Chapter 15

-

Ester's death

--

Gavin POV-

My name is 'Gavin Jeffyrson of Cornalius', a simple adventurer looking for adventures and treasures. Me and my right hand man 'Peyton Manding' have recently started specializing ourselves in dragon subjugation.

It all started when a brilliant man named 'Mandano De Lorente' had the idea of making a bigger arbalet that could potentially be able to harm dragons. So he built a prototype and tested it on a dragon scales chest-plate and it could indeed go through it. After seeing those result i used all my savings to have 10 of them built.

I then hired a hundred well trained men to use them, then together start bringing dragons down... After 2 to 3 dragons i would have more money than i started with, so it was a smart move. Even more so considering that dragons are hoarders when it come to loot found on their preys and use those treasures as mattresses.

Back in the days a team had slain a green dragon and found 25 millions gold worth of treasure hidden inside his cave. I then started gathering information about where to find dragons, and which ones were potentially the best prey.

The cave we are now positioning ourselves in front of belong to a red dragon some travelers caught glimpse of 3 month ago. This place is mostly avoided because of the dangers this 'fire mountain' represent.

Taking this in consideration, a dragon living in here is most likely weak so he secluded himself far from the other of his kind avoiding competition. This happen from time to time.. We call them 'wandering dragons' some others call them 'dragon runts'...

Anyway starting by a weaker dragon is the safe route to take since we don't get paid more for older dragons which are really no joke... There's even rumors that far in the north, on the other side of an icy sea, live a different breed of dragons which grow 3 time larger, incredibly more powerful and smarter... That comparing them to the normal dragons we are used to would be like comparing a chicken to an eagle.

I am not specially superstitious but just for now i will try to stay as much south as possible.. You never know. I can now see the men are in position and Peyton is approaching probably to tell me just that..

“The men are in position Gavin!” (Peyton)

“Good! Pour the oil on the pile of wood and prepare the torches. We will smoke our prey out !” (Gavin)

Suddenly Peyton stop in his track and quickly turn around looking in the nearby woods.

“What?” (Gavin)

“You can't feel this? I suddenly have chills, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing... I have a very ominous feeling... Are you sure that's a weak dragon in there ?” (Peyton)

“Quite certain my dear Peyton, aren't you simply getting cold feet ?” (Gavin)

“Tch!” (Peyton) Says Peyton while clicking his tongue.

Suddenly i could feel blood-lust ! Alarmed i also start looking around then finally see 10 black spikes hovering in the air over my precious ballistas. Then they rapidly and with a lot of strength goes down destroying the ballistas within a second in a loud Crashh*

Then a voice that sounded as if the Gods themselves were speaking roared in a earth shattering voice.

“DRWAAGON!!! WAYKE UP AND KWILL THE YUMANS!!!” (???)

“Whatt was that????” (Soldiers) Says some of the soldiers covering their ears with their hands.

Then the oppressing atmosphere disappeared... But only for a few seconds as a few moments later a different kind of atmosphere crept in. It was different but still felt as if death was knocking at the door... As if we had exchanged 'certain death' for 'quick death'. Both are quite displeasing if you ask me...

RRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR*

Gulp*

With the ballista destroyed we are dead...

“MEN RETREAT!!!!!!!” (Gavin)

As i was watching my men turning heels and running away i saw what i had hoped never to see in my life. The red dragon slowly creeping out of his cave. His scales were as red as blood, his eyes were emerald green and produced a faint light.

Hoo! was i mistaken in thinking this dragon was a runt... This dragon, this beast was way to big, bigger than any dragon should be able to get... At first sight all i could think of were those words. 'I fucked up'.

RRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR*

The dragon then took flight, then rained fire upon us from above. Some men were grabbed, then thrown in the air to fall to their death or even shredded in pieces. I could hear the scream of my men as we could do nothing but run to the woods hoping that some of us would make it out alive.

