Diary entry number 1: So, a quick rundown of myself. I come from a long line of American pastors, soldiers, and people with mental and genetic disorders. Now that I've got that out of the way, I was napping on top of my grandfather's property after exhausting myself cutting the grass of an 8-acre field with an old-fashioned scythe. Why was I using a scythe? Because it's cheaper to repair than a lawn mower when you run over a rock or a sapling. I also had a 9mm and a sword with me. Why did I have a 9mm pistol? Because of snakes, that's why. Why did I have a sword with me to cut through the saplings instead of a machete? Because I don't get to use the sword very often.

Anyway, while napping, one of two things must have happened:

One: I slipped through a crack in time and space while I was sleeping. Or two: I had a complete mental breakdown.

I am going for the latter because my dreams are becoming more and more realistic over the years. You know how you're not supposed to feel pain in dreams… yeah, that was seven years ago followed up by sound, taste, and smell. And my dreams weren't all that pleasant if you catch my drift.

But I need to back up a little bit. So I used to live in a small town in Florida, moved to South Carolina, moved back to Florida, then moved to Tennessee in the span of like a week. And before that, my childhood shelf had a hard time staying in school. I think I went to 8 different schools, dropped out, bummed off my parents for a year before getting an under-the-table job in concrete for like 5 years, and that's when I started to move around.

For those who don't travel much, the terrain noticeably changes when you're traveling hundreds of miles. So instead of waking up on top of the mountain in a clearing surrounded by trees in the middle of the day, I wake up in the middle of a flat grassland with trees nowhere near me, and it was nighttime. And it was a bit chilly, so instead of freaking out like a sensible person, I get up to go to the truck to get my jacket. Of course, it's not there. Why would it be there? I'm in a completely different location, which is a bit of a downer, seeing as my box of granola bars, the drinks I brought with me for snacking on while I worked, along with the scythe, extra ammunition for my sidearm, and all my tools were in that truck. And no, I will not forget to mention my jacket.

So what do I have? A sword, a pistol with seven bullets, my cell phone, my wallet, my pocket knife, and the keys to my truck... scratch that, I left the keys in the ignition. Easy right? Just grab your cell phone and call someone? No. My cell phone service ran out a month ago due to lack of money, and I can't even call emergency services because there are no cell phone towers within range.

So what's next? Using my meager navigational skills to find out which way is north, which seemed like a good idea at the time because of the clear skies. I can easily see the stars. Did you know the last two stars in the Big Dipper point directly to the North Star? The spoon end, not the handle end. Which would have worked if I was in the northern hemisphere. Now that I'm looking, I don't recognize any of these stars, and it can't be because I'm in the southern hemisphere either because I can't find Centaurus

So I have literally no idea on where on Earth I am

So I guess I'll have to wait till sunrise find out inaccurate compass directions

Diary Entry Number 2:

Okay, so last night, after I "signed out" and laid down to sleep till dawn, it occurred to me that if none of the stars were in the right place, I probably wasn't on the same planet anymore. And if I'm not on the same planet, the sun probably rises in the north for all I know. How do I even know if the planet has a sun? I'm not on a giant ball of ice, that's how. Ha ha... Got to keep the spirits up when you're in a survival situation.

Talking about survival, I've got to find food and water. So after the sun starts to rise in what I'm going to call East, I start scanning the horizon. Aaaand, this is the part where I mention I'm in a massive field. Grass, grass as far as the eye can see, not all that tall either, so something's got to be eating it. And if there are herbivores, you know there's got to be carnivores.

Anyways, I decide to head east, seeing as the horizon over there isn't perfectly flat. Either mountains or trees, either of those things is a good thing. Trees are good because there's probably a river over there. Water equals life and all that. A mountain range is a good thing because you're pretty much guaranteed water, and having enough bit of elevated ground is going to be a good thing when a big rainstorm comes through.

