The Tale of Xenosa

In a Hurry

Cheska's POV

Okay, so this place looked amazing! It was huge with a white and gold accent on its tiles. The design looked so vintage yet regal and sophisticated. The whole place screamed luxury! If I were someone crafty or just someone who would like to get my hands dirty, then this was the place you'll find me to be. The only downside is that a giant moon-eating dragon was sleeping at the center of the hallway. I looked over at Cresia and saw that she was just as amazed as I was. She was so mesmerized by the place that I think she had temporarily forgotten about the formidable enemy we had to face. She was about to step into the chamber when I pulled her by the shoulder and said in a quiet voice, "Just what are you doing Lacresia? You can't just waltz in there and face the enemy head-on." That seemed to snap her back to reality as she shook her head to the side and blinked her eyes twice. "Oh yeah sorry. I was in too much awe of the place. It's like something from the inside is calling me" she said. "That's weird I don't hear any. Must be some kind of spell or something. The whole place gave off a huge amount of magical energy, that anyone could feel it for at least a hundred feet down. It felt like this was where the labyrinth drew off its energy from, it's core. "We need a plan Cres. What do we do? Since the dragon is asleep we need to find a way not to wake it. It would be an easier way of getting the key and just getting out of here. What do you think? I started. "Yeah. It's better if the sea dragon is asleep, it would be easier to pass through it. But we should be really careful not to make any noise, as its ears are highly sensitive to sound. Or I think it is." Cresia continued. "What do you mean by sensitive?" I asked. "Well so far in the stories and articles we've read there is one highly common thing. It's the fact that they drive off the monster by making so much noise. That's why I hypothesized that the monster is highly sensitive to sound thus resulting in it becoming painful if it is too much already." I nodded at her and said, "So what's the plan?" "I guess we could leave our packs here and just go barefoot since we can't risk even the slightest amount of noise." I was about to ask her again for the next step when we suddenly felt hot air blow from above. When we saw what it was, our mouths gaped open and our legs shook in fear. The monster was now awake and it looked starving. "Uhm there there Mr. monster we're friends, not food," I said in an attempt to let the monster know that we've come in peace and we don't want to get eaten. Butt the Mr. Bakunawa didn't understand as his claws widened and fangs now out in the open. And so with that growl, we ran. "C'mon Ches we have to go!" Lacresia said urgently. I saw some metalloids along the way so I picked them up. "Cres we need to make noise to drive it out of here," I said. "Yeah but making a sound here won't make much of a difference. We need a place with echo. That will help amplify the volume." I then brought out the map and saw that there was a cave near here. "There's a cave to the right. We should go there now, just in case the pathways shift again," I said. Lacresia just nodded at what I said and followed as I ran in the direction of the cave. Once we reached the cave we then hurriedly emptied our bags and look for things that could bring us sound. We waited for the Bakunawa to enter the echoed place and then we banged each one we found to the mightiest we could and continued to do so as the Bakunawa stepped away from us and flew far from that place. The poor creature desperately tried to get away from the noise but the cave has echoes and it's very hard for it to go from that. The creature's face contorted at every sound we made until it suddenly buzzed and just stopped moving as a whole. For a second there, I thought the creature to be dead. But alas, I was gravely mistaken. And all it took was that short moment to let the monster recover vaguely and wagged its tail at us. I tried to dodge it but the tail came at me too fast. I was too stunned to even move, and so it hit me. I was instantly thrown over the wall, "Aaaaaah!" I screamed. "Oh no, Cheska!" I heard Cresia cry. It was all too fast, the world was spinning right before my eyes. I heard the bone at my arm c***k, I just hope it wasn't too broken. I tried to stand up but I couldn't. Everything was too painful to move. And so before I knew it, my everything went black as I slipped into deep nothingness.

I could feel my body was being picked up by someone but my subconsciousness was too far out now. I could feel it slipping to a deeper level. My field of vision instantly changed the second I closed my eyes. I was now in a field of dandelions, meeting with someone. It was a guy. He radiated a terrifying amount of power but somehow I wasn't affected by it. He had armor on him, as he glowed like the sun. He was muscular and tall, a very good-looking person. His hair seemed familiar but I can't really put my finger to it. But I was sure I've seen that hair before on someone. "Xenosa my child, the time is almost here," he spoke with so much authority that I think the entire place was shaking. Huh Xenosa, Xen I've heard that name before. Who was this guy talking to? I looked around the place and saw that we were the only ones here. "What are you doing my child? Who are you looking for?" Ah so he was talking to me, but I wasn't Xenosa though he has the wrong girl. "I'm sorry sir but I think you've mistaken me for someone else. My name is Cheska. Cheska Patterson" I muttered while bowing my head. I wasn't sure why I was bowing my head though. His presence commanded respect that's what I knew so that's what I did. Upon hearing what I just said, he smirked at me and said, "Perhaps you have stayed in the mortal world for so long that you have forgotten who you are my daughter. Not to worry we are to meet again of course. Until next time then." and with those words, he vanished like he was in a hurry or something. I could feel my whole core shaking though, it felt like I was talking to someone who commanded the world with his very words. I just knew that whoever he was, and when we do meet again the circumstances won't be pretty.

Cresia's POV

I saw how hard and fast Cheska was thrown to the wall! It was is everything went slow-motion in my eyes. She was now unconscious with blood trickling down her forehead. By the force of that blow, I don't doubt the broken bones she might have. I need to help her. I need to help my friend. And so I ran over her and carried her over my back. Where I got the strength for this, I do not know. I just it'll be enough to carry her out of here. I then picked up the pieces of metal I was banging together and continued to do so as I ran far away from there, all the while I carried the only friend I had on this not-so-safe adventure. This was not what I was planning to happen earlier at all. I need to find a way to defeat this monster but how do I do it? Out of the two of us, Cheska was more of a fighter. I gripped my sword and pulled it from my waist. I held it in my hands thinking about a way I could do it. The noise was out of my choices for now as I need to protect my friend first and I don't want it to go crazy again. I could feel the Bakunawa closing in on us, that's when I had to put Cheska down. The monster came and I charged at it with all my energy. I dodged its mouth by jumping on the walls and climbing them. When I got high enough I used the chandeliers hanging on the ceiling and jumped on them successfully evading the monster's attacks. I then stood at the edge of the final ornament at the ceiling and closed my eyes as I jumped to the monster's head. As I jumped I realized that I haven't thought this plan thoroughly but it was too late for my overthinking thoughts now. I was relieved when I felt a cold and hard texture underneath my legs. That was when and only when I decided to open my eyes again. Oh my gosh! I can't believe that worked I whispered to myself. I was now riding the monster's head, I was holding on tightly to its ears. It was desperately trying to get me to let go of it. Slowly, I stood up and pushed my sword downwards. But to my disappointment, its reptile -like the skin was too hard for my sword to penetrate. If it won't work on its skin then maybe it would work on its eyes. If I could blind it, that would give me enough time to get Cheska out of here. I'll come back to finish the job after. For now, that was my priority. I can't risk her being unconscious in this place, it's far too dangerous. And so with that in mind, I got on my knees and crawled slowly on the dragon's head.