Hero's Return 8 Saved By A Dragon

"I only need a minute!" After this statement was made, Iona and Dezrin had split up to make it harder for the demon to chase one of them, Dezrin had flown in to keep the demon busy so that Iona wouldn't be harmed "Iona, make a barrier around me and the demon while I fight him - even if he can sense the magic form around him I'll keep all of his attention on me" Because the demon only had a sensitivity to magic and aura they were at a slight disadvantage in close combat, even so they managed to keep up with Dezrin. As Iona watched her brother fight the demon all she could do was watch and set up the barrier her brother had asked her to set. Iona was more of a support focused mage than anything else, she did have extremely powerful attacks but the supporting abilities her magic allowed her to use were even more beneficial. The demon quickly noticed a barrier forming around him and the human in front of him but every time he tried to escape he would either be pulled back into the barrier physically or the human would dash in front of him, blocking his escape. Eventually, after fighting for about 10 seconds, the barrier was set and neither Dezrin nor the demon could escape. The demon had figured out that this would be the likely outcome and charged forward, he could sense that this barrier was only meant to act as a barrier, it couldn't attack at all. Without having to worry about trying to escape he could engage in battle with the human in front of him at full force. Even though the demon was trapped inside the barrier, the barrier could not trap shockwaves and magical ripples, so Dezrin couldn't go all out, and Iona had been given her job already. Watching her brother fight reminded Iona of a fight that they had shared when their leader was still alive.

In the distant past, in a lifeless, rocky outland there was a fierce battle raging through the land, it was 'Azu' and his team taking on a rock-scale serpent, this serpent's scale's were as hard as a rock and they were finding it very difficult to get close enough to attack the serpent without getting killed. As if one tried to get close enough to kill it, the serpent would attempt to turn it's head and swallow it's victim, if they dodged it would then run over it's victim, the sharp, unnatural jagged edges of the rocks and the weight of such a giant beast would very easily shred anyone to death. Each time someone tried to engage in close combat with it they would barely escape being run over, so they had to think of a strategy fast - each close encounter wouldn't kill them but would injure them. The most dangerous weapon this serpent had was it's tongue, unlike most snakes this snakes tongue was a single point, as sharp as a sword that it could move extremely quickly - this is the weapon it initially used but after finding that these humans were faster than it's tongue it stopped trying.

A: "This beast is pretty hard to kill huh?!"

'Azu' had been flung back by the force of the serpent charging towards him, landing next to all of his teammates. Suddenly, from the distance, a pure, blue-streaked white haired girl had flew next to him.

A: "Iona"

I: "Yep"

Iona had grown accustomed to her role as the support mage of the team and they no longer had to call her name for her to understand when someone needed healing. She ran up to her leader and healed his wounds. Standing up he looked around and scanned his surroundings, looking for any way to win.

I: "Um... leader?"

A: "Hm? Yeah?"

I: "Shouldn't I come with you guys instead of staying back here and waiting for you to come to me? I feel like I would be more useful if I actually fought with you guys."

The look on his face immediately became firm as he looked forward to the serpent and he had lost his smile.

A: "Absolutely not, too dangerous"

Iona pouted.

I: "Why?! Im tired of being in the back all the time just watching you guys get hurt!"

A: "We're not discussing this now."

'Azu' jumped forward to the serpent and began to fight with it once more, he seemed scarier than before, the fun he usually looked like he was having in most of these fights were replaced with a cold stare towards the serpent. All of the team just looked at eachother before leaving once more to fight with him, they felt bad for Iona but they knew that whilst Iona definitely had the strength to fight with them, as it was right now she was too inexperienced in the battlefield, she would most likely get injured or even die, and no one liked to see Iona in any kind of pain - they knew it would sadden her now but they preferred that over the alternative. Iona had been left alone.

I: "Im so tired of this, always being left in the back to watch as they get hurt"

This was the first time Iona had given voice to her reluctance to stay behind them, she felt weak because of this even though everyone acknowledged her strength.

I: "I'll show them"

Iona charged forward into the battle. Everyone was already wounded and were thinking of ways that they could win against this serpent, their leader's mind wasn't in the best state, not only had this been a beast that was stronger than most of the one's they fought, but he had told Iona 'no' - he never liked to say no to Iona as he treated her as his own little sister. He treated everyone in the team like his own family so he never liked to say no to any of them. All of them were exhausted and were about to fly back to Iona but all of their wounds suddenly grew smaller until they completely disappeared.

A: "Huh?"

D: "No! Why did you come here?!?!"

Looking at his shrinking wounds meant one thing, they were being healed! He quickly scanned his surroundings and saw a frustrated little girl with both of her hands together and her eyes closed healing them.

