In the deadly expanse of the crimson forest, a disheveled and bloodied figure was seen battling furiously with a fierce black demonic wolf. Blood and dirt had made their appearance unrecognizable under the pale moonlight, with only a pair of golden eyes revealed flickering with grim determination mixed with hints of simmering anger.
The fight had been going on for two days now with neither of them being willing to admit defeat because admitting defeat meant death.
Alexia's speed was greatly reduced, her body felt heavy weighed down by exhaustion, hunger and pain. She was feeling rather thankful for the natural unparalleled defense she got from her powers or else she was sure she would at least be a mutilated corpse by now if not a cold one but she did sustain some injuries here and there.
Well on the bright side, the whole situation gave her a lot of reasons to be angry at the people who were responsible for her current plight and that anger could in turn motivate her to fight harder. It was either than or becoming a midnight snack.
With renewed vigour, Alexia's sword, infused with red flickering flames danced in the darkness. The demon wolf retreating backwards saving itself from being impaled on her sharp blade. Occasionally it used it's dagger like claws to swipe at her, she nimbly dodged preventing the demon from doing serious damage.
Unexpectedly it stopped attacking and once again retreated. Maintaining a certain distance, it began to encircle her, a hint of calculation and madness burned in it's ember eyes. Ever alert, Alexia carefully followed it's movements with her eyes, already rehearsing countless counterattacks in her mind.
Without warning the dark aura around the demon wolf surged fiercely and with jaws opened wide it lunged at her. Already prepared, Alexia dodged, her elusive fighting style a blur of feints and counterattacks.
With each strike her sword sliced through the wolf's flesh, but the demon's regenerative abilities healed the wound in mere minutes. Alexia's breathing grew ragged her movements now solely fueled by desperation and anger.
She knew that the only way to kill the beast was to either strike it's heart or head. She aimed repeatedly for the wolf's heart but the demon's speed and agility made it an elusive target.
As the battle raged on, Alexia's muscles screamed in exhaustion, the forest floor becoming slick with the wolf's blood. Her armour, or whatever remained of it, was in scambles, her clothes torn and stained becoming almost indistinguishable from the rest of her body.
Her sword arm had started to tremble slightly her fatigue finally creeping in. As if sensing her weakness, the demon's attacks grew faster and more ferocious. She stumbled backwards, her footwork flattering for a second allowing the wolf's claws to leave deep gashes on her arms.
She hurriedly disengaged the wolf, trying to ignore the new pain, she gritted her teeth renewing her focus. She knew that this fight couldn't be allowed to continue any longer but the demon always seemed able to predict her movements.
She once again assessed the demon wolf"s movements hoping to find an opening in it's defenses. As she observed it, her eyes suddenly lit up as an idea dawned on her.
Without hesitation she summoned the remaining flames stored within her soul. Retreating slightly, she swung her sword in a beautiful arc allowing the flames to form a protective circle around her. The demon flinched back narrowly avoiding being ravaged by the raging fire.
From outside the circle it stared at her with it's malevolent eyes, clearly it wasn't going to be satisfied until either one of them was dead. For a few moments they both engaged in a tense staring contest, Alexia was starting to wonder if it was actually going to do anything.
And then it moved, building up momentum, it attempted jumping over the wall of fire.
Alexia grinned to herself she had been waiting for this very moment. Seeing that the wolf was upon her, she crouched down and lunged at it, plunging her sword into it's chest piercing it's heart.
The demon let out a deafening howl, the madness that once burned in it's eyes now gone, leaving behind only a vacant gaze, it's body becoming stiff and lifeless. For a moment, triumphant glee engulfed Alexia's very being she had finally ended the stubborn hateful wolf.
Unfortunately for her, her celebration only a second before the demon beast's massive body crashed into the ground, motionless, trapping her body underneath it.
Once again she was being drenched in the blood of her enemy in the least convenient way. The dark aura surrounding the beast swirled turning into soft white light before crystallizing into a glimmering stone that fell just a few inches away from her.
Lying underneath the demon wolf, she could feel her breathing become heavy and her body trembling. Her face flushed and her pent up anger finally exploded.
" Get off!"
Her voice thundered as she used her remaining strength to violently push the demon wolf off her body. After lifting herself up, she gave it a few more forceful kicks to calm herself down, with her temper partially soothed she looked around her eyes searching for something .She finally noticed the crystal lying quietly on the ground.
Walking towards it she picked up the crystal, it was a luxstone. Luxstones were a solid representation of a beings energy and life force that could be absorbed to raise one's rank.
