The Talon's Prey

["Cosmos"]

as the morning sun shown down on the ice-locked realm of Dante's Freezer, the skies were clear, free of clouds. as the few inhabitants that lived in the frozen land went about their daily tasks, a figure flew across the sea towards the frozen island. coming in for a landing, the figure landed on the fresh snow form the night before, sinking slightly as it folded its wings onto its back.

looking around the frozen land before her, a female that resembled a dragon scanned the landscape that laid in front of her. having come here after hearing about this place, she hoped to learn a little, since it had been only a few weeks since she had arrived at what she now knew as the Dragon Realms. as a bone-biting breeze flowed across the ground, she began to walk, not really affected by the cold of the snow or the wind.

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One young dragoness had just recently arrived to the continent as well, having come there in search of some items needed back at the temple's infirmary. Since it was in Dante's Freezer and really the first time Taiga had left the Temple in a few years, she had taken up as a volunteer to come there. Surprisingly, Taiga found herself feeling quite at home here as much as she did the last time she was there since discovering her Ice element. But that was some years ago when she was in her juvenile years and now she was coming close to being a full adult in a few years. So it was good to be back in some place she could feel at ease.

Least, she had expected to feel this way. She had already come across two villages and found a few of the herbs and healing tools she needed but there was still some that they were out of stock or were in a different village. She didn't mind the traveling though, it gave her time to enjoy the freshly fallen snow and loving the cool, crisp air that surrounded her. And it was just now shortly after Akrina had landed that Taiga was heading to the next village that had some miles between the one she just left.

["Cosmos"]

walking slowly through the deep snow, Akrina growled slightly as her foot sunk deeper once again. pulling herself from the snow for the third time in ten minutes, she continued to trudge through the snow. as the ground began to slope to indicate that she was going up a hill, she began to use her claws to break though the compact snow. taking around ten minutes to make her way up to the top of the hill, she growled slightly as she pulled her body out of the snow. sitting on the more solid snow, she looked down over the ledge that the hill seemed to end with. scanning the area that she could see, she saw a village and the inhabitants inside its walls. about to pass off the village, her sight laid upon the form of a icy dragoness. with her hawk-like eyesight, she examined the dragoness. while having seen numerous dragoness in her journey, this one struck a strange cord inside her. as a grin formed across her face, Akrina jumped off the ledge and plunged into the snow, using her expert scouting skills to track this dragoness.

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Taiga could eventually see the next village in sight, seeing it was busy somewhat and the residence were somewhat taking things slow. Possibly with few visitors there probably was really no need to have a speedy life and that was something she could relate to, maybe even consider one day coming here to live. Well she was looking to be a decent healer one day, so she wouldn't mind becoming a healer in a village somewhere one day. For now she still had more years to go and she had to admit she was wanting to waste a little time and enjoy the icy landscape.

Taking note of where the village was Taiga used her tail to clear a spot of snow before using her ice breathe to create a crescent moon marker, similar to a part of her strange horns so she knew where to come back. Looking about for a moment the ice dragoness noticed an icy overhang, finding it a perfect spot to relax and have some lunch she bought before she left the last village. Making her way through the snow easily and hardly bothered by it's coldness upon her scales she made it to the overhang and set her bag aside for a bit, rummaging through it until she pulled out some freshly baked bread rolls.

"Well the man did say they were fresh,"She said to herself before she began to dig in, loving the warmness it brought to her body as she swallowed one of the rolls after a bit.

["Cosmos"]

having followed the dragoness from under the snow with barely a sound, Akrina continued to follow her as she made her way to the overhang. peeking her head out of the snow after positioning herself behind the dragoness, she heard the dragoness speak and the strange cord within her was struck again. diving back into the snow, she grabbed a rock and used her discovered power. as the rock was changed into a boomerang of the same size, she clawed her way through the snow until she was on an ledge that was above the overhang the dragoness was on. pushing out of the snow enough, she threw the boomerang at an angle that it would strike the snow-packed ledge with force. diving back into the snow, the boomerang struck the ledge as she planned, which triggered the snow to fall off the ledge, with her in the pile of snow. crashing right next to the dragoness, the pile of snow came to a stop, with Akrina safely hidden inside. waiting patiently inside the pile of snow, a poison-like mist began to develop inside her mouth as she waited for the dragoness to come closer.

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Unfortunately Taiga was not aware of Akrina following her, having been enjoying the icy terrain and eating away her lunch. In fact, she was quite oblivious to possible dangers as in a place like this the young dragoness had doubts she'd run into much trouble or any at all along this task she was given. And when that pile of snow, with the Dragonborn inside, fell just right near her it made Taiga jump immediately to her feet in surprise, especially when it was on her blind side that made her a little nervous.

After a moment however she relaxed, figuring the pile of snow had just fallen from the weight of so much. Moving closer to the pile once more she began to sniff at it to see if it really was just snow or some ice and snow combined that fell unaware of what was to come next.

["Cosmos"]

hearing the crunch of the snow under the claws of the dragoness, Akrina smiled as the poison-like mist seeped through her teeth. spreading her wings wide, the large draconic wings burst from the pile of snow, sending a flurry of snow everywhere. jumping from the pile with a thrust of her wings, she emerged from the snow, the grin on her face wide as ever. grabbing the dragoness by the neck, she grappled with her, using her long tail and legs to knock the icy dragoness's legs out from under her.

