Chapter XXI: The First Journey (Part III)

"That damn bandit…" Wolfe mumbled in annoyance, seeing Rulf eyeing his shaded tent with suspicion. "I don't trust him as far as I can kick his stupid arse."

Though it seems he's in the same situation as I am, Wolfe thought, glancing at Yuri as she sharpened her newly-bought daggers with gusto.

"Wolfe, these blades are so pristine, it's… amazing!" She said excitedly. While Wolfe wasn't particularly enthusiastic that Yuri was obsessing over knives (of all things), he was glad she was breaking out of her previous gloom and doom. Seeing that enthusiastic glee of hers, compared to the weeks of subdued quietness in the initial first weeks he'd spent with her, was a refreshing change; And the treasury of knowledge in her mind had opened up to him far more once they started on this journey. While he certainly did not want to get overly attached her, this was… nice.

"I'd hope they are." He said. "It cost us a month's earnings to buy those. Consider the daggers your new limbs, and take care of them as such."

Yuri nodded genuinely, bowing her head.

"Thank you, Wolfe. Thank you so much for these. I love them. I'll make sure to keep them sharpened with the whetstone, and I won't use them for any…"

Wolfe felt himself drifting into deep thought as her words faded out of mind. He'd hoped to avoid relationships, considering they were embarking on a hopelessly dangerous journey. But…

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have someone he could love before dying-

He shook his head vehemently. He wouldn't be dying on this shitpot of a trip! He would take care of this ridiculous mission, politics be damned, and go back to his farm in one piece, along with Yuri. If there would be a time to get involved in romance, it would be after he survived this hopeless ordeal.

"Like I said," He muttered. "Take care of those blades. You never know when you may need them."

He failed to notice Yuri's underlying grin, her eyes drifting off in blissful thought.

"I'll take good care of them, Wolfe." She muttered ominously. "...I wanted to ask…"

She turned her gaze to Wolfe, sending an acute shiver down his spine. What an unsettling presence she could exude sometimes.

"Wh-What?" He responded sheepishly.

She smiled softly as she noticed his mannerisms. His personality was so attractive to her; strong, stoic and intelligent, while also being shy and reserved in unfamiliar circumstances.

Yuri looked over at the three newest members of their group; An interesting mix of people, and who had seemingly decided to keep to themselves for the moment; Having made their own, separate campsite a dozen meters or so away from the rest of the group. She looked over at Wolfe curiously, recalling his vote to bring them in only a day before.

"I'm surprised you… wanted to bring them into the group, Wolfe, considering your… past."

Wolfe stopped suddenly in his work, looking up at Yuri with an expression of shock and bewilderment.

"Wh… What do you mean, my past? When did I tell you about my past?"

Yuri opened her mouth to answer, but no explanation could be formed…

His past? When did…?

No… she swore he'd told her about his past before… Was she… How did these memories…?

"N-Nevermind… sorry, I… m-misspoke, I guess."

Wolfe seemed to become embarrassed by his abrasive behavior at the mention of his past, and withdrew his indignation.

"I-It's fine, I'm not trying to be… look, I'll… I'll tell you about it someday. Just not… right now."

Yuri nodded and smiled, but even as she continued maintaining her equipment, there was a strong itching feeling in the back of her mind that she couldn't rid from her head; The feeling of deja vu remained strongly in her thoughts for the remainder of the night.


"So, Monika…"

Rulf cupped his hands around the warm mug of ale as Monika turned her head to Rulf.

"Um… I wasn't sure how you… felt about that battle from earlier today."

Raising his head, he was suddenly alarmed to see Monika visibly shaking, as she forced a smile.

"D-Did I do something wrong?"

"Wha- no! No, you're fine, Monika. I just-... fuck."

Rulf sighed, clearing his throat and trying to better form his words. He'd never worked this hard to change the way he behaved until he'd met Monika- he felt utterly compelled to. Or rather, he badly wanted to genuinely communicate with her; To always have her know she was comfortable and safe around him- no matter how his past panned out.

"You looked, uh… what's the word… fearless of those beasts, the… the Rulks. At least, from what I thought I saw- Of course, it could've just been my mistake. Hehe… hm."

Monika's gaze focused on Rulf, eyes scanning and analyzing every portion of his being in vivid detail. Even now, a month after coming to lucidity in this paradisiacal existence, the waves of universe-encompassing euphoria that had initially hit her mind in the beginning of this adventure were still doing so even now, with no lessening of its effects-

She was real. She was right. She was real. She was right.

A prisoner of hell, granted the greatest possible fate she could never have imagined. Her psyche was so awash with the sensation of liberation and freedom that she had completely blocked out almost everything from before that month.

Almost everything…

The rotting puppeteered carcasses that somehow managed to latch onto her paradise were far more repugnant just to look at than even the most hideous of monsters she'd seen. A disgusting reminder of… of…

"Yes. I think I know what you mean." She muttered soothingly to Rulf. She needn't divert her attention to anything except Rulf and the heavenly beauty of this world's existence. Nothing else would suffice her continual yearning for true happiness.