So I scan the horizon one more time to make sure I'm not missing anything before I head out, and what do you know, in the west sky, something reflecting the sunlight catches my eye. So I stand there for a couple of minutes, looking at it while I try to figure out what it is because, you know, it could be man-made. It could be a telescope, a solar panel, or a lightning rod, etc. Buuut, I doubt any of those things would move. And it's not on the ground, so the only thing it could be is a large bird. Yes, it could be an airplane, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. It's not like they could hear me over the engine anyway, especially not from that far away.

So, I dawn my hat and my sunglasses and head towards the sun.

Diary Entry Number 3

It's around midday now. I've found a small cluster of trees in a slight indentation in the ground, confirming that there is a lot of water when it rains. I've covered enough distance to know that the rigidity in the horizon is definitely a mountain range.

That shiny bird from earlier definitely isn't an airplane. I would have heard the engine from it hours ago. And now the thing is circling above me. I can tell it isn't exactly a bird either. It's too far away to tell exactly what it is, but the wing-to-body ratio is off by a lot. It should not be able to fly. And not like in the way that a bee should not be able to fly. They make up the difference of their wing size with how fast they beat their wings.

This thing, on the other hand, is barely beating its wings at all. But enough about that. Let's skip to the part where it's too big to be a non-predatory bird, and it's been following me all morning. I get the feeling that I'm going to be here the rest of the day before it gets bored enough to leave.

Here's the edited version of Diary entry number 4:

So this one's going to be shorter than the last one. Currently, I am briskly jogging through an open field with at least a semi-intelligent flying predator chasing me down. Why? Because it flew away, making me think it got bored early to lure me out of my hiding spot. By the time I finally noticed it again, it was in between me and my hiding spot. It seems to be a bit confident that it can get me because it has lowered its altitude significantly enough for me to know that it looks like a lizard if a lizard had wings. I would say it was a dragon, but it's too small to be a full-blown dragon, perhaps a fledgling.

It's a good thing because if it were a full dragon, I'd be dead already. I would try shooting it, but it's still too far away to get an accurate shot. More later if I'm not dead by then.

Diary entry number 5

I ran for quite a long distance

A lot farther than I thought I could

But only just barely far enough

So I don't think this thing is used to hunting humans

Yeah I know humans aren't fast but humans have a natural talent for long distance travel

Even with my out of shape self... No I was lucky and that was that

It was a combination of things

humans running slow but a longtime was part of it the fact that I was resting while it was still flying was the other part

Now like I said I am out of shape

Fortunately it was more out of shape than I was unfortunately it will still faster than me

Even at a all out Sprint

I thought I was going to die for certain either from exhaustion or the thing was going to catch me I was barely outside of its reach when it finally collapsed

I was barely able to keep myself on my feet as I stopped and watched it tumble on the ground

Going through my options

If I kept going it would just regain its energy and the hunt would continue

And I was too tired to think of any other options

So walking over to it I drew my sword

And I had my first real look at it

Was indeed a young dragon It was yellow clearly malnourished and so exhausted at this point it couldn't even lift up its arm to defend itself

I ran for quite a long distance, a lot farther than I thought I could, but only just barely far enough.

So I don't think this thing is used to hunting humans. Yeah, I know humans aren't fast, but humans have a natural talent for long-distance travel. Even with my out-of-shape self... No, I was lucky, and that was that. It was a combination of things. Humans running slow but a long time was part of it; the fact that I was resting while it was still flying was the other part.

Now, like I said, I am out of shape. Fortunately, it was more out of shape than I was. Unfortunately, it was still faster than me, even at an all-out sprint. I thought I was going to die for certain, either from exhaustion or the thing was going to catch me. I was barely outside of its reach when it finally collapsed.

I was barely able to keep myself on my feet as I stopped and watched it tumble on the ground. Going through my options, if I kept going, it would just regain its energy and the hunt would continue. And I was too tired to think of any other options. So, walking over to it, I drew my sword, and I had my first real look at it. It was indeed a young dragon. It was yellow, clearly malnourished, and so exhausted at this point it couldn't even lift up its arm to defend itself.

Diary entry number 6

I couldn't bring myself to do it.

It looked too much like a dragon in a TV show that I'm a fan of.

