For a single, terrible moment, Lara's mind split between instinct and memory. The last time she'd faced a dragon, there had been comrades at her back, magic laced into the ground, and nothing to lose but her pride.
Now she stood alone at the mouth of a burning village, the air thick with screams and the crackle of spreading flame.
The dragon's presence swallowed everything sound, color, even thought. Its black scales shimmered like shattered glass, each movement sending sparks into the night.
It coiled its massive body, tail lashing through a fence and scattering embers through the wheat. Villagers rushed past Lara, eyes wide with terror, and she forced herself to move—to become action instead of fear.
She planted herself in the center of the main street, sword drawn, yellow fire flickering at her palms. Her voice rang clear through the chaos.
"Hey! Scales-for-brains! Over here!"
The dragon turned, nostrils flaring, a deep, rumbling growl vibrating in its chest. Its eyes—sickly green and ancient—fixed on her, and she felt their weight like a promise.
The beast lunged, claws digging trenches into the earth as it surged forward, jaws open and hungry for violence.
Lara didn't wait. She sprinted toward the edge of the village, heart hammering, every sense sharpened to a razor's edge.
She sent a plume of yellow fire skyward bright as a beacon drawing the dragon after her. It roared, flame boiling from its throat, setting rooftops alight as it chased her.
"Come on," she muttered, weaving between crumbling walls, "don't slow down now."
She could feel the beast's heat at her back, the hiss of its breath scorching the air. At the edge of the village, she vaulted a fallen fence and skidded down a slope into the dark embrace of the forest.
Branches whipped at her face; roots caught at her boots. She risked a glance back—the dragon was following, its bulk flattening brush and snapping saplings like twigs.
For a wild instant, Lara wanted to laugh nothing like a dragon to get the blood pumping.
But she couldn't think of Aliyah, or Sarisa, or even the promise of rest. There was only this moment, this chase.
The forest closed in around them, dense and tangled, shadows flickering with firelight.
Lara ran deeper, luring the dragon away from the lights of the village, toward a clearing she'd scouted days before open ground, no hiding for either of them.
The dragon burst into the clearing with a thunderous crash, shaking the ground. It swung its massive head, seeking her, and Lara stood her ground, chest heaving, sword gleaming with her fire.
"Just you and me now," she said, voice hoarse but steady.
The dragon hissed, jaws splitting in a snarl. Its breath stank of brimstone and old death. Lara circled, keeping her movements loose, ready to dodge.
The beast lunged—she rolled aside, fire flickering along her blade as she slashed at its flank.
Scales, hard as iron, turned her strike. The impact jarred her wrist, sent a shock up her arm. She gritted her teeth, pivoted, and blasted a wave of yellow fire at its face.
The dragon reared back, smoke rising from scorched scales, but it only seemed angrier. It lunged again, claws raking the earth. Lara barely leapt clear, feeling the heat of its breath singe her hair.
She drew it around the clearing, moving with practiced agility, forcing it to overextend, to turn and twist in its own bulk.
She darted in for another slash—this time at the softer scales beneath its jaw—but the beast snapped at her, nearly taking her head.
She danced back, frustration prickling her skin. "All right, you overgrown lizard. You want a real fight?"
She called on her magic, letting yellow flames race along her arms, shaping them into spears of light.
She hurled them one after another, aiming for the dragon's eyes, its open mouth, the weak spots she'd learned from a dozen old battles.
The dragon roared, a gout of fire scorching the earth. Lara dove through the heat, sweat stinging her eyes, the world a blur of smoke and embers. She slashed again, felt her blade bite—just a little—at the tender flesh of its foreleg.
The dragon howled, tail lashing wildly. It spun, catching her with a glancing blow that sent her crashing into a fallen log.
Pain shot through her ribs. She rolled to her feet, vision swimming, and barely ducked as the beast snapped at her.
She let out a bark of laughter. "You hit like a mule, you ugly thing."
The dragon snarled, but this time Lara was ready. She dodged left, fire blazing in her wake, drawing the beast in a tight circle.
She spotted a gash along its side—old, poorly healed, a wound from some other fight. She aimed her next strike there, her sword glowing white-hot.
She plunged the blade deep. The dragon screamed, thrashing, wings beating the air into a gale. Lara clung to her sword, trying to hold on, but the beast twisted, sending her sprawling.
Her blade clattered to the ground. The dragon loomed over her, teeth bared, eyes burning.
Lara scrambled to her feet, fists blazing. She hurled another bolt of fire—this one catching the dragon in the eye. It shrieked, rearing back, blinded for a heartbeat.
She seized her chance, diving for her sword. Her fingers closed around the hilt just as the dragon lunged again, jaws snapping.
She rolled aside, but this time she was too slow. The dragon's teeth closed around her arm—hard, sharp, hot as the forge.
Pain exploded through her, white and blinding. She screamed, struggling, the world narrowing to the vise-grip on her flesh and the taste of blood in her mouth.
The beast shook her once, twice, trying to tear her free. Lara twisted, slamming her free fist into the dragon's snout, yellow fire flaring with desperate fury.
The dragon released her, dropping her to the dirt. She staggered to her knees, clutching her wounded arm, blood streaming through her fingers. The dragon roared, rearing up, flame spilling from its jaws and bathing the clearing in molten gold.
Lara forced herself to her feet, vision blurry, pain screaming through her bones. She wouldn't give in. Not yet.
She wiped the blood from her face, squared her shoulders, and grinned up at the dragon, defiance burning in her eyes.
"You're going to regret that," she spat, voice ragged but fierce.
The dragon answered with another earth-shaking bellow, smoke and fire rolling from its throat.
Lara faced the monster—arm bleeding, sword ready, fire burning wild and untamed in her heart.
The real fight had only just begun.