The early morning, nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. The breeze blowed and the animals moved out around the lake without a care. As the trees stood still and the leaves moved quietly with the wind there was something else moving around the small forests around the lake. He jumped from tree to tree looking around and taking in a deep breath of the salty air. It all felt so good to be out again, away from all the towns and stupid people. Out here it was only him and the wilderness where he could do whatever he wanted, true freedom. Still though he knew he would have to head back sooner or later if he wanted to keep making some gold here and there. He cracked his neck and jumped down to the shore and sat down looking out at the lake. He always felt a bit at peace when he got to see something like this, sure he didn't exactly care that much but that was because he never really felt like this. He yawned slightly and then leaned back against the grass and was going to rest when he heard some rustling not too far from him. He smirked and then jumped up onto his feet pulling out his scimitar.

"You bandits are too noisy, whoever trained you really needs to get himself some training." Dante said with a laugh as three bandits came rushing out of the trees at him. "Three of you against me? Hardly seems fair..." Dante said and then smirked when he saw three more come rushing out from a different spot. "There we go.. now it is much more fair for you." Dante said and then laughed as he jumped back to avoid a slash and then stabbed forward slashing the tip of his blade into the shoulder of one of the bandits. The man yelped and tried to fall back away from the blade but Dante then ran forward running his blade through and he then sliced down the man with one killer blow. This of course didn't stop the other bandits and they decided to attack together which only made Dante clap slightly. "Yes, teamwork might help you guys a bit." Dante said with a laugh and then parried away one of the blows leading the bandit into the attack of the other causing the bandit to kill his own ally. "Oh... that looked like it hurt.." Dante said with a smirk and then rolled to the side as another bandit tried to surprise him with an attack from the side. "I dont think so." Dante said and threw his blade out stabbing it into the mans neck making him fall back onto the ground.

Dante leaped forward and grabbed hold of his scimitar and lurched it away severing the bandits head. "Ouch.." Dante said with a smirk and then looked back to see the last of the bandits running away down the shoreline. "That will teach em.. wasn't as fun as I thought it would be though." Dante said shrugging his shoulders and then walked back to the water and ran his blade through it to clean off the blood. Once he rinsed it off he wiped it dry and then put it back away at his side and then yawned a little. He was a little tired but that never stopped him before, he just closed his eyes and laid back against the soft grass. He let his body calm down and release the tension as he smirked starting to think to what he would have done to the rest of those bandits if they had stuck around. He sighed slightly and then looked around the area, he didn't know why but he had a feeling that he was being watched.. or that somebody was nearby...

John crouched far away from the target behind a scraggle of bushes. He could faintly hear the sounds of battle for a few seconds before they ceased. He waited for a moment more, waiting to see if the men he had convinced to attack Mizard had managed the task. He hadn't thought they would, and now hoped that they hadn't. The more dangerous the target, the more John got payed for his head. If his employer learned that Mizard had killed six men before falling to John, it would mean a nice bonus.

After a minute, the horn that was supposed to signal Mizard's defeat did not sound. John knew that if it was going to happen, it would have happened by now, so he quietly got down on all fours. He began to crawl in the general direction of the lake. Unfortunately, he was not being very stealthy. Leaves and twigs snapped and crunched under his elbows and knees, and his shirt caught on sticks, dragging them noisily along until he untangled them from the cloth.

It seemed the fates were conspiring against him, because as soon as he reached the clearing in which the lake lay, he sneezed loudly and violently. "Blast it all!" He said out loud as he stood and drew his mace. He couldn't be stealthy if he tried, so he would stop trying. "Oh Dante!" He called. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

Dante had been laying there resting and trying to fall asleep when he started to hear the noises. He smirked and then sat up slightly to look in the direction it came from, he could hear all the noise so he decided he would ambush his ambusher. He quickly got up and sprinted forward jumping up into the trees as silently as he could and then awaited his ambusher. He breathed quietly as he waited feeling his heart beat a bit more, he guessed that whoever this was must have sent those bandits after him. That made him think though, who was this? 'Who the hell is sending bandits for me? Why is he sending bandits for me? I know there is a bit of a price for my head but can this guy really be stupid enough to come after me? There are a few desperate men out there these days, maybe I killed someone that he knew and he wants revenge. If that is what he is looking for then let him come and get it, I will not give up my life so easily.' Dante thought with a smirk as he waited untill finally he saw the man starting to crawl out from the forest and he stopped himself from laughing. 'This big brute is trying to be sneaky? Thats like a mountain trying to hide behind a twig.' Dante thought holding back more laughs as he sighed slightly.

