I stabbed my spear into the dirt, then straightened up and turned to examine my surroundings.

The clearing was wide and oval-shaped, with an opening on one side where the trees gave way to grassy fields. I had found it several days earlier and decided it was an ideal place for my battle against the drake.

For a moment, I wondered why no trees had grown within the clearing. I could sense the mana under my boots wasn't quite the same as in the rest of the forest, and I suspected this must be connected. Maybe once I killed the drake, I could look more closely.

I set aside those thoughts as I pulled Aether through my body and into the familiar loops of Flicker Step. I allowed myself a moment to bask in the sheer size of my channels and how little the spell burdened my body before I moved.

My surroundings vanished in a blur as I slipped out of the clearing and onto the fields. It took me only minutes to reach where I had found the drake before. I had worried it might have moved, but the damned creature had returned to the same spot as before, as if nothing had happened. If anything, it looked as though it had begun to dig, creating a more permanent home as summer faded into autumn.

True dragons could live anywhere. Their bodies bordered on invulnerable, and things such as extreme heat or cold weren't of concern for them. Legends claimed the most powerful could take it even further, surviving without food or air, sustained only by raw mana.

Drakes and other, lesser dragonkin lacked such vaunted gifts and so behaved more like an ordinary animal. If left on its own, this particular specimen would burrow underground. That would keep it warm throughout any harsh winters, during which time it would venture out only to eat before returning to rest and process the mana it had consumed.

I paused a few hundred feet from the drake, examining it for any signs of injury or lethargy. If I were lucky, it might have worn itself out or retained some weakness from our past battle. Unfortunately, it looked effectively unharmed and its mana signature felt the same as before, if not a hair stronger.

Great.

My left hand dropped to my belt, and I pulled out an Aetherforged dagger. I flipped the blade in my palm, then placed its edge along the outside of my right arm before slicing a line down the limb.

Blood spilled from the wound, less than I expected, but enough to stain my skin red. I waited until it began dripping from my fingers before flicking my arm towards the drake. The creature's eyes slid open and it noticed me, but without any hint of recognition in its beastial gaze.

It seems the beast would need some motivation.

I held up my right hand, gathering mana into a sloppy but workable bolt before throwing it towards the drake. The projectile slammed into its head with a sharp crack. I knew that such casual magic would've caved a human's chest in, such was the strength of my Aether. I could also tell the drake had barely felt it.

But it had felt it. The drake's eyes slid open, and it began to rise with a rumbling hiss. It was slow this time, but I could see within its eyes the baleful gaze of an uncaring predator. Its jaw opened, and it let out a growl as it took a few steps towards me.

I threw a second bolt at its head for good measure, then turned and ran for the clearing. The drake followed, its growl becoming a roar as rage overcame all other concerns.

We didn't have to run long, but the short chase revealed my speed had improved. I managed to stay ahead of the drake without having to call on my Aether more than a few times. The dragonkin wasn't fast for a magical beast, but I knew enough mana lined its flesh to grant it preternatural alacrity.

What was more challenging was keeping the drake interested. They were ambush predators by nature, and even magical advancement hadn't done much to dull such instincts. I had to turn around and strike it with mana bolts four more times, each requiring a little more force to retain its focus. Or it's enmity. For such a creature, the difference was non-existent.

When we reached the clearing, I ran to the center before turning to face the drake. It lumbered after me, tail swiping through low grass as its claws dug into the dirt. Fangs shone in the midday sun, long enough to pierce clean through my torso, and a long tongue flicked out from its gaping maw.

I watched those fangs, thinking back on the innocents that this beast had swallowed up or torn to pieces with its claws. We hadn't found any bodies, but months had passed. How many had died because this creature was allowed to rampage freely?

Something rose in me then. Hatred, not just of this beast or the people that could've stopped it, but of myself. I could've done something about it, had I cared enough to think about it.

I held out one hand and called to my nearest spear.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

It had taken me two weeks and over a hundred attempts to form an Aether spear worth a damn. My first few creations worked, sure, but I had uncovered a few traits that gave me pause. Most notable of these was that I had been wrong about my initial conclusions. They were far less stable when I started pushing mana through them, and tended to break apart with dramatic consequences after a few uses.

But one benefit of my repeated strengthening and expanding of my core and channels was granting me deep reserves of mana. Very deep reserves. I could create dozens in one day without straining myself.

So, that was precisely what I had done.

Over twenty spears lay scattered around the clearing. Most were within view, stabbed point-first into the dirt, but I had hidden several in the boughs overhead and several more on the path back to town just in case things didn't go according to plan.

An emerald-toned spear flashed across the clearing and smacked into my waiting palm. I spun it by my side even as I pulled twin streams of Aether into my Arcane Body and Traveler's Armor spells. My body grew weightless, and I smiled even as I began circling the drake.

The dragonkin hissed, taking a few steps in my direction as if debating whether or not to charge. I decided not to give it a chance.

I pulled Aether from my core into Flicker Step and moved. My first leap carried me forward, and I slid to a stop five feet to the drake's right side. I turned, stepping again as mana surged through my legs in raging rivers of green power and slammed into the beast.

