The Hunter and the Dragon

A long, long time ago...

When the world is young and full of fascinating creatures, dragons explored the earth, visiting the unknown realms, seeking for wisdom and treasure. That's when they found it, the Heart of Magic, the one and only magic gem that yields unlimited power. It gave dragons strength, with which they conquered the world.

But eventually, they lost it. The gem was stolen, they believe, by a filthy, cunning thief, a human, who won their trust with lies and plots, and stole it, claimed it his own.

Hence the Great War started. Blood were shed, hearts were broken, countless lives were lost. The rage of the Mighty Dragons teared down mountains and caved new seas, but that didn't stop the humans. They were too many, and now the Magic is at their side. At last, dragons lost the war, their people either killed or slaved. Humans took the reins.

******

In the bustling city of Yvytal, many people wandered about. Grown-ups shopped around for necessities, children were playing about, even some adventurers and hunters went around selling some raw goods or simply relaxing in diners, bars, or even inns. Above all in this wonderful city...

"Hey! Get moving, you stupid beast!"

There was a dark side to it. That dark side was slavery. The slaves were not humans, but the treatment towards them was still inhumane. These people in rags seem human enough, but if there were some differences between them and real humans, aside from the collar around their necks and their thin bodies, it would be the scales, horns, wings, and/or tail on their body. The slaves were all chained to a cart filled with various goods, as they tried to pull it and their master, who was resting on the cart, to their destination.

One slave with light blue scales tripped on his feet and fell to the ground, exhausted and weakened by the workload. Rather than be concerned for the boy, however, their master whipped him.

"Hey! Who said you get to rest?!" he demanded. "Get up this instant!"

One of the older slaves, this one with dark blue wings, protectively knelt by the child's side. "Stop it! He's just a kid!" he shouted. "He hasn't eaten a thing for a few days. You can't just expect him to do as told!"

The master narrowed his eyes at those words. "Oh? And we have a slave talking back to his master, do we? I think someone needs to be reminded of his place, number 692!" He snapped his fingers, and the yellow stone on the collar of the slave that spoke suddenly lit up. Next anyone knew, electricity was unleashed from the stone, causing the slave to cry out in pain. While the other slaves stared at the scene fearfully, the civilians around them simply had unamused or excited expressions on their faces. Cruel as it was, as these slaves were not human, such a reaction was a given. Especially, considering the race of these slaves.

"Hey! What's going on here?!" came a voice.

With another snap of his fingers, the shock had ended, and the crowd parted, making a path for a pair of soldiers. Once the pair arrived at the scene, the concerned expressions they had instantly left their faces.

"Oh. It's just a dragon slave," one of the two said.

That's right. These slaves are dragons, forced to become humans after a certain war ten years back. Because of that war, many lives were lost, and dragons were either put down or enslaved. The group of dragon slaves here were but a small portion of the total around the country.

"Is there a problem, boys?" the slaves' master asked.

"No. No problems here," the other soldier answered. "Apologies, sir. We assumed it was the usual quarrel between adventurers. Do continue."

"Don't mind if I do. Oh, number 692~" The called slave looked up at him with a glare, knowing full well this human, as well as all others, was enjoying the scene. "That's quite the look you have there. How about we fix it?"

Just as he was about to snap his fingers again, an arrow came and struck his hand, causing him to cry out in pain instead. This got everyone's attention, as the civilians gasped in shock at what happened to the dragons' master, while the two soldiers turned to the source of the arrow, and saw someone on the rooftop.

This person wore a black cloak over them. Their hood was up, concealing their identity, but they had a bow in hand, covered by a pair of dark brown gloves.

As soon as the figure was spotted, they quickly rushed away from the scene.

"Stop right there!" one of the soldiers said, pursuing the criminal.

The other soldier placed a finger to his temple, his brown eyes glowing white. 'Calling all soldiers! We have a criminal in our city!' he warned, sending his thoughts throughout the city. 'The criminal is on the roofs, wearing a black cloak!'

'Understood,' someone replied.

Back to the criminal in question, they continued running from the authority, as the soldier chasing her joined her on the roof.

"Stop right there!" he shouted. His eyes started to glow green, and he threw a hand out. As the figure was about to jump to another roof, from the alley below, a gust of wind shot up, carrying the figure higher into the air, and causing them to crash on a canopy below.

The crash got the civilians' attention, as a few ran to see if the person was okay.

The figure rubbed their head and slowly rose from their spot, only to come face-to-face with a sword. Tilting their head upwards, they saw another soldier standing there, as well as a couple others around them.

"Whoever you are, I suggest you come with us. Quietly," the soldier advised.

Rather than being obedient, though, the figure tossed an arm down, and heavy smoke covered the area, much to everyone's surprise. The soldiers tried not to inhale the smoke, while the civilians all dispersed from the area. Not long after, the smoke faded away, and the figure was gone.

