Sean floated in a pit of darkness, his reddish hair flowing like waves slapping against his pale shoulders. In the dark he heard a voice, a harsh voice, “Why hello mortal,” it said startling Sean. It laughed and something he couldn’t see grabbed him by the foot and dragged him down fast without time for him to even make a noise, causing his stomach to feel like it shot up to his throat.

The tendrils slowly lowered him and brought him face-to-face with the figure of something that seemed unreal. Something unusual and unnatural, unseen by any other species except for its own. The creature had some similarities to certain creatures, the eyes of a beetle but it had thousands of eyes none matching the others. There were eyes of all kinds, of mammals, reptiles, fish, and insects, and some creatures Sean couldn't name. There were limbs of all creatures and some of them were yet seen by the mortal eye. All this to say it was like all the creatures of all worlds and none of them.

Sean shuttered at the creature; it was horrifying and yet so beautiful. His eyes felt as if they were frozen on the beast. Its many limbs writhed now and then with amusement, it was staring at Sean with its many eyes. The beast then laughed once again “Well mortal, I see your eyes are locked on my majesty.” it said all its many mouths smiling. Sean would have stepped back but the tendrils still had him pinned in the same place. The creature then laughed again, and its myriad eyes stared into Sean’s. 

Suddenly a pain shot through Sean making him scream. The pain was like nothing Sean had ever felt, like burning needles being sunk into his skin, into his bones, into his very soul. Sean’s pain seemed to please the creature, and it began to laugh strangely, increasing the pain. The creature's laugh got louder and louder until it made the world shake. But Sean could not hear it through the ringing of pain in his body. 

Sean began to shutter from the pain as it felt as if his lungs would give out if he screamed anymore. As he shook, he felt something in the back of his mind, pulling at it. He reached towards the feeling like a man drowning reaching for the shore.

Sean sat up, his body was covered in sweat, his curly red hair matted onto his head. He sat there frozen for a moment then he got up. He looked around and thought “What a strange dream.'' He stood up and dressed. Sean's room was bare, there was no furniture except for his bed and an oak desk. The wooden desk was weathered from its many years. There was a candle on the desk, though it had barely been used. Sean had a headache, he sat on his bed for a moment letting his headache dissipate. He already didn't remember the dream, it was like it had never happened. He then ran down the stairs to see his father Aric Deltathar. His mother had been a giant, and his father was a half-giant. He smiled at his father who was cooking some breakfast. His father smiled at him with a raised eyebrow “Well I see you've finally roused yourself. You were supposed to be up an hour ago,” he said with a smile.

 Sean blushed and scratched the back of his head, “Yeah, sorry.” Aric smiled “Do not worry about it, I got stuff done without you.” he said. Sean smiled back and sat down at the table. Though his father tried to comfort him all it did was make him feel worse. Aric set a plate of eggs and lamb before him with a smile. The lamb let off the smell of peppers with a touch of berries and the eggs had several different smells. The steam lofting off the food made Sean drool.

Aric grinned, his blue eyes crinkling, and he patted Sean’s shoulder. Sean gave a smile and shoved the lamb in his mouth and the eggs a moment later. Sean smiled and then walked to the basin that they used to clean the dishes. Sean's father was tall, as a half-giant, he had long curly red hair, and a thick, well-maintained beard. Currently, he wore a blue tunic and orange britches, with a large hat on top that would make sure the sun didn't get in his eyes while he was working out in the field.

 Sean washed the dishes quickly and put them up on a rack. “All right, Father I’m off to Master Durrin’s forge.” Aric smiled and gave a wave “All right, my boy be safe.” he said, sitting down to eat his food.

Sean exited the house, and he walked over to the blacksmith's forge, he got to the large stone building a moment later. Each stone was etched with a small rune made by a nearby magician. The runes would protect the houses that had them from, fire, lightning, or any disaster that could happen. As he approached the forge, he heard the slow methodical thunk of a hammer on hot metal. He walked into the forge and saw his master working on a large axe that would fit in Sean's large hands.  

As Sean walked into the forge, the blacksmith continued to work, and he then quenched it after a few more thunks of the hammer on the anvil. The blacksmith was a large dwarven man with a long salt and pepper beard, he wore a blacksmith's apron and vest under that. He then looked directly at his apprentice and smiled “I have a few commissions for you boy.” he said skipping the small talk. “Yes Master Durrin,” he said, his full name was Alder Durrin but Sean didn’t call him that. He thought it was disrespectful to call his master by his first name. He then the forge as his master told him about each commission.

