Legend of Ransera

Glacial dusk 15th

He awoke to thunder and the smell of rain, to the sounds of screams and yells. He’d sailed through more peaceful hurricanes than whatever this was. Unsure of many things but certain of the fact that he must pursue the scream. He was in what looked like a small hospital, others lay sleeping…? Nearby on bunks side by side by side… most wounded… some puzzle pieces had appeared before him but he hadn’t the time or wit to place them.

Through the miasma of his mind, his thoughts faltered but his instincts to run towards danger were firing on all cylinders. Adrenaline dumped into atrophied limbs and dark purple veins swelled as blood flowed through them. It was as if the near destruction of his body had forced it to become more structurally sound in its rebirth.

Into the rain the bedraggled man in linen bedclothes his head whipping about for the source of the sound he’d heard, the shouts were accompanied by a great crashing. Pushing long wet now graying hair from his face he realized he was above the sound in a massive treehouse structure. People below seemed to be running in what looked like at least a couple feet of flood water as they ran towards the mountain behind him and their various tree forts and homes. Through the rain he couldn’t yet make out the source of the sound, but it was enough to see people moving with such haste to galvanize him towards whatever it was they fled from.

Sprinting down the stairs taking them two at a time the man rejoiced at the sensation of movement, his body knowing this was the first time he’d moved without pain in almost a year, his mind still unweighted by that knowledge however, memories having slipped their shelves laying in disarray.

The thudding became louder with the crashing and roaring of displaced water. Through the veil of rain the source became apparent, horns first naturally.



Just the one charging monstrosity, easily taller than the man, with it’s horn leveled directly at his chest. Still something in the back of the man’s mind told him he could handle this. Charging towards the beast the graying soldier side stepped the horn tucking it under his armpit as the rest of him slammed into the wall that the dinosaur called a face. His feat planted in the mud. The wind was almost immediately taken from him and his head smarted where he’d butted it against the creatures forward crest. But his arms were locked around it’s stupid head, his hands locking beneath it’s jaw.
Ten feet, twenty feet it pushed him back, Myles could feel the earth giving way beneath him but he would not bow, the beast was slowing, he was not.
When his feet struck the roots or trunk of one of dratheras great trees the warrior kicked off with all his might twisting the dinosaurs head to the left as hard as he could while yanking down. In doing so he drug the beasts horn into the earth and it’s momentum sent it flying over Myles body before it landed on it’s back behind him.

Scrambling out of the flood waters the man gasped for air, his body hurt from the effort, but it was a good pain, a welcome sensation. Turning back to the dinosaur that was also strugging to it’s feet now sans it’s horn that was nowhere to been, just a wicked stump where one had been. Roaring at the monster as it faced him, he was satisfied to see it run in away from the city.

What he didn’t know, was that, dinosaur, had been running from the same thing the other villagers had been running from, and not, what they’d been running from.

Over the rain, a deep rumbling clicking noise appeared. Like what a mountain might purr like.

Zorela’s eyes snapped open. Her heart raced for a moment as she took in her surroundings and remembered that she wasn’t in her condo. She groaned and turned onto her side as the memories of the recent past came flooding back to her. She was in Ecith now on an unfamiliar bed with a nonzero number of other people. She almost wanted to throw up from the smells that could only be concocted from a mixture of multiracial body odor and nighttime gas.

Communal sleeping is so dumb, she thought as she got up. She needed air.

It only took her a few moments to get dressed and call her sword and money to her side, just in case. She still felt insecure going out on her own… especially when everyone and their mother was bigger and stronger than her, physically at least. Plus, the only person she really knew here was Jesse and she'd no idea where he'd ended up sleeping.

It’s raining again? Ugh. After experiencing true sunlight after so long, rain annoyed her even more than it used to. She focused on warding a small area around her and made sure it would shield her from both the rain and cold temperatures before stepping outside. She pulled the ward along with her as she made her way towards the nearest eatery when she noticed something wasn’t quite right.