That all-too-human emotion of fear was on its face as it passed out. I stood above it, mentally preparing myself to kill it. That's why I now find myself dragging the thing across the field as it lies on a sled that I made from branches of trees from my hiding spot.

After I caught my breath, I figured out that I didn't actually make it all that far. It just seemed that way with the adrenaline pumping through my veins. I did manage to catch some squirrels with some pointy sticks, remembering the times I went to that hatchet-throwing place that I used to live near. When I was in the process of making that sled, which took quite a long time, that's why I'm dragging the oversized lizard back to the tree cluster instead of towards the mountains. The sun was starting to set by the time I got there, and I needed to cook that squirrel.

It was difficult to do with my nonexistent practice, but I did manage to get a fire going. I also managed to skin and gut the squirrels using my pocket knife without spoiling the meat.

Now, you may be asking yourselves how do you spoil meat by gutting the animal? And I'll respond by telling you that unlike humans, animals don't try very hard to keep their bladder empty.

The yellow dragon started to stir as I was beginning to finish cooking the third and final squirrel. I was unsure of what its next actions were going to be, so I readied my sidearm. I would have bound it, but I doubt that it would have even slowed it down, even in its malnourished state, given how heavy the thing was.

The dragon rose, looking around in clear confusion before spotting me. It tripped a little bit as it got into what I can only assume is some sort of battle stance. I raised my firearm, expecting the worst. It was an intense couple of seconds until a low growling sound that sounded suspiciously like its stomach made it hesitate and even look embarrassed.

Seeing as I still didn't want to kill it, I tossed one of the cooked squirrels towards it. And as I watched it clumsily catch it, it dawned on me that this dragon is possibly a lot more sentient than I previously thought, which is odd because I didn't think there was much space inside its skull alongside its massive eyeballs. But I could not continue that train of thought as it swallowed the squirrel whole and started to turn towards me again.

I tossed the second squirrel at it to give myself more time to think, time which I did not get, by the way. As it sailed through the air, the dragon opened its maw and let the squirrel fly right in, giving me only enough time to see the rows of sharp teeth, reminding me of the dinosaurs I've seen on TV before snapping shut.

Once again, the dragon looked at me. This time the emotion on its face was shy, or was it bashful? I keep getting the two mixed up. It asked me a question in English, which stunned me to the point where I didn't even know what it said, but it was pointing at the squirrel I was holding in my hand, another very human thing to do. So, I held it out to the dragon. As it took it from me, the grateful look on its face showed.

And we sat in silence for a few minutes, the dragon savoring the taste of food again and me in total shock that I'm on an alien planet with an alien who speaks the same exact language I do and I can tell already if I get a lot more surprises like this one I'm going to go crazy... Again.

Diary entry number 7

It spoke to me again after it had finished its squirrel, and this time I could actually remember what it said. It said in a voice very similar to that of a young girl, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

Still being in complete shock that an alien with a mouth like that could speak human words, I felt a shiver go up my spine as my mouth decided to start speaking on its own.

"An angry war veteran once made me promise to be kind, never cruel, and to never give up." I said

"Oh," she said.

Taking back control of my body, I said, "We should get some sleep."

She gave me a confused look, but she didn't say anything, and we both went to sleep. Yes, both of us. I made sure she went to sleep first.

Diary entry number 8:

I did, in fact, wake up alive, despite the dragon waking up before me. She was just sitting there expectantly, so I spoke up and said, "Well, I thought you would have left or killed me while I was sleeping. Why didn't you?"

And she replied, "You spared my life, took care of me, and fed me. I am a part of your horde."

"Horde?" I asked.

"Yes, I belong to you now," she said.

I thought for a moment, then gave my reply. "If you haven't noticed, I'm not a dragon, so you don't have to obey any dragon rules."

"Yes, I do," she interrupted.

"Not when the person who apparently claimed you is a freaky space monkey," I cut off, making air quotes at "claimed."

