[J'Tal]

Species: Void Battleheart (H)
Name: Venom

The sound of wings followed by the swirling of the sands announce the arrival of the dark colored Battleheart. A human male nimbly leaps from his back seeming of small size compared to the draconic creature.

"I need to begin training so that I can go to that competition in Barakka." The low rumble came from the Battleheart.

"So lets begin." The human states.

46

[J'Tal]

Immediately the pair begins their training. On the first day, they focus on weight training in the hot sun. Venom would take boulders that weighed tons, and fly them across the sands for 500 meters. Venom would then take the same boulder and carry it back. He did this for 20 reps.

Venom would take a few moments to rest, then continue with squats/push ups. Having 20 tons strapped to his back, he would lower his body till the scales on his chest were touching the burning sands. Then raise himself to his limbs full extension. He did 50 of these.

After this was done and he was rested again, he began all over again. The hard part was the putting on and taking off of the weight on his back. The heat seemed to sap his strength as well. He does the routine 4 times in total. That night, he goes to bed exhausted.

47

[J'Tal]

In the morning of the second day, Venom is extremely sore. However he still needs to train today. J'Tal gets on Venoms back and they leave camp to flay toward the plateaus.

When there, they find many cliffs and canyons surrounding the mountains. Using these, Venom and J'Tal practice on speed and reflexes. Together they fly though the passages, skimming the cliffs, and making sharp turns on a dime. Though not as strenuous as the weight training the day before, the flying strains their nerves.

That night they fly back to their campsite, they don't look forward to tomorrow.

48

[J'Tal]

Being the third day, Venom was especially sore. Starting out he had to dig a pit. the problem wasn't that he had to dig at all, but how deep. Venom had to dig a fifty foot deep pit, that is 100 feet around.

Venom started the digging by using his front claws. after a while, his muscles were hurting too much. He then used his rear claws to throw the sand out of the area. This lasted about an hour before he grew tired again. At this point he tried to blow the sand away with his wings. But this only spread out the sand and didn't allow for control. At this point, Venom was about half way done.

The frustration of the hard work, and the previous days of training wore his nerves thin. "I am done with this!!" He roars into the sky at no one in particular.

At this, Venom leaps into the air let out a blast of fire. He then begins to melt the sand into liquid. Throwing his fury into the task he melts the rest of the pit into the ground. The smoke from the burning sand shades the glass to a dark color. Gagged shards of glass are everywhere throughout the pit, giving it a dark and menacing appearance.

Venom then gathered stones and blanketed one wall with them. Finally finished, he lands in the middle of the pit shattering the glass on the bottom. Despite the danger, the shards of glass posed no threat to his feet. He then returns to the campsite for it is evening and took the entirety of the day to complete the task. Tomorrow, the training would continue.

49

[J'Tal]

Venom awoke to his next day of training. He started the day searching for a pillar of stone. Eventually finding one, He buried the base of the pillar in the center of the pit so that it would stand upright.

He then began to practice combat moves on the pillar. Slashing at it with his claws, biting it, and scorching it with his fire. He did this until the pillar was demolished.

Venom then went out and found another pillar to repeat the process. He did this throughout the day as the sun beat down upon him. He did this until the sun set. The total amount of pillars destroyed was 7.

50

[J'Tal]

On the fifth day he awoke knowing that he had to continue his training despite his reservations. He had given himself several days since he had done the weight training so his muscles could recover. Despite being sore, he he knew he had to continue.

Taking up a 4 ton boulder, he begins to fly it the 500 meters. Once at the end, he lands and carries it back. He completes 15 repetitions before Venom begins to struggle in the sun. He is able to complete 17 reps.

Taking longer than on the first day, Venom rests. The sun seems to be against his endeavors, as it feels like it is sapping his energy. When ready, he straps the 20 tons to his back, and begins his laborous push ups. Venom is only able to complete 40 push ups before he unstraps the weight.

Resting again, he dreads the strain that he has to endure to complete today's workout. Despite that, Venom continues. He completes the routine 6 time that day. To complete this he works late into the night. He is exhausted when he falls asleep.

51

[J'Tal]

On the sixth day, Venom knows what to expect. Again as with the second day, J'Tal gets on Venom's back, and together they fly to the plateaus. As they previously did before, they soar through the canyons and cliffs. dodging through the small spaces, Venom increases his reaction time.

An accident occurs in the midst of a turn when a gust of wind slams Venom into a cliff face. Upon impact, J'Tal is flung from Venom's back and is thrown into the deep chasm of the cliffs. Venom pauses for a moment to contemplate the destruction of his companion would have, and deciding that it would be better that J'Tal lives, dives after him. Venom catches J'Tal, and together they aim for the sky. As they pull out of the dive J'Tal's boots are mere meters from the ground.

After they finish with rest of the days acrobatics and training, they return to the campsite. J'Tal with slightly more appreciation for life, and Venom wondering what it would be like without his companion. They both have a troubled sleep that night.

52

[J'Tal]

The next day, Venom was to practice his powers with the flame. First he held his breath as long as he could, then letting it all out at the the stone wall inside the pit. Despite the seeming simplicity of the act, this was extremely exhausting in it own right. it took the entire day for Venom the melt the stone wall that was placed there a couple days ago.

