The Dragon's Gift

Chapter 22

After reporting what had occurred at the battle last night, I returned to the same spot I had been going. As usual, the mysterious stranger was there, and in my tree.
"Hey, why are you in my tree?" I ask.
"Why not?" he responded.
"That's a comfortable spot, and I usually sit there," I say, mocking myself for how childish I sound.
"Well, now I'm here, and you'll have to fight me for it," he says.
"That's what this is about," I say with a hint of laughter in my voice. He leaps from the tree, landing gracefully on his feet, like a cat. His dark hair moves aside for a moment and I see his pointed ears.
"You're an elf!" I shout. Hatred wells up inside of me.
"Yes, and you're human," he responds.
With contempt in my eyes, I glare at him. "You have done so many unthinkable things to my people," I spit.
"No, my brethren have. You cannot put your hatred and spite for all elves on me, I haven't harmed a hair on a single humans' head. You're being stereotypical," he says, with no discernible malice.
"You expect me to believe that you haven't participated in this war? That you just sat around in a tree?" I say.
"Yes, because I have. I don't find this war desirable, and I certainly don't like what my people have done to yours," he says.
"Fine, but I don't trust you," I say, still not sure what to make of this.
"Now, are we going to fight or what?" he says.
"Sure," I respond. I draw my sword from behind my back, the emerald and silver material shining in the sun. He draws a sword much longer than mine. It takes both of his hands to hold it. Strange. He swings. I block it easily. He swings much slower than I do, but there is definitely more force behind his strikes than mine. Mid swing, I kick his hands and his arms go to the side, still clutching the sword. I bring my sword up but he managed to block it just in time. I find that blocking his strikes is just too taxing on my energy, so I switch to dodging. I fling myself at him, catching him off guard. I ram my blade into his side, then find a blade in my own side. Neither of us are bleeding because we both have a guard on the edge. We go back and forth until it's too dark to see anything. He seems a little out of place in the dark. I'm not too good either, but I somehow landed a blow that knocked him off his feet. I jump at the chance and place my blade across the area I heard something crash into the ground. Aha, my blade hits something soft. Sword in one hand, and maintain a flame in the other for light. I help him to his feet after sheathing my sword.
"Wow, I thought I was going to win," he says.
"Against me?" I laugh.
"Yea, I've been fighting since I was little," he says.
"Same. You're pretty darn good," I say in between panting breaths. I find my way back to my new room and fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
It's pouring. A scream, but not a human scream. I can't place it. Then, I'm thrown to the ground as some ugly three clawed creature all but tackles me. It pays me no attention and keeps running in the direction of the scream. I follow it. I notice an eerie cave, something being forced into the cave, screaming. Thousands of the menacing things that ran into me are pushing it in with crude swords and spears. I'm overwhelmed with a looming sadness for the creature being forced into the cave. Then, another is forced in. And another. And another.
I gasp. Another dream. Ugh. I open the crimson curtains by my bed. A bright and sunny day. I decide to go into town and just walk around for some fresh air. Halfway into the Shopping District, I run right into someone.
"Oh I'm so sorry," I say to the woman I just bumped into.
"You better be," says a familiar voice. I look at the person.
"Marissa! Here let me help," I say as I pick up the bags she dropped.
"Phoenix? What are you doing in the clothes section?" she asks.
"Just walking around," I say.
"Well now you're walking around with me," she says as she grabs my wrist and drags me in the opposite direction. I follow her. One moment I'm looking at a shirt she found, and the next I'm trying to figure out which store she darted into this time.
"Do you ever get tired?" I ask, exasperated.
"No, how could I when there's so many things to look at?" she says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. We move from store to store until it's closing time for nearly every store. We walk outside to find that all of the shops and kiosks have their "sorry come back tomorrow" up.
"Already? That wasn't nearly long enough," Marissa says in a childish voice.
"I think it's just in time," I say gratefully.
"Wait! There's one more store," she says excitedly. I stifle a sigh. In a matter of seconds, I wind up in a strange store that seems to sell kids toys that are almost all replicas of some dragon or other things.
