No Such Thing as Good and Evil

As Shade approached the town of Kharis, he noticed two guards standing watch right outside the gates. “Those two weren’t here yesterday.” He said looking at them. The two guards wore full iron plate armor hiding most of their features, but their wings and tail both protrude from the armor, which caused him to realize. They’re dragons. But I can’t sense anything coming from them. What are two dragons doing being guards in a random town? He thought about saying something but decided not to, as he was just trying to blend in and buy some alcohol. He walked through the gate and side eyed them as he passed, then continued toward the town square.

As he walked down the main road, people stopped and stared at him, some even pointed. Fuck, I didn’t change out of the clothes from my fight with Elmyra. He thought as he looked down at his stabbed, blood-stained tunic. He picked up the pace he was walking at and arrived at his destination, a large brick tavern named “The Drunken Dwarf.” As he was about to walk in, he went to grab his coin pouch, only to realize he forgot that as well. God Damnit! Not only did I wear a bloodied shirt, I forgot the money as well! He thought, closed his eyes and turned to the sky. Now I have to go all the way back to the cabin. He sighed, then turned around and walked away from the tavern, down the roads and back out of the town. As he passed the two dragons, he gave one of them a curt nod, but they didn't react and remained perfectly still and stoic. As he got a fair distance away from the town, he transformed into a dragon and flew back to the cabin, as he didn't want to walk all the way back again.

He landed right outside the front door and transformed back into human form. When he walked in, Faylen was sitting at a table with the same children’s book as before, reading through it, while Aerith sat at the table next to Elmyra, patching her up. She looked up at him and sneered. “Didn’t I say not to do anything to my daughter.” She snarled, with bloodlust filling the room.

“I didn’t do anything?” he replied confused as he closed the door and began to head for the stairs.

“No? So, you didn’t rip her clothes to shreds leaving her naked, then threaten to rape her with your tail?”

“The clothes part is a little unfair.” He said as he stopped at the base of the stairs and turned to meet her gaze. “It’s not like I meant for them to rip, they ripped on their own from twigs and rocks. You getting her bad quality clothes isn’t my fault. The tail thing, ok yes, maybe that was a bit too far, but she has to learn the dangers of the real world at some point.” he shrugged.

“You are not her parent; you don’t get to decide those things.” She replied.

“You wanted me to train her because I was stronger than her. You know, and I know, that what I said I was going to do to her is exactly what would happen if someone beat her in a fight in the wild. She wants to become a knight, if she becomes a knight, she’s going to be in situations like that all the time.”

“You think I don’t know that!” she yelled as she jumped up and slammed her hands on the table which caused some of the tea that was in front of her to spill. She then looked down at Elmyra and frowned. “Dear, can you and Faylen go upstairs, I would like to talk with Shade alone for a bit.” She asked somberly, sitting back down.

Elmyra looked at her concerned, but nodded and got up, motioning for Faylen to do the same. The two of them walked past Shade and up the stairs. He watched them disappear then looked back over to Aerith who motioned for him to sit down at the table. He sighed and walked over, sitting down on the chair across from her. “I’m not really in the mood to get yelled at right now.” He complained, still annoyed from forgetting the money for booze.

“I’m not going to yell at you. I know you meant well, even if like usual you went way too far. But nothing I didn’t expect from you.” She paused and looked at him with a rather somber expression, one he had never seen on her before. “I’ve never really had many friends, so I’ve never had any people to confide in. Even with you being a massive piece of shit, I do trust you for some reason. If you don’t mind, would you listen to me for a few minutes?” She asked, taking him aback. The fiery, angry, defiant woman he had always known was sitting across from him, emotional, distraught and stressed by something.

“I’m not much of a therapist Aerith, but ill do my best to listen, and ill try not to make too many jokes.” He said as he grabbed the cup of tea that was Infront of where Faylen was sitting, then took a sip of it.

She gave a slight smile. “Thank you.” Then the smile went away as she began to talk. “When we went our separate ways, I decided I wanted to change. I cleaned out the house of all the tools and supplies I used for experiments. With my knowledge from those experiments, I figured I could do some real good in the world by starting this Herbery. But there was one major problem. I was a wanted criminal still."

