The tower had no doors, just a wide opening, and beyond that was a spiral staircase stretching to the top.
Along the smooth walls were windows— crude constructs cut into the stone, the dim morning light streaming in was barely enough to illuminate the room. And yet we didn't stop moving.
It wouldn't have killed us to wait a few minutes more— for the sun to completely rise, but we all just followed Muri blindly up the stairs.
After what felt like a hundred storeys of stairs, we finally reached the next floor.
At its centre was a lever, and above us was the open sky.
I tensed as Muri moved to pull the lever. Luckily, Ren was having none of that.
He raced to it first, blocking Muri from pulling it.
"What are you doing?" Muri asked annoyed— as though he wasn't the one who dragged us here without any information.
"We can't go any further if you don't tell us anything", Ren replied. Slowly, Everyone gathered behind him leaving Muri alone on one side.
He regarded us slowly—as though wondering if he could take us all on.
Eventually he eased up releasing a long sigh.
"There's a dragon.... one I am certain we can slay if everyone works together."
I released an unintentional gasp at the word dragon.
'He has to be joking right?'
'A dragon?'
'A dragon would kill us all with a simple sneeze, there is no way we would fight a dragon.'
But the look in Muri's eyes made it clear that this was not a joke, all around me people broke into nervous chatter.
Ren though, didn't seem fazed in the slightest bit, he didn't budge— pressing Muri for more info with a glare.
"The dragon controls water." Muri continued, shrugging as though that answered everything.
Two grown men stood opposite each other, folding their arms and glaring like children rather than communicating what they wanted.
Unfortunately enough, we all watched them, waiting for one of them to decide what we would do, but that too was useless.
There was no point in turning back now.
It seems Ren realised that too as he sighed and turned to face us, he must have been convinced we could win, because without another word he pulled the lever.
The entire room shook vigorously—like a bad elevator jolting and tilting on it's way up. I managed to stay on my feet while some instantly dropped to their knees, others crouching down for a more stable position.
Loud metallic clicks, and the sound of heavy gears turning in place filled the room.
Slowly, the ground moved to fill the open roof.
Through the noise and horrible shaking, Muri stood folding his arms, unlike us he was levitating smoothly above the ground.
I thought to use my shoes but I didn't trust them, and soon our platform reached the top— grinding loudly into place.
'There goes our element or surprise, if we even had one.'
The roof of the tower seemed much larger than the tower itself, though it was heavily obscured.
Up here there was nothing to see.
Some areas were cloudy and covered in thin mist, while others were completely shrouded in fog.
Everything else was calm and silent— empty even.
The only sound I could hear was the shuffling of feet from the people around me.
Muri stood ahead with his back to us— waiting.
Suddenly, there was a tiny disturbance in the clouds.
My eyes widened, and before I could make words the tiny disturbance became a raging beam of water.
It didn't take long for our small group to break apart screaming.
"DON'T MOVE!!!" Muri ordered, The only audible word my ears managed to pick up in my paralysed state.
Bitten by fear, my body refused to move.
There was just nowhere to go.
In a fraction of a second the burst of water became an overwhelming stream, blocking everything in my vision.
I managed to curl myself to the ground.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Nothing happened.
I looked up the see the bulk of the water— stopped as though hitting an invisible wall.
Shakily, I got up. My head pulsed like a heartbeat, what just happened..... I'm alive?
Ahead of me was Muri, and the water parted right in front of him.
He didn't look like he had moved from his spot.
Behind him was Ren with his sword drawn, Mum was still here, along with Theo and Ren's daughter—Karin.
There was no trace of anyone else.
Mum locked eyes with me, as I approached them.
"Is everyone....?"
"Everyone is safe, they just got washed away." Mum said, cutting me off.
I released the breath I didn't even realise I was holding... The Barrier must have absorbed most of the damage.
In my brief state of relief, a loud whooshing sound drew my attention and a creature that can only be described as godlike bounded through the fog.
Large golden horns curved backwards from its serpentine head. Their points were sharp enough to skewer a car.
It's four limbs were thick, ending in dangerous claws that shone the same deadly gold as the horns.
Blue scales like the deep ocean filled my vision as the creature swam through the sky.
Fury. That was the only expression on it's aged face.
It's whiskers whipped around it in a frenzy.
Its teeth, pure white yet jagged rough— shifted out of place, were bare in an almost human display of rage.
And it was heading straight our way.
"Scatter" Muri ordered, but we were way ahead of him.
I ran like never before, tearing to the side in an instant at the terrifying sight.
Behind me I heard the shattering sounds of glass.
'No way'
'There's no way he's actually fighting that thing'
Every second that I heard a scream either human or the dragon's I thought it would definitely be heading in my direction next.
But on and on the sounds came, like the man and dragon were locked In a stalemate.
I risked a tiny glimpse—what I saw was crazy enough to stop me in my tracks.
Behind me, Muri and the dragon fought.
Every slap of the dragon's tail was deflected and countered.
The dragon jerked side to side, hit by invisible walls.
It... it was losing.
Now that I looked properly, it's scales weren't as bright and neat as I thought.
Heavy dents marred its body, and in some rare cases there were bleeding cuts and a few scales out of place.
