And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain
❧
People turn to legends when times are hardest. Sometimes it is just easier to believe in the past rather than what is to come in the future. The past is concrete, while the future is always twisting and changing. Therefore it is the most trustful in times of need. People turn to the past and its legends to learn and grow, bettering themselves and the world around them thanks to these records in time.
The Great Battle For the Heavens was one of these recorded legends. As the name implies it was a great battle that spanned many millennia, a battle so great it shook the very heavens that was being fought over. The demons, tired of living in the horrible conditions down below, tried to take the heavens for themselves in order to try and corrupt the world and spread their horribleness to the people of Earthland. Of course the gods fought back in order to keep the lands they looked over stable and free. But the demons were overwhelming, there were too many to take care of, especially to a world that was only created a few hundred years ago and had little actual deities to help counter them. Outnumbered, the gods called upon the dragons to help, the same beings that helped them shape the world all those years ago. And when the gods called, the great lizards answered. After all if the world were to fall to the demons, the dragons would be effected to. With the amount of force these great beasts brought combined with the god’s strength the demons were easily countered and sealed back into the fiery prison, doomed to never claim the holy lands again.
As thanks to the dragons for their help the gods of each element gave a fraction of power to the dragons which contributed the most in battle in the form of a crystallized lacrima. Fire, water, earth, lightning, ice, poison, iron, shadow, light, and air. These dragons, being defined as gods themselves, were further called the elder dragons, dragons that were recognized for their power and bravery, and eventually the leaders of their race. To give their gratitude back the dragons also shared some of their powers with them with their own lacrimas. The exchanges brought peace between the two groups, and were kept as a symbol of their new bond.
This legend, was what Astrid was planning to seek advice in today. Though not the actual story itself, rather, one of the characters within the legend. Sirius, the elder white dragon. With the lacrima of his power being bestowed upon her already she could not help but think he was the right person she needed to seek in order to bring out her true power. Not that Kite wasn’t already doing a fine job at it. In fact ever since she was brought under the guild master’s wing her strength has grown incredibly. But the elf could not help but think that the only way her powers could shine was under the person that her powers came from in the first place. A real dragon.
It was not an easy task to accomplish, finding a real dragon, and a dragon of legend at that. All the dragons were thought to be extinct long ago. But the elf found the truth not long ago when Kite brought her face to face with his own past mentor, Eosphoros, one of the greater dragons that taught the man his own dragon slayer magic back when he had the powers. With her only guess of where the elder dragon was located being Eosphoros himself she took a trip out to see the white dragon. Thankfully, Eosphoros was rather knowledgeable, and knew where the elder dragon now resided. He was very forward with this information, though of course had a snarky comment or two to say when she asked, teasing about how apparently he wasn’t good enough for her standards. After assuring him that he was a fine teacher and that she was searching out Sirius for her own personal reasons the dragon spilled his location. Terasu.
The slayer believed she had read something about this planet not too long ago. Apparently it was a planet shrouded forever in a thin layer of darkness. This darkness gave home to any animals, some normal, some a little out there, and some that had yet to be discovered. But other than that this planet was known as a hotspot for couples, as the dim sky gave way for a ever lasting night sky littered in the brightest of stars, even brighter than the stars that hovered above Earthland. Star showers happen practically every couple of hours, truly capturing the beauty of this planet. The elf figured the elder dragon chose this place for the scenery. She too would live here if given the chance. Despite the night that basically lasted forever Astrid knew she would never be able to grow bored of all these shining stars.
She breathed out a cold breath through her nose, continuing to trace over the night sky above her, just standing a little away from the pulsating Wakusei Portal from which she came. Tonight was said to be one of the nights you can best see everything the sky on Terasu had to offer, and it sure didn’t disappoint. Above the silverette laid a silver blanket of twinkling stars. Some gathered in clusters, and some standing alone against the inky blackness of the night sky.
“Look for the brightest star…” She reminded herself of Eosphoros’ words, head rotating with her gaze to try and distinguish which one of these stars were brighter than the others. The white dragon had told her Sirius would be located wherever the brightest star in the sky laid. She didn’t exactly understand what he meant by that, but seeing her confusion he assured her as long as she kept following the star she would eventually find him. But now being here, she was able to see that was easier said than done. With the amount of darkness on this planet all of these stars were bright. She couldn’t really tell which one was the brightest. Sure, some were dimmer and brighter than others, but when most were pretty much equal to each other it was hard to tell.
The slayer turned in place, looking over the Wakusei Portal. Purple eyes lit up and shone, widening happily. Just in front of her, laying above the churning portal, was definitely the brightest star. It stood alone, shining a light so bright the slayer was surprised she hadn’t felt its light radiating off from it and onto her skin. It wasn’t as bright as the sun per say, as if that were the case the elf would probably be blind by now with how long she was staring. But it would definitely give the moon a run for its money. It helped that this star was actually bigger than the rest too. That was it. That was the star she was looking for. The star that was named after the elder dragon himself. Sirius.
