The Vengeful One

[Lidija Ahlgren]

It was an arduous task- training yourself to be strong behind enemy lines.

With a flame in her eyes she watched them day in and day out. Normally no mortals even dared to come this far without being invited or an escort. Yet she made the mountains her home; trained herself day in and day out to fight in them. If she wanted to have any hope of finding her father and making him face justice for what he did she had to take this risk. There were several close calls today when it came to her training as her desire for revenge often clouded he common sense. She was given an opportunity to ambush a lone warrior yet she managed to cage that rage so that she might instead watch him.

Ultimately she found this to be quite boring; he didn't really lead her to anything. However by watching the way he moved she was able to discern a lot about him. Never had she seen them carry themselves with anything be confidence bordering on the line of arrogance. They were greedy creatures who believed themselves to be unstoppable most of the time. If her own father was any example, they even thought themselves gods to stand over mortals. Yet that night she made him bleed and her entire belief system died that night with her love for him.

As he moved, Lidija followed along quietly on a path above him. Her dark leather armor made it hard to see her as it had become covered in the dust of the rocks around her. Her sword had been fastened to her body as tightly as the armor that seemed to contour to her body like a glove allowing her easy movement and prevented her from being caught on something. As she moved her mind drifted to that night- the night where who she was died. Smoke, fire and the flash of steel glancing off of the iron substance that was a dragons claw. They were taught that the dragons were gods yet she made one bleed and that shattered all preconceived notions that they could not be stopped.

What made this all worse was the fact that it meant she herself was not as invincible as she once believed. The daughter of a god? No, she was simply the daughter of a power hungry beast who took what he wanted whenever he wanted it. As her mind wandered elsewhere she did not notice that the soldier was joining with the rest of friends. This wouldn't have been a problem normally except for the fact that her foot slid and shifted some of the rocks she was standing on causing them to roll down the hill. Pressing her back up against the wall, she did her best to blend in even knowing that they had true mage sight and it was hard to hide her magical presence.

Startled, the men drew their swords and advanced upon her. It was not as hard for them to navigate the elevation of the paths since they could fly. Of all the things she wished she had gained from her father it was the ability to fly that she sorely lacked and hated this. Surrounding her, they looked on her with a slight confusion obvious in their eyes. What they were looking upon was a mortal yet to them her magical energy would seem quite familiar; as if were one of them. Either way she could not give them time to collect themselves.

With a shout, she dove at them, drawing her own weapon in a flash. Everything went blank in her mind as she simply reacted. A flash here, clashing of steel and the ring of blades were the only thing her mind recognized. When she fought she became something else; some sort of monster. There were no thoughts beyond the movement of her enemy and her own position; it was almost as if her body was controlling it's self.

When it was over, however, she stood the victor over three bodies with sword in hand and soaked in blood.

[Adam]

(OOC: Just in case you want to follow exactly what Samael is saying: www.thuum.org/translate.php)


So much had changed…



Before the Gods imprisoned Samael, his kingdom was the mightiest that his world had ever known. It extended to all corners of the world, uniting all dragons under one banner. During his rule, a renaissance of knowledge, architecture, military might, and even freedom was abundant. The original homeland of the dragons had finally been liberated from tyranny, and dragons were united for the first time ever. A peace that lasted thousands of years until the gods stepped in and imprisoned the Hun’Drog of the Dragons. When finally, the gods could no longer hold back the might of Samael, he returned not only to quite literally a different world, but his people were divided again, and while the Fire clan were still known for their powerful warriors, they weren’t even a shadow of their former selves. Samael learned the latter harshly the very day he awoke and found his people terrorized by an abomination called a demon. These beasts apparently had the power to even take on the form of the dragon, and defile the sacred form by attacking the very things that it took this power from.


In an act of retribution, Samael defeated the dragon with the help of a new ally, Commander Bellator Draconis of Brigade. It was of some relief to know that there were at least something that came close to elite in this day and age, that would stand up to injustice. But it would take more than just laws to regain the glory of a fallen world. It would take might, and it would take the power to take what you want, instead of requesting like beggars. Samael would show his people the way once more. He would show them how to fight and how to rise up from the ashes. To become something that not even the gods would take lightly. But it would take time. And sacrifice. Not all would be ready.


This was none the more prevalent than when Samael himself had been out on scout patrols. Many insisted that the Kruziik Hun’Drog stay back while others scouted for him, but not even the hardiest of dragons protested a second time, when Samael told them that a king should be executed if he is no side by side of his soldiers, hoping for the glory of battle. Samael doubted that he would meet his end on such a scouting assignment. But if death was to at long last claim him, then he was ready. But if not even the gods could strike him down, he knew not of what could.

