"I really wish she came with me..." I ended up muttering as I slowly climbed up the mountain. Forgoing the use of magic for now so I could sneak close to the entrance. But, unfortunately, it seems like I might just have to use my magic to get us the rest of the way. As the mountain was getting much steeper than before.
So I let go of the mountain and thrust outwards, briefly flying through the sky as a human. Only to then fizzle upwards as I shifted into a more dangerous form, that of lightning. Lightning that bounced about the clouds and leapt out of them like a fish in a river. Unfortunately, my landing was rather rough.
It pretty much confirmed an earlier hypothesis I had made when we were in safer lands. Back at the Academy, when I tried to see if I could fly. I thought that maybe clouds caused my issues and that strange pull I felt. Performing that jump nearly replicated that entire process.
"At least the clouds are nearby..." I breathed out with wide eyes as I let my body calm down. I would need to find a way to drag the wyvern this way if I was to win. My lightning body may have been, well, lightning. But I was worried about my copper frame.
Copper on its own melted quite easily so it might cause that form to be completely useless! So, the gods be willing, I should get the inevitable fight to move this way. All so I could become one with the sky and strike with impunity. So I could win and save Nin!
"Alright, let's go!" I then said with a brief smile as some confidence filled me. I had a plan and I was feeling nice and refreshed. Two of the main things I needed to worry about were in a grand condition. I could and would win!
But then I stopped as I was getting up, I had nearly forgotten about the lesser wyverns... I know I could kill them without much effort, but would they interfere? When we were being attacked they had no problem swarming us. So would I get swarmed here?
I suppose my lightning form would have to solve that as I was nearly impervious in that state. How could flesh ever hope to hurt such divinely-linked magic? How would mere winds stop the light of thunder? There was so much in my favour!
But, I had to be mindful still, arrogance was what I wanted to exploit. Not something I wanted to be used against me. To exploit me and get in easy blows I should have otherwise been able to avoid. Then again, I did not know how to fight beyond just shocking them to death...
So much of what I have faced up until this point has been weaker than me. The creatures that attacked my ferry years ago. Those humans I saved Nin from. All the animals he might have needed help with as we travelled together. All of it was my lesser and I was about to face an equal or superior.
I may have not fought her for long, barely at all, actually. But, I knew full well I needed to have a strong sense of conviction here. Strong convictions that saw me go beyond my limits and fears. This would not be a quick fight if I was to win...
"Enough!" I then sternly declared as I stood before the entrance to this wyvern's lair. I had spent enough time contemplating how it would go! I needed to make it a reality now! Nin's freedom and life depended on this!
So I walked on into the cave, straightening myself out and beating down my fears brutally. Letting my aura flow out well so it was grand and majestic. The loud tap and click of my metallic high-heels calling out alongside my magic. And it became clear they acknowledged me as the lair went quiet.
The wyverns that were previously making all this noise had gone relatively quiet. And as I stood a bit deeper into the lair, I gazed upon them all. A strange stranglehold popping up into my stomach as I looked at them all. Their teeth bared and wings rising.
"So you're the one I have been told about?" someone then called out to me as a different kind of magic filled the area. Fiery and hot it was, I was already starting to sweat just by being this far away from her! And, if we were on grassy land, I had no doubts it would be marking her steps with black marks.
"Told about?" I repeated just before I saw Nin hobble into my line of sight. His body barely clothed at all. Making it all the easier to see the nasty scorch marks and burns he had received. Something that made me angry.
And that anger transferred itself into my external-magic which lashed out against her aura. Dozens of delicate but aggressive bolts of lightning stabbing at her heated surroundings. Her smug smile only making it worse. That taunting laughter did not help either.
"Einervaene..." I then heard get croaked out by him as his body rose a little before he flinched in pain. A sight that calmed me for just a second as concern filled me up. Only for it to boil away once my eyes settled themselves on the fire-using lizard.
"So here is how it will go," the wyvern began to say as her claws stroked Nin's chin carefully, "I am going to make you submit to me. I will break your body and make you declare your inferiority before my mate! You will hand over his affection to me and you will be tossed aside!" she declared to me with a snarl. A strange sense of relief slightly coming out in me. At least she wouldn't kill me, for now.
However, I had other plans for this night, "No, how it will go is I kill you and I save Nin!" I tell her as my lightning flashed out brighter than before. The darker parts of the caves taking on a light-blue glow as my power flushed them out.
"Fine by me!" she chuckled out as she stepped forward. The ground around her melting as her power became more aggressive. And I moved back slightly, I needed to be as close to the entrance as I could get just in case. Only to then be smashed into a wall as that movement had set her off.
