Hello all! I'm back!

Sorta...

My poll showed that readers were most interested in a teaser one-shot and a preview 'chapter' on DA leading up to my sequel in the fall, and so here it is! It's short, as all teasers are, but I hope it gives you something to mull over until the end of August. :)

Enjoy.

"Master, I'm ready..."

The sky overhead was choked with ash and thick grey clouds just as it always was, but on this day a savage wind tore at the thick covering, causing the clouds to billow and warp crazily as stinging acidic rain poured down on the wasted, barren hellscape below. The damp stink from the storm only partially covered the choking scent of sulfur and ash that hung constantly over the land. Overhead blinding forks of lightning split the air, crashes of thunder momentarily overpowering the howling of the wind across the rocky plains.

Any creature in its right mind would be hiding deep below the surface in a storm like this, but even so on this day if one looked in the right place they would see two towering figures standing in defiance of the vicious elements, staring each other down with primal ferocity.

"You think so, do you? Tell me, how long has it been since you awakened?"

A throaty, guttural bellow that sounded like something out of a nightmare somehow managed to drown out the wind and thunder for a brief instant, and at that moment the larger of the two figures—a hulking, malformed and hideous monstrosity with arms as thick as tree trunks, long spindly legs, serrated claws long enough to slice a full grown dragon in half with a single swipe and a head much too small for its body—charged forward on all fours, its gait the polar opposite of graceful but fast nonetheless.

"It's been three months, Master."

Across from the charging creature, an adult dragoness of a lean, slender build with the hints of toned muscles showing beneath smooth indigo-purple scales stood her ground and watched its approach. She stood calmly and unflinching, a look of unwavering intensity in her dark red eyes and a feral grin stretched across her muzzle.

"And you think that's all the time you need to recover your strength, after spending nearly two millennia frozen inside a time crystal?"

The monster raised one of its powerful arms to strike, but with precise, rapid movements the dragoness shot to her right and avoided the swing before retaliating with a swipe of her own long, pointed talons. The creature roared another of its ugly roars as her talons cut through its hardened exoskeleton and drew a stream of oozing black blood.

"Yes, Master, I do."

The monster swung again in a fit of rage, aiming to smash the skull of the dragoness that stood only half its size, but before it could complete its attack a blazing red fireball struck it square in its face. As it swiped at the flames that danced across its head and shoulders the dragoness leapt up and planted a savage kick in the creature's chest, causing it to utter a winded grunt and stagger backwards.

"Then show me."

Suddenly, with surprising speed, the monster lashed out with one of its curved, blade-like claws and the dragoness gave a pinched gasp as it tore across the scales of her foreleg. The open wound stung furiously in the acid rain, but she didn't even pause for a second to acknowledge it.

In a single fluid motion the dragoness reared up and dug her own talons deep into the forearm of her opponent, pinning the arm it had used to strike her before reaching forward with one wing. With one quick jerk she brought the long, hooked claw on its middle joint down across the limb. Glowing a sickly green from her poison element, the claw had no trouble shearing right through it.

The monster bellowed in agony at the loss of its arm, green venom eating steadily away at the lingering stump and the stench of rotting flesh filling the air, but the roar was cut short as the dragoness's tail slammed into its stomach and knocked it back a step. After following through from her swing the dragoness squared herself to the beast once more, the twisted smile again stretching across her lips.

"You're mine," she hissed with bloodthirsty eagerness.

Something within her suddenly screamed a warning a split second before she could lunge. In that instant she felt a sharp buildup of earth energy directly behind her, and out of nothing but instinct she spun frantically to her left. At that exact same moment a massive earth missile slammed into the ground inches from her flank, exploding on impact and sending jagged shards of stone shrapnel flying in all directions, peppering her hide and stinging bitterly. Grunting, the dragoness raised a wing to shield herself.

A deep, warbling roar caused her to look up, and she felt her blood turn to ice when she saw the hulking monster towering over her, its one remaining arm swinging straight for her, a snarl of rage twisting its burnt features. The blow landed before she could think about shielding herself, sending her careening through the air before slamming her hard against a sheer stone wall. While she was dazed the monster charged again, raising its remaining arm high to finish her off. All she could do was tense her body in anticipation of the killing blow.

A wet, sickening crunch suddenly sounded out and the monster staggered and halted in its tracks, looking down in bewilderment to see a massive black blade sticking out from the centre of its chest. Before it could so much as blink the blade was yanked sharply backward, spraying the monster's dark blood across the stone in all directions and practically shearing it clean in half. When it slowly crumpled to the ground a massive purple dragon was revealed to be standing right behind it, glaring down at the smaller dragoness with a sneer of contempt on his features.

"You have a long way to go still."

The purple dragoness found she could say nothing as Ragnor padded heavily away from her back toward their lair, dazed tremors still running through her bruised body. However a short moment later her features twisted into a hard snarl, firm determination growing to overshadow the dull pain in her body. No matter what it took, she would prove her strength to the larger, ancient purple dragon.

When her time came, she would be ready.

And voila! You have been teased. X)

So, that's it for now. At the moment I'm aiming for the third or fourth week of August to release the preview chapter on DA, so keep your eyes open there. I'll likely have a couple more art submissions there in the meantime, so check it out anyway if you'd like. :)

Hope you liked it. Until next time...