The nights were not so dark here in the homelands of the dragons. Even at night, the skies were red from the fires of the volcanic mountains. Ash and soot choked the air, but to a dragon, it was as fresh and clean as a springtime breeze for a human. But as Samael ventured towards one of the steep canyons of the bad lands, he heard from a distance the clashing of swords. He at first assumed that it could have been a few unruly guards trying to fight each other to pass time, but the sounds that the blades made were far too fast, and furious for simple horseplay. This was real combat.



Samael’s wings expanded from his back and he took off towards the sound of combat. As he hovered overhead, the combat was over, and standing in the middle of it all was...another dragon? No. This one was not just a dragon. Samael could see it by just looking at her. She had the aura of one, and the blood of a dragon corsed through her veins, but she was not just a dragon. Since his return, Samael had only met one other species besides his fellow dragons, and that was a demon. A demon that had disguised its form with that of the dragon form. Samael looked at the girl from above before his fury surged through his body like the volcanoes of the Fire lands. Samael’s eyes turned an unnatural red as he descended to the ground like a meteor.

He stood in his ancestral armor, with his sword drawn and burning a hot white as it was held by it’s fiery owner. “Zu’u fen luv hi faak’nol faak!” Samael shouted, his words loosely translated to wanting to tear her apart with his bare hands, “Who dares challenge the wrath of the dragons?” He asked hotly, his sword pointed directly at her.

[Lidija Ahlgren]

Once it was all over it felt like the events of the past several minutes came flooding back to her. The first time this happened to her she was paralyzed when it happened but now she had grown accustomed to it. With every battle her rage seemed to grow worse, none of these people that she felled brought her any closer to the beast she was after. Blinding rage was one of her biggest weaknesses and she had to do better or else it would be exploited to her end. Pointing the tip of her blade into the ground, the weary mercenary rested against it for a moment to catch her breath and take stock of the damage she had done.

Of course she would take their things to be sold; that was just the sort of person she was. Her opponents no longer had a need for their tools and someone else might find a use for them. Then again they would be hard to fence considering that no one else made weapons like these. Sighing aloud, she wished that she had not left her men behind on this one. Now she was stuck doing all the work that she often pushed off on to them. They often complained considering that she was the one with god like strength yet she made them do the heavy lifting. She often made the excuse that it would put some "Chest on their chest" and laughed it off.

Just as she was about to start on the task of looting the bodies, another presence made it's self known in a not so graceful way. Sword pointed in her direction, she stood still as possible as to give the man no reason to charge. Of course there were more of them, this was their home land after all that she was trespassing upon. Narrowing her golden eyes, she kept a straight face as he spit something at her in what she could only assume was their draconic tongue. She had never learned the language herself, assuming that she even had the capacity to comprehend it or the will to try. As far as she was concerned the only good things dragons did for her were her strength and her strange serpentine eyes.

"They challenged me, probably because I startled them. If this is all they can muster, I have to say I am not that impressed." she said. Lidija never knew when to keep her mouth shut, especially not now in the presence of one of them. She was always looking for a fight which made people wonder if there was ever an end to her stamina as she was so restless. "I guess their flame wasn't as hot as they thought it to be." she threw in. Standing her ground, it was noticeable that she was tensing, preparing to do something stupid.

"..and just who are you suppose to be?" she questioned. All the while she looked for some sort of opening she could use. Never before had she seen someone who she could not read very easily; it was almost unsettling to her to think that he was able to match most likely.

[Adam]

Samael breathed through his nose and out his mouth, but every time he exhaled, his breath could be seen like a red mist. Any specks of saliva flew out in the form of bright yellow sparks. His beard was ablaze in a bright white color. His eyes, while pupils and iris could still be seen, were just as white as the sun from space. The ground beneath Samael melted to molten lava beneath his feet. Rage filled every cell and molecule of his body, and the culprit bragging about it only added fuel to Samael’s fire. She knew not what she had brought out of Samael. She knew not the terrors that Samael has brought down before their meeting. “Congratulations on killing recruit scouts,” Samael remarked bitterly, as if he even needed to explain to an abomination, “I suppose an abomination such as yourself takes pride of yourself in slaying dragons that have yet to even complete Rites.”

Although recruits, they were still capable fighters, and the first to begin training under Samael. The ancient dragon would not have just sent any recruits out to scout. They had been unruly and needed a punishment to truly test their wits as a start. To find their ends at the hands of an unruly better was dishonoring to their names. Samael sought to fix that. “I am the last living thing your eyes are going to see before I rip them out of your skull and feed them to the predators that roam these lands,” Samael threatened, twisting his sword arm and getting into a fighting stance with his sword raised with the tip of the blade pointed directly at the girl’s heart, “I am Samael, heir to the throne of all dragonkind, and I will make a trophy out of your skull and spine after I’ve ripped them both from your body with my bare hands.”

