A sinister amount of dread radiated through Chase's being.
The Naga slithered across the arena floor- Its seemingly unbreakable scales cracking the old stone tiles below it. Sweat rolled down the boy's face as he gripped his dagger.
The sky darkened as the beast grew closer, its twisted smile seemed to eat at his very soul.
He was trapped inside of the labyrinth with this monster...
Chase noticed the beast had stopped moving, its long body now fully visible stretching across the arena floor.
He clenched his teeth as the harsh reality set in- it seemed that he had reached an understanding of his situation.
A promise, that he had made to himself when he was nearly killed by the hollow of The Dark Forest...
He sighed lazily, as he sent out a weak energy wave, as he tried to conserve as much of his energy as possible.
Chase was able to read the Naga's energy signature... Which meant that it was not impossible for him to kill.
He loosened his grip on his father's dagger- wondering if the elegant blade would even be able to pierce the scales on the psychotic serpent.
The beast continued to not move as if it was waiting for the boy to attack first: trapping him in an endless standoff until he did so.
"Damned snake."
With that, Chase rushed toward the snake- outstretching his uninjured arm with the dagger in hand.
The snakes smile seemed to twist into a wicked smirk... then suddenly the Naga was upon him.
The labyrinth quaked as Chase threw himself to the right, narrowly avoiding the force of the powerful bite.
The sound of the scales sliding across the stone made his ears want to implode- as he threw himself into the body of the snake- the hissing venom had gotten on his own blade narrowly avoiding the boy.
He brought forth as powerful a slash as he could muster- practically sending his full force through the dagger in an attempt to tear through the strong dark-green scales of the serpent.
The dagger was met with resentful denial.
CLANG!
Chase was launched back from the force of the snake skin. The dagger didn't leave so much as a mark.
He reeled in pain as he rolled back onto his feet, but he no time to take even a second to gather himself.
The large maw of the Naga was above him rocketing down with unfathomable speed.
A terrible plan indeed, but it had to be done. He ran toward the snake quickly rolling under the loud snap of its jaw that would have ended him instantly.
He pushed himself forward- continuing toward the body of the snake.
Summoning his own flames into the blade: he jumped onto the moving body of the snake.
His blade was brought above his head, as he brought down the blazing dagger with all of his strength.
Finally the mixture of the elemental flames, and the snakes own hissing venom: The dagger ripped into the scales- piercing the flesh of the Naga.
The snake let out a low and terrifying hiss, that caused Chase entire body to become full of pure terror.
But... He was now gripping the dagger with all of his might, hanging on to the snakes moving as it began to violently thrash around.
He summoned even more flames, until his entire body was a fury of bright orange fire. The snake had not done what he had wanted it to do though.
'More, I need to do more!'
Chase summoned even more flames. Not just from his core, but his entire body.
The pain was nearly unbearable. But Chase felt something Change- the pain in his shoulder was gone, replaced by a strange sense of adrenaline.
He felt something within him shift drastically, as if the very outcome of the fight had changed into his favor.
Chase quickly glanced at his tattered leather clothing, that had somehow gotten hit by the Naga's venom.
But the clothes did not mean anything to him, what had sent a thrill through his body-
Was the spreading of the black markings...
They could be seen on his hands, as well as the ripped holes in his clothing.
His flames seemed to grow stronger, as well as more violent.
Chase let go of the dagger letting it sink into the serpents flesh- leaving it behind, as he began to push himself up the serpent's body without a weapon.
His unbalanced climb, had turned to a full sprint up the serpents neck, as he used his flames to burn into the scales as he ran.
He pulled off his bag from around his shoulders, and grabbed a small makeshift stone blade from it.
It was not a good blade by any means, but it was a lot bigger then the small dagger, that had been leaving significant flame damage in the Naga's torso.
He had tried to build his own sword out of boredom, on the nights that he could not sleep. Using the unburnable wood from the trees of the forest as the handle, and some of the cursed stone from the hollow's den.
He threw the bag down from atop the snakes neck- giving his body more freedom to move quickly at will.
He gripped the unbalanced sword with both hands as he ran with it at his side.
The Naga violently thrashed around the arena floor trying to throw the boy off of its long and twisted body.
Chase grimaced as he almost lost balance- grabbing the jagged scales with his left hand: making sure not to drop the sword that sat in his right hand.
The snake had suddenly lifted its head up to an astonishing height- looking down at the body as he gripped the jagged scale tighter, as he looked up at the serpent's deformed face.
The snake smiled once more, this time letting a twisted hiss escape from its mouth, but Chase had realized that it was no hiss.
The terrible laughter echoed through his mind, his grip faltering as his hands slicked with sweat.
The Naga shot toward him showing its terrible fangs, as venom splattered wildly across the arena...