Monika's gaze turned back up towards the stars, a look of deep contemplation on her face. Rulf was once again captivated by her presence; Everything she did was so graceful, elegant, otherworldly…

Oh, Tog, she was too amazing! Rulf deeply wished he could find more words to describe her loveliness!

"...Can I be honest with you, Rulf?"

"Yes- yes, you may say anything you like to me, I would think."

Monika glanced towards Rulf, hearing the conviction in his voice. Her face contorted painfully, still attempting to figure out all the muscles in her body, but she was trying to smile for him. She wanted to give him everything she could offer, to her savior and only love. Her eyes turned outward towards the view once more.

"...I know I've been kind of… facetious, recently."

Rulf didn't actually know what that word meant, but he had an idea of what she was getting at, and stayed silent to let her continue.

"I am… just really… confused right now, I guess you could say."

She turned her head up towards Rulf, her eyes shimmering with that subtle, underlying fear that Rulf had started to become familiar with.


(Queue 'rises the moon' by Liana Flores)


"Wh-What… do you mean, Monika?" He whispered, feeling concern; He shifted slightly towards her, drawn in by her aura. The moon slowly rose over the horizon, shining a magical, milky-white light upon the landscape; And bathing Monika in a calming light that dazzled Rulf to his core.

By the second, she was becoming more familiar to him… he felt as if he'd seen this graceful woman once before...

"Well…" She started, pursing her lips. "...This…I…. I…."

She took a shaky breath; Rulf could hardly break his gaze from her ethereal presence; Enraptured by her presence to a worrying degree. He never thought he'd be lucky enough to feel this way about something, someone. A dirty, graceless, low-born criminal like him…

"I… am not a good person. I… I did horrible things to th-... to… them. I…"

Wait… Rulf thought, feeling a dread as she continued on. What are you…

"I… I killed them… and… and they came… back… " Monika stuttered, quickly descending into hysteria; Her face contorted in guilt and discomfort, tears shedding from her worried eyes. "Oh, I can't take it anymore, Rulf… I just want to be free of that hell, but they came with me; I am stuck with this HORRID FEELING..!"

What the fuck is going on right now?! Rulf thought in deep concern.

Just at that moment, something menacing caught his eye; He took a moment to glance-

"I… I can't name half of these feelings in me." She sobbed quietly, trying desperately to rub the tears away, as if ashamed of the act. "My entire existence, dedicated to poetry and literature, and I still can't find anything to describe these emotions! I am so torn. I'm angry! And sad! Guilt-ridden! Disgusted! Euphoria! What kind of sick joke is this!? That I finally get to LEAVE that place, and THEY come along and intrude on my LIFE!"

Rulf became increasingly emotionally-distraught as he was witness to Monika's catharsis; He was also alarmed by the glaring gaze of Yuri, sitting a few meters away from them. Realizing there was far more happening here than he was aware of, Rulf decided there was simply too much out of his control at the moment, so he did what he could.

Wrapping his arms around Monika, he gently pulled her into a warm, reassuring embrace. She went silent, surprised for a moment; Then, all of the tension and acting fell from her face, revealing an expression of exhaustion. Her eyes fluttered, glimpsing the sight of the incredibly massive landscape before them; Cliffs and trees, great paths that extended for miles beyond sight; Behemothic billowing clouds that carried across the vast night sky, and birds of every kind flying over the grand scenery.

"Rulf…" She muttered. "...Can we live in this beautiful world together, for the rest of our lives?"

Gh.

Rulf could hardly resist the emotional torrent bursting inside him; He felt tears shed from his eyes as his limbs shook anxiously. Yet still, he was not going to give a lackluster answer! A primordial feeling swelled inside him, like a spiritual, otherworldly energy was galvanizing his actions!

"Yes!" He declared impulsively, dragging Monika's attention from the beautiful view to his face, her eyes filled with an tsunami's surge of rapturous ecstasy and euphoria.

"Wha-What?" She hyperventilated, tears running down her face. "R-Really? You will?!"

Rulf nodded frantically- his immature mind had gotten the best of him. This beautiful woman had been yearning constantly for his love, physically and spiritually, for over a month. Cooped up in a cabin together, fighting in near-death circumstances, the adrenaline that pumped through them both…

It was a miracle they hadn't slept together yet. It was mainly Rulf staving off her advances, though for what reasons he still wasn't sure of- Perhaps he wanted to take things slowly, or not get too attached in case-

In case of what, dickhead?

Rulf felt that irritation rise up in his mind, as if he were having an inner civil war.

In case of nothing. You will protect her at all costs.

At all costs.

Rulf grit his teeth thinking about that, glancing subtly around at the others in his camp. A crisis came over him; Would he throw these people under the bus for Monika?

Yes.

