The Tail of the Twin Dragons

23

The mountain path was a rugged assortment of uneven surfaces, pebbles, and fallen trees. Rogue and Sting had set out on their own - which Sting still thought was a stupid idea - and had taken the mountain path into the tall mountains that ran throughout the country.

At the top of one of the grand mountains, Sting grabbed on to a tree branch and hung off the side of a cliff, admiring the view.

"If that branch breaks and you fall and die, I can't save you," Rogue sighed.

"Have faith in me," Sting laughed pulling himself and jumping back onto solid ground, "Besides, there's just something about being suspended in the air that makes the view so much better."

"Adrenaline?" Rogue offered.

Sting looked at Rogue, unimpressed.

They began trekking down the mountain when both of them smelled something. It smelled like rotting flesh mixed with mildew and fermented fruit.

"What is THAT!?" Sting asked holding his nose.

"Nothing good," Rogue sighed knowingly.

The roar that shattered the peaceful mountain air around them affirmed that assumption.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Sting cried.

"As I said, nothing good," Rogue growled.

They ran off the trail and into the woods, dodging ill-placed boulders and ducking under branches until they came to the edge of a cliff. They both looked down and saw some sort of monster writhing in the trees.

"Well... it doesn't look like a dragon," Sting offered.

"It's not," Rogue murmured, narrowing his eyes so that he could get a better look at the beast. It was large, but not as tall as the trees that it was darting about in. Rogue could just barely make out the beast's long figure that was covered in thick, glossy brown fur.

"Hey, I smell something else," Sting cried, "I think there's a magic-user down there!"

Rogue peered further and sure enough, it looked as though the beast was chasing someone through the trees.

"What do we do?" Rogue asked calmly.

"You're asking ME!?" Sting cried.

"Yes, I'd like your opinion," Rogue nodded.

Just them there was a very human yell from down below, whoever it was sounded hurt.

"Uh - help," Sting offered.

"Yep," Rogue sighed.

The two dragon slayers then launched themselves off of the cliff and down towards the beast.

"HOLY DRAGON RAY!" Sting yelled bringing his hands together and causing thousands of beams of white light to spray downwards to the monster. They came into contact with the beast's back

Rogue covered his arms in shadows and came down on the creature's neck, "SHADOW DRAGON WING ATTACK!"

The beast roared in pain as it flailed around, knocking down a few trees.

Sting and Rogue landed on the ground and looked up at the beast who now glared at them. It looked like a mix between a lizard and a buffalo... nightmare fuel.

"That's going to haunt my dreams," Sting murmured.

Rogue looked at him, clearly annoyed. Then, Rogue spotted the human. It was a woman, she had long purple hair and intense brown eyes. She was holding a sword and had a wound in her side along with a few bruises on her face.