She sighed and looked over at the stairs where Elmyra had just gone up. “One day a knock came at the door. It was a knight and his wife from Alessandria. Not just any knight either, an extremely powerful fairy knight commander. I had no idea how he had found me, but I readied myself for a fight. To my surprise though, he put his hands up and said Gaelin had sent him. Apparently, his wife could not give birth to proper children, and he was hoping I could help as I was a curse breaker. He assumed his wife was cursed, but when I checked her out, I found nothing. I told him as such and went to send him on his way. Before he left though, he noticed the cabin was empty and that you were nowhere to be found. He asked what happened, and I told him I had retired from that life and was trying to start a new one. He asked why I hadn’t started that new life yet, and I told him the issue. He paused for a bit, then nodded and looked over to his wife, asking her to wait for him in the carriage as he had private business with me to discuss. When she left, he made me an offer. He told me that he knew how strong I was, and that if I had his child, he would clear my name and I could open my Herbery. He told me he loved his wife more than anything, but he wanted an heir in case he died in battle.”

“And you said yes?” he replied shocked.

“I know, not like me at all. But I had nowhere to go. It was either turn back to crime and mercenary work, or take this opportunity. I figured I would have his kid; he would take them with him and I could go about my life.” She said with a somber giggle.

“But it didn’t work out that way, huh.” He sighed back.

“No, it did not. When I had the kid, he came to visit. The only time he’s come to visit her. He looked disgusted at the mere sight of her. I don’t know if it was because she was a vampire, a girl, or that he was upset with himself for cheating. But either way, he turned around, walked back out the cabin and left without a word. A few days later I received a letter and a bag of coins from him. All it said was, ‘I have cleared your name as promised, here is some money to take care of our daughter’. It was true, he had cleared my name, but I was in shock. I wasn’t expecting to take care of the child, I was just using her so I could live a free life.” She gave a somber giggle again and shook her head. “They say when you have a child your perspective on life changes, and I always laughed at that. They were right. This child I thought I never wanted, within a few weeks of taking care of her, I loved nothing more in my entire life. She became my everything, she is my everything, and I would do anything for her. I would protect her with everything I have.”

“I see where this is going.” He sighed again. “You don’t want her going to knight school, do you?”

“No, I don’t. I don’t want her getting hurt. I don’t want her being put in danger. I don’t want her somewhere I can’t protect her. It’s ridiculous, I know, while I have been going easy on her in our training, she is quite strong, and she’ll only get stronger. But still, I’m scared.” She said as tears welled in her eyers. ‘I’m terrified actually Shade; I’ve never felt like this before. Just the thought of something happening to her causes me to get like this.”

“I’m not a parent obviously, but I am child whose family tried forcing something on him he didn’t want. And you know what happened.” He replied meeting her teary eyes.

“You ran away. I know. I know the more I try to hold her here, the more I push her away. But sending her out in the world now terrifies me.” She said as she began to tremble.

“What’s wrong with sending her out in the world now? You don’t think she’s strong enough, old enough? Wise enough?”

Aerith then wiped away her tears, sniffled a few times then an in instant took a much more serious pose and tone. “Actually, that’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. How much have you kept up with the goings on in the world since you began drinking your life away?”

“Not much, I could care less for the musings of nobles.” He shrugged, concerned by her sudden emotional switch.

She squinted her eyes. “When you went into town, were there 2 dragons by the gates?”

“Yes, there were, I found it quite odd. If dragons were to be in the military of a kingdom, usually they would be in the main forces for their strength, not some random town.”

She paused for a second. “So, would I be correct to assume you don’t know about the Dragon laws then?”

“Dragon Laws?” he asked, concern growing.

“Yes, laws enacted by the Kingdom of Merellien. Where we are, and the town you were in, is on the very western edge of their influence. Well, their influence right now that is.”

He looked at her nervously having an idea of what he was about to be told was happening, but hoping he was wrong. “What do these laws do?”

She sighed this time and took a sip of the tea in front of her. “I’m sure you probably can make an educated guess. As you recall, your grandfather fought in a war a long time ago. You know all this, so I won’t drag it out to much, but the simplistic version is Dragons, more specifically your grandfather, having disliked the way dragons were treated, created his own kingdom. The Kingdom of Endross, named after himself. A kingdom just for Dragons. This is where depending on who you ask, history of what happened next and its causes are all over the board. The facts are Endross went to war with all the other kingdoms. Do you remember why your grandfather said he was going to war?”