The answer came to his mind quite quickly, and he couldn't help but chuckle rather maliciously. Of course he would, if the situation called for it. He had little, if any attachment with this band of misfits. He could see they all clearly had their desires to protect their loved ones (if that's what they were), and he had no intention of prioritizing their lives over Monika's. Not by any measure.

But…

They were his battle buddies for this journey. For good or worse, he had to rely on their collective wisdom, experience and closeness to survive this hopeless mission. And so Rulf and Monika needed to have their backs, or else he couldn't expect the same from them; and on a mission that carried such a terrifying task as assassination of a foreign lord…

Well, he would need all the help he could get.

This trip was… going to be something that would change his life course permanently.


Music: "Te Quise Amar", by Jurrivh


The next morning…

"This… really sucks."

Wesley sighed deeply, shaking a small leather pouch as the few meager coins inside clinked around. Sayori grinned every so slightly at the comical sight as she maintained her equipment; using a whetstone to sharpen her short sword and fletching arrows for her bow.

"What, not feeling adventurous?" She asked slyly.

Wesley raised an eyebrow at her coy remark, storing the leather pouch in his side satchel.

"No, not really. Adventuring involves lots of exercise and movement, and movement requires food, which we are quickly running out of thanks to our merrily growing band of adventurers!" He explained in frustrated sarcasm.

"I personally enjoy the new company." Sayori said passively. "It gets my mind off things."

Wesley furrowed his eyebrows; slightly concerned for the way she'd said that statement.

"What things? You got tired of the view, is that it?" Wesley remarked humorously, though trying to be gentle in his delivery.

Sayori sighed tiredly, taking a moment to glance around at her surroundings.

"Trust me…" She muttered, her eyes enveloped in a mixture of city-leveling past trauma and grandiose wonder at the breathtaking view she was looking at right now. "...It could be so much worse."

By this point in their relationship, even when he didn't know what caused it, he could start to tell when she was having a mood shift. When they had first met, she had practically been vindictive and bitter, like someone had taken a knife to her heart and ran. Her every waking moment was spent in some fit of hysteria or wrathful condemnation of "Monika", though she never provided details on what caused this madness of the mind in Sayori unlike anything Wesley had seen in anyone else his entire life. The only things which he was made aware of was that she had come from another world, an "endless hellhole of illusion and fraud", to this one.

Only after a month had passed and Sayori had settled into this world had she finally calmed down enough to regain her sanity and start enjoying her life outside of the wrathful revenge she had pent up in her heart. Granted, being transported from a described 'hellhole' to this world of breathtaking beauty and fantastical sights was enough for anyone to lose their mind in it. Even as a resident of this world from Day One, Wesley would occasionally be caught off-guard and fall on his back, mesmerized utterly with the majesty of this world and its incomprehensible billions of hidden wonders.

What kind of effect would this staggeringly-beautiful reality have on someone who'd only known misery and dread? What could possibly describe the emotions and mental state of a person who'd been stuck in a flat, two-dimensional box for their whole existence, forced to run through an agonizing repetitious script and endure pain and despair at every avenue; only to be shot into a universe that contained such eye-watering sublime views and opportunities?

There were no words now that could even begin to approach the depth of emotions and inner turmoil that ravaged these four women. There was little anyone could do to help them recover and move past their trauma; only the true beauty of this marvelous world could heal their scars and make them anew and whole.

"Alright, ladies and gents."

A collective groan erupted from the group as Wolfe walked up with a slightly more perky demeanor; a stark contrast to his usual brooding behavior. In suspicion, Rulf eyed Yuri for a moment, noticing her blushing and smiling softly as Wolfe entered the scene.

Oh, so I was right, Rulf thought mischieviously to himself. Little quickie under the shade, eh? Couldn't wait till we had some fuckin' lodging, eh? Just commit horny acts in public whenever ya damn well please, EH?

Meanwhile, sitting on the sidelines watching the training were Anna, Harold, Dean and Duncan, all of them spectating the training bouts or admiring the scenery around them. Rulf was particularly intrigued by Duncan's behavior; he seemed more enchanted and star-struck by the fantastical surroundings and landscape than everyone else in that group.

It was beyond understandable why they would be so taken in. The air was vibrant, so unlike the worlds they originated from; the sky glimmered with billowing clouds that carried across the vast landscape of hills, valleys, mountains, forests, rivers, and plains that could be seen for miles. The sounds of wildlife, birds and insects creating a harmonious cacophony of sounds that filled the air with life; The winds blowing softly through the trees and the grass, animating the environment with liveliness.

And yet, it wasn't just the beauty of the mundane, but also the fantastical; animals never seen before by those of the group from another world- plants, rock formations, flying winged beasts in the sky; it was what one from another world could only describe as a 'fantasy'.

And yet, therein lied the mental crisis of these portalled individuals; this world had laws, history, cultures, fundamental axioms that determined the reality of its existence. These fantastical creatures, therefore, adhered to these laws of nature and the universe and did so while still remaining a fantasy to these young souls adopted by this world.

