The Endless Battle

Chapter 1: The forest of flames

*Thud* Suddenly the girl was on the ground, she looked back in terror as the two guards who were chasing her rapidly approached. She scrambled to get back to her feet but her boots couldn't gain any traction on the dirt floor of the forest and the men quickly caught up to her.

"So, you thought you could get away, didn't you?" One sneered as the other laughed. They hoisted the girl to her feet, quickly binding her hands together with a rope handed to them by the king's loyal servant Livira.

"Let me go!" She shouted as she tried to escape their grasp, but to no avail. She glanced around a bit more to see a larger group of the king's men surrounding them.

"So, how much did the king say for the head of the esteemed Malari Kaizen?" The commander of the hunt asked the others while he strutted over to the girl who was still thrashing about.

Her head shot up upon hearing his approach, eyes full of hatred as she shot daggers at the man.

"Back off you foul creature! You don't deserve the title of hero!" Mal barked, his face turned sour as he raised his hand to slap across her face.

"Don't you talk to me like that you filthy assassin!" He shouted, he then grabbed her face to turn it back to him so he could see the damage he dealt.

He saw light tears forming in her eyes from the sting and smirked before tossing her head away once more.

This feels hopeless... She thought as she stared down at the ground, she could feel the tears finally bubble over and start lightly dripping down her cheeks. Her mind was racing with thoughts of escaping this situation but nothing came to her.

The men started dragging her out of the forest when all of a sudden there was a loud growl that rang through the air which startled everyone to attention.

Malari looked around with hope in her eyes, she could sense a strong presence somewhere deeper within the woods yet she couldn't figure out what exactly it was from feeling alone but she knew it wasn't evil.

"To arms!" The commander shouted, all men quickly unsheathed their swords as dozens of eyes scanned the forest and the sky, "Make sure she can't escape, tighten the ropes!"

The men holding onto Malari quickly re-tied the ropes that had come loose while she was struggling. She winced in pain as she felt the ropes dig further into her wrists.

"I'll bet on my last breath that you are all going to perish here!" She shouted in anger as she jerked her hands away from the guards who let go in surprise. It took only a moment for her to realize this and she quickly ran off with slight difficulty. It's not easy to run while on uneven ground and with your arms bound so tight you feel like you have lost circulation in them.

It was only then that a massive gust of wind threatened to knock her over. She could hear a loud thud as something hit the ground of the forest along with trees being ripped from the ground. Looking up, Malari could see not too far from where she stood was a shining black scaled dragon with brilliant golden eyes. She stared in wonderment as did everyone else within the forest, no one dared move out of fear of this long forgotten and supposedly extinct creature that now stood before them.

"Dragon!" The commander shouted as he leapt out of the way from a bright flash of icy blue flames that lashed out of the dragon's mouth like some form of a river current.

All of the men suddenly lashed out upon seeing the dragon attack first. Arrows, armor and men flew through the sky causing Malari to have to take shelter behind a large tree. She was attempting to free herself from her bindings when suddenly the tree that had been protecting her was ripped from the ground by the dragon and launched at some men who were getting closer to her.

She glanced to the right of her and saw two more of the king's guards running at her. She quickly turned and ran down a trail and away from the chaos that was happening behind her. Quickly ducking into a patch of bushes and watching the men chasing her quickly lose sight of the girl all the while she somehow managed to cut herself free from her bindings using a sword that she had found on the ground.

Her lungs were gasping for clean air and her eyes were stinging and watering, yet she was finally free. The men from before spotted her again and were running back towards her, Mal glared at the guards as silver sparks emitted from the palms of her hands, the two men stopped in their tracks, watching and realizing that the assassin they had been chasing was no ordinary human, but a witch.

They could only watch in terror as the silver ribbons of magic slowly snaked their way around Malari, she gave them one last bitter look before quickly disappearing leaving nothing behind. The two stood in shock, still staring at the scene that was before them. Realizing that she was not going to come back, they tried to make their way back to the main battle to inform everyone of their discovery as the remaining silver sparks slowly faded out of sight.

Upon their return however, they were met with nothing. Just charred forest and armor scattered everywhere, there was no sign of life from the charred remains of their colleagues that lay scattered through the burn patch. The smell of smoke was still in the air, along with small flames that dotted the area. Upon realizing their defeat, the guards decided to quickly make their way to the kingdom.

Before they could though, they could feel a presence behind them. Turning around they could only feel an icy burn mixed with a brilliant blue light.

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Hello everyone! I am back from the dead! Sorry about that, but I am back for good now, I hope you enjoy the rework of my story because I definitely do.

I love you all! Tune in next time to see what happens within the endless battle! <3

Word count: 1016