"Why exactly do you want to be in this store?" I ask her.
"Why not? The point of shopping is to shop," she says with emphasis on shop.
"Oh, hello. I don't usually get customers," a woman says, "What brings you two here?"
"Just looking," Marissa replies. The woman looks older than time itself. We walk back outside.
"Marissa, I'm heading home, I have a council meeting in the morning," I say.
"Oh okay, I do too, but not as important as the Strategic Council," she says, I feel like there was a note of jealousy in her voice, but I push it aside. Morning rolls around too soon. I'm still tired. I make my way up to the council room after getting dressed. I find only Jett and Kai have arrived, both poring over the map. I take my seat.
"Where's Teren and Sara?" I ask.
"They'll be here soon," Jett responds. Sure enough, they both arrive in a few minutes.
Kai begins, "We've captured the elven village behind Mt. Torn. Our forces have also retaken Drellon and are currently fighting for Tenna. Apparently the elves have sent reinforcements to Tenna and aren't going anywhere without a fight. I say we move more soldiers to Tenna lead by Phoenix and I until we retake Tenna. Jett, Teren, and Sara, figure out where to strike next and we'll report back before dawn," he says with determination.
"I have no problem with that," says Teren, holding his side. He had received a nasty cut to his ribs that would prevent him from fighting at his best, and would endanger him.
Sara speaks up. "I'm sticking with Teren," she says with adoration in her voice. It's obvious that she's got a thing for him, but he's completely oblivious.
"I agree, I still have some thinking to do," Jett says.
"So it's settled. Kai and I will leave today," I say. We all leave, with our job cut out for us.
"How much time do we have before setting out?" I ask Kai.
"Not much, enough to gear up and head out," Kai replies.
"Okay, I suggest we get to it then." I put on my armor and place my sword in the scabbard that I have across my waist. Upon arriving, the sight we see is not what we expected. Our forces were dwindling, with only the best soldiers left, and they're close to being overwhelmed. What's worse is that our reinforcements won't be here for several hours.
"Kai, how are we gonna hold this village until we get reinforcements?"
"I have no clue, but I'm not standing around for a stray arrow to hit me," he says as he draws his swords. I draw mine from my waist and take off running. Soon enough, the familiar rush of battle fills my thoughts. Dodge this. Block that. Swing left, kick right. I'm just going through the motions, it's all become way too similar. Just as I'm about to swing at an elf in my way, I'm knocked off my feet and shoved backwards by some unseen force. I try to find something to grab on to, anything. My back slams into a tree, forcing me to drop my sword, but that's the least of my worries. Now more desperate and frantic than ever, I grab on to a branch right above me. I try to pull myself up, but just as I make some progress, the branch cracks. Within seconds, it snaps and I'm flung backwards again. Then, just as soon as it came, the mysterious force was gone. I look around and notice that I'm at the edge of the mountain that Tenna sits on. I see a glint of something in the distance. Hoping it was my sword, I run towards it only to be sadly mistaken. The glint I saw was the cold eyes of an elf. This particular elf has a scar that runs from his ear to the corner of his mouth. I'm weaponless, with only my elements to fight with. He draws his sword ever so slowly, with a hateful look in his eyes. I back away before my foot slips over the edge. I regain my footing, narrowly avoiding a fall to certain death. Trying to think quickly, I engulf the entire area in flame. It doesn't touch him, almost as if an invisible barrier protects him. He takes a vicious swing at me. I barely bring up a wall of ice to shield myself. The ice suddenly explodes as the elf whispers something I can't understand. I've clearly met more than a match for myself. With no other options, I just decide to punch him. Mid-swing, he catches my fist and twists it behind my back, then kicks the back of my knees. This could be the end. An abnormal amount of time passed by. Shouldn't he have killed me by now?
I'm gonna have the last word I think to myself. "What are you waiting for you sharp eared freak? Just do it!" I yell. No sooner had I said it than a foot landed in my back, sending my flying off the mountain. A few seconds of weightlessness took over before my head slammed into rock. Then all was dark.