The Worst Day of a Lifetime

Nothing more can be done... just what has to be done. The day of the end has arrived... only those who prevail will see the next.

The Worst Day of a Lifetime

Everyone was woken up when the first rays of sun appeared in the environment. It was a matter of minutes before the sun was completely out. We all stretched up along with our dragons and saddled them up in silence. I struggled with myself to keep my cool, to remain serene and focused. I thought of nothing more than Furia. The others weren't very talkative either... same waters, maybe?

When the sun was almost out, we were all strapped onto our dragons and ready to take off. Unlike the last time I had to speak to a group of people; this time I was not only prepared… I had something to say this time.

Draw attention to us. I told Furia.

She thought for a moment, and then, without any kind of warning, exhaled a puff of fire to the sky. As all eyes, reptile and human, pointed at Furia and me. Lightly shouting and with a tough tone, I began my speech.

-This is the day we all have been preparing for! After all this time, this day has finally arrived to us! And it's going to be the WORST day of our lives! History is full of determined worst days for determined people… but this one is ours! We will want to forget this day so much… But instead! We will talk about this day a hundred million times in the future! Because this day is our gift! This is the day we shed blood for what we believe! For our fallen brothers! For freedom! This is the day WE RIDE!

As I finished, Furia roared and took off. So did every dragon and rider along. The epicness of that moment was unbelievable. All the roars rebounded in my heart, and were like an adrenaline injection. The feeling was amazing and indescribable; I felt it in my eyes as the wind got my tears away.

We rose like the night as our shadows on the ground moved forward with us like a plague. Getting closer and closer to the aerial space the battle would occur, Furia identified spots far away.

As the spots quickly turned into dragons and riders, my life flashed through my eyes. From the true day of my birthing to this moment, it was a well lived life. I wouldn't change anything about it, not even the tiniest detail. In peace with myself, and having shared this with Furia; we were then ready to give it all in this day.

The faces of our enemies were then clear for us, as they generated a wide variety of weapons. Having my sight's locked on the rider facing me; I would generate my weapons at the correct time not to give away my weaponry… although, he sure looked intimidating.

And the two masses merged together in the blink of an eye.

The rider in front of me threw at me some kind of trident. I blocked it as Furia tilted up, gained a bit of altitude and twisted.Then the rider was underneath us, but I was still facing him. I threw a short quick rain of daggers and he blocked them as well. He quickly made a loop and was now behind us while Furia twisted again and stabilized. Then leaned back and blocked the projectiles the rider was throwing at us. Furia did a back flip and got above the enemy rider with me facing him again. I attacked the dragon's head with my Chain Blade and the rider blocked it and right at that moment, before the rider could even react… I whipped back the blade and diagonally chopped half of the rider's head off.

The dragon looked at me… not as an ordinary enemy. It looked at me with pure hate. It fixed its eyes on me and I felt as if it was pointing at me and calling me "murderer". The sensation was horrible; it was just a little moment before the dragon roared one last time, twitched for a moment and just stopped moving. They were both dead and would now fall to the ground.

We will truly want to forget this day… Furia said with a serious tone, not to disrespect the death we have caused.

I wasn't the only one delivering pain and death; I saw dead dragons and riders from both sides falling to the abyss. There were one dragon and rider who were actually alive, but not for long; someone had cut one of the dragon's wings off. I really hoped it wasn't one of my comrades.

After a quick look, I saw Costanzo and Ictio. They were finishing two of my fellow riders and dragons. The first couple, Costanzo killed the rider with a very long sword; chopping a half off by the hip. The second couple, Ictio made the kill striking from above and first killing the rider then to break the dragon's neck before it would die by its own.

It could have ended differently, Costanzo. But now you will pay for this! I thought; feeling my blood burning with rage for the death of my friends.

Let's get this done! Furia answered with fury.

We flew towards Costanzo as I generated a spear and held it in my right hand. Once we were close enough, I engaged.