“He said dragons were being targeted by Fairies and other creatures of light and were being unfairly treated throughout the continent. He told me that after he created his kingdom, the other kingdoms became worried about so much power in one area, as a kingdom of all dragons would have an almost unstoppable army. He told me that the other kingdoms banned Dragons from ever being able to take a throne or rise in power, and that they declared war on Endross seeking to dissolve the kingdom and force dragons into obeying and serving the various kingdoms of the continent.”

“That’s one version of events.” She replied. “The other kingdoms would claim your grandfather was power hungry. That after creating his own kingdom and bringing almost all dragon kind together, he decided to try to take over the continent, claiming dragons were the strongest and the strongest deserved to rule over the rest. They would claim they were defending themselves. The truth is of course probably somewhere in between, though we do know that dragons were banned from becoming kings, princes, dukes, or any other position of peerage by almost every kingdom when Endross was founded. As you may recall, dragons were winning the war. In fact, it was a slaughter. Even with Vampires and other dark creatures not taking part, the pure power of dragons couldn’t be stopped. That is by anyone other then themselves. Your grandfather was the first person in thousands of years to bring dragons together as one. But when he died in battle, a fight broke out for who should take over Endross. Since it was believed Endross was going to win the war, whoever led Endross would rule the continent. Civil war broke out amongst the dragons, and after years of bloody infighting, a truce was negotiated with the other kingdoms to end the war. Dragons were once again allowed positions of peerage in kingdoms and the war came to an end. Well, the war with the other kingdoms, the civil war raged on. Thousands of dragons died, and eventually Endross completely collapsed, now lay in ruins far to the North of Alessandria.”

Having lived through the civil war, he twitched in his chair. “I’m well aware of the history of everything Aerith, please just tell me what’s happening now.”

She nodded. “The kingdom of Merellien has enacted new laws, the dragon laws. They announced them as a sort of crusade of the gods. That Dragons were evil, dark and that they needed to be controlled or the world would slowly fall to ruin. The truth is that they are more than likely about to try to take over the continent themselves, and have been angling towards that for a while. Dragons are the most powerful beings, so getting them out of the way would make their conquest easier. The laws are similar to the previous ones, but much, much harsher. Where to even begin? Like in the past, dragons aren’t allowed to own any titles of peerage, but that’s nothing compared to the rest of it. Dragons are not allowed in major cities, at all. That’s why those two were out here in the middle of nowhere. Dragons also all have to wear what I would compare to a slave collar. I’m not too sure what it is, but I know what it does. It connects to the soul of the dragon and works just like a slave collar or even a curse, but worse. I haven’t been able to verify this information, but apparently it can track where you are and even listen to what you say and see what you see. It can kill you in an instant and torture you the same way collars or curses can. The device looks almost like a bra of sorts as it fits around the chest, just over the soul, so you probably didn’t see it underneath the armor they wear. The worst part is, if a dragon doesn’t give them self up and agree to abide by the laws, they execute them. These laws of course are only active in Merellien, but like I said, they are rapidly expanding their influence and are eventually going to go to war with the rest of the continent. And being the most powerful kingdom, there’s a good chance they can win.”

Shade slammed his fist on the table in frustration, which put a hole in the wooden table. How, how could I not have heard about this. I’ve been out drinking for years while dragons were being slaughtered and enslaved. He thought, then looked back to Aerith with anger and hatred boiling in his eyes. “What of all the dragons, are they not fighting? And what of the other kingdoms, are they just letting this happen?”

“Since the fall of Endross, dragons, like in the past, have not been able to come together in any meaningful way. Most of the dragons have fled, whether it be West or South. The stronger dragons, like your father and siblings for example, have done nothing. Why, I’m not sure. My guess is they view the dragons being caught by fairies or elves as weak and unworthy to be dragons anyway. The other kingdoms of course are well aware of how strong Merellien is and won’t go to war willingly with them. Not only that, but the hope seems to be that since dragons have fled to their kingdoms for safety, it will even out the strength and Merellien won’t be able to attack.”

“But you don’t think that’s the case, do you?” he replied skeptically.

