The Enchanted Realm: At Journey's End

A Beast to Beware

 "Come on!" Orion teased, the point of his sword facing his adversary. It roared in reply, charging towards the teen with ferocious speed and anger. Orion dived to the side, landing into a roll over his shoulder. He straightened himself, seeing the creature prepare to charge at him again. The teen raised his sword, fire raging in his eyes. The creature roared again as it stood, ready for Orion's attack. The teen rushed forward, weaving around the creature's long claws and rolling beneath the beast's scaled snout. The teen thrusted the sword into the creature's exposed belly, hearing it screech in agony as dark red blood began to pour out. The creature could only wail as Orion pulled his sword out of the wound, rolling to avoid the cascading blood. The beast staggered, with Orion avoiding being crushed at the last minute. The teen looked back at what he'd done. His eyes moved up the beast, from its jagged tail, up to the scales along its back. Its wings were torn, leaving it grounded. The boy began to walk around the beast, staring it in its dead, fiery orange eye. The other seemed to be missing. Orion could only compare the dragon's eye to the Dragon's Eye, from three years ago. A shrill, harsh voice whispered around him. It only muttered randomness, but it began to drive Orion insane. He looked back towards the light at the cavern's exit, walking towards it, while dragging his sword across the ground with a satisfied grin slowly spreading across his face. A small portion of Orion felt guilty of what he'd done, while the rest of him felt accomplished.

I killed a dragon. I killed a dragon! There's no way that doesn't prove I'm not a loose cannon! He kept repeating in his head. Orion hummed along his way back to the small campsite he'd made. It was a small tent, with a campfire a distance outside of it. There seemed to be an armor stand and a training dummy sitting behind the tent. Orion dropped his sword as though it were useless, mindlessly walking into his tent. He laid on his back, removing his helmet and staring up at the dark-green tarp. He began to chuckle. That chuckling soon led to laughter, then that became hysterical and maniacal howls of joy. He never knew why he did this, but he didn't care. His insanity was a cure to his past experiences. It left him to think of the accomplishments of his future. He'd kill a goddess, he'd save an entire dimension. But then came after that. His hysterical laughter died down into silence. After he'd save the Realm, he'd return to his realm. He would go back to his boring life. His body turned sideways, his eyes lifelessly open. He could feel sleep begin to settle in. Unable to fight it, Orion could only close his eyes and exhale into the silence...

...

The leaves beyond rustled. Orion's eyes opened in an instant. There was the smell of food. He had stationed himself on the mountain, not...wherever he was now. There was a figure outside. Orion barely had the strength to move. His body was weakened with fatigue. He could hear a soft hum coming from somewhere. As his body slowly regained strength, Orion crawled out of the tent, only to see Moonlight by the lit fire outside. The sky was darkened into night, with no sign of the stars visible.

"Thought you'd never wake up." Moonlight spoke calmly.

"What happened?"

"They failed." Moonlight said without emotion. Her eyes remained staring at the crackling fire, not even daring to look up at Orion.

"Who failed?" Orion sat down across from Moonlight, looking beyond the fire, barely seeing her emerald eyes.

"The Protectors." Moonlight finally looked up, her eyes filled with sorrow. "S. F. got caught, and so did the others. I don't know what happened to them..." She turned her head aside, breaking away from Orion's gaze. "We're all that's left." She muttered. There was silence for a short while.

"How long have I been out?" Orion asked from nowhere. It seemed to catch Moonlight off-guard.

"Um...about five hours." She summarized. "I found you on the mountain, and I just... carried you back down."

"You carried me all the way down the mountain?" Orion chuckled, hardly believing it.

"I had a bit of help." Moonlight replied. "But you just...passed out. Right there, in my arms." Orion covered his blush with his hand, pretending to wipe the bottom of his nose.

"What do we do?" Orion changed the subject back to a more serious matter. "Besides find the Protectors?"

"For now, we need to lay low." Moonlight replied, stretching her arms behind her back. "After that, I have no idea."

"We need better gear, that's for sure." Orion looked at his half-broken armor.

"There's a big town in L'rai. It isn't too far, just walking to the southeast for a few miles."

"You've already given the parts of the Isle names? Damn you work fast." Orion complimented. Moonlight chuckled softly in return, getting up from the grass and beginning to head into the tent.

"We'll head out in the morning. I'm gonna get some rest. Carrying you here wasn't the easiest thing to do." She stated, Orion hid his blush once more with his hand, his mind wandering from topic to topic. It jumped from one thing to another, from a serious matter to a dream-like one. Then his mind was stuck on his insanity. He could feel a laugh rising in his throat for whatever reason. Something in his mind seemed feral. Orion shook the thought away, staring up into the starless night sky. Within the next few minutes, Orion began to walk into the tent, crashing into the sleeping bag opposite of Moonlight. His eyes stayed open for a while before he exhaled and entered his own subconscious.