A woman rides a horse at night. The rain hits her cloak with all the fury a thousand water droplets can have, and the wind is roaring, trying to tear her off. But its okay, there should be a village somewhere nearby. She could rest there.

As she sees lights, she feels relieved, and her horse must feel relieved too БЂ" Endurance speeds up his trot. Eleanore knows her mount БЂ" heБЂ™s a smart cookie. She pats him and mutters some words of encouragement to the horse. As she gets nearer, though, she sees that there are far too many, far too bright lights emanating from the village. It is a bad omen БЂ" it might be invaders, or a fire, and as a hero, she ought to help. Endurance slows down. Eleanore spurs him on to go faster.

As they get near, Eleanore sees the unmistakeable signs of a recent convoy, perhaps delivering some kind of cargo to some kind of feudal lord. From the village, through the rain, she spots smoke, illuminated by a fire, and battle cries of soldiers. An invasion it is. Eleanore unsheathed her sword, raising it above her as she was trained to when riding on a horse. Endurance stopped and started struggling against his reigns. His ears were pulled back. Eleanore knew her horses БЂ" she didnБЂ™t know many stallions who could get scared, which is one of the reasons she picked Endurance БЂ" a hero would get into many scraps and battles, and she needed a foolhardy horse. Eleanore pulled at EnduranceБЂ™s reigns and drove him in the other way, to calm him. Then, she dismounted, tied Endurance to a tree, and hurried through the wind and rain towards the sounds of battle.

Unfortunately, by the time Eleanore got through the mud and wind to the actual battle, she was too late. A creature stood, upright, sharp teeth bared, claws buried inside a poor soldier, tearing him inside out. Its bright yellow eyes pierced the darkness, as though the surrounding fire burned inside them. The creature stood on two legs, but Eleanore knew that these pseudo-dragons usually walked on four legs. It towered above the soldier, a good fifty centimeters taller than him. She then noticed the cage, broken open, horses slaughtered, with the escort of guards strewn around, mauled. She pieced together what happened. It must have escaped.

Eleanore took her sword in both her hands and untied her cloak. It flew away, carried by the wind. The pseudo-dragon finished off the soldier, before picking up a sword with its hind leg, and throwing it up to catch it with its front talons. This surprised Eleanore. Upright pseudo-dragons werenБЂ™t unheard of, their anatomy allowed for both quadrupedal and bipedal walking, but not a single one was considered intelligent enough to grasp tool use. But it didnБЂ™t matter. Eleanore would save this village. She was a hero, after all.

The dragon made the first move, charging at Eleanore. Eleanore expected such a primitive first move БЂ" what she hadnБЂ™t expected was for the creature to feint, attacking from the left and spinning to deliver an elbow to her face. She dodged it, just barely, but she didnБЂ™t see the tail that swept her legs from under her. The creature stepped on Eleanore, its claws raking dents in her magical armor. Eleanore stabbed a small dagger into the creatureБЂ™s ankle БЂ" or foot, it was difficult to put a word to the specific part of the leg, because its anatomy was so different from a humanБЂ™s БЂ" and it withdrew, roaring in pain. She grabbed her sword from the muddy slush and stood up, readying for the first actually difficult fight since a long time. The dracon БЂ" a colloquial name for pseudo-dragons БЂ" pulled the dagger out of its ankle, looking at her, reevaluating. Seems that this dracon didnБЂ™t expect to have difficulty killing a lone woman, especially since the soldiers that were guarding it proved absolutely no challenge. It stood back upright, dual wielding the sword and dagger. SheБЂ™d better be ready for this БЂ" this is going to be a challenge.

The monster approached, holding a somewhat amateurish duelist stance. Eleanore knew that this monster didnБЂ™t need any finesse to slaughter a small group of guards БЂ" but partner the brutal strength of an animal with the intelligent finesse of a human, and you get an extremely dangerous concoction. She decided to end this fast. A slash at the draconБЂ™s throat, parried by the dagger. A quick thrust, which Eleanor deflected to the side. They went back and forth like this, neither gaining the upper hand. Eleanor felt exhaustion creeping through her muscles, strained by fighting a strong and fast opponent. The dracon didnБЂ™t let up, not even slightly winded. Eleanore needed an advantage. So, she disengaged and shouted БЂ®FIREBALL!БЂ«

From her outstretched hand, a ball of fire flew at the dracon. But the Dracon simply jumped through it, thrusting its sword through the fire, and hitting the breastplate, grazing her. Eleanore stumbled. A deadly mistake. The dracon seemed to grin БЂ" the fire glistened off of its teeth. It brought the sword overhead, ready to bring it down on her. But Eleanore wasnБЂ™t a quitter. Just because she failed to hurt her opponent didnБЂ™t mean that the battle was over. In a sudden spring of motion, she lunged, sword aimed at the beastБЂ™s heart.

Her neck was pierced by the dagger the dracon held in his off hand, and the swinging sword crushed her skull, cleaving through her left eye. The dracon tried to pull the sword out, but it was stuck in the lower jaw, so it discarded it. Eleanore, not completely conscious, dumbly grabbed the sword stuck in her head. The dracon discarded the sword and pulled the dagger out of her neck, allowing the blood to pulse out freely, ending her life in a matter of seconds.

The human inside my head grinned, satisfied at how my body performed under his control. I licked my claws clean of the blood and gore, ignoring the grossed-out human inside my head. I stand up straighter. Hours ago, I was scared of these soldiers, and I would have surely lost to this hero. Eleanore lies dead before my hind talons.

This isnБЂ™t her story. ItБЂ™s mine.