Finally the man stood up and pulled out what appeared to be a large mace. 'Definately some kind of barbarian... maybe a bounty hunter.. or just some random crazy guy that knows my name..' Dante thought as he watched the man. His muscles tensed slightly as the wind blew against him, his animal like eyes staring intently at the man as his mind wandered to strategies to take the brute down. Definately he would need to ambush his would be ambusher, that would definately surprise him and give him the quick edge he needed to get a good hit on one of the mans vital points. He looked at the surroundings of the man and started to think of his own aproach, how he would make his way to the man the quickest way to make the quickest hit and then it... hit him. He decided that he would have to jump from a branch just a bit away from him and over so he would be able to strike at the man from up above and slightly behind him. That way he might just be able to strike at the mans skull and get a quick kill. Dante smirked at his plan and then quickly moved over to his designated branch and prepared himself for the jump and attack. He counted in his mind and then took a deep breathe as he finally moved his legs for the jump.

He leaped off the branch with all his might heading right at the big man from behind. He pulled out his scimitar as he flew through the air and prepared. He liked the feeling of the wind blowing through his hair and against his body, it just felt like freedom. He smirked at his thoughts and then quickly went back to the task at hand. As he started to get much closer he finally laughed and spoke out loudly to the man. "Oh brute! Here I am!" Dante yelled out with a slight roar as he smirked showing off his slight fangs and then struck down using the velocity of his fall to put even more force behind his blow aiming it directly at the mans skull. If it connected he would be dead, if not then when Dante landed he could easily avoid an attack and try to hit the mans legs or feet to slow him down more then how slow he already most likely was.

John grew quite wary when his call was not answered. The target had probably heard him and ran away. However, he did not let down his guard. Looking around, he saw pieces of three of his bandits littering the shore several meters away. He rolled his eyes. 'Damn. Six would be a bigger bonus than three.' He shrugged and stood there, waiting for something interesting to happen... Then he heard leaves rustling in the trees behind him.

His ears twitched as he heard a branch behind him creak. Before he could think of transforming to use his scales to protect himself, he heard someone shout at him. Without thinking, He hopped to one side, swinging his mace towards where his attacker would be flying through the air. He didn't feel it hit anything, but he had not been hurt, so he didn't really care. Leaping back, he crouched down to wait for the next attack.

As Dante came nearer to killing the man he suddenly whipped around and swung his mace out at him. 'That is definately not good.. better evade..' Dante thought as he suddenly spun his blade off to the right to send his whole body spinning away to avoid the mace. He landed on his feet a bit dizzy but at least he hadn't been hit, he quickly regained his footing and looked out at the man as he crouched. 'What the hell is he doing? Oh well, doesn't matter to me.' Dante thought to himself with a shrug of his shoulders and then was about to attack when he rethought about what the man was doing. 'He is at a lower position so that he can not be hit as easily, if I try to attack he could block it having less mass to try and protect and then that would leave me open for a violent counter attack. I need to move my way around him and strike with as much accuracy as I can, it will either strike and do some damage or at least get him out of crouching.' Dante thought to himself as he readied his scimitar in a defensive position and walked around this barbarian slowly. He took another deep breathe to replenish himself slightly as he prepared his body for his next attack, he knew that it would take skill and precision if he really wanted to strike but still he had to try if he was going to defeat his opponent.