“No, I don’t. Merellien is not playing by the rules. They have hired ‘mercenaries’, calling them Dragon hunters, under the table to go to other kingdoms, or within their own, and capture or kill dragons. I think they plan on using the dragons in the war, either forcing them to fight on their own, or using them as a slave battery. Once they have gathered or killed enough dragons, with their power, they’ll be virtually unstoppable.”

Dragon Hunters. Like we’re fucking monsters. “How long? How long until you think war breaks out.”

“Its hard to say, I would guess sooner rather than later, but one hitch has come up in their plan. The Kingdom of Normuc where your old buddy Alexis is at, is of course a technological power house. They have apparently made some huge break throughs lately, and rumors suggest they have technology for war that nobody has seen before. This has probably put Merellien off a bit, and they most likely will spend a few years trying to infiltrate Normuc to find out how dangerous this technology really is.”

He paused for a moment and took in everything she had said, then shook his head and got up. “I need a fucking drink.” He snarled, then walked over to the stairs, but before he went up them he turned back around and looked suspiciously toward her. “You figured out before that i wasn't aware of these laws, didn't you? You allowed me to stay here so you could tell me this. So why are you telling me? What are you planning Aerith? We can drop the nice guy act, your daughter isn't here. You want something from me, and not just training your daughter. What is it?”

She sighed and got up herself, walked over to a painting on the wall of her holding a baby Elmyra in her arms, smiled at it before she turned back to him. “I told you I would do anything for her. I would even go to war. Before the dragons’ laws were enacted, there were rumors of them. People though just ignored the rumors. Then it turned out they were true. Now, rumors have begun that vampires are next. Once again people are ignoring them, but I think they’re true. I think they will eventually come for every creature of dark.”

“And what do you want me to do about it?”

“You’re an Endross Shade, if…”

He cut her off. “I know what you’re about to say, but please don’t.”

“You could…” but before she could finish, he cut her off again.

“I am not my grandfather!” He yelled, as the emotions of his past boiled over. “I am not even my father, or my brother or sister. I ran Aerith. I ran as far and as fast as I could.”

“You were a child at the time, your older now, wiser, stronger. You could…”

“I was a child at the time, but not much has changed. I am no leader, no general and certainly no king. I couldn’t even be sober enough to know my people were being slaughtered and enslaved. I don’t know what plan you thought of when I walked through those doors, but I’m sorry Aerith, I can’t save you this time. If you need help killing a few people, or taking out a few camps, I would be more than happy. But if you’re hoping I rise up to bring dragons and vampires together to take on an entire kingdom, you are out of your god damned mind.”

“But if an Endross came back…”

“There are many Endross’ still out there.”

“But you were supposed to…”

“I don’t give a shit what I was supposed to do in the past, its long gone. I’ve spent a decade drinking to forget the past. There's nothing you could say to get me to lead some revolution for you. If you want to fight, then take charge yourself.” He said, then stomped up the stairs and to his room. He threw the door open and walked in. He looked down at his bloodied shirt, ripped it off and threw it against the wall. “Fuck!” He yelled. “Why! Why can’t I get away from it! What’s wrong with being a dragon. Everyone’s always scared of you. Nobody ever wants to be friends with you, or hell even talk to you. Everyone wishes you were dead. But when a war needs to be fought. When people need to be killed, they look your way, begging for help.” He grabbed his coin pouch off the night stand, then grabbed his magic bag, took a blue tunic out of it and puts it on, then threw the bag over his shoulder. Not wanting to walk past Aerith again, he walked over to a window, opened it and jumped out. He landed on the ground silently and headed back toward the town of Kharis.

By the time his walk to the town had finished, it was night. He spent the whole time thinking about what he was just told, and why or how it could of happened. As he approached the gates, the two dragons remained there. He went to walk silently past them again, but stopped. After a brief moment, the one to the left of him turns. “Do you need something sir?”

Shade turned and looks at him. He couldn't see his eyes or face and he looked at his chest but couldn't see or sense the device Aerith described as it was hidden under the armor. “I was wondering, are there any dragon hunters in this town?”

The dragon scoffed, clearly annoyed by the question, but then straightened up and answered emotionlessly. “Yes, there are quite a few hunters in town.”

“Where can I find these hunters?”

