Adventure of nyxous 3

Nyxous soars over an open plain, her stained-glass wings catching the sun. Wind combs through her dark feather coat as she searches for a dragon or wyvern to share her life.

Far below, a wounded adult wyvern staggers through the tall grass. Its torn wing drags behind, while hunters in dull leather close from three directions, bows and spears ready.

The stranger stumbles beside a shallow wash, scales dulled green beneath mud and blood. It lifts its narrow head and fixes one bright eye on Nyxous.

A horn sounds across the plain. The hunters tighten their ring, boots crushing seed heads, and one raises a crimson pennant toward the circling wyvern above.

The wounded stranger braces on its hind legs, unable to take flight. Its gaze remains on Nyxous as the open sky, the hunters, and the wounded creature await her next move.

Nyxous folds her great wings and drops beside the wounded wyvern, landing hard enough to shake the wash. Dust bursts outward, and pain flashes through one bruised hind leg.

She rises tall, dark feathers bristling, four curling horns outlined against the sun. Her stained-glass wings spread wide, silver scales glittering like a starry warning.

The hunters halt, all human men at the edge of the grass. They are five lean adults in dull leather, faces half-covered by scarves, with ashwood bows and hooked spears lowered uncertainly.

The crimson pennant dips as its bearer retreats a pace. No hunter advances; Nyxous's silhouette fills their approach, while the wounded wyvern steadies behind her.

Nyxous lunges and catches the nearest hunter in her jaws, lifting him clear of the grass as she swings her head with crushing momentum.

She flings him across the wash. He collides with another hunter, and both tumble hard through dust and trampled seed heads, their weapons scattering.

The remaining hunters recoil, startled discipline breaking apart. One drops his spear, while the crimson pennant folds against its pole in the sudden gust.

Behind Nyxous, the wounded wyvern drags its torn wing farther into the wash. Ahead, the captain raises his bow with shaking hands, searching for a clear shot.

Nyxous surges through the dust, jaws closing around the hunter captain's armored torso before his bowstring can loose. Her talons gouge the wash as she wrenches him upward.

She hurls him skyward, but a silver ward flares across his breastplate. He twists in the air, slips free as her jaws snap shut, and crashes hard beyond the wash.

The hunter captain's helm rolls away, and he scrambles onto one elbow, stunned but alive. His bow lies broken near the grass, while the other hunters scatter toward their fallen weapons.

The hunter captain staggers upright and backs toward the open plain. Two hunters drag their fallen comrades away, abandoning the pennant as the wounded wyvern watches for Nyxous's next move.

Nyxous lunges across the wash and seizes the hunter captain before he can raise his bow. The silver ward flashes violently against her jaws.

She throws him high into the bright air, then snaps her jaws shut around him as he falls. The ward gutters, and the hunter captain vanishes from sight.

The magic scorches Nyxous's mouth and throat before fading, leaving a bitter metallic taste and a sharp ache beneath her tongue. Her cost is immediate, but the hunter captain is gone.

Her roar rolls over the plain. The remaining hunters freeze, then abandon their scattered weapons and drag their stunned companions toward the distant grass.

The wounded wyvern lowers its head, trembling with exhaustion. Behind the fleeing hunters, the crimson pennant lies trampled in the dust, while the open plain waits beyond the wash.