//------------------------------// // Chapter Five: Ring of Fire // Story: A True Hero // by Space Wizard Novablast //------------------------------// Sylla could never remember sleeping as well as he had done tonight. He woke up, for once not feeling tired. He felt well rested, he didn't wake up shivering from the terrible nightmares. He looked over to Spike and Shiln, seeing only the young dragon. Apparently the bear had left before he'd woken up, it wouldn't have been the first time. The Druid rose from the ground and arched his back, stretching to get the feeling back into his limbs. He looked around, and strangely enough most of the corpses were gone. However, when he looked down at the ground he saw several scratchmarks in the dirt, the leaves were swept to the edges of the small glade. All of this pointed to Harpies having taken the corpses for food. The better clue was the half eaten corpse hanging from the branches. Sylla frowned. He respected all beings of nature, he even understood the necessity of the dire, no matter how little he liked it. But harpies worried him. If they were close enough they might try and attack Spike, the woman-bird hybrids being known for attacking smaller, or incapacitated foes. It wasn't a surprise to see them here however. The Dire had always had a pretty good relationship with the corpse-eating ladies of the sky, especially because it meant cleaning up was left to somebody other than themselves. Sylla sighed before he went down on one knee and gently shook spike to wake him from his sleep. At first the dragon just kept on snoring happily, contempt with using the dirt as his mattress. However, the second time the dragon started slowly opening his eyes, squinting as the sunlight struck his eyes. "I hope you've slept well, for we have quite the walk ahead of us." Sylla said. Picking himself up from the ground starting to walk towards the east. Spike pushed himself off the ground, barely noticing that his pillow from the night before had left. He felt a slight poke as he got up, causing him to wince in pain. He looked down and saw that the kris had poked a small hole in between his scales, a small drop of blood seeping down towards his legs. However, it didn't last long, as the pain slowly receded. Spike could see the red glow from the ring working it's healing magic on his small wound. Soon he could wipe the blood away and barely even see where the wound had been. "Are you okay?" Sylla asked, noting the blood that had been running down Spike's midriff. "Yeah, I'm fine." Spike said, wiping the rest of the blood off on the grass. "Just not used to having this thing strapped to me at all times." He said, grabbing hold of the kris and directing the tip away from his scales. "It was foolish to sleep with it, you have no use for a weapon when you're in the realm of dreams." Sylla said, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms as a disappointed parent would. Spike shrugged. "No real harm came of it." Sylla sighed, this was the kind of recklessness that would get greater combatants killed. "Come along, if we are to arrive before the sun sets once more we'd better hurry on." Spike nodded and let go of his small weapon. He picked up his pace to make sure he was walking alongside Sylla. Soon both the dragon and the Druid were walking at a nice speed, making sure they'd arrive at their destination in due time. Sylla was still worried. He had not told the dragon of this as he did not desire to make Spike more afraid than he had been yesterday. He was constantly looking towards the treetops, smelling for anything strange, and doing his best to ensure that nothing was closing in. "What's wrong?" Spike asked, looking towards the treetops as the Druid was doing. Sylla sniffed slowly before putting his hand down onto the dragons chest, stopping him immediately. The Druid slowly turned and spied around the surroundings, still sniffing the air. His right hand dropped to his waist, to the small enchanted sickle hanging by his side. He whipped the sickle in a smooth motion towards the treetops, it whistled as it sliced through the air. Before there was a small squeak from the trees, and the sound of smoothly cut flesh. The sickle dropped down again, but this time there was a squirrel sitting on the end of it. It's fur was a chestnut brown, now slightly coated with a dark red. Sylla huffed, perhaps his senses were not as sharp as they had once been. He walked over and took hold of the sickle, before pulling the critter off it. Spike was slightly confused. He understood why the Druid would be on alert, spike had been so ever since his clash with the Gold-Tooth yesterday, but he wasn't quite sure how the Druid had even known the small squirrel was there. Or perhaps the better question was; why the Druid had thrown the sickle at the small creature in the first place. Sylla ran his fingers along the edge of the blade, wiping off the blood from the weapon. He brought his fingers to his mouth, licking a small amount of the red liquid before frowning. Blood was pungent, iron-like in its taste. This was without taste, nothing at all. He smothered his fingertips together and saw the blood slowly dissipate, this was not blood, rather water and something else. "Let's keep going." Sylla said, rising up and walking past Spike. "False alarm." Spike looked once at the squirrel before he turned around and walked alongside Sylla. Spike was doing his best to spot anything abnormal. Checking any bush they walked past, being on the lookout for anything rustling the leaves, listening for anything. Pretty soon Spike noticed the trees becoming fewer and fewer. Pretty soon the grimy dirt and moss of the forest was replaced with bright green grass. Soon both the dragon and the Druid were