She had power radiating from her body, that much was for sure. The guards, although recruits, were among the dragons that had a fire that burned brighter than most dragons of his clan. They would have definitely become generals someday, had they not met their match so soon against a better. They would not be forgotten, and Samael would avenge their lives. But as honor bound as he was, deep down, there was this adrenaline rush throughout Samael’s body that signaled extreme excitement. It wasn’t nerves, far from it, but the fact that this would be one of the first real chances to test a worthy opponent against his might at last. By the looks of them, she was indeed skilled, and made sure that they felt each and every slash that the gave them, every twist of the blade when she had finally impaled them, and made sure that though they died quick, it was not easy either. She had skill, and Samael was not blind to that what-so-ever, but could she match him?

Samael stood up to the might of his homeworld’s most vicious creatures, endured sleepless nights in canyons that prowled with armored serpents, and venomous bats. His entire, blood-filled life was a testament to the violence that he had survived and was ready to survive against this new enemy. “Now tell me your name, while you still have a tongue to wag in that skull.”

[Lidija Ahlgren]

"Thanks."

Her reply was simple, to the point and showed her regard for the lives she claimed. To her they were simply an accidental casualty but a stepping stone to something more. Even if she could not end them all the fact that she could take down a few made her feel better for now. Such hatred threatened to consume her on the inside. There were days where she could see nothing else but the flames, to relive the cries and to smell the charred flesh. These memories drove her ever onward, she was not allowed to stop until she made someone pay for this; anyone at this point. Someone had to know where the one she sought went and until she found that someone she would keep pushing her pain onto someone else.

Holding her own blade at the ready, she smirked at him as he introduced himself. Angry but still had the common courtesy to tell her who might be cutting her head off. There was a part of her that liked that, yet she would not allow herself to feel anything for him but contempt in this moment. Honorable or not she could not let him walk away from this or she would never have another peaceful moment as long as she lived. "Unfortunately that throne needs to remain empty. For the sake of people like me. You take everything and still you burn those who serve." she said with venom in her voice. Lidija never divulged the details of that event to anyone else so her motivation was only know to her at the moment and those who had suffered at her hand.

This wasn't a fight she was going to be able to win quickly, she needed to feel him out. Everyone had an attack pattern that was discernible after watching them move for a while. She had to see his abilities with the sword and find something she could exploit. She thought it might be his rage but even then a dragon was still a savage beast with raw power; blinded it could still destroy cities. Taking a few careful steps forward, she assumed that he would force her to make the first move. It was what she would do and it was clear that he was not as green as the men under his command.

Her slow steps quickly turned into faster ones until she propelled herself close enough to make a diagonal strike from right shoulder to left leg. Her intention was to draw out a reaction, any sort of reaction so that she might see what she was up against. "Names Lidija and I don't plan on dying today." she said as the blade came down. Parry, dodge? Magic maybe? She waited anxiously anticipating some sort of pain to follow for her probing strike.

[Adam]

She had a fire in her. The fact that she lasted against a group of fast-learning recruits in their homelands was impressive, as if she belonged in these lands. The fire in her that drove her, it was one for revenge. For one like Samael, he was all too familiar to the path of revenge, and if he knew anything, she took it out on blood, presumably a parent. Despite the fact that Samael was going to rip her scalp off by her hair, back to front, he liked her. However, despite this powerful urge to kill her, she spoke of dragons taking from her, and yet Samael knew nothing of any dragon planning to invade anyone. Since Samael’s return, more and more of the Fire Clan began to flock to his side. The legends of the return of the Kruziik Hun’Drog ran rampant, and some rumors were that this had already began to spread to the other tribes. Much of this was already of Samael’s knowing, something he felt within other dragons through the old spells of dragonkind. And yet...he could feel her fire. There was more to her than what he originally suspected, he thought. “Heh, and of what importance are you for us to want anything from you?” he asked, “I’m not even sure what it is you are, but you’re clearly not a demon. You don’t share their vile stench, and have yet to make me feel like there’s offal in my mouth. So, what are you, if not a demon? I must get accustomed to the other creatures of this world. I’ll be sure to get it before I take out your heart, so I know what to carve into your skull.”

When she said that she had no plans of dying, Samael rolled his eyes and thought of the ages worth of assassins that swore the same thing. She was not the first and she certainly would not be the last as his sword was quickly pointed just slightly above Lidija’s head, anticipating her strike. Samael didn’t even breathe once for what happened next. She was fast, and strong, Samael could tell of that from the beginning. Her approach and attack were nearly flawless, but her anger blinded her, and she was not in control of it, and that would make her easily predictable. In a series of quick movements, Samael raised his blade while turning to the right, seconds before the blade struck where he once stood. As quickly as he turned to his new position, Samael lowered his blade in a downward position until her blade was locked against the small, forked portion of his sword.
"Grotiin'Uld!" Samael shouted, activating a draconic spell, pushing the sword down for added strength, Samael was locked hilt to hilt, side by side with his opponent, looking her dead in the eyes with furious eyes matching furious eyes.

