed her with strong arms to keep her from moving. "Aahh, let go of me!" Minerva cried.
A male voice in a foreign accent commanded, "Let her go."
The thugs and Minerva turned to see the same hooded man on a grand copper dragon. Knowing that they don't stand a chance against a dragon, the thugs decided to flee as the bearded man said, "Come on, Larry, let's go!"
"Coming!" Larry said and then they ran away.
Minerva looked to her saviors and said gratefully, "Oh thanks for saving me. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't come."
The man smirked through his hood at Minerva. "It was no trouble. I don't much enjoy the sight of kidnapping, or any crime really," he stated. He tapped the dragon signaling him to turn. The dragon turned around and they started their way back.
The woman watched the duo fly away and continued on her way back to the house. After she got home, she ate breakfast and walked to her navy blue car. She got inside and drove on her way to work. She was an intern journalist and activist for a dragon rights organization called the Association for Dragon Rights, or ADR for short. She got to the parking lot and parked her car at the space closest to the door. Then she went inside the building and signed in. The woman went to her workplace and sat at the computer where she resumed her essay on why the dragons attacked the humans after breaking free. She typed out the causes and reasons for the tragedy a few days ago, so that humanity won't make their past mistakes again. She hoped that this essay would convince people to reform themselves and probably make amends with the dragons.
The dream recall spell went into effect. In Kathia's dream, the city was on fire with flames blazing high into the pitch black sky. Screams of panic sounded in the atmosphere as dragons were running rampant and killing many people, while wrecked everything in sight. In the middle of it all stood Kathia who watched on with fear at all the chaos that was going around. A man was felled by a fireball and and a screaming woman was clawed and torn by pygmies that were on her body. The creatures ripped off pieces of her flesh and threw them to the side, even when the woman had died. Not wanting to stand around anymore, the redhead girl went and made a run for it. Unfortunately, a male vampire dragonet cut into her path after he dropped down from the sky in front of her, astonish the girl. He roared out at her, showing his long pointing fangs. Kathia screamed and saw her life flashed right before her eyes. It was all over for her. The dragon was going to kill her and it would be the end of everything.
Before the vampire could do anything to the poor girl, a trio of arrows pierced its side and one more on its neck. The beast roared in pain as blood started pouring from his wounds. The girl stopped screaming and heard a familiar voice shouting, "Hey Kathia!" She turned her head and looked to see her savior; it was Jason. He tossed her a sword and said, "Here, take this!"The weapon landed right by her feet. Kathia bent over to pick up as she listened to Jason saying, "You want to avenge your parents, right? Well now's your chance; kill that lizard and his buddies. Go teach them not to mess with us, humans."
The girl looked at the sword for a few seconds before turning her attention to the staggering dragonet. Her all her fears had eroded away, only to be replaced by the anger and hatred she felt towards him and his kind. Her brown eyes glared at him and she brought up the sword to attack. "This is for me, my parents, and everyone else you've hurt in this city!" she yelled. The blade swung down on the dying dragonet's neck and severed the head from the body. Blood sprayed out of the vampire's neck as the body fell over dead. Kathia breathed angry breaths as she stared at both the headless body and its head. The dragons stopped their rampage when they smelled the scent of blood from one of their own. They all turned their rage on that one girl who dared to murder their fellow dragon. They charged at Kathia, eagerly to avenge the vampire dragonet. The girl wasn't afraid at all, despite the overwhelming numbers against her. She shouted a war cry and she thrust her arm into the air as electricity coursed around it. Lightning bolts fell from the sky and electrocuted some of the dragons. The survivors didn't bother to check on their fallen, so they kept coming at her. The dragon got into close proximity and had almost breathed fire on her, but then a magic dome appeared around Kathia and unleashed a sonic boom that threw all the monsters back and made them fell on the ground.