He stopped walking around the barbarian knowing that the man was just following him in turning so he stood there watching the man. The wind blew against him and made his hair brush against his face but he didn't let it bother him. He kept his animal like eyes directly on his opponent and his arms loose ready to defend himself if this man had any tricks up his sleeve. After some time and deciding that it was time to act Dante pushed the muscles in his legs back into action and charged forward with great speed. As he got closer he acted like he was going to attack head on as he slashed at his opponent but at the last possible second Dante jumped and flipped over and behind his opponent. Without thinking or wasting anymore time Dante flipped his scimitar backwards and stabbed back at his opponent directly for the upper back. He didn't know why but he always loved the thrill of a fight, the feeling of a rush when battling. It always seemed to make him want more and push him even further. He loved to fight. 'I need to get a direct hit, I need to harm him so that he will act more rashly. I need to push him and make him make a mistake, and then I can take him out with more ease.' Dante thought as he attacked.

Unfortunately for Dante, John had noticed when he charged and reacted accordingly. Knowing that the enemy would most likely aim for his back, (It was his most exposed body surface) John began to transform into his dragon form. He was not fully morphed when Dante stabbed at him, but his back was sufficiently scaled so as to restist being pierced. Instead, it felt like he had been punched between his shoulder blades. He was paralyzed for a moment, but shook it off quickly, letting his instincts take over.

After recovering, he morphed himself all the way. His tail shot out towards his attacker's feet while at the same time he twisted his neck, ready to bite off some heads if need be. Now a full dragon, he gave a roar, just for the fun of it, and hoping it might shock the opponent.

As Dante stabbed back instead of feeling his blade go through flesh he felt it connect on something hard. 'Thats never a good sign...' Dante thought as he instinctevily pulled his blade back and ran forward. He looked back real quick and saw the opponent he was just fighting fully morph into a dragon and he just sighed to himself. 'Just my luck... why does this always happen to me? Why can't I just get a regular person to fight against, why is it always somebody with some amazing superpower... I swear I have the worst luck in the history of luck. How the hell am I gonna kill a dragon..' Dante thought with an even more annoyed grunt and then heard the roar of the dragon. It didn't do much but let him know where his opponent was, luckily since he had ran he had escaped the attack on his legs that the dragon had made with its tail. Dante must have run maybe thirty feet away from the dragon before he stopped and turned back around. He looked at the massive beast and then shook his head with a sigh, he wasn't going to run, he never did. He could feel the wind blow against his face again and that helped cool him down and relax him some even though it felt like even the ground beneath his feet was trembling from the dragon. 'I really need to plan this out now.. how am I going to take this thing down..' Dante thought to himself as he looked around the environment. Then he saw the forest and smirked realizing that could be a huge advantage, if only he could draw the dragon into the forest. 'Alright, I need to go to the dragon first. Really get its attention, hit it a couple times maybe strike at its neck just under its head... the scales might be weak there...' Dante thought as he looked back at the dragon and looked the beast over.

No wings on it that was good, but still it had claws, teeth and all the other nasty dangerous parts. From what he noticed it seemed that the tail might be a dangerous weapon as well, the dragon was pretty quick with it so he would definately have to watch that as well. 'Alright, avoid the claws, teeth, tough scales and tail.... shouldn't be too hard..' Dante thought with a small laugh and then prepared his body was once. He wasn't tired at all yet mostly because of the rush from the fight, his blood pumping and his muscles just wanting to be pushed harder. He let the wind blow against his body to cool him down some more, he loved it when that happened it just seemed to push more energy into him. 'Guess it is time to get going... here I go..' Dante thought with a laugh and then charged forward pushing his muscles as hard as he could. They burned from the sudden urging but that didn't matter, he loved the activity that this was doing. His blood started pumping even faster as he approached the mammoth beast and looked at it. He then quickly jumped up as fast as he could as slashed at the face of the beast, he didn't care if he connected he just made sure he landed on the ground and began sprinting for the forest. 'Cmon big stupid dragon... just follow me into the forest...' Dante thought as he jumped away into the trees of the forest.

DragJohn didn't really care when he felt the sword nick the side of his jaw. While such a wound looked life-threatening, it was merely a scratch to him. He shrugged as well as a dragon can shrug as he watched the human run into the forest. Turning towards the lake, he dipped his head in to wash away the blood dripping down off of his cheek.

