Awakening of the Rot-Scaled Monarch
The air shifted the moment they stepped deeper into the cave—thick, humid, and heavy with a rotting bitterness that clung to their tongues. Luna gagged as the foulness intensified, her stomach twisting.
This… this isn't a smell. This is a curse wearing the shape of one.
Liora pinched her nose so tightly her knuckles whitened. "By the spirits—how does something alive smell this bad?"
Aria's voice trembled between disgust and irritation. "If death had a scent, this would be it! Skyler! Lyra! Wait up!"
But Skyler and Lyra were already steps ahead, undeterred.
Skyler shot a grin back. "Come on. What's the worst that could happen?"
Lyra gave a small nod, her calm voice contrasting the tension. "We've handled worse. Stay focused."
Have we? Luna thought, swallowing the rising dread. Because this feels like stepping into the stomach of a monster.
They pushed forward until the narrow stone throat of the tunnel opened into a vast cavern. A quiet thrum—like an ancient heartbeat—pulsed through the ground.
Then their eyes adjusted.
And everything inside them froze.
A colossus lay curled at the cavern's center—scales like tarnished emerald armor, wings folded beneath centuries of dust, its jaw resting on stone cracked from the weight of age. Thick green smoke seeped from its nostrils with every slow exhale.
An ancient green dragon.
A creature from myth.
A monarch of ruin.
Aria whispered, "No way… It's been sleeping here… for hundreds of years."
Liora shivered. "This smell… is its breath?"
Skyler muttered, "Well… that explains a lot."
Before anyone could utter another word, the dragon's enormous eyelids twitched.
A deep, ancient growl vibrated through their bones.
The monster's eyes snapped open.
Twin emerald suns ignited in the darkness.
The cavern trembled as the dragon slowly lifted its head, its teeth scraping stone.
Then it roared—a sound so massive that the air itself rippled.
The blast of green smoke that followed rolled toward them like a living fog.
"What is that?!" Luna shouted, instinctively stepping back.
"It's… toxic?" Liora guessed.
Aria flinched as the smoke stung her eyes. "I can't see—!"
But before they could retreat, the dragon inhaled sharply.
And exhaled—
A stream of blazing emerald fire collided with the lingering smoke.
WHOOM—!!
The explosion swallowed the cavern in blinding green light.
"Shield!" Skyler shouted instinctively, thrusting her palms forward.
Wind surged, swirling into a spiraling dome around them a heartbeat before the blast hit.
Lyra's fingers carved glowing sigils through the air.
"Temporal Barrier!"
Time bent like glass, slowing the expanding explosion just enough for Skyler's shield to withstand it.
The impact thundered against their combined defenses, shaking the ground beneath them until cracks webbed outward across the stone.
When the smoke cleared, the cavern was gouged with glowing molten scars.
The dragon growled, green flames licking between its teeth.
Luna's heart hammered painfully in her chest.
We almost died from one hit… No. Focus. We can still win.
"Alright," Skyler said, wiping sweat and dust from her cheek. "Now I'm pissed."
"Me too," Aria growled.
Liora nodded fiercely. "We take it down."
The battle ignited.
Luna launched a storm of razor-sharp ice lances, each one gleaming like crystalline spears. They shattered against the dragon's awakened scales, sending shards spraying across the cavern.
Aria's sonic rings followed, vibrating the air with destructive harmonics that cracked nearby stalagmites but bounced off the dragon's hide.
Liora slammed her palms to the ground, summoning massive thorned roots that erupted upward, coiling around the dragon's limbs.
For a moment, they held.
Then the dragon jerked its wings, shredding the vines like paper.
The beast retaliated brutally—one swipe of its claw sent a shockwave tearing through the cavern.
Luna barely rolled aside. The claw carved a trench where she had been standing.
It's too strong… we're barely scratching it!
The dragon spun, tail smashing the ground.
Liora screamed as debris exploded around her.
Aria was knocked into a wall, coughing blood.
Skyler darted in, slicing the air with compressed wind blades that carved streaks of white across the dragon's scales—still barely dents.
Lyra appeared beside Luna, gripping her arm to steadiness.
"We can't overpower it," she said calmly but urgently. "We must outlast it—wait for an opening."
