"What in the world is going on?" I flew fast and hard toward the raging fire. With a gush of wind, we flew over the thick fogs. My eyes caught something odd. A black gooey substance was apparent, crawling across the floor like molten lava. Every plant that it touched, it would burst into flames, leaving behind a trail of fire.
Terror-stricken birds let out a wild shrill as bellows of wild animals ran away in free, fleeing from the area as fast as they could. None of them wanted to get eaten or even destroyed by the creature present as they could sense the danger of the sludge that slinked forward.
"What is a Magma monster doing here?" Phil spoke out in surprise. "Something like that shouldn't even be here."
I tilted my head, questioning what he meant. Such monsters were never heard before, "Magma monster?"
"Yes, they are not supposed to be living in the forest. You would mostly find them near active volcanoes. How they got here…." Phil contemplated it, wondering what and where such monsters had appeared from. "The only reason they are here is from summoning."
I thought over what he had said, realizing then that his implication meant that someone was here, causing trouble by summoning such creatures. Dipping my wings to the left, I twisted in midair, letting the wind push past us a bit harder than usual. Phil clutched on harder in the hopes that he would not fall.
"Do you see anything?" Phil asked, his eyes squinted from the rush of wind that stung his eyes.
My head swerved to the right and left, examining different sides to the forest in the hopes of catching anything else. What alarmed me was the large number of Magma monster's slinking and growing on the forest floor. Each and every one of them was starting up their own forest fire.
"I counted twenty." I quickly replied with a squint. I spiraled toward the first. There was no way I was going to leave these monsters alone to devour the whole forest. Not when I knew I could do something about it.
"Okay, drop me off on the closest one. You take the others." Phil stabilized himself. "I'll take the one's down south and you the north."
"On it." I didn't disagree and spiraled downwards to the closest Magma monster. The moment I got to the ground, Phil leaped off my back. His nimble feet landed onto the tree's closest branch, hopping downwards toward the next in rapid succession. If I didn't know any better, I would assume he came out of those famous martial art expert movies from the way he fluttered around the trees like birds.
Without a second delay, I pumped my wings, bringing myself up into an updraft. I didn't wait for long. I saw the first Magma monster. I came roaring down from the sky, spewing a blast of cold ice downwards in a fury. Everything instantly froze in seconds, leaving behind an ugly ice sculptor. Following after, I spat a ball of ice, which shattered the ice sculptor into pieces.
Satisfied, I moved onto the next. It wasn't hard to quell the raging fire that was quickly quenched effortlessly without too much trouble. All I did was blow some ice breath and destroy it the same way as the first. It was boring because these monsters didn't fight back, which made me lose interest in them quickly.
If I didn't know any better, my dragon fighting instinct was more dominant in this form than in my human form. Which wasn't bad, but it did bring the bloodlust in me. I wanted to destroy and even fight something a bit more challenging than these slow-moving targets, which was just becoming target practice.
Swooping to the right in a circle, I blew another blast of ice breath. My stomach tingled with the cold magic, giving me a light feeling that helped cool down my animal instinct. Eventually, I blasted through the last Magma monster, which was obliterated seamlessly.
With a snort, smoke escaped my nose. A lazy grin slipped out of my lips, which showed off my white teeth. This was too easy. Such creatures felt beneath me to conqueror, and doing it so seamlessly was boring.
My wings banked to the left, circling around like a vulture over Phil's head. I saw him throw an ice crystal followed by water magic that doused the flames. He then sent out another wave of ice magic, freezing the Magma monster in one go.
Instantly, he rushed forward, bringing out his sword. A swift swing erupted from his hand, destroying the monster in one fell swoop.
I couldn't help but ogle at his body. It was like watching a greek god pose in different moments, giving a breathtaking scene that one couldn't but help but stare at. If there were a group of girls nearby, I would bet gold that they would be squealing at the top of their lungs, cheering. Luckily for me, I didn't resort to such action. Instead, I ogled as a bit of drool escaped the side of my lips.
This was embarrassing, but I couldn't help it. Looking away was a sin. I just watched.
"Are you down watching?" Phil's was deep, almost enchanting.
I hiccuped, letting out a puff of smoke. Embarrassed, I swirled around one more time to get a good three hundred sixty view, which I couldn't help myself as well as flying downwards wasn't too easy landing without the right maneuvering.
With a gush of wind, I landed perfectly without breaking through too many branches. A loud crunching sound could be heard as the ice broke underneath my feet.
"How was it?" Phil casually walked over, cleaning his blade.
"How was what?" I asked. Not sure what he was asking, I tilted my head.
"The view?"
"The view? Isn't it always good?"
Phil raised his eyebrows up as a smirk appeared on his lips. "I know you were catching glimpses of me." He chuckled, which made me blush.
Luckily, blushing wasn't possible in dragon form. Thankfully, this made me happy that he couldn't tell, but my tail thrashed back and forth.
"Well, you know." I coughed, looking away.
"Yes, yes, Berry." He lazily walked over, reaching over to path me on my arm. "I take glimpses of you here and there as well." With a wink, he smiled.
Blood boiled, and I really felt like my whole body was turning red. My transformation became undone, turning back into my human form. This was the first time ever where I was forced out of my dragon form from embarrassment. Such a thing never happened before, which completely baffled me. How this was possible, I didn't know.
"How cute." Phil walked over. His evergreen scent gently invaded my space.
I unconsciously stepped back, blushing hard. Trying not to stare at Phil was hard, but to be approached in such a manner made me jitter.
"You're blushing."
"I'm not." I vehemently denied, knowing that this was a lie. "I killed off all the other Magma monsters." I quickly replied, trying to change the topic and attention. Phil didn't take the bait and instead shook his head as if it wasn't a big deal.
"I know." He stopped in front of me, gazing down with intense eyes. I felt like I would get devoured any minute now at the rate that he was staring.
"The forest is safe," I said again.
"Yes, I know."