Ovolara: Claws of Darkness

Chapter 4: Departure

Hope was surrounded by darkness, holding a wooden sword in a fighting stance. Her eyes were closed, as if she were trying to listen for something.

Thump... She heard on her right. Whoosh... wind blew above her. When suddenly, she tilted her head to the side, followed by rolling away, avoiding what sounded like a boulder hitting the ground. She began running toward the sound as soon as she recovered, opening her eyes to see a giant silhouette several times bigger than her.

Hope kept charging, avoiding its multiple attempts to crush her with what looked to be claws, when it suddenly took off above her and let out a breath of fire, revealing that it's a dragon.

She swiftly dodged multiple breaths and patiently waited for the dragon to tire out and come back down. Eventually, the dragon landed at a distance in front of her and began charging in her direction, ready to throw more swings.

Hope fearlessly charged back, something any other human would never have the spine to do, but she had a plan.

She dodged and slid under its attacks, slowly closing her distance then sliding under it, cleverly getting behind it. She put her sword in her mouth, and grabbed on its tail spines. As she made her way toward its back, the dragon violently shook its body attempting to get Hope off its tail, but Hope didn't loosen her grip, and quickly reached its scaly back between its wings, holding her sword in both hands.

"I WIN!" Hope shouted in Dragon, plunging her sword down, when the dragon she was standing on suddenly disappeared, and she was grabbed by something invisible. "What-! Hey-! No fair!" She protested.

"There's no such thing as fair when it comes to combat." The dragon pointed out.

A breath of fire appeared, lighting a torch in front of Hope as she was being released back to the ground.

It was Abyss. A much bigger, taller, and stronger Abyss. "You're a human fighting a dragon, You have to be ready for anything!" He explained.

"You're the only one who has creepy shadowy powers. You're just mad that I won last time too!" She argued.

"N- No! I could have easily won there! I just missed a few swings on purpose!" He nervously replied.

"Yeah sure... whatever you say..." She rolled her eyes.

"Though, you're getting better at dodging! I didn't know humans could fight like that until I met you" Abyss added.

"Yeah well, any normal human's reaction would be running in the opposite direction when they see a dragon," she clarified. "And as far as I know, I'm the only one training with a dragon." She pointed out.

"So that makes you not normal." Abyss teased her with a smirk she couldn't see.

"Hey! Don't make me grab a real sword!" She laughingly threatened.

She went to grab a bag at the corner of the cave, then went back to sit next to Abyss. "Alright, let's eat."

Abyss lit multiple torches on the sides and the middle of the sleeping cave then sat down with Hope, grabbing a deer out of a pile full of a variety of prey in one of the corners.

"I don't understand how dragons find raw meat delicious. It's so bloody, and hard to chew, and smells-" She began rambling.

"I'm planning on leaving this year." He said out of nowhere.

There was a long silence while Abyss continued to chew on the deer, and Hope blankly stared at Abyss.

"Do you still plan to go with me?" Abyss said, with a hint of worry. "It's okay if you change-" He started.