“There is no headquarters or post here, but most of them hang out at a tavern called the ‘Burning Tail.’ If you follow the main road to the main intersection, then turn left and walk a few blocks, you will run into it.”

Shade nodded and looked at the dragon, who seemed to act almost like a puppet, like he had no soul or emotions of his own. He wondered if it was from people watching or listening in like Aerith said they could. He followed the directions and ended up in front of the ‘Burning tail.’ From the outside, it looked like any other tavern. A red wooden one floor building with large windows, and a giant wooden green dragon’s tail depicted to be fire on the roof, with the words ‘The Burning Tail’ above it. He looked at it for a second then walked inside.

As soon as he got inside though, his blood began to boil, as it was the stuff of nightmares. Like most taverns at night, the place was packed to the brim. Dozens of wooden tables scattered the middle of the tavern, with hundreds of people around them. In the back corner of the tavern, a group of 5 dwarves banged on various drums while singing battle music, while another couple dozen people danced in front of them.

The main difference though between this tavern and the rest was the décor, and staff. The walls were lined with skulls of dragons, paintings of people standing next to dead dragons and a large chalkboard with a count of how many dragons people had captured or killed. The vaulted ceilings had various dragon wings and tails hung down from them like light fixtures. Also hung from the ceiling were large cages, where female dragons were dancing naked to the loud music playing throughout the bar. Naked female dragons also walked around as the waitresses, as guys grabbed and slapped their asses as they walked past. There were people from every race in the bar, even some from rarer races like sirens and harpies as well. Almost all of them were wearing a patch on their clothes with a red skull and crossbones in the form of a dragon skull, which he assumed i was the logo for dragon hunters.

He looked around, rage bursting inside as he considered what to do. He wanted to kill them all. There had to be a few hundred people in the tavern, but none of them seemed that strong. But if he just lit the place up, all the female dragons would likely die as well. Even with resistance to fire, most normal dragons couldn't handle hells fire. He could try to fight them all without using it, but how long would that take? He moved through the crowded tavern and to the bar. As he did, he eyed up everyone inside, trying to figure out who he should focus on when he made his move. He marked in his mind all the creatures of light he saw that he thought would be mages or clerics of some sort, knowing they may have ‘holy’ abilities. The bartender, a young grey male wolf wearing brown leather armor and the same skull patch walked over. “What can I get you?”

“Sorry, it’s my first time here.” Shade replied looking over the menu which was written out on a chalkboard behind the bar. Then he noticed something at the bottom the menu. It said, ‘Ride a dragon, 5 coins.’ “Does ride a dragon mean what I think it means?” he asked looking at one of the dragons as she walked around the bar. The bartender laughed. “Yes, sir it does, we have a few rooms in the back you can take them to and do whatever you want with them. You can even kill them if you want, though that costs a lot of extra coin.”

You can pay to murder us? He thought angrily, but on the outside he remained cool and composed. He nodded as a plan began to form. He took out his coin pouch and showed it to the bartender, then pointed to one of the girls in the cages. “What about them, are they available to?” The bartender smiled at the large coin pouch. “If you have the coin, any dragon in this establishment is your toy to do whatever you please with.”

"I’ve never gotten with a dragon before.” he said, which sadly was the truth. “Send me any of them with a bottle of the strongest whiskey you have. Which room should I go to?”

“All the rooms are open right now, walk down the hall over there and take your pick.” The bartender said while he pointed to a small hallway to the right of the bar.

None of the other rooms are taken? Perfect, that means all the girls are out here. “Sounds good, do I pay now, or later?”

“You can pay later, ill send someone your way in a few minutes. Ill let you get comfortable first.”

He nodded again, then put his bag of coins back onto his belt and walked to the hallway. He picked the first room and walked in. The inside of the room looked like an odd mix between a love hotel and a torture room. There was a large bed with pink sheets on it, as well as various sex toys on a table next to the bed. Also, in the room though were various torture devices and tools. Like a wooden horse, an iron maiden and a well-used branding iron which confused him as regular fire and heat don’t really affect dragons. As he looked around though at each specific device, he got angrier and angrier. He sat down on the end of the bed in silence, waiting for his dragon. Eventually a knock came on the door. “Come in.”

