Draimon: Fracture: Erasend- Book 1: Deascension

Chapter 3: Begin

Even with my eyes closed and my core in a state of near-sleep, I knew when the Scyclaw awoke, opening my eyes, I saw the Dragon wake up and stretch his arms and legs. He even stretched out his scythes. As I walked over, he saw me and gestured his head towards me; when I reached him, he said, "want to rub my back? I will do yours."

"What, no," I replied, "I want to fight you."

"I know," he replied, "would be unjust to turn you down, o great and mighty Primordagon." My core felt strange when he said that, "and dishonourable to hold back."

"Neither will I," I replied.

"Now let us do this right, we will each put some distance between us, and then we will begin."

"Right," I turned my back and walked away with him doing the same.

"That is far enough," he said; I turned around and saw him facing me, his body crouched and scythes ready.

"Ready when you are," he said.

"Ready," I replied, getting into an offensive stance. He began dashing blades behind the moment I said so, the Scyclaw was coming so fast, and I had no clue what to do. So I just stood my ground, him smirking; he leapt high into the air, myself dodging to the side just out of the blades as they pierced the earth, "missed," I said.

"You sure," and spikes of bark burst from the ground, driving themselves into my body and lifting me up. "Should have dodged farther away," he said, smiling as he did, "your core should be in your tail," he was out of my sight, but I felt him behind me.

"I will not lose so easily!" I roared, swishing my tail to the right.

"Missed."

"Thanks for the hint," I said, swishing it back and slamming it into him. Now I just had to get free; my core was safe and bracing my back feet against a spike each pushed, them breaking and freeing me.

"I will give you time to heal," he said, pacing around me.

"O, how honourable," I replied.

"It is not right to attack when your opponent is weak ." I forced the shards out and felt my wounds close.

"My turn," I said, placing my front claws on the ground and pouring my energy into the ground. Thick vines quickly rose and advanced towards the Scyclaw, him slicing them away when they came near. I manced the tendrills to circle around and then curl around his arms. He struggled to get his arms free, letting me wrap them around his body, I sent more energy into his cage, but they would not constrict. I ran at him and used my wings to lift me into the air; as I hurtled towards him, I saw him smile, and the earth around my cage turn brown. Looking closer, I saw one of his claws had grown longer and embedded itself into the ground. He bound the mass together and bit down on the vines, then, in one motion, threw the bundle at me.

As it stuck, it splayed out, blinding me. The next thing I felt was intense pain as the whole of my body was cut in two down the front and tumbling to the ground. I saw the damage that my lower half was cut away, leaving me with my head, wings and half of my tail. I saw him stand over me; I got an idea, I attached the tip of my tail to the other tip, and the two tips fused, perfect, I thought. I flapped my wings to lift me above ground, bringing the other half of my body; with a flick of my tail, I whipped my lower half into the Scyclaw. The lower half knocked him down as his guard was lowered. I positioned my legs over his body and fused with my lower half; I drove my claws into the ground aiming to crush his head, his head swaying to the side. I went in for a bite, but he held my jaws apart with the ends of his arms. I strained my jaws to shut, but still, he held them wide open. His mouth lifted into a slight smirk, partially showing his teeth.

"Beautiful attack, despite leaving your body wide open." I felt something else bite down on my jaws; he kicked me off myself, crashing to the ground and stood up. "Now this should put you down, sorry if you need to cut off your jaw," what by Eldragoon was he saying, but moments later, I felt it; bark was attached to my jaws. My jaws were forced beyond their limit, my core and I screamed in pain. "If you give up, I will release you," he said; I felt a new kind of magic swell within my core and climb up my neck, I could not hit him, and with no other options, I released the energy.

"Never!" I screamed as the attack left my mouth, he tried to dodge, but it was too fast. A bright yellow solar beam burst out of my mouth, headless he staggered back, I swung my tail round, knocking him on his feet. The tendrills I had risen were not destroyed; I found them and then added them to my wings. I morphed them into six tentacles, taking the membrane into them and absorbing the wing limb into my body. Next, I charged at him driving my new limbs into the ground to increase my speed. His head had regenerated, and when he saw me, he readied himself, awaiting my assault. I made my tentacles a blur of whips and jabs, him doing the same with dodges and strikes of his own, which I blocked with the thickness of my tentacles.

Many missed with the ones that did dealing little damage due to his rough skin; if I could not break through with my attacks, I would have to try a different way. I backed away with my tendrills and grew the solar energy from before, but this time directed it into my tentacles. They lit up coated in yellow energy, the surface parting slightly. I struck again, them cutting, no disentangling the parts touched. He backed away pain on his face and then regenerated his lost arms and chest; his feet gripped the ground it turning to bark. He went on the assault again, and I was forced to fight back, but now I could not disintegrate, not even when my tendrills pressed against his body.

