A Dragon's Promise

Chapter Three

Lucy

"Taurus!" I yelled, lifting his key to the sky. A beam of light was emitted and the bull appeared before me, mooing.

"Hey, Miss Lucy, you're looking as bea-ooo-tiful as ever," Taurus snickered.

"Now is not the time, please help me take out these forest beasts," I said sprinting past him, hoping he would follow behind. Bushes rustled around us, leaves crunched under my feet, branches snapped, the beasts were upon us. "There," I pointed ahead, a cluster of them feeding off a poor woodland creature.

"Leave it to me," Taurus lunged ahead, swinging his axe. He took the group down with ease and spotted another gaggle of them, heading towards it out of my sight. I heard a crunch behind me and spun around. Three of the beasts had emerged from the forest and were charging. My hand instinctively went to my whip that was clipped to my belt, yanking it off and readying myself. I waited a few seconds, taking a deep breath in, the cool afternoon breeze blowing my hair off my shoulders.

Now.

I pounced on the unfortunate three, slashing my whip at them. I watched as it made contact, slicing through their bodies in one go. Their running slowed, halting altogether, staring at me in bewilderment. Then, they toppled over, their upper bodies detached from their mid region and legs. Blood drained out and puddled around them.

"Ew..." I groaned to myself, adverting my eyes from the corpses laying before me. This was disgusting, but at least they weren't rats. Just as I was turning to go find Taurus, the ground below me began to shake. I fell backwards landing on my butt and scraping the palms of my hands on some rocks. Ow," I mumbled, looking at the beads of blood forming. What was making all this ruckus? I attempted to stand back up, but couldn't find my balance and collied into the ground. Whatever was causing this was closing in as the rumbling intensified. Crows cawed, fluttering out of the trees in a frenzy. "Taurus? Natsu?" I called, hoping someone would come so I wasn't completely alone.

Suddenly, the shaking ceased, leaving me in a state of confusion. What's going on? How is that possible? The mayor noted that there were occasions when the beasts were able to change their weight, causing a difference in the amount of destruction they created, but this didn't seem right.. could they really change that much that quick?

A branch snapped from above, falling onto the ground a few feet in front of me. My entire body froze, staring in horror at the branch.

You've got to be kidding me.

Ever so slowly, I looked up into the intermingling branches, locking gazes with a pair of red glowing eyes. The enormous beast roared, jumping down.

"Shit," I scrambled backwards trying to get up. My feet stumbled to keep me upright as I sprinted, the shaking picking up with every step the beast took. This was the one we wanted, the mama beast. By taking her out, we would wipe out their population in this specific forest which would stop the constant attacks on the nearby town. But a battle between me, with just my whip, and this thing would not turn out well. My magic energy was quickly draining as Taurus was probably wrecking havoc, and I didn't have enough to summon another spirit to help.

"Natsu!" I screeched, dodging trees, tripping over roots, my clothes and skin snagging on low tree branches as I searched for him. My eyes weren't catching any pink, or even blue.

"Miss Lucy, I must go, your energy can no longer sustain keeping me here," Taurus popped up beside me, him too running in step with me.

"That's alright, thank you for all your help," I said as he disappeared.

My foot caught something and I was sent spiraling into a bush of thorns. My entire body stung as I rolled over, my head pounded with a headache, and tears threatened to spill. The beast stopped some yards back, now approaching at a turtle's pace. It loomed over me, keeping its face inches from mine. My breathing picked up, my heart drummed in my chest.