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Taiga stopped in her tracks when seeing the wings burst from the snow, her immediate reaction being to flee. What other reason would a dragon be hiding in snow when it usually meant an ambush of some kind? She had learned the hard way of being too careless and paid the price of losing the sight in her left eye completely but when the other dragoness came forth from the snow Taiga actually glanced back growling when her neck was grabbed.

Before she knew it Taiga was crashing to the icy ground, struggling against Akrina's grip as she tried to roll back to her feet and actually blasting out ice Breathes in hopes one of them would hit the Dragonborn. "Get off me!"She growled, knowing she might not last long in this little scuffle since she wasn't exactly the type of dragon to know how to fight, much less really defend herself.

["Cosmos"]

as she struggled with the dragoness to get her detained, Akrina couldn't help but keep her grin on her face. "quite the feisty one you are," she said, as the poison-like mist continued to produce from her mouth. having not used her breath power yet, she waited for the perfect chance to use it. suddenly, she grunted as one of the dragoness's ice attacks had hit her in the face. stunning her for only a second, this second made her grip release from the dragoness.

[Deleted]

"Feisty enough to get free,"Taiga corrected, immediately shaking Akrina off her when feeling her grip loosen enough and quickly and grabbed her bag putting it around her waist once more. She briefly glanced back to get a quick good look Akrina, wanting to have a good image of her attacker before she took off from the overhang. Unfortunately, she didn't want to end up taking the strange dragoness to the village with the concern this one might be a danger so she quickly took flight and moved towards some of the icy cliffs nearby. There she might have a chance to shake off Akrina.

Quickly activating her aura reading in her left eye Taiga used it to see with both eyes, eventually finding a large pile of ice chunks and moving towards them. Even if she couldn't fight she was actually rather quick in her movements, diving behind the pile which created a small enough space between the pile and rocky wall she could squeeze into. Sitting down she carefully used a low level of her Ice element to create a wall of ice she hoped would blend into the surrounding ice, breathing heavily as she listened carefully.

["Cosmos"]

getting to her feet as she watched the dragoness fly off, Akrina grinned as she flexed her wings several times. "the hunt is on," she said, as she crouched down. holding out her arm, a shimmering energy formed in her hand as a hammer-like weapon developed in her grip. running off the ledge as the weapon fully formed, she spread her wings and began to follow the dragoness. even though she had lost her in sight, she could still smell her, and faintly hear her. slowly descending down on the spot the icy dragoness had hid herself, Akrina grinned as she silently landed. "i wonder where my prey has gone," she said teasingly, as she raised the hammer up and brought it crashing down on the pile of ice. as the pile of ice was turned to rubble, she grinned at the dragoness as she threw the hammer away, the mist seeping from her mouth and unknowingly entered the dragoness's lungs. knowing that the tiny amount that she has breathed in already wouldn't effect her immediately, she knew that it would slowly begin to make her paralyzed over the next ten minutes.

[Deleted]

Quietly Taiga waited, hoping deep down there wasn't a chance this female would follow her but much to her dismay she could see Akrina's outline with her aura sight. And the teasing tone of her voice made Taiga's heart sink at realizing it might be futile to have run at all if she had easily followed her. Her eyes then widened when seeing the hammer being raised and she quickly brought her wings forward as a kind of shield as they ice easily broke form the force put behind the blow. Lowering her wings just slightly Taiga growled a bit towards her, unknowingly breathing in the mist seeping from her mouth.

Of all days she was out farther then she was use to it seemed once again she would have to fight. Or at the very most try to get away from this dragoness who seemed to be enjoying chasing or hunting her. "Fine if it's a fight you want, your getting it."She said in a little anger, knowing she could only rely on basic fighting unaware her body was slowly reacting to the paralyzing affects of the poison as she charged at Akrina, horns down and ready to impale her if she needed to. But really Taiga was just trying to force her to leave, not cause true harm.

["Cosmos"]

jumping back, Akrina smiled at her. 'that's it, keep wearing yourself out. every strike lessons your time,' she thought, as she jumped up into the air. landing next to the dragoness and avoiding her strike, she began to grapple with her once again. trying to detain her, she made sure that this time none of her elemental attacks could hit her.

[Deleted]

Taiga stopped in her tracks when Akrina jumped from her attack but gave her really no time to attack yet again when they began to grapple once more. Once again Taiga struggled, still trying to prevent the other dragoness from getting a hold of her fully while also further lessening the time she had before she was paralyzed. And it was but a few minutes later she realized something was up, her limbs now beginning to feel like being made of lead and found she could hardly fight back at all.

With this slowness in her body Akrina was finally successful in taking the icy dragoness down as Taiga collapsed to her stomach, realizing fully something wasn't right. "What did you do to me?"She growled, feeling like her entire body was being weighed down and could hardly keep her head up as the paralysis was taking effect.

["Cosmos"]

when the paralyzing effects of her breath ability nearly took full effect, Akrina smiled as she stood up and knelt next to the dragoness's head. "you are under the effects of my paralyzing poison. in the next minute, you will be unable to move any of your limbs," she said, smiling as she placed her claw gently on the dragoness's head. being on her right side, she was within the dragoness's sight. the runes that covered her body could be seen pulsing with a green color, in time with the beat of her heart, which was beating faster then normal. looking over the dragoness, she couldn't help but feel slightly flustered from being close to her.