“Your attack is impressive, and your footing and stance is impeccable, but your rage makes you predictable because you lack control over it!” he scolded, unlocking the hold over her sword and using a combination of his powerful leg muscles and newly erupted wings to propel himself backwards immediately afterwards, catch himself mere inches from the ground. Samael quickly planted his feet deep into the rocky ground, breaking surface and launched himself forward to strike her with his left shoulder with great force into a thick wall of charred rock behind her, his sword held in his right hand, ready to strike under her side and pierce her heart, should his aim be true.

[Lidija Ahlgren]

If the man before her had no idea who she was then it meant she needed to work a lot harder to spread her legacy. Everyone in the human world as well as the wolf world knew of her, the one who hunted dragons. In her off time she pulled off miraculous feats of strength to help them out- for a price of course. It was in her blood to love combat, to be consumed by it and to hoard other peoples valuables whenever given the chance. Despite her burning hatred for the creatures that brought her into existence, she never once denied what she was by blood. Just like the men she killed and like the man before her she was a dangerous beast.

"While most of you cower in fear from demonic attacks, a good portion of you get your kicks from oppressing others. I was born to one such village, one monster and with the strength he gave me I nearly tore his wings off." she spat. It was like the angrier she got the stronger the aura she put off got for those who possessed the ability to see magic. Rage fueled her, rage consumed her and in the end it would be the reason she died as well. "I am the result of what happens when your kind goes power mad, forces humans to worship him like some sort of cult." she said.

As the sparks between them flew during the clash, she also stared into his eyes searching them. Part of her wanted to believe that they could not all be so cruel, yet her rage clouded that judgement heavily. His next move caused her to howl with rage, however, as he tried to criticize her almost the way her mentors had. "Don't talk to me like some sort of student. I will rip your wings off and beat you to death with them!" she roared as he separated them suddenly from the clash. Lidija had never seen a partial transformation before; she was baffled watching him sprout wings from his back and in that moment she almost failed to raise her guard back up in time.

When he pushed off the ground she managed to brace herself, only slightly, and get a hold of the hand that guided the blade as he shouldered her. In doing so she dropped her own sword to the ground but in the end it saved her from being skewered through the heart. As the wind rushed around her, they collided with the boulder which cracked beneath the weight of his blow and her strength to take such a punch. Yet even for all of that the blade still pierced her side, yet it missed anything truly vital to her existence.

Screaming out in pain, her rage tripled in an explosion for a moment, one that caused her to swing out in a violent rage. Her fists, if they connected, would hit like someone smashed boulders into his face. At this point she was so mad she was barely aiming and so if he let go of her she would smash him, the air and the ground as she slumped down to one knee for a moment. When her first connected with the ground, however, a slight tremor took place as very faint cracks started to appear. As she looked up at him, it was almost as if smoke was coming out from every breath she was so infuriated.

[Adam]

“If you want me to stop treating you like a student,” Samael said as he chuckled at her threat, preparing to launch himself at her for the tackle, “THEN DO NOT ACT LIKE ONE!!” He roared as he flew at her, his collision true. More so for the collision than the strike of his sword, which she managed to block. Samael felt her grip and her own strength as she moved his arm out of the way of any vital spots. She had more than considerable strength, as her grip became diamond-like in strength upon feeling his blade pierce her side.

Samael went to twist the blade before being met by an onslaught of punches thrown by his adversary. Instinctively, Samael began to step back, evading the majority of them, knowing that he would eventually be struck by her powerful blows. As soon as he had been positioned back far enough, but not out of arm’s reach, he felt what could only be described as a mountain of force hitting his face, followed by a wad of boiling hot blood flying from Samael’s mouth before he was sent flying backwards, the strike sending a massive shockwave throughout the area, causing him to drop his sword as he landed into a massive wall, reducing it to pea gravel.

For a moment, everything was red in Samael’s eyes. His ears ringed like the war bells of the gods, ringing them in signs of the end times. However, Samael did not mistake myth for side effects brought on by injury. Although the girl was indeed powerful, Samael had endured strikes from the likes of gods that held as much force as her own. Her rage only furthered her strength, which intrigued Samael. Were she not trying to kill him, he would strongly consider training her to take his mantle of Faal Kaal, or “The Champion”. Her skill and determination was something refreshing to him as well, as were her threats to rip his wings off. Had she knew who she fought, she would have realized how brave that made her look in the eyes of dragons that knew the legend of the Kruziik Hun’Drog.