"Damn it! We lost our target," one of them cursed.

"They can't get away for long. Put the whole city on guard! Looks like we still have Dragon Lovers around," another one of the soldiers said.

******

As for the figure, they hid deep in a dark alley, removing their cloak and placed it in a large bag. Once the cloak was secured, the figure slung the bag over their shoulder and walked out the alley. As they walked out to the sunlight, the figure was revealed to be a girl.

This girl had long black hair tied in a ponytail and silver eyes. She had on a brown shirt with a dark green leather jacket over it, dark brown pants, and black boots. The girl also had on a brown chest guard mostly covering the left side her chest, brown leather gauntlets, a dagger and pouch by her hip, and a quiver on her back, full of arrows.

She wordlessly walked into the busy street, a distance away from the commotion she had left, and arrived at an inn. The girl walked in, and approached the receptionist at her desk.

"Welcome to Windchime Inn. How may I help you?" the receptionist asked.

"I would like to stay for the night. Maybe two nights," she requested, placing a silver coin on the table.

The receptionist took out a book and looked at the openings available. "I'm afraid we don't have any rooms with a single bed. All other rooms we do have will cost extra," she informed.

"It's fine," the girl said. "How many nights for a silver coin on your next cheapest room?"

"With meals included, for a double bedroom, it is three bronze coins a night, so three nights," the receptionist informed as she collected the coin. The woman then placed a bronze coin on the table, as well as a crystal ball next to it. "Here's your change, and if you can put your ID on the ball, please."

The girl took out the requested card from her pouch and tapped it on the ball, having it glow green. The receptionist was pleased with the sight of the color, as she handed the girl the book. "Okay. Now if you can please sign your name here and your class, you will be set."

The girl nodded and wrote down the requested information. When that was done, the receptionist took the book back and handed the girl a key.

"This is the key to your room, Room 206. Dinner will be in another hour. We hope you enjoy your stay, Miss Mylene."

The girl, Mylene, nodded at her words. "Thank you. I think I will."

Late at night, deep in the woods not far from Yvytal City, a lone soul in a midnight black cloak traveled about. This person had no lamp, nor any source of light, aside from the faint moonlight guiding them from above. If it were any other person in this figure's shoes, they would be frightened, and hastily seek for a safe place to rest, especially given how dangerous the woods were at night. On one hand, there was the possibility of bandits roaming around, seeking to steal from this person. On the other...

The figure stopped in their tracks, sensing something nearby. They were silent, unwilling to move, as they listened carefully to their surroundings. It did not take long for something to shoot out of the bushes behind them. The figure instantly turned and caught his supposed assailant, which turned out to be a Horned Rabbit, struggling to be out of their hand. The figure tightened their grip on the poor creature's neck, snapping it and killing the thing. Once the creature was dead, the figure licked their lips and sunk their fingers into its body, tearing it apart, and feasting on their prey. As they ate, nearby, there was one other presence hiding from their sight. This other presence leered at the figure, drooling hungrily, for they had taken away its prey. One part of the presence's instincts was telling it to run, but another part, the hungry part, ignored the warning, as it rushed at the figure.

The figure did not bother facing it, as they simply held an arm out. The new presence, revealing to be a large wolf, clomped on their limb, and sunk its teeth into its flesh. ... At least, it should've, only for the fangs to fail sinking into it their arm. In fact, from the feel of it, the beast realized the arm did not even feel like any human arm it was used to biting. Heck, the skin did not feel like any human skin, nor was it even protected by any armor.

"You know, mutt..." the figure spoke in a male voice. "It's really rude to attack a greater being when they're hungry." He turned to the wolf, eyes glowing yellow, as his mouth started to glow yellow, crackling in electricity. Next the beast knew, lightning came out of the figure's mouth and struck it at point blank, shocking it to oblivion.

Once the light show was over, the wolf was completely charred, and the figure removed the body from their arm, revealing their beige, undamaged skin under their ripped sleeve. Under closer inspection, however, one could see that the 'skin' was actually scales.

The figure clicked his tongue upon seeing his sleeve ruined by his kill. "Great... Now I really do need to go to town..." he grumbled, as he reached into his pocket and took out a small pouch. He dumped the contents into his hand, revealing only a few bronze coins left in it. The guy grimaced upon seeing this, knowing well that it was not enough for a new shirt. And he would much rather not stick around any human town longer than he liked.

Putting the money away, the guy quickly devoured the rest of his rabbit meal, as well as gobbled up the cooked wolf. Satisfied with the meal, the guy took in a deep breath, and took off to another direction. After a bit of running, he ended up at a river, and cleaned himself of the rabbit blood. If he was going to head into town, he would rather not have the humans smell blood on him in any way. Once he was clean, the guy climbed up a tree nearby and settled himself on a nice, sturdy branch, hidden by many leaves and other branches.