Slowly, the elf drew closer to what she thought to be the end of her journey. She was unsure how long it had been from the point in time she learned of the legend to now, walking closer and closer to the brightest star. Terasu, like most planets, had a different time system set in place from Earthland. Not that she would know what time it was here anyway, given it was always seemingly nighttime here. And as soon as she stepped through the portal her Ilac was shut off. Guess her service provider didn’t exactly support their devices on other planets…
It wasn’t long until Astrid came across an obstacle. Crawling on her hands and knees due to the low height of some of the surrounding trees she poked her head out through the branches of the forested area and stared up the tall and rugged stone structure in front of her. A mountain. Not the biggest she had ever seen, as Phoenix Mountains had its fair share of the really tall ones. But definitely not a height to sneeze at anyway. It was still an obstacle nonetheless, as it stood right in front of the straight path she was traveling to follow the star as directed. She didn’t want to stray away from her path at all in fear that she would get lost, and everyone knew of the elf’s horrid sense of direction. Of all things she couldn’t screw up, getting to Sirius was one of the most important.
Scrambling to her feet Astrid walked over to the base of the rocky mountain, staring up to the top. Technically speaking she could just go around and still head for direction the star was, but she was too dedicated to not screwing this up in any way, and taking any shortcuts might end with screwing her up. She couldn’t take any chances. The slayer took a deep breath, allowing it to swirl around in her lungs before cracking her knuckles with each hand, getting a satisfying pop as her bones cracked. Concentrating on her magical power her body would begin to glow a light silver around her frame, licking off of her like hot flames. Bending down into a runner’s start position a moment would pass before she would launch off in a flash of light and run upwards, leaving a bunch of crumbling falling rocks in her wake. A tunnel of silver holding the eld inside zipped up the side of the mountain, a fabulous trail of light trailing behind her. Honestly she could have gone faster than this, way faster. After all she was known for being able to run on water as if it were nothing. That was just the power of a white dragon slayer. But going that fast she would probably end up shooting right off the mountain once she reached the top, and she wasn’t exactly planning on going to space just yet. Half way up, somehow missing and step probably by not paying attention to the ground beneath her the silver light around her flickered and faded away, leaving the elf flailing in mid air. She felt her heart jump to the top of her throat, panicking as she knew she had traveled way too far up the mountain for this landing not to be painful. She closed her eyes and tried to grab for the edge of the structure, hoping to maybe grab onto a loose rock or a long enough edge. And lucky, she did. After falling for a moment the slayer’s hand managed to reach for something poking out of the mountain. She dangled loosely from it, still afraid to open her eyes before realizing she had in fact survived and was currently safe. Once noticing she had in fact not died she opened one eye slowly and then the other soon after. She was currently facing in towards a dark tunnel seemingly carved into the mountain, seeing how smooth the edges were. It didn’t really look that naturally made at least, so she could only guess something else had made it…
Looking up to see what had managed to save her life she was surprised to see… Well, the only thing she could describe it as was a long, white, scaled tail. Purple eyes widened before hearing a deep rumble echo from the cave in front of her. She turned her widened gaze from the tail to the entrance, spotting two big eyes peaking out at her from the darkness. What would normally be considered the whites of the eyes in this case were black, only able to be seen due to the light of the stars above shining down onto this side of the mountain reflecting into them. The irises were sharp like that of a cat’s and were colored a bright yellow that completely contracted the blackness surrounding them. Another snort came from the cave before the eyes moved forwards towards Astrid. Too scared to face what was to be revealed she closed her eyes once again, flinching when she felt the hot breath of the creature’s mouth against her skin.
“You’re a far way from home, little elfling.” A deep voice rolled off like hot butter from the tongue of the creature. Realizing it had some intelligence and was most likely not going to eat her just yet she reopened her eyes, gazing upon the magnificent dragon. Or at least, the head, as the rest of its body was still inside the cave. White scales littered his body and two golden, curled horns twirled gracefully atop its head, and to match everything off a long streak of black traveled from the bottom of his mouth all the way down to what she guessed would be his stomach if she could have seen it. She stared back at him, looking into his left eye as both were too big to only choose one to look into. He inhaled her scent with two big snorts through his nostrils. “You smell of Earthland. Tell me, what are you doing all the way out here on the planet of stars? With how far you have traveled from the portals i am guessing you are not here to sightsee.” He knew just by smelling her. That was a powerful nose.
“I-I have come here to see the great dragon, Sirius.” She spoke the truth through stuttering words, trying her best to swallow down the fear from before as to not look like such a sniveling coward in front of a beast of legend. The dragon’s gaze kept straight and staring for another moment before he allowed his tail to drop just above the ground for the elf to get off. Being lifted down Astrid plopped back down upon the ledge dainty, breathing out a sigh of relief about the fact she had not been gobbled up alive. The dragon looked down to the guild master, almost as if he was staring right through her. Unsure if she had said something wrong a cold sweat began to form upon her forehead, glancing awkward to the side before looking back up at him.
“What is your name, elf girl?” he questioned, his deep voice echoing a bit more now due to being just outside of the cave.
“Astrid. Astrid Foss.”