"Yeah?" Luna hissed. "And what if it kills us before that opening shows up?!"
But she forced herself to breathe.
She's right. Lyra is always right when it counts.
Together, they pushed forward again.
Skyler used wind to redirect the dragon's breath attack.
Lyra froze short pockets of time, slowing the creature's movements by fractions of seconds—enough to keep the others alive.
For a moment… victory seemed possible.
Until the dragon stopped moving.
Its emerald scales pulsed.
Its throat glowed.
"No—" Aria whispered.
The cave shook violently as ancient runes ignited across the dragon's body.
The air grew heavy, suffocating.
"It's activating something!" Lyra shouted.
The dragon reared back and unleashed its ultimate roar—
A shockwave of raw primal energy ripped through the chamber.
A notification flashed before their eyes:
⟬ SYSTEM ALERT ⟭
[Ancient Dragon • Rot-Scaled Monarch] has activated
⟨ Sovereign Reclamation ⟩
• Strength massively increased
• Scale durability fortified
• Health restored to full
• Aggression level MAXIMUM
"No… no no no—" Luna's breath hitched. "It's back at full health?!"
Skyler bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. "This is bad. Really bad."
Liora trembled, frustration boiling in her chest. "We were winning. We were so close—!"
Lyra pressed a hand to her shoulder. "Then we'll do it again."
The dragon's eyes blazed, locking onto them with newfound hunger.
Its wings unfurled, each one large enough to blot out the cavern lights.
Green fire pooled at the back of its throat, heat scorching the air even before release.
Luna felt her knees weaken.
This thing… wasn't just sleeping. It was waiting. Storing every ounce of rage across centuries… for us.
Skyler inhaled sharply, steadying her voice even as fear flickered in her eyes.
"Everyone… get ready. If we don't give everything now—"
"We die," Luna finished, gripping her icy spear until her hands shook.
Lyra narrowed her eyes, temporal magic swirling like silver currents around her.
"We won't die," she whispered—calm, determined, absolute.
"Not here. Not to something that hasn't seen the world for centuries."
The dragon roared, sparks of emerald lightning tearing through the air.
The five girls stood their ground.
Hearts pounding.
Magic raging.
Every emotion—fear, anger, desperation—igniting into a single, burning resolve.
And as the monster lunged—
They surged forward to meet it.
Shattered Patience, Frozen Strategy
The explosion still echoed faintly through the cavern, a low, rolling thunder that vibrated through stone and bone alike. Dust drifted down from the ceiling in thin gray sheets, but inside the shimmering Temporal Shield, the five girls stood untouched—frustrated, breathless, and burning with the stinging reminder of the dragon's cheap opening attack.
Lyra's voice came first, soft but steady.
"Breathe… everyone, just breathe."
Her eyes glowed with thin threads of gold, the air around her rippling as though time itself exhaled.
One by one, the girls forced their chests to steady.
We almost died because we lost our cool… Luna thought bitterly, wiping sweat from her brow.
This thing isn't some bandit or mid-tier monster. It's a centuries-old elder dragon. Get it together.
Skyler stepped forward, wind swirling gently around her ankles. "Alright. We need a plan. Not emotion. Strategy."
Liora nodded, forcing her trembling hands to still. "We stepped into its home. We can't afford to be reckless."
Aria let out a shaky exhale, lowering her trembling hands from her ears. "I hate dragons… they roar like they're trying to blow out my eardrums."
Lyra raised a hand, and the temporal ripples expanded, merging seamlessly with Skyler's wind barrier.
A new notification flashed in front of all five:
⟬ SYSTEM ALERT ⟭
Wind Barrier + Temporal Distortion successfully merged.
New Skill Created: TEMPORAL SHIELD (Epic)
Effect: Nullifies 95% of external damage for 30 seconds.
Cooldown: 3 minutes.
The dome shimmered with blue and gold light, humming softly like two harmonizing frequencies.
Luna stared at it with widened eyes. "We actually made a new defensive skill…"
Skyler smirked. "And we're gonna need that if the lizard tries that smoke-trick again."
A deep rumble rolled across the cavern floor. The dragon's emerald scales cracked open in glowing lines, each breath it took sending shockwaves through the stale air.
Lyra broke the silence.
