One Giant Dragon and One Small Girl

A similar aura overwhelmed Xelfia's body as she heard the Spirit Dragon talk to her. "They are calling to me." Just like with Azurin she felt the connection in her bones as she heard the term familiar one. "They want a fight." Shouts came from behind her that Xelfia ignored as she took a shaky step forward. Her whole body was impatient and afraid, it was stuck between those two emotions as she got closer to the castle. "How long have you been alone here?" Why did a Dragon that wanted to so desperately escape here that they would even abandon their own husband come back to the same place. "Did your journey end?" The Castle that had stood here previously was smashed to pieces as white marble scattered the ground.

They were in the middle of the mountain area surrounded by an open space with that one lone building in the middle of it. All of the Astral Beasts that would normally be here were slaughtered by the Spirit Dragon. The trees had been burned down and all the grass was burnt. A few corpses of people were spread across the ground in random places as well. "Those are quite recent." Xilo guessed they were scouting parties sent out to deal with this Spirit. "Xelfia..." His heart grew heavy watching every step she took. Another roar shook his eardrums, glancing in the direction of the castle, Xilo watched as a giant pair of golden wings spread out over the walls.

They illuminated the area around them with a golden light and then rested on the sides of the castle walls. "That Dragon is huge." With the castle being a couple buildings wide Xilo was worried about the size of its body. That concern never seemed to affect Xelfia as she kept moving forward. Another voice reached Xelfia's ears pushing her forward. "it's too broken to understand." Arriving in front of the destroyed wooden gate Xelfia took a deep breath as she stepped over the rubble and into the place. The insides were completely empty after being destroyed by the golden dragon that was in the centre of the place. Its giant body wrapped itself in a circle as it laid against the ground.

"Beautiful..."

Its long body was covered in scratches and wounds from all the fighting it had done throughout its life. Even with all that it managed to still stay mesmerising, its golden scales had aged with time turning into a deeper dark colour closer to honey that glowed brightly in the daylight. One giant scar ran up its leg all the way to its back that tore apart its scales and showed a bit of its flesh. Its giant wings were filled with holes that showed bones while resting against the walls near it. Its giant red horns on either side of its head were groved by rings and broken at the top, almost like someone had ripped the top half of them off. What was left of its one yellow soft eye stared directly at Xelfia as it was waiting for her to make a move.

The air turned quiet as the two of them faced each other without moving.

"Is this really a spirit?"

She had fought one in the past that looked a lot more dead then the Dragon in front of her.

*Graaaa*

A low growl came out of its throat as it stared at the girl in front of her.

"Are..You...Prepared?"

Before Xelfia could try to reply she heard the sounds of the footsteps behind her. Xilo came up behind her a bit out of breath as he grabbed her hand. Feeling his touch, Xelfia broke out of her stupor as she turned to him. Seeing the worry written all over his face she felt herself slightly flinch. The Dragon didn't move an inch as it watched more people come for it. Its eyes never left the red headed girl for a moment. The aura coming off of her kept its attention and brought back a bit of its senses that were lost to the Astral Zone. "Free...me...young...one." Another low growl escaped its mouth with a thought that barely passed its mind. A Dragon was too stubborn and prideful to accept defeat from anything else. Even with its years of suffering it fought everything else that showed up. This group before her was the first one she hadn't torn to pieces on sight, all because of that slight connection it felt with the red headed girl.

"Xelfia, what are you doing running off all alone like that. You could've been hurt without us."

"Sorry, I just.....Hey Xilo?"

Hearing the strange wistful tone in Xelfia's voice, Xilo listened carefully.

"Yeah Xelfia?"

"Do you mind if I fight this Dragon on my own?"

With another slight wince Xelfia asked that dumb question softly, she didn't know why she asked it. Especially after promising that she'd fight with it alongside Xilo. Standing before this Dragon now though her feelings were changing. It felt like this was something she had to do on her own. "I don't know If I can do it alone...but." Her soul cried out to her telling her it was the right thing to do regardless. Stunned by Xelfia's surprising question, Xilo looked deep into her eyes as he felt her hand shaking. "She's scared and yet." Shaking his head Xilo was at a loss for words, he knew exactly how she felt though so he just simply nodded his head and let go of her hand.

"Thank you Xilo."

Before Xilo could escape Xelfia leaned down and kissed Xilo's lips lightly.

"Good luck."

Quickly explaining the situation Xilo took all of the members that were with him and went up the wall that was broken. Together they all sat down on top of the rubble and watched as Xilo's red headed girlfriend's small body faced this giant Dragon all alone like spectators for a show. Dangling his legs off the edge he felt Felli and Tearia sit down beside him with a bit of worry. "I'm sorry girls, this is Xelfia's time." Watching the curve of Xelfia's back stand tall as she fixed her red hair Xilo's sight was stuck to her like glue. "I don't know why you want to take this Dragon on by yourself but stand tall. Show me, Tearia, Felli, Relia, Kirel and especially Azurin what makes you Xelfia." Remembering back to his time with her in the Myriad Forest Xilo smiled.

"Dragon or maybe I should also call you Familiar one. I'm ready to fight you."

"Good...Show me..Your...Strength."

Its giant paw lifted off the ground the second it finished its sentence. Smashing into the ground where Xelfia stood it caused a giant hole to form. The red headed girl had already moved rendering its attack useless. Swinging its tail made of bones it felt Xelfia's presence behind it. "For being so big, it's fast." A wall of vines raised itself and blocked against the Dragon's tail. "It's strong." Her whole body shuttered from that hit alone even with her blocking it. "I will win." Her skin started to turn into scales as Xelfia spread out more vines all around its giant body trying to trap it. With a simple breath of fire it was all completely destroyed in a moment. With a wave of fire coming right for her Xelfia surrounded herself in a ball of water.

"Is..This...All you have to show?"

The Dragon hadn't even gotten serious yet however Xelfia hadn't either.