As he lied on the tree branch, his mind went back to a certain tragedy ten years ago, when his whole life changed. The many screams and roars that were heard at the time, the smell of blood on the battlefield, the change that was forced upon his people, his race. The day... when dragons lost the Great War...

Ten years had passed since that day, and still, he could remember it so well, as though it was just yesterday. He especially remembered the words his mentor told him when he fled from the battlefield.

"You need to live, Arkadiuz! Live, and get back the Heart of Magic! Fix this mess, or it will be the end for all of our kind!"

The Heart of Magic. The one and only gem that yields unlimited power. The gem once belonged to dragons, but was stolen by a human. And it was that very power the humans had used to win the war, by turning dragons into humans and sealing away their powers.

Arkadiuz gritted his teeth at the memory. He could not believe such an important gem had been stolen from right under their noses, and is being used as a secret weapon against dragons. On one hand, he was glad the person who used it did not use its powers to eradicate his kind. On the other, slavery did not make things any better for them. They were dragons, after all; a proud and powerful race that can move heaven and earth, cross the stormy seas, a race that was worshipped or feared by humans. And yet... because of the Heart of Magic, the humans gradually raised their magic and strengths to their level, and started to fight on even ground. While dragons are very strong, such strength was meaningless when the humans had the advantage in numbers, for when one fell, two more came in their place. Eventually, the person who possessed the Heart of Magic had the idea to, rather than constantly increasing the humans' strength at the risk of implosion, use the Heart of Magic to make the dragons weaker, and strip them of their powers. In other words, make them human. With the Heart of Magic, anything was possible, so long as a price was made for each wish.

Arkadiuz looked up at the night sky with a glare. 'Whoever you are, you who started this war and used the Heart of Magic to put us dragons in this humiliating situation... I will make you pay.'

The next day, in Yvytal City, Mylene was out in town, making her way towards a certain building for people like her. On her way there, she had been hearing gossips of an event that occurred yesterday.

"There's a Dragon Lover in our city?!"

"I thought those people were killed after the war."

"It's scary to think one of those are here..."

"You don't think the Dragon Lover is here to free the slaves, do you?"

"Even if they are here for that, it's impossible. The lord's mansion is heavily guarded. No thief can get in or out so easily, much less a Dragon Lover of all people."

"And with yesterday's incident, I can bet the lord will hire guards whenever he goes out."

The incident has been the talk of the city all day. As one civilian pointed out, Dragon Lovers, that is, people who love and worships dragons like gods, were all killed after the Great War. This was supposedly done to prevent a rebellion against humanity's hero, who had turned dragons into people and killed some, while enslaved the rest. However, to hear that there were still some survivors had put the people on guard, as Mylene could see. Thankfully, it was easy for her to hide her identity as a Dragon Lover, otherwise she would have already been caught.

It did not take much longer for her to reach her destination, as she stood in front of a big building with a bow and arrow sigil on it. She walked in and was greeted by a lobby that was not quite empty, but also not so busy. There were people dressed similarly to her hanging around the request boards on the walls, having some drinks or meal at the bar, or speaking to the attendants at the information desks.

Mylene went to the board, where there were several jobs posted on there. Hunting jobs, to be exact. Some asking for specific meat, some for fresh animal materials, and some just as extermination. Mylene took a job asking for rabbit fur from Horned Rabbits. The payment was not bad, and she could use some free provisions for when she leaves.

"I'd like to take this job, please," she requested an attendant.

"Right away," the attendant replied, taking the paper and analyzing the request. "Horned Rabbit fur?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?"

"It's not that there's a problem, per say. Just last night, there were reports of a strange lightning in Hylan Woods, where you can find these rabbits, specifically the deepest part of the woods," she explained, getting a bit of paperwork done for Mylene's job.

The Dragon Lover raised a brow at the news. "Strange lightning?"

"Yes. Some people are saying that it could be a traveler practicing their magic, but others are assuming it to be a new monster. I really hope it's just a traveler..."

"It would be troublesome for us, hunters, if it were a new monster. Wouldn't want them to gobble up all our hunt," Mylene said in understanding.

"Indeed. And if you hunters lose your hunt, it'll be bad for business in this guild," the receptionist added. She took out a crystal ball and placed it on top of the request paper. "Okay. I just need your ID please."

Mylene took out the card and placed it on top of the ball. The object glowed green upon contact and transferred the glow to the paper.

"Alright. You're all set. Happy hunting," the attendant said, handing back the hunter's paper and card.

Mylene nodded in thanks, as she went out to do her hunt.

