Magic Madness™️

Chapter Eighteen: Queen

Word Count: 1,309
TW// video game death

"Ahhh, you are back!" The creature greeted excitedly with an unsettling smile.
"Yes, and we're just passing through," Joan said, trying to walk around her.
"And how do I know that, wizard boy?" She asked, immediately blocking Joan from taking any further steps.
"I've killed you once, I'll kill you again. We can do this the easy way or the hard way," Amber warned, stepping up to Joan's side. The creature looked quite puzzled, and then she stopped to think, dropping down to all fours. She looked up at everyone, and then smiled.
"I will choose the medium way," she said.
"There is no-" Amber began.
"I will choose the medium way," the creature repeated, "My name is Ignis. You know me, I know you, and now we are acquainted. I want to challenge the fiery one and her only. If she can defeat me again, she is worthy of my respect, and you all will be able to pass through the rest of Pyron without any of my dragons or other loyal subjects on your tails. If I defeat her, you all will have to start over and you will never show your faces in my land again. I will give her one hour to prepare, if she agrees."
"It's a deal," Joan said immediately.
"What? That was freaking quick, don't you think?" Elijah hissed.
    Ignis grinned with her large, sharp teeth on display.
    "I want to hear it from her," Ignis pointed at Amber, and then extended that hand to shake, "What do you say, child?"
    Amber looked her up and down, and then glanced at Evalyn. She grabbed Ignis' hand firmly and shook it.

    "You've got this. I love you," Evalyn said quietly, bringing Amber down by the front of her shirt to kiss her cheek.
    "I love you too," Amber said with a small smile, and then she was walking back to the area where they had first been caught, where Ignis was eagerly waiting.

    "I am ready to begin when you are, child," Ignis said with a smug smile.
    With her hair already up and her sleeves already rolled past her elbows, Amber immediately took charge. To everyone's surprise, Amber closed her eyes as she approached Ignis. Still, she managed to tackle her to the ground.
Amber focused as intensely as she could. Her eyes were screwed shut, but she was dodging every attack sent at her. She got scratched a little bit and a lock of her hair got a bit burnt, but other than that, Amber was on fire (metaphorically, this time). In hardly any time at all, Amber had Ignis on the ground and in a choke hold. Only then, did she open her eyes.
    "I win," Amber said, panting to catch her breath. Ignis smiled wide.
    "Yes, child. You have won," Ignis agreed through fits of coughing. Amber tightened her hold. Ignis flashed a few times as her health bar ran out, and then she disappeared and Amber's arm closed around nothing.

+500 EXP

    The same thing happened as last time. All ash and sparks in the air began to float in slow motion. The air seemed to slow down, somehow. None of the players were injured, so they got to continue, this time. They all got to take in the change all around them. The geysers stopped. The rumbling in the ground stopped. All fire slowed down. The dragon was bowing its head.

    "That's submissive behavior," Amber mumbled, confused. Slowly, she approached the dragon. She reached out and touched its snout. It did nothing. Shocked, Amber retracted her hand and turned around. She ran to the nearest hot spring and hovered her hand above it. It evaporated completely. She stood and faced away from the group. She made a throwing motion with both arms, a fireball launching from her palms and causing an explosion where it landed.

+20 EXP

    "Are you guys freaking seeing this?!" Amber shouted, turning and facing everyone.
    "Yes," they answered in unison.
    "Do you know what this means?!" She continued to shout. Joan seemed to realize something.
    "You don't think-"
    "I'm the new fire queen," Amber nodded with a growing grin.

    "Wow," was all Alex had to say. They all sat on the back of the dragon, gripping tightly to its scales as they flew just above the clouds of smoke. (Penny sat patiently in Elijah's backpack, knowing she'd surely be blown away by the wind if she flew out.)
    "Yeah," Elijah agreed, gripping Alex's arm tightly.
    They could see everything. Pyron wasn't much to look on, but anything was cool, when on the back of a dragon. Pyron was a lot of dry, cracked, maroon dirt, hot springs, geysers, cliffs, caves, and occasional small villages of mud and straw huts. It was too hot for too many plants and animals to live, so the wildlife was minimal. Elijah occasionally saw very large lizards and other scaled creatures scuttle around, along with several dragons hanging out on cliffs and halfway in caves.
    "Of all the times players have gone through this game with me, none of them have managed to ride a dragon," Joan commented, his death grip on the scales tightening as the dragon began to swoop down. Elijah's stomach dropped like he was on a rollercoaster.

    When they landed, Elijah was the first to slide off. He fell as soon as his feet hit the floor.
    "I'm not afraid of heights. Heights are fine. But riding a dragon with only smooth scales and a friend, who could also fall, to hold onto is not my thing," Elijah explained, standing up and dusting himself off as he went.
    "I second that," Joan added, gracefully sliding onto his feet and straightening his windblown clothes out. (Elijah counted that as the first time he complained and Joan didn't reply with a snarky remark.)
    "I third that," Evalyn nodded, using the scales to climb her way down.
    "I fourth that," Amber laughed, jumping to the ground and letting herself fall. She just laid on the solid dirt for a moment.
    "You guys have no sense of adventure," Alex joked, "I thought it was fun."
Once Alex joined them on the ground, the dragon bowed its head again and waited for dismissal. Amber got up and petted its snout again, still amazed that she could even do such a thing. She told it that it could leave, and it gently nudged her before flapping its huge wings a few times and taking off again.

"Well that certainly was something," Joan muttered.
"Ain't that the truth. My girlfriend is a queen now," Evalyn grinned.
"Well my girlfriend has always been a queen," Amber countered, winking at Eva. Alex rolled his eyes hard.
"We get it, you're in love," Elijah rolled his eyes, but he was secretly happy for them. As annoying as their public displays of affection could be, it was still nice to see them happy together.
"So where are we now?" Alex asked, changing the subject.
"I believe we're at the edge of Pyron and South Arbran," Joan supplied.
"South Arbran?" Elijah asked, opening his backpack latch, allowing Penny to fly free. She perched on Elijah's shoulder while she cleaned her wings, and then flew around his head happily.
"Yes. Some of the terrains are split up into multiple areas. There's four separate forest areas in this world. We're in the southern one. Or we're about to be, anyway," Joan explained.
"Oh. Okay. So then where were we before we left?" Alex asked.
"North Arbran. That's where the fairy kingdom was. The fae and dryad kingdoms are in southern Arbran, so don't be shocked if we come across those," Joan said, already predicting a myriad of questions from Alex if they encountered any new animals.
"Cool. Uh, what are fae and dryads?" Alex asked sheepishly. Joan sighed.