Encounter

"Are you here to kill me?" he asked the darkness.

"Yes," a voice replies, a woman? he thought to himself, "Are you a dragon?"

A hissing sound followed shaking the walls of the cave the voice quickly followed. "NO! I am no dragon," He paused for a few seconds to reflect before asking , "Why have you not killed me yet."

Another hissing sound, this time there was no shaking, but the darkness seemed to flicker for a second, there is no reply.

"If you are no dragon, then why do you seek to kill me," This time, there is no hissing. The darkness flickered again, a light thud bringing his attention to his left.

"You have seen one of our kin, that is a sin, and you must repent" the voice was now more limpid, no longer muffled by the darkness,

"Is it really a sin? I had no wish to do such a thing" The darkness regaining its intensity, now swirled around the young man.

"If you had no wish to sin, you would have not strayed close to our territory manling, ?" the young man froze, sweat dripping down his back, it is cold, he is nervous "Why do you play with your prey if you are going to punish me for a bogus sin at least end me quickly."

"Bogus? You dare insult my kind like that?" The darkness stilled something clutches the young man's throat "Do you have any last words Human" a smirk appears on Shiek's face "I am no man" he says transforming , breaking the grip of whatever was holding him, but his success was short-lived as a sharp pain suddenly radiated from his back,

Shiek did not turn. He Dashed towards the exit. Still, he was stopped. Something slamed into his snout, knocking him back into the darkness, He growled, and as he did, the darkness dissipated.

In front of the exit, a girl stands, taller than Shiek in human form, with short black hair and black eyes. She was wearing strange clothing, like flowing silk. It covered all of her skin but didn't seem to be a fabric which Shiek had seen before, almost as darkness itself was protecting her.

She stood for a second, her face contorted in pain and anger , but she quickly fell to the ground. Shiek looked at the unconscious girl. turning back to his human form and walked towards her. As she is unconscious, the silk-like robes became thinner and more see-through. As he got closer, he saw that her skin is covered in burn marks; any average human would have already died, "So you are the dragon, huh?"he tought to himself he also thought about leaving, letting the girl die from her injuries, but he remembered what he was though, he needed to help those in need.

So He picked the unconscious girl up, laying her in his bed, and covered her with a blanket. Neither was anything fancy, the bed just being some dried weeds and the blanket being leather from his previous preys.

Foraging around his hideout, he looks for a small clay container, an ointment he had once received from a lost merchant as thanks for helping her cross the desert .fining it laying sideways on the floor, He opened the small container and spread its content on the young lady's burns; he hoped that the Dragon girl could heal quickly like him or else she would not make it through the night.

A few hours passed, before Oki awoke, when she did she looked beside her. The young man with long hair and hazel eyes was not wearing a shirt, showing his tanned skin and healthy body.

he was giving her his back, three white lines clearly marked where she had struck him with her claws. She tried to get up, but she found herself too weak to do so, so she looked over her body, her burns had been treated.

she blushed at that, the human had touched her sacred body, this was unacceptable, at this offence she could not stay quiet.

"Why did you help me?" she asked feebly , Not turning the man spoke ", Because you needed it, unlike you, I don't hold grudges over small things" "also, I couldn't just leave a pretty lady to die in my house, sorry for the massage, but you burns were pretty bad you needed the ointment."

"I am not so weak that I need human medicine to heal me" she rebutted ,but Shiek Laughed softly at her argument . "You truly are prideful, you dragons"

Oki's face is sad, it had been long enough, what happened yesterday started to weigh down on her, her father's death and the golden dragon's promise of exterminating the village. She spoke quietly now "Why are you so kind to me? You could have killed me at any time, but you chose not to; why?" "I tried to kill you" , Sheik laughed again, "I told you already, I can't just leave a pretty girl die in my home, and I have been thought that hatred only brings more hatred, if I killed you here, probably another dragon would find me and kill me anyway."

"No, they wouldn't" "There is no one left that would take revenge for me. Everyone is dead" Shiek now turns towards Oki, "Are you the last dragon?" "No, I am the last Draking, desert dragons, the shadow runners, not all dragons can do that, there are still dragons everywhere but west, men kill all those who go there" The girl turns tears gathering in her eyes. She looks down the shadows no longer cover her body "How long are you going to keep staring? Give me some proper clothes, will you?" Shiek, only now realising that the veil of shadows covering Oki has disappeared, immediately turn around. "Sorry" "But does that mean that you have nowhere to go?"

"Yes, they took everything from me, and now I have stooped so low that I have to be treated by a shifter, not even a human" "Could you not say Shifter like I am not here? I know what I am." Shiek for the first time raises his voice, clearly angered by her statement, but he quickly clams down.

"Sorry", Shiek smiles bitterly. He knew what a shifter meant being, he knew that the desert was really be the only place where it did not matter, but it still hurt. "So since no one is coming for you want to stay with me for a while?" He said, turning to Oki with a smile