"In the forest besides route 29"

"I don't know why he's still out here" Hope questioned "he has a whole day's lead on us, he could be anywhere" she told Alaric and Rafael who were just behind her as she walked through the woods

"Maybe because he doesn't have a reason to run" Rafael tried to defend his best friend which only gains a scoff from Hope "logic that would be perfectly believable if he hadn't, you know, ran"

"Shh" Alaric shushed to the pair as some branches cracked near them "did you hear that? Someone's here" he said before hurrying towards the noise with Hope and Rafael following him which quickly leads them towards the source of it all, a light skin black girl with long curly hair in a dirty white dress

"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you" the director reassured the poor woman as she just stared at him scared "were you in the bus? Do you know what happened" he asked her but she didn't answer instead she looked around her like she was in a trance

"Is she a survivor?" Hope questioned "she must be, she reeks of smoke" Rafael answered to her "I think she is in shock, look I need to get her to the police so she gets medical attention you to go find Landon but don't engage we don't know how dangerous he is" Alaric told the teens

"He isn't dangerous" Rafael again tried to defend his friend "don't engage" Alaric doubled down looking at the young man "come on" Hope said to him

---------------

At route 29

"Jesus how far is this school?" Max said tiredly as he sat down on the grass that was right beside the road as he looked to his right he saw a bus that was surrounded by stay away tape and police cars "what the hell happened there?" He asked but before he could get near he heard a loud roar coming from the woods

"Something tells me I shouldn't get involved" he told himself standing face to face with the treeline thinking about what to do next "ah screw it what the worst that could happen"

--------------

In the forest

"now that is a real dragon" Alaric talked to himself as him, Hope, Rafael and Landon stared at the beast rise in front of their eyes and proceeded to take flight

"All of you get back to the car" Hope tells the group as she stands in front of them with the knife in hand "yes go back, we will deal with this" Alaric tells the boys before the nod and run towards the car

As they run they don't notice Max just standing a couple meters away from them watching them sprint past him and then look up to see the dragon flying right behind them "you have to be shitting me" he exclaimed with a sigh as he aimed to the dragon with his hand and waited for the right moment as the beast saw Max and turned to go fly directly towards him

"Lecutio maxima" Max whispered and a bolt of lightning came out of his hand hitting the creature on one of its wings falling to the ground before it got to him "huh, didn't think that was gonna work" he admitted to himself as walked towards the now fallen beast

The dragon started to stand up and glared towards the young man and started to shoot its fire breath out of their mouth but Max blocked it with a shield spell that stopped the fire right in front of him "I was told there weren't more than two of you guys, I suppose that was a complete lie" he said smirking and preparing to counterattack but before he could someone talked behind him

"Ventus" Hope chanted making a torrent of wind hit the mystical creature making it stumble and fall "who the hell are you supposed to be" she angrily asked Max pointing the stolen knife to him "the same I could ask you miss" he responded in a semi-rude way with a little of sass on his voice pushing the knife away from him both of them now were just standing face to face, not really considering Hope was a fair couple of inches shorter than Max, and staring to each other's eyes

"LOOK OUT!" Alaric yelled to both of them making the teens turn towards the dragon that was lounging towards them "Ignarious!" Both of them shouted shooting fireballs at the beast and hitting right in its face "we can discuss who the hell are we after defeating this thing come on" the headmaster told them and both nodded to him

The dragon was even more pissed than before, roaring to the three individuals that stood in front of it and then firing its fire towards them again with now Hope stopping the fire with a barrier

"Any idea on how to kill this thing would be great" The tribid exclaimed to the other two as Max looked at both of them with a hesitant look in his face one that Alaric quickly noticed "hey we won't hurt you, you can trust us I promise" the younger man stared at him before nodding and redirect his look towards the fire breathing beast who now was starting to take flight again

"I know how to kill it" The statement made both Hope and Alaric look at him in surprise and disbelief "WHAT!?" they both yelled making Max flinch and hold his hands up

Before he could explain they noticed the dragon was charging right at them from the sky "that rock, NOW!" The three ran towards a big rock that covered them from the flames

"Look i faced a dragon before and even with 8 people it was a nightmare" the tribid and the headmaster couldn't believe what they were hearing, this guy fought a dragon before? Where? And how did they never hear of it?