Me and Peyton were amongst the first to reach the forest. And when we turned around to see how many of us had made it out alive we were met by a desolating sight... We were five... Only five of us made it out of the clearing alive.

And amongst the 3 hired men still alive, one of them was burnt beyond recognition. At that moment i saw the dragon quickly stop chase then fly away in a different direction at high speed apparently disinterested in us.

“That dragon... Was no mere dragon, he should have been worth 150 thousand gold... I bet he is one of these dragon i heard legend about, living in the northern continent. [...] We.. we lost everything... Sobsob*” (Gavin)

“You haven't lost everything idiot boss! We both made it out alive... That way we can live to fight another day... Let's get the fuck out of here now !” (Peyton)

We then left back to were we came from, beaten, defeated. We had met with a king amongst dragon and had survived to tell the tale.

--

Michael POV-

'Fucking gecko! Fucking gecko! YOU'RE SO FUCKING DEAD !' (Michael)

I finally break out of the clearing and see the situation with my own eyes. That 'gecko' is as big as a cement truck... It's skin seem to be made out of rock and is swatting his tail in all directions trying to shoo away the fairies that seems like flies harassing a cow.

Ester is hiding behind a rock deep in the cave and freak out as the gecko get closer and closer. I immediately form 8 spears and pummel him from all sides. The gecko don't even turn to look at me... That was his biggest mistake.

“Maaaaaaassssssterrrrrrrrrr I'm scareddddddd Waaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!! sobsobsob*” (Ester)

I then concentrate 80% of all my mana in one single spear, put a spiral around it, basically creating a drill bit. I then make it spin faster, faster and even faster and as i was about to launch it, the gecko created a few stone spears, launching them inside the cave... One of them broke the boulder Ester was hiding behind, then another one stabbed Ester through the heart.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (Michael)

I then, with all my might and rage launch the drill at lighting speed. The gecko seeing it use his tail to block it.. Another big mistake, his tail then goes flying cleanly ripped of from where the drill bit had hit. Then as i was in the process of making another drill i saw a large shadow obscuring the sky from above.

ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*

The red dragon then landed on the gecko's back, digging his claws through his stone like skin effortlessly before biting the gecko's head off in a loud ripping noise.

“ESHHTER!!!!!” (Michael) Still not perfectly used at talking aloud...

{I am sorry Arch-Devil Michael for it seems i have arrived to late. The elf is dead.} (Dragon)

{Shut up!! She's mine! I did not authorized her to die so i won't allow it !!!} (Michael)

{Surely even a God such as yourself cannot bring the dead back to life...} (Dragon)

{Well see about that!!! It as not been 4 minutes yet ! 4 minutes! 4 minutes! 4 minutes! 4 minutes! 4 minutes! 4 minutes! } (Michael)

I then reach Ester's lifeless body, and start pouring my mana in her wound. I create minuscule condensed mana thread and start suturing all the holes i can find, including the one in her heart. I then roll thread around her heart and start contracting them at regular intervals forcing her heart to pump.

I then do the same with her diaphragm forcing her to breath and continue patching up all the sources of bleeding i can find. I am basically keeping her alive artificially. You would probably not be surprise if i told you i had been a surgeon in a past life.

She is still loosing mana, so to avoid her dying from mana lost i then make connection with her mana pool then instead of leaching i pour my mana into her as one would do a blood transfusion. I will keep her alive this way until she recover... She have been dead only for a few seconds... My experience tell me she should be alright in a few weeks...

Feeling that every bit of mana count i start absorbing the gecko's mana. Then something odd happened... Some part of the 'mana print' i had felt from it got absorbed in the process... I could feel this 'print' in my mana now, as if my mana had mutated to assimilate a part of it. The same thing had happened with the female mage a few weeks back...

Then a sudden realization...This gecko had a earth based affinity, i saw it using stone spears. I quickly form a mana sphere, then concentrate on that 'print'. The mana sphere turned to stone.. I dropped it and it broke on the ground. I then created another sphere but this time with a lot more compressed mana, then turned it to stone again. But this time when i let it fall to the ground the sphere didn't break.