The girl went to finish them off while they were down by casting rays of magical beams that shot out of her hands into the air before they rapidly grew larger and fell down onto the dragons as huge beams. Pained roars were made by the beast as the spell disintegrated them into ashes. Now the beasts were reduced to one, a yellow dragonet who was lucky to survive the lightning bolt. With pain, he lifted his head up and opened his green eyes to see the fate of all his comrades and the killer before him. He shuddered in fear when Kathia glared at him and held a hand glowing with magical energy at him. She said to him in a menacing tone, "You shouldn't have bitten the hand that fed you." Despite how much his body hurt, the dragonet got up and turned to flee in a desperate attempt to save his life before the human could take it away. But the girl fired her magic beam at him and vaporized him.
The dragons were no more. Now there would be nothing else burned or somebody else killed. The human citizens happily ran over to their red-haired savior and lift her up, like a baseball team would their best player after they won, and cried cheers. They were all saying, "Kathia, you saved us!" "My hero!" "You're totally awesome!" "How did you do it?" and "It's a miracle!"
The girl looked down at all the people and smiled with pride at being called a hero for accomplishing something so great. A booming voice that was unheard by all, except Kathia, said to her, "Though you have lost loved ones and had your life changed by tragedy, you are indeed destined for something great. Something, no ordinary human being would ever have. With power, strength, skills, and wits by your side, you can bring power and prosperity back to humanity and bring ruin to the dragons you despise." At the end of her dream, the girl was enthusiastic for the destiny she was promised.
Kathia woke up with the memories of dream that wasn't as hazy as all the previous ones had been. The Dream Recall spell had worked like it was supposed to. She even remembered the words spoken to her. There had no one among the crowd of dream people who said it to her, but it was most likely that the dream itself might have been talking to her. The girl grinned with glee as she thought, 'If what that dream said is true, then whoo hoo! I'm so going to be famous in history!' Then she looked to the clock next to her on the dresser; it said 8:13 am. The redhead opened her mouth for a silent yawn before she lifted herself from the pillow and set her feet onto the hard wooden floor. The first thing she did was go to the computer for some morning news, since the TV had been broken in the attack three nights ago. She went to the news website and the first thing that caught her eye was that people all over the world has retreated from their cities to make refuges in the woods. That didn't seem like news at all as this was what she and the other humans did exactly at the night of the dragon rampage. But then the news site's frame automatically scrolled to the side and told about dragons attacking these refugee camps. It was clear that the rebellion against their former masters and achieving freedom wasn't enough, so they sought to exterminate their enemies once and for all.
"No!" she gasped. If this was what's going on right now, then there was only a matter of time before the Aquarian dragons here in Windfall turn the human citizens over to the outside dragons for the kill. Sure the Aquarians said that they were going to protect the humans from the other dragons, but Kathia couldn't trust them at all, because they were dragons for Pete's sake. And even if they aren't lying, their redesign of the city and the change of lifestyle were dragons telling humans what to do and how to live their lives. Plus their kind still needed to pay for all they've done.
"I must work harder on mastering my magic spells faster!" she said to herself. Not only that, she also needed to hone her sword and bow skills as a dragon slayer. And as an upperclass citizen and heir to the Rittevon Co., she needed to find a way to donate supplies to the refugee camps in a order to better themselves in this harsh environment without the dragons knowing, find a way to make money and keep herself rich to be able to provide for others.
The money part was going to be a problem. In order to take over her father's company, she needed to get a university degree in business and Kathia was just a senior in high school. So who was going to run as president of Rittevon Co? Well probably the vice president if he survived the attack. She hoped he would manage the company well in her place until her time comes. As for her servants, she would need to pay them all using her parents' vast amount of money. She thought about laying some of them off so that she could save enough cash for her college classes in the future as well as textbooks and other school supplies. She would hire them back again once she had graduated.
After the girl was done thinking out her life plans, Kathia went downstairs for breakfast that had been cooked by Mrs. Merryweather.
Aeolus's horde members had gathered to meet him at his cave for departure. The green disaster dragon said farewell to Doubloon, who wished him and the other dragons luck and safety in the world outside. The Vulture Horde, which Aeolus named, walked out through the tunnels and upon nearing the exit, Bam ran in front and stopped them to say, "Aeolus, you're going to destroy the humans, aren't you?"