"We're confusing it. Good. Now let's finish confusing it on purpose."
Skyler turned to the others. "You heard her. Positioning circle. Wind and time will control the smoke. When it breathes fire—"
"We send the explosion back at it," Luna finished, ice swirling around her fingertips.
The dragon snorted, releasing a faint puff of green vapor that sizzled the stone beneath it.
No time to hesitate.
The Ice Slide
Luna slammed her palms against the floor.
ICE SLIDE!
A ring of frost burst outward, spreading around the dragon in a perfectly circular path, crisp crackles echoing like snapping branches in winter.
The dragon recoiled.
Its giant talons hovered cautiously above the glistening blue surface.
Skyler let out a sharp whisper. "It's uncertain. Good."
The five girls jumped onto the ice—
and slid.
Wind pushed them forward.
Time bent around them.
Their bodies became blurs of motion, orbiting the dragon like five streaks of shimmering light.
Aria laughed breathlessly. "Okay—this is actually kinda fun."
"Focus!" Lyra snapped—though a small smile betrayed her own exhilaration.
The Dragon's Confusion
The dragon's gigantic head swiveled left—then right—then left again.
Five identical magical signatures.
Five rapid-moving silhouettes.
Five heartbeats overlapping so quickly the beast couldn't separate them.
It growled, nostrils flaring in frustration.
Good, Luna thought. Stay confused… stay confused…
The ice circle melted beneath their high-speed movement, leaving no trace behind.
The dragon blinked in surprise.
The path was gone.
Good. Now for Step 2.
Binding Vines
The dragon lashed its tail outward in a massive sweep—aiming to knock all five to the cavern wall.
But Liora slammed her staff into the ground.
"Binding Vines!"
Roots burst from the stone like spears of emerald light, wrapping tightly around the dragon's tail.
The beast snarled, trying to yank itself free, but Liora gritted her teeth, veins bulging in her neck as the vines tightened.
"Not this time… you—overgrown—gecko!!"
The dragon roared in outrage, unable to move its tail even an inch.
The Foot Freeze
Luna didn't waste a second. She crouched low, palms pressed to the ground.
Cold erupted outward.
Frost crept up the dragon's legs.
Ice thickened around each talon, chaining the beast to the cavern floor.
The dragon's eyes widened.
The moment it realized it had been immobilized—
Skyler shouted, "Positions! Now!"
The Circle Attack
They froze in their spots—each one equidistant from the dragon—forming a perfect ring.
Lyra whispered, her voice echoing strangely, as if layered with several versions of itself:
"Time sync… begin."
The air stilled.
The cavern dimmed.
The dragon's scales flickered as time stuttered around its massive form.
We're doing it… Luna's heart pounded.
We're actually controlling the battlefield.
Magic charged.
Breaths aligned.
Their next attack was seconds away—
But then—
Everything changed.
The Acid Barrage
The dragon snarled, rage shimmering through its emerald scales.
In an instant, its scales cracked open—
revealing hundreds of tiny, circular vents glowing a sickly neon green.
Lyra's eyes widened first.
"No… that's—"
The dragon's chest expanded.
And then—
SHRRRRRRRRK—!!!
Acid burst from every opening in its hide.
A rain of glowing green projectiles sprayed across the cavern in a deadly storm.
Each sizzling droplet that hit the floor melted deep craters instantly, steam rising in violent hisses.
Luna felt her stomach twist.
It's above us—too wide—too fast—no time—!!!
The world slowed around her, her heartbeat thundering in her ears.
Move? Block? Freeze the air? No time, no time—!!
Skyler's scream cut through the chaos.
"BRACE—!!"
Liora threw her arms over her face.
Aria stumbled backward.
Lyra's eyes lit with frantic ripples of gold.
But the acid was already falling.
Fast.
Everywhere.
Deadly.
Green rain filled the air.
It was all over them.
Nowhere to run.
Nowhere to hide.
Nowhere—
⟬ WARNING ⟭
ACID PROJECTILES INBOUND.
DAMAGE POTENTIAL: EXTREME.
DODGE IMPOSSIBLE.
Luna felt her breath freeze in her throat as the first drops began to descend—
The last thing she saw was the reflection of the acid in Skyler's terrified eyes.