“Wow! It's really big!” Lidia gasped.

“Yeah! Looks like it's been eating a lot of prey lately,” remarked Benzo.

“Come on, you guys, calm down. It's just a dragon. Don't let your fear get the better of you.” Aiden tried to reassure us. He already had his sword equipped.

As for me, I equipped my Ivory bow and arrow and aimed at the beast from a safe distance. At least I thought it was safe, but it turned out that I was wrong. The creature turned its attention toward me. I immediately pulled back my bowstring and released my arrow. However, my aim was off, and the arrow missed its mark.

The dragon swooped down on me, causing me to flee in terror. I managed to escape, leaving my weapon behind. I lost my balance in the process and fell onto the floor. I was so terrified that I didn't even try to collect it.

"Eira!" I heard my sister calling out to me, moreover, I saw her rushing over to my aid while Benzo guided her back. Just behind her stood the savage dragon that still had the blood of its earlier victims trickling down its malefic teeth.

"Everybody get ready to fight!" I heard Aiden's valiant voice. He gripped his sword tighter and fearlessly charged at the dragon. The scene was unfortunately skewed. Aiden resembled a mosquito challenging a dinosaur.

The dragon noticed him coming and retaliated brutally by swiping its claws at him. Aiden was quick to dodge out of the way, however, the dragon's claws grazed across his chest.

Aiden stumbled backwards from the impact. Blood gushed from his wound, staining his white shirt red. The dragon was relentless in its pursuit. It lunged at Aiden again. Aiden once again dodged the attack by leaping back, avoiding another cut on his chest.

He was bleeding profusely, yet he continued fighting. Benzo joined his side and helped him fend off the ferocious dragon. Lidia was right behind them, wielding her spear. The trio fought back-to-back, blocking the dragon's assaults.

While Aiden Benzo and Lidia engaged the dragon in close-quarters combat, I fired off several arrows from afar. My aim was precise and well-placed this time around, hitting the dragon's head on each attempt. The dragon was enraged by the barrage of arrows that I shot at it. It swung its mighty tail around, knocking both Benzo and Aiden aside. In the confusion, Lidia retreated unharmed.

"Go down already, you monstrous bastard!" I continued to fire off consecutive arrows at the dragon's head. It was hard to miss, considering how many times I hit the same spot on the dragon. The dragon backed away from the onslaught, trying to find an angle to counterattack us.

While retreating, it still remained vigilant, keeping watch for opportunities to strike. Aiden and Benzo were fighting after the dragon fall back; they seemed determined to finish it off.

Aiden was capable of fending off the dragon's attacks. Despite the injury that it inflicted on him, he had the strength to continue fighting. As for Benzo, he was knocked unconscious by the dragon's clawing. He lay motionless on the floor. Lidia rushed to his aid. Benzo's wounds were so serious that she had to withdraw out of the cave with him, leaving only me and Aiden inside to continue the battle.

"Alright, you damn dragon! I'm going to make you pay for hurting my brother-in-law and my sister." I got enraged and cast a special magic on my bow and arrows to strengthen their effectiveness. The spell was called 'Fire Soaring Arrows.' It increased the speed of my arrows so they could penetrate through even the toughest dragon scales.

I took aim at the dragon's head and released my deadly string of fire arrows. Each arrow pierced deep into the dragon's skull. The dragon recoiled from the attack, falling backwards and crashing down to the ground with a loud thud.

I felt relieved that I had dealt the final blow. But I couldn't celebrate just yet. I needed to check if Benzo was alright. So I looked over at Aiden and told him that I was heading outside the cave.

"Ok, go ahead. I can finish up here." Aiden said.

Aiden carefully picked up his fallen sword and approached the dragon. He began to examine its wounds and saw that it was seriously injured in the head, not to mention that it was also severely wounded in the chest. The dragon's life was slowly fading away.

‘That is no ordinary dragon.’ I thought to myself. There was something about it that made me uneasy.

“Eira before you go, come look at this!” Aiden called out to me.

I rushed over to him and asked, "What is it?"

“Look! There!” Aiden pointed at the dragon's glowing scales, they were pulsating.

I peered closely at the dragon's body. I noticed that the scales were emitting a strange light. It was as though the dragon wasn't dead after all.

“Do you think the dragon is still alive?" I questioned.

“I'm not sure,” Aiden replied.

As we stood there watching, we realized that the glow was actually reviving the beastly creature. It started to growl fiercely, then it opened its mouth wide. Out of its serpentine maw came a foul-smelling green gas. The stench was so unbearable that we had to cover our noses with our shirts.

Before I knew it, I was thrown against a wall. I felt intense pain in my head as I struggled to regain my senses. I quickly pushed my way through the pain and rose to my feet. I looked around and saw that my friends were gone. All I could see was the dragon, standing tall at the entrance of the cave.

"Where is everyone else?" I asked myself as I tried to locate Aiden's whereabouts. I found him collapsed on the floor, bleeding profusely. I ran to his side and frantically checked his condition.

"Hey, wake up!" I tried to rouse him, but he didn't respond. I had to slap his face for him to open his eyes.

The dragon wasn't just standing around waiting for us to recuperate before it strike. It was staring at us with its red eyes that glowed menacingly. We were terrified!

“We have to find another way out of this cave!” Aiden shouted as he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me further into the cave. The dragon was blocking the exit so we couldn't escape that way.

While we ran for our lives, I glanced back and noticed the dragon charging up a terrifying breath of fire. "It's going to burn us to a crisp!" I shouted in Aiden's ear.

"Come close to me!" Aiden pulled me in closer as we ran. He invoked a protective shield around us. The force of the dragon's flames was significantly weakened by the barrier.

We managed to escape the dragon's wrath by running down a tunnel that led deeper into the cavern. Our path was dark and narrow, making it difficult for us to move forward. We were forced to crawl on all fours.

As we moved along, we heard the sound of the dragon in the distance, however, we pushed forth until we lost track of it somehow. Eventually, we came upon an opening which led outside the cave.

"We finally made it out of there." I gasped out of breath. Looking over at Aiden I saw him collapsed on the ground, unconscious. "Aiden!" I yelled. I rushed over to him and tried to rouse him, "Wake up! Wake up!" I slapped his cheeks and shook him vigorously. Nothing worked.

“Oh no! What do we do now?" I panicked as I tried to figure out what to do. I was worried that Aiden would die while I was unable to heal him.

There had to be someone who could help us, so I turned around to try and find any sign of Lidia and Benzo. But neither of them was in sight. They were way on the other side of the mountain.

“I hope they're fine…” I murmured to myself.

I decided to wait for Aiden to recover. Once he did, we would seek out Lidia and Benzo. When I looked back at Aiden again, I noticed that he was still unconscious. I knelt down beside him, placing my hand on his forehead. I could feel his feverish temperature rising.

“Why won't he wake up?" I asked no one in particular.

I went over to the edge of the cliff and scanned the area for signs of any people, but all I saw was the vastness of the forest. I wondered how far we had travelled away from the mountain’s nadir. I glanced back at Aiden once more to see if he would be able to wake up soon. I sighed in relief when I saw that his breathing was becoming slower and less laboured.

“He's starting to wake up,” I announced to myself.

I placed my hands on his chest, hoping that I could restore him to health. I chanted my healing spells over him, willing him to be healed. The spell was helping but it wouldn't be able to heal him completely.