"I am, and?" the disaster dragon asked, wondering what his childhood friend had to say.
The navy blue said, "Take me with you. I want to help crush all the humans in Solomos."
Zylanon, the shadow dragon, who looked at the blue dragon with doubt, and asked, "You? And what could you possibly contribute to this group, Bam? Aeolus only wants the best breeds of dragons with the right powers. All you can do is breathe fire and that's just it."
"So what? At least that's something," Bam countered, defensively. "Besides I want to see these humans suffer after all the terrible things they did to all of us and... to me," he said, murmuring with vengeance at the end.
Aeolus thought about it for a second before he answered, "Fine, you can come with us, if you must. But if things are getting too much for you, I'll be forced to send you back here in the village."
"Thanks Aeolus," said Bam. "I promise I won't let you down." Then the horde of 8 dragons left the village and flew off to look for humans to destroy.
The Firestars woke up and left the ruined city with the sisters riding their aunt as she flew out over the woods. After 20 miles, they saw smoke rising above the trees with dragons flying around it. Danielle pointed to the scene and said, "Aunt Atwas, wook!"
"Yes I see, Danielle," the magi said. "It looks like the other dragons are destroying a human settlement." The Firestars could see the refugee camp burning on fire with human screams filling the air. The men tried to fight back with spears and other tools they could wield, but these weapons failed to fight back against breath attacks and magic. Atlas could care less about these humans dying, after all they've done to her kind. 'Goddamn slave-driving scums; serves you right!' she thought.
One dragon hovered above the camp as he looked down at it and grinned with joy at the people suffering. "Die humans die! The whole world will be better off without any of you filthy creatures around," he said.
'Damn right!' Atlas thought agreeing with him as she flew past and away from the camp. 'Without humans, we'll never have anymore problems with them again!' They were all scum from the deep to the outside. No wait, the "all" part was definitely not true. Henry and Yukki weren't like the majority of the humans around the world. If they were, they would have killed her and enslaved her nieces. Atlas couldn't believe that she wanted them off of Veleia; not after all they've done for the family. But the other dragons attacking the camp might not think the same thing about the white-haired siblings. Perhaps they or the other dragons would go after them next.
But Atlas would not allow that to happen; she would fight against her kind to protect these two if they ever tried to lay a claw on them. So in case Henry and Yukki were under attack, Atlas closed her eyes and pictured the two in her mind. She channeled energy to her mind and teleport the tracking spell onto them, so that if they were ever in danger she would warp to them on time.
After she had eaten her breakfast, Kathia decided to try out the familiar spell on Mrs. Merryweather to see if it would strengthen the bond between the two. She wasn't sure if the spell worked or not, because she already liked the maid and had respect for her. But the girl did seem to feel a little happier around the maid for a short while until Kathia left to go outside and practice her spells. But before she did, the girl told the maid of some useful household spells like the anti-cockroach spell and the plant blessing spell, which the maid was glad to learn because she had lost her disbelief in magic after hearing about the mages who worked to rebuild the city.
Kathia went to the courtyard and went up to the plants in the red jars. She practiced her plant blessing spells on them to repel the harmful bugs and ensure their healthy looks. The plants glowed in a light green aura for a short while until the spell sunk into their bodies. 'Well it's nice to make my garden look good and all, but I want to more useful spells than this,' she thought. 'Where in the book can I find some really interesting spells?' She turned page after page until she found the one spell that caught her eye; the levitation spell, but her body needed to become more used to magic before she could try it out. So the girl flipped back to one of the spells to try out the No Wind spell.
No Wind was a spell that halted non-magical winds from blowing at the area where the castor cast it. It was breezing right now and it was a good time to test this spell out. Kathia read the book's instructions first on how to cast it. Then she raised her hand out at the direction where the breeze came from and said the magic words, "Nullus Magis Ventus!" Then the wind stopped blowing. Content that the spell worked, the girl could see that it was useful in stopping winds from doing annoying things like trying to blow away her stuff or blow dust into her eyes. 'I should practice this spell more often so that I can remember the words by heart,' she thought. Then she turned the page to the next spell, how to create blessed water.