******

A few hours of hunting later in the woods, Mylene collected a good total of seven Horned Rabbits. While the number did not sound good, it was mostly due to how fast these critters were, thus making the hunt for them quite difficult. Plus, the payment for these was quite worth the struggle.

"These should be good enough," she decided, picking up an eighth Horned Rabbit. "Now to dismantle..."

If Mylene could be honest, this was one part of the job she was not happy with. She had done it for a long time, she should be used to it, but it was still something that makes her lose her appetite, as she took her dagger out of its sheathe, and sink its blade into the dead rabbit.

Meanwhile, not far from her, Arkadiuz was hunting for breakfast. The dragon had woken up late that day and was starving for some fresh meat. Unfortunately, he had been searching for a good half hour, and failed to find a single animal to feed on.

"I should've saved that wolf..." he muttered in regret.

Just then, he smelled something familiar in the wind, something that was getting his already-hungry appetite going. Arkadiuz followed the smell and spotted a human girl skinning a Horned Rabbit. Right next to her were several more dead rabbits, as well as a couple of wrapped packages.

"Okay. That's rabbit number three," he heard the girl mutter, as she had just finished removing the skin of the current hare and wrapped up the meat.

Arkadiuz saw this as an opportunity to save himself the trouble of hunting and doing human jobs to earn money. All he had to do was get the girl away from the hunt.

After wrapping up the third Horned Rabbit meat, Mylene was about to start working on the fourth, and lose more of her appetite, when she heard rustling in the bushes not far from her. Dagger in hand, she cautiously approached the shrub, slowly and carefully. Once she got there, though, there was nothing in the bush. A snap was heard behind her, and Mylene turned to see a thief dashing away with all her Horned Rabbits.

"Hey!" She tossed her dagger at the guy, only to narrowly miss him, as the guy ducked to the side and caused her weapon to struck a tree right in front of him, blade first. The thief was undeterred by her accuracy and continued his escape, prompting Mylene to give chase, as she collected her bow and quiver from the ground.

As she ran after him, Mylene tried shooting a few arrows at the thief in an attempt to slow him down. However, as she was running after a moving target, it was difficult to get a good shot in, and thus missed him repeatedly. Eventually enough... she lost sight of him.

"Shit... Where did that thief go?" she wondered, searching her surroundings. "This path leads to the deepest part of Hylan Woods. That receptionist said there was a report of strange lightning around there, and the monsters further in are stronger than the perimeter. I should be careful... There is no way I'm going back empty-handed, especially not after all that time I spent hunting those rabbits." Mylene knelt down to the ground and brushed her hand over it. "Whoever this thief is sure is fast, though. Not even the slightest footprint is left behind." She looked further ahead and saw something on the ground. Mylene approached and saw that it was a piece of the wrapping. Picking up the wrapping, she saw fresh blood on it.

"This... Is this the wrapping I used for the rabbits? But, I'm sure the wrapping was new. Don't tell me he ripped it apart during the run." As she tilted her head upwards, she saw red droplets on the ground, forming a trail. Mylene had a funny feeling about the trail and followed it.

As she headed deeper in the woods, she managed to avoid some dangerous monsters roaming around there, consisting of Alpha Wolves and Breaker Bears. Both are considerable dangerous, for Alpha Wolves have keen senses and are very fast, whereas the Breaker Bears can easily break down trees and rocks when in a frenzy. As such, it usually requires a small party of adventurers to take down even one of them. A Hunter Mylene may be, she knew better than to deal with monsters out of her league.

Thankfully, there are ways of avoiding both monsters. For the Alpha Wolves, as they relied on smell, it was wise to use the wind to direct one's scent away from them. As for the Breaker Bears, one must make as little to no movement as possible when going past them in their presence, as the Breaker Bears will chase after any fast creature, and these bears are quite fast for their big size.

After Mylene carefully walked past the two types of monsters, she found herself in the deepest part of Hylan Woods, where the source of the strange lightning was said to be.

Mylene cautiously looked around as she walked deeper in. "Where the hell is that thief?" she muttered under her breath.

It was not until she heard the sound of chewing that she was back on guard, observing the area for the source. From what she could hear, it sounded like it was coming from further in, where she could see a meadow up ahead. Mylene crept over to the meadow, and was met with quite the shocking sight.

Not only had she found the thief, she found him feasting on the horned rabbits... raw. As if that was not surprising enough, the guy had his hood down, revealing his blonde, wild spiky hair, and brown curved horns poking out of his head. Not only that, but from what she could see at her distance, the skin on his arms were actually scales. There was only one time she had seen a human, or anything human-like, have horns or scales. She thought they were all captured or dead, but the fact that this thief was here... Could he really be a...?

"A dragon?" Mylene breathed out.

Unfortunately, that was more than enough to give her away, as the thief turned to the hunter with wide amber eyes, and mouth full of rabbit meat and blood.