Chapter Text
I was raised to be a fighter from the moment I could hold a sword. I trained day and night restlessly until I could hardly breathe some days. I only paused for meals and short rests. I barely had time for a social life. But that was okay, my brother would always remind me that those were a waste of time. I listened to my brother, he was older and more experienced, so I figured he knew better. If he deemed anything to be “meaningless”, then I listened to him.
I never forgot why I was training. A dragon was living in a cave just past the village. No one else was fit to take it on. It liked to squeeze into the smallest entrance possible to get in and out, it even blocked off the maw with rocks to make sure he was challenged to get in and out. I figured it was so no one would touch his hoard. Figures, all the shiny things he has in that cave must be expensive as hell, and there are probably hundreds of people looking for their things back from the beast. I might be a fully grown man, but I stopped growing once I reached 15, so I’m small enough to fit into the cave without much difficulty.
I was allowed a full night’s rest the day before I was supposed to set out. I was going to need to be well-rested if I wanted to face that beast and live to tell the tale. When the sunlight woke me up, I was fed a full, nutritious meal, and sent off to go track down the beast. The cave was farther from the village than I initially thought, but it didn’t matter. I had a mission, and I would rather die with my honor than go back to the training grounds with my tail between my legs.
For three nights I had to camp out in the wilderness, but on the fourth day, I was face to face with the rocked-off maw of the cave. He really didn’t want anyone in his cave, the entrance in the rocks was probably dozens of feet high, if not hundreds. But I had a job to do. So despite the clanking of my protective armor, I started my climb to the top. It was definitely higher than it looked, but I had a job to do, so I pressed on. After what seemed like ages, I finally made it to the opening. Inside was dark, but I was able to make out everything I needed to.
Specifically, the dragon. He was a dark red beast with brown scales down his back, and sandy ones down his underbelly. The main body scales had dark purple fade on the snout and paws, and stripes along the line where his body scales met his underbelly. He was riddled with scars, likely from the other attacks on his head, although I didn’t see much armor in the darkness, so perhaps it was something else. Frills went down his back, and his tail ended in a sharp-looking barb. But the beast was asleep atop his hoard, so that was all I could see. I realized now I would not be able to take the beast by surprise, so abandoning that idea, I jumped in, rolling against the ground to break my fall.
The clattering of my armor woke up the beast, and he eyed me before standing up and spreading his wings. He was big, almost the size of the village. His wings grazed the edges of his cave, showing off the red skin that faded into blue at the base. His brown eyes gazed into my soul as I raised my weapon.
What sounded like a cruel chuckle erupted from deep in his chest as he reached out to me, his dark claws reaching out to me as he took the helmet off my head. I did not show fear. I stood my ground and stared the dragon right in the face. Before I knew it, his tail swung me into the wall and I blacked out.