A: "Iona! I said no! Get out of here quickly!"

I: "Why?! I'm healing you guys right now aren't I! It's faster than staying in the back too! Why can't I stay with you guys and fight with you instead of acting like a portable healing center!"

D: "This is not the ti-"

A: "This is not the ti-"

Before he could finish his sentence the serpent had already appeared behind Iona and had opened it's mouth to eat her, if she dodged it would run her over. During the time 'Azu' and Dezrin had been distracted the serpent had moved to eat the most vulnerable-looking target. Iona looked behind her and her face turned white, was she about to die? She closed her eyes in fear.

D: "Iona!"

Dezrin was the furthest from Iona and wouldn't make it in time! For Iona the entire world had gone dark and silent, only the sound of the pa.s.sing wind filled her ears, she wasn't in pain or anything, she was confused by this and finally opened her eyes. There was someone in front of her looking straight down at her, it was her leader 'Azu'! She looked up at him initially frustrated at the fact that he had stopped her, as he stared down at her blood started to run down his mouth. In one hand, he held the left fang of the serpent and in the other hand, he held the tongue of the serpent that had pierced his chest, if he hadn't held it it would've also pierced Iona. He had single-handedly stopped the serpent's forward charge.

I: "LeLeade-"

A: "Seth! Xion! Dezrin! Natu! Now!!!"

The shock of seeing their leader in such a damaged state was quickly shoved to the side as he said this and they all charged down at the serpent with their full power attacks, they had no chance of missing now so they didn't have to hold back. Almost instantly as soon as their attack's landed the serpent died and Azu let go of the fang and pushed the tongue of the serpent out of his stomach, he fell to the ground and to his knees.

A: "Iona..."

He coughed up blood and looked as if he was about to die. Snapping out of her shock she immediately flew down and began healing him, the wounds on his hand had healed but left a scar and the wound in his stomach also left a scar, after taking a deep breath he exhaled and had regained his vitality. He looked up to see Iona staring at the floor, right now she couldn't look him in the eye.

I: "I... I won't do that agai-"

A: "Good job Iona! You managed to bait the serpent and allowed us to kill it!"

I: "Huh?"

A: "Man, you're so easily tricked, I made all that up, of course you can fight with us on the field but I wanted you to willingly be the bait"

Hearing this she immediately let go of all of her regret and began to adorably hit him.

I: "I thought I was going to die!!! I thought you were going to die!!!"

Iona had her face buried in her leader's chest right now and was extremely angry, because of this she wasnt able to notice her teammates behind her that understood that the 'Azu' had made that up, it was a lie to make her feel less bad for herself, he looked at each of them in the eye and nodded, this confirmed their suspicions. Dezrin, seeing this had seen how much he cared about Iona and stared back at him with admiration in his eyes - he bowed silently to 'Azu' as his sister was completely oblivious, this was the experience that gave Dezrin an extreme trust towards his leader, and their relations.h.i.+p would only grow in future.

A: "Well.. let's set up a camp, I think we all deserve a break."

As they set up the camp everyone looked at Iona who looked frustrated as she set up the camp and decided they would keep the lie a secret. None of them wanted to spoil their leader's efforts and after they set up the camp, it was already the darkest part of the night, they all went to sleep. Iona was the only one who was up as she was going to her leader's tent to talk about if she could really fight with them, plus her brother was missing from their tent (they shared a tent) so she wanted to find him too. On her way to the tent she saw her brother walking towards a heightened rock in the outland, he looked serious so she followed him. Dezrin had walked to where he told 'Azu' to meet him. Iona was confused, why did her brother want to meet with the leader after the fight?

A: "Sup, what'd you wanna talk about?"

Dezrin bowed once more then stood up to stare at 'Azu'.

D: "I would like to tell you how much it means to me that you saved my sister."

Hiding under the rock Iona was confused by this.

I: "Wasn't he using me as bait?"

A: "Yeah, she's a strong one alright. Charging into battle for her friends, she doesn't like to feel weak... that's how all of us are."

D: "Lying to her was the best thing to do there. How're your injuries?"

A: "They still hurt like h.e.l.l, her healing is extremely effective but a wound that dug straight through me won't be painless during the healing process"

Hiding under the rock, hearing all of this, Iona had begun to cry and she currently hated herself for thinking all those negative thoughts about someone who cared so much about her.

A: "I don't want her to be sad, a dragon without wings would be ineffective after all."

D: "Excuse me what?"

A: "Hm? Oh yeah I never told you guys, that's how I view her. If you imagine you and the rest of the team like a ma.s.sive dragon, she's the one that allows us to fly, she makes life so much easier for us. I just... don't want to see her getting hurt so I have her stay in the back. From today on though, it doesn't seem like that's gonna be possible."