To make the holy water, one must find a source of clean water and cast white magic energy into it. But the water must not be too big like lakes and oceans for example for the spell might not work as it'll fade trying to spread out throughout the whole water source. The book also said that blessed water, once drunken, will purify the body of mild diseases and hexes, heal internal injuries that aren't too severe, and power up the user's magic energy. 'Yes! Something that will help me in dragon hunts!' Kathia thought happily. She went back inside the mansion and took a cup from the cupboard. Then she went over to the sink where Mrs. Merryweather was washing the dishes. "Excuse me," the girl said as the maid moved over to let the girl pour water into the cup.
The maid asked, "Oh Kathia, getting yourself a drink of water, eh?"
"No, I'm going to turn this water into holy water," the girl answered.
"Holy water? How are you going to do that? I thought this was a church thing," asked Mrs. Merryweather, raising a brow at her employer's curious attempt.
"With magic of course," said the girl. She reread the instructions again on how to use white magic energy and it said that one's mind must be benevolently pure to channel the energy and have a desire to heal. So Kathia thought up of nice things like helping Mrs. Merryweather make chores easier, heal the sick and wounded, mend the wounded hearts of those who suffered through tragedy. Her hand over the cup started glowing in a light blue aura, chanted the magic words, and she let the energy sink into the water. The water became blessed as it started glowing light blue and it would remain that way for a long while.
Kathia drank it to see how much it would make her magic stronger. She waited for a bit to see what the effects would have on her body, but nothing happened. Oh well, Kathia guessed she wasn't supposed to feel a thing. Maybe if she were to cast a few spells, she might see a difference. The girl used her calming aura and became relaxed. She looked at the next spell in the book and discovered magical writing. Basically, the wizard had to enchant a writing tool such as a pen or pencil and the thing would come to life and write down whatever he or she said. She went to try it out by taking up a pen and turning the book over to a blank page before the Table of Contents. She channeled magic energy into the pen and willed it to come to life. The pen floated over the book, waiting for its master's commands. The girl thought a bit about something to say until she got an idea. "I want to be an almighty and powerful wizard," she said. Just as expected, the pen wrote down every word she said. Seeing as all of the spells she had cast, except for the few mishaps when she had been just introduced to magic, Kathia felt like she was ready to cast the next level of spells. Perhaps she could try out that levitation spell next.
The girl focused her mental magic energy onto the cup and willed it to float up suspended in the air. Then she made the cup fly around in various directions and had fun doing so. Mrs. Merryweather put the last dish into the dish drying rack and turned around to see the sight that made her jump in surprise. "Oh my! Kathia, are you doing this?" she asked.
"Yep!" the girl answered. "I'm practicing my levitation spell." She brought the chair up to join the cup and let it hover up. She could feel bit of strain when she did that, but Kathia didn't mind. "You know, you could use this spell to make your chores easily, but you'll have to start with newbie spells first or you'll get hurt," she said.
"You don't say," the maid said with a newfound interest in magic.
Kathia said, "You just got to read the first page in the book. It'll tell you how to cast magic." She let the chair float down back on the floor and let the cup land gracefully on the table. She handed the spell book to Mrs. Merryweather and said, "You can start learning right now, while I go for out for fresh air."
"Thanks, Kathia," the maid said, delighted with her employer's generosity.
"You're welcome," the redhead said before she left the kitchen. She went up to her room to take her sword, shield, bow, & arrows with her, because she might go dragon-slaying later. Then she went into her parents' room to take her father's wallet. She'll need money to buy herself another spell book, since Mrs. Merryweather is using the other one to learn convenient spells. Then Kathia went over to the phone and called a taxi to pick her up. After a while later, she looked out the window and saw that the cab had arrived. She went over to the front door and exited her home. She got into the taxi cab and told the driver to take her to the bookstore from yesterday.
After 25 minutes later, which was due to the traffic caused by dragons sometimes being in the way, the taxi had reached the place. Kathia paid the driver, left the cab, and went inside the store to purchase another spellbook. This time it was a book about using elemental magic. After checking out the spells inside, an excited smile spread across her face and she said to herself, "Oh good! I am so totally going to kill those dragons with these spells!" She couldn't wait to try out her new arsenal of magic after she purchased the book.
