Chapter 3
Under the light of a crescent moon, the Alatreon soared across the Guiding Lands at night, taking care to hide behind the clouds in the night sky as it flew closer to the area.
This land, the Alatreon noted, was very rich in energy. Plants of many colors grew abundantly here, undisturbed by human activities from their wood-and-stone settlements. Animals, big and small, could be seen lurking and nesting in various spots in the Guiding Lands, among them were Elder Dragons which sought refuge in the region's more sheltered places.
A closer examination revealed that the Guiding Lands was divided into different biomes, each of them being located so close to one another yet separated enough to prevent one biome from overgrowing the other. Verdant forests covered most of the place, but occasionally pathways would open up to new locales such as a hilltop littered with coral reefs despite not being underwater or murky caves filled with bones and lizard-like scavengers. Cold, wintry mountains were common in the area, as were cave tunnels which led to unseen places where intense heat could be detected by the creature.
Jagged, rocky mountains dominated the centermost area of the region, and from there came a rush of bioenergy that only Elder Dragons could sense.
The Alatreon was certain, those mountains were where the bioenergy was mostly concentrated.
The creature wasted no time as it flew closer to the mountains, into a valley full of jutting rocks where plants were suspiciously scarce. Only vine-like plants could be seen thriving between the narrow crevices of the valley.
As the Alatreon flew even further in, it noticed that animals were nearly absent within the valley. Not even scavengers could be found in there.
Intriguing, why would this place be so conspicuously empty of life, while bioenergy flowed freely around it? The Alatreon's answer came in the form of shredded translucent materials that were blanketing the place, like a banner that got ripped so many times and left to the ravages of time. They were everywhere; above hills, between plateaus, and inside gaps, no matter where the Black Dragon looked, nothing but the shredded leathery substance was there.
It then spotted an open ground where it could land safely, just wide enough to let the moonlight shone on the soil. The Alatreon wasted no time as it landed and turned its glowing red eyes to a pile of leathery remains next to a tiny crag.
It looked organic, maybe even too organic to be a manmade banner. The color and texture gave an impression of old scaly skin that serpentine creatures would shed when they grew old.
On top of that, traces of bioenergy could be smelled from the substance.
Could this be the work of the missing mystery hatchling? Or was there another beast that shared the mystery hatchling's features?
The Black Dragon contemplated flying all over the valley in search of more clues when a metallic roar echoed from behind it.
Ah, so the unknown monster decided to show itself at long last, the Alatreon thought. It swiftly turned back to meet the beast face-to-face. From a darkened pathway, a monster of great proportion emerged, its crimson red body was tainted by broken scales and faded cut marks and its tail had broken spikes on the tip. Its long head and great horns showed signs of a ferocious struggle between the beast and assailants which the Alatreon surmised to be the humans. The red beast's teeth were stained in dried blood, assumed by the Black Dragon to be its last meal before coming into the open ground.
The red beast bellowed once again. The sight of a new black monster both agitated and stirred it at the same time; this new thing reeked of a tremendous amount of bioenergy inside its bulky body, perfect for the red beast to feast on after the untimely encounter with the pesky human hunters.
It was judging the newcomer, the Alatreon mused. The red beast eyed the Black Dragon intensely, searching for an opportunity to attack while determining why the black monster bothered to come all the way there. The Alatreon responded by flaring its huge wings. The wing membranes glowed blue, as were its great horns, a cue to call forth lightning strikes as the Alatreon's opening volley when the turf war eventually ensued. The red beast replied by standing tall on its rear legs; an intimidation posture.
A stance too similar to a monster from a faraway land…
And with a jab to the earth from its hooked claws, the red monster drew forth a surge of bluish-white energy from the Guiding Lands, ready to fight to satisfy its lust.
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"Where is it, ma'am?"
"The Blazing Black Dragon has to be in here somewhere!"
The huntress named Ellen Summers didn't answer her fellow hunters' question. Her eyes carefully scanned the shadowy cliffs dotting the Guiding Lands, watching for signs of the legendary monster. So far, they were lucky to be able to spot the telltale sight of the Alatreon's gleaming scales as it entered the Guiding Lands. But upon the creature's entry into the Secluded Valley, they lost sight of it and were forced to chase after it.
The lack of vision during the nighttime hunt only exacerbated their problem. At any point, the Alatreon or the red monster from before could ambush the hunters out of nowhere, and the wingdrakes could only do so much to avoid unseen attacks.
Just as the hunters were ready to give up on this fruitless chase and return to their base, dozens of lightning strikes flashed in front of them. Ellen held tight to her wingdrake claw, afraid that the next volley of lightning would strike her next. But they didn't come. Who did it? Where did it come from?
Icy mists then swallowed the four hunters, as suddenly as the lightning strikes. Soon, the mists disappeared, only to be replaced by fiery embers.
"There! I see it!"
"It's locked in a fight with the red dragon!"
"Shall we fly in closer, ma'am?"
A hunter shouted, pointing his finger to a place smothered in smoke and fire. Ellen squinted her eyes to see closer. There, on an open clearing, she bore witness to a brutal fight between the adult Xeno'Jiiva monster and the Blazing Black Dragon. Traces of fire, ice, and lightning surrounded the two monsters as they circled, preparing to brawl once more.