The door opened and a dragon walked in carrying a large bottle of whiskey between her two large breasts. This dragon was almost all blue, with purple horns and purple eyes. He didn’t know what color her wings were because they were cut completely off, with nothing but nubs coming out from her back. He got up and walked over to her. “I have brought your whiskey sir, what would you like me to do for you.” She said softly as she closed the door and placed the whiskey on the table, then turned to him.

He watched her for a moment. Something was wrong with her voice. Without saying anything, he grabbed her mouth and opened it, revealing she had no teeth. “You have no teeth, but dragon teeth grow back extremely fast?”

“Yes, they pull out our teeth every morning.” She replied stoically.

He then turned her around and felt the nubs where her wings once were. “Wings grow back just as fast as well.”

“Yes, they cut them off every morning as well.” She said stoically still, like it was the most normal thing in the world, completely undaunted by him turning, touching, poking and prodding her. Finally, he looked at the device on her chest. Just below and under her breasts, a large metal band went around her chest, and on the front was a glowing blue orb which didn't look like any gems or stones that were normally used in collars he had seen. He didn't know what it is, or how it worked, but he grabbed it and started dumping echos into it anyway. He pumped in more echos then he would ever have to use to break a slave collar, but eventually the orb turned orange, then red, then began to smoke. He let it go.

He grabbed his coin pouch off his belt and shoved it into the chest of the dragon. “How many dragons are there in this place?”

“Eight.” She replied as she looked at the coin pouch.

“Good. Take that to the bartender. Tell him I want to take my anger out on every dragon in here. Tell him that if that’s not enough I have more where it came from.”

“Yes sir.” The dragon nodded, turned and walked out the door. Having had no reaction to him threatening to torture or kill her. After about 15 minutes, she came back with 7 other dragons behind her.

“This is all the dragons in this place?” he asked wanting to confirm.

“Yes sir, what would you like us to do for you.” She replied.

“Come over here, form a line in front of the bed.”

They nodded and all quietly entered the room, then formed a line in front of the bed. He walked over to the blue dragon and once again started pouring echos into her device. It began to smoke, then the orb cracked and blew up. The metal band though didn't break, so he grabbed it and ripped it off like it was a twig. The dragon looked down at her chest, now clear of the device and back up to him. “What did you do?” she asked nervously with fear in her voice.

“I’m saving you.” He replied.

She shook her head. “They’re going to kill you; they’re going to kill me!”

“They were going to kill you anyway.” He replied, going to the next in line and breaking off her device. Some of the other girls began to look nervously at each other. Eventually, he freed all of them, taking about 5 minutes. “Is there a back exit you could escape from?”

"Escape?" The blue dragon replied in a panic. “There is a back door, but we have no wings, we can’t fly. They would catch us in no time once their finished with you.” She shook nervously as she looked at the ground, while the others also had panic stricken all over their faces.

He picked up all the broken devices and shoved them into his bag. He then grabbed the dragon by shoulders and looked into her eyes, making his turn a bright red. “Trust me, they are going to have a lot more to think about then chasing you.”

“You’re a dragon.” She gasped as she took a step back. At her saying that the others gasped as well and looked at him, hope now formed in their eyes over the fear.

“A lucifer dragon to be specific.” He said with a smirk, then turned to the door and opened it and walked out into the hallway. He motioned for them to follow but none of them move for a moment, until a red dragon with yellow eyes and its tail cut off along with its wings, slowly walked to the door and the others followed. She peeked out the door, down the hall opposite to the entrance and toward the back exit. He motioned her to go. She nodded and walked out the door, then turned to walk down the hall to the exit, but stopped. She turned back to him, leaned in close and whispered in his ear. “Kill them all.”

He pulled back and smiled sadistically. “Oh, don’t worry. They’re all going to die, like the weaklings they really are.” She nodded and walked down the hallway to the exit. The 7 others, including the blue dragon, nervously followed her. They got to the end of the hall and opened a door to the outside, then disappeared through it. He turned and walked the other way, out of the hallway and back to the bar. As he did a wolf from a table in the center of the room stood up, drink in hand and began to point and laugh at him.

“That was fast my friend. I like killing dragons as much as the next guy, but if you’re going to spend that kind of coin on it, you should at least take your time.” The man drunkenly said extremely loud.

