Training in the dark

Arawn walked out of his small apartment’s balcony into the crisp autumn air. The moon shone brightly this evening illuminating the whole town. Crocus, the city of the old world, the palace was more or less a tourism spot these days. The city was still prosperous but it had fallen to a darker times, poverty was sweeping across the city quicker than it had in the past. The slums were full of pregnant unwed mothers, drunkards, and thieves. Arawn was born in these slums and if history said anything, Arawn would most likely die in these slums. Arawn had plans to change that though, he had become something that nobody from the slums ever had before, Arawn was a Dragon Slayer, a Dragon Slayer that would change the course of human history if possible. Arawn had come outside this evening to get in a quick cigarette before heading off to go train, he had been slacking these past few weeks and was getting very rusty in his skills, Athest would be very upset with him. Arawn pulled out his lighter and began flicking it open and shut over and over again. He was lost in his thoughts of Athest, his father whom he had not seen in years. Arawn missed Athest and had dedicated his life to figuring out where Athest went and to build the world that Athest wished would come about.
Arawn flicked his lighter about ten times before finally getting back to what he started. He finally started the lighter causing a flame to appear. The flame’s light caused shadows to cover the area and dance around, Athest once told him to beware the Fire Dragon and its child due to a grudge the two dragons had each other, since then Arawn has been rather hostile and cautious of fire mages. Athest had also told him at one point in time that fire was also just a medium to help create shadows so Arawn had nothing to fear from fire because as long as the fire gave off light. Arawn took a few long drags and just stood there overlooking the city.

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He stamped out the cigarette on the balcony’s railing and walked back inside. As he did he slid the door back shut and locked it. He grabbed his black suit jacket and threw it on. After grabbing his keys he walked out of his apartment he locked the door and headed down the dark hallway to the stairs. The door to his apartment was a little plate steel side door on a street corner. The street was dead empty it was far too late for anybody to really be wondering around. Arawn walked down the street heading for the edge of town, the walk would take a few minutes but it would give enough time for Arawn to contemplate want he wanted to train and smoke another cigarette. The cool breeze caused Arawn’s hair to toss carelessly in the wind and gave a refreshing feel to his face. Arawn knew what he needed to do tonight, he needed to get himself to a level where he would be able to cause a great deal of damage. Arawn needed power to get in the higher circles of Fiore and the only way to get that power would be to train as if his life depended on it.

The edge of Crocus was a vast woodland like area, the same with most towns in Fiore. This time of night the woods looked particularly threating, the shadows twisted and demented looking. Arawn just walked through them as if nothing major was the matter. As he walked deeper into the woods he began hearing the snaps of tree branches and smelled something else out there. He had a small smirk on his face, he was hoping something in the bump of the night would appear. For a few more minutes Arawn continued walking deeper into the woods until the smells that whatever was following him got a bit stronger.

Word Count: 670

A clearing was coming ahead, the perfect place to confront this hunter. Arawn walked out into the clearing, the moon was shining brightly causing large shadows to stretch across the field. Arawn went ahead and walked to the middle of the field and stood there for a moment gazing up at the night sky. A breeze rolled across the field causing Arawn’s hair to flutter. The breeze also brought the hunter’s smell to Arawn’s nose once again. There was more than one hunter it seemed. Arawn could tell that they were standing at the edge of the clearing waiting to see what the next move their prey would chose to make. They would not wait too long to see what Arawn would do, soon they would strike and soon after that they would die. Arawn waited for a moment locking onto their positions with his nose, soon after the first one emerged from the woods. Standing there was a large, black and grey, rabid dire wolf. The creature when standing on it’s hind legs could be roughly 8 feet tall. The wolf was about the size of a bear more than a wolf. It was one of the apex creatures in these forest at night and normally hunted in packs of three to four.

Arawn had studied these creatures and their mannerisms before and knew what to expect more or less. They normally tried to confuse and enemy by having them believe that this first one is the main enemy while a second and third flank their prey from the back coming in at diagonals. A simple and highly effective strategy but one that was wasted on an enemy that could smell the others sneaking in from the back. As the one in the front slowly began walking forward Arawn began taking small steps back. After about three of these the beast let out a growl of some sort and began charging Arawn. The shadow dragon just smiled.


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On his next step back Arawn would activate a spell causing him to melt down into the shadows. Arawn would confuse the wolves for a moment and also allow himself to get where he needed to be to start this little shindig. He decided to head straight for the wolf in the lead, being a shadow in the nighttime it would be nearly impossible for the wolves to even realize that it was in fact Arawn or even be able to keep up with the shadow. He slid right between the wolf’s paws and glided up the legs and body, only to reform right on top of the wolf delivering a strong elbow blow to the wolf’s back neck. The sudden weight on its back along with the blow to the neck caught the wolf off guard, causing it to collapse to the ground stunned for a moment. Arawn was pretty pleased with himself until the two sets of yellow eyes from across the field reminded him that there was still some business left to do.

The wolf that he first took care of was now rustling beneath him, it was getting annoyed that there was a person laying on top of it. Arawn kicked with his whole might against the wolf’s neck causing it to let out a loud yelp and start coughing, it might not have ended the wolf’s life but it would give Arawn a couple more seconds to get ready for the other two. As they charged him, Arawn activated a spell that Athest had taught him years ago. Shadows wrap Arawn’s hands forming into two twin black dragon’s heads with blood red eyes ready to sink their teeth into the flesh of his enemies. Arawn punched down letting the dragon’s mouth cover the wolf’s neck before biting down piercing through the veins causing blood to just pour out.

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The wolf let out its last moan before dropping his head onto the ground. The blood from his neck poured out onto the dark field. A wicked smile crossed Arawn’s face, he loved the thrill of a fight it got his blood boiling. The dragons on his hands melted away back to where they came from. The two remaining wolves after seeing their comrade fall began to charge Arawn. Arawn called on the spell that he had come out here to work on. It was a simple spell, a spell that was the signature ability of a Dragon Slayer. Arawn was cautious about using this spell due to the fact that Arawn was keeping his true identity a secret but seeing how nobody was around he was free to use this spell.

The wolves were running at high speed now, only about 10 meters away. Arawn took a deep breath inhaling the shadows of the world around him at the same time building up shadow energy inside his body. When the wolves hit the 5 meter mark Arawn brought his hands up to his mouth the second they hit they hit the 2 meter mark Arawn let out the roar. A twisting cone of shadows blasted out striking each wolf causing them to fall back to the ground. Whimpers of pain echoed throughout the field. Arawn walked over to the wolfs to finish off what he had just started. The both were panting, eyes closed, and covered in blood. Arawn brought his foot up and smashed each wolf’s windpipe causing them to slowly suffocate to death while he walked away back to the city. He had done what he needed to do for the evening and his roar was as strong as ever. A large wicked smile covering his face.

exit

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