28 Forest of Dragons
Near the forests of Kyte Village and beyond where Kytlmyne was slain, there was a group of dragons inhabiting the forest. Among dragons, a group of them would be considered rare, but for forest dragons, they consider each other as family. Many dragons tend to be isolated or loners, but not the forest dragons.
The energetic forest was far from human interaction. The nearest village was Kyte village and even if any of the villages ventured that far into the forests, they wouldn't hurt another dragon.
The elder forest dragons napped as young ones played with each other. Nymphs watched the young dragons as they explored the forests. Other forest dragons conversed with one another. Treants walked by them without any conflict. Flowers bloomed in the sun, while the shade was perfect for dragons to rest.
Among this group of forest dragons, the dragon named Nia was the youngest member of the group. She was 100 years old, but with the mental capacity of 10. A small green fledgling of a dragon, but with a big heart. In dragon form, she was barely bigger than an average human. She had light green scales. She didn't know how to fly very well, but practiced almost every day.
She slept quietly under the shade of a tree. Small butterflies flew around her. A peaceful nap as she snored away.
Another young dragon shook her awake.
"Hey, Nia! Come play hide and seek with us. We need a seeker!" a young dragon only a couple of years older than her said.
Nia rubbed her eyes open and saw the dragon. He ran away to a group of four other young dragons only a couple of years and decades older than her. Two of them were females, while the remaining were males.
She smiled and got herself up. "Alright, big brother. I'm coming to find you all," she said with a huge child-like smile on her face.
She ran towards the group of dragons. "You have to close your eyes for 10 seconds, first. Then, come find us, remember?" another dragon said.
"Oh, right," Nia acknowledged and turned around. She closed her eyes and as soon as she did, she heard the other dragons running to the forests.
"1...2...-"
While she counted, other dragons, who were more mature, discussed between themselves."
"Did you hear anything from Kytlmyne, lately?"
"No. I haven't. He usually comes to check up on the surrounding dragons."
"-3...4...5...-"
"Well, it's probably nothing to worry about. He's an ancient dragon."
"Yeah. You're right."
"-6...7...8...9-"
"But still..."
"10!" Nia opened her eyes and turned around. "Here I come!" she yelled as she ran towards the forests.
"...I just...I don't know."
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Nia ran to the forests. The other dragons left footprints going the same direction. Nia followed them, as she listened for any sounds. As she followed them, their footprints turned smaller. To that of a human.
"Oh. They're hiding in human form? They must think they can hide in some small bushes or holes. Well, I can also play like that."
As Nia said this, she transformed herself into human form. She had the body of a ten-year old human. She was covered in light green scales, and her wings and tail were extended out. Her hair was dark brown. Her face and human skin that was shown was slightly dark.
She ran following the footprints. As she trekked the forest, she heard crows cawing from above the tree lines.
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The five young dragons in human form ran to a field of reeds in the middle of the forest. A clearing. "Hmm. You guys want to hide around here, somewhere? We can probably hide among the treetops or inside a bush," one of the dragons said.
They smiled and another dragon replied, "Well, why don't we split up here? I'm sure that-" In that moment, an arrow flung past the dragons, barely scraping the face of one of them.
"What the hell!?" one dragon yelled out. They looked around trying to figure out where the arrow came from. The dragons slowly walked backwards, but then a flurry of arrows appeared from the dark corners of the forest.
The dragons quickly spread themselves out and transformed into their dragon forms.
"We have to get out of here!" one of them yelled. They all had similar dragon forms. All with green scales and slightly larger than an average human. They began to flap their wings and take to the skies. However, now that they were a bigger target, the arrows were able to hit the young dragons. Arrows pierced their body and wings.
"Aghh. It hurts," one of them cried. One dragon took an arrow to his eye and screamed in agony. The dragon fell to the ground and removed the arrow as blood flowed out. Another dragon flew down to protect his fallen friend and began to breathe fire at the direction where the arrows were coming from. But in an instant, a knight wearing black and red armor ran to the reed field.
"Miura, take the men to the nest. We can't be distracted here. I'll meet up with you in a few minutes," the knight said as he ran to the field. He wore elegant armor with a helmet that resembled a dragon, but also wore a simple cape. The arrows stopped firing, and the dragonslayers hiding in the bushes and dark corners moved away towards where the other forest dragons were.
He ran towards the dragons with speed that no human could ever achieve. The young dragon aimed is fire towards the knight and breathed out red flames that burned the nearby reeds. The knight dodged the fire with finesse and took out a green dragon scale blade.
The knight charged at the young dragon breathing fire and decapitated the dragon. The other dragons looked in shock at what happened.
The dragon with blood flowing out of his eye began to flap his wings and took off to the air. Two other dragons flew down and charged at the knight with their sharp teeth bared at him.
"You killed him!"
"You murderer!" they said in succession one after another. From their voice, the knight could tell that they were females.
As they charged, the knight jumped back and readied his blade for a counter-attack. As they both flew at him, in one singular strike, he cut both of the young dragons' necks. The two young dragons fell past him to the ground. The knight and the surrounding field was bloodied.
The knight looked and saw only two more dragons. One that was injured and tried to fly away but barely being able to get off the ground, while the other in shock at what he has witnessed already in the air.