“Astrid…” the dragon repeated curiously. “I see…” Humming to himself the great lizard would wrap his long tail around his claws, making it so it looped around his body comfortably. “I am Sirius, the elder white dragon. What is your reason for seeking my attention?”
Astrid’s lips parted open in surprise. This was Sirius? She had found him just by accident? Well, she guessed it wasn’t an accident. She had followed the brightest star and that apparently was the right path to take. She just found him in an unsuspecting place.
Realizing she had not taken to her proper introduction due to trying to calm herself down from her near death experience Astrid folded her hands together in front of her, bowing down before popping back up straight.
“Monsieur Sirius, i was informed that after The Great Battle For the Heavens the light goddess Minako blessed you with a piece of her power. And in return, you gave her some of your own… Tell me…”
Pausing Astrid would walk a couple of steps forward, Sirius keeping his hard gaze on her throughout this all. She would stop just a couple of inches from his face, reaching out her left hand towards him. His mixed eyes would focus upon the limb. “Is the lacrima i wield your’s?”
Sirius stared at the hand, studying it before closing his eyes. After a moment they would reopen again, this time looking upon the girl’s face.
“Yes, that is my lacrima” he nodded lightly. “I had heard Minako finally used it a couple of centuries ago. Though i wouldn’t have guessed she used it on a person.”
“It wasn’t used on a person” Astrid responded firmly, finally regaining her confidence once the dragon no longer stared daggers into her soul. “One of my ancestors saved the entire world once from a demon. In return, Minako gave her this lacrima and placed it into her violin in order to spread peace and kindness to the rest of the world. That violin has been passed down generation after generation through my family. It was only recently that i accidentally absorbed it.”
Hearing her out the dragon gave another nod, a signal that he was paying attention.
“Interesting… Minako has always been one of the weaker gods. She can’t usually expand her energy too much, which is why she gave your ancestor my lacrima instead of her own. At least that is my guess. But still, it does not answer my question. I shall ask again. What is your reason for seeking my attention?”
Oh, right. Her reason. She had not yet explained. The elf kept her expression neutral as to not show any fear or nervousness.
“I have come seeking your guidance. Recently i feel as though i have reached the limit on my powers. But i can feel… More. More power locked inside me somewhere. But i do not know how to unlock it. That is why i have searched for you. I feel if i train under you, i can reach my full potential. So please… accept me as your student.” Finishing with another bow to seem respectful Astrid continued to stay bowed down, not wanting to see the dragon’s harsh expression judging her. Instead, she waited for him to speak. A long minute of silence ensured between the two before Sirius broke it with a rumble in thought.
“Well, i guess i am growing rather old… And i have no one to pass my teachings down to in order to ensure the peace of the world will last. But i will only do so under one condition.” He paused, waiting for the elf to once again pop up and looking him in the eyes before resuming.
“You beat me in a fight. Show me what you have. If i see potential in you, i will train you. If not, you are allowed to keep my lacrima, but you will never know of my teachings. Will these rules do?” A bright smile grew onto the silvernette’s face. An unsure answer yes, but still an answer nonetheless. It was better than a straight up no. Plus she had just defeated a dragon not too long ago. Her confidence on this one was rather high. She nodded enthusiastically. A grin etched it’s way onto the edges of Sirius’ lips. Well, she guessed it was a smile. It could have been anything, but it looked like a smile to her.
“Then you are serious about this. Good.” Shifting in place the great dragon would fold out his wings wide, and in return, Astrid would pose in a readying fighting stance, her fists glowing silver with her magic. “By the way, that corrupted god slaying magic you have within you will not hurt me. Nor will any sort of weapons. You have dragon slaying magic for a reason. Use it, and face me like a true dragon slayer!” Sounding a loud, echoing roar the entire cave would shake before the dragon jumped up and burst through the top of the mountain in a loud explosion. Giant pieces of rock fell down from the hole he created and the floor from which Astrid currently stood on began to crumble and fall apart beneath her feet. Ready for any of his moves Astrid used the falling debris to her advantage. She jump from each large piece of rock swiftly, eventually climbing her way up near the top of the mountain. Once up far enough she landed upon the top, just on the edge from which the hole stood. She gazed out into the distance, thankful that the dragon’s white scales stood out from the darkness. His white wings flapped, pushing him upwards slightly before he turned… Turned to towards her. Purple eyes widening as he was approaching at an alarming rate she waited until he was close enough and jumped up, landing upon his back and impaling him with her light claws, making sure she could hang on with his high speeds. The wind rushed past her roughly, causing her to wince slightly as the pressure from being so high up got to the elf. But with the high speeds she normally went she wasn’t really as affected as most people. The dragon just barely missed the edge of the mountain, turning sideways to dodge it just in time. Astrid hung loosely, digging her claws further into his skin in order to hang on while he turned sideways.
