The forest welcomed them with silence.
Towering evergreens stretched endlessly ahead, their shadows long and cool beneath the morning sun. Dew clung to leaves like tiny crystals as Lyra and Akari walked side by side along a narrow dirt path, their footsteps soft against the earth.
Akari held her pack tightly to her chest, eyes wide as she looked around at everything.
"This is… my first time leaving the kingdom," she whispered.
Lyra glanced down at her with a smile. "How does it feel?"
Akari hesitated. "Scary. But… also exciting."
"Good." Lyra adjusted her sword at her hip. "That means you're alive to both fear and curiosity. Adventurers need both."
They walked in comfortable quiet for a while, broken only by birds and the rustle of wind through branches.
After an hour, Akari spoke again, more softly.
"Lyra… thank you. For doing all this. For me."
Lyra slowed just a bit. "You don't have to thank me."
"But I want to." Akari looked down. "You saved me. You gave me a place to stay. You're helping me learn… even though I can't really fight yet."
Lyra stopped walking.
Akari bumped gently into her back. "S-sorry!"
Lyra turned and knelt in front of her, resting both hands on Akari's shoulders.
"Akari," she said firmly, "you are not a burden. You are my responsibility. And more than that,"
Her voice softened.
"You're someone I chose to protect."
Akari's breath caught.
"I…" Her eyes shimmered slightly. "I'll get stronger. I promise."
Lyra smiled. "I know you will."
They resumed walking, the space between them warmer than before.
By midday, something changed.
The forest grew quieter. Too quiet.
The birds vanished. The wind carried a faint, strange warmth with it, like air passing over heated stone. Akari wiped her forehead.
"It's getting hot…"
Lyra's expression sharpened. "We've entered the outer edge of the dragon's territory."
Akari's heart skipped. "…Already?"
Lyra nodded. "Red dragons radiate heat over miles. The closer we get, the stronger it becomes."
They continued forward cautiously.
Soon, Akari spotted the first sign.
A tree, huge and ancient, had been ripped apart. Not burned. Not broken by storms.
Clawed.
Four massive gouges ran down its trunk, each deeper than Akari was tall.
She froze.
"L-Lyra…"
Lyra placed a steady hand on her back. "Yes. That's his."
Akari swallowed hard. "He did that… with one swipe?"
"Likely without even trying."
A shudder ran through her.
As they advanced, the signs became impossible to ignore.
Blackened stone where fire had once scorched the earth.
Enormous footprints pressed deep into hardened soil.
Molten rock cooled into jagged glass along the mountain's lower slopes.
Even the ground felt different beneath Akari's boots, warm.
Then,
BOOM.
The earth trembled slightly under their feet.
Akari grabbed Lyra's sleeve. "T-that wasn't thunder, was it…?"
Lyra didn't look amused.
"No. That was him landing."
Akari's blood went cold.
By late afternoon, the trees thinned, revealing a towering mountain rising from the earth like a jagged spear of black stone. Streams of faint red light pulsed from cracks in its surface like veins of lava beneath skin.
Heat rolled down from its slopes in visible waves.
Akari stared upward in silence.
"That's… the dragon's mountain…?"
Lyra nodded. "His lair is near the summit."
Akari's legs felt weak.
Before they moved closer, Lyra guided her toward a narrow rock outcropping hidden between two ridges.
"This is your safe point," Lyra said. "From here, you won't be seen unless you move. I'll distract him near the upper slope."
Akari hugged her pack tightly. "…And you'll come back?"
Lyra met her eyes.
"Always."
Akari took a slow, shaky breath. "Then I'll wait. No matter how long it takes."
Lyra smiled proudly. "That's my student."
She turned toward the mountain, aura sharpening as she took her first step forward.
Then paused.
"Akari."
"Yes?"
"If you feel your power surging," Lyra said gently, "don't fight it. Breathe. Ground yourself. Remember, you're safe here."
Akari nodded. "I will."
Lyra stepped away, her figure growing smaller against the massive slope of the mountain.
The ground trembled again.
A deep, rumbling roar echoed across the sky, so powerful it made the air vibrate inside Akari's chest.
Her hands trembled.
"…So that's a dragon," she whispered.
She sank down behind the rocks, eyes fixed upward, praying with everything she had that Lyra would return safely.
And high above, fire gathered.