To them, this was a greater form of paradise. This was the greatest answer they could have received to the misery of their previous worlds, where each of these individuals had desired adventure, excitement, exploration and an entirely new reality for their tired souls.

The moment their presence entered this world, it had become the only one they ever desired; for it had granted them their greatest wants while still grounding them in the familiarity of axioms, such as walking, cognitive ability, present in their previous worlds.

"Training regime once more." Wolfe shouted aloud, breaking the enchantment of wonder that had momentarily befallen the other-worlders. "Today, we'll be working on-"


EEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!


Everyone froze instantaneously; immediately, beads of sweat began to trace down the faces of all who were present. Before five seconds had passed-

"FUCK." Wolfe muttered harshly with a paled face and chittering teeth. "LIE DOWN. NOW."

Even before finishing the sentence, Wolf dropped onto his stomach, motioning to the others to do the same. After that atmosphere-shattering roar, no one hesitated to follow suit, even despite not knowing why they were doing so.

Before long, the sound of massive wings beating at the air with colossal force entered the eardrums of everyone who could hear it, the raw energy of the behemothic wing flaps tearing at the branches of nearby trees and shearing the surrounding landscape of grass and ground alike. No one dared to make a sound, relying almost fully on Wolfe's instruction for their survival; some of the more simple adventurers were half-believing this was part of Wolfe's upcoming exercise..

The roaring and raucous exhales, along with the beating of the dragon's pinions against the wind, was indicative enough as to the kind of menace they had just encountered on this Tog-awful mission; and a clear understanding was felt amongst the group as to

A DRAGON.

No one was stupid enough to move even the slightest inch of a muscle or tendon, all of them able to hear even the most subtle of exhales from the monstrous beast that was now flying a few dozen meters away from them.

CRACK!

The monstrous beast slammed into the ground, sending ravines of cracks through the earth. Its aura could be felt in every fiber of the adventurers, fiery fury and billowing bellows of smoke filling the surrounding area, emanating from its open maw like a smoky waterfall.

Wolfe breathed in and out a few times, trying to center himself and avoid falling into total panic. He had the most experience with dragons out of everyone here, having been forced to encounter many varieties of the winged beasts in his past. Yet all the ones he had come to deal with were still lesser archetypes of the biggest and baddest. Drakons, winged serpents, wyverns, wyrms…

But this… just from the way this singular beast had commanded the atmosphere upon its arrival, Wolfe could easily tell that this was the kind of dragon that created legends and tall tales wherever its presence was beholden. He risked the quickest of glances, moving his eyes ever so slightly to the left, where he had instinctively felt the Dragon had landed.

The sight he bore witness to nearly elicited a full-on scream of terror. The Dragon towered over the landscape with its behemothic presence and charcoal-black scales that hummed with a fiery hue underneath its skin, broiling flames that illuminated the underbelly of its flesh. Its crimson-dark wings extended easily over eighteen meters long in both directions, its gargantuan bodies dwarfing the tiny humans with staggering ferocity and absolute authority.

Its brimfire eyes glanced around the empty field with cold analysis indicative of a veteran hunter, a sign of intelligence that only horrified Wolfe tenfold. Luckily, his strategy against the Dragon had worked successfully; from interactions with 'lesser dragons', he'd deduced that the flying monsters all carried a similar weakness visually-

They had terrible depth perception. It meant that when they looked around, they would usually do so with focus into one eye or the other to maximize their ability to perceive the depth and distance of surrounding objects. Since the adventurers had managed to lie flat before the Dragon had spotted them, it could hardly distinguish them from the grass thanks to its poor eyesight unless it tried to focus with one eye.

With this in mind, Wolfe was beginning to calm down, if only in the slightest, as all they had to do was wait until the Dragon grew impatient and flew off.

Speaking of which, Wolfe thought in panic, why the hell is there a fucking DRAGON in this part of the world?!

If Wolfe's knowledge of geography and beasts was correct, he'd recalled reading from the Leviatha Expedia, a well-known tome of great monsters and their geographical origins, that Dragons and their off-shoot species had primarily resided in the continent of Moneia- which was a very far distance from Brimmen's borders. Sure, it'd be reasonable as to why flying monsters would migrate, but the main sort of Dragons were very homely and territorial, and didn't care to expand beyond their established domains for the most part.

SO WHY THE HEKK WAS THERE A MASSIVE DRAGON SMACK-DAB AT THE START OF THEIR JOURNEY?!

With all these harrowing seconds of silence to contemplate, Wolfe began to narrow down the possible reasons for why a Dragon would be here, at this point in time, in the middle of the day away from its nest; especially since these monsters were known to hunt very close to home, and there were no mountains around the adventurers for several tracts where dragon nests might reside.

