It was an extremely tiring day for a certain black haired boy. Having just crossed an unimaginable distance running through a desert, on reserves of speed and stamina that he had no idea about, didn't help much either. But while one would normally celebrate themselves on such a feat, he wasn't even going to bother.

So here Darren was, slouched over as he continued to walk behind his guide. Extremely close to passing due to lack of food and rest from the marathon he basically ran. Taking another step forward he tripped on a hidden pebble, causing him to fall onto the floor with a groan.

"Wake me up when we're there." He said weakly, before his head fell to the ground. He cursed something about tiny dragons being gods of evil under his breath as his world faded to black.

The Other Way - Chapter two

"Are we there yet?"

'No.'

"…

"Are we there now?"

'Gods you've been doing this for hours already! I'll tell you when we get there!'

"But I haven't slept for hours already with you keeping me awake." Darren whined. The teenager soon after running had discovered that his ability to constantly run at his previous speeds was due to Grima feeding him energy. He began sulking when he was told he wasn't doing the feat on his own. Though Grima had told him that later on he'd be able to maintain that speed on his own, but he was too busy moping around to listen.

Darren had been awake for nearly two days now, travelling the endless desert with nothing to eat. The only thing keeping him from collapsing again was the energy Grima had been giving him, nourishing and revitalizing him constantly until the dragons' own reserves began to run low and needed to rest.

The main reason they had been moving at all times was what happened a few nights ago.

It was night time. Darren was currently sitting down, leaning on another big rock that seemed somewhat familiar to the one he slept on a few hours earlier. Wondering briefly if Grima had accidentally lead them into a circle before shaking his head. The teen closed his eyes, in attempt to fall asleep by his own will.

The run he had earlier had been tiring, having to do several other exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, or squats in between running intervals didn't help. In the middle of the desert no less! He still ached from the spots he'd been shot at by his draconic partner. Glaring at the fell-dragon, Darren's' brows furrowed in determination; he would somehow get the little snake back for that.

Grima, who had been resting near his partner, shuddered briefly. Suddenly he was getting a bad feeling of future events to come. Tightening the coil he was in, he tried to make himself more comfortable. Lending such a large amount of energy to the boy not only tiring, but was also extremely taxing on his own reserves. 'At least he's making progress.' Grima thought happily.

It was silent as they rested; both had tired themselves out earlier-albeit for different reasons. The

The two suddenly found themselves in the middle of an earthquake. Sand began flying as the earth was shaking violently. A small portion of the ground split open, a small red glow from underneath making a short appearance before being covered in falling sand.

Grima immediately flew straight up, trying to see the extent of the damage. Meanwhile Darren hastily scrambled up to his feet, barely holding himself upright. As soon as they saw the blue portal open in the air above them, did they know what was happening. Grima felt the power signatures of multiple risen before he saw them. He immediately knew that fighting was completely out of the question, as they would be very difficult opponents to him in his current state. He wasn'tgoing to risk leaving Darren out in the open at their mercy. Turning to his human partner, he quickly flew towards Darren.

'We need to get out of here.' He said quickly, shooting a quick glance towards the first of the risen to have travelled through the portal. Already, they began moving, but they haven't seemed to have taken notice of them.

"They probably aren't that str–" Darren tried to argue, feeling slightly confident in his own abilities of protecting himself.

'They are more than enough to be able to deal with you,' Grima interrupted. 'And since you can't fight and I am unable to properly protect you at the moment, we need to get away now. Now hurry up, before they notice us.' Quickly he turned away from the moving corpses, and began flying away.

Starring hard at the zombie equivalents, Darren was actually able to make out several high class enemies amongst them. He quickly imagined what might have happened if they managed to catch him, and shuddered once before banishing the thoughts. Taking another once over, he was thankful that there were no flying units in the group, so he didn't have to worry about having to run away from that. Incredible speed and stamina or not, he was terrified at the thought of having to outrun a wyvern. After a while of staring he soon noticed that one of them had turned around, and was now staring at him. The boy's face paled at how the risen was looking at him; its decaying face completely empty of emotion as two faintly glowing red eyes stared at him.

Suppressing a shudder, Darren turned around, and began to walk in the direction his partner had flown in earlier.

'So much for a good night's sleep. That… was beyond creepy.' He thought bitterly, hands in his pockets as he stalked off into the night.

They had multiple encounters with risen hoards already, but always managed to avoid them thanks to Grima picking up their signatures and changing their course before they encountered them. When asked how he was able to do such a thing, Grima simply answered. 'While they were made by the other me, they are still using my power. So I can pick up on their signature if they are in large enough groups, or just insanely strong.'