Sean picked up a few ingots, placed them in the smithy with tongs and waited for the metal to heat, after a few minutes he picked up the tongs, picked up the metal, and put on the anvil. He began to slam the hammer into the hot metal and forge it into the shape of a spearhead. The nearby militia had been in a hard war with the bandits at Kil’res Head, the large mountain range just outside their village. The bandits had been bothering the village for years and a few city men had come to deal with them. Hence the militia hadn't worked out so far. They managed to kill or capture ten bandits in every camp. But there were always more, and there were more joining every day.

Vedric, a large dragonkin man stepped into the village, his sword bloody and his black and green scales glistened in the midday sun. As he walked, he heard a hammer on an anvil. He smiled and stepped forward. Vedric remembered the sound from his childhood, he had grown up in a mainly earth dragonkin clan. He would never have worked at the forge of course but it was still a comforting sound. The hammering suddenly stopped as a gigantic red-haired man stepped out of the forge.

 His shoulders were broader than a buffalo’s. He was at least ten feet tall. He looked straight at Vedric, and he rushed forward. As he got closer Vedric realized he was just a boy, his face without a trace of wrinkles or facial hair notified him of that. Vedric smiled a little then he collapsed but the giant boy grabbed him before he could land on the dirt. The red-haired boy looked worried and said “Master Durrin, come help me bring this man to the healer's house.” his eyes were locked onto the forge. But before whomever this Master Durrin was could step out of the forge Vedric passed out his consciousness fading into black.

Sean looked down at the dragonkin man with worry, the dragonkin was large, not as large as him though. He had a strange sword in his left hand with blood covering it. The sword had scales on its pommel and hilt. 

The crossguard was a dragon head that was breathing out the blade, and the horns would block. He also noticed that the dragonkin had a strange symbol on his neck. It looked somewhat like a dragon's skull but with its horns sheared off. Master Durrin exited the forge and saw Sean holding the dragonkin up; he grabbed the legs, and they carried him to Sandrial's house. Sean and his master quickly walked toward the healer's house. Sean knocked frantically and waited impatiently as he heard the old healer’s footsteps thumping closer to the door.

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Sean was worried for the dragonkin. Master Durrin looked at the unconscious dragonkin suspiciously, however. He was worried that the dragonkin had led whatever he had injured in the village. Sandrial opened the door, her wrinkled face peeking out to see Sean. “Oh, why hello Sean, what brings you to see an old healer?” she said. Sean brought the dragonkin up to show the old woman.

She gasped “Oh, why did you not say anything, come on, bring him to the sick room.” she said walking into her herb room. Sean sighed a little and brought him into the sick room just inside the door.

Sean slammed his hammer into the hot iron ingot, the healer had shooed them away as soon as they had set the dragonkin man on the bed of the sick room. Sean was frustrated and wanted to know about the dragonkin, why he was wielding a blade the size of a normal human, why he was so tired, and why his blade was covered in blood. Sean then slammed his hammer into the ingot again, but this time with more strength than necessary. The iron ingot which had begun to shape into an axe blade, then bent into a metal bowl. Sean, now even angrier because he had made his work useless, threw the metal bowl into the forge and snarled.

He then took a deep breath and sighed, he waited for the iron to heat back up and he took it back out of the forge. He then began to slam his hammer into the iron. The iron then began to regain its axe head shape and Sean smiled. He then grinned as he slammed his hammer into the hot iron, he then picked it up and quenched it. Master Durrin walked into the forge and saw Sean smiling. “Well, boy, Mrs. Sandrial said that we can visit the dragonkin,” he said with a smile. Sean nodded and walked out of the forge ducking his head as he exited.

As Sean got closer to the healer’s house, he heard Master Durrin grumbling “Giants, why must they be so fast?” he said. Sean raised an eyebrow at him and grinned as they approached the healer’s house.

 "The real question is why are dwarfs so slow?" Sean said with a laugh, Master Durrin acted indignant making Sean laugh harder. Sean knocked and opened the door to see Sandrial, her eyes looked tired, but she smiled.

Sean looked at Sandrial with concern "Are you ok ma'am?" he asked. Sandrial smiled, "I'm fine Sean, it's just hard for an old woman like me to stir her bones so much." she replied. "Now come on in," she said, leading them to the sick room. Sean ducked his head into the building. The door to the sick room was open, and the black and green scales shimmered palely, they looked to be lighter than before.

Sean walked into the room and the dragonkin sat up a bit. Sean waved and sat on a nearby stool which creaked with strain. Sean shot up and scratched the back of his head. “I forgot that I was too heavy for furniture not made to support me,” he said, answering the questioning look that the dragonkin was giving him. The dragonkin shrugged and smiled. 

His eyes seemed to be heavy in thought. He then shook his head and looked at Sean, “I have to thank you for carrying me to your village healer, I don't even know your name.” he said with a smile.