Turning back to the forest, he snorted, amused. If Dante had looked closer before running away, he would have been able to see that DragJohn was an Earth dragon. He took in a deep breath and let it out. With the expelled air came an amount of poisonous gas. Molecules of it would cling to the ground and trees as it passed and condense, meaning that even if the gas did not reach the human, the poison would enter his system if and when he returned to attack John. Satisfied that he had caught his prey, DragJohn curled up and closed his eyes, apparently asleep.

Dante was hiding in the forest when he saw what the beast did, poison... it was of no matter though. He just turned and ran, he could get away from that stuff easily enough. So he jumped from tree to tree as fast as he could getting away deeper into the woods looking around at nature around him. 'Strange how an earth dragon would send his poison right into a forest... he is going to kill so many animals yet he might not even get me.. pretty foolish really.. doesn't matter.. if that guy is a bounty hunter then he will come after me.. and if I am where I think I am then I will have a nice surprise for him...' Dante thought with a smirk and then quickened his pace pushing his muscles further even though they were starting to burn with all the energy he was using. As he moved he was putting the plan together as he finally arrived at his location he stopped and looked around and then got right to business. 'The trees around here have weak roots because of the rocky ground, I can break some of the small ones out and then set up a nice little trap.' Dante thought with a nod and then rushed forward. He found a small enough tree and then pushed up against it using some of his demonic strength to burst it out of the ground snapping at the roots. With what little time he had he sharpened the tip of the tree as best he could and then propped it up against a small boulder prodding out of the ground. 'There we go, now I just need to get the beast to follow me as fast as it can and then bring it around this group of trees and right into this piercing it directly in the chest and hopefully.... in the heart.' Dante thought with a nod.

He took a nice deep breathe and ran back slightly to a good position. He wasn't anywhere near the poison but he knew that dragon would be coming full speed at him and where he was now he could make a quick dash back or in any direction to get away and then start the chase. He took another deep breathe as he relaxed somewhat making sure that his body wasn't tense. He needed to be loose so he could run nice and quick, he didn't want to get caught by this dragon creature. As he stood there and looked around he took in the ways of nature once more. 'I wonder if this dragon will think ahead, what if it expects the trap and avoids it? No, from what I saw that man was a kind of barbarian. They don't fight with their minds, they fight with their strength and emotions. That is how I will defeat him, I will use my skill and tactics. Now I just wonder when I will get here...' Dante thought as he looked around him for the dragon, he knew it would be coming sooner or later... or perhaps it had given up on him. What if it had just gone away deciding to hunt him another time? He didn't know and right now he didn't care, as long as it could be out there he treated the situation as if it was out there.

Long had it been since the former Paladin, Godfrey, last laid eyes on Lake Aelin. The last time he had been there, he had been a servant of the Gods. He had passed its serene waters on the journey that would ultimately lead to his downfall. The pale warrior snarled as he thought of the quest that had previously been laid before him. As he walked, he noticed a sleeping Earth Dragon, and grinned. He knew that it would be quite a challenge to bring one down, but its head would be worth double its weight in gold. He sword as quietly as he could, then crept near the creature. He circled it for awhile, then twirled his sword around. "I would have preferred a fight... but I'll be content killing you now..." He said as he raised the sword, then began swinging it down with all of his might. If he could kill it with one fell swing, it would make his job just a little easier.

((Sorry it's so short, but I wanna get into the topic lol))

DragJohn grinned mentally as he heard Dante returning to the lake. Obviously, he had fallen for DragJohn's trick and believed he was actually asleep. He gave a fake snore as Dante approached him and prepared himself to strike. Then he heard the person speak, and realized he had made a mistake.

He jerked his head back just in time to avoid being decapitated. At the same time, he began to spin around in the hopes that his tail would connect and slam the new attacker into the water. Just in case, he let out a cloud of poison breath as he turned, hoping it might reach the new person if his tail didn't.


((Nobody loves me...))