“Ha, that tickles!~” Sirius laughed, referring to her weak attack with the claws. He right, it probably did tickle. He was so well protected with his scales it was wonder this low ranked attack was doing anything to him at all. Gritting her teeth together Astrid used her clawed fingers to climb up the rest of his way to his back, using all of her muscles to not fall off. “Not so fast, hatchling!” stopping mid flight Sirius spun his entire body forward before flicking his lower half at the ground. Astrid was instantly thrown off and sent crashing into the ground below. She was flicked off like a flea and caused the dirt around her to be thrown up upon contact. A decent sized crater formed to her body deep into the earth. She winced, feeling her entire body begin to tingle and grow sore from being thrown from such a high height. She pushed herself up slowly, sitting up. Sirius came to a halt, hovering above where the slayer had fallen. He flapped his wings feverishly in order to stay airborne, causing a great wind to shake the trees. “Is that all you have?”
Astrid stayed silent, unmoving, just sitting there with her head lowered, face expressionless. Sirius grumbled under his breath and narrowed his gaze before turning his back to her. “Pathetic. I expected more from a family that was chosen by Minako.”
“Got you~” Astrid whispered to herself, her frown growing into a big smirk. Suddenly a silver circle surrounded Sirius. Unexpecting all he could do was allow his eyes to widen. But it was too late. Before he could do anything to stop it the circle collapsed upon him, squeezing the air out of him and restricting his movements. With his wings trapped to his sides the great beast fell to the ground, instantly crushing everything beneath him. He struggled and thrashing his tail behind him, but the circle would not budge. In fact every time he tried to break it all it would do is get tighter, eventually starting to crush his ribcage with the amount of pressure he was using. He gasped and looked up as he saw Astrid’s figure rise and move towards his face. Bruised and battered, but smiling nonetheless. “I call that the White Dragon’s Halo. I tend to favor it thanks to the fact it restricts people’s movements. How was it?~” she asked gleeful, though holding some sort of dark malice within her words, almost teasingly. The dragon returned her laugh with a deep chuckle of his own.
“That was foolish of me… Faking your own defeat, the oldest trick in the book. I really am getting old.” He looked back up to her, facing towards the elf. “But this old man won’t go down without a real fight!” Gathering up light within his mouth the dragon shot out a pure light beam in her direction. Thankfully being ready for a fake out like her own Astrid leaped up into the air, missing it only by the skin of her teeth before it exploded a good distance from her. Using this as a distraction Sirius broke free of the light ring, once again taking to the sky. He charged towards her once more, gathering another White Dragon’s Roar in his mouth. But Astrid did the same. They both threw theirs at the same exact time, causing the light lasers to clash in the air. Being about the same in power they melded together and caused a powerful pulse to sweep through the area. This pushed both back from the amount of force it caused.
The dragon tried his best to flap against the wind. But the elf took advantage of the winds. Allowing the winds to throw her back she used her Rainbow Road spell to ride it the rest of the way. A trail of rainbow grew beneath her feet and she skidded across the sky like she was on some sort of skateboard.
Seeing as he was still distracted with the winds a smirk grew onto the slayer’s pale lips. She turned in place, and flew against the wind, using all of her speed power to reach the struggling beast. Eventually flying to where the winds were directed towards the dragon she stepped her rainbow surfboard and went freefalling towards him, using the winds to speed her up even more. By the time Sirius managed to calm the wind down, it was too late. He looked up, only to see the silvernette flying towards him.
“White Dragon’s Wing Attack!” Screaming at the top of her lungs both of the slayer’s hands covered in silver light, a thin trail following close behind her, giving off the impression like she almost had actual dragon wings. Reaching the top of his head Astrid forced both fits down upon him, causing a large explosion. Sirius roared in pain, caught by surprise. The began to tip over, though caught himself before he actually managed to fall all the way. With the hit landing directly on top of his skull the dragon could do nothing but accept his fate. He had lost. Anymore attacks and he would have to send a hell of a lot of time healing himself. And that was something he didn’t really want to bother doing.
Though Astrid wasn’t aware of this currently. So when she was pushed back by the blast and landed on the ground she was already preparing another attack. With a mighty roar she began to rush forward before the dragon noticed this. Sighing, he made his trail quickly wrap around her body and bring her up towards his face. Unknowing that the battle was over Astrid struggled and tried to break free.
“Calm down, hatchling. The battle is over. You have won” He rumbled, his body beginning to glow a light green before all of his scratches and wounds healed completely. And along with his, the elf’s began to heal too since she was caught in between him and his spell. Astrid began to calm once she realized what he had said, breathing heavily. She blinked, relaxing in his grasp.
“I… I won?” she asked, almost like she couldn’t believe it.
“Yes, you fought with passion and knowledge. That is all i ask of my mentees.” Sirius nodded, kind of like he was agreeing with his own words. He brought his tail back down the ground, releasing her. She stood up, a bit wobbly with how much mana she had used. She weakly stood, almost like she could pass out at any minute.
“Haha… I won… I…” Feeling the world around her grow fuzzy and distant the slayer laughed to herself before falling to the ground. Well, almost falling to the ground. Sirius, seeing this coming, managed to catch her with his tail. She feel daintily onto it, completely passed out due to the mana drained from her body. Sirius stared at the sleeping Astrid before bringing his tail up and lifting her to his head. He looked up at her once more, letting another sigh escape from his mouth.
