The dragons were small, by dragon standards. No higher than Drakonias’s waist in height, but easily fifteen feet long, they were lithe and serpentine, whipping tails uncoiling and wings spreading as the monsters took shape and roared their challenge at the world.

Roughly the size of an ogre if they stood up, but leaner and longer with more limbs.

Each drake had rear and foreclaws, as well as the wings. Their heads were of minor detailing due to the Essence’s unvarying texture of glowing teal, but the impression of scales could be seen when they moved just right to catch the light.

Drake they may be in name, but they were clearly more than mere frost lizards. Their wingspan was enough to tear through the entire house from one end to the other, leaving ragged gashes through the walls into the bright exterior.

The ceiling began to crack, sunlight streaming in and illuminating the drakes already glowing bodies with streaks of gold.

Majestic creatures. Like living ice sculptures, or liquid jade reflecting the deep ocean.

Riana grabbed his hand and tugged him away, through the hole the Essence had torn in the wall, as the house began to collapse under its many abuses.

The ceiling crashed down behind them, the drakes not far behind. They flew up from the wreckage of the home, wingbeats sending plaster dust flying, the weight of each impact nearly knocking Drakonias off balance.

He wished he could stand and stare at their majesty, appreciate their challenge a little longer before he had to get down to the slaying part, but he snapped out of his trance when Riana barely dragged him out of the way as one of the drakes dove and chomped down into the pavement right where Drakonias's feet had been a moment before.

"Oh. Thank you--"

Riana pointed him down a broad avenue and gave him a shove. "Over there, bring the rangers! I'll find the mages. And where'd that tamer get off to?"

“I accept your quest!”

It would give Drakonias a chance to recover his health before they confronted the dragons, and let him lead an army into battle. He'd done that too few times for his satisfaction. A brilliant plan!

"Until we meet again, fair maiden!"

Riana didn't reply, diligently focused on her own task, but just watching her run into battle made Drakonias feel more alive, helped to push back the all-consuming existential–

Nope he wasn’t going to think about that, he was going to slay a dragon!

The drake flapped its wings and dove at him with a hissing shriek of wind, frost breath freezing the air and cracking the pavement in a line behind him. Rapidly catching up.

Drakonias dove behind a hedge, the plants taking the brunt of the dragon’s frost attack. Suddenly-brittle branches snapped in the wind of the drake’s wingbeats and showered Drakonias with ice-frosted leaves.

Drakonias glanced at his meters. Mana was still almost full, stamina very low, while health was still zeroed out, burned as quickly as it could regenerate trying to keep him alive. He felt light-headed, but not on the verge of passing out, and the flow of blood down his back had slowed. As long as he avoided any more dangerous injuries, he should be fine.

It still felt like a herculean effort to get up. The part of him wanted to crawl deeper into the hedge and hope the dragons left him alone.

No. Drakonias trembled, yet he did not retreat. He grabbed hold of his courage, his stubbornness, his passion, what few scraps of it all remained after the devastating assault--

Nope not thinking about that.

He was a mighty warrior. He was not a coward. He would not admit defeat, not accept death.

Then he was up and running again.

He was on a mission here, find the rangers first. Dragon slay second.

"Don't worry, I'll be back for you," he told the drake as it circled around for another swipe at him. “Or you can come with. Sure. Makes things easier.”

He constantly had to dart from house to house, keeping something between him and the circling dragon that seemed intent on ending Drakonias’s quest prematurely.

Not today, dragon.

It took far too many minutes to reach his destination, but Riana’s quest had not led him astray. Before long, he found the group of rangers, standing on the roof of one of the one-story buildings, arguing by the looks of it.

"Rangers! Behold! Your next target is right behind me!"

Drakonias ran past their group without slowing, the drake gliding after him like an evil ice-breathing kite, even as the rangers turned as one. The sight and sound of an angry dragon would be enough to attract anyone’s attention.

Drakonias dove behind their house to buy himself a second out of sight of the dragon. He switched to his bow in a well practiced motion, then fished out a particular handful of arrows. He carried a variety of special ammunition on his person at all times so he’d always be prepared to take advantage of an opportunity like this.

Drakonias loaded a fire arrow, glowing red with the heat that he felt even through his gauntlets, then held it until the glow peaked. Two heartbeats that felt like an eternity, and then he darted out into the open again, drew a quick aim at the flying drake, and fired.

The monster, distracted by the rooftop rangers, didn't see it coming. The fire arrow melted a line into its flank before extinguishing.

The dragon roared and spun to search for its attacker. The arrow clattered to the ground lifelessly, its power spent.

Drakonias was already out of sight, pressed tight against the wall of the house, charging a second fire arrow. The moment the dragon came into sight overhead, he aimed and fired again, this one taking the angered drake in the face, then a third and fourth time.

After that, it was time to run for his life again. Luckily, by now the rangers were firing as well, drawing its attention a little better than one running-away warrior.

"Concentrate fire on the wing! We need to get it to the ground."

The strategy was as good as any. Drakonias and the rangers began firing their shots in more coordinated fashion, peppering the drake's wing instead of aiming for the bulk of its body.

It adjusted course toward the gathered snipers, which... given they were precariously situated on the roof of someone's house, wasn't the ideal cover against a flying ice-breathing dragon.

They scattered before the charge, the drake's claws tearing gouges into the roof and sending shingles flying everywhere. Three of the rangers jumped off, the fourth wasn’t fast enough. The drake slammed into her at full speed, claws stabbing all the way through her stomach and neck twisting to chomp down on her throat.

She would have survived the first, with the help of her stats and health. The second…

No more of that.

Drakonias didn't have time to charge his shots, just fired as fast as he could load.

The drake crashed through the collapsing house, leaving the ranger it’d mauled behind. Blood streaked its claws and teeth now, dark patches against its teal glow.

Level 2+

(Essence Drake)

Health 41%

Frost billowed out around it, the intense cold of the ice drake's breath overpowering the Nevada heat and giving the area a distinct chill.

It refocused on him, now ignoring the lesser projectiles from the others. They would be safe for the moment. Drakonias had its attention.

Now he had to figure out what to do with it.

He ran, weaving his path to keep a house between himself and the drake as much as possible, though at the rate it was demolishing the neighborhood there wouldn’t be anyplace left to hide.

His thoughts raced. What could he do? They’d done a lot of damage, but not nearly enough to try for a KO. He had two fire arrows left, but even overcharged to max that couldn’t do more than 10% of its health.

Another crash, just behind him; he glanced back to find the drake had stopped pursuing and started hurling chunks of torn up pavement at him instead, each infused with the same frosty chill.

Then he spotted something else in the sky past the rapidly-approaching drake, a group of silvery shapes with the wrong silhouette to be birds.

Reinforcements.