Looking at Grima, Darren noticed that the small dragon was getting tired too often since they began travelling at their current pace. Often opting to rest on top of his head and sleeping for an hour or so before leading him off again. He could tell they were making good progress to Ferox, and at this rate, they might make it in a day or two from now.

They stopped at a large sand dune, moving into the shade as they prepared to rest. Personally, Darren felt that he could keep moving.

'We'll stop here for now. Rest for an hour, then…' Unable to finish the sentence, Grima fluttered to the ground with a soft thud as he landed.

Darren felt sympathy for the fell-dragon, something he never thought he'd do. But, to push oneself to the point of exhaustion multiple times just to ensure someone else's safety was hardly an easy task, but he did it for him anyways. Resoluting to push forward, he picked up the downed figure and place him on his head.

Grima stirred in his sleep, opening an eye he saw that he was on the top of his partners head. Feeling that he should be guiding the boy, he struggled in an attempt to raise himself into the air. He was stopped when a hand pressed down against his body in a soft but firm manner.

"Stay still," said a soft voice from under him. "I don't want you exhausting yourself for me all the time. So just rest there until we get there 'kay?"

Feeling himself drift into slumber once again, the dragon closed his eye and mumbled once before sleep took him. 'Thanks…Darren…stay safe…' He warned.

Smiling upwards at his heads' occupant, Darren felt Grimas' breathing slow down, a tell-tale sign that he was now asleep. Feeling satisfied with his decision, he continued walking forward watching as the sun began to set. Feeling the first signs of doubt form in the back of his mind, he quickly stomped the negative thoughts out.

'Don't worry, I'll be juuust fine.' He assured himself, 'nothing's happened so far right?'

Inwardly, he chuckled nervously, of course nothing would. Taking another step forward, he saw how quickly it was getting dark. Unconsciously, he quickened his pace. Sliding his blades in and out of their case out of nervousness, the teen began to anxiously scan their surroundings. Darren was surprised at how vulnerable he felt without the presence of the fell-dragon that would protect him if he was in danger. It was odd really. How having one of the most feared beings in this world as your partner, made him feel not scared or nervous, but he felt more comfortable and safe.

'Of course, I'll have to learn how to fight on my own eventually, since I can't always rely on Grima always being there to help me. But then again, that's why we're going to Ferox in the first place; for me to learn how to fight for myself.' He thought, confidence beginning to replace the nervous feelings he had before. This might turn out well for him after all.

Unfortunately for him, fate had decided to play with the teen as he had just found his confidence restored.

"Graghhh."

Freezing in spot, Darren began to slowly turn around, breaking into a cold sweat as he could see the faint outline of a body in the darkness. Gripping his right hand tightly, the twin blades shot out of their case, quickly he brought them across his chest in what was hopefully resembled a defensive stance.

The risen in front of him just stood there. Unmoving as its' glowing eyes just started at him. Meanwhile Darren was just too panicked to make anything out of the situation, he was as motionless as the risen he faced, and his heart was currently hammering into his chest as he stood there. He eyed the rusted sword in the risens' arms. Should he make a run for it? Should he fight it? He didn't know.

A few more minutes passed as the two stared at each other in complete silence. Darren had slowly gone from terrified, to extremely confused. Why wasn't it doing anything? They usually attack the first thing that moves right? So focused on his thoughts, he nearly missed the glowing eyes rise above his head in attempt to look at something.

'Wh-what happened?' Mumbled a groggy and tired voice in his head. The feeling of a body stirring from the top of his head confirmed the awakened presence of its residential dragon.

'Risen.' He told it. Feeling the body above him immediately stiffen, he reasoned that Grima was now fully awake. Which could only be a good thing, right? Once the dragon saw the enemy in front of him, he asked in a confused voice. 'Why is it just staring at me?'

'I don't know! I wanted to ask you that!'

'How would I know? I haven't done anything like this before!'

'Gah! What help are you? Just, get rid of it already!'

A pause.

'Why don't you just try fighting it?' The fell-dragon asked. The risen itself was a low level enemy, its' gear was clearly low in power and quality. Even the energy in it was barely enough to be registered by the dragons' senses.

Darren blinked at the suggestion, why didn't he just do that at the beginning? And wasn't he just too scared to move a minute ago? Even he could tell that it was a really weak risen. Once again he marvelled briefly at how quickly his attitude changed when Grima was with him. Taking a ready stance—arm outstretched with blades pointing forward—he waited to see if the action would get a response from the risen.