"That's not going to work," said a young male voice from somewhere.
"Huh? Who said that?" asked Kathia, wondering who was trying to shoot down her idea. She turned to see a 19-year-old blue-eyed brunette next to her. The girl placed her hand on her hip and asked in an annoyed tone, "Oh I don't suppose you have a better idea on how I can kill these things?" The boy sounded like he was mad about the "slay dragons" thing. The girl guessed that he might be one of those pathetic dragon sympathizers.
The guy put his hand in his pocket and stood in silence for a very few seconds before saying, "Start with the obvious. Dragons are masters at magic. It pretty much runs in their veins. You'd have an easier time learning about them first."
"Well thanks for the tip, mister. But you should know that not all dragons use magic," said Kathia, feeling smart. It was pretty much a fact as there were non-magical breeds such as the mint dragons, pygmy dragons, harvest dragons, black tips, albinos, and more. But thanks to the stranger's helpful advice, now she felt a desire to go look for a book or guide about the many breeds of dragons. So that when she goes hunting, she can pick out the weaker dragons to hunt first before she became more experienced and skilled. "Well ta-ta, pal. I got a guidebook to go find," she said before she turned around and left.
The guy said after her, "You better know what you're doing. It's our fault they attacked anyway."
The girl stopped and looked back at him for a second. "Hah!" Kathia cried confidently. She wagged her finger and said, "I'll have you know that I have killed three dragons before and one of them was a black dragon." Though she nearly died in the battle with such a dangerous breed, the girl refused to be discouraged by the man's words of caution. Well not that she was going to recklessly throw away her life fighting, but she was going to keep to her goals as fearlessly as she can while being smart about it. She went to the non-fiction section where books on dragon breeds are. She found one that was titled "Dragons around the World" and looked through the pages that showed pictures and told info about each breed. "Perfect!" exclaimed. The girl grabbed the book and joined the line, where she waited until it was her turn to get the two books purchased. After the first people in front of her left, the cashier rang up the books and Kathia paid for them in cash. The books were placed in a bag and the girl took them with her out the door. Then she saw the rain falling lightly from the sky. "Damn it, I should have brought my umbrella and jacket with me," the girl cursed herself. Then she looked through the spell book to see if there were any spells to protect her from the rain. She found a bubble barrier spell and cast it onto herself. The spell did the trick as the thin liquid barrier blocked all the raindrops and let them sit on its surface. The girl walked through the streets on her way to the forest to try her hand at hunting again. Maybe with the skills she learned from Jason yesterday, her survival rate would improve.
A while later, Kathia was in the woods searching for whatever dragon she could find. But for a while, no dragon showed up in her view. She decided to take time to read over a few spells and practice them one at a time while she traveled. Her hunt took a long time until she finally saw a purple dragoness. The slayer took out her dragon guide book and read what it said about that breed. The purple dragons were a docile breed whose only magic is to increase fertility in other dragons. 'Well that's not much of a threat! I'll just have to kill it and be done with it,' she thought. She drew her bow and took an arrow out of the quiver. She aimed it at the dragoness's head and shot it there. The arrow hit her and the purple fell over dead. Pumping her fist in satisfaction and triumph, Kathia cried, "Yes!" She went over to the dragoness's body and used her sword to cut off her two yellow antennae as prizes for her kill.
The girl even retrieved the arrow out of the dragoness's skull and walked away to look for more dragons to kill. 10 minutes later, the girl came to a hill that was near a stream and a bunch of trees surrounded a variety of plants. She decided to take a break and sit on the hill. The rain had stopped, but Kathia wasn't going to take her chances letting her bubble barrier down yet. There was a chance that it might rain again. The girl had forgotten to check the weather report online before coming out into the woods. "Stupid me," she cursed herself. Well it didn't matter now anyway. Kathia decided to practice one of the spells, which was the burning touch spell and watched her hand become blazed in fire. The fire was harmless on her body as she was the controller of this spell.
