✨bia✨’s Reviews > Starside > Status Update

"You... you went in after me."
"I went through the mist for that sword," he snarls. My sword, he means. The one on my back, its blade still covered in saberwolf blood.
So, there it is. The reason he hasn't already abandoned me. Does he even need the map? Probably not. He wants my sword. Like everyone else.

Then it's in my best interests that you don't get yourself killed."
I blink. "You're... you're going to train me?"
I remember his words in the woods, just a few days prior. How I wasn't worth even a moment of his time.
"I'm going to show you the very basics," he says,

Of course he ignores me. His head dips, and I feel his gaze like a brand as he looks me over. "How much of that blood is yours?"
"None of it," I spit, glaring daggers at him, still trying to find my breath. He studies me for another moment. Two.
"Good," he finally says. "Get up."

Who would be stupid enough to piss you off?" I ask, wondering if they've seen him with a sword.
his head tilts back up to me. I can feel his gaze locked with mine, even though I can't see his eyes. "I don't know, Aris. You seem to do it quite often." Aris.
He says my name for the first time, and my skin prickles. The way he says it... like his voice is both caressing it and mocking it...

He drops my wrist as if he can't bear to touch me any longer, then walks off, leaving me burning with shame.
Bastard.
I hate him. His words shouldn't sting-but they do anyway.

Swords are only as good as their welders. Yours is just as pathetic as you are." I flinch, that word sinking into my heart deeper than any dagger could, but he doesn't stop. He gets lower. "Nothing about you is any match to me." Raker stares me down, as if daring me to say anything else. As if he's thinking that he has finally broken me. His words were meant to hurt.

You will regret this," he says, before taking a step forward. It's not a threat as much as it is a promise. But it isn't a no. His hands are halfway curled into fists. "If you slow me down, I will kill you. If I find another way across the land without you, I will kill you. If you try to touch my sword, I will kill you. Understood?"
I know I should feel fear, but instead, all I feel is crushing relief.

Instead, I'm reminded that I'm alone, in the middle of a strange land, without a creature. Surrounded by fire and enemies hunting me down. Standing in nearly extinguished sunlight, unsure if I'm about to be torn apart by mysterious night demons.

I'm not alone.
With trembling hands, I slowly unsheathe my sword, inch by inch, and hold it in front of my face. In its reflection is a towering shadow right behind me. A monster in human form.
Harlan Raker.

Scales. Beneath me. I turn, only to see a shredded silver wing.
A dragon. I'm on a dragon.
It saved me.