The forest was crowded with leaves and branches. Finding Melius through all this green would certainly be a problem, despite Melius' bright red colour and large size.
Behind August, Alice called for him to slow down. Their cries fell upon deaf ears, however, as the determined youth carried on through the cold forest. Sunlight was coming in now and August could feel the heat warming up his frozen parts.
He finally broke through the forest only to find a large flight of stairs that presumably would lead to a summit of some sort. August placed a hand on the hilt of his fiery blade and was suddenly filled with a heavy sense of determination to reach the summit. With one final deep breath, the young man tore up the stairs as he rushed to hopefully meet the backstabbing dragon who had betrayed him not too long ago.
"What's with him?" Asked Ali.
"He's always been a bit oversensitive," explained Alice. "Been that way since we were little..."
With that, the two began to follow August to the top of the summit. The scorching sun caused beads of sweat to escape from the foreheads of the young Runners. However, running is what they were best at. What they were chosen to do.
Each member had started as a scout. A scout would generally be a young and unskilled combatant who would be sent to monitor forests for the Groundsmen. From a scout, you would become an Apprentice, in which the chosen Scout would now be under the instruction of a Groundsman working as an aid. The final rank before a Groundsman was the Forest Runner. A Forest Runner was similar to a Groundsman except for the fact that they had less space outside of the village to hunt in.
Konnor and Kai had graduated from these positions but were assigned as mentors to the rest of the Runners in order to sharpen their skills in preparation for their big day. Ali was relatively close to finally graduating but, now that the village was gone, attempting to live up to a rank had seemed pointless.
By the time the entire trio was atop the summit, there was no visible sign of Melius. August was wandering around in search of the creature but to no avail.
"I don't see any sight of him up here," August snapped through gritted teeth.
"Well, then it means you made us chase you for no reason," sighed Ali.
"Just cause you can't see him, it doesn't mean he isn't here. Look," said August as he drew his blade and held it out before the two ladies. The red steel glowed brighter than usual, a fiery power clearly having enveloped the blade. "The closer I get, the brighter it shines," explained the young swordsman.
"Alice, prepare your blades. He could appear from anywhere," Ali pointed out.
Ali charged up her gauntlets as Alice pulled blade after blade out from her storage.
August walked to the centre of the summit and screamed at the top of his lungs, filling the open air with the name of the dragon.
Suddenly, Melius emerged from a small hole in the ground in his much smaller form.
"Transform so that I won't feel bad about killing something so tiny," said August.
"You're one to talk. You're the second shortest in your little trio," the reptile laughed as he grew larger and larger.
"You're trying to piss us off, aren't you?" Screamed Ali.
The dragon's wings cast a large shadow as the spread out across the early morning sky. The creature's throat suddenly came to life as he formed a roaring fire within his mouth. The creature fired a large, fiery shot towards August who dived out of the way.
Ali rushed forward as she charged a ball of cryogenic energy between her two mighty gauntlets. Alice stood at the back and rapidly fired daggers in an attempt to hit whatever part of Melius she could. The dragon flew flawlessly, each twist and turn easily out manoeuvring all the daggers flying his way.
Once more the creature let out a mighty roar as he shot a large ball of fire towards Alice. Ali noticed the opportunity and immediately fired her ball of ice. The two collided in midair and, though the ice was strong,the fire managed to persevere and carry on, it's path having been undeterred.
Alice had manged to move out of the way in time and the fireball crashed into the ground, fire violently shaking as the explosion grew larger.
August stood in the centre, waiting for the creature to land. Melius dived directly towards August and let loose but a portion of his intense dragon fire.
August confidently raised his sword before him and hoped that what he was about to try would work.
"Fight fire with fire," he thought to himself.
The wave of inferno fell upon August's red steel, the blade began to swallow the flames as if it were created to do so. The steel glowed with a powerful red aura as it devoured the mighty blaze. August's face adopted a cocky grin.
Ali and Alice noticed the fiery standoff between the two participants and chose to seize the opportunity.
"Alice, throw every single blade you've got... try to aim for his wings," Ali instructed.
"Right," Alice responded as she began to pull out her blades. "I'm on it!"
August was still beneath Melius' blaze and the sweat began to drip. He knew that he couldn't stay under the flames for long and began hoping that Ali would hurry up already.
Ali formed a ball of cryogenic energy between her hands once more. She then split it into multiple shards and fired them relentlessly towards the reptile. Alice followed in suit as her blades flew through the sky.
It took quite a few attempts before the blades and shards began to pierce Melius' wings. The creature let loose a mighty roar as he slowly began to float towards the ground. Despite his aggressive flapping, his wings had become too torn to support his flight.
August wiped the sweat from his forehead as he charged forth to drive a blade into the creature's neck. Melius took note of the rush and swung around, whacking August away with his tail.
Ali rushed forward to Melius and the creature swung his tail violently once more. Ali had expected this and, as Melius' tail swung around, Ali grabbed onto it and began to swing him around as if he were a ragdoll.
She finally let go and flung the flightless dragon into the air.
"Look out!" Alice screamed as the creature flew in August's direction.
The young boy looked up as he saw the creature coming in for a crash landing. August searched frantically for his sword. He picked it up just in time and stuck the blade straight out as the wide-eyed dragon's neck was driven into it.
"Dead... finally dead," sighed August as he stood from the ground.
"It's a wonder the Noble's can keep things like these under control," Alice said.
Suddenly, Melius' body started becoming ethereal, glowing in a crimson colour. The seemingly ghostly power began to flow towards August, who was rapidly rushing away from it. It swirled magnificently around him as it slowly sunk into his skin.
"What in the blazes is going on?" August yelled. "Don't just stand there! Help!"
An awestruck pair of girls could do nothing but stand and watch as their friend began being wrapped in an aura of flames.
After all of the smoky, aura-like power had sunk into August's skin, he truly felt no different aside from the fact that it was as if he felt fired up and ready to tackle anything.
As he stood before them, he looked towards his friends and said, "Guys, I feel something powerful bubbling up inside me... and I think I like it."