Then, an idea came to her mind. Most dragons breathed fire, right? If she were to burn the bodies of dragons she killed, they might suspect one of the members of their own kind responsible for the attack. But of course there were going to be some evidences of the sword and arrows having the beasts killed. But surely there would be a magic spell to cover that up, right?
Suddenly, Kathia was attacked by four vines that had appeared from the ground and lunged at her. The girl recoiled in surprise and cried, "Ack!" The vines smacked the bubble barrier and popped it. Then they grabbed onto her limbs and the girl struggled to free herself. "Let go of me!"she screamed. She channeled the fire magic energy through her whole arms and then her legs to cover them in flames. She could feel herself getting warm when she did that.
The flames reached the vines and caused them to lose their grip on the teenager. Throughout their burning and dying states, they lash at her for a short time while Kathia swatted them away before they withered into ashes. For a brief moment, she stared in silence wondering what the heck were those vines and how they able to move on their own. Just then, several vines rose from the ground, appearing stronger and with sharp thorns on them. They whipped at the dragon slayer's non-ignited parts with the thorns adding little damage and sometimes snagging onto her clothes for a second. The pain had felt like that of a real whip. Kathia winced and cried 'ouch' from each strike. As she covered her head with her left arm, she yelled, "Get away from me!" As she grabbed the sword from her sheath, one of the vines tripped her and made the girl fall onto her bottom. The fires from her legs and arms touched the grass and started its conquest to spread and torch every flora, starting with the ground.
With the sword now in hand, Kathia stood back up while taking a lash to her arm. She swung at the vines to cut them down while letting the burning touch spell spread through her whole body until she was completely enveloped in flames. At this point her body started to feel hot, but she didn't put her concern on that as she was too busy fighting for her life.
It seems as though the more the girl resisted, the more force that's used as a response. The flames reaching the ground caused it to rumble. Kathia shook for a moment as she tried to keep her balance. Then more plants rose out of the ground, this time with plants shooting projectiles such as blade-like leaves and thorns. The lashing vines stopped with the whipping attacks, and instead attack with brute force while the thorns on them act to puncture. Some have been strengthen to try to resist the flames. The slayer winced and gritted her teeth in pain as she took her shield and used it to block the attacks. Kathia backed away from the plants as she defended herself and fend off the vines with her sword. Soon, her legs entered the stream and the flames were extinguished by the water. The heat energy in her body warmed up the cool stream. The hunter continued to walk backward until she was far enough to turn tail and retreat.
She ran through the woods until the hill and its vines were no longer in site. Her burning touch spell was also dispelled as Kathia didn't want to be slowed down by the heat burning her. She sat down against the tree to catch her breath for a few seconds before she asked, "What the heck was that?! There's no way these plants wouldn't have been about to move on their own." The more she thought about her encounter, the more she felt familiar with it until she figured out why. "Unless..." she said before she read through her guide book and looked to the page on vine dragons. These were very violent dragons that lived underground and use their vines to attack. She had once had one as a slave until he died of injury and exhaustion. "Of course..." she murmured to herself.
Now that she knew the vines belonged to that of a dragon, she needed to plan out her strategy on how to kill it so that she would get it next time. She knew that the vines were thorny and that the plants can shoot their leaves and thorns. The best thing to do was to keep her distance on the other side of the stream and use the trees for cover against the leaves. Magic should be her only offensive tool in this hunt as she needed that long distance for safety. She should also get herself some eye-wear protection so that the small and thin projectiles don't cut her eyes and damage her vision. Kathia made her way back to Windfall to buy what she needs and use the other spell book at home to heal her damages.
Author's Note: So Kathia's hunt ends in defeat, but at least she's not going to the hospital this time. So anyway, what do you guys think of my new protagonist, Minerva? Sure her start might look bland, but I plan for more interesting things to happen with her in the far future. She will appear in the next chapter along with Ronan, Drake, and some bad guys.
Minerva (c) me
Ronan and Drake (c) LordTorch18
Colin and Green (c) Flamedramon2657