Samael rose back up as quickly as he fell, rolling at first to grab his sword, but as he rose to stand, he watched as Lidija sent her fist flying into the ground. Cracks appeared and as smoke drew from them, Samael glared at the girl. Blood from his mouth smeared across the left side of his face, with more blood oozing from the side of his mouth like lava from a volcano ready to erupt. “You speak of oppression, yet offer no proof, except spilled blood and raised blade. The only thing less incredible than your accusations against my kind, is your skill in combat.” Samael spoke hotly, his voice thick with righteous intent to murder. He looked into her eyes, finding it a shame that such a creature, beautiful through her raw power and ferocity, was blinded by false hatred.

Before he was imprisoned, Samael and his people lived on their own homeworld. Dragons were the dominant species, but there were also dangers within the wilds of his homeworld. Beasts designed by nature to hunt and kill. Dragons evolved through natural selection, but once they were at the top of the food chain of their homeworld, they went to war with each other, soon separating into four tribes. When Samael was elevated to the Dragon Lord, he united all four dragon clans, and ruled with no intentions to conquer. However, all of that was stripped from him by the gods. And now, it seems that Lidija has been sent to finish their task. Or at the very least, die trying.

Samael held his blade upwards again, his glare locked on the girl. ”Like a child with a temper tantrum.” Samael chuckled, “She enters a fight that she cannot win, and beats the ground in agitation.” Samael would know more about this girl before the end. His intentions to draw out all of her power. Afterall, she had the superior strength. It was her power, and it belonged to her. However, Samael was ready to show her how it was, not yet solely her own to use.

[Lidija Ahlgren]

There would have been pride, pride that she had wounded such an opponent yet she was blinded. None of the things he said in his anger were wrong; her rage was monstrous. At a certain point even she had lost control over herself and had no way to stop it. It was baffling, even Lidija never knew that she was this strong yet with each wave of rage her strength kept increasing. It was like there were two different people at war here in her head- she fought valiantly against it but she could not control it now that the fire had become an inferno. Climbing to her feet, each word he spewed at her was consumed like kindling until the heat of her inner rage started to turn outward.

"Shut,"

She began as she moved towards him slowly. Each step seemed to feel like an eternity in her mind as that first attack from him had winded her. Yet somehow she was on her feet and moving forward as she always found a way to. "..UP!" she roared as her hand extended forward before her. There was a loud ring as sword drew across the stone, lifted into the air and then went sailing at him incredible speed. It was like someone had fired an arrow, this projectile intent on piercing the heart of her target with quite a bit more strength. Even should he block the sword it would just keep coming at him, fighting as if her arm were guiding it.

Slowly she closed the distance between them, each step cracking the ground even further as she dropped her boots with all her strength. This was a fire that even she had never felt before, no one had ever drawn this amount of anger or power from her. Seldom did she ever face a foe that she was not sure she could beat yet even now she would keep on trying. Much like the man that stood before her she had a will to survive that and to conquer that was unshakable. Even as the rage washed over her she laughed as he went on about how she offered no proof at all. Apparently he was blind to the world around him as she had visited many such villages.

"Perhaps you are blind or even stupid. The world around us full of many villages such as mine. Dragons, driven from their home by demons imposing themselves upon us like saviors. Their greed and cowardice knows no bounds." she said as broke into a sprint now. She aimed to collide with him after he either dodged the blade or turned it aside. Until she found the one responsible she could not let anyone stand in her way. Strength was what she required now, strength at any cost. The only way she could prepare for such a task was to charge it head on.

---

Ooc: Sorry it's a bit short this time.

[Adam]

Samael’s laugh thundered across the area as she attacked, commanding that he shut up. Her rage was her master, and it made her lash out like an animal. It also gave away too much about her. Her movements had been predictable, but Samael knew that it was not just hand to hand combat that determined the victor. It was also power, and whoever had the most power, had the greatest advantage. It was an advantage the enemy had, which Samael counted on in order to defeat her. She had the power.

For the moment, Samael knew that he could not physically best her, blow for blow, in his current state. Although still very powerful, he was not a match against her divine strength for the moment. Although it was power that she had, it was easily accessible to Samael through her hubris, and little did she know that she was doing more damage to her outcome of the fight, than Samael’s. “Or perhaps it is merely an excuse for you to not blame yourself for protecting your own people!” Samael barked at her as she charged, her rage clearly taking control of her as her steps made larger and larger cracks into the ground. It must have been like miniature meteors pounding against the scorched earth as she charged, Samael thought, raising his blade to defend against the angry demi-dragoness, ready to finally begin at last.


Inhaling deeply, Samael unleashed a massive stream of white-hot fire from his mouth. Although, it was not Lidija that the flame was directed at. A mere yard of scorched, volcanic rock suddenly turned to lava again between Lidija and Samael. The more fire the Dragon spat out, the more the rocky earth turned to liquid rock. If she advanced, she would have to trek the lake of fire that Samael placed before them. Confidently, he ran into the molten lava ground and charged towards Lidija.