Wolfe's mind drew to a single conclusion in the same instance that his eyes drew towards Natsuki's carrying pack; where the dragon egg beared the same texture as the very Dragon holding them hostage.

I should've FUCKING KNOWN! Wolfe wanted to shout in unfettered rage. Why did he think carrying such an invaluable thing would go without consequences?! Wolfe was scrambling now to figure out how this dragon had managed to pinpoint the location of its egg so accurately. Did it have a distinct smell carried by the wind for miles? Magical markings made by the dragon at its conception? What the actual hell could have led this absolute beast to their exact location? This was BULLSHIT! Wolfe shouldn't have had to deal with this shit right as their journey was beginning!

As if the situation couldn't get any worse, Wolfe's eyes noticed a large figure at the periphery of his vision, walking out of the woods with a half-dozen chopped logs in his arms.

Oh, no. Wolfe thought in complete despair, realizing what was about to happen. Oh, no, no no NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOO- WE'RE SO FUCKED!

To everyone's collective horror, Malyn bustled out of the forestry whistling a casual tune to the clinking of his armor and equipment. Only seconds later did he see the multi-story dragon standing over the plains and fellow adventurers, exhaling sparks and smoke with its bating breaths. Its head craned over and gazed one fiery orb of an eye at the seven-foot 'hero' returning the look back at the near-mountainous dragon.

The logs fell from his arms, crashing into the ground with a loud thump. Metal hissed against metal as he drew sword from sheath and adopted a battle-ready stance with a stoic grimace.

"WING-ED FOE, YOU SHALL BE SLAIN! STAND, BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN ARMS, AND LET US FACE THIS BEAST TOGETHER!"

As Malyn gestured with his sword to the others lying down, the dragon suddenly tilted its head and stared one glowering iris down at the prone adventurers, who were all returning that stare with expressions of abject terror.

"MALYN, WHY THE FUCK-"

"YOU SON OF A BITCH, I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"WHY DID YOU CALL US OUT, YOU BIG FUCKING OAF?!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

No one was very happy with Malyn bringing their existence to the forefront of the dragon, and only a second later did the mighty dragon rear its head and bellow the most ferocious of roars.


"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"


"By TOG- RUUUUUN!"

Wolfe's state of fleeing terror sent the entire party scattering and stumbling with hysteric panic in every direction, save for Malyn who decided to brazenly charge at the foe, yelling heroically as he two-handed the greatsword. The horses scattered in equal frenzied terror, galloping off in every direction with the fear of Tog driven through them.

In response to the pandemonium, the dragon glanced around the battlefield, then belched another guttural roar, swiping its front claws at the nearest entity- that being Wolfe, who managed to sense the impending attack and turned on his heel to jump the other way, narrowly avoiding the gigantic scaly palm that scraped mounds of dirt from the ground and flung them like bullets into the air.

Yuri, who was far away from the engagement, had seen Wolfe's close call in the distance and screamed abruptly, filled with a terrible rush of despair and anxiety; black and blue-hued tendrils of energy jumped and hopped around her limbs, gathering with a rising and intense gusto. Feeling the otherworldly build-up of magick energy inside of her like a flowing conduit, she struggled to keep her arms close to her body; instinctively, she could tell that this Magick was flowing through her, and the movement of her limbs and body controlled the flow of this explosive and volatile energy like an over-boiling pot of water- with her hands on the handle.

Yuri's eyes suddenly flared up painfully, and she cried out, feeling as if someone had shone the blinding radiance of the sun on her face. Tears eclipsed her vision, and she struggled to blink for a few seconds. After regaining sight, she noticed something drastically different.

Billions- no, trillions of tiny particles, hued in a color she'd never glimpsed in her whole of existence, filled every portion of her vision. It was as if she were blinded by colorful static, and only after focusing on specific people or objects could she narrow this focus.

And then, she saw it- half-transparent tendrils of an indescribable nature clung to the objects she focused on; emanating with different variations of intensity depending on what she looked at. When her gaze focused on what she presumed to be Wolfe, she saw his attached tendrils emanating faintly, but upon gazing at the dragon, its tendrils bolted outward from its body like flashes of lightning, covering the entire beast as if it were lit aflame and exploding like fireworks.

Even with emotions at their peak and this newfound power, Yuri managed to latch onto reason and mental sanity, and used this to her advantage. Knowing she was against a massive target, and unsure whether or not she could do much damage to this monstrous beast of legend, she closed her eyes, envisioning a shape and form to her conduit of energy; materializing this Magick into her attack.

With unparalleled restraint, Yuri leashed the ever-growing energy flowing into her; at some point, she could intrinsically tell that this energy had accumulated enough force within her to level the entire area. She continued to wait- biding her time until the amount of energy flowing into her was near-uncontrollable. Her eyes were trained solely on Wolfe, who was still engaged in the cat-and-mouse pursuit with the dragon alongside the others.

If she couldn't kill this beast, she could certainly hinder it from hurting Wolfe.