"Either way, you can choose to do whatever you want to do. If you want to follow me, that's fine. If you want to leave, that's also fine. But I personally would not want to feed a carnivorous lizard that is just as big as I am and weighs twice as much. So if you do follow me, you're working for your food. Okay?"

"Okay," she responded with a smile, which made my head hurt. Lizards don't have lips to smile with, so I just turned and walked away, ignoring the raptor with wings behind me.

Diary entry number 9:

It's been several hours now, and my body is starting to ache because I've been doing more walking in the past two days than I have in my entire life. I can feel the young Drake's eyes boring into the back of my head when I'm not looking. For the last couple of hours, I was just assuming that it was due to the fact that I looked weird to them, but I thought it would eventually wear off.

"Hey," I said.

"Yes?" the Drake replied.

"You want to ask me a question, or are you going to continue staring at me the whole trip?"

"Well, it's just, where are we going?" she asked.

I raised my hand and pointed at the mountain range, which was giving me a headache because it made me think I was covering a lot more distance than I actually was.

"That way," I said.

She got a nervous look on her face but didn't say anything else.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing," she replied, but by the way she sounded, it was definitely not nothing.

I stopped walking, turned around, and looked at her. "If you're going to insist on following me, here's rule number one: don't ever lie to me and always tell me the whole truth, no matter how bad. The only exception I can think of is some sort of magical spell that will kill me the instant you say it. So spit it out."

She got this questioning look on her face before she started gagging, which reminded me of a cat hacking up a hairball. "That was a metaphor for telling me what's on your mind," I clarified.

She then got a look of understanding on her face before hesitantly saying, "There's a town over there..."

"A town? Good, maybe I can get myself a map," I replied.

"But I'm a dragon," she said.

"Yeah? And your point is?" I asked.

She got a sad smile on her face, and I didn't know why, before replying, "You really are a freaky space monkey."

"The way you said that sounds really diabolical, and I don't like it at all," I said, which made her giggle. I briefly considered that I was thrust into an anime before she got a serious look on her face and said, "Not many other creatures tolerate dragons."

"With a chipper voice, I said, "Thanks for the information," as I turned and continued walking east.

She called out to me and said, "Did you not hear me? They don't like dragons. In fact, they hate dragons."

"To which I replied, "Don't worry, I have a plan."

No, I didn't have a plan, but I thought I had plenty of time to come up with one.

Diary entry number 10:

An hour later, we reached the town, and I didn't have a plan. It looked like a small farm town from a fantasy video game setting, but it was a town, not a village. There was a size difference. Around that time, I realized why I needed to ask the dragon's name. Anyways, the dragon said "creatures" instead of something else because the town was inhabited by lots of different species of intelligent creatures, none of them human. The closest human-like thing I could see was a Minotaur that appeared so top-heavy that I was wondering how it was still standing on two legs.

“So what is your plan anyway?” the dragon perched on a tree branch beside me asked.

“It's a secret,” I responded.

So she asked a different question, “Why do we need to get into town so badly anyway?”

“Three reasons: I need a map, I need information, and I need a bed to sleep in. My back is killing me, no not literally," I finished off as she gave me a stunned look. She then drove her claws back into the tree branch to keep herself from slipping.

I then spotted some rope and a whip and got an idea to go with my non-existent plan. The rope and whip were on a porch of a farmhouse little ways from the town. However, on the same porch was a boar-looking creature sitting in a straining rocking chair, looking out to the field, watching the workers sweat as he slowly chewed on a carrot.

“I'll sooner burn the fields down than go along with that plan,” she interrupted.

“Fine then,” I said with frustration, “burn the fields down just make sure it's near a large body of water so it doesn't actually hurt the town. And if we're going down the evil route, we might as well loot the town while everyone's distracted with the fire.”

And there's that stunned look again. She didn't slip this time.

“What?” I asked impatiently.

“That's actually a pretty good plan,” she answered.

“No,” I said, “we are not going to raid the town like a ragtag team of bandits."

She followed up by saying, “Well, it's a better plan than tying me up and bringing me into a town that hates my kind to the point that if they see a chance, they'll kill me, which I remember correctly is against your code.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but she held up a claw to stop me.

