Chapter - 5

I awoke that morning, Asta woke up the same time I did, she stood up and smiled at me while I laid there, she bent over and kissed me on the forehead, I chuckled and sat up, I asked her "What would you like to do today?" she sat beside me and said, "We could go for a stroll and see where that leads us", the thought of strolling with Asta made me warm, I said "I would prefer nothing else" she smiled and pulled me out of bed, we put on our coats and headed downstairs. My father was sitting at the table, he greeted us as we came into the room. He said, "Where will you two be going?" I replied with "We are going for a stroll, is there anything you need us to do today father?" he smiled and said "Do not worry about chores for today boy, go enjoy your time with Asta" I thanked him and we left.

We headed for the forest in no real direction, we just started walking and where ever we went, we got to the north side of the village border, we had not been to this side of the forest before, behind the tree line was a mountain range not to far to walk, I looked at Asta and asked "Why don't we start heading to the mountain?" she stared at the mountain, she said "That would be lovely", I took her hand and we started our journey. We had gotten out of the trees after walking for a while, we had never been to this side of the forest, behind the trees was a beautiful river, we saw birds of every color flying gracefully over the water, deer were gathering around to get a drink. Asta and I sat behind a rock to admire the scene, she had pointed out a particular stag in the heard, this creature was immensely big for its kind, its antlers had grown so large that its shadow had been several times larger than its own, this beast looked ancient yet young. I wondered why the beast had grown such immense antlers, and why he seemed so peaceful even though he could have easily defeated any animal that came near him.