Already familiar with the process, Alexia nonchalantly absorbed the essence in the luxstone while looking at the beast's carcass.
' Though we already have a lot of meat, it might still prove useful.'
While absorbing the essence, her eyes widened slightly it was much denser than she anticipated. Usually the denser the essence, the more powerful the beast.
' It must have been at the apex stage.'
That explained why it was so difficult to kill that it had to torture her for two nights and a day.
After she had absorbed the luxstone, it instantly crumbled into a pile of dust instantly disappearing with the wind. Approaching the beast's carcass, Alexia hoisted it up placed it's head on her shoulder. She was too tired to carry it back to camp so she opted to drag it across the uneven planes instead.
' It's not like it can feel anything, and I need to save my strength for the long walk'.
***
Alexia had been walking for quite some time now, at some point she even began wondering if she had gotten lost again. She wasn't looking forward to spending a night in this creepy forest, the last few times were more than enough.
Continuing forward, her nose picked up the wafty aroma of meat. Wiping the drool off her mouth, she increased her pace in the direction of the delicious smell.
Seeing the bright light of a warm fire and hearing the familiar sounds of laughter ahead, made her feel a little conflicted. On one hand, she was glad she made it to the campsite and that there was hopefully food available for her to devour. Her stomach growled at the thought.
And on the other hand, maybe it was a little illogical, but forgive her if hearing that laughter made her want to crush their throats. She had been gone for two whole days fighting a horrid beast and yet instead of being worried about her, they were busy telling jokes by the campfire.
She frowned, why was she thinking of such things when her body was about to collapse? It was much better to be angry on a full stomach. That's what she thought but when she finally reached the campsite, she violently hurled the wolf carcass to the nearest victim.
Feeling avenged and satisfied, she ignored the chaos she had caused and sped inside looking for a familiar head of blonde hair. As she moved, she noticed the men were giving her strange gazes. She wasn't sure if it was because of her appearance, her actions or both and honestly she didn't really care.
Shrugging off their reactions, she continued to follow the delicious smell. A few more shocked and fiery stares later and she had finally found the blonde haired elf, Evan. Evan was the team's healer and most importantly he was also in charge of the food distribution, storage and was the unofficial chef among the bunch.
When she suddenly appeared before him, Evan was clearly spooked, his face paled a little before adopting his face turned a faint shade of red. Normally she would feel mesmerized looking at his ethereal face but now she was more confused on why he was blushing. She wanted to ask the question but she got momentarily distracted by the generous amount of food on her plate.
Evan calmed himself down taking subtle deep breaths, eagerly she went closer to him wanting to take her food. She noticed him glaring at someone behind her but her tired brain and empty stomach advised her to ignore it.
' Yeah, how does their game involve me?"
With that thought her eagerness to hurry back to her tent, to eat and rest up grew. As for cleaning herself up, that would have to wait for tomorrow. It was already a miracle that she was still standing and she wasn't looking forward to testing the limits of her endurance. She turned about heading for her tent.
" Alexia! Catch!"
At the sound of Evan's voice, Alexia looked back, instinctively using her free hand to catch whatever it was that he threw at her. Looking down at her hand, she noticed that he had given her his cloak, it was warm, and soft to touch, it's forest green exterior shimmering under the moonlight.
She was perplexed at first, why would he give her a cloak. She looked down at herself realizing that her clothes were still in scambles. It wasn't enough to be considered naked but she couldn't say that she was clothed either.
Feeling a blush creeping up her cheeks, she hurriedly put on the cloak covering her body from peeking eyes. She heaved a sigh of relief seeing that it was long enough to reach her ankles and had a hood to cover her face.
Waving at Evan in gratitude, she fled in the direction of her tent. Frantically closing the entrance of her tent, she sighed in relief before ravenously bitting into her food. Partially because she was starving and also so that she could distract her mind from the embarrassment that she was feeling.
She couldn't really blame them, dragons were creatures of passion and those hot blooded men have been starved throughout the six months that they had been in this cursed forest. Suddenly her expression changed into one of pity even though she still felt uncomfortable being the object of their desire even in her unkept state.
' Poor them, they'll probably explode at this rate.'
The only person that was safe was probably Evan, elves were more on the calm side as opposed to the dragon's hot blooded nature.
Eventually she finished her food putting those thoughts behind her. Feeling satiated, she could feel her eyes growing heavy, her body already felt numb from all the wounds she had endured. Walking unsteadily to her bed, she plopped unto it, immediately her head touched the pillow, all she could see was darkness.
Tomorrow was a new day.