standing on the outskirts of the woods, looking over an incredibly large field with a gleaming city in the distance. The city in question was built on the side of a mountain. The walls being a half circle going out from the mountainside. A castle was built into the side of the large monolith, spires reaching so high they almost poked holes in the skies. Funnily enough, spike noted, there were a total of three large buildings at the base of the castle, a rather large tower with a glowing blue eye at the top. The second was a rather ornate building which looked to be made entirely of wood. The last was the entrance of the castle, it had a rather militant feel to it, much different from the rest of the castle, which looked very much in tune with the land around it. "That there is capital city." Sylla said, pointing towards the humongous city in front of him. "It has no name, although some has taken to call it Grand radiance." Spike nodded, he had found something new to fix his interest on. Dotted around the expansive fields of grass were large stone monoliths hovering with a blue aura emitting off them. They had several glowing runes carves into them, and they hummed with a soothing and calming noise. "Those are the towers, massive constructs of radiant stone made to protect the grand capital city. Anything that gets too close will immediately get eviscerated by bolts of energy." Sylla said, noting where the dragons gaze was directed. "Shall we get going?" He asked, tapping the dragon on the shoulder and directing him forward. Spikes daze was immediately broken as he darted forward, before slowing down and walking at a steady pace. But then Sylla noted rustling coming from the trees, as well as the smell he'd sensed before. "Don't move." He said to Spike, causing the dragon to immediately halt. Sylla turned around, baring his unusually sharp teeth in a snarl. "I am unsure exactly who you are, but know that you tread upon radiant ground, facing the fury of nature itself. If you have anything to say then reveal yourself this moment." At first nothing happened, it was as if the Druid had only spoken to the trees. But then there was a sudden giggle, and something dropped down from the branches. The thing in question was thin and lanky, only barely escaping being labelled skinny because of the rather large muscles it possessed. It's skin was yellow and it had an abnormally long nose, as well as a rather pointy chin. It had a bandana wrapped around its forehead, and fingerless gloves on its hands. On its sides were rather large urns of..... Something, spike wasn't sure what, but he was almost certain the stuff wasn't pleasant to be near. "Heeeeey, Sylla! Long Time no see!" The thing said. It's accent was rough and gave off the attitude of a daredevil. "You got yourself a new mascot." "Batrider." Sylla said simply. "You're intruding." "Oh yeah shit dude, that's right, you see....... Those bandits y'all killed, they was kinda my posse, my chums in arms if you will. You know, until you and that fiery redhead showed up." The Batrider said, Making an impressed whistling noise. "But'ya see, I chased down one of thems there gold tooth that you all ripped apart, and ones of em told me about a certain lil Scaleling that you'd brought witcha." The Batrider said. "But I think he musta been hella dumb cause that there don't look like no scaleling I ever seen." "Batrider, this still does not explain why you are here." Sylla said, his voice still cold and hard as steel. "Well, Ya'see here." Batrider said, putting his palms together and pointing at Sylla. "The plan was that I was just gonna steal the shit youse guys left behind at the caravan. But I think that I could catch a whole lot more gold by capturing this lil fella you got with ya." Batrider said, pointing at spike instead. "So if you wanna get outta here with your life intact old man, I'd suggest you scarper off." Spike looked up at Sylla, not really knowing what to think. This creature, whatever it was called, wanted spikes head, and it seemed quite confident it'd get it. Sylla in turn looked down at the dragon before nodding. He looked back up at the Batrider, "Over my dead body." Batrider flashed a smile filled with yellow teeth. "That can be arranged." He said. He clapped three times before he jumped up from the ground. Spike caught a flash of something black swooping past, and soon he saw why Batrider had the name he did. He was now sitting atop a gigantic flying bat, holding what looked to be a bomb in his hand. "Let's ride boys!" He yelled, and from the treetops flew several Harpies. Small, large, there were about 20, and suddenly spike understood what Sylla had been looking for this entire time. "Run! Run for the gate!" Sylla yelled as he threw his sicke towards one of the harpies, it severed off its wing, causing the creature to fall to the ground before the sickle returned safely to Sylla's hand. Spike didn't need to be told twice. He turned around and darted towards the huge city walls. He was sprinting so fast he was almost certain he was about to lift off from the ground. The Batrider however, was the only one of the flying combatants that noticed the dragon running off. "You boys take care of the old man, but the dragon, he's mine!" "You wouldn't dare!" Sylla roared, his face becoming wider and his nose and mouth fusing as his features became more beast like. Soon the claws strapped to his wrist fused with his hands, his skin grew a light brown fur that soon covered him for head to toe. Soon the Lone Druid had taken on his bestial form, and where once had been a man was now a three meter tall bear. "You wouldn't dare!" He yelled once more, his voice now much deeper than it had once been. A single foolish harpy darted towards him, clawed talons