We approached by their right side and I threw the spear at Costanzo, but failed, as he blocked it. They looped backwards and we continued forward through the space they left. Then they made the complete loop on top of us while attacking both me and Furia with a sword, but I blocked and counterattacked with my sword each of his attacks and he blocked mines. Ictio then twisted back and flew up; Furia looped too and then followed them. Now with a good distance between us, Ictio stabilized and flew forward. Furia stabilized when we were at the same height. Costanzo threw projectiles at us, but I blocked them all. And suddenly, as I rained daggers at them, Ictio made a curve and were now flying towards us.

This would be our final engagement, no more fooling around nor child's games.

As Costanzo and Ictio got closer, Furia and I waited for the right moment. Then, Furia pushed herself up but kept her head low and exhaled fire at them as Costanzo and Ictio flew underneath us. At that very moment, I used Furia's vision because I couldn't see from her back, and attacked them with the Chain Blade, but Costanzo managed to shield off both attacks and even the continual blows of my weapon. Then they flew up again and we followed them in a straight line up.

Now we were side by side, attacking each other continually with selected weapons. He used a long sword and shield plus sudden throwables, and I used the Chain Blade and shield plus sudden throwables. Then all of a sudden Ictio closed on us as to crash with Furia, but she flew to her downwards and avoided the lunge. Now stabilized, we saw Costanzo and Ictio doing the same, but they kept the height, flying on top of us.

Suddenly they made a left sideward loop, dived straight at us and attacked diagonally by our left side. Ictio exhaled fire at us and I blocked it, then Furia flew down to avoid the tackle. They tilted sideward and followed us side by side in the diving. Now knowing of their tactics on this position, Furia lowered sharply her speed while Ictio continued the dive. We were now chasing them, both of us Costanzo and I throwing blades at each other while blocking the incoming ones.

They suddenly twisted sideward to the left, and at the end of the movement Costanzo threw, with both hands, some kind of spinning sword at us. Furia was too close to avoid it; my reaction was to block it. I generated a shield with both hands as well and got ready for the impact.

I felt the drilling sword impacting my shield as I tried to hold it off… but I wasn't able to. My shield broke after taking the spin from the sword, it continued forward as a solid thrust. The sword wasn't aimed at me… it was aimed at Furia.

The blade stabbed the whole way through Furia's chest. Entered by the first ribs behind her left shoulder and went out around the last ribs of her right side. I felt the whole event, every inch of the injury as I pushed my hands against my own chest and pressed my teeth with a grunt of pain. Furia continued growling with suffering as my mind dissipated mine. Her wings stopped moving and her muscles began to twitch uncontrollably.

We were now on free fall.

Knowing I could do nothing more about the battle, I concentrated solely on our survival. I punched Furia's back as hard as I could and yelled at her as loudest possible.

-Furia! Wake up! Wake up! Don't give in! You just can't! WAKE UP!

Then her wings moved and got completely open, braking our fall. Furia glided to the nearest clearing while growling horribly. After a hard landing, she ended up lying on the ground, breathing irregularly and twitching her whole body, clawing at the dirt.

It hurts!… horribly!... make it stop!

-Furia, hang on! I'm going to cure you! You just hang on! -I said, getting near the wound on her left side. I put my hands against it and prepared to reach for my energy.

They are here!

Furia motioned with her head, coughing blood and growling. I turned back and there was Costanzo stepping down from Ictio's back. F**k! I could do nothing now; if I cured Furia, then I would be too out of energy to fight Costanzo; and Furia wouldn't be capable of engaging them both. Curing her or not curing her, we were both dead. There was only one option for me to take, and it was risky, but at least we had a chance…

I approached her head and knelt by her side. While pressing my forehead against hers, I said…

I have to finish Costanzo before healing you! I swear I will be back!

Rip his limbs from his body!

I pet her side one last time and walked towards Costanzo, who motioned at Ictio with his hand and said something I didn't hear, and then the dragon flew away. He was around twenty meters from us. As I walked towards him, Costanzo said…

-You are a dexter rider, Patrick Darst; but in the end, not as I am. I could let you live, but you would have to give up your dragon. Not only for your sake… for your people's as well.

