Chapter 4: Chapter 4 – Ignis, Release Your Dragon’s Breath!

Ignis felt her body swaying back and forth. Slowly, she opened her eyes and noticed a knight donned in iron armor walking beside her. Right now, she was being carried on someone’s back; judging from how she felt soft fabric instead of hard iron, Ignis could tell that her carrier was Fervor.

‘Ignis! You’re finally awake!’ Alicia said, elated. ‘Thank goodness. Are you feeling alright?’

‘I’m alright,’ Ignis answered.

‘That’s good! Thank you for saving me from the kraken, Ignis.’

‘… This just what… friends… do.’ Friends help each other. The word still felt foreign to Ignis, but she felt like she understood it a bit more now. Her mouth curved a slight smile.

Growl…

Everyone was alert upon hearing that loud sound, until they realized that it was coming from Ignis’s stomach. ‘I feel hungry…’

‘Hahaha!’ Fervor laughed in response. ‘It’s been a long day and I think we’re all hungry. We’ll eat once we get out of the lake.’

‘Once we get out of the lake?’

Alicia explained, ‘We’re walking in the middle of the lake right now; the same one that you’ve boiled into steam, Ignis!’

Now that she mentioned that… Ignis hadn’t seen any trees since waking up. Instead, all she saw was ground that sloped upward. She would look around and assess her surrounding more, but…

No matter how she willed for movement, she couldn’t move herself. Are humans unable to move after they just wake up? After everything that had happened, with how inconvenient human form was, Ignis figured that that must’ve been it.

‘The idea is that since we have a clear view to all directions,’ Alicia explained, ‘we’re able to see threats and should be able to respond faster compared to walking near the trees. Because there might be creatures lurking behind them.’

‘I… see…’ Ignis had never needed to worry about surprise attack before, at least not before the incident with the kraken where it suddenly snatched Alicia. This was how life worked for the weak: caution needed to be taken and one could not simply carry on with their own life without any worries. Feels bad…

‘Once we get out of the lake, we’ll take a short walk and we’ll be out of the forest! We’ll be able to eat safely there!’

How long will that be? ‘The food better be good…’

‘It will be!’

Thus, Ignis endured her hunger. She wouldn’t know what she would do if the good food she was promised turned out to be bad. That was something she would think about when the situation would arise.

‘Giant spider spotted!’ said a knight.

‘Where?’ responded another.

‘6 o’clock.’

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Which direction is that? Ignis didn’t understand how they conveyed directions. One thing she understood was that the giant spider wasn’t in the direction she was looking at.

‘Don’t they run fast?’

‘They’re slower than a horned bear’s charge.’

‘Isn’t that still really fast?!’

‘It’s coming toward us! Run!’

The group began to run. Without having control over her neck, the run’s motion caused Ignis’s temple to hit Fervor’s hard back again and again. It hurts! Is there iron under his fabric or something?!

The human form experience so far had been far from pleasant. It was full of pain.

‘It’s gaining on us!’

‘We need to think of something!’

‘It’s alright, everyone, don’t panic!’ Fervor announced. ‘It will catch up to us in time, but it’s a lesser creature compared to the horned bear and the kraken. I’m sure Ignis will have no difficulties in beating that creature!’

‘Hurray for Ignis!’ cheered a knight.

‘Hurray!’ cheered another.

‘It’s about to catch up,’ Fervor said. ‘Ignis, we’re counting on you.’

‘About that… How long does it take for a human to be able to move after waking up?’

‘What? What do you mean?’

‘Humans can’t move for a period of time after they wake up, right…?’

‘Humans can move just fine after waking up. Wait, are you unable to move?’

‘This isn’t a human thing?!’

The plan, relying on Ignis, was a grand failure. The panic finally set in. ‘Run faster! Run like your life depends on it!’

The group, knowing that their life was in real danger now, increased the pace of their run. However, no matter how fast a human tried to run, they couldn’t outrun the giant spider.

‘Someone needs to stay behind to fend the giant spider!’ said a knight.

‘It seems that’s the only way…’ said another.

Alicia didn’t like that. Quickly, she proposed another solution, ‘Ignis! You can still move your mouth! Can’t you breathe fire?’

Could she breathe fire? Ignis hadn’t tried that yet. Didn’t get a chance to. Honestly, considering her unpleasant experience in human form: losing her size, losing her wings, losing her claws, losing her scales, and losing everything else, she believed that she would have also lost her dragon breath. However, she did fight the horned bear and the kraken with her flames… ‘I think I can…?’

‘Father, aim Ignis at the giant spider!’

‘Aim me?! What, do you think I’m a firework that you can just aim and shoot?!’

‘Sorry Ignis,’ Fervor said, ‘please forget how I’m treating you and please save our lives!’ He aimed Ignis at the giant spider. Only then did Ignis finally come to see the giant spider that had been chasing them. “Giant” felt more like an overstatement, because, really, it was smaller than the horned bear, and the horned bear didn’t have “giant” in their name. Regardless, Ignis didn’t fail to notice that the giant spider’s legs had sharp ends, one that stabbed and wrecked the ground with its run. She didn’t want to find out what would happen if she were to be stabbed by that. ‘Release your dragon’s breath!’

‘Release it, Ignis!’ said Alicia.

You make it sound so easy! Ignis didn’t even know if she would be able to. I hope this works!

Ignis inhaled a deep breath. Felt flames within her chest. Then exhaled it in an instant. A breath of flames erupted from her mouth. Hitting the giant spider and setting it ablaze. Nothing as impactful as boiling the horned bear or the kraken. Ignis simply set the giant spider ablaze. That was it. The giant spider wasn’t dead yet.

‘Again! Do it again!!’

Ignis inhaled a deep breath. Then exhaled—air. Her throat and mouth felt really dry. ‘I can’t,’ she said with a crisp voice. She never faced this problem before in her dragon form. As per usual, the human form was inconvenient.

Now, they didn’t have a giant spider chasing them. Instead, they have a flaming giant spider chasing them. More deadly, more motivated too, cause it wanted their blood to extinguish the flames.

‘RUN!!’