"No, John! I will never let you go!"

"Please, let me go..."

Kelly was holding onto John's leg as he tried heading for the adventurer's guild. They kept having this back and forth exchange ever since they left his house. He arrived halfway to his destination when he stopped and sighed.

"Kelly. You understand why I'm doing this? You've been nothing but useless ever since you joined my party."

"Useless?! I always have your back on every quest we go on!" protested Kelly.

"Really? You were sleeping outside that dungeon yesterday. The day before that, you casted invisibility and ran off!"

"I slept b-because I didn't have enough mana! And those monsters were gross, I don't want their filthy claws on me."

John and Kelly only started adventuring together a few weeks ago. The guild just dumped her onto him since he was the only adventurer without a party member. Kelly, according to the guild, had a history of not putting in any effort in quests. If Kelly's behavior showed no change, he was supposed to report her.

"Please give me another chance. Ever since I was little, I dreamed of becoming a great adventurer!" Tears were falling down her face.

John frowned and wiped her tears. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. Look. You can stay on my party if you can help me on a quest today. All I ask is that you try."

"Thank you! I won't let you down." She said with a fist pump.

***

"Of all the quests available, you had to pick the hardest one!?" said Kelly.

"Shh! Be quiet. It could be hiding anywhere." said John.

John picked a quest that had been up on the quest board for over a month or so. A dragon took up residence in the mountains. Because of this, merchants had to take longer and more dangerous routes to trade goods. The objective was to slay the dragon. John thought that this was the best quest to test Kelly. The only way to push her to help was to pick a quest that required teamwork.

They made their way down the path until they spotted the dragon. John nudged her behind a nearby tree. He peaked quickly at the dragon. The ruby colored dragon was sound asleep.

"Ok, Kelly. Here's the plan. First we-"

Kelly was no longer in front of him. Instead she was charging straight for the dragon. John unsheathed his sword and shield and ran after her. As Kelly got closer, the orb on her staff twinkled brighter and brighter. She leaped off the ground.

"Heaven's hammer!" she yelled.

The staff crashed down on the dragon's head just as it roused awake to look at the commotion. A light flashed and a strong gust of wind blown from the direction of the dragon. John steeled himself from the blast with his shield. The light dimmed down enough so that John could see Kelly. He sprinted and caught her before she hit the ground.

"Are you alright?" said John.

"I'm fine." said Kelly.

They looked back at the dragon. It walked around like someone that had one too many drinks at the pub.

"Do you think you can do that again?" asked John.

"Yeah."

He put Kelly down and dashed toward the dragon.

"Hey, over here!" said John to the dragon. He banged his shield with his sword.

The enraged dragon roared and exhaled its fiery breath. John ran in a circle motion around the dragon and then closed in to counterattack. But the dragon anticipated and swung its tail. John was hurled into a tree. The dragon stepped close to him and was about to unleash its flames until...

"Heaven's hammer!"

Kelly jumped and slammed her staff into the dragon's stomach. John couldn't see from the light, but he heard the sound of a heavy crash. He picked up his sword, charged forward, and sprung up in the air. A loud roar resounded as the final blow struck the dragon.

"We did it!" said Kelly with a smile.

John responded with a simple nod and cracked a smile back.

***

Kelly and John were resting on top of a grassy hill. They gazed upon the cloudy blue sky.

"I gotta hand it to ya Kelly. That Heaven's hammer was really something. Who taught you that?"

"It was my mother."

"Your mother was an adventurer?"

"Mmhm. She was one of the best in the guild before she retired. At bedtime, she would tell me stories of how she vanquished evil monsters and protected innocents. I loved whenever she mentioned that spell. It sounded so amazing that I begged her one day to teach it to me."

"So that's why you want to become a great adventurer. It's because of your mother."

"Yeah. And because of her, I discovered that I want to be a light for others. A light for when all is dark. But sometimes I feel like I just can't be that. Fear overwhelms me too often."

"It's ok to be scared Kelly. That's what makes us human. I fear of losing people that I care about and that's why I never had a party member until now. Alone we are a single light. But together, we're as bright as that spell of yours. This quest made me realize that."

They smiled at each other and stood up.

"Anyways, lets head back to the guild and have a feast! I don't know bout you but I'm starving." said John.

"Sure!" Kelly giggled.

~The End~

Author Note: Hello and thank you for reading John and Kelly! This short story was written with the help of a writing prompt provided from a book club I'm part of. I made this without an outline so the whole story was thought up on the spot. Please leave a vote if you liked it and leave any thoughts or reactions down below.