1 Dragon Lands

*Note: When they say 'dragons' they are referring to humans that can transform into dragons. These humans have bright golden eyes and have the ability to transform into powerful dragons whenever they wish. The dragon slayers are on a quest to defeat all these dragons and rid the world of them once and for all.

It was a warm day, and I stepped out of the castle to look over a field of soldiers training for the next coming battle against the slayers.

"Kira, what might you be doing out here?" a gruff voice asked, and I turned to see my father striding up behind me.

"Just watching," I replied, not wanting to tell him the real reason I came out.

"Well, get back inside the castle. Your mother picked out a new dress that she wants you to wear tonight."

I sighed and went back inside without complaint. My parents never let me do anything these days, they never even let me really go outside. I've always wanted to go out into the battlefield and fight, but only the male dragons were allowed the fight.

"Kira!" Ahead my mother was rushing over to me, fretting as usual. "I just bought this new dress last night! I want you to wear it for tonight's royal dinner."

I bit back a sharp reply. I didn't want to go to the royal dinner at all, but what choice did I have? I would much more prefer a long, silent, walk in the moonlight with huge forest trees surrounding me rather than go to some stupid royal dinner to meet princes.

"Can I go out and watch the training?" I asked, trying to sound like I wasn't too interested.

"Of course not! Leave that to the men! It's a princess's job to look pretty for the prince," my mother insisted.

I sighed again to let my disappointment show. "You never let me do anything," I muttered loud enough for her to hear, but didn't let her reply as I sped down a hallway to my bedroom.

Luckily, my room was on ground level, so it was never too hard to sneak out, and even less hard to make it to the Magical Forest. The forest began just a few feet away from my bedroom window, and I could reach it without any guards seeing me.

Inside, it was your usual princess bedroom. Almost everything was pink, though I would've picked out purple myself. It wasn't that big, but big enough to fit all the furniture. My parents purposely gave me one of the smallest rooms so that I didn't have the space to transform into a dragon.

I slumped down on the bed, reaching over to open the drawer on my bedside table. Inside, was a white powder inside a small bag. I had never really known what it was, but in the nearby town, people sell it on the streets.

I opened up the bag and dumped the powder into my mouth, swirling it around in my mouth to make sure I consumed every ounce of it. As I swallowed, I felt a calming sensation fall over my body, and all my stress from earlier ebb away. I closed my eyes and breathed in cold air. It was the best feeling I had received all day.

I slipped into a comfortable position, and kept my eyes closed as this feeling swept over me, and I slowly dozed off into a peaceful sleep.

I opened my eyes again, and was surprised when I didn't see my bedroom. I scrambled onto my feet, looking around me. Then I relaxed. It was a barren landscape, with rocks that jutted out of the ground, and the stone ground was covered in fog. It looked scary and unsettling, but I knew I wasn't alone.

"Leslie?" I called out, and before my eyes a beautiful girl with bright blonde hair appeared in front of me.

"Kira," she breathed.

Leslie was my best friend, she always calmed me when my mother got angry with me. But one day, she died. We went into the Magical Forest together to have an adventure, and some dragon slayers attacked us. Leslie told me to run, and without thinking, I ran, leaving her behind. The slayers killed her, and took that as a sign of victory.

"Is there something you have to tell me?" I asked. Leslie only walked in my dreams when she had advice or something important to say.

She nodded her head. "Kira, I have to warn you."

My shoulders stiffened. Warn me? Warn me of what? "What's going to happen?" I prompted.

"The slayers..." her voice started to fade away, and before she could speak another word her body was fading away as well.

"Wait!" I shouted, but my hand only grasped the cold air where she had once been before. "Leslie!" I called out, but a shadow came over me and everything was dark.

My eyes flashed open and I saw my familiar bedroom around me. "What slayers?" I muttered to myself, and walked over to my window, taking a peek outside. It was dark, the moon was glowing. It must be night, the royal dinner would be soon.

I started to head over to my wardrobe to wear the dress my mother had probably shoved in there, but then I thought better of it. Right now was the perfect time to escape into the Magical Forest, and Leslie warned me of 'the slayers'. Maybe the dragon slayers would crash the party.

I turned around towards my window, and opened it, feeling the cold breeze ruffle my hair and fly into my face. I jumped out, making sure to close it behind me, and checked both ways warily for guards before running out into the forest beyond.

Although the Magical Forest was dark and scary at times, tonight it was bright with the beautiful silver glimmer of moonlight. The forest was the 'border' between the kingdom and the dragon slayer base. It was mostly a place where people easily got lost, but I didn't. I knew my way around. Ever since I was little, the forest always called out to me.

I walked on in peace, but suddenly halted as I heard a rustling noise in the bushes. "Who's there?" I asked loudly, looking around. Maybe the sound was made by some small creatures. I ignored it and turned back to the path I had been walking on, when suddenly I was bowled over as someone knocked me over.

"Who-" I broke off. I was staring in the eyes of a dragon slayer. "Get off me!" I shouted, my eyes blazing. I pushed the slayer off, and rose to me feet. A blinding light took place, and I growled in my transformed state.

I spread my purple wings, and slashed my sharp claws at the slayer, but he jumped back quickly. "We've got one, boys!" he shouted, and unsheathed his long sword.

"Get away!" I growled with a deep rumbling voice, and aimed another slash at him. "This is my forest!"

The bushes rustled again, and out popped more dragon slayers. Two boys, and one girl, she looked small. Perhaps I should attack her, she seemed weakest. I braced my back legs and jumped into the air, soaring with my wings keeping me above, and felt a hot boiling feeling in the back of my throat. As a fireball formed in my mouth, I aimed it for the girl.

Once it was done charging, it shot towards the girl, but one of the guys jumped in the way and got burned instead. "Fuck!" I cursed, and flew to the other side of the clearing, aiming for the girl again, but one of the slayers stabbed my belly with his long sword, and I fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

"Should we kill her off?" one of the slayers asked.

"No, we should just leave her for dead. Best she gets the most painful death," the other slayer sneered. They sheathed their swords and headed back into the forest. "Come on guys, let's go home."

"I'm staying behind," the girl announced. "I want to check up on something, but I'll be back at the base in the morning."

The dragon slayers nodded and headed out of sight. I noticed the girl didn't head off. Instead she immediately rushed over to me, and touched my belly, her hands now covered in dragon blood. "What am I going to do?" she mumbled to herself.

"Feeling weak with blood pooling out of my wound, I let out a whimper and then saw the white blinding light again. When it cleared and I could see again, I felt my human form, and saw that not only my belly was bleeding, but my chest and lower hip as well. The sword had slashed through all of it.

"I'll help you," the dragon slayer promised, and she heaved with effort to carry me, one hand on my upper back, and the other hand on the crook of my legs. I fought the urge to scream and shove her off. If I wanted to live, I was going to have to let her help me.