another life

chapter 1 - the warrior

"I NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!"

the dragon snapped it's wicked sharp teeth, skimming dangerously close to lennon's head. she ducked just in time and drove her blade straight into the beast's leg. it howled, but stayed on its feet. lennon cursed and dove away as a bolt of fire hummed in the monster's throat.

a jet of flames burst from its mouth, engulfing the tree that had been behind lennon only seconds ago in a roaring fire.

"CAN I GET SOME HELP OVER HERE?!" lennon shouted again.

"I GOT YOU!" a heavy machine gun landed in her hands. she slid open the cylinder to glance at the ammunition.

"THESE ARE KRYPT BULLETS!" but she didn't have time to argue before the dragon threw itself on top of her again. it tore its talons across her face, which made her eyes well up with pain. lennon pulled the trigger and a bullet sunk itself into the beast with such force that it careened over, dead in moments.

lennon stood up. she brushed the dirt off her armour, staring at the fallen monster. it was small, for a dragon, only about twenty feet long. it's scales were a mottled green and the gaping crater where the bullet had hit it was seeping out muddy brown blood. must be some sort of EarthDragon, lennon thought, starving. i would barely have given it a week to live.

"how was that?" she looked up to frown at her best friend, asher, who was grinning at the dragon corpse. his forest green eyes glittered with excitement and, as his fluffy brown hair fell in front of his eyes, he reminded lennon inescapably of the squirrels that ran around the trees. she shook her head.

"that was the last krypt bullet," she told him. asher's smile slipped away.

"oh, dragon balls," he cursed, "sorry, lennon." she took one look at her friend's puppy eyes and felt her rigid leader face slip away.

"it's fine," lennon sighed, "you didn't know. i'll have to check with fox, but i'm pretty sure we're out of StarDragon blood to make it and everyone knows august doesn't give the stuff away cheap." asher didn't reply, blushing. "c'mon, let's get this meat back to camp. i'm sure we can cook something good out of it."

they brought out their daggers and cut the biggest pieces they could carry away from the body. the friends slung it over their shoulders in satchels, carrying it back to the tribe.

for such a small group of people, the sense of home at the camp was overwhelming. everyone knew each other and it felt more like a family there then a temporary home. that's one thing the Herculeans will never understand, lennon thought spitefully, loyalty.

the world was split into two groups - the Herculeans and the Scavengers. after the massive explosion that had wiped out most of humanity a few hundred years ago, it took the survivors a few more years to discover that, without the smoke and pavement, they could do things they never dreamed possible.

as nature surrounded them again, they rediscovered the power they had all along. each one connected with a certain element, Fire, Earth, Air or Sea and learned to bend that element to their will.

they also learned that their cities had been preventing another type of beauty to rise.

dragons returned from the earth.

each from a different element, they all found their human counterpart. they helped each other and learned to communicate through their abilities and connection.

well, at least most people did.

some people didn't feel any different then when the cities had stood. they only got harder. more unforgiving and dangerous. if the others found a new sense of peace, these people started having to fight to survive.

nowadays, most of the powerless people (or Scavengers) had died out but every so often there would be a child born without powers who would be kicked out of the Herculean palaces to live in the grungy Scavenger tribes.

lennon came from a long line of Scavengers and she didn't mind. In her opinion, the Herculeans were spoiled and too delicate for the real world. she much preferred learning to fight for herself.

since her parents had been killed by a rogue dragon when she was eight, lennon had been ruling the tribe by old laws. no matter what age you were when the chiefs were killed, their oldest (or only, in lennon's case) offspring would take to the throne.

she was seventeen now and showed no signs of dying.

in fact, lennon had run the tribe almost better than any chief in Scavenger history, which made her a bit of a legend around the few camps they came across.

lennon scanned the camp for her friend fox, the head engineer of the tribe. she found him in his usual tent, clanking away at some sort of new weapon.

"hi fox," lennon said. Her red-headed friend grinned at her.

"hey lennon!" he chirped, "i think i may have found a faster way to harvest the dragon meat when we -"

"that's great, fox," Lennon replied shortly, "do we have any more StarDragon blood?" fox's grin faltered.

"um, i don't think so," he said, "the only way we could get more is if we got way more dragon scales. august doesn't just give that stuff away." lennon pressed her lips together.

"sorry again," asher chimed in. lennon didn't reply.

"okay, how about this," she said after a moment, "we'll go back on the road and travel to some of the Herculean palaces. no, wait," she called over top of asher and fox's groans, "hear me out. i know we don't need to be pitied, but we do need more scales and the Herculeans have a steady supply. we've been putting it off but we can't be without Krypt. it's our only true defence against the dragons."

asher and fox went quiet which lennon knew meant she was right.

"we'll start packing up tonight," she said, "has bain been acting strangely?"

fox shook his mess of curls. "nope, same as always," he told her, "she's still burrowed in that cave of hers." lennon nodded. that was probably a good sign.

"tell the others," she said to asher, "and get this meat to adelaide. see what she can stir up." asher nodded dutifully and took the bags and jogged towards the cooking tent.

lennon smiled thinly at fox and then started over to her tent. even though she was the chief, lennon had been determined that all the tents be the same size, even the leader's. she sat down on the cot inside, massaging her forehead.

they knew for months that they would have to get more dragon scales, she kept trying not to remind herself, we all knew this would have to happen. but that didn't make begging for the Herculeans help any more bearable.

lennon yawned and lay back on the bed. i can't fall asleep, she thought blearily, i... i've got to...

the last thing she remembered thinking about was whether or not the Herculeans got this worried.