Lake Koralifel was a peaceful place with it's dark waters gently lapping at the shore. Or so she'd been told by her parents. Instead the place was as busy as a festival, with booths setup along the shoreline and reddish hue of the blood moon painting every shadow in an interesting light. Many Oblivionites could be spied swimming in the waters, or sitting on the edges with their feet in. There were even people hauling bucket loads of the stuff off to be heated in makeshift baths, for a small price of course. Elleth shook her head and just watched all of the hustle and bustle for a while, before becoming bored with all the repeated movements.
She overheard a middle-aged couple chatting about the lake and it's properties during the blood moon, and just like that, Elleth had her questions answered without even having to ask them. Snorting she headed down river, having chosen one of the lakes many branches at random. To think, a bit of special water could calm the bloodlust in a person. What an idea! But, it was true that all the people here believed it, and her parents had as well. So it was possible that there was a bit of truth to it all. However small it might be.
She continued her trek downstream and the sounds of festivities slowly faded away. She passed by a few others who had the same idea as she did, and like her, they all had weapons with them, unlike those who had been at the lake. The thought of getting ambushed by something kicked her heart rate up a notch and sent a bit of a thrill down her spine. What sort of creatures lived in the area? Ysali dragons perhaps? They were of no challenge to her really, but she could use a bit of a warm up. Perhaps even see if the rumors of the waters being able to sooth a bloodlust was true.
There was a sickening sound of bone crunching up head, of meat being ripped into. Elleth frowned and unsheathed her sword, inching closer to the tree line. For the first time she noticed just how damaged the area was. Trees had been smashed and the ground was torn up. It looked like the fight had originated at the waterline and traveled up to the forest that had stood a few paces away from the riverbank.
Huh, some poor sod had gotten into a fight with a dragon, from the shape of the wings and the bobbing horns, Elleth told herself it was a Peisio dragon. The first one she'd ever seen, but she'd memorized all the dragon types when she'd lived in the dojo. It was kind of hard not to, when they had statues lining the main path. She took a moment to study it, noting how it seemed to be favoring its front limbs, how it was eating it's victim awkwardly, and how shredded it's wings were. The fight had been a close one, and the victim had probably stumbled over a tree root or something, which had been it's downfall.
Ah well. There was nothing against her code of honor to kill a practically defeated enemy, when it could be considered a mercy killing. She stepped out of her shoes, bare toes digging into the moist leaf littered earth. Lightly she picked her way across the ground, ghosting over twigs that would have alerted the dragon to her presence. It must have a snout full of blood for it to have not smelled her already, with the way the wind had shifted into its favor. She stopped when she was at a good angle, yet still out of it's line of sight. Elleth hefted her blade, tensed her legs and lowered her body, pushed off against the ground, and drove her blade into that scaly hide, up at an angle. She felt it when the blade hit bone, but continued to push forward until she felt it snap, then another, until the blade bottomed out and stopped at the hilt. The dragon had jerked at the sudden pain, shifting the angle a bit, but her aim had been true and her strength hadn't failed her for once. Her sword was lodged into the dragons heart and the blue dragon swayed once before crumpling. It was only a matter of moments before it was reduced to a skeleton, the victim as well, further hiding it's race. She scooped up the orb left behind and trudged down to the river, pausing only to collect her shoes.
With a weary sigh Elleth sat on the bank and dipped her feet in, leaned back on her elbows and looked up into the sky.
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