Shade turned around and looked at the wolf. A brown and white wolf with black leather armor, an eye patch over his right eye and some sort of sword on his back. He also wore a necklace with multiple dragon’s teeth hung from it. “Yea, they were weaker than I thought they would be. I thought I could be rough with them, oh well.” He replied just as loud.

The man laughed again, now the whole bar looking between the two. ‘Weak huh. I caught one of them myself. She was quite the fighter at first, took my eye here. I took a lot more from her though.” He laughed and looked around the bar as more people began to laugh with him. “So, you think she was weak, does that make you strong then?” Shade laughed himself and took off from his belt something he hadn’t shown in a long time. His Obsidian level adventurer mark. He lifted it up and showed it to the wolf. The wolf, along with many others in the tavern, gasped. “Obsidian huh, you must be strong. Why be an adventurer still though when you can make much more money as a dragon hunter these days.”

Just then, a small rectangular stone device behind the counter began to vibrate. The bartender walked over, grabbed it, clicked a symbol on the front, then put it to his ear. “Hello.” He said.

“I don’t fight for the money; I fight for the thrill.” Shade responded.

“The connection is broken?” the bartender laughed. “Yea, someone just killed all of them I think.”

“Oh, a battle junkie huh. I respect it.” The wolf laughed and raised his glass then took a swig. “Dragons though are quite strong; I think you would find great fun in this job.”

Shade nodded. “True, fighting dragons would be quite fun. Some of them are very strong. Have any of you ever fought a lucifer dragon before? I heard they’re the strongest.”

“Broken?” the bartender asked. “What do you mean there broken?” He peered over at Shade.

“A lucifer dragon!” The wolf yelled in a laugh. “Those are incredibly rare, and strong. I do hope to fight one one day though, I’m sure I could take it down somehow.”

“No, I don’t think you could.” Shade replied, took a glass full of beer from the hands of a guy standing next to him, raised it to the sky in a cheers, then chugged it. He threw the glass on the ground and it shattered it everywhere. Then in an instant, stone walls exploded from the ground and blocked all the windows and doors to exit the tavern, outside of the one in the back. He then transformed into a dragon, the vaulted ceilings kindly offered enough space for his large body.

“Dragon!” the bartender yelled, and as he did, the rest of the tavern got up and started to unsheathe their various weapons. Before they could, Shade opened his mouth wide and a torrent of black flame came out, shooting in in every direction. The wooden tavern, with wooden tables in honor of fighting dragons, lit up like a fireplace in an instant. Screams and shrills came out from every direction. He looked to the people he had thought were ‘holy’ users and some of them appeared to begin to cast something. But before they could, he held out his hands and stone spikes came jutting through the floor. The casters were pierced right through their chests as they were turned into dragon hunter kebabs. He then could hear yells coming from the main road, people called for holy users and for the guards of the town.

He walked over to the melting chalkboard and wrote, “Dragon hunters killed – around 250.” Then he looked around at the melting establishment, the piles of ashes formed on the ground and smiled. He then turned and flew down the hall way, out the back door and into the night.

Shade walked down the stairs and yawned. He found Aerith sat alone at one of the tables, crushing up various herbs in a bowl. “Where are the girls?” He asked.

“They’re outside training already. I heard you had quite the night.” She replied with a smile to him.

“I have no idea what you mean.” he replied back.

“Some guards came here asking if we had any information. Said a bunch of dragon hunters were killed last night by hells fire, how many people can use that?”

“Who knows, weird coincidence I guess.” He shrugged and headed to the front door.

“Must be. Apparently the two dragon guards had done it. They executed them this morning.” She said as she got up from the table and walked toward the counter in the back.

Shade stopped right in front of the door and clenched his fists. He had forgotten about them when he had saved the girls. He had gotten them killed. He shook his head then opened the front door and walked out to join the girls for training.

Aerith quietly walked behind the counter, through the door to the kitchen and up to the empty bookcase. She smiled as she moved it aside and revealed the staircase. “Always reckless, never having a real plan. Lucky for him, I know him better than he knows himself.” She smirked as she walked down the stairs and flipped on the light switch. “Now then, we have to get all of you healed up and a place to stay, don’t we. I can’t hide your presence here for long.” She said and turned to the room. 8 female dragons surrounded the stone table in the middle of the room.