[center][h2][color=lawngreen]Grasidia[/color][/h2][/center]
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As the two leaves continued to grow, Grasidia looked over her shoulder at Luke after he approached and asked what a dragon was. She squinted her eyes at him briefly before returning her attention forward. [color=lawngreen]"A monster,"[/color] was all she explained to him. Really that was all she knew about them anyways. Some kind of powerful creature of legend. She had certainly never seen one but she had heard they were big and could fly. Grasidia didn't dwell on it long though as she glanced over her other shoulder to see what the rest of her guildmates were doing. General preparations, planning strike teams, it seemed pretty disorganized still to Grasidia. [color=lawngreen][i]They're foolish, but I'll keep them alive.[/i][/color]

Each leaf was quite massive now, each one easily big enough to seat ten people. This meant that everyone could split up onto the two leaves and have plenty of space between each other to be comfortable. With the travel preparations complete, Grasidia turned around completely to face the rest of the guild. [color=lawngreen]"Get on,"[/color] was her simple command, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for everyone to step onto their leafy green ride. As she waited a third leaf began to grow out of the ground beneath her, stopping at a much smaller size than the other two. Just large enough for Grasidia to stand on it with very little room to spare. Despite being so much smaller than her it bore her weight without budging after she stepped onto it. She waited a moment longer for everyone to be on the leaves but she didn't quite wait for everyone to sit down.

She held her hands out to her sides and then raised them up, commanding their leaves to fly. [color=lawngreen]"Eden! Leaf Caravan!"[/color] And with those magic words they began to float straight up from the alleyway, slowly ascending above the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. Grasidia gave one last look to the ground, spotting Torys standing at the doorway to the guild hall. Upon being seen the guild master cracked a confident smirk and held out a thumbs-up to her guild. It was reassuring that Torys thought they would be able to handle this challenge but Grasidia just drew her gaze forward. The three leaves all soon rotated so that they were all facing the same direction, pointed towards Era. Then, without any additional warning, Grasidia pointed her arms forward.

The speed at which the leaf caravan shot off surely surprised most of her guildmates. The ones seated would find no trouble from the sudden g-forces but if any were still standing they likely wouldn't be now. Grasidia herself was able to remain standing easily as she could cling to her leaf quite easily, she made the thing after all, and she pulled ahead of the two larger, heavier leaves. They took a flying V formation as the entire guild raced through the clouds. Only after a moment of flying did Grasidia make sure to look behind herself to see if anyone fell off, though it looked like nobody did. [color=lawngreen][i]We're heading right to the Council's doorstep. If we get there and the dragon has already been defeated then we might get Torys in trouble if we're noticed...[/i][/color] With this in mind Grasidia increased the altitude that the guild was flying at, so they would be harder to spot from the ground on approach just in case they had to turn back.

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It would take a few minutes but the time seemed to pass quickly for Grasidia. First she saw smoke on the horizon, then she saw the outskirts of Era, then the burning buildings. Then the [url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/718974054102466570/721487546059718757/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f.png]dragon[/url]. It was a large creature with many spines along its back and limbs, all its scales black, with a massive wingspan and long tail. Even from such a long distance she could see its glowing white eyes as it gazed around in admiration of its own destruction. The sheer size of it just reinforced how daunting of a task this truly was, that thing could swallow anyone whole. Just one of its claws had to be the same size as a human. Grasidia watched in awe as they approached, though she was snapped out of it when she noticed an orange glow from within the beast's jaws. It let loose an inferno upon a regiment of, presumably, Rune Knights that were fending it off. She could see a magical blue glow from their shield spells defending, but surely they couldn't block everything. The regiment scattered in retreat after the flames cleared and the dragon turned its sights toward the Magic Council headquarters.

