Chronicles From the End of an Age

The Power of Talons - 22Yrs BTA

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Elessia snarled at her opponent, tail lashing against the ground behind her. Her dark red scales glittered in the light of the several fires burning around her, a stark contrast to her black horns and the spines running down her back. Her heart beating frantically inside her chest, her breathing rate far higher than usual. All culminated in excitement and determination. The excitement of finally having a worthy opponent and determination to not let him win.

Across from her, standing with wings spread and flickers of fire running along ruby red scales was a fire drake. He had a smirk on his snout and eyes that watched her every movement like a snake following prey. Their battles were often close, sparring matches that ended with great effort. She won a fair few, but several times he had managed to come out with his own victories in trickly and creative ways. It kept her moving, constantly preparing for the next attack.

"Ready to give up yet?" he said snarkily.

"Oh Zymre," she said, raising up and forcing a yawn, "If you have only improved that much in the year we've been apart... you are in for a world of hurt."

"Oh, I've learned a lot in the past year," snorted the fire drake, flapping his wings.

The fire burning around her leaped at his command, spiraling toward her from all directions. She let out a growl of surprise, reacting quickly as red energy erupted from her body, making her glow with glorious power. The fire smashed into her, throwing her into the ground, the red energy not able to absorb all the force and power of the attack, but it left her far less damaged and dazed than she would have been. So instead she launched her own attack, opening her mouth and firing a beam of the red energy at Zymre. He reacted, ducking out of the way and throwing a fireball toward her. She staggered to her feet, swiping at the fireball with her talons, and wincing as heat washed over her, causing her to stammer backward at the explosion.

"Stay still!" she roared, taking a step forward to charge at him.

Despite being a month younger than Zymre, she was the bigger of the two and planned to use the size difference to drive him into the ground. She also had the power of chaos energy running through her veins, enhancing her strength, speed, and pain tolerance. She would likely have to get a life dragon to heal some of the burns she had sustained, but for now she was quite happy to make Zymre pay for his insurrection.

The fire drake stopped, facing her with the same sly grin. He was going to face her head-on? He wouldn't stand a chance. With a roar she launched herself forward with a flap of her wings, chaos energy flooding through her as she crashed into him, aiming to force him into the ground. But instead of pitting his strength against hers, he flapped his wings at the direct moment they crashed, throwing them further than Elessia had meant to do so. As they landed, Zymre used his hind legs to kick her in the stomach, her momentum with the kick throwing her off the other dragon, where she landed on her back, dazed and groaning.

Zymre quickly took advantage of her momentary lapse, pouncing onto her and pinning her to the ground with a snarling growl of victory. Elessia only struggled a moment, snapping up at him. She could have escaped if they were fighting for real, but he could have also killed her at that moment, so there was no point in continuing.

"Alright, I yield, now get off me you big oaf," she growled at him.

He chuckled, before doing as she said and letting her get to her feet. The dragoness shook herself out, allowing the red energy in her scales to fade. She felt slightly embarrassed at how easily he had managed to take her down. The move he did was not something he had been capable of the year previously, and while he was able to control his fire, he had never been able to do it so elegantly, at least not without great focus and mental effort.