Ryker just looked at the dragon, and felt the shard in his chest start to... hurt.

"...ngh." he grunted.

"Eke." he said.

"If you plan to fight, then I'm fighting as well. The shard demands it." he told him.

"I... don't know how to explain it, but it's like there's a presence in the shard... and it REALLY doesn't like the dragon in front of us." he added, managing to maintain his composure... barely.

Ryker didn't say anything in response to the dragon... except for letting out a guttural howl of pain and frustration. As he did, his voice reverberated around the area, and all his muscles seemed to violently bulk up very suddenly. Not to extreme or grotesque sizes, but it was a noticeable difference.

As this happened the ones that bore witness to this watched what seemed to be an inky liquidy darkness fall over the inside of Ryker's eyes, dissipating into them, and turning them a light grey.

Once that was finished, the energy seemed to rise off of Ryker's body like ominous steam, his arms and shoulders slumped forward, as he looked at the dragon.

"...this may be a mortal's body." a dark voice told the dragon.

"But I can still tap into power that can bring you damned lizards to your knees." it warned, Ryker's hands clenching tightly into fists.

Ryker didn't seem to react at all at first... until he quickly raised up his hands, palms facing towards the dragon.

"....think so highly of yourselves." he growled.

"You're not the apex of this existence. Not any longer." he finished.

As soon as he did that, orbs formed in them, and rays of black energy that seemed to burn like fire shot out towards the dragon. However, it was unlike any fire found in the world, it seemed like.

And both Eke and the dragon could tell that it burned hotter than any flame humans could produce.

Ryker noticed what happened to Eke, and his anger started to overtake him, emboldening the presence that had already started to distinctly inhabit his body.

He lifted his hands and slammed the palms down onto the ground, causing the area to shake and rumble, like an earthquake was going to suddenly happen.

However, the earth did not split open.

Instead, rays of the black energy started to shoot up from beneath the ground, all around them.

The lightning hit Ryker, and while it was clear that it had hurt him, Ryker didn't back down either.

Instead, as the dragon opened his mouth to bite him, he smashed his fist into the first thing that was closest to him... which ended up being one of the dragon's teeth.

"Ngh, crap." Ryker growled.

Ryker stood standing for a moment, at least until the dragon disappearing.

"GAAAAH!" he then yelled out, collapsing to his knees and grasping at his broken and bleeding knuckles.

"DAMN IIIIIIIT!" he yelled further, before growling to himself.

He picked up the tooth that had broken off and shoved it in his belt, before the energy dissipated, and he returned to normal.

At which point, he looked over towards Eke, and rushed towards him.

"EKE!" he exclaimed.

Ryker's eyes widened and his pupils shrank when he heard this.

"Ah... ah..." he stammered.

He then grew quiet, and just fumbled through the bag, before finding the sewing kit.

"I... I..." he stammered further, before shaking his head.

"Are... are you SURE this will be enough..." he asked Eke.

"................" Ryker was silent for a long moment more, before gulping.

"...right." he said.

"Uh...right." he muttered.

He then took the thick thread, managed to get it through the eye of the needle, and looked at the wound that had opened up.

"........." he bit his lip, leaned in, and forced himself to stop shaking... before attempting to close the wound.

Ryker wanted to speed up the process, but he also didn't want to mess up and cause even more problems for Eke.

So he just continued to close the wound, managing to tighten and close it completely, and making sure it wouldn't loosen or open again.

"....okay." he said.

"It's done." he told him.

"It's closed now."

Ryker just sat there and let Eke pull himself up close to him.

He leaned back against the tree he was near. and looked away from Eke.

He couldn't look at him now.

Not when he'd hurt him like this.

Not when he'd allowed him to get hurt in the first place, causing the situation.