Remnants

Reyes, Leezy and Melony finally reached El Diablo only to find it in complete rubble…

The sand was stained black and charred bodies were strewn all across the ground. Tears started to fall from Melony's face as she looked upon the city she called home.

"So, this is Azel's work then. Pretty powerful dragon huh?"

Leezy said while kicking a charred arm that laid in the sand beside him.

"To think they didn't stand a chance is an understatement, they got completely annihilated. I wonder where that pesky lizard ran off to."

Reyes looked up at the night sky.

The clouds above the city just floated overhead as if silently answering him. The area was so quiet, you could hear a pebble drop.

"Where is my big sister? Big sis!!"

Melony screamed as she furiously wiped tears from her eyes that surveyed the area.

Using mana sense, Reyes scanned around looking for any trace of Ki or mana that might have a familiar feel to him. All of the dead corpses around them still had traces of mana left, but none stood out to him. After a while longer, he stopped using mana sense and patted Melony on the head.

"Don't worry kid, I don't think your sister is here. Do you have any clue where she may have went?"

Looking at Reyes with a glimmer of hope, Melony thought for a moment.

"She may have went to our uncle Horus. He lives in Highrock which is very, very far away from here."

"Got it, let's see if there is anything of value left in the town that could help us on our journey, then we can begin heading to Highrock."

Together, they all walked to the center of the town and what awaited them there surprised them.

There was a large pack of four legged, tiger striped drakes there, gorging themselves on dead bodies that were crushed by a building. As their group walked up, one of the drakes turned its head and sniffed the air, spotting them. With a loud screech, it alerted the entire pack. The entire group turned to face them and wasted no time in moving.

"Get behind us Melony!"

Leezy shouted, focusing ki which formed a razor sharp aura around his offhand while his main hand gripped the new greatsword.

Reyes gripped the hilt of his katana that sat upon his waist. Instead of drawling, he kept it planted firmly in it's sheath. Crouching lower, he spread his feet shoulder width apart and kept his eyes on the pack of drakes that were now spreading out to surround them.

Suddenly one of the drakes pounced at Leezy.

Spinning to his left, Leezy kicked the drake in the head with his leg and followed up with a quick karate chop from his offhand as it flew away. Blood sprayed into the air as its leg came crashing to the sand, completely severed from the rest of its body.

Struggling to get up, the drake that attacked could only thrash around in the sand.

With the remaining drakes seeing what had happened to their kin, they suddenly lunged forward as a single unit. Majority of them aimed for Melony, viewing her as the easiest prey.

Reyes, seeing 4 drakes lunging at Melony felt his Ki spike. After…it felt as if time had slowed down a bit.

Taking a step forward, he unsheathed his katana, slashed at each drake and re-sheathed it in one fluid motion. With each bladestroke, a drake was cut in half, covering the sand with a large pool of blood.

In his hand, his katana began to pulse subtlety a few times before going back to its original state.

For some reason, to him, it felt as if it had become slightly lighter.

Just as Reyes and Leezy were beginning to move toward the remaining drakes that surrounded them, an ear splitting roar erupted from behind a nearby building.

A large wyvern slowly emerged from the direction the screech came from, flanked on each side by a dozen smaller tiger drakes.

The moon overhead reflected beautifully off the silver scales that lined its body. Its orange reptilian eyes glared down at the group with anger as it stood towering over them all.

Reyes felt a voice penetrate his mind as he made eye contact with it.

"Your group has encroached on my territory and have killed a small number of my subordinates. You will suffer my wrath!"

Looking at the wyvern strangely, Reyes cocked his eyebrow.

"And I'm assuming you're the one speaking to me? So what if we killed them, maybe if you had more control over these mutts, we would have been able to pass through with ease."

He brandished his katana before the wyvern while speaking aloud which made Leezy turn toward him with a confused look on his face.

"What the fuck!? You'd better not be losing your mind at a time like this."

"Shut up, it spoke to me telepathically."

Before Leezy could reply back, the wyvern roared again, took off into the air and launched a blue fireball the size of a minivan at them from above while the drakes closed in.

Focusing his Ki, Reyes generated a dome shaped aura barrier around them to block the fireball. The fireball struck the barrier and exploded, shattering it but harming a few drakes in the process.

This gave Leezy enough time to check on Melony before having to deal with the current situation they were in. The heat from the explosion singed a small portion of Melony's hair, but she was otherwise untouched to his relief. With his greatsword gripped tightly in both hands, he began slaughtering any drakes that dare to come close.

Meanwhile, Reyes leapt high into the air using his platforms and swung his katana hard at the wyvern's throat while soaring past it.

Ping!

It left a long white mark along the wyverns scales but couldn't penetrate deep enough to cause any damage.

With a growl, the wyvern twisted in midair and struck Reyes in the stomach with its tail. The deep groan of pain that came from him brought delight to the wyvern as it flapped it's wings, watching Reyes fly through multiple buildings. Swooping low, it followed his path but was unable to track him.

Suddenly a blur shot out if the rubble and into the air above the wyvern.

Reyes had jumped up, positioned himself on it's back and managed to wrap his arms around the wyvern's neck. With all his might he kicked one of its wings and angled all his weight toward the ground.

Together, they plummeted from the air and crashed into the sand with a loud poof.

Inside of the small crater, claw and fist flew as the two began to brawl. After a few seconds, they launched themselves from the crater and stood on its edges, staring at each other.

Blood dripped from deep scratch marks on Reyes's skin and purple wyvern blood dripped to the sand from punch marks that littered the wyvern's scales.

"I have lived for a thousand years, and you are the first mortal that i have encountered who was capable of holding their own against me. What is your name?"

"My name is Reyes…"

"I am known as Dirk. Why have you come to this forsaken town?"

"I came looking for a woman and a dragon named Azel."

A puff of smoke came from the wyvern's nostrils as he listened to Reyes. Intrigue flashed insude of Dirk's eyes as he looked at Reyes.

"So you seek the ancient one….He is long gone by now, but apparently he was searching for something that was present within this city. As for the woman you seek…I do think someone escaped during his attack. There is still the smell of teleportation magic lingering in the air."

Nodding, Reyes cracked his knuckles and wiped the blood from his face.

"Do you wish to continue this fight?"

"….I would rather continue this fight while we are both at our peak. You see…I have yet to evolve into a fully grown dragon. I can also feel a dormant power inside of you that calls to my very soul. It would be a shame to kill you before I get the chance to experience what you might have to offer."

Dirk grinned a devilish smile at Reyes, his serpent tongue licking his teeth as blue flame spilled over his lips.

"Fine, have it your way, when you evolve, come find me and i'll make sure to give a good thrashing."

Sharp rows of teeth glinted in the as Dirk roared to the sky above, quickly summoning the drakes in the area back to his side.

Once they were situated, he took off into the air and disappeared behind the clouds…