"Just a little more"
Hikari stretched her arm, grabbing a bustle of glowing golden flowers growing along the top of the pillars, hanging from the ceiling of the arena.
She stuffed it into her backpack before dropping back down onto the empty arena.
She sat along the ledge, staring out into the distance as she gobbled down the flowers.
They were just like ivory berries, not particularly tasty nor filling, but they contained the mana to replenish her after the grueling trial.
The same mana she felt in the rooms of the tower.
It was morning. The sunlight shining on the yellow surface of the fireproofed stone inside the arena and the grey outer stone of the tower.
"How long have I been in there?"
From where she sat, she had a view of the land of Herdial. Vast plains laden with lush vegetation, teeming with life. Rows upon rows of farm land, following the shape of a river bend. The fields filled with a booming harvest.
"Doesn't look like Herdial is doing too badly."
She saw a straight line of rail tracks.
It led outwards from the town of Thauffe where she spent close to a month at.
A train had stopped there. A merchant convoy was setting off towards RazenHeir territory.
Further down the track, the fortress of Escher. Its ring of tall stone walls shadowing the surrounding trees.
In the distance beyond, a blurred outline of a sprawling city.
Hints of bright blue and green amongst the sand and stone.
Turning west, the port city of Carla. An eerie aura seemed to be emerging from it.
A ring of wooden palisades surrounds it.
Then there was the RazenHeir estate. The rings of fortifications built around it made it visible from above.
Beyond that, The spire city. A massive structure. Towering over even mountains extending well into the clouds.
Its ivory walls shimmering in the sunlight, visible for miles and miles.
Faint glints of a myriad of colors coming from near the top of the tower.
Hikari stood up. She strapped on her backpack that contained the elemental's dormant heart.
"I guess it's time to go to Escher, Ria might be worried about me."
Hikari searched her pouch for a flare.
Busted. The contraption was very unlikely to have survived the heat.
Her thick wyvern skin backpack seemed to have survived the heat rooms and dangling out in the cold wind during the elemental fight.
She took a glance around the arena one last time for anything of value before turning to face the cold wind.
Rooarrr! A massive body flew past her as she was about to jump off. The wind from its sheer mass blew her hair back.
Hikari froze. Out of reflex, she immediately activated her sound barrier, standing absolutely still.
The sound of crumbling rock. The massive creature sank its claws into the stone pillars.
Its nails reach through the gaps.
Its large reptilian eyes peered through the gaps meeting Hikari's gaze.
Hikari stared deep into the creature's eyes in return.
It growled at her. Studying her.
The spacing between the pillars was not enough for it to squeeze through.
It crawled along the outer ring of the arena behind the pillars, circling Hikari.
"There you are. Did you run away and wait for everything to blow over before showing up?"
The sound of debris knocking against the tower as the queen wyvern repositioned its claws.
Hikari turned her stances towards it.
Then it paused.
Hikari felt a sudden connection between their minds.
The world around her began to blur.
She felt herself falling deep into the abyss.
It was dark.
Her feet landed on solid ground. A thick fog surrounds the arena.
Stone ruins materialized around her.
With a crash, the massive wyvern landed on a stone pillar. The stone crumbling below its claws.
"A mind space. Last time I remembered falling in here, it was with the orc warchief."
Its wings spread out, sending wave after wave of winds strong enough to uproot trees.
Hikari stabbed her sword into the ground to anchor herself.
The wyvern gathers its flames in its mouth.
Hikari grabbed her sword tight with both hands and channeled a frontal barrier.
Her cone shaped barrier split the wyvern flames, melting the soil on either side of her.
The fire eventually petered out.
The wyvern roared at her in frustration.
Its breath pushed her hair backwards.
It leaped off its perch, its massive body barreling down towards Hikari.
As its body landed, its mass churned up a cloud of dust. But its prey had gone missing.
A pause.
The wyvern felt a heavy blade smashing through its scales, the cold metal piercing through its flesh.
It flailed its claws and wings, unable to shake off Hikari and causing more pain to itself as the metal plunged deeper and deeper into its flesh from its own movements.
Then, it rolled. It screeched in pain as its own weight pushed the metal into its back even further.
It looked around for its prey. A sudden knock to its skull as Hikari gave it the drop kick, smashing its head to the ground.
It swung its claw blindly. Its palm was stopped hard by a clenched first. A sharp pain as its flesh was squeezed between its scale and the bone.
The weight on its head was lifted briefly before it was stomped back down into the ground.
It reached its claws towards Hikari.
Crack! The bone in its wrist cracked as Hikari stomped the joint of its claw.
The wyvern roared in pain.
Hikari jumped above the wyvern's head again, tucking in her legs for another stomp.
The wyvern swung its massive body, its massive tail slammed directly into Hikari mid, knocking her into a pillar of stone.
The pillar crumbled, burning Hikari beneath it.
A pause as the dust cloud cleared.
The pile of rubble glowed briefly, breaking down into tiny grains. Hikari emerged from the rubble, briefly dusting herself off.
The wyvern roared.
Hikari advanced.
The wyvern picked up one claw and moved it back, growling at her.
It charged up a fire ball.
Hikari shuffled to one, deflecting the fire ball with a swing of her arm, pushing it into a stone pillar.
The heat of the fire ball melting the surface of stone behind her.
The wyvern moved its other claw back.
Hikari bent her knees and charged at the wyvern.
The wyvern spread its wings and flapped. The wind pushed the boulders back but did little to stall Hikari's momentum.
As Hikari closed the distance, the wyvern narrowly got off the ground.
With a thrust of her legs, she leapt into the air after the wyvern, matching its height.
The stone below crumbled into pieces from the force of her thrust.
She tilted her body, tucked in both legs, concentrated her mana and unleashed a drop kick onto the wyvern's belly with the force of several tons.
The wyvern thrashed around mid air before crashing back down into the stone ruins. A thick cloud of dust erupted.
As Hikari approached, the fog around her gushed in, enveloping her.
Hikari opened her eyes.
The cold wind brushed against Hikari's hair.
Hikari found herself back in the arena where she fought the flame elemental.
The queen wyvern was still.
Its growling has stopped.