I dodged to the left at the last moment, feeling the dragon’s fire brush past, the air shimmering with the intense heat. Hot enough that my gear was warping and cracking, doing its job still at shielding me from the worst of the beast’s attacks, but it would take some time to replace once this was over.

  I struck back myself, my Dragonbane Lance doing less than I had hoped, this was proving to be a tougher fight than I had expected. I quickly opened up and checked over my stats. I should have been easily high enough level to take out this threat, even alone as I was, but with my skills branched out and balanced between so many options… The high tier armour I had crafted for myself was doing its job, but another attack like that and I might need to start deciding whether to use some of my limited remaining mana for healing, or to protect myself. If only I had a Mage along to help. A shame things hadn’t worked out with… what was that girl’s name? Carla, or some such, at the moment I couldn’t remember what I had said that had upset her so, it had hardly seemed to matter then.

  Distracted for a moment, I almost forgot to leap out of the way at the last moment from the next blast of fire from this massive, golden scaled beast. This time, my Fire Resistant Armour was singed, blackened and cracked around the edges, I couldn’t spare the second or two to look up its durability, but I was sure it wouldn’t last much longer. It had taken so long, and so many skill points, to learn to make, and it still wasn’t up to the task. Maybe there was somewhere I could buy more, something better than I could make myself, I was sure the Scout would have known where to go, whatever her name had been, I hadn’t seen her since before I’d even heard of this dragon. Something to deal with later, though. I dodged, rolled, struck upwards towards the belly of the beast, scored a powerful hit against it, and was tossed aside, dashed against the rocks by one sweep with those massive clawed feet.

  A shame things hadn’t worked out with her, or anyone, I could’ve done with a team under me, each putting in their effort to take down this dragon, we could have conquered it earlier and easier, but people… always so complicated, difficult to deal with, wanting their own things, arguing back, not following instructions. I wondered for a moment why I was so distracted, thoughts always going back to the past, to the steps that had led me up here, I forced myself to confront what was staring me in the face, to stop hiding from it in the past. I couldn’t win this fight, my best attacks had barely scratched the thing, my protections were worn down, my skills no match, and the one person that could have pulled me out of here faster than the enraged beast could chase me down had stormed off in the middle of the night last week.

  Blood gushing from my wounds, still dazed from the sudden impact, my greatly enhanced Agility was no longer enough to keep me out of harm’s way, as the Dragon turned, huge maw open almost wide enough to swallow me whole, the flames gathering and sparking as though everything was moving in slow motion.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  ~~~~~

  I was falling

  It took me a moment to realise, the colours and patterns spread out below looked like a map, but it was coming closer at an alarming speed.

  As I picked up speed, the wind whistled past, swirling through my hair, the loose fabric of my clothes flapping about, the air cold against my bare skin. Below me was a large sprawl of thick greenery, in different shades, a thread of a blue river winding past, specks and splatters of other colours in the distance, maybe vehicles or towns, I was too far away to tell. Too far up, I was realising with increasing certainty. I tried to grab for anything, but what was there? Above me, nothing but clouds. With me here, nothing but the fast rushing wind, and scant clothes that did little to keep the cold air off my body. Below, bushes, grass and flowers, a worn track some distance off.

  Everything felt wrong, hazy, how had I come here, why did it feel like there should have been some way of slowing my fall, some ability. Everything felt weird, my body different, I’m sure these weren’t the clothes I had before. The strong wind buffeted my arms, legs, tail… that last one felt strange, but why should it? Compared to the rapidly approached certain doom below.

  The ground fifty feet below, and coming closer. Thirty feet, twenty, much too fast, much too close. There had to be something I could do to slow my fall. In those last seconds, a large, white shape appeared below me, popped into existence from nothing, nestled among the bushes and flowers. I was sure I was imagining it, no way this could be real. It looked all too much like a bed, wooden frame, pillows at one end, neatly arranged covers, a freshly made bed, directly below me on the ground.

  Ten feet to go.

  I had to be imagining it. Incongruous against the wilderness, perfectly placed right below where I was falling. But it was the only hope I had at this point, and with fractions of a second to think, there wasn’t anything else I could do but flop straight onto it, with enough force I could feel the mattress groaning, the frame creaking and buckling, face squished into the pillows, arms dangling off the sides, one of them brushing against a large, rough plant. Dazed, disoriented and confused, but somehow unharmed. Climbing to my feet was the most undignified tumble I was glad nobody had ever seen, I clung to one of the unexplained bedposts as I looked down at myself, miraculously unhurt. My plain white dress and tawny fur dishevelled and windswept, a couple of stray twigs caught in my hair. As I struggled to get my panting and pounding heart under control, as I considered my self in that manner, something else appeared, a vision I sensed more than saw, a page of text floating in the air around me.

  Name: ??

  Species: Feliform

  Hearth Mage - Level 1

  Health 4/4 - Stamina 4/6 - Mana 4/6

  Skills:

  Rest - Create a comfortable resting place for yourself. Sleeping here recovers stats at twice the usual rate.