Fear? She thought she felt the emotion in great quantities not too far away. It was hard to see much of anything but she could tell that something was wrong. Something in her gut told her that this was why she’d woken up in the first place.

Gritting her teeth, she took off into the sky, soaring above the heads of people who were screaming and running like their lives were in danger. A flash of lightning illuminated Myles as he wrestled with the dinosaur’s horn. An admirable effort, Zorela had to admit, but he was clearly oblivious to the actual threat just up ahead.

She called out to Myles as she approached, “you gotta get out of here! Something big’s coming!” She’d hover a good five meters away from him, slightly above the ground so she didn’t get drenched in flood water. Another flash of lightning would illuminate her clearly enough, finger pointing in the direction of the threat.

“Think you can get away? I could carry you if you’d like!” Zorela clearly didn’t seem to want to attack the giant monster. Common sense told her the best thing to do was to get the hell out of there… but she didn’t know who she was dealing with.

From the sky a warning dropped, and an offer from aid. Side eyeing the flying mage with suppressed distaste, Myles glared into the darkness at the looming threat, resignation settling into his bones.

“Can’t leave it here, kill it or lead it away, better yet, both.”
Ripping the smaller dinosaurs horn from the ground where it had snapped off the beast the warrior hefted the piece of ivory like a club before kicking off the muddy ground and running straight towards the dinosaur.

Predators are often confused by prey that runs towards them, a voice in his head said. He was maybe 15 yards from the monster when it roared at him, a mighty sound that reverberated through his lungs and guts, the bassy rumble ringing his ears. However, as its mouth widened to roar the man was also already moving to make his own statement. Arm cocked back horn held aloft he whipped his arm forward with all of his strength chorded muscles going from slack to iron like chain pulled taught.

It was not a pretty throw, but with a target that big it didn’t need to be. The ivory chunk hitting the giant dinosaur in the mouth cutting its mighty proclamation short with something that sounded like a yelp and snarl combined. Continuing to run towards the monster as it flinched back and snapped its jaws trying to spit or chew the horn Myles altered his angle trying to cut past the creature and begin leading the overgrown lizard back to the outskirts of the city.

What he hadn’t planned for was the blinding speed of the t-rex’s tail as it came hurtling towards him catching right in his middle. Reflexively gripping onto the appendage he barely avoided being slammed into a tree and instead lost his grip and was flung far to the left of the dinosaur, opposite the side he’d tried to pass it on.
Thankful for the flood waters that broke his fall. He sensed a likely counterattack so when he hit the water, rather than coming back up. The man lay on his belly under the water and kicked off scooting across the ground coming up some fifteen feet away from where he’d been, just in time to see the monsters jaws snap closed on where he’d landed.

Zora was speechless when the man refused her offer to get him out of there. Did he have a death wish? Truthfully, she’d only made the offer because he wasn’t an ork or dark skinned like the non-ork races around these parts. She’d assumed that he, like her, was new to the area and didn’t know any better. To find out that he was completely willing to take on the monstrosity on his own was beyond comprehension, especially given that he seemed to have magical ability whatsoever.

Still, she did think he had a point. There was no telling how much damage this thing could cause to the city and she did have experience taking down a similar creature. Granted, this one was much larger and more mature than the one shed defeated the previous week.

She took in the full size of the creature as it approached slowly and methodically, like it was just strolling along looking for some easy prey. It wasn’t scared. Zora doubted it had ever known true fear in its entire life. She almost didn’t notice Myles charging at it, only noting his position once she sensed that he’d thrown the horn.

“Did he just…” she asked herself as it dawned on her just how strong Myles was to be able to toss that huge horn that far. “Color me impressed.”

Zora repositioned herself, soaring towards the back of the dinosaur and trying to find a good opening while trying to think about the situation tactically. It was all she could do to help slow the tail that ended up slamming right into Myles. She winced upon the impact as she too had suffered a similar injury when she’d last fought a dinosaur.

I’ve got to deal with that tail.

