Karta Stryker

Chapter 26: Weapon Becometh Spirit

Jade has been snoring for hours on end now, and the sun that we chased so desperately finally began to set. Arcadia rested her chin on her forearms, which sat just beside the car window. She gazed at the purple skies, and scanned her eyes across the eventual gradient into orange as she looked closer to the horizon. Horizons to me were always a beautiful symbol. No matter what happened to you, the sun always kissed the skies. Sure, it would set, and would leave the world to be engulfed in it's own night. But look to the east, and sure enough, the sun would shine again. As the sun continued downward, the crescent moonlight became less apparent, and lit up the night sky. Marcus even lowered his window to poke his head out and witness the transition.

"That's the thing about the country. No pollution, no lights. Just you, and the endless space." Marcus took in a deep breath, and let it out in serenity.

A loud scream pierced through our ears, forcing Marcus to slam on the brakes, drifting the car 180 degrees to face where we came from. It was a girl, around the same age as Jade. Blood was violently leaking from her shoulder, and her shirt had been ripped to pieces. Her left breast hung out in her white lingerie bra as she gesticulated at us, while missing her right forearm. She was heavily bleeding, and will certainly die if we don't act now. We all rushed out of the car and slammed the door behind us, seeing what happened to her.

"Hey, you alright?" Marcus asked.

The girl only stuttered in reply.

"Calm down, take a deep breath. What happened?" Marcus held the girl by the shoulders.

She attempted to breath, but it was more comparable to hyper-ventilation.

"Monster... a m-monster..." The girl sobbed.

I scanned her wounds, noticing the gargantuan bite marks. They weren't from any Therro I recognised, for sure. The snout was too rounded and short. It seemed more reminiscent of a human's jawline, only with feline fangs.

"We need to heal the wound." I ordered.

Arcadia and Marcus nodded in unison.

"Two steps ahead of you." Arcadia stated firmly.

"Jade, let's go beat up a monster." I smiled.

Jade grinned back, and we drew our weapons respectively. We paced towards where the girl had come from, her footprints from her street-wear sneakers leading the way. We stood back to back when the track ended, and held our breaths. Jade sensed the movements within the earth, I looked for the disturbances in the wind. Jade must've sensed it before me, because she had flipped over the top of my head. She still faced me, but quickly turned, swinging Joromalleus outwards. The block of the hammer's head met the cheek of the monster, as it attempted to blindly charge me in the dead of night. The beast looked awfully similar to Galgamere, but wore a warriors armor. He stood a great 12 feet tall, 2 feet larger than Galgamere. After being knocked down, he slowly stood back up, revealing his sinister grin as he turned around. His chuckle was insanely deep, as it gurgled whilst marching towards us.

"Stryder." The beast simply said.

He was the first among many to call me 'Stryder'. Most others would've called me 'dragon', but this thing fell under the same label.

He was an Ashanti Dragon.

He pulled his left fist back, and thrust it forward at supersonic speeds. I caught it with my right hand, sending a shockwave outwards and blasting a crater into the drought-dry ground. He scoffed, and his free hand punched me in the face. My right cheek grazed against the ground for what must've been 10 meters, as the Ashanti had focused his attention back on Jade. She attempted to swing up at the dragon, but he grasped her by the throat. The Ashanti held Jade above his head, suffocating her as she clawed at her neck. He threw Jade towards me, but I got up in time to catch her. I laid Jade softly on the ground, making sure she was okay.