[color=lawngreen][i]Okay, they definitely need us,[/i][/color] Grasidia thought, now finally lowering the leaves as they approached the city. But while the two larger leaves maintained the same speed, Grasidia's began to speed up. Hers was more agile with less weight on it and she kicked it into full speed. She knew that meant she would get there just a bit before everyone else but they didn't have a moment to spare. The dragon was so large that it took no time to reach the pavilion before the Council. She could see another regiment of Rune Knights were before the dragon, hopelessly prepared to defend against its assault. [color=lawngreen][i]Alright, Torys, you want us to show the world that we're here...[/i][/color] The orange glow from the dragon's mouth began to radiate again as it lowered its head and aimed its open jaws at the knights ahead of it, who braced themselves for what surely appeared to be certain death.

Just as the flames began to erupt from its throat, Grasidia came shooting out of the sky like a meteor and delivered an axe kick to the top of its spiky head. The impact forced the dragon's jaws shut and slammed its head into the ground, sending flames out the sides of its mouth and kicking up a large cloud of dust and rubble. The shockwave from the impact pushed back the nearby Rune Knights briefly, who all stood in shock at the miracle salvation before them. Grasidia remained airborne, her momentum from her kick carrying her forward to put herself between the dragon and the humans. [color=lawngreen][i]That was strange...[/i][/color] she thought to herself as she began to face the dragon. [color=lawngreen][i]It almost felt like-[/i][/color] Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the creature's massive tail reaching around its body and swinging straight at her. She was still in the air and it was too big to dodge. In the split-second before impact she brought her arms to her side and curled her legs up, braced for the inevitable.

The dragon's tail flicked her aside like she was a mere housefly. The impact was powerful, sending Grasidia flying uncontrollably to the ground where she bounced several time before crashing into the marble staircase behind the Rune Knights. Dust and debris scattered from the impact, briefly concealing her from view as the Rune Knights all turned to look. After the dust settled they could see Grasidia sprawled out on the ground with blood trailing from her head and lips, eyes closed and unmoving. Panic began to settle in as their apparent savior was dispatched, prompting the knights to all flee from the dragon and retreat into the Council building. The vibrations in the ground as they ran past her unconscious body made Grasidia stir, slowly opening her eyes as she regained her bearings. [color=lawngreen][i]Well, at least the humans didn't die,[/i][/color] she thought to herself, her gaze settling on the black dragon. It hadn't moved at all since she last saw it, and if she didn't know any better it looked like her surprise attack didn't hardly faze it.

But then she saw her two giant leaves closing in. The rest of her guild. And almost as if the dragon could sense that she was looking behind it, it turned its head to see her incoming guildmates. [color=lawngreen][i]Oh no.[/i][/color] Its spiky black wings began to unfurl, stretching out to its full wingspan. [color=lawngreen][i]Oh no you don't.[/i][/color] Grasidia leaned forward now, propping herself up on one arm and holding the other out with her palm facing the dragon. The massive beast flapped its wings a single time, creating a terribly strong gust that further shocked Grasidia. So strong that her leaves carrying her guildmates were whipped around, sending everyone crashing to the ground. But before its wings could make another stroke and let this monster take to the air, Grasidia commanded her curse. [color=lawngreen]"Eden! Greenhouse!"[/color] The grass around the pavilion, beneath the dragon, rapidly grew upward and formed thick vines that quickly began to wrap around its feet and its wings, quickly pinning its wings to its sides and binding it. Other tendrils of plant matter reached out to catch her falling guildmates, at least the ones that didn't seem to have a way to survive the fall.

While she focused on setting her guildmates down at a safe distance from the seemingly pissed dragon, it muscled its way free of the vines that held its feet to the ground. Her vines around its wings managed to hold, but now the dragon could move again. [color=lawngreen][i]Stupid humans,[/i][/color] Grasidia thought, spitting some blood from her mouth onto the side of her crater. [color=lawngreen][i]Standing in front of this thing like wheat before a scythe. I should've let them die.[/i][/color] She slowly picked herself up, burdened by the pain throbbing through what felt like her entire body. [color=lawngreen][i]Then I would still be in top shape. This thing is powerful, but less than I thought it would be. We can still win this.[/i][/color] More vines continued sprouting from the ground, attempting to tangle and trip the dragon though it was strong enough to break through every time they managed to snare. But even if it only bought a few seconds of immobility at a time, anything helped. If any of her guildmates, with their frail human biology, took a hit like she did they might just be done.