As the creature dug its jaws into the wet ground to try gobbling Myles up, Zora found her opportunity. She held out her hands, commanding her two katana to unsheathe themselves and twirl in the air until they were angled just right. Then, she started to excite the flux at their tips until they were not only red hot, but they caused the rain around her to start turning into a steamy mist.

Then, she used all her might to send the katana down in unison, embedding them right into the monster’s lower back. The incredible heat that she’d generated was enough to allow them to slice right through its thick hide, embedding into its spine and inhibiting the use of its tail. It wasn’t the cleanest shot given her near nonexistent knowledge of its anatomy, but no creature on the planet could shrug off getting stabbed in the spine.

The dinosaur lifted its head high into the sky and roared in pain. The heat audibly sizzled its insides and there was no doubting that it could smell its own burnt flesh. It then glanced at its back and as it did so, it saw Zora’s form.

“Uh oh,” she said as she sped higher into the air, narrowly dodging a bite.

The violence flowed like the endless water and an old rhythm began to beat in the soldiers heart, in spite of the roaring dinosaur and the threat of eminent death looming Myles was grinning like he hadn’t in a minute. His feet moving before his mind asked, always towards danger. The moment the beasts attention was directed away from him the scraggly warrior leapt towards it’s flank.

When from the air swords turned hot pokers whistled and hissed into the dinosaurs tail bone Myles hastened his approach giddy at the site, what lovely handles for him to grab. Leaping from the water Myles ran three steps up the beasts slick scaly hide to the embedded blades and grabbed the handles with comfortable familiarity. The monster roared in indignant pained rage and spun back to snap at him, but now with anchors to hold onto he was swung out of the way of giant teeth by the beasts own momentum, like a dog trying to bite it’s tail.
Wasting no time Myles braced his footing and ripped outward with the blades halfway severing the tail leaving it hanging limply as it sprayed gore against the rain. Another roar accompanied by another lunging snapping bite, again taking advantage of the fact that nothing that size expects something smaller than it on the offensive diving forwards the teeth snapped somewhere above him as he dove under the monsters stomach. Briefly however he trapped beneath the beasts mass, pressed into the standing floodwaters. Panic as a clawed foot stomped inches away from his head, getting his feet back under himself Myles launched from the water with a wild slash through the dino’s inner thigh as he appeared again behind the monster, his linen bedclothes stained with muck and blood in equal measure. The grin he wore only wider as he plotted his next course, an unfamiliar curved single edged blade in either hand, still a sword was sword and he could swing one of those.

Zora soared higher into the air, smiling in admiration as Myles managed to get up to the katana and use them both fairly effectively. Without its tail, the threat the dinosaur posed was greatly reduced. From her vantage point she could see how clumsily it stepped because it couldn’t properly control its balance. Its expression and aura also told her that it was incredibly confused and angry, as if it could not make sense of how it was being damaged by two creatures that were smaller than insects.

“Heh, I’d be upset too if I was getting beat up by a couple of files,” Zora thought to herself. She had the luxury if having time to think up in her safe space. Or she did, until her body lurched downwards and the spherical barrier around her started to fade. She furrowed her brow and concentrated to pull herself to a stop but then she lurched downwards again. She had to fight to slow herself before she landed onto the creature’s back with an OOMPH.

The damned sickness. She’d nearly forgotten about it because she’d been so focused on what was going on. She suddenly felt incredibly drained, likely from making the blades so hot. Now she was paying the price, hugging the bloodied hide of the creature who thankfully had not noticed her.

“Ugh,” she groaned, sticking a hand into her clothes where her dragonshard was. She drained it for every drop of aether it had and focused on the dino’s movements. She felt it lift its leg and then she pushed the foot as hard as she could with a massive wave in the aether flux. The dino went teetering, unable to use its tail to stabilize itself and went down hard. She leapt from the creature right before it hit the ground and she went skidding in the mud.

She’d had the courtesy to make it fall away from Myles, at least… perhaps he could end things before it managed to get back up.