He gazed up to the bright star that lead her here in the first place, shaking his head. Lightly though, as to not flick the exhausted girl off.
“Minako… You always give me the hard work…”
The Great Battle For the Heavens was one of these recorded legends. As the name implies it was a great battle that spanned many millennia, a battle so great it shook the very heavens that was being fought over. The demons, tired of living in the horrible conditions down below, tried to take the heavens for themselves in order to try and corrupt the world and spread their horribleness to the people of Earthland. Of course the gods fought back in order to keep the lands they looked over stable and free. But the demons were overwhelming, there were too many to take care of, especially to a world that was only created a few hundred years ago and had little actual deities to help counter them. Outnumbered, the gods called upon the dragons to help, the same beings that helped them shape the world all those years ago. And when the gods called, the great lizards answered. After all if the world were to fall to the demons, the dragons would be effected to. With the amount of force these great beasts brought combined with the god’s strength the demons were easily countered and sealed back into the fiery prison, doomed to never claim the holy lands again.
As thanks to the dragons for their help the gods of each element gave a fraction of power to the dragons which contributed the most in battle in the form of a crystallized lacrima. Fire, water, earth, lightning, ice, poison, iron, shadow, light, and air. These dragons, being defined as gods themselves, were further called the elder dragons, dragons that were recognized for their power and bravery, and eventually the leaders of their race. To give their gratitude back the dragons also shared some of their powers with them with their own lacrimas. The exchanges brought peace between the two groups, and were kept as a symbol of their new bond.
This legend, was what Astrid was planning to seek advice in today. Though not the actual story itself, rather, one of the characters within the legend. Sirius, the elder white dragon. With the lacrima of his power being bestowed upon her already she could not help but think he was the right person she needed to seek in order to bring out her true power. Not that Kite wasn’t already doing a fine job at it. In fact ever since she was brought under the guild master’s wing her strength has grown incredibly. But the elf could not help but think that the only way her powers could shine was under the person that her powers came from in the first place. A real dragon.
It was not an easy task to accomplish, finding a real dragon, and a dragon of legend at that. All the dragons were thought to be extinct long ago. But the elf found the truth not long ago when Kite brought her face to face with his own past mentor, Eosphoros, one of the greater dragons that taught the man his own dragon slayer magic back when he had the powers. With her only guess of where the elder dragon was located being Eosphoros himself she took a trip out to see the white dragon. Thankfully, Eosphoros was rather knowledgeable, and knew where the elder dragon now resided. He was very forward with this information, though of course had a snarky comment or two to say when she asked, teasing about how apparently he wasn’t good enough for her standards. After assuring him that he was a fine teacher and that she was searching out Sirius for her own personal reasons the dragon spilled his location. Terasu.
The slayer believed she had read something about this planet not too long ago. Apparently it was a planet shrouded forever in a thin layer of darkness. This darkness gave home to any animals, some normal, some a little out there, and some that had yet to be discovered. But other than that this planet was known as a hotspot for couples, as the dim sky gave way for a ever lasting night sky littered in the brightest of stars, even brighter than the stars that hovered above Earthland. Star showers happen practically every couple of hours, truly capturing the beauty of this planet. The elf figured the elder dragon chose this place for the scenery. She too would live here if given the chance. Despite the night that basically lasted forever Astrid knew she would never be able to grow bored of all these shining stars.
She breathed out a cold breath through her nose, continuing to trace over the night sky above her, just standing a little away from the pulsating Wakusei Portal from which she came. Tonight was said to be one of the nights you can best see everything the sky on Terasu had to offer, and it sure didn’t disappoint. Above the silverette laid a silver blanket of twinkling stars. Some gathered in clusters, and some standing alone against the inky blackness of the night sky.
“Look for the brightest star…” She reminded herself of Eosphoros’ words, head rotating with her gaze to try and distinguish which one of these stars were brighter than the others. The white dragon had told her Sirius would be located wherever the brightest star in the sky laid. She didn’t exactly understand what he meant by that, but seeing her confusion he assured her as long as she kept following the star she would eventually find him. But now being here, she was able to see that was easier said than done. With the amount of darkness on this planet all of these stars were bright. She couldn’t really tell which one was the brightest. Sure, some were dimmer and brighter than others, but when most were pretty much equal to each other it was hard to tell.
The slayer turned in place, looking over the Wakusei Portal. Purple eyes lit up and shone, widening happily. Just in front of her, laying above the churning portal, was definitely the brightest star. It stood alone, shining a light so bright the slayer was surprised she hadn’t felt its light radiating off from it and onto her skin. It wasn’t as bright as the sun per say, as if that were the case the elf would probably be blind by now with how long she was staring. But it would definitely give the moon a run for its money. It helped that this star was actually bigger than the rest too. That was it. That was the star she was looking for. The star that was named after the elder dragon himself. Sirius.