GUUhuhuHuhuHuhuHuhuhuhu*

'I can fucking leach affinities!!!!!!!! Hawhahahahah So that mean i also have that female mage (Mana disturbing) affinity phwahahaha!!!' (Michael)

Then i think...

'Well i will just take a little...' (Michael)

I then leach some of Ester's mana before replenishing it back. This time again i could feel a new 'print' in my mana. Not knowing what this print may be i make another sphere, then try this new affinity. Nothing happened... Some affinities need to meet certain conditions so i will probably have to wait until Ester wakes up to ask her.

{I cannot believe my eyes... The God of death also have the power to bring the dead back to life?} (Dragon)

{These are special circumstances... The wound need to be something i can fix, also there's a limit of 4 minutes before brain damages occurs.} (Michael)

The dragon then tilted his head at the complicated sentence before continuing.

{I assume you are the one who destroyed those human's toys earlier?} (Dragon)

{Yes... I wanted to offer you some minced meat but it came back to bite me in the ass in the end... Sighh... Where was this creature hiding?... I never sensed his presence around before!} (Michael) I then asked to both the dragon and my cellphone.

{Earth gecko live underground most of the time...} (Cellphone)

{I get it now!... Sighhh I see more and more weaknesses in my sensing abilities... Up high in the air and deep underground, i can't sense them.. How annoying...} (Michael)

Cellphone tell me that this cave is quite cold and that it may be problematic for a recuperating patient so i was about to barricade the entry then generate heat with mana when the dragon interjected.

{My cave have a river of lava passing through it, is it quite warm. I believe the temperature in it's deepest part would be ideal for the little elf. You are welcome to join me if you wish.} (Dragon)

As these words i immediately start packing our gold, dried meat and other personal effects, then envelope ester in a 'Mana stretcher' and start climbing on the dragon's back.

{What are you doing???} (Dragon)

{Isn't obvious? Ridding you to your cave! It's going to be a lot faster! Now gidiyop my godly mouth!!!} (Michael) While saying that i then envelope my Cellphone in a mana bubble that i attach to me via a mana thread.

The dragon seemingly shrugging it off take off in the air and quickly flying toward his cave. Such speed is truly unbelievable, even more knowing the dragon is taking it slowly as to not shake Ester to much. What took me 15 minutes of running didn't even take a minute for him to cover...

“KIKIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!” (Cellphone) Says Cellphone at the blistering speed.

He then gently landed in front of the entry of his cave and started walking it... Me, Ester and my cellphone followed behind. We walked for a few minutes before reaching a gigantic room where a lava-fall was feeding a very large lava river.

It was blistering hot (from what my Cellphone told me) so i was sorry for Ester but we reached a gigantic hole where the dragon told us the temperature would be ideal. It was incredibly dark but i couldn't tell the difference thanks to my night vision so i didn't mind.

I lay Ester down on the 'deer' skin the dragon had given us before thanking the dragon for his help. He answered with the 'You help me, i help you' type of answer. It is true what they say.. Dragon's wisdom is huge.. He immediately knew who i was back then eh...

Turning back my full attention to Ester i then think, mana i know act as antibiotics. The cells being filled with mana wont get infected and will heal faster... So i start doing just that, i infuse every cells in the wounded area with my mana but when i began doing the same with her nervous system something very weird happened...

'Pain!.. It Hurt dammit!!!!! [...] Pain? [...] I feel pain??????? Not my pain but... I feel Ester's pain???' (Michael)

At that moment i made the most major discovery i have made in this entire life.

http://s11.postimg.org/jezcuepwi/Caligo_Tenebris_Lava_Cave.jpg

I illustrated this scene. Click on the link if the image doesn't load.

----

I'm high on medication... WEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee!! I hope i still did this chapter justice.. I was highly anticipating this one... A lot happened in it. Hope you liked it !

----