The knight locked eyes with the dragon that was shocked. In that instant, the young dragon began to fly away towards the nest in fear. The knight jumped on the back of the barely flying, injured dragon and quickly made an incision on the wings. The injured dragon screamed once more as he was falling back to the ground. As the injured dragon fell, the knight jumped further up towards the fleeing dragon. The fleeing dragon looked back and feared what he saw. A dragonslayer with black and red armor in his sight coming closer and closer to him. Even though, he was flying, the dragonslayer's leap was powerful enough to lift him to the same height. The knight took his blade and swiped at the dragon. The fleeing dragon dodged and the blade missed it's mark. The dragon laughed as it just escaped death's grasp, but it's smile faded as the knight threw his sword straight at the dragon's neck. The small moment of hope fled as the sword came closer and closer. The knight's eyes glowed yellow through the visor as they locked eyes. The sword pierced through his neck and painfully making it's last roar as it fell.
The knight rolled to the ground and got himself up as the dragon hit the ground. The dragon's face was glued with horror as his flicker of hope faded.
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Nia ran across the dirt as she followed the footprints. As she followed them, she heard strange sounds coming from the sides.
"We're going the right way, yes?" she heard.
Nia slowly hid in a nearby bush and peeked through. She saw some knights carrying crossbows, swords, daggers, and all sorts of weapons walking through the forests. They wore regular metal armor with a mixture of other kinds of green metals. She didn't recognize it as green dragon scale armor. She kept herself quiet and didn't mutter a sound. She also noticed a women with pale skin and blood red lips. She wore a dress made up of chains.
"Yes, we're going the right way, Captain Halido. Put some trust in me. I know where we're going."
"Even if you're supposedly helping us, I doubt I'll ever come to trust you. You're just a bad influence. When we're done with you, I hope he throws you back to the inquisitors."
"Aww. Captain, I thought we were really getting along. I guess not."
Nia listened as they walked past her. She never saw an actual human, before. Only stories; both good and bad.
As she didn't hear any more of them, she got out of the bushes and onto her hands. Her body was covered in dirt and bugs. She shook herself like a dog, getting the bugs, dirt, and leaves off. She got herself up and said, "I have to find them, soon. I need to tell them that there are some people here."
She looked down at the dirt and looked for the footprints that she was following. She tried to see footprints of bare human feet and ignore the prints of armored shoes.
She found a set and followed it. This time, she ran.
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As she approached closer to the reed fields, she heard a roar of one of the young dragons. It was hoarse, but the roar was definitely from a dragon, she thought. She looked up at where the roar was coming from and saw one of her friends fall as blood trickled down with it.
Nia was about to scream, but closed her mouth. Tears began to flow down her cheeks. She ran towards the reed fields. As she got closer, she noticed a knight in the middle of the fields. She hid behind a tree, frightened by him. She didn't see a human, but a demon. A demon wearing black and red armor covered in the blood of her friends. Yellow eyes protruded from the visor for some seconds, before disappearing. She looked around and saw each and every one of her friends slaughtered in a pool of blood.
Nia saw one dragon without his head, while two others had their necks cuts like cattle. Then, the dragon that fell from the sky had a sword stuck in his throat. In the back, she saw one of them crawling away slowly while his eye was gouged out by an arrow. Her knees shook in fear. She looked away and fell to her knees with her mouth covered. She tried not to make any sound.
She looked back at the carnage and saw the monster walking towards her fallen brother with the sword stuck in his throat. The red and black demon took the sword out of the dragon's throat and wiped the blood off of it with his cape. The blade was shining green with slight hints of red blood.
As her other friend slowly crawled away, the demon looked back at him.
The monster walked quickly over to the injured dragon and quickly stuck his blade through the back of her friend's head. The dragon gave a quick roar, and then nothing as Nia watched.
She looked away, breathing heavily with her mouth covered by her hands.
She looked back and saw the demon rubbing the bloodied dragon's head.
"I'm sorry that you had to suffer like that," he said quietly to the now-dead dragon as he sat down next to it and rubbed it's head.
Nia's fear overtook her and she got herself up. As she did, she stepped on a stick and broke it. As the sound was made, Nia froze up.
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Akai patted the dragon, but then he heard the sound of a stick breaking in the forest. He immediately stopped rubbing the dead dragon's head and looked in the direction of the sound. He got himself up on his two feet and took his green dragon scale blade out of the carcass.
The entire field was red with dragon blood. He slowly walked over to the direction of the sound.
However, in a second, an out of breath dragonslayer came out of the bushes next to him. He turned away from where the noise came from and looked at the tired dragonslayer.
"What are you doing here, slayer? I thought I told everybody that I'd meet up with the rest of you guys in a minute," Akai said to the dragonslayer.
"The witch.... told me to....tell you....that the assault started," he said as he breathed heavily.
"I see. Then, I suppose I better hurry," Akai said as he turned back to where the noise came from. The dragonslayer got his breath back and asked, "Mr. CBK, is there a problem?"
Akai stared at the forest, and he sensed that there was at least one dragon nearby, but he knew that there were many dragons in the forest, anyways, so he didn't give a second thought about his senses.
"It's nothing. Let's hurry," Akai said, but then as he began to run towards the nest, but he looked back at the dragonslayer.
"CBK?" Akai inquired.
The dragonslayer caught his breath and replied, "Oh. That's just a nickname that I decided to give you. The Crimson Black Knight seems too long of a title. Is it a problem, sir?"
"No. I don't really care," Akai said as he ran off towards the dragon nest. He couldn't care less about his title right now. The other dragonslayer wheezed and ran slowly behind him.
As Akai ran to the forest, he checked behind the tree where he heard the noise. There was nothing there, so he continued running ahead.