If successful, it may have blinded her, if not worse. If she came from dragons, she may be resistant to heat, like Samael. The heat did nothing to harm Samael, nor did he even notice the intense flames that licked at his feet. What little clothing he did have on had been enchanted long ago to sustain such intense heat. The royal family armor had been enchanted for generations to accommodate the current ruler.

“Does your rage burn hotter than the ground you stand upon?” Samael asked rhetorically, “Or will you fall like the ones you failed to protect? The ones you let down because you could not even contain the fire in your heart, let alone the fire that ravaged your village!” Samael charged, the hilt of his sword at his waist as he raised the blade upwards to her torso. If she had indeed been blinded, then he would have been able to effortlessly impale her through her abdomen and quickly twist the blade fast enough to half-way depart her torso from her lower half. However, he would never discover if it were true.

Just as the two warriors were mere feet away, the ground began to shake fiercely. Suddenly, a fissure opened in the ground and began to slowly suck everything into its path, heading towards Samael and Lidija.

==========================================================================================

OOC: Not a problem. Hope mine makes sense. I was running on little sleep. XD

[Lidija Ahlgren]

Each taunt found it's mark with her, Samael did not seem to be able to miss with his words. Every time she came close to losing even the slightest bit of rage she overflowed once more. Only once before had she ever felt this power and that was the night she almost smote him across the mountain side. The power felt like waves as they radiated from her very core and started to manifest in a visible aura of heat around her. The very air in three meters around her in every direction seemed to be on fire from her intense rage. Although she was strengthened by it, every step was agony as the power she was using, she was not ready for. Lidija could not contain this for long before she would destroy herself beyond repair as she did not have the durability that the dragons held.

As the man before her created the molten pool before them, she smirked devilishly. Even though he prepared the battle field, he did so in the wrong element to stop her. Pushing her right foot into the ground, it crunched beneath her as she prepared to spring into action. All of her power was focused at the center of that action, this was going to be an all or nothing power strike. With an almighty push she took off like a shot, each step falling quickly and with it destroying part of the ground she walked upon.

When she reached the fire she simply stepped in, her body could survive at least that much. The problem was that unlike Samael she was not enchanted to with stand it clothes wise nor did she care much in the moment. It was a terrifying sight to anyone else to see those eyes filled with hate and a body on fire. This was the moment she had been waiting for since the battle began, that one instance where the next blow decided the fate of the duelists. His form was perfect, his blow was set to kill and her own response was going to be nothing short of miraculous yet it never came.

As he closed the distance between them the ground gave way, exploding beneath the heat of his fire and the quakes caused by her movement. Down she would sink as the ground beneath her ceased to exist, rocks pelting her in the head as she fell. It was only upon instinct did she punch her fist into the wall and try to hold on. Unfortunately for her a rock would nail her right in the head with enough force to render her unconscious. Her grip held for the time being but her hand was starting to slip from what was now dead weight trying to hold it's self up from falling into the dark pit below.

[Adam]

Intrigue was found on Samael’s face as he watched Lidija step into the molten pool. She was indeed a dragon, and yet her aura told Samael something else. Recalling mere moments earlier when she said that she was the result of dragons ruling over humans, Samael realized that she was of two different species. She had massive strength, and could resist the fires of Samael’s kind, which should have meant that her dragon parent was of Samael’s clan. It also explained why she was able to withstand fighting in this land for so long. She could fight Samael evenly on these lands because she was born for these lands. It was in her blood. A genetic trait that Samael would not forget.

Ready to strike, and skewer her body upon his sword, the ground suddenly began to sink beneath them. As Samael began to fall, his body began to shift, and within seconds, a behemoth was falling in Samael’s place. The beast began to ascend when it saw a familiar shape: the falling body of Lidija. Without hesitation, the beast reached for her, mid-air with a taloned claw and quickly began to ascend faster than opening fissure, flying both of them to a cave in a mountain-side.

The gargantuan monster softly laid the unconscious attacker down at the cave-side, before slowly reverting back to the human form that Samael mostly retained. In truth, he rarely transformed. He thought that one should fight like a mortal, so that when the gods realized that their match could be met in base form, then they could only wonder what horrors laid behind a transformed dragon. The true form of the dragons was considered holy among all other things. To combat as beasts, and to reveal one’s true self was also considered highly sacred and an honor to non-dragons if a dragon chose to challenge them in their true form. Samael, however, and for once in a very, very long time, used his sacred form to save a life.

Granted, Samael had all rights to allow her to fall to her death, the act in doing so would have been shameful. She challenged him to open combat to the death, and by rights of Samael’s law, a winner would only be declared when one had been slain by the other. A challenge could not be canceled once it has begun. However, Samael would not kill her now. For now, their fight would have to wait until she was back to full strength. There was no honor to press on any further for the time being.