Grima, sensing the fight about to happen, flew off of his partners' head to land a short distance away. It was far enough to not accidentally be brought into the fight, and close enough to help the boy in case things got out of hand.

Almost as if recognizing the challenge, the risen brought its sword up, returning the gesture before charging at an insane speed and swinging wildly. Darren could barely get his weapon up in time to block the blade from cutting into his chest.

In an attempt of retaliation, the Hunter quickly stabbed his blades forward into the enemy's chest. His eyes widened in surprise when he actually saw it connect. The two stood there in silence as they remained motionless.

The risen had stood still when the blades pierced, looking at how they went through one side and out the other. Before making a sound that resembled a grunt, though in an inhumane voice, and punched the stunned boy across the face.

Gasping slightly at the hit, Darren stared the risen with his eyes narrowed as his brow furrowed in confusion before he got the reason why it didn't die. 'I haven't dealt enough damage yet! These guys don't die like normal people do!' He berated himself.

Getting an odd feeling from the thought, he shook his head quickly before focusing on his opponent. His eyes began to unconsciously trace themselves to the two holes his blades had made. He gulped audibly as he noticed how they were directly over where a human heart would be. Then he noticed something else; the purple fog flowing from both holes. His eyes widened as he felt something odd course through him. Strange. It was as if, all of a sudden, he felt…hungry… extremely hungry actually.

Grima watched as something changed within the boy. Maybe it was just the way he suddenly took a stance, or the odd look that was on his face as he eyed the risen. In a sudden blur of movement, Darren disappeared, then reappearing in front of the risen immediately slashing diagonally across its chest. Using the momentum of the slash, he spun before lashing at its face with his left elbow. The risen was starting to show signs of tiring; its movements were slowing down, and seemed to be breathing heavily. But Darren just kept on going faster and faster. The Hunter just kept on launching into a continuous onslaught; always spinning to get two or three more hits in before leaping back, charging in, and repeating the process. That isn't to say that he was never hit though, as small cuts could be seen across his arms and chest from where the risen had managed to land a few lucky hits.

"So… hungry!" Darren growled out, dashing the risen once again.

'Hungry?' Grima questioned. Why would he say that? And in the middle of battle too! He then noticed the boys' eyes; the crazed look in them, the pinprick size his pupils were. It even looked like they were glowing red in a way that reminded Grima of his own. The fact that they looked like that only after the fight turned in the favor of Darren, shocked the fell-dragon immensely. He pondered why they would be like this for a few seconds before realization hit like a ton of bricks: he was trying to consume the power held inside the risen. He was starving after only living off Grimas' energy for the few days he's been here, and since he wasn't given any when the fell-dragon was sleeping, he was desperate for a way to compensate for it. The power a risen had in it was close enough to match his, so would probably sustain the boy. Now this wouldn't surprise Grima if he were to try doing this in a few months or so, as it is a means of restoring power and to sustain oneself, but after only a few days here, it worried him. But Darren should not be trying this without any of his seals off, or it could be fatal!

Darren had reached the risen by the time Grima had come to this conclusion. Slashing one final time across its' torso with enough strength to slice the body in half. The body fell to the ground with a thud, the purple vapour also began to fall and fade away, but Darren stepped forward, hand outstretched and pointing to the dark energy. Slowly it began to flow towards him, small tendrils rising to meet his hand where a small ball of dark purple formed. Once the flow stopped and the small ball grew to about half of its original size, he raised his hand to face level. His mouth opened as it began to suck in the dark ball.

'Stop!' A single word went through the crazed teens' mind. But the force it had was enough to snap him from his current state. His eyes turning to normal, focused on the ball in front of him. Crying out in shock at the unknown object he was currently holding, he lobbed the ball away from in fear. The dark object slowly faded away as it flew through the air.

Breathing heavily, Darren slowly turned to face Grima, his eyes were widened in horror, his face was pale and soaked with sweat from the earlier exertion. His voice was shaky, confused and most notable, scared.

"What… did I just do?" He whispered.

Yes. Cliffhanger! Arghh, I tried to lengthen this chapter more to compensate for the previous one, and I think I did that. And I'm sorry if the fight seemed a bit odd, I don't exactly know how to write them. Anyways, I already have where I want to go with after this chapter, so stay tuned please! If you enjoyed this chapter, or want to leave a comment on what you think could help, please feel free to leave a review.