D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

— Kat —

Sleek really was the first word that came to mind as Kat gazed down at the beast and sent her mind into overdrive, giving her precious moments to take in as much information as she could. It looked refined in a way that nothing she had ever laid eyes on had previously. The drake, no, perhaps it was proper to call this a true dragon despite its supposedly lacking sentience was something to behold.

It still retained many of the expected features, the reptilian head and scales, the four legs, and the stern look… but that was the only things that matched. The scales on its back shone in a wonderous hue of colours, looking like someone had hand polished a million opals only to delicately lay them across the great beast’s back.

The scales on its stomach like the night sky, a glossy black with dots of bright white that shone like stars against the night.

Its four legs all held talons that seemed to cut into the ground with every step, they were a bright silver and shone like distilled moonlight, and even glowed slightly despite the fact that the dimension they were in appeared to be stuck amongst the day.

Its two large whiskers were similarly impressive, glowing a resplendent gold and emitting light that seemed to hover specifically around the trail they left in their wake.

There were only two things that contrasted the regal aura the dragon possessed. The teeth, and the horns. The teeth were horrid jagged things that didn’t seem to properly fit into the dragon’s mouth. Even as with its jaw shut multiple crooked teeth broke free of its jaw and impaled some of the scales further up.

It looked more like someone had just dumped a bunch of teeth into a bucket and swirled them around a bit. Kat couldn’t even see a tongue amidst that forest of teeth.

The horns were somehow better… and worse. They looked like crystals, crystals that had been tainted with something foul. They grew from the beast’s head almost like a mane, covering from ear to ear. They were a dirty blue with particulates mixed in of all colours and something about the sight sicked Kat. She didn’t even fully know why.

Compared to the teeth the horns were nothing that strange in appearance, but Kat felt like she’d have been less disgusted if she saw magots crawling over its skull.

Then there were the eyes. Kat really didn’t know what to think of them. Pitch black orbs that seemed to gaze right back into her soul. Kat was starting to have some real doubts about just how sentient this thing was. *What the heck do I do? No, stupid I charge at it… but where is everyone else?

Why did I enter this place in the air? How did Lily know I needed to let me wings out? How am I meant to keep this thing grounded when I don’t see any wings?*

Kat threw away her hesitation, and a moment later she also let Lily go. She had to trust her girlfriend would be able to use those wings of her. Kat could see the dragon looking at her, and she didn’t want it to suddenly decide it needed to come to her. Kat pushed her wings hard right from the start, rocketing forward towards the beast as fast as she could…

And it just stood there. Staring. Waiting for her to approach like her speed was nothing, that she was irrelevant. Kat didn’t let it bother her, instead taking the chance to gaze around… but no sign of anyone else. The ground was completely flat. There were no trees, no outcroppings, no hills or even scattered bushes to hide behind… but for the moment it was just her and the drake.

Kat didn’t know what that meant, except that she’d need to keep it busy.

Still, it was just staring at her for now, and as Kat approached she decided to take a risk, it paid off last time after all. Instead of coming down and striking the face of the dragon like the first of god… she descended in front of it, just on the edge of the destruction it had caused in the rampage before her appearance.

Sadly for Kat. This was no water elemental. The dragon’s head shot forward, mouth open wide and teeth ready to tear her apart. Kat wasn’t quite expecting it, dodging just a hair too late and she felt the dragon’s head come down on her right wing and arm. Kat clenched her teeth as she let out a hiss of pain, but the worst part wasn’t the fact that she’d had her arm and wing bitten off…

No the worst part was that she hadn’t. Kat was right there, in front of the drake, and she couldn’t pull away. Her bones apparently sturdy enough to weather the abuse and that was not a good thing. The teeth bit into her flesh and muscles from all angles, and a few did penetrate into the bones… but it just wasn’t enough of them.

While Kat was distracted by the pain, the drake wasted no time, slamming her against the ground, doing considerable damage to her remaining wing and driving the wind out of her before throwing her up into the sky, its head coming up a moment later ready to snap down on her entire body.

Even through the pain, Kat was ready. The injuries she’d already sustained a sufficient wake-up call. Kat burst into water as the drake chomped down on her… and Kat quickly found a new problem. The furthest bubbles of water from the centre were being ripped from her control, and a small chunk of demonic energy was going with them.

Kat knew this couldn’t stand, and that she didn’t have time to direct the water to escape the beast’s mouth without loosing a huge chunk of her reserves.

So Kat did something risky. Something she’d technically done before… but she’d never made the transition like this. Kat exploded into mist and flew straight through the beast’s mouth. Kat lost a much larger chunk of energy in the transition, perhaps twenty-five percent, as she escaped the dragon’s mouth.

As soon as Kat was out in the open air she let the transformation drop, and found herself returning to her normal form, and falling to the ground.

Her wing and hand still broken and crushed, Kat hissed in pain as she hit the ground, watching as the drake’s eyes zeroed in on her once again as soon as she’d reformed. Kat knew she was in trouble. She’d been burning energy rapidly and the fight hadn’t even been going on for a minute.

Kat was ready for another attack… when a giant paper spear lanced into the dragon’s eye. It reared back and screamed even as Kat got back on her feet and took some distance from the creature’s mouth. It was clearly a much more dangerous place to be then she’d imagined beforehand. *Thank you so much!*

Kat felt Lily send back a large bundle of emotions, fear, worry, but mostly determination and understanding. Kat felt her spirits rise as her hand knit itself back together alongside her broken wing. Using the time Lily brought her great effect. The dragon had ripped out the spear once it got over the initial bout of pain and was looking up at the sky, searching for its attacker.

Kat didn’t give it the time. Despite having no desire to get up close and personal with the accursed beast’s mouth once again, Kat knew she couldn’t let it find Lily. Not when she had no idea how to keep the thing grounded without the obvious weak points of wings. Kat dashed forward with a fan in her working hand, for the other was not quite entirely prepared.

She dashed underneath the dragon’s mouth and launched herself upwards, slamming the closed fan underneath its chin, causing the dragon’s head to snap backwards. Kat winced as the recoil from her hit sent her back to the floor, cratering the ground as her feet made contact with the earth once more.

The dragon, clearly knowing what was up, simply brough its head down, likely before it had totally regained its bearings. Kat saw that it was attempting to smash her with its chin, and kicked the ground, hard, knocking away a bunch of dirt and debris before turning into water and letting herself quickly sink into the hole.

The dragon’s head hit the ground, causing it to rumble but Kat was mostly fine. Once again, at the edges she could feel something eating away at her control… but it was much weaker here compared to the dragon’s mouth. It was something she could actively fight, and Kat pulled her water in closer, ensuring that, even as the dragon’s head remained blocking her any exit, it wasn’t draining her dry.

*Ok… maybe we CAN do this.*