"I understand it sounds crazy but you need to trust me on this i need to get close to that thing" Max pleaded to both of them "and for that I need you to distract it for a second"

Hope just stared at the boy trying to find one sign that he was lying but..... There was absolutely nothing he was being completely honest, she turned to Alaric and after a couple of seconds they nodded to each other

"Okay we will help you" Max's lips twitched up forming a little smile "great in the count of three" as he said this he dropped his backpack and reached to his neck and held in a closed fist the end of a necklace

"One, two" he counted and waited for the dragon to stop breathing fire to finally end the count "THREE!" The trio stood up and split up leaving Max alone running towards a tree that was to their right and Hope and Alaric standing face to face with the flying mythical creature

The dragon was confused not knowing who to focus and fire at until Hope hit the creature with another fireball pissing it off even more

"You should take cover" Alaric just chuckled to the demand of Hope "like hell" Hope turn around to look at him "then tell me how i am gonna explain to your daughters that all that is left of their dad is hot ash?" she sarcastically asked the older man "the dad card? That's a low blow" Alaric said before he complied begrudgingly to her request

Hope looked at the dragon and then to Max who was now behind another rock with something in his hand that she couldn't see clearly until he started to run towards the beast again. A sword?

Before she could even process what she saw Max yelled to the monster "HEY SMAUG!!" the giant reptile turned towards the boy only to see him swing the sword right into the neck of the creature

The dragon roared in pain as the sword cut right on the side of its throat "damnit, not close enough" Max said to himself as now the supernatural beast was staring at him with a fury that could make an army of millions yield

Hope having witnessed all of this had enough, pulling out a ripped page of a book from the pocket of her jeans, she looked at the paper and held the knife in the air "TAKE COVER" she yelled to Max as she started to chant a spell

"Tenebris anima vestra contundito mortem et conteret spiritum" the dragon heard the chanting and turned towards the tribid, Max looked at the auburn haired girl confused at what she was doing until he heard the rest of the spell and hid behind a tree knowing what was coming "Frange vitam nolite corde ut sub terra esse, ad tenebras usque in sempiternum"

The second Hope finished to chant the spell a white light blinded both of the teens and the creature, once the light subdued Hope realized she was now on the ground

As she stood up and picked up the knife she saw the dragon now back to its human form, the face of the woman was bloodied, her body was twitching, a cut was visible on the right side of her neck and she couldn't get up despite her countless efforts

Hope approached the woman holding the knife high, the injured woman looked at her and then the knife trying to reach it almost begging for Hope to give it to her

"Where do you come from? Why do you want this so badly? What is so special about it?" She asked the woman to no avail as she just kept trying to reach the knife on the young girl trembling hand "say something" she pleaded to the dragon as this one just turned her head to the ground

Unknowingly to Hope the wounded woman charged her fire breath, as the beast turned its head Alaric took the knife from the girl's hand and stabbed the woman right in the throat finally killing her

Both of them stared at the now corpse of the dragon as Max walked towards them while cleaning himself up making Hope notice there was no sight of the sword he had just moments ago

"Right on the weak point, good job" he congratulated Alaric who glanced at him with a serious look on his eyes before turning around and walking away from them

Max looked at him as he grabbed the page that Hope used off the ground reading it quickly and then held it towards Hope

"What is this?" The young girl didn't answer she just looked at him "This isn't earth magic Hope!" He yelled "this wasn't an earth magic problem" Hope tried to argue just to be cut off by Alaric "We don't allow black magic! It gets to your heart and poisons your mind, now I looked the other way because I knew you were upset but this is a death spell, a spell you couldn't have known you need to use on a dragon which-"

The headmaster stopped as he came to the realization of why Hope brought the page with her "which means you had other plans for it" tears started to form in Hope's eyes as Alaric looked at her baffled

"Landon did something stupid maybe evil we won't know until we learn more but, he is still just a kid Hope and so are you" he sighed "this hatred is vengeance, this is your father it can't be you I won't allow it" The second he said that Hope's jaw tightened and her lips tensed up as she tried her best to hold the tears back

"Now you bury her, I'll see you back at the car" with this last order Alaric walked away leaving a now crying Hope and a silent Max behind

Max just looked at Hope as she tried to keep herself from breaking down, he sighed and ran a hand through his hair before he moved and stood right besides the girl

"Come on, I'll help you" he said to her while putting a hand on her back in an attempt to comfort her, Hope just nodded and walked towards the cellar in search of something to help them bury the woman

Max just looked at the corpse and shook his head while rubbing his eyes "what an absolute shit show"