Not Only Human

The Ignix looked through the monsoon that crashed in from the roaring sky, every drop of rain seared its flaming feathers, as the lake below it steam and boiled.

Its anger was unprecedented, far beyond what any man could experience, but this beast was not alone in its rage tonight.

Just as the beast quaked, looking in confusion for its master, a sharp dart shoot directly into the stem of its wing.

The sound of battle and the blazing fire was nothing compared to the scream of the Ignix. The Storm above rattled however and with the splashing waves from the lake, Arthur shot through the water, rapidly skipping and dipping under the water, gripping his carved dragon-bow in one hand and a bundle of arrows in the other.

Arrows, one after the other, shot at the Ignix at lightning speed, sticking like pins deep in the boney cartilage of its left wing.

No normal man could lose arrows this fast, but with a technique taught to him in the courtyard of the palace, Arthur holds and fire 3 arrows in a second. Holding 4 arrows between his fingers, he had spent many days hidden behind the barn, practising the Archery techniques passed down to him by the legendary She-Griffyn herself, Queen Guinevere: Arthur's Mother.

There was nothing in him now, not as he strung his bow, his fingers freezing and aching from the splashing water. Still unable to stop his motion, he dashed forward through the Lake, loosing arrows at the Ignix, who screamed in pain as it shielded itself with its wing; impaled with nearly 50 arrows.

The Young warrior struck forward like lightning, the sudden rush parting the water into a fierce flash as He drew his blade in an arch to carve up the wing to get towards the inner breast.

But as Grimstorm's pale blade batted the water, and as the lightning above flashed, the symbol given by that strange mass flashed with it. Arthur threw his hands up just in the nick of time.

Like a great serpent rising from the depths, as a Gizer so tall that it kissed the raging sky, exploded with the force of a mighty tsunami, which shook the lake bed below, lightning coursing through the black above to fondle at the billion droplets that now flew and attacked in mass, crushing the Ignix in a maelstrom of Aqua.

Arthur's arm crunched, his fingers split and he went flying off his feet, shooting like a bullet back into the lake. He gritted his teeth under the waves, thrashing to get to his feet, only for the weight of a metric ton, splash into its shoulders, bruising his collarbone and slamming him back into the depths.

His hand was broken, the wrist too... He could feel the bones moving unevenly under his skin, the force had damaged his joints and the fingers that still stubbornly gripped around the Handle of Grimstorm still etched with the symbol which glowed azure within the lake.

Any man who cracked bone beyond repair knows the Inhumanity and Unnatural power that drove Arthur to rise again from the Lake, his long hair dripping as His sword arm hung loose on his shoulder: numbed and useless.

The Pain was unbearable, even as He waved through the Lake, grunting in pain as He pried his cold fingers from the Pale blade and gripped it tightly in his other hand.

From the shallows of the shadowed lake, Arthur's golden eyes, bloodshot and wide with the unnatural rage that ran through his rage, spotted the shambling shadow of a beast so drenched that it resembled a giant smouldering chicken, barely able to move as it's inner flame struggled to remain lit.

There was no thought, no plan... not anymore, Arthur felt the breeze, he felt the quivering of the current under his feet, the quaking of the earth as it turned, He felt the Saints above, shaking the sky as the Young Warrior, battered and torn, vanished under the water again.

Arthur swam with one arm, pushing himself through the water with his kicking legs and rowing with the flat of his sword.

Holding this blade, Arthur moved under the blue like a mermaid, the current carried him forward to where Huge, webbed talons stirred and bucked at the floor, the screams of the weakened Ignix sounded above. "For Ozwuld."

Rocketing out of the water, Arthur jumped from the depth screaming, his skin glistening with dark scales, his eyes burning with the gold of infinity as He drove up into the Ignix's wet feathers and speared the body of his blade into its chest, cracking its hollow bones.

Arthur lept out of the way as the wound erupted with blood, thick and white-hot like magma. The Ignix groaned, Arthur, drawing his sword and smashing his fist into the beast's beak, cracking it horrible as He reeled on the Dragon like a wild animal.

Slashing its legs, cracking its beak, shaping its hollow bones. The Ignix croaked and swayed, as Arthur like an evil beast, stabbed and cut away at the beasts wing, smoothly cutting away the bone and severing the left wing entirely.

The Beast croaked and fell to it's side, flapping and writhing in pain as it wriggled, half submerged, in the lake.

Arthur strode slowly through the water, his eyes blazing, his chest thumping like swords on the shields of his ancestors. Grimstorm held supide his arm to avoid the water, he marched on heavily breathing, his lips curling with wrath as his skin... shone with patches of pitch black scales.

The Thunder above roared, his shadow looming over the beast, which looked up at him with it's massive sizzling eyes, their light fading like a candle on the wind.

He saw something in its eyes, Dragons were supposed to be animalistic beasts, Apex predators, highest on the food chain, even among the smallest like the Ignix. But Arthur saw so much more in these eyes, they crackled so softly, so gently as if in pleading.

In battle, Arthur was to be a shadow, untouchable, Hidden amoung the darkness, he would become one with his enemies, moving with them, flowing forever against them... Arthur hesitated, this would be his first but, it wasn't as He expected... not as He enjoyed.

Raising his sword, Arthur felt the storm above and in his wrath, conflicting with the mellow thoughts that sang in his mind. "Like a Dying doe, felled by a bad arrow... Let it rest."

And as the Lightning thundered, Arthur roared, and like the Frost Pines that he had felled a thousand times, for a thousand days, His sword slashed clean through the frail scales, dicing through the thick flesh and cutting through the bone.

Arthur did not hesitate, He drew Karas slightly curved blade, sharp enough to rend the tips from a mans fingers and dove into it's collar, cutting deep through the cartilage, and drawing back as the heat roared from within, before going cold as a dead furnace. Without hesitation he reached inside with his dirk and cut through the rib cage, driving deeper. He felt a warm ooze on his knuckles and cut away the insides and pulled out his knife.

His arm was red up to the shoulder but He dropped his blade and dove back in fishing inside before pulling monsterously.

Out came it's heart, huge and quadruple chambered, still warm. Arthur paused as He saw his hands... or... claws, black and scaled, mean and powerful before like quenching a torch... He was soft and pink again.

"I cannot be human... Not only human. I'm like them? how is that possible?"

He grasped the horn of the beast and began to drag it though the water, resting its heart between his elbow and his stomach. He was bleeding profusely, his sword arm was a ruin but He drew closer and closer to the shore.