Eye for an Eye

I awoke in a daze. The taste of something coppery and wet was in my mouth. The smell of dust was heavy in my nostrils. There were screams becoming more audible as I became more orientated. I heard the deep growl and quickly rolled to my right. The vicious jaw of the Dragon slammed into the ground. Hoisting myself up, I witnessed its gigantic teeth scratching marks into the dry earth. I picked up my shield that lay near me. The beast snorted and sent dust all around.

The beast lashed out with its tail. Even with the shield, the force knocked me off balance. I tripped over something into a pool of water. As I got up, I saw another warrior, lower torso missing. I realised it was not water I had fallen in. From the corner of my eye I saw the sun reflect off something. A sword! The Dragon launched forward at me head first. I rolled away, using the shield to control my movement. I felt the heat from the breath on my leg as the forceful jaws snapped shut.

I made a dash for the sword, which protruded out of the ground, grabbing a discarded helmet as I ran. I felt the air behind me heat as I ducked down to the blood soaked earth just as the flames shot over my head. The flames died. I scrambled to my feet. Suddenly a tremendous pain surged through my body; I could feel the beast's claws scrape down my back. It tore through my armour like cloth. I slumped to the earth. I reached out and felt something wooden covered in warm liquid. I slowly pulled the blood-covered weapon towards myself.

This flesh-ling was proving problematic. The rest had fallen like the ants they are. This one had survived my fire breath, which was rare for the fragile creatures. Being so advanced and yet so brittle to things like fire, seemed like the creator's way of maintaining order. Our ability to breathe fire was never designed to be a destructive weapon, merely part of our flight mechanism. Yet because of the Georges’ war with my kind, we had found a more deadly use for our fire.

The George still stirred after having been gouged by my claw. Its hand searched for something in the remains of another of his kind. Amazing how these creatures adapted to danger and the lengths they would go to, simply to avoid death. The way the Georges crave dominance over all other creation has brought about their own destruction. They were put here to shepherd the rest of creation, yet they have hunted most to the point of destruction.

The George sprang up with one of their long pointed sticks in hand. This one is proving to be a fighter.

I readied the spear that I had found in the sickening mess left of my fellow knight and charged at the beast, aiming at the chest. It opened its mouth to shoot it's flames. I lifted the spear and drove it into the Dragon's open jaw. It howled in pain, the spear lodged into the beast's mouth. The beast thrashed violently, scratching at the weapon. I ran for the sword I had seen earlier, behind me I could hear the animal roaring. Just as I gripped the blade's handle and swung to face the dragon, it snapped the spear with its jaws, sending splinters of wood into the air. The Wyrm shuffled it's legs and stared right at me.

I ran towards the creature before it had a chance to attack. I cast the shield in front of me, and launched myself onto it. Sliding along the ground, I held my sword up as I ducked my head. The dragon moved, but not quickly enough. The sword sliced through the beast's wing. The shredded wings flapped in the breeze. Quickly I charged at the beast and swung the sword into its thick neck. It went part way in, sending a spray of warm purple blood over me. The beast roared and released a sudden burst of fire. Leaping to one side to avoid the flames, I quickly lunged back at the beast. Driving my hand into its head, my gauntlet made the process easy; I ripped one of the dragon's eyes out. The tendrils connecting the eye to the rest of the beast’s brain stretched till it snapped. The beast howled in pain. Suddenly its giant forearm knocked me back.

My vision blurred, blood poured from where my eye had once been. This George had caused enough trouble. I pinned him down with one claw, driving it through his shoulder. His screams of pain were like songbirds to my being. With my other front claw, I pierced through his eye. His screams intensified. I pulled my claws out, eye still attached to one and he crawled away slowly. The pain was causing his body to shudder and spasm. Time to end this. Slowly I stalked around him, so as to get the best angle to finish his weak frame. A valiant warrior, he deserved to die by my doing. Scratching my claws against a rock, to ensure sharpness, I readied myself.

'Move!' My mind demanded, the pain from my missing eye surged through me, urging myself to get up. The beast’s growls grew louder. 'Move now!' I rolled out of the way. The claw slammed into the earth and scratched deep into the soft dirt. I rolled again. There was another spear and sword on the ground. Picking both up, I sheathed the sword and charged at the beast, with the spear outstretched, ready to lunge into the dragon's mouth. 'Only one chance...'

Brave George. It ran toward me with another stick, I readied the last of my fire, and there would be no flying away after this battle. 'What!' The George used the long stick, but not against me. It stuck it into the ground, 'Now!' I released the flames.

The flame burst just narrowly missed my legs as I catapulted myself up into the air. The dragon was now weakened after using it's fire breath. As I came down towards the beast, I unsheathed the sword and swung as hard as I could. The sword went straight through, making a sickening sound as it went through muscle and bone.

The beast was dead; I fell to the ground, exhausted. Gathering my breath and just as my thoughts turned to treating my wounds. A gust of wind from above encircled me, I looked around, and the wind was accompanied by a monolithic, winged shadow covering me...