(Berry)

My powers blasted outwards vigorously. The gaze of my eyes turned bloody red. My retainer, my hero of the legendary sword, was dead.

My mind was in shambles, unable to comprehend right and wrong.

A continuous blast of light energy pulsated outward like waves, tearing down any dark

creatures as they were wiped out in seconds, disappearing into nothingness.

Even the other legendary beast that was present was taken back by the sudden surge of light that they shuddered.

“I won’t forgive you guys!” The words bubbled out of my throat, dripping with pure anger. A life was lost, and I wanted revenge.

The Titan stumbled.

Stryd and Coco rushed in, trying to overpower the Titan as best as they could. But, unfortunately, each slice, each attack, caused the Titan to become even more aggressive.

Raven flew off with her brother safely away.

Only the Black Gryphon and the Titan were left fighting.

My mind was honed in on one thing. Destruction between these beings, completely wiping out these legendary creatures that they won’t dare to come back.

With a flap of my wings, I lifted into the sky.

My first target was heading straight toward the Black Gryphon, who was still in a battle between Tart and Moca. I could tell that they were being overpowered, and it was a matter of time before they would become completely overpowered.

Both Tart and Moca were battered black and blue, bleeding from the Black Griffin's intense power against them. The Tart was breathing heavily, coughing up blood. On the other hand, Moca had a few broken legs, making him stumble a few times, which caused him a deadly mistake.

The Black Gryphon shoots out a powerful blast of dark energy at Moca.

“Moca!” Tart shouted, coughing up a deadly amount of blood.

Moca couldn’t move. He stared, unable to do anything as his reaction was too slow.

Just when he was about to completely overpower them in one blow, I swept in, blocking the attack with my wings.

The heavy pulsating energy continued to pound into my back, trying to blow a hole through. I didn’t cower and held my place, knowing if I moved, Moca would be dead. That wasn’t ever going to happen under my watch.

My eyes glistened. Pulling my wings down, I snapped my attention over, spitting out a range of deadly fire that pushed the Black Gryphon back.

I stopped breathing fire, looking over to check on Moca. What I saw broke my heart.

Moca was worse than I thought. The broken legs, heavy breathing seemed close to shudder every time.

“Moca.” I held in my breath unconsciously.

“I’ll be alright, young mistress.” Moca coughed, “I can handle this pain.”

My eyes turn into slits. There was a limit on how far before Moca would completely collapse. I knew my family, and they would gladly die for me.

“Tart!” I barked.

“Yes, young mistress!” Tart rushed over when he heard me call him. It took a bit of an effort.

“Take Moca and leave. Go make sure that Khor is okay at the elven city.”

“But, young mistress!” Tart replied back in horror of the thought of leaving me behind.

“Go now!” I growled, “this is an order. Tell Coco to pull back as well.”

“But-”

“Enough!” I glared at him. “Are you disobeying my orders?”

Tart shook his head vigorously, his ears drooping.

“This is not a battle for you to take,” I said with a much gentler voice. “I don’t want any one of you guys to die.”

“I-”

“I’ll make sure to come back,” I reassured them. “There is too much at stake here. I need you guys to be safe, so I can be at peace of mind.”

Tart shook his head again, understanding what I was asking for.

“Go!”

Tart grabbed Moca, whipping his head as he threw him over his back. Moca shuddered, his body becoming lifeless as he didn’t have enough strength to keep fighting. Then, pushing off, Tart bolted off into the trees, leaving me behind.

I turned around, looking over toward the Black Gryphon.

“You.” The Black Gryphon hoovered in the air, looking down at me with an evil glare.

“Me?” I tilted my head, giving back the same intensity of glare.

“Yes, you. You were the one that fatally injured me.” Black Gryphon pointed out. He then shifted into his human form, pulling back his sleeves up to his shoulder. An ugly scar that ran down his whole arm was shown. “This is the mark that you left me.”

“Well, it sucks that you didn’t die that day.” I spat back.

“You think you can kill me?”

“Why not?” I snorted, “I have injured you badly, didn’t I?” I snarkily replied. I was for sure going to do it again.

The Black Gryphon opened and closed his mouth, unable to retort.

I didn’t give him time as I bolted forward and jumped, lifting myself into the air. My eyes heated, zoning in on my prey.

My mouth opened, I summoned up another blast of energy that completely doused the Black Gryphon from head to toe.