After a while of watching the deer, we continued on our journey to the mountains. The sun was above our heads when we reached the base of it, we looked at the peak in awe, we had not realized how far it was to the peak, so we had just decided to head back to the village when we saw we were not going to be able to reach the peak. On our way back we noticed something, a large white flash flew in front of us, I pulled Asta to the ground and said "Asta stay low, something is here" she kept her head down while scanning the surrounding area, we searched for the source of the white flash for a while before we found it. The source of the flash was a small, snow-white dragon. Asta and I looked at each other with fear in our eyes, I whispered "We should wait it out, perhaps it will leave." dragons should not be living on our island, we had all been told they came from a faraway island, but this one was right here, it seemed as if it were at peace, it did not try burning down the forest nor did it fight with the animals, Asta and I were both confused, but as we had begun to think this was a docile peaceful dragon we noticed the stag from before, it approached the beast with its antlers pointed straight at the beast. The dragon flew into the sky and dove at this poor ancient beast, the stag cried in pain, it tried to run but no creature can outrun a dragons breath, the dragon unhinged its jaws and let the flames of Sol forth, the deer was in immense pain and agony, Asta had tears forming in her eyes and tried to stand and fight the dragon, I grabbed her and pulled her back, "That stag cannot die, he has lived too long to be killed in such a way" I held Asta and said "Do not worry, we will avenge the beast, but for now we cannot fight the dragon, we are unarmed and too few" Asta had stopped fighting but let out soft cried as she mourned the great stag. The dragon had now killed the stag and flew over to start consuming it, it was a horrific sight to behold, it tore at the body of the stag ripping chunks off of the huge beast, blood was splattered everywhere, the anger and rage I felt as I saw this dragon rip such a graceful creature apart was too great to describe. That day I vowed to kill this dragon, this sort of injustice could not go un-punished. We waited till the dragon had finished feasting after it had consumed every last bit of meat on the stag it flew off, it flew towards the peak of the mountain. We took this chance to escape, Asta and I ran towards the village, it was now sunset and we were still a while away from the village, we had slowed down when we could see the forest start, we knew we were close to home now. Asta stopped in her tracks and had her head facing down, he fists were balled up and tears started to run down her face, I walked over to her and put my hands on her shoulders, "Asta are you alright?" I asked, she looked up at me, her face was drenched in tears and in her eyes I saw hate and anger, she said through her tears "I hate those beasts, we cannot live in peace with them alive, they take all we hold dear and destroy all our ancestors have built. And now they have the audacity to settle on our island. I will kill every last one of them, even if it means sacrificing my life." she started to weep harder now, I pulled her close to me and said, "Asta do not worry if you wish to kill the dragons, I will do so for you with everything I am, I won't let them kill you or anyone else in the village, it is time we fought back." She hugged me close and thanked me. After being in each other's arms for a while we continued our journey home, Asta had stopped crying but she still holds herself close to me. I kept my left arm around her to keep her close. we made it back to the village with some light still remaining in the sky, usually, we would have parted ways at the border as we could not be seen together by the village, but today we did not care about anyone else. We walked through the village still holding each other close, the village stared at us with dreadful looks on their faces, but none of them could make us stop holding each other close. We where now about to pass Asta's home, her father was standing by the door, Asta pulled herself closer to me and hid her face in my chest as we reached the porch of her fathers. Asta's father had an angry expression on his face. I broke the silence by saying "Chief, I Hunter son of Magnus have a confession to make to you my lord." He stepped closer and awaited my answer, his expression still full of anger. "My lord, I have a lot of feelings for your daughter, Asta. And she has a lot of feelings for me as well, and I would like your permission to be allowed to spend time with her." The chief walked over to where Asta and I were standing, Asta looked up at her father with fear in her eyes. Asta and I awaited his reply, "Hunter, you are aware that I had forbidden you from seeing Asta, the whole village has known about you two sneaking off to see each other for a while now. You have saved the village, yes, but you have yet to prove to me that you can take proper care of my daughter. And I am aware of the fact that you being forbidden from seeing her in the village has prevented you from showing me you can make her happy. And therefore I will allow you to spend time with my daughter." I let out a deep breath and said "Thank you my lord" the chief's face was more relaxed now, Asta was still holding me tightly, I looked at the chief with a serious expression and said, "My lord we have another greater issue to deal with. It concerns dragons, we spotted one on the island." the chief's face was now grim, he stepped aside and said, "Come inside boy." I stepped inside and headed for the dining table, I sat down with Asta beside me, she had relaxed now, we looked at each other while her father came to sit down. The chief sat across from me and waited for me to start speaking. I took a deep breath and started to speak, I told him about the deer and what had happened with the dragon, the chief leaned forward with a serious expression and said "Where did you see the beast.", "We saw it in the mountains to the north of the village, it was just the one, but I fear there may be more." I replied, the chief leaned back and took a deep breath, "We must send a war party out, tomorrow morning. You will lead them Hunter" he said, "It would be an honor to serve you, my lord." Asta looked at me with fear in her eyes, she said: "Hunter no, we saw what it did to that stag, it will kill you!" I replied with "I will be fine Asta, we cannot let those monsters get comfortable on our land." she had stood up now and said, "Then I'm going with you." I replied with, "Asta, I know you fear for my life but I cannot disobey the chief, it is his decision to allow you to come or not." I felt a wave of sadness wash over me, the thought of me losing Asta, and the look on her face was burnt into my eyes, her sadness and anger it was horrid. The chief rose and said "Asta, as your father I cannot allow you to join him, only our best may go, they will be fine there is no need to fear." she looked at him with tears forming in her eyes and said "Father please, if anything were to happen to Hunter i-" I cut her off and said "Asta, I swear to Odin I will return to you, you will not lose me." as I said this she walked over to me and pulled me close, I returned the gesture and held her close to me, she had started to cry softly now, "You better come back, Hunter.". Her father watched us as I comforted Asta and he noticed how close she was holding me, and he now realized how much we meant to each other. He said, "We will meet in the hall tomorrow morning to discuss the plans as well as who will be joining you, Hunter". I nodded at him, he said: "You two may stay here for the night, it is only right I allow you two to spend time with each other." I thanked him, he started his trip to the door to inform the village of the plans for tomorrow. Asta and I went to her room and laid on her bed.