"GHHHHRRRRR-"

The energy intake became unbearable- Yuri felt as if she were going to vomit, her eyes straining like they were soon to pop. Her body was beginning to glow faintly like a bomb waiting to explode, and at this point Yuri knew she needed to release this mountain of power before something very bad happened to her.

With one last glance, she spotted Wolfe having retreated out of the Dragon's vision-

And used that as her queue. Envisioning the arc of her attack, Yuri pulled her arms back into her body, feeling as if ship anchors were tied to her forearms, and in a half-second she focused all of that titanic energy brewing within her into her right arm, stomped one foot forward to stabilize, then swung her arm forward as if she were pitching an under-handed throw towards the sky.

PHWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

A tar-black fog blasted forth and multiplied exponentially from the skin of her right arm in a tear-shaped movement, expanding rapidly outwards until it had engulfed the front half of the massive dragon and draped itself like a blanket on its head and wings. The Dragon emitted another deafening screech, now blinded and swiping mindlessly at its surroundings.

"GET TO THE HORSES- NOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!" Wolfe screamed over the cacophonous havoc unraveling with each second. "MALYN, NATSUKI, DISTRACT THAT THING!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Natsuki cried out. "WHY ARE WE DISTRACTING IT?!"

BECAUSE YOUR FUCKING BOYFRIEND CAUSED THIS SHITSHOW IN THE FIRST PLACE!, Wolfe thought in complete outrage.

Of course, Wolfe failed to tell her this out loud and decided to ignore her, sprinting toward the scattered equipment and supplies by the trees. He settled on Sayori's crossbow, fumbling with trepidation in an attempt to load it with a bolt.

"Give me that!"

Before he could load the bolt in place, Sayori appeared from behind him, snatching it out of his grasp along with her quiver of bolts, slinging it over her head and taking off with great speed toward Wesley, who was trying to get behind the Dragon to avoid its frontal attacks.

Loading the first bolt, Sayori took aim and shot at the dragon's left wing flap, attempting to prevent it from getting high into the air where they couldn't reach it with their weapons. Despair clouded over her face as the bolt simply pinged off its resilient scaly wings, but that was enough to draw the ire of the dragon, who immediately sensed the direction of the crossbow user and lowered its head, opening its maw to reveal several rows of razor-sharp jagged teeth; in the epicenter of its mouth, a wave of bluish flames began to coalesce with intensifying magnitude, aimed directly at Sayori-

Yet before the Dragon could let a shot off, Malyn had finally reached within striking distance, and upon getting close enough he'd launched himself from the ground and sent cracks throughout the compact dirt, climbing several meters into the air and arcing his sword over his head before swinging downwards with all of his might onto the head of the Dragon.

Unfortunately, at the last second, his grip loosened unintentionally and caused the flat end of the sword to face downwards in the direction of the dragon's cranium.

BONK!

The impact of metal on the Dragon's head had resounded for miles; even worse for Malyn, the blade which he'd expected to cleave through the Dragon's skull instead changed direction; the other flat end of the blade smacked square into the middle of Malyn's face, before he plummeted and crashed into the ground below in a daze.

The Dragon was now heavily disoriented, stumbling around in a concussive stupor and letting off bursts of white-hot flame into the atmosphere, singing the oxygen with the sheer heat. The scattered members of the group began forming around their common enemy, inventing ways to hinder the malevolent beast or rescue their fellows from danger.

"Ah, shit to grass!" Dean cursed desperately, staring down at his holstered six-shooter and bandolier of bullets. "A day into this damn world, and I'm already fightin' for my life!"

"DIE, FIEND!" Harold screamed in a mixture of excitement and terror, firing his flintlock pistol at the base of the dragon and taking at least a minute to reload his weapon. He looked on at Dean with envy and misery as he saw him using the marvel of a firearm to fire multiple times in the same second. "Where in God's name did you get that baffling device?!"

Dean laughed proudly, continuing to let shots off through the iron sights and shoving bullets into his revolver when it ran out of ammunition.

"Tursican ingenuity, my friend! If I had a second one, I'd give it to ya!"

Sayori and Natsuki were working in tandem to chase after their horses, sprinting full-on after their fleeing steeds. They hardly wished to look behind them, where a blind and angry Dragon was torching the landscape and flapping its wings to fend off its attackers.

"Sayori, I've got an idea!" Natsuki shouted over the cacophonous havoc raging behind them. "We should-"

"HELL NO!" Sayori screamed, just as a stray mound of dirt flew past her and exploded into chunks on a thick trunk nearby. "GET THE DAMN HORSES! THERE'S NO OTHER PLAN THAN TO RUN!"

Natsuki was certainly irked that Sayori had shot her down before she could even speak, but as another piece of debris flung over her head and crashed into the ground in front of her, she started to quickly understand Sayori's point of view. She sighted her horse past the dense forestry and made a beeline for it.