Slowly, the elf drew closer to what she thought to be the end of her journey. She was unsure how long it had been from the point in time she learned of the legend to now, walking closer and closer to the brightest star. Terasu, like most planets, had a different time system set in place from Earthland. Not that she would know what time it was here anyway, given it was always seemingly nighttime here. And as soon as she stepped through the portal her Ilac was shut off. Guess her service provider didn’t exactly support their devices on other planets…
It wasn’t long until Astrid came across an obstacle. Crawling on her hands and knees due to the low height of some of the surrounding trees she poked her head out through the branches of the forested area and stared up the tall and rugged stone structure in front of her. A mountain. Not the biggest she had ever seen, as Phoenix Mountains had its fair share of the really tall ones. But definitely not a height to sneeze at anyway. It was still an obstacle nonetheless, as it stood right in front of the straight path she was traveling to follow the star as directed. She didn’t want to stray away from her path at all in fear that she would get lost, and everyone knew of the elf’s horrid sense of direction. Of all things she couldn’t screw up, getting to Sirius was one of the most important.
Scrambling to her feet Astrid walked over to the base of the rocky mountain, staring up to the top. Technically speaking she could just go around and still head for direction the star was, but she was too dedicated to not screwing this up in any way, and taking any shortcuts might end with screwing her up. She couldn’t take any chances. The slayer took a deep breath, allowing it to swirl around in her lungs before cracking her knuckles with each hand, getting a satisfying pop as her bones cracked. Concentrating on her magical power her body would begin to glow a light silver around her frame, licking off of her like hot flames. Bending down into a runner’s start position a moment would pass before she would launch off in a flash of light and run upwards, leaving a bunch of crumbling falling rocks in her wake. A tunnel of silver holding the eld inside zipped up the side of the mountain, a fabulous trail of light trailing behind her. Honestly she could have gone faster than this, way faster. After all she was known for being able to run on water as if it were nothing. That was just the power of a white dragon slayer. But going that fast she would probably end up shooting right off the mountain once she reached the top, and she wasn’t exactly planning on going to space just yet. Half way up, somehow missing and step probably by not paying attention to the ground beneath her the silver light around her flickered and faded away, leaving the elf flailing in mid air. She felt her heart jump to the top of her throat, panicking as she knew she had traveled way too far up the mountain for this landing not to be painful. She closed her eyes and tried to grab for the edge of the structure, hoping to maybe grab onto a loose rock or a long enough edge. And lucky, she did. After falling for a moment the slayer’s hand managed to reach for something poking out of the mountain. She dangled loosely from it, still afraid to open her eyes before realizing she had in fact survived and was currently safe. Once noticing she had in fact not died she opened one eye slowly and then the other soon after. She was currently facing in towards a dark tunnel seemingly carved into the mountain, seeing how smooth the edges were. It didn’t really look that naturally made at least, so she could only guess something else had made it…
Looking up to see what had managed to save her life she was surprised to see… Well, the only thing she could describe it as was a long, white, scaled tail. Purple eyes widened before hearing a deep rumble echo from the cave in front of her. She turned her widened gaze from the tail to the entrance, spotting two big eyes peaking out at her from the darkness. What would normally be considered the whites of the eyes in this case were black, only able to be seen due to the light of the stars above shining down onto this side of the mountain reflecting into them. The irises were sharp like that of a cat’s and were colored a bright yellow that completely contracted the blackness surrounding them. Another snort came from the cave before the eyes moved forwards towards Astrid. Too scared to face what was to be revealed she closed her eyes once again, flinching when she felt the hot breath of the creature’s mouth against her skin.
“You’re a far way from home, little elfling.” A deep voice rolled off like hot butter from the tongue of the creature. Realizing it had some intelligence and was most likely not going to eat her just yet she reopened her eyes, gazing upon the magnificent dragon. Or at least, the head, as the rest of its body was still inside the cave. White scales littered his body and two golden, curled horns twirled gracefully atop its head, and to match everything off a long streak of black traveled from the bottom of his mouth all the way down to what she guessed would be his stomach if she could have seen it. She stared back at him, looking into his left eye as both were too big to only choose one to look into. He inhaled her scent with two big snorts through his nostrils. “You smell of Earthland. Tell me, what are you doing all the way out here on the planet of stars? With how far you have traveled from the portals i am guessing you are not here to sightsee.” He knew just by smelling her. That was a powerful nose.
“I-I have come here to see the great dragon, Sirius.” She spoke the truth through stuttering words, trying her best to swallow down the fear from before as to not look like such a sniveling coward in front of a beast of legend. The dragon’s gaze kept straight and staring for another moment before he allowed his tail to drop just above the ground for the elf to get off. Being lifted down Astrid plopped back down upon the ledge dainty, breathing out a sigh of relief about the fact she had not been gobbled up alive. The dragon looked down to the guild master, almost as if he was staring right through her. Unsure if she had said something wrong a cold sweat began to form upon her forehead, glancing awkward to the side before looking back up at him.
“What is your name, elf girl?” he questioned, his deep voice echoing a bit more now due to being just outside of the cave.
“Astrid. Astrid Foss.”
“Astrid…” the dragon repeated curiously. “I see…” Humming to himself the great lizard would wrap his long tail around his claws, making it so it looped around his body comfortably. “I am Sirius, the elder white dragon. What is your reason for seeking my attention?”