“And we have to do something seeing as you don't have any bits to buy food with to feed yourself and the dragon. And I know you're hungry because I haven't seen you eat since at least dawn yesterday.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Our combined stomachs growled loudly to agree with her words.

“The inner fart has spoken,” I said, raising my hands above my head like I'm worshiping something.

The look on her face was priceless. I would have fallen out of the tree if my legs hadn't been wrapped around the branch I was sitting on. I could also see the amusement on her face from my now upside-down position.

“But we're doing this my way,” I said as I pulled myself back up with difficulty. “Which means we're only taking enough to survive, and when you start that fire, you're starting it close to whatever water source that field is feeding off of... okay?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Okay, so I'm going to town to pick some places out, and you, without being seen, are going to find that water source and figure out a good place to start that fire. Close enough so the villagers can easily put it out, but far enough away to give us time to raid the place I say as I examine the foot of the tree to make sure nobody's listening

“Meet me back here at sundown” I say as I begin my descent down the tree

Diary entry number 11

Something's not right.

I expected them to give me a bit of a wide berth, but I did not expect the looks of pity coming from their eyes as they looked at me.

I also noticed that every one of them was an herbivore species, which would explain why dragons, as a carnivore, would be unwelcome here.

And I am silently grateful that I got to keep my sunglasses to hide my forward-facing eyes as I approached one of the stands in the market.

“Hello,” I say as I look over the owner of the stall, which appears to be a deer, if a deer was two-thirds of its original size, that is.

“Can you tell me what's going on around town? Everyone's giving me an odd look. ...Now that I think about it, the market is pretty quiet for a marketplace. And everyone that isn't giving me a stare looks downright exhausted.”

The store owner gestured to me to come closer, and I obliged.

“You should leave town, like right now,” he whispers.

“What's going on?” I say as I lower my voice to his level.

“There's not much time. You have to leave town. Follow the river downstream South until you reach the city. Get help. Coleus is…” he says before stopping and looking at something behind me. “Quickly, leave before he sees you,” he says desperately as I stand up and turn to see what he's looking at, that boar I was looking at earlier on the porch.

He was being carried into town like an Egyptian prince, which sent up all kinds of red flags in my head, as he was paraded around on the shoulders of minotaurs, having people bow and give him offerings.

And by the time he reached us, I was so angry my joints had become rigid, and I could feel the electricity shooting up my spine.

That's when I felt the hand on my shoulder, one of the minotaurs that had broken off from the group. He was looking at me with sadness in his eyes.

I realized he had said something, and he opened his mouth to repeat himself.

“Please kneel,” he said in a soft and pleading tone.

And with a calm and emotionless voice, I said, “I will never bow to the likes of him.”

“Then I'm sorry,” the Minotaur said.

He then raised his fist to strike me.

I then quickly kicked him in the shin, stepped to the side and placed my foot in front of his, and pushed on his back. He was smart enough not to get back up.

I was about to turn and shout when I saw the minotaur's back, and the wounds and scars I saw there I've only seen before in photos of the enslaved. I knew then I would not let Coleus live to see the sun set.

“We have a new visitor in town,” Coleus said. “A feisty one at that. I love it when they are feisty. It's all that more satisfying when I break them.”

I turned to face him, and my subconscious points out that he has depth perception, and the Minotaur beside him is holding a whip.

Coleus turns to the Minotaur beside him to take the whip as he says, “Restrain him.”

But as soon as he starts talking, I charge, drawing my sword. Coleus only has enough time to turn toward me as I plunge it into his chest, forcing him onto his back, except not very far in his chest.

He smiles as he glances at something behind me. I don't give the minotaurs enough time to pull me away. I pop the strap to my sidearm and let a round fly into Coleus’s eye socket, killing him instantly as they pull me away.

I'm positive everyone in the marketplace heard the gunshot, and I have little doubt that the young Drake I'm traveling with heard it as well. Judging by the stunned looks on everyone's faces, I don't think they know what it was as I place it back where it belongs on my hip, popping the strap back in place.