Meanwhile, Malyn had just begun to pick himself up off the ground, only to get tossed aside as the Dragon slammed its face into the ground, trying to rub the tar off its snout and eyes. Its wild movements eventually met with Malyn and sent him careening a few dozen meters into the line of trees and bushes with a great crash.

Rulf had bore witness to Malyn's flighty departure from the battlefield, and made a mental note to leave him for dead; he was the sole reason this entire fuckfest was unraveling in the first place. His attention was snatched by the sight of Monika cowering by the border of forests behind him, holding an arm that was bleeding profusely.

"TOG-DAMN THIS DRAGON!" Rulf yelled furiously, gazing angrily toward the raging scaly behemoth as it threw around chunks of dirt and cracked tree trunks like mere pebbles. As much as he wanted to find a way to slay this beast, he knew that there was no fathomable way he would be able to kill such a titan right now, with the little shit-bandied crew cobbled together here. With only flight on his mind, he sprinted for Monika, dodging the hundreds of particles of debris that tried to assail him all at once. Eventually, he reached her limping figure, and made no mistakes in immediately scooping her up, before taking off at a full stumbling sprint through the forest; it took all of his coordination, dexterity and focus to avoid tripping on entangled vines and mushy patches of soil. It certainly didn't help that clouds of smog and blazing flames were igniting the trees like dry grass, and serving to cloud Rulf's vision and senses as smoke pervaded his lungs and eyes.

He tripped inevitably, managing to cup Monika's body near his chest to avoid her taking any damage from the fall. He managed to salvage the trip by rolling on his side and righting himself, taking off on another full sprint. His limbs were fatigued, yet he felt none of it- his veins were alight with the affliction of adrenaline, and he had more than enough motivation to push himself beyond normal limits of endurance.

Finally, he broke through the treeline, seeing the majority of his fellow members mounted and riding around to get the others their horses. The only ones that weren't mounted on a horse by this point were Malyn, Yuri, Wolfe, Rulf, Monika, and Duncan.

Fortune seemed to shine down on the group as Sayori and Natsuki, the first to mount up, had managed to corral the other horses and gather their reins to ride alongside them; Anna sat behind Sayori, holding the surplus of reins in her hands with a steadfast and stoic expression. They managed to get Duncan onto a horse, but it was then that misfortune decided to rear its horrid face; as if on queue, every member of the group noticed simultaneously that Malyn was still fighting the beast.

"MALLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYNNNNNNNNNNN!" Natsuki screamed in unfettered ferocity, her face contorted in anguish and pure-driven animosity. "GET ON THE FUCKING HORSES! NOW!"

Unfortunately for her, Malyn was unable to hear her cries, as the deafening bellows of the Dragon overruled the atmosphere completely. Malyn had managed to pick up his sword once more, but his demeanor was clearly battered and bruised; even from a distance, any reasonable person could see he was in bad shape from being tossed around like a ragdoll multiple times. Yet despite his overwhelmingly terrible odds, Malyn released a righteous bout of laughter from his chest, stunning even the Dragon for a brief moment.

"I CAME INTO THIS WORLD UNKNOWING, BUT I SHALL DIE AS A HERO! COME AND TASTE STEEL, FIEND OF HEKKET!"

What an atrocious speech, Rulf thought, cringing internally. Yet despite his criticism, Rulf was still deeply worried for his fellow group member's health; losing such a huge asset like Malyn was not preferable in the slightest; since that blundering idiot had already cost them a fortune, that now made him an investment worth keeping alive for his brute strength alone.

"M-A-L-Y-N."

The nearly eight-foot swordsman froze in his tracks as Natsuki roared his name across the open field, reaching his ears over the thundering noises of the Dragon. He slipped from his delusional trance and, without needing any more warning, turned on his heel and sprinted away from the Dragon, bounding across the expansive plains at several miles an hour. He eventually sighted his mighty steed and nearly met its pace, hopping onto the saddle and goading it toward the rest of the gathered group.

The bandied group of adventurers had become more unified than expected by the crazy turn of events that had assailed them. The behemothic dragon had finally cleared its eyesight of the tar with vicious dragging of its snout across the ground, and brought its dreadful gaze up to sight the adventurers goading their horses toward flighty escape. As it tried to make chase, however, it tripped and collapsed to the ground momentarily from the disorientation of getting slammed over the head with a large heavy piece of metal by an even larger and heavier behemoth.

Rulf and Monika were the last to mount their horses, but only seconds later did they bear sight of Wolfe trying to haul Yuri's unconscious body toward the leashed horse baying against the tree trunk; clearly horrified by the massive predator tearing the landscape apart.

"Leave them!" Monika shouted profusely in Rulf's ear, much to his discomfort. "WE HAVE TO STAY ALIVE!"