Astrid’s lips parted open in surprise. This was Sirius? She had found him just by accident? Well, she guessed it wasn’t an accident. She had followed the brightest star and that apparently was the right path to take. She just found him in an unsuspecting place.
Realizing she had not taken to her proper introduction due to trying to calm herself down from her near death experience Astrid folded her hands together in front of her, bowing down before popping back up straight.
“Monsieur Sirius, i was informed that after The Great Battle For the Heavens the light goddess Minako blessed you with a piece of her power. And in return, you gave her some of your own… Tell me…”
Pausing Astrid would walk a couple of steps forward, Sirius keeping his hard gaze on her throughout this all. She would stop just a couple of inches from his face, reaching out her left hand towards him. His mixed eyes would focus upon the limb. “Is the lacrima i wield your’s?”
Sirius stared at the hand, studying it before closing his eyes. After a moment they would reopen again, this time looking upon the girl’s face.
“Yes, that is my lacrima” he nodded lightly. “I had heard Minako finally used it a couple of centuries ago. Though i wouldn’t have guessed she used it on a person.”
“It wasn’t used on a person” Astrid responded firmly, finally regaining her confidence once the dragon no longer stared daggers into her soul. “One of my ancestors saved the entire world once from a demon. In return, Minako gave her this lacrima and placed it into her violin in order to spread peace and kindness to the rest of the world. That violin has been passed down generation after generation through my family. It was only recently that i accidentally absorbed it.”
Hearing her out the dragon gave another nod, a signal that he was paying attention.
“Interesting… Minako has always been one of the weaker gods. She can’t usually expand her energy too much, which is why she gave your ancestor my lacrima instead of her own. At least that is my guess. But still, it does not answer my question. I shall ask again. What is your reason for seeking my attention?”
Oh, right. Her reason. She had not yet explained. The elf kept her expression neutral as to not show any fear or nervousness.
“I have come seeking your guidance. Recently i feel as though i have reached the limit on my powers. But i can feel… More. More power locked inside me somewhere. But i do not know how to unlock it. That is why i have searched for you. I feel if i train under you, i can reach my full potential. So please… accept me as your student.” Finishing with another bow to seem respectful Astrid continued to stay bowed down, not wanting to see the dragon’s harsh expression judging her. Instead, she waited for him to speak. A long minute of silence ensured between the two before Sirius broke it with a rumble in thought.
“Well, i guess i am growing rather old… And i have no one to pass my teachings down to in order to ensure the peace of the world will last. But i will only do so under one condition.” He paused, waiting for the elf to once again pop up and looking him in the eyes before resuming.
“You beat me in a fight. Show me what you have. If i see potential in you, i will train you. If not, you are allowed to keep my lacrima, but you will never know of my teachings. Will these rules do?” A bright smile grew onto the silvernette’s face. An unsure answer yes, but still an answer nonetheless. It was better than a straight up no. Plus she had just defeated a dragon not too long ago. Her confidence on this one was rather high. She nodded enthusiastically. A grin etched it’s way onto the edges of Sirius’ lips. Well, she guessed it was a smile. It could have been anything, but it looked like a smile to her.
“Then you are serious about this. Good.” Shifting in place the great dragon would fold out his wings wide, and in return, Astrid would pose in a readying fighting stance, her fists glowing silver with her magic. “By the way, that corrupted god slaying magic you have within you will not hurt me. Nor will any sort of weapons. You have dragon slaying magic for a reason. Use it, and face me like a true dragon slayer!” Sounding a loud, echoing roar the entire cave would shake before the dragon jumped up and burst through the top of the mountain in a loud explosion. Giant pieces of rock fell down from the hole he created and the floor from which Astrid currently stood on began to crumble and fall apart beneath her feet. Ready for any of his moves Astrid used the falling debris to her advantage. She jump from each large piece of rock swiftly, eventually climbing her way up near the top of the mountain. Once up far enough she landed upon the top, just on the edge from which the hole stood. She gazed out into the distance, thankful that the dragon’s white scales stood out from the darkness. His white wings flapped, pushing him upwards slightly before he turned… Turned to towards her. Purple eyes widening as he was approaching at an alarming rate she waited until he was close enough and jumped up, landing upon his back and impaling him with her light claws, making sure she could hang on with his high speeds. The wind rushed past her roughly, causing her to wince slightly as the pressure from being so high up got to the elf. But with the high speeds she normally went she wasn’t really as affected as most people. The dragon just barely missed the edge of the mountain, turning sideways to dodge it just in time. Astrid hung loosely, digging her claws further into his skin in order to hang on while he turned sideways.
“Ha, that tickles!~” Sirius laughed, referring to her weak attack with the claws. He right, it probably did tickle. He was so well protected with his scales it was wonder this low ranked attack was doing anything to him at all. Gritting her teeth together Astrid used her clawed fingers to climb up the rest of his way to his back, using all of her muscles to not fall off. “Not so fast, hatchling!” stopping mid flight Sirius spun his entire body forward before flicking his lower half at the ground. Astrid was instantly thrown off and sent crashing into the ground below. She was flicked off like a flea and caused the dirt around her to be thrown up upon contact. A decent sized crater formed to her body deep into the earth. She winced, feeling her entire body begin to tingle and grow sore from being thrown from such a high height. She pushed herself up slowly, sitting up. Sirius came to a halt, hovering above where the slayer had fallen. He flapped his wings feverishly in order to stay airborne, causing a great wind to shake the trees. “Is that all you have?”
