Dweller
Chapter 24

I lunge towards Quarry. A knife in hand and my will was laid out. They knew what I was doing but Quarry humored it. He continuously doged my dagger grabbing my hand and pulling me down to the ground trying to lay flat on me. I quickly spin, my arm still in his grip. I used the momentum of the spin to kick my legs up in the air causing the force to make my hand slip out of his grip. I put one knee underneath me and quickly launched myself back up off the ground.

I could hear fighting behind me. The inaudible of yelling that I couldn’t make out. Too indulge in my own battle that I couldn’t make out what was going on behind me. I knew they would be fine no matter what. They knew their orders and they would follow them. If Sam had other orders he would give them. I was distracted by the main danger, so I know they will be fine.

I jumped back. Trying to get an understanding of my surroundings and see all who I have to fight. The dragon shifters in front of me never left his side, actually they never moved at all. Almost like bodyguards preparing to protect him if it gets to that. I charge back at him hoping for a different outcome. I switch the position of the dagger in my hand making the blade face away from him.

He kicked me in the chest and his hands were brought back into his pockets. I go flying into someone landing on top of them. Icloud yelp is heard from the other person. They cushion my fall. I looked behind me to see I landed on a werewolf that had fully shifted. Their brown and tan fur makes for a softer landing. They snarl and try to bite me. Trying to get me off. I was offended, I didn’t care that much!

I swing my elbow and with full force it impacts their forehead, definitely going to leave a bump but would quickly heal, with their crazy healing abilities. The ringing impact from the blow rings through my whole arm. Who knew they had such hard heads.

I jump off the large mammal and quickly scan my surroundings. Blar, Jason, Maddy, Secle, and Sam are all gone. They had disappeared into the night not even looking back. I was glad they had gotten out of this situation.

The enemies that survived their encounter slowly raised back to their feet. Some stay laying on the ground, either unconscious or severely injured. Blood and articles of clothing scraps littered the ground. The smell of the copper filled the air. Something impacted my side before I remembered about my own fight that I had initiated. I go flying, landing on my knees sliding across the rocky and uneven ground. They scratch across the ground causing them to start to bleed.

My body was covered in bruises and cuts, mud was caked to my clothing shoes and now knees.

“You should never take your eyes off your enemy, didn't I teach you that? And here I thought that you had somehow improved over the years. Let me teach you again,” he says. This time fully charging at me no longer playing defense.

I dodge his foot just fast enough as his foot lands on the ground making the mud there splash around. His foot had left an imprint in the dirt. This made me stand again and prepare for his next attack. He could easily severely injure me with an attack like that.

He charges at me and a wide smile encroaches his face when he sees me charge towards him as well. I use my backward dagger and slice through him as I quickly dodge to the side, slicing through his shirt and making his left arm start to bleed. He managed to scratch my knee as I dodged but it was shallow and wasn’t deep at all. His sleeve was ripped, but with the black cloth I couldn’t see how bad his injury truly was.

He reaches over and puts pressure on the fresh wound. We were both panting trying to catch our breath back. The muddy flooring form the rain making it even harder to safely move. Every step we take uses more and more energy. His smirk returns. He grabs his own dagger out from under the cloth, revealing it to me as he gets in position. I do the same. My arm covers my chest and my right foot is in front of me.

We lunge at each other, blocking each other's strike while trying to attack each other. It reminds me a lot like the past training we used to do. The moon light that hangs above us and only the two of us fighting with the attempt to win.

However this is different, it isn't the usual light hearted training this was for real. We had an attempt to harm each other.

I block his knife as it aims for my chest, using my legs and try to snatch his feet out from underneath him. I miss and am quickly stabbed in the shoulder. I scratched his cheek. He blocks my next attack towards his arm. The daggers cling together and scratch against the surfaces. They slid off of each other as we both induced the pressure on them. He manages to slice barely scratching my neck. I go for his arm again only to get blocked. He scratches my shoulder. Arm. Chest. Forehead. Arm. Arm again. Leg. Hand. Neck. This goes on for a while. We return attacks and block each other.

Continuously hacking at each other. Every attack someone does to someone the other retaliates right after with their own attack.

We finally both jumped back having sustained a series of injuries. Both panting heavily, we knew this fight was coming to an end. We both prepared our last move, both hoping it would be the job.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if I won. Would I return back to Smorgins and the others. Or would I be able to go on adventures and explore the world. Both sound nice. And I hope that I will have the choice.

I got into position, grabbing another dagger in my hand. Both of the daggers were pointing behind me giving me more time to move them around if needed. I put my right foot in front of me Leaning my body weight on it. My right hand came in front of my chest showing off my dagger, the other went behind my back.

I propelled forward no matter if he was ready or not. And Attacked.