Forging The Fire

22 ⚔️ Dawn Pursuit

Terra stood there, all dressed up in an outfit that suggested power and charisma, facing Max. Her dress was made of a black matte skin-tight suit that hugged every curve of her well-designed figure complemented with captivating thin and thick grey straps that went well with her delicate figure. A black elegant overcoat on top of her flame-proof dress, lending it an elegant look.

On her hips hung a silver-toned utility belt, decorated with various impressive tools. As the central focus of its presentation was a Taurus Raging Bull pistol, nestled securely in the holder of its holster, its sleek design and lethal potency were unquestionable. Her weaponry, meticulously prepared for action, added allure to her outfit.

However, it was the presence of an imposing five-meter-long Urumi, coiled and hidden, that attracted the senses. This single-bladed weapon craved to be released from her belt and dance in her experienced hands, with ease. A hatchet, held firmly by a magnet in her overcoat, rested on her back, increasing her already irresistible appeal. Her brown hair, nicely gathered in a bun, revealed a beautiful line of her neck and left a thick lock of hair dangling on the side of her face, waiting to be pushed behind her ear.

Max didn't expect to see her in her mission gear. She strode across the room. With a graceful movement, Max got on his feet and got to Terra, Clasping her wrist with a firm grip. "I said," He spoke with his teeth clenched, "I won't let you go alone"

"Well," She spoke, with her tone firm and soothing, "I'm the senior one here. I know you don't wanna let me die, but at the same time, I can't let Diato get himself killed. And also - I'm an A-Ranked Drayer, I'll not get myself killed that easily."

Her voice was compelling in an inscrutable way. Max didn't want to let her go but she seemed confident enough. He saw the order, and request in her eyes. He loosened his grip on her wrist but didn't let go. After an awkward moment of staring into each other's soul, Terra finally pulled her hand out of his clasp and exited the room.

But, before trudging further, she looked at Max over her shoulder. "I'll be okay," She said in almost a whisper, "get John and meet me at the Dragonspines"

Max's face turned to stone as heard the words, I'll be okay. His chin lifted with a nod. His face was expressionless. He gazed at her as he saw her trudge through the corridor, and fade away with a turn.

Max washed his face in a hurry and made his way up the corridor to John's room. He slammed the door open as if he were an angry Asian mother whose son got a C grade in mathematics. He half expected to see the lights off and John sleeping on his bed with his blanket carelessly thrown over him. He was surprised to see that the lights were turned on. John was sitting on his bed, his feet dangling over the edge. He was interestingly staring at his phone screen with his eyes adjusted to the low brightness in the bright room.

With the thud, the door hit the wall beside it and slowly slid back. Max stepped inside the room glancing at his surroundings. The bright tube light illuminated the room. He glanced at John. He was probably endlessly scrolling Instagram reels. Perhaps he had forgotten to sleep, and that human civilization sleeps when the sky turns dark and the sun goes down.

John glanced at him as if he had been caught smoking drugs by his parents. The silence was broken by Max, as usual.

"Why are you up in the middle of the night?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"I should ask the same question," John said, trying to change the topic, "why are you up in the middle of the night in the middle of my room?"

Max stared at him for a while and then remembered that he was in a hurry. The words that came out of his mouth seemed scrambled. "I'm hungry, get in your bottle gear, we're going after Tetra at the Doberman Mountains" He quickly realised his poor choice of words. He turned around and left the room in a hurry. John, however, understood what he was trying to say. He didn't get time to ask questions like why are we going after Terra? Why is Terra headed to Dragonspine Mountains? And why didn't Max stop her? And why the hell did this all happen in the middle of the night? He quickly dashed towards the door and turned all the switches off on his way.

He made his way down the corridor, trying his best to keep up with Max's speed. They finally reached the weapon room and grabbed their weapons along with their black fire-resistant suits. Max got his two Katanas and a boomerang on his silver utility belt. John picked his weapons: a pair of Sais, and five snow grenades to damage dragons. Snow was the only thing that damaged fire dragons after the metal used in Drayers' weapons. Because water didn't seem to affect them or weaken them at all.

They headed together to the basement and Max involuntarily walked up to his Royal Enfield which he used to take in Missions. Although he didn't own it, no one else seemed to take the bike to their missions regularly. Max did. So other Drayers started to associate this bike with Max. Max was going to enter his name.

"Don't." John said, "Enter the code I say. Don't take this bike on rent when you can get it for free. Enter a code. 29sj50aj27. It's the Mission code of Diato's First Mission and I don't see a better opportunity to exploit the Drayers Mission system than this one."

Max nodded and entered the code. The screen displayed that it was the fourth vehicle activated on the Mission code. Oh, of course, Diato must've taken the third vehicle to go to the DragonSpines. He doesn't have a bank account! Max thought as he reversed the bike and John hopped behind him.

*****

Terra rode her car across the bridge, but the car came to a sudden stop. Terra thought about the security cameras. Anyone sitting in the camera room could see that someone had taken the car to the DragonSpines. She decided to turn left to Troll Tog go around the Town centre and reach the mountains via Willow Lake. So that she wouldn't get in trouble. And it wouldn't even slow her down as there would be little to no traffic in the middle of the night if she was lucky enough.

She drove the SUV towards Troll Tog. She hoped Diato wouldn't get himself killed. All she could do was to hope. There was nothing else she could do. She knew the cameras were watched twenty-four hours, all three-hundred-sixty-five days of the year. James would be concerned if he saw a car go towards the mountains because it was very easy to find who took that car, and James would follow her wherever she went if he found out Terra took the car to the mountains. It was the haunt of the S-Ranked Dragons after all.

Her heart almost skipped a beat as she imagined Diato getting killed by the dragons or James. All she could do was hope Max wouldn't tell James about her. Thankfully, Max was like a trustworthy elder brother to her. Although she was the senior one, Max was relatively older. While she was only twenty years old, Max was twenty-six.

Max exited the basement and drove to the bridge to exit the island. He was not sure on which side Terra went but it seemed obvious that she went to the right. Because the Mountains were that way. When he reached the bridge, he had compulsively hit the brakes. A shadowy figure appeared in front of him in the middle of the bridge. The bike came to an instant stop as Max's feet landed on the ground to balance the bike. James. Max thought as he recognized the posture and body language of the figure. James strode forward towards the bike. Max swallowed, as John sat there behind Max silently as if he didn't exist. John was unaware of the not telling James part. His face was neutral, James got to the bike's front tire and came to a halt.

"And where do you think you're going?" James finally spoke with his voice as coarse as soil, while being bold and soothing in a weird way. Max swallowed again.