Despite the night, he went searching for new stones to make a new wall. Embanking them into another wall to avoid the melted slag, he creates a sturdy new wall for later. He goes to sleep that night with his flame potency more used than it has ever been before.

53

[J'Tal]

The eighth day saw Venom searching out new pillars to practice on. Deliberately not using his flame, Venom attacked the pillar that he had buried in the center of the pit. The point of the exercise was not to build muscle, but to toughen his body for impacting hard surfaces.

Destroying 10 pillars today was highly attributed to Venom raising early. Feeling not as tired during the day showed that the training was starting to pay off. For the first time, Venom went to bed anticipating the next day.

54

[J'Tal]

On the ninth day, Venom again awoke early. Today, his focus is not weight training today, but to practice his accuracy. And since Venom has been eating extremely lean on the trip, he is going hunting.

As Venom and J'Tal are soaring in the sky, they both realize the difficulty of finding prey in the Wilt'no Desert. All that could be seen were sandy dunes with rocky outcroppings. After searching for hours, they see a herd of  Gyrophants. Usually not seen this far east of the Great Plains, this herd seems to be of older stock.

"Are you sure you want to try to take on an entire herd?" J'Tal asks from Venoms back.

As if to respond, Venom enters into a dive toward the creatures.

55

[J'Tal]

RRRRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

The Gyrophants scattered the second they heard the roar. Venom was not confused as other predators are by not being able to pick a target when a herd scatters. Venom immediately picked a target that was running directly away from him, so that Venom would not have to bank.

Coming up from behind, Venom inhales ready to through a blast of flame at the Gyrophant. The second before release the Gyrophant turned its neck around and shot a fireball at Venom. Knowing the speed at which he is traveling, Venom knows that if he were to dodge, he and J'Tal would crash into the baking sands.

Knowing this, as well as his natural resistance to fire, he raises his trajectory slightly and takes it in his chest. As the flame wraps around him, he endures the pain and hopes that his wings block the flames from J'Tal on his back.

"I'm going to shred his bones!!!" The infuriated Battleheart roars!

56

[J'Tal]

With a few flaps of his wings, Venom lands on the Gyrophant's back. The Gyrophant screams in pain and terror. Venom bites into the Gyrophant's neck while his claws rake into its sides. The Gyrophant screams again as it starts bleeding and the weight of the Battleheart drags them both to the ground.

"Watch out for me!" The voice of J'Tal comes from Venom's back.

The voice doesn't seem to pierce the haze that Venom is in, as he ravages into the body of the terrified creature. As J'Tal holds on for dear life, he notices several of the Gyrophants slowly coming back.

57

[J'Tal]

"Umm, buddy?" J'Tal calls to Venom as he notices the Gyrophants closing in. "Hey! Pay attention! This one is down and there are three more coming!"

This seemed to penetrate the rage that encompassed Venom. His head snapped up, and immediately surveyed the situation. Seeing the Gyrophants closing in, he abandons the still twitching Gyrophant that he had ravaged, by leaping into the air. Two of the three Gyrophants shoot fireballs at him. One hits his leg inflicting minor damage, the other missing Venom by a wide birth.

Zeroing in on the one that hit him with the fire, Venom raises his altitude then dives at the Gyrophant. Its eyes widen in terror as it realizes that it has already used its flame. With a trumpet of terror, it turns and try's to run. Venom smiles at the terror of the creature as he looks forward to taste its blood.

58

[J'Tal]

As Venom approaches in the dive, the Gyrophant lashes out with his hooves. Having learned from the last Gyrophant, Venom anticipated something similar to that and easily dodged. As Venom flew to the Gyrophant, he rakes it with his rear claws. Despite the gash in its side, the Gyrophant turned and lashed out with a headbutt, slamming Venom in his side. The Headbutt slams Venom toward the ground.

Spinning around, Venom lands on his feet sliding 15 feet. Using the ground as a springboard, Venom launches himself at the Gyrophant. Biting its neck, Venom latches onto the Gyrophant and rakes it with his rear claws. Venom ravages the Gyrophant as it lets out a shriek off terror.

As Venom attacked the Gyrophant, the other two came in seemingly unnoticed. As they come up to Venom, at the last instant, Venom looks up and blasts both of the Gyrophants with his fire. They reeled in the blast.

59

[J'Tal]

Rearing back from the blast, both Gyrophants trumpet out in pain. Leaving the Gyrophant that was in a literal sense ripped open, Venom leaps at the closest Gyrophant. The Gyrophant surprised by the sudden assault, blast a fireball into Venom's face. It turns out that Venom attacked the Gyrophant that has not fired a fireball yet.

Reeling from the pain and blind from the smoke, Venom reaches up with his claws and claws the Gyrophant's face. The second Gyrophant thinking it sees an opportunity, tries to headbutt Venom. J'Tal, who can still see, manages to notice the attack coming.

"Venom!" J'Tal calls out. "Move!"

Venom hearing J'Tal's voice, leaps to the side. Bearly dodging the attack, the Gyrophant that Venom was on gets slammed by its companions headbutt.

60