Blood escaped my mouth, and I stared with an evil glint. There were hundreds more of the lady in black swarming around me. The majority of them ran away and only one who caused me this harm. I ignored the black lady who was running out and instead focused on the one that was in front of me.
"Give me what is mine. Give me back what is mine!" Like a chant that was sung over and over again. I pushed up with great difficulties; I could tell my body was not fully recovered, but the urge to eat gold was a hundred times worse. A strong gust of ice blew out of my mouth and all around.
Everything that the ice touched froze everything in seconds. People screamed and ran from cover for fear of being iced.
With a flick of my tail, the cars were thrown aside, my wings unfurled. With heavy beating, a gust of storm picked up around me. The lady in black walked towards me casually as if they were nothing wrong, and instead, she cackled with laughter.
How dare she. How dare she! Mad with rage, I bulldozed forward. Red energy formed around my claws and created a sharp talon. It reached outwards and swiped the lady in black in one fluid movement pinning her perfectly into the ground.
"Give me what is mine!" I hissed. Hot blazing energy started to bubble from my stomach and into my throat. Already, I could feel fire ready to burst.
A giant blast of dark energy shot underneath me, the ground cave causing me to lose temporary balance. My hand that was supporting me was kicked, and I started to fall forward. My wings beat furiously, trying my best to not fall down. The lady jumped towards me with her hands above her. Something black like a knife came thundering down towards my heart.
I will not allow it! I roared.
My jaws snaked towards her in a rapid motion. With a vicious chomp downwards, I bite down, but a black force field like magic cocooned her. Only a slight taste of blood entered into my mouth, and another sweet nostalgic taste of gold mixed in with the blood. It reminded me of the taste of honey and metal.
A single piece of white and gold scale fell off onto the ground. Her hand was inches away from her heart with the black knife already nicking the surface of my skin. A red drop of blood slid down the knife and onto her hand.
My vision cleared, and I noticed in my mouth was Phil bleeding heavily. What's going on? Where is the lady in black? I glanced around, confused. No more did I feel the horrible pull of wanting to eat gold; instead, clarity came into my mind.
All around me was in total chaos. Cars were overturned, large chunks of the buildings were missing, people were injured left and right, and police surrounded us.
"Berry?" Phil spoke with difficulty. "Did that work?" He looked at me with painful eyes.
"Why are ou in ma moub?" I couldn't form the words because Phil was stuck in between my jaws, ready to be crushed in any second. I gently place him back onto the ground, letting him get out.
"This is not good." Phil coughed. He staggered to get back into balance. "We need to leave now."
"Where?"
Swarms of police and swat came surrounding us. Their guns loaded and aimed towards me.
I couldn't help but be even more confused at what was going on but noticed that we were in deep trouble.
"Do not shoot yet! There is a human hostage near the monster!" A group of unknown people came out behind the police.
"Are you out of your damn mind! That's a monster for crying out loud!"
"Every life is a priority, we don't want to enrage it!"
"You imbecile! More than a million people live are in jeopardy right now, and you are worried about just one?"
"It's a dragon! This is more than just a monster!"
"A dragon? So what? It's still a monster!"
The bickering between the new people and the policeman was raging on.
I examined all around us, trying to look for a way to escape. If we did not leave anytime soon, who knows what could happen. I did not want to be killed or captured.
"Back me up," Phil spoke, he huddled near me. "I only have enough energy to do this once. When I say now blow fire around us, giving us cover and change back into your regular form. We only got this one chance."
I slowly nodded in understanding.
Phil closed his eyes, and black energy formed around him. "Now!"
I blew fire until my throat was hoarse, everywhere I turned the fire blaze all around me, giving us a blanket of curtain. I shifted and changed back into my small human form.
With a blast of energy, Phil sent a shockwave of energy that blew outwards. All the cars and people were pushed roughly back. Even the helicopter that was hovering around us went out of control.
I took this chance to change back into my human form. It was all in one fluid movement that I did not feel a single pain. Phil roughly grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the back of the building. We weaved through the tight buildings, jumped over fences, and even hid behind a crate of boxes.
With a wave of his finger, Phil motioned his hands around himself and around me. He slumped on the wall, exhausted.
"A-are you okay?" I asked. I could see blood dripping down his side.
"I'm fine." Phil raised his hands.
I felt horrible looking down at his state. This was all my fault and this obsessive compulsion to eat gold. Was this how I would become every time if I don't eat gold for a week? The thought horrified me.
"I'm not going to do that again." Phil chuckled.
Wait, was this the time to laugh right now? We are in trouble and possibly even hunted down.
"Who would've thought you would've gone crazy over one piece of gold," he replied, making me feel guilty.
I didn't know I would go that crazy when I didn't have my dose of gold.
"I didn't mean to. It was a strange obsession that I couldn't break free from. I was never like this before." I couldn't help but be flustered at the whole ordeal. Everything was happening too fast, especially because this was on the first day of waking up on Earth. The Double Trouble skill truly was taking its effect.
No. No. I need to steel myself. I can not let emotions run all over me. With a straight clear voice, I spoke. "I am sorry. I know my words are not enough, but I will do my best to curb my obsession as best as I can."
"Heh, quite formidable of you for your emotions to swing towards a balanced state of mind. I thought you would be crying or bawling from everything that had happened."
"I am barely holding back." This was true, crying isn't going to solve anything. I needed to hold it back.
"That's good to hear." Phil weakly got up. "We need to meet back up with Don. We can't stay here too long."
"I agree with you."
We both walked out and into the busy streets. I searched around for any nearby safe place where we could take a rest. Not too far from us, I saw what we were looking for.
"This way." I took Phil's hands. I did not want to get lost in this world.
"Where?"
"I found a hotel."
"A hotel?"
"Yea, just think about it like an inn. Do you have any money on you?"
"I do. Don gave me an extra card for you and me."
"That's wonderful," I spoke with relief. I did not know where to go to exchange money around here, nor understood my way around. People stare at us, wondering what was wrong, but they did not approach us even still. Instead, they seem to shy away, seeing the amount of blood on Phil.
We walked towards the hotel and got a room. With a card key, we entered into a three-star hotel. It was decent but not luxurious.
"Berry, catch," Phil called out. He threw five sparkling gold coins up in the air. Instinctively I raised my hands and caught every single one of them. "I suggest you eat them sparingly. Three days is a long time, and you only have five gold coins."
It was true. I did not have a single gold coin with me. After the fight with the Black Gryphon, I was unconscious, so I did not bring a single gold coin.