With a wave of his hand, the Black Gryphon summoned magic that blew the holy flames to the side. The stronger I blew, the stronger he struggled to get the flames under control.

I couldn’t keep blowing fire as I was slowly losing the air in my lungs.

Flapping my wings as I hoovered in midair, I swiped downward, trying to take the Black Gryphon by the shoulder.

With a twist, the Black Gryphon spun out of harm’s way. He retaliated, striking to put me down.

My scales bounced off his punch but still pushed me back. I had to correct myself as I didn’t want to fall spiraling down.

Quickly, the Black Gryphon shifted into its original form, changing into the majestic creature that one would only see in legends.

I flapped, heading straight towards him.

I reached, grabbing Gryphon's shoulder. I pulled, trying to destroy his wings in the process. Feathers fluttered around me like rain as I kept ripping as many feathers as I could. We fought in midair, trying to outmaneuver each other. Finally, my tail wrapped around Gryphon’s feet, tugging him downwards.

“You damn lizard!” The Black Gryphon squawked. “If you weren’t alive, I would have roamed this land like a king!”

“And?!” I snapped, digging my teeth into the Black Gryphon’s side. I could feel my jaws crunching on muscle, but I couldn’t pull it apart.

“Your existence is a bane to mine!” Then, with a wrathful swish of his beak, he pecked downwards, trying to destroy my eye out.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a blast of powerful dark energy smashed into my back.

I roared.

The pain traveled throughout my whole body, causing me to lock up. My wings stiffened, my arms locked up temporarily as I loosened.

With a kick, the Black Gryphon pushed me off his body.

The terrible pain continued to douse my whole body, shocking me that I wriggled in pain a couple of times.

How was this possible?

There weren’t many things that could harm me, but this attack made me freeze in track, unable to do anything else but roll around in pain.

“Young Mistress!” Coco screamed. Her momentary lapse cost her.

The Titan took his chance, kicking her. She flew, sliding through barrels of trees as she stayed

slumping onto the ground.

I gagged, unable to say anything else, but blinked a few times in pain.

“Co...co…” The words spilled out of me with difficulties. I had thought that she had left, but she didn’t, and my own misjudgment has cost Coco.

Stryd swung, trying to push back the Titan. But, instead, he wasn’t fully comfortable with the weapon that he missed. In that chance, the Black Gryphon’s children swooped in from the side, completely knocking him out from the fight, allowing the Titan to get the upper hand. He slumped to the ground not too far away.

“Enough!” A deep voice sprung outwards, rattling the very tree.

The air around me became so thick that it made me wonder what was going on. Such malice

made me sick to my stomach even when I was on the ground.

What was going on?

Phil stepped out with heavy steps. There was a sudden change of air around him that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

I was on the ground, breathing heavily. The other legendary beast kept me from escaping.

The phoenix was above me, while the Titan on my left and the Black Gryphon and his children were in a ring of dark flames that kept us all contained.

Phil was in front of me. He saw me on the ground, surrounded on all sides.

“Phil!” I shouted, desperately calling out to him. “Help!”

Phil didn’t move.

My heart was stuffy. There was something terribly wrong.

The energy around Phil had given me was suffocating.

I struggled to move forward.

I took a step and another.

I shuddered.

Why was he just standing there? The roars and snarls from the other legendary creatures faded behind. The only thing I could focus on was the Phil in front of me.

“Berry?” Phil called out to me.

I didn’t reply.

“Berry?” This time, his expression and demeanor changed. It was the Phil that I knew. Soft and warm that I liked with a glimmer of mischief.

I looked over towards him. My eyes glistened as I thirsted for his comfort. Even in the raging storm of Legendary Monsters, to see him here with me gave me the courage to keep fighting against the creatures that would try to destroy the world.

Our eyes made contact.

“Berry, I need you to listen carefully. I need you to stop fighting,” Phil replied. His expression hardened.

I shook my head. I did not want him to go.

“Why?"

"Because, I care about you."

"But, we can do this together."

Phil shook his head no.

"I can fight them all." I replied with dedication. "You can't stop me." This wasn’t the best answer that I could give, but it was something that I needed to do. Face my enemies. Face my fears.

My fear of failure, the nagging feeling that was always in the back of my mind. I could always be comfortable, sitting behind someone and letting them fight my battle. But I didn’t. I knew I needed to move my own.

My goal was one thing, to take down as many legendary creatures as I could to my last breath.