Our fight had begun and it was starting off with me getting severe burns on the neck. I only just avoided screaming out in pain by turning into lightning. Well, rather, I hid my screams behind hers as her grip disappeared. A growl soon coming out of her before she tried to slash me with her claws.
Only for them to bounce away as they hit the dense concentration of magic that was my body. Yet, in that moment of shock for her. I learnt something too, that had actually hurt me! Those claws and their magic had hurt me despite my lightning form!
How was that even possible...? I was lightning!
"Tch, so that is how it is going to be..." she slowly said to me as I stood there with a surprised expression. And then, I was grabbed by the wrist and slammed into the ground. Cratering it in an odd fashion as if I had been flattened. Only to form back up into a human-like shape within a moments notice.
That had hurt too, but why...? Could an attack so long as it was magical hurt me? Could the internal-magic of the environment hurt me too if it was dense enough? Why hadn't this occurred to me!?
"AH!" I then let out as a sudden punch to my gut made me lose focus and return back to normal. A vicious smile likely on the wyvern's face as she suddenly charged me again. Her magic ablaze before I sent her away from me with a blast of my own. But it had only done that, just keep her away.
"Don't run! We aren't done yet!" she laughed out at me, tormenting me as I ran away from the lair. Fear driving my actions before I came to a sudden stop at the edge of the mountain. Panicked words incoherently leaving me as her laughter got louder. Her magic more defined in the darkness of the lair and the night.
"That is true..." I slowly said as my eyes kept looking back at the clouds. Jumping towards them just as she charged me again with that aggressive speed of hers. Her claws nearly grabbed me too, but I was too fast for her. And instead, she was struck by lightning that dug into her.
And what followed was absolutely cathartic. She screamed in pain and clutched her hand as it spasmed slightly. And while I could laugh from the clouds, I chose to keep leaping out of them to strike her. But as this went on, she became more aware of where I was.
Which did not surprise me as I was bright lightning making the sounds of thunder. But, perhaps there was a way I could make this work? Drag her down below the clouds so my magic worked better. Maybe if I turned human and fell?
"No! Not now!" I falsely said as I turned back to normal and fell out of the sky. The sights of an eager smile appearing just before my face in that moment. One nearly blocked out by fire and smoke. Yet, even though her speed shocked me.
"Got you!" she said to me in that moment.
My smile shocked her more, "Other way around!" the thunder cried out after I returned to the clouds. Her body entering a state of paralysis that opened her up to more strikes from behind. So I kept hammering away at her as she was shaking. With bright flashes, booming thunder and righteous screams, I kept hitting her.
Only to then be caught off guard when she shot up beyond the clouds when I hit her back. Dragging me up with her until we had gone beyond the peak of her lair. An enraged expression on her face before my face was covered by her claws. Those same claws drawing blood as they settled in on my skull before we shot down.
All the air leaving my lungs as I was smashed straight into the mountain. Sprinkles of burnt stone rolling down onto me as my skin cooked under her grip. I wanted to scream but I sounded more like I was choking. There was just no air in me to scream out!
I could not even cry as they just turned to steam before they even left the ducts! She was boiling the insides of my eyes without even trying. To say nothing of how she choked me more with that toxic breath of hers. Ember-filled smoke as black as the sky beyond our world's magical shell.
"I think that is enough now..." she growled out before she began to drag me inside. Her grip settled on my hair as it used it to pull me in. And she intentionally was lazy in her grip. So my back kept hitting her heel-spikes and getting lashed open!
And the closer we got to Nin, the louder my screaming got as some air got back into me. But then I went silent again as she swung me over and slammed me down. Nearly knocking me out with that single, painful blow. Yet, she quickly moved away from me...
And back to Nin, "I have beaten her! I am the stronger one!" she said to him affectionately. Only for her to step back when she saw his glare and anger. Something I barely saw as my eyes were struggling. I couldn't keep them open.
"He... Won't... Ever love you..." I spat out at the wyvern, infuriating her enough to make her come over to me. And then, she prepared a leg which she then slammed down onto my arm. Snapping it cleanly in two so easily. And I screamed until my throat started hurting as much.
"EINERVAENE!" I heard Nin say in worry before a claw grabbed my face.
"SUBMIT!" the wyvern screamed into my face with smokey breath. Some of the embers getting caught in my skin and burning it. All the while I breathed in that smoke. My broken arm making my breathing all the quicker and harsher.
But, in that moment of terror and fear, an idea came. Smoke was gaseous like a cloud... My spell to turn into lightning only worked if I was below clouds. Barely if I was above...
"I... I... I want you to die..." I weakly muttered as my still useable arm touched her face. Just near where her razor-sharp teeth were. And as I annoyed her with my weak grasping of her face. I used my spell.