Ralen cursed and drew his sword in one swift motion. He didn't think the wyvern would be this close, if here at all! He was still exhausted from the steep climb, and he growled in anger as sweat dripped into his eyes. Doing his best to ignore it, as he couldn't exactly take off his helmet now, he scanned the skies for the beast. [i]There![/i] he thought, seeing a dark grey dot in the distance grow larger and larger. Ralen turned towards Li and yelled "I'll distract it, you nail it!" Without waiting for an answer, Ralen turned and braced himself for the incoming battle.

The Wyvern was far stronger and far faster than he had even dared to predict. It swept past him before he even had a chance to respond, viciously raking its talons across his expensive plate armor. Ralen was knocked flat, though his armor took the brunt of the attack and he was able to stand back up, if painfully. He cursed again, this time at himself for underestimating the creature, and waited for its next pass. Ralen prayed that Li had heard him and was doing his utmost to help take the beast down.

On the Wyvern's next pass it attempted to snatch him off the ground in its formidable claws. Ralen was able to somewhat predict this, and managed to cut at one of the claws with his greatsword before being grabbed by the other. He was lifted ten feet off the ground before being dropped again, the Wyvern's grip weak due to only having grabbed hold of him with one claw. The breath was knocked out of Ralen's lungs with a [i]whoosh[/i] on impact, and he struggled to even move, his limbs rigid from shock. 

Finally he clambered to his feet, and that is when the fear set in. This was a fool's mission, he thought, as he watched the Wyvern circle around for another pass. His blade was hardly bloodied and he was already more beaten up than he had ever been in his life. He quickly looked for a way out, an escape, but he did not see any nearby. Ralen swallowed his fear and readied his sword again, glancing at Li as if asking him to do something.