Fake Fairy Tale

Dragons are for sure one of the rarest creatures of the world... It's no surprise when you remember that the dragon that put Fallscales into a huge crisis might be one of the very last of its species. I don't understand why it keeps doing that, torturing the people of the town every once in a while... But I was here to stop it. If that was even possible, however.

I was facing a dragon, a mythical creature that can fly with its very long wings, breathes fire at its enemies, and is probably great enough to crush a heavily armored knight with just its weight... Worse yet, I was coming to fight it at its own lair, the Upmyths mountain, one of the triplet peaks. The odds were against me again, just like when I had to face the Water goddess.

I was now in the entrance of a cave in the Upmyths mountain wielding my trustworthy sword on the right hand and a lent shield from the Fallscales on the other. It had the shape of a heater shield, with a curious emblem of a human standing between drawings that seemed to represent the Triplet Peaks... But there was no time to get distracted with a shield, it was my protection, nothing more... Although an armor would be good as well.

"Ready?", I asked Jeffrey, the now named Beech, and Anna, who also decided to come with us to offer some extra support.

They nodded at me as an answer and then we looked into the darkness of the cave, nervously... It seemed like it could be even deeper and gigantic as the cave of the Underground Lake, but there was no way to say for certainty with that pitch-black darkness

"I think we need this", she said picking up a torch that she apparently brought with her and after a few tries, she managed to light it up. With our new source of light, we walked inside the cave...

It was a little bit terrifying... All we could hear was the sound of our footsteps, echoing through the endless irregular path of the cave. And eventually, the sensation would be complemented by the feeling that someone was watching us all the time, looking from the shadows, following us, and waiting for the perfect moment to strike...

This feeling alarmed us, we started to walk even slower than we already were. The situation didn't get any better, the feeling of someone watching us only increased the more aware of our surroundings we were, with each step we too deeper into the cave.

Three, four, five... Just how many people could be following us inside the mountain? The worst part was that we couldn't see where they exactly were hidden...

But at least, a new source of light came to help us... A long sunray, passing through a hole on the wall, illuminating the cave chamber we were currently at. The hole was rather small, with a rope coming down from it... It looked old and ready to tear up if anyone tried to climb it, but what caught our attention the most was the skeleton laid down close to the rope, wearing a helmet and an armor.

"Anna... Do you know this guy? Its armor has the same symbol of the shield", I asked her and she shook her head.

"No, I don't know him, how would I ever know about someone who died ages ago? But... But he seems to be part of Fallscales's history, if I am recalling right. It's one of the ancient warriors...", she started to explain, with a thoughtful mood. "Yes, protectors of our land, warriors who dare to enter the mountains and challenge the dragons so we could have peace. They were responsible for killing most of the dragons that live here, leaving only this one alive".

"Really? All of them di-", Jefferey started to ask, but instead, was interrupted by the sound of heavy breathing coming right from behind us... Turning to look back, the four-eyed creature with dark gray scales and two long horns looked at us from head to toes. It didn't look very friendly, more like a devil actually...

"Don't move a muscle", I said to the others. But the dragon wasn't dumb, it's not because we're not moving that it can't see us and his first attack then came, spitting fire down at us.

"Take cover!", I shouted and instinctively, I jumped in front of them, using the shield to protect the others from the fire. Surprisingly enough, the shield seemed like it was fireproof and perfectly protected us from the spit of the dragon... It itself was surprised with what he was seeing... And then it raged, spinning around and using its tail to throw us against one of the walls, all in one single attack.

"Are you alright?", I asked them after the attack... They nodded, but it was obvious that everyone was just like me, struggling to get up with the pain dominating our bodies. It was so quick, yet so powerful in a single strike.

I charged against it, bringing my sword to the best offensive position. The dragon spat fire again at me and I raised the shield I was given, protecting myself from the intense fire. I did not realize, however, that it was a double attack. While it prevented me from seeing much with the shield raised, it came with its tail again, tripping me down to the floor, but luckily not sending me flying like before.

While its attention was focused on the fallen me, the others tried to attack as well... Anna and the fox provided a distraction while Jeffrey and with its sword attacked the dragon. It was quick to react, however, moving the tail to attack Anna, who was send flying against the wall again and then spitting fire on Jeffrey, who was hit on the leg, groaning in strong pain. Beech had the luck to dodge the sharp-looking claws, however... But it got all the attention to itself now.

Taking advantage of the distraction, I jumped on the dragon's tail and climbed it up to its back, holding tight to not fall while it tried to shake me out of it. It even got on two feet to take me down, but my tight grip did not disappoint me... But it then it closed and flexed its wings against me, crushing me and forcing me to let go because of the pain. Anna was quick to catch me before I fell on the rocky floor, luckily.

Falling on its four feet, the cave shook a little and then it roared to cause fear and it worked, partially. But I wasn't going to give up, at least not yet. Standing again with help of Anna, I went against the dragon again, the sword raised to hit its leg. But it reacted by using it claws against me, sending em away again and causing me to bleed.

An armor would really help to protect me against that hit, but it was inevitable now... I tried to stand up again, but now it was too much... The bleeding, the pain... It didn't allow me to stand up... I quickly grew weak over the following seconds... And then... With my vision getting blur, I saw something rise in front of me... Whatever it was, it didn't really matter as soon I fell into the darkness.