at the ready, but the winged beast was met with a paw colliding with its midriff, causing it to fly backwards and roll across the ground. "Oh I would dare old man, you know I would." Batrider said, he yanked on the reigns of the bat and turned it around. He kicked it in the sides, making the creature dart forward as quickly as it could. It didn't matter how fast the dragon could run, there was no living creature on this world that the Batrider couldn't catch. He grabbed hold of one of his urns, tossing it towards the dragon. It shattered on the ground next to Spike, causing him to be covered in a sticky black tar. It stuck everywhere, and he found himself growing slower because of it. The Batrider smiled as his hands dropped to the rope hanging on the saddle. "C'mere boy, let's see how good you are at dodging!" He said tauntingly, he swung the lasso above his head multiple times, until he threw it towards Spike. It wrapped tightly around Spikes chest, restricting his arms. Batrider lit the rope on his end, causing the flame to slowly burn down towards the dragon. "Enjoy the burn kiddo, cause it's the last thing your gonna feel!" Batrider screamed maniacally as the fire got closer and closer to spike. Eventually it reached the dragons tar covered scales, and tar being as flammable as it was, soon both the dragon and the area around him was set ablaze. Batrider smiled smugly as he ordered the bat downward. "It doesn't matter how much of a fight they put up, when facing me they drop dead sooner or later." Soon the fire died down, but as the small amount of fire was still left, a purple blur leapt out of it, kris raised above its head. Spike jumped towards the bat, slamming the kris into its head. It sunk in with a small amount of resistance, but it didn't stop the dragon from impaling the bat. The creature screamed in agony for about a second before it almost immediately stopped. It flopped to the ground, with Batrider only jumping off just before it landed. "You...." He said through clenched teeth. He kneeled and placed a finger on the bats neck, feeling absolutely no pulse. "I don't know how that didn't kill you, but I can assure you, you're not getting out of here alive!" Batrider yelled, grabbing hold of a bottle with a rag. He threw it towards spike, who threw himself to the sides. As the bottle hit the ground it exploded and pushed spike further away. Batrider meanwhile had thrown even more of the tar around, creating a ring of the stuff. He threw one of the firebombs at one end of the large ring, causing the entire trail to light up in a huge blaze. Soon both Spike and Batrider were trapped in a humongous ring of fire. "Catch this!" Batrider yelled, throwing one of the firebombs towards the dragon. It exploded right next to Spike. The fire licked across his scales, but did nothing. Batriders eyes widened and his breath grew uneasy. "So that's how you survived. Fireproof eh?" Batrider said, giggling slightly before he tensed his muscles. "Doesn't stop me from breaking your neck!" He yelled before he darted forward, he kicked the dragon in his stomach, causing Spike to lurch backwards clutching his midriff. Batrider took hold of Spikes head and threw him a few feet away. Spike coughed a bit before he felt his ring working its magic, soon the cramp in his stomach was replaced by a small stinging feeling that he could at least deal with. He pushed himself off the ground, he could by now visibly see Batrider sweating because of the heat, but waiting for him to dehydrate wasn't gonna work, and while running through the fire could work, he was fairly certain that his opponent would get to him before he made it that far. Spike readied the kris again, holding it in one hand with the other extended in front of him. Spike ran forward and stabbed at Batrider with the kris, however, this only resulted in him grabbing onto the dragons arm. He threw him around, but as spike felt his entire body get tossed around, his free hand caught onto something. He grabbed hold of it, and made sure not to let go. As he was thrown away for the second time he felt whatever he'd grabbed onto follow him, he looked down at it, and saw the exact same flask Batrider has used to push him with. Batrider was at this point fuming with rage. Spike could see the blood running from his hands onto the ground because his nails had dug so deeply into his palm, his teeth looked ready to crack, so hard he was biting down on them. "You're so dead, I'll pull your head off!" Spike breathed in and exhaled, calming himself. He grabbed the kris and placed it in front of him, holding the flask with the other. He stared at Batrider, waiting for the opportune moment he knew was coming. Batrider charged, fist raised and readying a punch. As he got closer Spike threw the flask downwards. Causing Batrider not only to be pushed back but fall over. Batrider quickly regained concentration and looked around for the dragon, until he felt something land on his chest. He quickly looked up, just in time to see Spike, stabbing the kris into his throat. Spike was breathing harder than he ever thought he could. Batrider was still clawing at him, trying his best to get his revenge before he breathed his last. Soon his movements stopped, and he went limp, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Spike let go of the kris, feeling his arms go completely limp, alongside the rest of him. He dropped down from Batriders chest and decided that here, was as good a place to fall asleep as ever. The last thing spike saw was the fire dissipating, and Sylla alongside some weird treelike creatures running up, and he felt himself getting lifted off the ground. Then the world around him became black, and he felt himself losing contact with the world around him.