As horrified as he was by Monika's sentiment, especially since they were on the verge of dying violently, he was equally bewildered by the more than significant portion of himself that cried out in agreement with Monika. Moments like these were utterly harrowing to him; while he had dedicated himself to Monika's preservation-

Wait, no! FUCK 'em! There was a FUCKING DRAGON ON THEIR ASSES! He wasn't risking a fiery death to save some nobodies he was forced to team up with!

But even as Rulf held this thought with determination, he couldn't push down the rising horror at his own actions, seeing the contorted terror and desperation to preserve the woman in his arms as he fled from the largest and most hands-down scream-inducing beast Rulf had ever laid eyes upon.

"MONIKA, TAKE THE REINS!"

"HUH? RULF, STAY ON THE FUCKING HORSE- NOOO! NOOO-!"

Rulf's face was wrought in despair as he forcibly wrapped the horse's reins around Monika's wrist, then whistled for

Young, naive, single-minded. He felt like a child trying to cope with adult circumstances. Unqualified, imperfect.

He HATED that feeling.

If he was not in utter misery, he was in fury. If he was not in fury, he was hopeful. If he was not hopeful, he was searching for love.

Looking between Malyn and Wesley, both of whom were riding with females that hated Monika's guts, Rulf risked moving his horse closer to Malyn's giant steed and dragging her into Malyn's hands, trying vigorously to ignore her scathing protests and howling over the bombastic atmosphere. "GIVE ME THIRTY SECONDS, PLEASE! KEEP HER SAFE NO MATTER WHAT!"

Rulf's vibrant declaration to Malyn sparked soaring confidence and a roaring sense of duty in the seven=foot soldier, who immediately scooped up Monika and seated her gently in front of him, completely forgiving her clawing and punching viciously at his face and arms.

"WORRY NOT, RULF! YOUR MAIDEN SHALL KNOW NO FEAR UNDER MY PROTECTION!"

"Don't make me sound like a fuckin' cuck, you big sack of shit!" Rulf cursed plentifully and unreasonably, angry that he was trusting this psychopath with Monika, yet knowing he had no choice if he wanted to save Wolfe and Yuri.


Music: "Hunger", by TheFatRat


Without a second's delay, he goaded the horse in the direction of Wolfe, taking some delight in the panicked expression Wolfe displayed as a steed bared full-on at him. Getting close enough, Rulf reared the horse and outstretched a hand. Wolfe practically threw Yuri at him, and Rulf used his wiry strength and momentum to propel the busty woman and Wolfe onto the back-end of his saddle, before accelerating his horse with the gales of hellfire at its hooves.

The Dragon had fully cleared its senses in the same instant, and immediately let loose a most infuriated shriek that pierced the air for miles in every direction. The horses nearly froze in their tracks, but quickly resumed their desperate pace of escape once the dragon flapped its wings once more, soaring from the ground and decimating the local fauna with its launch. It honed in quickly on the closely-grouped pack of horses carrying atop of them terrified adventurers who were constantly screaming in an active state of terror as the unbelievably huge dragon beared down on them with malicious fury.

The dragon let loose a column of destructive molten-fire, searing the landscape it barreled through in a haphazard line behind the fleeing adventurers, swinging in the sky raucously as it attempted to center itself from the aftereffects of the concussion it had endured from Malyn's strike.

While the group was well ahead of the fiery blocks of hellfire blasting in a zig-zagging line from the dragon's maw, the ones closest to the unfortunate razing were Rulf, Wolfe and Yuri, who were all equally aware of their near-imminent demise. If it weren't for Malyn's initial attack on the gargantuan beast, they would have all been smoldered into cinders from its veteran accuracy and combat prowess.

In a twisted way, they could both blame and give credit to the singular man-child who had been a central part in the unfolding of these harrowing and terror-inducing events.

Monika, on the other hand, was having an extreme meltdown, seeing her most beloved toying with the throes of death by mere meters; even from a distance, she could perceive the clear danger Rulf was in thanks to those scum sucking liabilities that'd lagged behind, but she could do nothing about it.

Staring at her hands, she looked at Yuri's unconscious face with broiling envy and hatred- Why? Why did that FUCKING BITCH have those powers?! Why wasn't Monika granted anything to help protect her loved one, now that she was so acutely aware of how often they encountered danger? What was the point of this rebirth if she couldn't protect her paradise in all its magnificence?!

Once the initial attacks from the dragon had failed to hit anyone, Rulf's horse caravan caught up with the rest of the group, and soon enough they were able to proceed far enough down the trail to finally rid themselves of the pursuing dragon; it collapsed to the ground in dizzying fatigue, shrieking at the skies with violent frustration and demolishing the immediate landscape around its flailing body.

The group had escaped the tumultuous encounter without casualties, though plentifully scarred from the experience; a singular lesson driven into the deepest recesses of their minds-

Retreat was always a viable option. A-l-w-a-y-s.


AUTHOR NOTES

It doesn't matter how many days, months, years or decades it takes, I am writing this story until the day I expire. The updates shall come more often, hopefully. May you enjoy the chapter and the further chapters to come!