Sean grinned, “It’s no problem, I’m happy to help, my name is Sean. I do have a few questions for you though.” Sean said, his eyes twinkling as he remembered his questions. “Ask away lad,” the dragonkin said.

“Ok, what is your name? Why was your sword covered in blood? Why is your sword so big? Why did you pass out?” the dragonkin blinked as the waterfall of questions spilled out of Sean’s mouth. 

He then chuckled and raised a hand “Ok, ok, give me a minute to answer you, lad. Firstly, my name is Vedric. Second, my sword was covered in blood because I had gotten into a fight with a dragon. Thirdly, my sword is a dragonkin ceremonial weapon given to us when we come of age to go out into the world. And the reason I passed out is that the fight with the dragon was too taxing and so I had my energy exhausted.” he said, answering each question in the order it was asked. Vedric was a well-ordered person, though he seemed to have a fire behind his gray eyes.

Sean’s eyes lit up, “Wait you slew a dragon!?” Sean asked excitedly. Vedric nodded and he smiled.  Sean was about to ask a lot of questions but Master Durrin saw it and interrupted.

 “Ok boy, I need to ask the dragonkin some questions too.” Master Durrin said, shooing Sean away. Sean waved dejectedly to Vedric as he walked out of the sick room. He knew that Master Durrin would be interrogating him for the next hour. Sandrial smiled at Sean as she drank hot tea waiting for Master Durrin to exit the sick room.

“I would not hold your breath, ma’am, right now he’s asking Master Vedric some questions,” Sean said slightly exasperatedly, Sandrial sighed and took another sip of her tea. 

“I can wait,” she said, turning away from the door and walking into her kitchen. Sandriel had always been patient, Sean guessed it was because of her training with the old alchemist.

Sean sighed and exited the healer’s house as he returned to the forge to work on the axe again. He entered the forge and picked up the axehead, and sharpened it. He picked out a spruce wood log a few moments later as well and began to measure the eye, where the haft would go. He took out his carving knife and began to whittle away at the spruce slowly. The slow methodical work made Sean smile. As he worked, his mind slowly wandered back to the dragonkin. He had never seen a dragonkin before, no one in the village had Sean's knowledge. He had heard of them, but it was rare to see them nowadays.

As he finished whittling the wood he cut the tip of the haft and inserted it into the axe's eye. He then took a small block of wood and inserted the point of the wood into it. He then slammed his hammer into the wood and the haft expanded to fit the eye. He then picked up the axe again and placed it on a rack where they set newly made weapons. He saw a few villagers going into the healer’s house, no doubt bothering Vedric. It was rare to see a stranger in Alrial village let alone a dragonkin. Master Durrin exited the healer’s house with a troubled expression. Master Durrin Walked into the forge a few minutes later, “What's wrong, master Durrin?” Sean asked.

Master Durrin shook his head and sighed, “Nothing boy, Just worried about what trouble that dragonkin could have brought upon us.” he said. Sean nodded, “What Did he say that could have worried you?” Sean asked.

“Nothing, I just have a bad feeling.” Master Durrin said, He then shook his head and smiled. “You need to get back to work,” he said with a grin. Sean groaned, picked up his hammer again, and put more iron into the forge.

Sean walked into his house and saw his father cooking. After his mother died, the only thing that had brought him joy besides Sean. Sean waved and grinned “Hello Father.” Sean said with a tired smile, “Ah hello my boy, I heard a dragonkin stumbled into the village.” Sean nodded at his father's words and grinned. “Yes, his name is Vedric, and he defeated a dragon!” Sean said with excitement.

“Oh really, that’s quite a feat, my boy.” Sean nodded vigorously. Aric then smiled and set a plate of chicken and potatoes, the potatoes smelled of peppers and the chicken had a spicy aroma. Sean quickly ate the food and washed his plate. He then walked upstairs and stepped into his room, he was exhausted from working with Master Durrin most of the day.

His arms were sore and he felt as if he was about to pass out, he then collapsed on his bed and fell asleep almost immediately. He woke up the next morning yawning. He quickly got up and walked downstairs. The smell of eggs, steak, and fresh bread wafted towards his nose and he started drooling. "Morning lad," Aric said without turning as he heard Sean walking down. "Morning Father," Sean said and began sweeping. He finished a few moments later then he sat at the table. 

Aric smiled back at his son and set the plate on the table in front of him. Sean ate, and he finished his chores a few moments later. He then walked to Master Durrin's throne. He walked into the forge and saw Master Durrin reading a paper, his face creased with anger. Sean blinked "Master Durrin?" Sean called out. The dwarf looked back up at Sean with a sigh, "Hello lad, those damned militiamen want us to make a batch of spears, by the end of the week!" he said angrily.