Starting a fire, Samael placed her sword near the open flame, and laid her boots beside her sword. Propping her head and feet up, he took a small amount of water from his side-jug and poured a small bit over her head and a little into her mouth. It was all he would do for her for now. If she died, then she died, and Samael would give her an honorable burial. If she lived, then Samael would wait until she regain consciousness. Time would only tell what state she would be in, but Samael was also prepared in case she decided to attack.

[Lidija Ahlgren]

Everything went from red to black in an instant.

The last sound she remembered hearing was the crumbling of stone, boulders smashing on the crags below. Wings? There was the sound of rushing wings as she felt her body come to a halt and then everything faded from view. The pain was gone, that much she was aware of even in her unconscious state. Never before had she felt such power flowing through her veins, she was perhaps even angrier in the moments before the collapse than she had been when fighting her father. There was a moment before she charged him where she was sure that her entire body was going to vibrate into oblivion as she tried to contain the vibrations of her power.

Her mind swam in a field of dreams; misadventures she had been a part of with her crew. She was a mercenary, much like the brigade, however they would not take her in as she was too volatile. Lidija never played well with others except the select few that she felt were kindred spirits. The men under command could be considered crude, moronic and barbaric but she would not trade them for the world. Her mind wandered to one such adventure, a bar brawl where she and her men fought off an entire battalion of soldiers by themselves holed up in a run down and dirty tavern. Admittedly it was all her strength that got the job done but their talents facilitated that victory.

A smile spread on the girls lips in the physical world as she lay next to the warmth. Against her skin it felt nice and it reminded her of the safe feeling she had back in her village. In her dreams her body rose from a soft and feather bed. Yet as she went to walk outside she was met with a wall of screams, the smell of smoke and burning bodies. There was a high pitch scream that seemed to ring loudly in her ears in her dream. It was only then that she realized that the sound was coming from herself, she was not dead nor fully dreaming. In the real world she was coming to with a loud shriek as she woke from a nightmare.

As she tried to sit up, her body was wracked with pain causing her to flinch and hold her side. It felt like she had been hit by a truck and every ounce of her body fought her. It refused to believe that it was capable of movement and so on the ground she stayed. Her eyes fell upon the man who had nearly bested her in combat yet she was too drained for malice. Instead she stared blankly, preparing herself for the end she knew would come eventually. If she did not die here she would be a prisoner or worse; a slave she assumed.

"Why.. why am I not dead? I thought you were going to separate my top half from the bottom half." she said. Probably not the best thing to taunt the man who seemed to have more juice left than you did. Looking for her sword, she realized that it was nowhere to be seen now. She was defenseless now in every sense of the word save for her attitude. "If you think I'm going to thank you fo-" she started, grunting as she felt a sharp pain in her side. "..saving me you're mistaken." she finished.

[Adam]

Samael sat across from her for the longest time, his gaze ever upon her, in the event that she would try to attack upon waking. His own body was wracked in pain from the first fight that he had since awakening. It gave him insight on himself, and his opponent. From the painful testament of broken ribs, and possibly both a fractured skull and a concussion, he knew that she had the potential of being a worthy opponent. However much it would have pleased Samael to have dominated the fight, he wanted to test his opponent, learn why she attacked his men, and why she was on her vendetta for revenge. It was also to test her abilities. She indeed was far stronger than him...for the moment, but even those with the greater strength could still lose.

This was one of the first lessons that Samael learned from when he was younger, during the early stages of his rites of passage. During Samael’s time, every dragon was inspected upon birth. Any sign that the dragon inside the egg would be a weak candidate for the Rites, was crushed beneath the Inspector’s boot heel. Only the strong were accepted into the Fire Clan upon birth. There were no exceptions. The Rites of Passage required those that would have the will to survive, and the willpower to dominate at all costs. One such Rite, Samael had to travel out into the Bad Lands of the Fire Clan, where some of the planet’s most dangerous beasts lived. Goliath Golems of terrible strength and size. Incredibly strong, but also incredibly clumsy and dim witted. Samael used their strengths to his advantage, and managed to cause one to destroy itself. He learned how to by observing them, and watching their movements. When the time came, he was able to make his way into a Golem’s eye socket, causing it to break it’s head with a single punch meant for Samael.

So, she may have had the power, but that was power that she could control, and if she would not control her power, someone would and cause her to destroy herself. Her rage burned hot, almost to the point of rivaling Samael’s rage, something he had never seen before, not even in some of his most blood lusted soldiers. Her combat skills were commendable, but blinded. Her rage decided all of her movements, rather than being focused into one’s inner energy for more efficient combat. However, when Samael knew the reason behind her rage, he used it against her.

