Bad Idea

Blood pulled Emile further back into the tunnel, away from the snoozing beast. Once they were far enough away, Blood whispered to Emile.

"I think we can take it."

Emile paused and processed what Blood said.

"Take it?" Emile said, "You want to fight that thing?!"

"It's asleep! I can't think of a better opportunity for us!" Blood argued.

Emile turned away from Blood and retraced their steps towards the hideout. Blood chased after him and stopped him.

"Come on! It'll be fun!" Blood begged.

"Did you see that thing?" Emile questioned.

"Of course I saw it, I couldn't miss it!"

"And? What was it?" Emile asked.

"Well I don't know specifically, maybe a drake? Did you see wings?" Blood asked, "I didn't see wings."

"You want to fight a drake—a dragon without wings!" Emile snapped.

"It didn't look that big! And I really feel like you're forgetting it's unconscious!"

"Unconscious!" Emile yelled, "That only matters if you can kill it in one shot, which you can't!" Emile countered.

"Spright!" Blood begged, "You can have all the rewards! Just lend me some blood!"

"Rewards? Blood!" Emile shouted in Blood's face, "Are you delusional? Crazy? A combination of the two? We can't fight a drake!"

***

[Soul Essence: 100…98…88]

Emile watched his soul essence deplete, he wore a frown and was sitting on the dark stone beneath him. Blood stood a few feet away.

His eyes were closed while he was directing the river of blood up and down their tunnel. He just started pulling blood from Emile's veins after an hour-long fight about it.

To Emile's surprise, having his blood drained didn't feel particularly bad. For some reason he assumed it would feel awful, like something was sucking his veins and nerves like a vacuum, but Blood barely pulled out more than the body naturally shot out.

Emile suddenly opened his eyes and turned to Blood.

"If you die, can I go back to base or do I have to finish our assignment?"

"Finish, but you'd die before me anyway." Blood said.

"I still don't think this is going to work." Emile added.

"I came up with it—" Blood paused for a moment and made sure Emile was watching him, "it's going to be flawless."

Multiple gallons of blood flowed around Blood. He stopped pulling from Emile and cautiously approached the mighty cavern.

Emile stayed a step behind him, while not participating, he needed to be there to confirm Blood's unfortunate passing.

Blood confidently stepped into the cavern and walked towards the drake. From a distance, he looked like a sun with a realm of planets spiraling around him.

Blood stopped at the nearest column to the drake and, after manipulating the blood around him to harden into spikes, began his ascent.

The ruby-like crystals gently pierced the stone and waited for Blood to climb up, only to just as perfectly slide out and repeat the process.

He reached the peak of the cavern and willed his spikes to bend, then walked across the ceiling. He stopped above the drake and siphoned as much blood as he could gather into one, giant orb.

He adjusted its position slightly, and when it was just right, the blood orb thinned until only a single stake remained.

The stake was huge, four times the size of Blood. Its point hardened to a fine crystal and then Blood looked down at Emile. Blood gave a thumbs up and Emile awkwardly waved back.

Then, Blood propelled the stake down. Like a comet, there was a massive flash when Blood's stake impacted the drakes scales.

Immediately after the flash of light, a shock wave slammed into Emile's chest. The ground shook. His ears rang.

Emile found the stone wall beside him and used it to stand up. Forcing his eyes open, he looked around the cavern.

The area where the drake had been asleep was destroyed. The stone shattered and rippled outward, pieces of rock protruded into the air and Emile could see cracks in some of the columns.

He looked up hoping to find Blood, but the ceiling above the crater disappeared and Emile found himself instead looking at the lightless sky.

After, he surveyed the entirety of the cavern and both Blood and the drake were nowhere to be found. All of a sudden, Emile heard a faint noise coming from within the cavern.

He stepped in and followed the noise which continued to grow louder and louder. Emile stopped at the edge of the crater, the noise now seeming more familiar.

Emile looked up and found Blood, but he also found the drake. The drake was plummeting towards the planet, flames erupted beneath its legs from the atmosphere.

Blood flailed behind the creature, a blood rope wrapped around the drakes neck, held tightly by Blood as he soared back down.

Emile stared at the unlikely duo, locked in a trance of disbelief. As Emile stared, their details grew more distinct. The drake's two white horns twisted behind it and created a curve towards the sky.

It had four, muscular legs each equipped with razor sharp claws. The creature's tail doubled its total size and a massive ball hung from its end.

Even in the brightly lit world above, its scales were still dark brown, bordering near black. The only color that existed on the drake was its mustard underside and the red blood tied around its neck.

'Am I about to die?'