Astrid stayed silent, unmoving, just sitting there with her head lowered, face expressionless. Sirius grumbled under his breath and narrowed his gaze before turning his back to her. “Pathetic. I expected more from a family that was chosen by Minako.”
“Got you~” Astrid whispered to herself, her frown growing into a big smirk. Suddenly a silver circle surrounded Sirius. Unexpecting all he could do was allow his eyes to widen. But it was too late. Before he could do anything to stop it the circle collapsed upon him, squeezing the air out of him and restricting his movements. With his wings trapped to his sides the great beast fell to the ground, instantly crushing everything beneath him. He struggled and thrashing his tail behind him, but the circle would not budge. In fact every time he tried to break it all it would do is get tighter, eventually starting to crush his ribcage with the amount of pressure he was using. He gasped and looked up as he saw Astrid’s figure rise and move towards his face. Bruised and battered, but smiling nonetheless. “I call that the White Dragon’s Halo. I tend to favor it thanks to the fact it restricts people’s movements. How was it?~” she asked gleeful, though holding some sort of dark malice within her words, almost teasingly. The dragon returned her laugh with a deep chuckle of his own.
“That was foolish of me… Faking your own defeat, the oldest trick in the book. I really am getting old.” He looked back up to her, facing towards the elf. “But this old man won’t go down without a real fight!” Gathering up light within his mouth the dragon shot out a pure light beam in her direction. Thankfully being ready for a fake out like her own Astrid leaped up into the air, missing it only by the skin of her teeth before it exploded a good distance from her. Using this as a distraction Sirius broke free of the light ring, once again taking to the sky. He charged towards her once more, gathering another White Dragon’s Roar in his mouth. But Astrid did the same. They both threw theirs at the same exact time, causing the light lasers to clash in the air. Being about the same in power they melded together and caused a powerful pulse to sweep through the area. This pushed both back from the amount of force it caused.
The dragon tried his best to flap against the wind. But the elf took advantage of the winds. Allowing the winds to throw her back she used her Rainbow Road spell to ride it the rest of the way. A trail of rainbow grew beneath her feet and she skidded across the sky like she was on some sort of skateboard.
Seeing as he was still distracted with the winds a smirk grew onto the slayer’s pale lips. She turned in place, and flew against the wind, using all of her speed power to reach the struggling beast. Eventually flying to where the winds were directed towards the dragon she stepped her rainbow surfboard and went freefalling towards him, using the winds to speed her up even more. By the time Sirius managed to calm the wind down, it was too late. He looked up, only to see the silvernette flying towards him.
“White Dragon’s Wing Attack!” Screaming at the top of her lungs both of the slayer’s hands covered in silver light, a thin trail following close behind her, giving off the impression like she almost had actual dragon wings. Reaching the top of his head Astrid forced both fits down upon him, causing a large explosion. Sirius roared in pain, caught by surprise. The began to tip over, though caught himself before he actually managed to fall all the way. With the hit landing directly on top of his skull the dragon could do nothing but accept his fate. He had lost. Anymore attacks and he would have to send a hell of a lot of time healing himself. And that was something he didn’t really want to bother doing.
Though Astrid wasn’t aware of this currently. So when she was pushed back by the blast and landed on the ground she was already preparing another attack. With a mighty roar she began to rush forward before the dragon noticed this. Sighing, he made his trail quickly wrap around her body and bring her up towards his face. Unknowing that the battle was over Astrid struggled and tried to break free.
“Calm down, hatchling. The battle is over. You have won” He rumbled, his body beginning to glow a light green before all of his scratches and wounds healed completely. And along with his, the elf’s began to heal too since she was caught in between him and his spell. Astrid began to calm once she realized what he had said, breathing heavily. She blinked, relaxing in his grasp.
“I… I won?” she asked, almost like she couldn’t believe it.
“Yes, you fought with passion and knowledge. That is all i ask of my mentees.” Sirius nodded, kind of like he was agreeing with his own words. He brought his tail back down the ground, releasing her. She stood up, a bit wobbly with how much mana she had used. She weakly stood, almost like she could pass out at any minute.
“Haha… I won… I…” Feeling the world around her grow fuzzy and distant the slayer laughed to herself before falling to the ground. Well, almost falling to the ground. Sirius, seeing this coming, managed to catch her with his tail. She feel daintily onto it, completely passed out due to the mana drained from her body. Sirius stared at the sleeping Astrid before bringing his tail up and lifting her to his head. He looked up at her once more, letting another sigh escape from his mouth.
He gazed up to the bright star that lead her here in the first place, shaking his head. Lightly though, as to not flick the exhausted girl off.
“Minako… You always give me the hard work…”
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