I stopped at ten meters, generated the Chain Blade and answered…

-F**k you and your proffers! This ends now!

-As you wish.

Costanzo did a spin and threw at me the drilling sword, but I jumped to my side, did a roll on the ground and dodged it. Knowing Costanzo was a warrior, he wouldn't attack Furia to advantage himself. I whipped the blade at him continually in any way I knew, as randomly as I could be as I got closer and closer, also throwing a spear as a sudden tactic. He blocked and dodged my attacks, also he threw projectiles at me and I blocked them as well. Then I was just five meters away from him and rained daggers at him as fast as I could, without allowing him to perform any attack but to shield himself. I twisted and threw a spear with both my hands and saw him block the stronger attack. Right after I threw the spear, I fast paced the last meters between us as he attacked me, but I blocked his strikes without slowing down. At distance cero, I jumped at him... and in midair, with both hands I generated a sword with the blade aiming downwards, and with my strongest war cry stabbed down with all my strengths.

My sword broke the shield Costanzo generated and sank into his chest. The weight of the hit collapsed him to the ground and I was still holding my sword, feeling his muscles twitching around the blade. With rage in my heart I yelled at him…

-You don't f*****g mess with my dragon! You brought this to yourself! Now DIE!

I twisted the blade and made his body twitch harder. When he moved his left hand, I felt something inside of me, down in my right side. He was still holding a sword that went through my body and continued out by my back. Then I felt an acute pain coming from the injury. His sword dissipated and his hand fell to the ground as the last breath left his body.

I put my left hand on my wound and generated a staff with my right one. I got away from the body and headed towards Furia. A few moments later I heard some thumps on the ground behind me; I turned and saw Ictio sitting by his rider's side. Then he looked at me and our sights fixed on each other.

-I'm sorry… -I said and resumed my way to Furia, hearing Ictio's last roar.

I fast paced the last meters and landed by Furia's side, right in front of the wound. She wasn't twitching nor grunting… just breathing slowly and irregularly.

I'm here; I am going to heal you now. I said raising my hands and reached for my energy.

You know this will kill yourself, don't you… Her tone was strong and determined, it made me hesitate.

I wasn't just injured, I used most of my energy to break Costanzo's shield. I pressed my teeth and sighed.

Probably, yes… I said concentrating the energy to my hands…

Then don't heal me.

A tear slid by my cheek…

Turn legends or turn forgotten…

Patrick… I felt a new sensation in her mind… I had never felt Furia so sad.

Turn legends or turn forgotten, Furia… I said interrupting her.

Furia knew what she meant for me, she knew I wouldn't give her up for nothing in this world.

We'll do it together…

At the second she answered, I pressed my hands on the wound and released my energy. I held the energy flow for a few moments until I began to feel weaker and weaker. I kept going on as I could barely keep the position. My eyes were getting numb and my vision turned blurry. Suddenly I couldn't breathe, I could exhale but my inhalations were weak and little.

Then I felt it… at the moment I didn't feel any energy going out of me, my heart stopped. I collapsed backwards and rolled on the ground, pressing my hands to my chest; I ripped off my shirt trying to stop the pain. There was no air in my lungs for me to scream with. I lasted a few seconds there until I couldn't move anymore. At that moment, it didn't hurt any further. The last thing I did, before it all turned black, was turning my face to Furia and say… I know no life without you, Furia.

Furia didn't answer me… I couldn't even feel her anymore. She probably died when my heart stopped pumping. As I kept looking at her until the end, another tear slipped by the side of my head. As my vision turned darker and darker, the last thing I saw was a shadow that covered us at the moment I faded away.

Although I felt pretty patriotic with the Dragon Society's cause, the main reason I did all this was to hang out with Furia without having to hide her… to be free of going where we wanted without fearing for our lives. At least we were free to try, and we enjoyed every second of it. Furia was, and will always be… the best that had happened in my life.