One man.... versus a dragon.
Motivated, I charged towards the dragon myself, at an angle where Muri could clearly see me.
All I needed was one touch, just the tail....
Muri, seeming to understand came to a halt.
The dragon didn't notice anything.
It rammed head first, its curved horns smashing into barriers with a thunderous boom, accompanied by loud cracks.
By the time it broke through, Muri was already above the dragon's head, rapidly slamming barriers on the creature.
Until finally, the dragon fell to its limbs— right in front of me, it was just for a few seconds, but that was all I needed.
The dragon was enormous up close, Its tail— covered in white fur, was twice my size.
I touched it, not daring to grab as I poured in my energy.
The Dragon thrashed, its tail whipping up and battering into the ground— leaving deep gashes.
I only barely escaped, gusts of wind almost throwing me to the ground as I ran.
Luckily I bolted immediately it raised its tail.
I should have known it wouldn't die just like that, so far about two people have been unaffected by my ability— myself excluded.
I felt as it turned, though I couldn't see it, It's enraged roar was a clear give away that I was now its target.
There was no space for thoughts in my head as I ran, my body screaming from the strain.
Sharp pain pierced my skull as my energy continued to push me, and the only sounds I could hear was my beating heart and the sound of shattering glass.
It didn't take a minute before I was deep in fog, unable to see anything a few steps ahead of me.
And yet the Dragon was still on my tail.
The ground was wet and slippery but I managed not to fall.
Cold, so cold and hard to breathe.
But I could still hear the creature roaring right behind me.... until I couldn't any longer.
I stopped— crumbling to the ground out of exhaustion.
Every breath I took made my situation worse as the mist and fog choked me... something..... something was very wrong.
But I couldn't figure it out before my eyes closed shut.
.......
I clutched Hossam with a fierce grip, almost ruffling its paper edges as I walked back to where Muri stood.
The dragon was nowhere in sight, running into the mist after Vicas, poor kid.
What's gonna happen now?
Surely the kid was dead after running straight into the fog.
Obviously, it was an extention of the dragon's ability, I mean it couldn't possible be a natural occurrence.
But maybe the boy would live.
His powers are definitely not normal, and his speed..... absolutely ridiculous not even the dragon could keep up.
Steadily, Karin followed behind me. "Do you think he would make it?" I asked Muri, annoyingly enough, he seemed to know a lot.
"No"
I waited for any sort of explanation, but he didn't give me.
"It would be back soon"
"If you are going to run, give yourself a headstart."
Suddenly, heat rushed to my face but I didn't dare refute him, not after how I fled the last time.
'But regardless, who wouldn't flee at the sight of that thing?'
As though punctuating my thoughts, a roar ripped through the clouds as the Dragon appeared covered in blood.
Its mouth was bleeding like it was seriously ill.
Its eyes— previously white, were covered in red, large pieces of scale were stripped off, clearly self inflicted from the way blood marred its golden claws.
'That boy definitely did a huge number on it.'
"Karin..?".
"Already started." She replied before I completed my sentence.
'Good, now the dragon didn't stand a chance against us.'
"Could you cover me?" I asked Muri, his abilities, quite clearly were suited for defence.
"I can't completely block its attacks, only deflect." He replied
I nodded back, luckily that's all I needed.
"Cover me then"
The dragon was almost upon us, and so I rushed to meet it.
This is nothing, The dragon was sluggish and bloody and its eyes were not even focused on me.
Deep breath...
Then I burst into the air, the windwalkers pushing me into the air, on even ground with the dragon.
It growled upon noticing me, yet its eyes still remained distracted, its claws dug into its body as though scratching an itch, smearing red blood all over its blue scales.
As I approached, one if its large claw tore in my direction.
SHIT!!!!
I didn't even have the time to react, all I could hear was a loud bang.
And the claw scraped on the air right in front of me.
"UP.... UP DAMMIT!!" I yelled to my windwalkers, desperately trying to move as fast as I could.
Despite the brief pause the hand was still heading in my direction.
I held Hossam at the ready, then a sudden force threw me upwards spinning me end over end, yet in a precise enough manner that I passed right between the gaps of its nails and sailed over the dragon's head.
The dragon let out an annoyed grunt as it completely ignored me heading straight towards the culprit—Muri.
A quick look showed Karin was no longer in that spot, and so I dove, landing roughly on a scale near the dragon's neck.
It didn't notice me in its enraged charge, but I couldn'tkill it in one strike, its neck was too huge for that— much larger than I could wrap my arms about.
And so I stabbed, causing the dragon to jolt violently as a scream tore through its lungs.
Hossam buried deep in the neck of the monster, but in that violent motion, the paper scraped against steel like scales.
And Hossam shred to pieces, becoming only paper again.
I leapt off.
Right before the dragon spun into a death roll, blood leaking out of the wound in thick drops, along with pieces of Hossam.
Safe.
Or atleast that's what I thought till I locked eyes with it.
The second our eyes met, there was a clear communication between us.
Only one of us would survive this day.
I smiled, fully aware that I was in the worst position, upside down and in the air, basically a fish out of water.
The sound of multiple glass walls shattering was the last thing I heard before a shard of ice blasted into my chest, ripping a hole through my body.