As he watched her, he saw how her relaxation turned to signs of distress. Her dreams had turned to nightmares. “Hahnu’Koraav!” Samael whispered under his breath, his gave still fixed upon her. His sight now gave him a brief vision of her dreams, and from within, he could see what she saw. Her village was in flames, and many were screaming. Samael watched as people ran on fire, and observed how the slowly the homes burned so slowly. If this was any indication of how bad it was, then Samael could confidently tell her that Dragons were not her culprit. Dragon fire never burned slowly. It incinerates anything within its path on the spot. Home of those types of structures would have been ashes the moment Dragon Fire touched them.

The vision broke when she woke up, and Samael slowly stood up, his own hand at his hilt, but with another free. As she tauntingly asked why she was not dead, Samael walked halfway around the fire, where her sword and boots laid, and he picked up her boots, tossing them to her side, and kicking her sword over to her. “You’re alive, because there is no honor in letting an opponent fall mercy to nature,” Samael explained, “you were unconscious and in no case to save yourself in order to finish the combat, so I saved you, rather than allow you to be swallowed in that abyss. To have let you die would have been to shame my own name, and I am a Dragon of honor.” He walked back over to his side of the fire, his back to her momentarily, but his head turned just enough to see if she tried to make a move against him. He then lightly chucked and looked at her from over his right shoulder before turning all the way around to say to her, “In other words...I’m not finished with you yet.” His voice was menacing with tame sadism, indicating his plans to finish what they started when she was back to full health.

“I will not kill an unarmed opponent,” Samael said to her as he pointed to her sword, “you have a choice to either finish this fight now, and possibly die by my hand, or you can rest,” Samael removed his water pouch from his side and tossed it to her, “hydrate, regain your strength, and when you’re ready, search me out and we will continue this. Either way, once you’re at full health again, I’ll eventually hunt you down again to finish what we started. I do not relent once challenged, and if you’re to die, it will be by my blade, or by my hands. Until then, regain your strength, and know that I mean you no harm for now.”

Sitting down, Samael looked over to Lidija, his eyes now fixed on the skies above. “What happened to your village?” Samael asked, “If my enemy wishes to kill me and my kind, I would like to know the meaning behind your words.”

[Lidija Ahlgren]

There was a brief moment where she wanted to laugh but she felt like it might hurt her more to do so. A dragon with some sense of honor? That was the first she had ever heard of that. Her perception of them was not entirely fair but it was all she knew. Lidija clung to that notion simply because learning something else would leave her empty and with nothing. If she lost her hatred she would have no end game, nothing to live for and everything that fueled her would vanish. At least for the moment she had some small guarantee that she was not going to die right this second. That would do for now, for what the gesture was honestly worth to her. She could not say that she would have done the same for him.

"I doubt it." she replied coldly when he explained why she was still alive. Shifting into whatever defensible position she could manage, Lidija slid her boots back on. Clutching her sword closer to herself she looked at him with such contempt. "Well I am at least assuming you were smart enough not to expect gratitude. I find the fact that you even touched me insulting." she practically spat. But those words were not entirely true. Even she was not so far gone that she could not see that this time she had luck to thank just as much as she did the mercy of a stranger. There was a long pause where she shuffled some stone around with her foot trying to think of something to say to him. Why did she even care if she spoke to him?

There was a snort that stopped her laughter, to her this was a mistake. Now that she fought him she knew what to do differently next time. Then again she was betting on the fact that he too was good at reading people. The way he moved was inspirational but her pride would never allow her to ask for help from the likes of him. At least that was how she felt right now about it, there had to be some way to surpass them without giving in to the beast in her blood. In the last battle it nearly consumed her before the cave in happened. Rumor had it, there was a chance that a half-ling like her could awaken her blood and shift but she would rather die.

"What does it matter to you? Your kind don't care who they hurt as long as it furthers your own strength. Even those that prayed to your kind for protection and wisdom." she said. Her tone held nothing but bitterness as she spoke those words. She remembered all of her altars, her duties as a priestess to her father. "I was the daughter of a mortal woman who had been chosen by our protector, our god. My village worshiped your kind as gods in the physical plane. Yet despite all of that he took until there was nothing more we could give him.. I guess." she said, her grip on her blade tightened.

"One night I rose from my bed to hear the sounds of screaming. Flesh burning, such a sickening smell. Everyone was on fire, everything was reduced to ashes and above it soared my father who decided to stain his talons with the blood of his own followers." she said angrily. "Naturally I did the only thing that seemed right. I fought him, for three days we battled until I had wounded him so badly he could no longer continue and fled the field." she said. Ending the story, she looked at Samael for a moment as if she was looking for some sort of expression, then she remembered he was not like her.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed on. "My village is not the only such village. I would see this practice destroyed along with the beasts that find it amusing." she said.