Age of Aggression

[Haylie]

Malak made a point of dressing as quickly as one possibly could with their eyes closed. She must've done this before, because she managed it rather quickly and with minimal mistakes. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief upon getting the last of the clothes on.

"Alright. I'm good now."

[Legendary Hawk]

"Right... Let's get out of here," Rath whispered, stranding up from the bed. After grabbing her armor and sneaking up the door, she glanced through to make sure the coast was clear. However, she quickly found that it wasn't. Someone was approaching the door. "Malak! Quick, out the window!"

[Haylie]

Malak dashed to the window, shoved it open, and leapt out of it as fast as she could, tumbling out into the snow and motioning Rath to do the same. "Hurry!"

[Legendary Hawk]

After tossing her armor out the window, Rath pushed with her legs to jump as hard and as fast as possible. Her light frame shot up from the floor as she dove straight through the window. She landed with a light thud which was padded by the snow, and she rolled a few times before she managed to scramble to her feet. After scooping up her armor again, she prepared to follow Malak into the wilderness.

[Haylie]

Malak dashed at a right angle away from the window, and from the town, thinking it very likely the first thing the tenant would look at was the wide-open window. She carried either half of her armor under an arm. She found it much more awkward to run, with the shift in her center of gravity, so she couldn't run as fast as she would have liked.

[Legendary Hawk]

Rath followed as quickly as her legs would carry her. While it felt awkward to run now, she would later find a new agility in her swift, slender form. For now, though, she ran incredibly awkwardly, trying to restrain the bouncing of her chest (albeit unsuccessfully). She turned to look back only once to see the faint glimmer of Dawnstar's lights.

[Haylie]

Malak slowed to a jog, then a walk, then to a stand, quite short of breath. "I think... we got away... I hope that wasn't anyone important..."

(Hmm... I have an idea, if you'll allow me. Would you mind spawning a dragon?)

[Legendary Hawk]

By the time she caught up to Malak, Rath felt entirely exhausted and out of breath. She no longer had the muscle and strength for long-distance hauls... and she could feel her clothes sticking to her sweaty body. It grossed her out, a little. "At least we're safe, though..."


All of the sudden, a monstrous roar emerged from beyond the mountains, rolling over the foothills and echoing off the trees. Rath was sure she could feel the ground vibrating, and when she spotted the form of a winged lizard in the sky, she was definitely sure she'd rather still be in Dawnstar at the moment.

[Haylie]

Malak took a moment to rub her face with her hand. They were never gonna catch another break again, were they?

Instinctively, Malak reached for her bow... only to re-discover she didn't have it anymore. She tried casting a firebolt at it, but she might as well have tosses a rock at a Giant.

"Well, our punishment was short at least!"

Rath would slowly come to hear rapid footsteps and noisy metalic clinkings behind her, slightly muffled by the snow...

[Legendary Hawk]

Rath began to tremble in fear at the sight of the dragon, knowing her end was probably very near. In response to Malak's comment, she began to ponder her earlier thoughts about preferring death over womanhood. Was that really true? Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when she heard heavy footsteps coming from behind. Inquisitively, she turned around.

[Haylie]

(Gonna have to take control of the dragon for this, if you don't mind. )

"MOVE!" Rath would barely catch a glimpse of something tall, slender, and black as it shoved past her and Malak, straight toward the massive roaring beast, a strange-looking sparking sword in one hand and a glowing gold orb in the other. It scarcely held still, yet it still held the dragon's complete attention. "That's right, lizard, I'm the one you want..."

The dragon followed the black thing as it tried to circle around the beast. The dragon bit at it, which the black thing deftly dodged, but was quickly struck by the beast's wing, knocking it back a bit, but it stood back up and began cutting the dragon with its sword. Malak just stood and watched, stunned, as this either very brave or unfathomably stupid warrior swiped at a dragon--a dragon!--by itself... and almost seemed to be winning.

[Legendary Hawk]

Rath gasped and held her hands to her mouth as she watched this lone warrior attack the gigantic, deadly beast with an insane drive... She wondered what sort of person in their right mind would ever muster the will to engage a dragon head on.

(( No worries. ))

[Haylie]

The dragon spat ice from its mouth to distract the black thing, then staggered it back with a swipe of its huge tail as it spread its wings to take off. The black thing was back on its feet in an instant.

"Where do you think you're going?!" The black thing paused in its movement and took in a deep breath as the dragon rose off the ground, then screamed three completely alien words at the beast.

"JOOR... ZAH FRUL!" Blue thunder erupted from the black thing's throat and enveloped the dragon, which began roaring in agony as its wings seemed to fail, and it crashed into the ground. The black thing was on it in an instant, leaping onto its head as it thrashed about, desprately trying to throw it off, but to no avail. It yelled something at the black thing in a foreign tongue, and the black thing responded by stabbing the curved sword into the beast's eyes until it stopped thrashing. The black thing rolled off and began stabbing the pitiful thing's long neck and head until it stopped moving.

The black thing, scarcely short of breath, sheathed its curved sword removed its black helmet to reveal a short, but messy head of raven-colored hair and dark skin. Attention, however, was quickly reverted to the dead dragon, which appeared to burn away into nothing as a whirling mass of something--magic? Doubtful--swirled around the helmetless warrior and vanished, leaving almost nothing of the dragon behind but its bones.

"Divines..." Malak whispered, completely stunned, even as the warrior turned her head toward the two, sweat glistening on her forehead. She didn't appear to have irises, just white orbs in her head that had replaced her eyes, though she clearly didn't have a problem seeing.

The black warrior stepped toward Rath and Malak, her black armor clicking as she walked. She kept one hand resting on her sword and the other hanging free. She clearly wasn't pleased. "What in the name of Oblivion are the two of you doing out here?" Her accent was thick; she was clearly of Imperial descent, although she hardly acted like it. "If I hadn't happened along, both of you would either be in that thing's belly or frozen solid!"

[Legendary Hawk]

Amazingly, Rath entirely forgot about her identity issue and was instead awestruck by the scene which had just unfolded before her eyes. She had only seen a dragon once, fortunately from a long distance, and it had not been anything pleasant. Against any odds Rath could have imagined, this warrior had shouted at the dragon and beaten it in combat. And she had absorbed something out of it! Rath had no idea what to think.

"How did you..." she merely asked, unable to think to respond to this warrior's inquiry about her and Malak's business in the wilderness.

[Haylie]

The woman in black just chuckled. "You don't keep up with current events, do you? Well, you're hardly the first ones to fail to recognize me. I'm--"

"You're Criodym Wyze!" Malak interrupted, almost giddy. "The Dragonborn!"

The woman in black gave a shallow bow flourished with her free hand. "At your service." She turned to glance at the remains of the dragon. "And it seems not a moment too soon. Now, just what are you two ladies doing out here? And before you ask, I'm afraid I'm not fulfilling death wishes today."