Between my empowered flesh, my Arcane Body, the armor protecting me, and my Flicker Step, I struck with incredible force for my size. I suspected I would've pulped most creatures with such a charge. However, there were certain flaws I hadn't resolved, including how to shift a creature many times my mass.

As it turned out, I didn't need to. My Aether-enshrouded spear sank deep into the drake's shoulder, carving through dense scales and muscle before sliding off bone. I didn't feel it punch through anything important, but simply landing such a deep wound sent a surge of triumph down my spine.

The drake roared and turned, trying to throw me clear, and I released my grip on the spear even as I jumped away. I ducked low, sliding to avoid the monster's lashing tail, and used another Flicker Step to gain more space even as the dragonkin made to follow.

I summoned another spear before it made it more than a few steps and moved again. This time, I aimed for its left side, landing another deep wound into its torso. My third strike came from the right, though I aimed that blow closer to the tail. My fourth was high, just above its left shoulder, and my fifth was a particularly vicious blow that left a weeping cut along the outside of its neck.

But despite that, it didn't die. I could sense mana flowing into and through the drake and knew it must be burning quite a bit of energy repairing such wounds and staying ahead of my efforts. The irony of such a situation after my own struggles with healing wasn't lost on me.

I put distance between us once more, throwing myself clear with a Flicker Step as I tried to estimate the difference in our reserves. What I found brought a smile to my lips.

The drake was potent. That much was clear. Wood mana lined its flesh and bones, flowing through its blood and reinforcing its organs. The magnitude within its body was enough to keep it going for a long time, repairing wounds and even staving off exhaustion to an extent.

But my core was larger, my reserves deeper, and my stamina greater. At least, that would be the case so long as I continued to force the beast to heal its wounds. Every injury I inflicted on the drake represented a measurable drain on its far more limited stores of mana.

I was about to move again, to strike it once more with another of my spears, when I felt the creature's mana shift. It tilted its head back, then let out a roar. I winced, taking a step away and drawing more deeply on my Aether to reinforce my body.

As I did so, I felt something. The ground underneath me was...moving? No, not the ground. The mana.

I cast my senses out, marveling as I felt the wood mana in the dirt beneath my feet shifting and flowing. It moved away from me, drawn by some invisible pull up through the ground and into the air.

Thin motes of green mana, a deeper, muddier color than the energy I used, gather together into thin lines. These, too, combined, forming a thick stream of power which flowed across the clearing and into the drake's open mouth.

My eyes widened as I thought back to my lessons on the various draconic species. Dragons had several talents, but the most famed of them all was the ability to breathe flames. This was inaccurate, as only dragons who used fire mana could do such a thing, but it was true that most dragons could draw on their natural energies and project them into a blast of raw power.

Drakes shouldn't be able to do such a thing...but there were also stories of aberrant creatures who possessed powers non-standard to their species. Somehow, this particular specimen was one such example.

I could have attacked before it finished preparing its breath attack, but the sight struck me as a valuable learning opportunity. Dragons were apex predators, and understanding how their abilities worked might prove invaluable. Already, I felt something tickling at the corner of my thoughts, ideas that I couldn't fully name yet.

The drake's mouth snapped shut, mana coiling in its chest, and I had a decision to make. Would I dodge its attack, block it, or stop it entirely? I wanted to test my defenses against it...but that was idiotic.

I was already moving when the beast opened its mouth. It let out a roar, and I saw the flash of green within its throat as a wave of raw, condensed mana poured out. It tore up the dirt, spraying bits of grass, soil, and rock in all directions.

And missed me entirely.

I hadn't dodged to the side, because it might turn and catch me with the edge of its mana breath. Likewise, I hadn't fallen back, as its attack would have more than enough reach to hit me even if I reached the tree line.

Instead, I had moved directly towards the drake, using my Flicker Step to jump up and over the beast. After all, for all its terrifying prowess, a drake couldn't look up very well. It didn't need to, because it had no natural predators.

I had planned to jump over the drake entirely, landing on the other side and picking up another spear. Its attack would leave it exhausted, unable to marshal much of a defense.

However, something strange came over me partway through my leap. Instincts that I couldn't quite place whispered to me and, with barely a pause, I listened.

My body twisted in mid-air, and I reoriented myself so that I was face down and towards the drake. All three of my spells flowed through me still, and it was Flicker Step that I once more called upon.

A blast of Aether exploded out from my feet, and my momentum changed in an unpleasant lurch. My surroundings blurred, yet despite that, I could see and understand everything, as though my conscious mind couldn't quite keep up with my body anymore.

I slammed into the drake's back spear-point first in an impact that would've cracked my bones had it been a month earlier. As it was, the wind fled my body, my legs ached as they absorbed the impact, and my armor cracked as three of the drake's spines shattered against the green shell of Aether.

But none of that mattered as much as the feeling of my spear sinking through flesh and blood, the tip shining like a verdant star as it stabbed deep into the base of the drake's skull.

It froze, every muscle in its body seizing at once. The drake took a step to one side, then a few stumbling half-steps in the other direction. I swayed on its back, releasing my spear and pushing off with one final Flicker Step to land ten feet away.

The drake half-turned towards me, its head making a nauseating shivering movement, and I felt its mana trying to repair the damage done to its brain. But there was simply too much to fix.

It took one final step in my direction before its balance pitched and it collapsed in an unmoving heap.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.