ᴄʜᴇᴍɪᴄᴀʟ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ - ᴀʟʙᴇᴅᴏ x ᴏᴄ

Chapter 5 - His Goal

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Break It Off - PinkPantheress

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Branches crackled softly in the fire when Melanie's eyes flickered open. A blanket of warmth surrounded her, both from the jacket and the small campfire Albedo must have set up beside her. Yawning, she stretched her arms above her head. A nice dream she had woken from, sad it had to end.

Light streamed into the cave, lighting up several glass vials and crumpled papers littering the floor. The air was still and rippling with anticipation of a good day. The girl rose to her feet, tucked the slip of paper into the pocket of the jacket, and walked outside.

A fresh, cool breeze from the highest point of Dragonspine greeted her immediately. The jacket she wore was pulled tightly over her thin frame. In the powdery snow, she noticed footsteps leading away from the lab. Of course, he must have started the day early.

Taking a few more steps outside, Melanie began to follow the trail marked out ahead of her. The farther along she went, the fresher each track appeared to be. By instinct, she lightened each step she took and slightly crouched to stalk forward. Her ears were trained to surround the area, but no sound was made. Perhaps he was onto her?

The temptation to call out the Kreideprinz's name was strong; however, allowing her location to be made known by the man wouldn't benefit her. Finding him became something of a game. She smiled at the thought of his shocked expression the moment she found him.

Step by step she drew nearer until, at last, she saw the back of his head. His ash-blonde hair blew gently in the wind and his singular braid bounced with his every moment. Albedo bent over to inspect something. Now was her chance.

With its usual grace, the bow appeared in her hand and shimmered with cyro element. A sly smirk spread across her pale lips when she took another step forward. Step, step, step. She was close enough to strike. The bowstring was pulled back until it was taut in her hold. As she was about to release...

"Nice try, I'm amused."

All of a sudden, a burst of light, followed by a shower of rocks, overcame her sight. With a gasp, she watched as Albedo rose into the air on top of his Solar Isotoma, sword poised to deal damage. He swung his blade to the side and another burst of rocks flew in her direction.

Melanie flew backward, a few rocks bashing her mid-air. She quickly rolled onto the ground and took a defensive stance, shrugging off Albedo's jacket to fight back.

Albedo flashed her a challenging smile, his eyes lit up with glee. His Cinnibar Spindle emitted another glow as a warning to the bow user. It would be interesting to see who would win this sparring match, especially since one was used to fighting from a farther range than the other.

The bow was once against loaded and ready to be launched off whenever she could find an opening in his attacks. Dodging took up most of her time, but she was scheming as she did so. When Albedo paused for a moment, Melanie ran forward and launched a flurry of arrows in his direction.

Almost every arrow bounced away from its target, causing her to curse under her breath. She quickly found a blind spot underneath his flower elevator and formed another plan in her mind. If she could bring him down to the ground, she could release Sanna to deal some damage.

Panting, Melanie wiped the small beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead. It was a challenge for her simply because she wasn't several feet in the air like the other. To lure him down meant striking first, and right now, all attacks had ceased. He was waiting for her, of course.