The hunters needed to know what brought the two powerful monsters together in such an out-of-the-way location. With a series of short whistles, Ellen led the rest of her team into a safer place so they could observe the fight from a safe distance.
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Fire danced across the Alatreon's mouth as it clamped down very tightly on the red monster's neck, doing its best to scorch its opponent in the fire breath. The red beast, however, was protected by thick scales and shell, forcing the Alatreon to jerk the damn thing left and right just so that its sharp teeth could pierce the scales somehow.
The red beast refused to yield and quickly yanked itself free to retaliate. Bioenergy surged in its great jaws as it fired short bursts of lasers to the Alatreon, who countered it by breathing ice chunks in rapid succession while in flight. For each ice chunk the red monster shot down, the Black Dragon would fire more ice at it. Time to try a new tactic.
The red monster dashed to the other side of the battleground. By positioning itself away from the wall of rock encircling the arena, the red monster shot the canyon walls with its bioenergy, causing big rocks to crumble.
The Alatreon, realizing what its opponent was doing, flew right in the direction of the red beast. The other monster was very surprised as it didn't anticipate the Alatreon to make yet another mad dash to attack the red beast head-on. With a blast of Dragon breath, the Black Dragon effortlessly toppled the red monster to the ground and snapped its jaws on the opponent's neck, swearing to finish it off for good. The red monster began firing its bioenergy wildly, desperate to gain more ground against the stubborn enemy. Even smacking the enemy in the head using its spiky tail failed to make the Black Dragon flinch.
A stray shot of bioenergy struck a dried tree trunk, causing it to fall on the Alatreon's back and provided the red monster ample time to retaliate.
Now it was its turn to tackle the Black Dragon to its knees. The red monster wrestled the Alatreon to the ground, rolling several times across the battleground until it had the opponent firmly within its jaws. The Alatreon shrilled angrily, summoning several lightning strikes to dislodge the red monster from its back. The enemy, nevertheless, did its best to jerk away from each lightning as they came while pinning the Alatreon down.
The red monster then began clawing at the Black Dragon's body, methodically ripping through the enemy's tough scales in its furious state, but perhaps it did so too eagerly, as when the red monster missed one attack, the Alatreon seized the opportunity to bite the red monster's paw.
Now the Black Dragon was once again advantageous. By forcibly rolling away to tumble its opponent, the Alatreon managed to twist the other beast's front leg, dealing heavy damage as it rapidly spammed fire, ice, water, and thunder elements at the downed creature. Of course, the red monster wouldn't just sit there and took all the punishment. It countered the Alatreon's elements with its own bioenergy beams, alternating between big powerful lasers and smaller, more concentrated energy shots. The Alatreon, too, carefully shifted its barrages between fireballs, ice spikes, lightning bolts, and water sprays before finishing them with a powerful blast of Dragon breath.
Half an hour passed as the two legendary monsters traded blows at each other. Elemental embers danced in the air as they relentlessly unleashed whatever power they had at their disposal, desperately trying to destroy one another.
A fireball from the Black Dragon's mouth missed its intended target, heading straight toward the spot where the four hunters were hiding.
The yelping of fear the hunters let out was enough to put a stop at the two monsters' turf war. The Alatreon huffed in annoyance upon laying its sights on them, whereas the red monster growled irately as it remembered that it was originally going to hide somewhere to recuperate. Nevertheless, the exhausted monster took the unexpected distraction to flee the scene, leaving the Alatreon behind to deal with the hunters.
Battered, disoriented, but still lucid enough to fight some more, the Black Dragon turned its head to inspect the four humans as they hastily entered the charred battleground. The hunters unsheathed their weapons; some were sharp and gleaming, while others were blunt and decorative.
It hoped they did not underestimate its prowess despite the grueling fight it endured moments ago.
Four ice spikes, one for each hunter, flew from the Alatreon's mouth, intended as intimidation. The hunters dodged past them and reassumed their fighting stance, this time ready to counterattack the next move.
The Alatreon decided to entice them to come closer with a brief fire breath attack. It worked; two hunters rushed in to attack its head, only for the Alatreon to parry with its heavy tail. The two humans were thrown backward by the force of the tail's impact.
A third hunter, already anticipating the outcome, slid past the Alatreon's tail and smacked the Black Dragon's head with his sharp weapon twice, causing it to flinch. The two earlier hunters also recovered from their fall and threw some kind of pods at the creature, disorienting it through a fleeting sensation of paralysis.
Hmpf, it seemed these hunters were prepared to fight dirty, the Alatreon mused. Perhaps it would be more desirable to lure them to a place with less lighting to reduce their likelihood to fend off its assaults? The creature believed so. The third hunter, joined by the fourth, aimed for the Alatreon's head once more, but this time, the Alatreon retaliated by swinging its head left and right while filling its great horns with Dragon element to damage the hunters further. It then took a flight to the air as it gathered forth a surge of energy before flying to the center of the arena and unleashed an explosion of Dragon breath, knocking the hunters away.
The humans recovered just in time to see the Black Dragon sailed past them, into a dark chasm in the opposite direction of the red monster.
Their leader, Ellen, was tempted to chase it further down the Secluded Valley, but they needed to report what they had witnessed just minutes ago… the brutal turf war between the Blazing Black Dragon and the adult, red-scaled Xeno'Jiiva.
Perhaps the top-brass in Astera and Seliana could offer some advice on how to proceed with the mission…