The resolve in me rung deeply. I felt a clarity in my mind that I thought I wouldn’t have, but it came to me like a light that broke through the darkness that I had created by myself.

I am a dragon. A dragon maiden that hosted all the legendary weapons that would slay any of the legendary creatures. If those weapons used a part of my magic, it meant I could do some harm in some way against the legendary creatures.

These realizations clicked in my head. A whelming power that I needed.

“I know I can't stop you,” Phil said in a hurry. “I don’t want you to deal with them anymore. I have found the best solution. You won’t ever have to anymore.”

I wasn’t sure what Phil meant. I was confused.

“What do you mean?” I asked slowly

Phil took a step back. “I’m leaving.”

I thought I heard him wrong. “What do you mean?”

My mind was blank. “I-I don’t understand?”

“I’ll be leaving with your Aunt Julia.”

“What?!” I hiccuped, baffled by what he had just said.

“This is for the better.” Phil's face became even deeper with darkness.

“This is my Aunt we are talking about!” I felt my aura become colder and colder. Did I just hear him right? So he was going to go with my Aunt? “She’s summoning up the other Legendary creatures! Trying to destroy this world!”

“I know.”

“You're siding with the wrong person!” I could feel my stomach rumbling with fire, becoming hotter and hotter to the point where I knew I was going to blow out flames from my mouth.

“I know.”

His simple answer infuriated me. Why wasn’t there more? A better explanation because this answer wasn’t enough for me.

Suddenly, Julia walked up to Phil.

“Hello, Sweetheart,” Julia spoke with a hint of arrogance.

I could tell that she was looking down on me with the way she was looking at me. Her eyes glazed at my white dragon body. She chuckled.

I glared.

“Child, don't give me such a look. It bothers me so.” Julia replied. “I came here on a peace offering and to bring back the Demon King to his rightful throne.” she reached over, placing her hand on his shoulder. Her sickly sweet smell invaded my nose, pouring into all my senses. It was actually making my mind ache.

I was baffled. How did she know?

“You’re wondering how I knew?” Julia chuckled again as if she had read my mind. “Do you not know who I am? I am a Black Dragon, a seer, and was foretold to be next to the king. The destined partner, who will rule this world side-by-side.”

My lips curled. “Lies.” I lowered my head, showing off my white teeth.

I could feel my claws scraping the ground. I didn’t like what was happening before me. My Aunt was trying to take Phil away from me and what made me furious was that Phil was siding with her.

Aunt Julia said with a wicked grin. “He came to me and struck a deal. A deal that would seal his fate.”

“What deal?”

“A deal to save you, my dear.” Aunt Julia continued with her speech. “Such an honorable thing for a man to do. To convert into a demon king in exchange for your life.”

Baffled by her statement, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Why did you do it?” I spoke with anger. “This is my life!” I roared. A burst of flames decorated the ground like fireworks.

Aunt Julia had created a barrier between Phil and me. Black flames of her own circled around them, shielding them from my fury.

“I know,” said Phil.

I was getting tired of his one-word answer.

With heavy steps, my auric power started to grow in strength. The air was heavy with light energy clashing against the dark energy that Aunt Julia was summoning.

I could feel the resistance between the two forces, clashing against each other to the point where I was digging my claws into the ground.

The powerful surge of light magic that was churning in my stomach climbed up my neck. Then, with a fierce blow of energy, both clashed. I could feel the ground tremor.

Aunt Julia swiped her hand to the right. Dark energy flew around in range, becoming a frantic blow of energy that swooped over the whole field.

The dark energy crawled up my legs and up my throat.

A dark whip raised up and grabbed my snout, closing my mouth.

All the energy that I blew out was shut and wrapped all around my body.

I couldn’t move.

“Silence, little kitten. Let the mommy and daddy talk.” Aunt Julia replied with coyness. The darkness swayed, tightening around my body even more.

“Enough,” Phil spoke out in command.

Aunt Julia stopped, looking over her shoulder at Phil.

“Why?” aunt Julia searched his demeanor.

Phil didn’t say anything.

“Fine.” Aunt Julia stopped what she was doing. She turned around. “Let’s go.”

Aunt Julia summoned up a gate in front of her. She entered.

Phil looked at me once more, unable to say anything else.

My heart twisted into ugly knots. My mind was frozen as I was unable to move.

Phil turned his back from me. He didn’t even look back once.

My heart sank deeply, shattering into pieces. The dark rope restraint around me disappeared as

tears slipped down my face.

He was gone.