He must be quickening his regeneration by pulling the bark ground into his body so he would save his elemental energy. It was working; I felt my tendrills breaking apart. I would have to end this quickly. I wrapped all six together and swung for the legs blowing right through them.

With my opponent in the air, my wings faded away, I took the remaining energy into my core. Blasting it into his body, I drove my opponent back and sent him crashing into the edge of the arena. Moments later, I saw a tall, thick tree burst from the earth and begin its fall towards me; my he has gotten stronger, I thought. The tree tumbled towards me, the Scyclaw running up it, slicing off the lance branches and suspending them in the air. I knew what was coming, but I was stopped by the branches as they struck the ground when I tried to move.

More fell around me, and some even pierced right through my body; the tree still fell towards me. It crashed on top of my prison, the slasher landed in front, my head and neck were not impaled, so he slashed at my head. Each narrowly missed me. When he went for my neck, I went to bite, but he leapt back.

"Well, this should finish you," he said, ready to slam his arm ends together; I coiled my neck. Slamming his arm ends together, the cage shattered, and my body was blown apart. But detaching my neck, I bounded towards him before the explosion.

I could see he was surprised, but he composed himself and stamping the ground sent a patch of brown ground underneath me. Thick roots burst from the ground, binding and pulling me down.

"Do you give up now?" he asked, walking towards me.

"Did I say I was!" I roared. The roots tightened, and the pain returned. With one cut, he took off my head and lifted me up.

"I was sure that attack would finish you, not sure would to do now," he said. Without looking, I sensed he rose a patch of bark spikes, "let us see how you like this," he said, trying to throw my head to spikes. But I grew around his blade to bind me to him, he squealed.

"By Omingom!" he yelled, shaking his arm, "you are just like those Monsters from my father's stories," he said, raising his free claw. But before he could s***h, I shot my tongue from my mouth to wrap around his face, then attached myself to his head. I opened my jaws and clamped down on his head and grew around it to stay on when he tried to throw me off. I could not bite down, but I got an idea. I regenerated my flesh but around my jaw to make it even stronger.

The Scyclaw wildly thrashed his head up and down and let out muffled screams. If he used his blades, he was at risk of cutting his own head off. I bit down again and felt his head collapse harder, and his entire head was crushed and severed. I spat it away; the body was still moving through a bit erratically due to the sudden loss of senses. I angled my head, so it was pointed at the beginning of the neck. Using my remaining elemental energy shot a solar ray down the middle of his body. His body fell me along with it. We were both pulled into the ground after that.

When I opened my eyes, I saw another Dragon like myself, its body composed of long interwoven vines. Who opened a hole in the ceiling and then lept out but not before saying.

"Leedra, come heal these last two," moments later, a Mancer with white skin and mushrooms over its body," my, you two were even," I could tell the voice was female; she plucked one off and placed it before us. "This may make your core feel weird; try not to panic," The mushroom exploded, releasing a cloud of spores that enveloped both of us. I felt my flesh regenerate much faster than I ever could, and I, along with the Scyclaw, were standing in a matter of moments, though my body did ache.

"Sorry, I could not heal you both properly, but the next battle is starting; you two should find your mothers and fathers." She leapt out the opening in the hole after that.

"Good fight, but we really must be going now," he said, going through the hole, myself following by using vines to raise me up. My mother landed in front of me just as I stood on the ground; her voice rushed and desperate.

"Come Drydra, get on back; your siblings are already at the world wall," I did what was asked of me, and she soared off with me nervous on her back as if reading me, she said.

"I know you are scared, Drydra, but fighting is your duty, and you must fulfil it; stay close to me, and I will protect you."

"I do not want to die," I replied, my voice shaking.

"You will not. Since this is your first battle, we will find a spot at the back and attack from a distance. If any of those fleshless Monsters come close, I will destroy them. After this battle, I will teach each of you myself, but Drydra," she said, her voice faltering slightly.

"Yes, mother," I replied.

"If something happens to me, Baragon will take care of you."

"Stop it, mother, we will survive this; you are strong, I know you are."

We reached the World-wall it made from all the plant elements. It fell away to reveal the Elemontols.

Beings the opposite of Dragons, our kind had many different species, but they were uniform, all having the same body structure. They were made of green orbs, one for the head with blank eyes, green thread joined to spheres to create two arms and legs, with no tail and their hands ending in claws, the only trait we shared. The moment I saw them, I hated them, their disgusting bodies, a mockery of the plants they were made from.

My mother, my siblings, and I charged, followed by thousands more. It was time for the next battle in this seemingly eternal war to begin.