'Azu' smiled as he looked at the moon, Dezrin also smiled as he looked at the moon. Iona at the bottom of the rock stood up and began to walk up to the top. 'Azu' heard footsteps coming up the rock and turned around to see a crying Iona, Dezrin turned and saw this too, he didn't know what to say, this change from the frustrated one to the crying one, they knew that she had been listening.

A: "Haha... Um... Sorry for lyi-"

Iona had ran into his arms and began crying into his s.h.i.+rt. Both 'Azu' and Dezrin began to stare into the moon, letting Iona let out her sadness. Iona sticking so closely to his stomach hurt him more but he endured it, this wasn't the time to interrupt her.

A: "Iona, you can fight with us on the field. Just... Be careful. Okay?"

'Azu' looked down at the girl crying on him and she looked up at him, with tears still running down her face she copied what the leader always did when he was sad and smiled.

I: "I will"

She finished crying on his s.h.i.+rt and wiped her tears, she also looked at the moon with the smile she initially forced slowly turning genuine. 'Azu' and the twin siblings stood on top of a heightened rock in an outland, staring at the beauty of the moon.

Their leader had been willing to sacrifice their life for her and then lie about the pain he was feeling to make sure she came out of the experience unscathed. The care he showed to other's in place of the care he gave to himself inspired both Iona and Dezrin and his death had been a ma.s.sive blow to them, it was like losing an older brother for both of them. Iona was crying as she tried to heal 'Azu' in his last moments but it was useless, the injury he suffered was far too severe and he was already dying. His last wishes and words to the entire team was simple "Take care of eachother, my next life is second priority to your own". He had said them as he laughed, in the face of death he held his smile until the very last moment. Iona shed a tear at this and she felt a ripple of magic pa.s.s by and a ma.s.sive barrier where the village should have been.

X: "Natu? Was that you?"

N: "Yeah, I finally finished"

S: "What is it?"

N: "It's a visual impairing barrier, from the inside of the village they should feel like there is currently a ma.s.sive storm. The sounds coming from the thunder and rain inside the barrier should stop them from hearing anything whilst the actual thunder and rain should stop them from seeing anything, from their perspective it looks like the storm goes as far as the horizon. They can't hear or see anything outside the barrier. I set the magical essence forming the barrier to block any kind of magic waves too. We can go all out!"

I: "Finally! Thanks"

D: "Iona, let's go!"

S: "Finally! This guy's been provoking me for so long!"

X: "Thanks Natu."

N: "No problem Miss!"

The barrier she was maintaining was released and Dezrin met up with her and held out his hand, Iona nodded at him and held his hand and began channeling her energy into him. This was the extreme move they had developed in the memory of their previous leader, a dragon given wings. This a.n.a.logy had given them an idea for an attack that they could use, as she channeled her energy into Dezrin a blue light began to cover his body, the light began to change shape, he began to grow wings on his back and a tail, after the light began to grow transparent it looked like an armor made of scales and wings on his back. It looked similar to Seth's transformation except the physical changes were fully made of magical energy instead of an actual transformation and the colour was blue, not red. This was the greatest support ability she could use, it allowed someone to transcend their limits for a time and would increase their combat power to an extremely high level.

Iona finished and no longer had enough power to even fly, she fell and Dezrin caught her, flying down to the ground he had placed her on the bottom of a tree to sit "I'll take care of the demon, then it's straight back to raising the leader again." The demon was distracted by the giant dome that had suddenly formed from far away and had ignored these siblings, when he looked back one was exhausted and was struggling to stay awake while another had seemed to have risen in level by a tremendous level. "Your power? Has increased?" Dezrin stood up with his back to the demon after being covered in highly condensed pure magical power he felt extremely powerful, he could keep up with the demon before, but now... with his back turned to the demon he remembered that night under the moon, the leader's words to him and his sister's crying turning into joy. "Increase in power? No. It's more like..." He turned to look at the demon floating in the air above him "I've been given wings." Dezrin moved extremely fast and held the demon's face in his hand then, with an extreme burst of speed, crashed the demons head into the ground, creating a crater many miles deep and the cracks had spread out in a spiderweb pattern. Jumping out of the crater he looked towards where he had left his sister and she was sleeping. "Only you could sleep through such a large impact" As he walked towards her he remembered those words "Take care of eachother, my life is second priority to yours." He scoffed to himself as he picked up his sister and the glowing armor faded away, he stared at the moon and smiled "Not anymore, your life was never second priority to any of us". After scanning where the other battle's happened and confirming that all the demons had been defeated, with his sister sleeping in his arms he returned to the village.