Some of the people in the back who could not see Coleus's body lying there on the ground were already asking what was going on and what the sound was, and why there was thunder on a cloudless day.

The gossip was spreading quickly, and the people in the front were already telling the people behind them what was going on by the time I pulled the sword out of the lifeless corpse on the ground and approached Coleus's portable throne.

“Stranger, what is your name?” one of the Minotaurs said.

I look at him. He is younger than the others, so I say, “How about you? What is your name, lad?”

“I don't have one,” he responds as I pick up a bag of various foodstuffs and one of the smaller bags of coins.

I then walk over to the unnamed Minotaur, picking up Coleus's discarded whip and handed it to him. He grabs it, but I don't let go.

“Then your name shall be…” I pause and think for a moment, “Steelheart, for so long as you keep the promise that you won't ever let someone be cruel to you like that ever again, and then you'll teach others not to be taken advantage of like this ever again.”

“O... okay,” he whispers.

“Promise me,” I say in a very serious tone.

“I-I promise.”

I look Steelheart in the eyes for a moment before standing and walking to the town gate. Everyone separates and makes a path for me. I see the yellow Drake as it comes in for a landing and start walking beside me.

Everyone must still be in shock because they didn't even react as they all stared at me while I make my way out of town.

“I saw what happened,” she said, “you didn't even hesitate to kill him.”

“Give people like that time to react, and they'll turn you into the bad guy,” I responded.

“By the way, do you have a name?”

“Yeah, Sundrop,” she said with a smile."

Diary Entry Number 12

As I rustle through the sack for something Sundrop could eat, I ask, "Sundrop, when you were flying up there, did you happen to see a river?" It was mostly vegetables in the sack.

"Yes, I did. It's over that way, but I've got a few questions to ask if you don't mind," she said, pointing in a direction to which I began walking.

"Okay, once we get there, I'm going to need to know which way is south."

"Okay, but from my point of view, it was hard to see what was going on, and we should probably stop after a little while to find some more food for you because there's nothing in this sack that you'd probably eat. Some of it's probably even poisonous to you," I say as I pull out the sack that looks like an eggplant if it decided to be in a star shape and toss it over my shoulder. "If you don't know what it is, don't eat it."

I remind myself that I'm on an alien planet, and that probably was editable for me. But then again, if I'm on an alien planet, why do I see normal Earth vegetables in here? I take out what looks like celery, take an experimental sniff, and bite out of it. Yep, it's celery, and it still tastes terrible without peanut butter, but it is food.

Then I notice Sundrop looking at me and ask, "What is it?"

"I was trying to ask you what happened down there because all I saw was you rush the guy with that thing at your side," she gestures to the sword on my belt, "and stab him, and as the minotaurs try to pull you off, a loud bang echoed off the mountains."

I look up in front of us and see that the mountains are close enough for a gunshot to echo off of them. I look back at Sundrop and realize I was spacing out.

"Yes," I said, questioning my morals. "I just killed a guy in broad daylight in the middle of the street with everyone watching. That is a very good question. Give me a moment to think," I say as I close my eyes to replay the events in my head, trying to piece it all together.

"You mean you don't know?" she says.

"No, I do know. I just have a bad habit of letting my subconscious get away with not explaining why it came up with that decision. Now, if you give me a moment to think, I can-"

"What in Tartarus is a subconscious?" she cuts me off with an irritated voice.

"It's pronounced subconscious, and in short, it's the place where ideas come from."

"Yo-"

"Hey, we're here," I say, cutting off Sundrop from continuing whatever she was about to say, thus ending the conversation.

The river was at the foot of the mountain. No, I do not mean at the foot of the mountain. I mean, it's the foot of the mountain. Yes, I know it makes no sense, and I was there. It doesn't really make sense to me either. So where Sundrop and I are standing is practically flat ground. There's a little bit of a bank leading into the river, and right on the other side of the river is a steep incline. The incline itself looks fairly natural; it's the flat ground that stretches on for miles. 40 feet away is the unnatural part.

What I do know is my back is in pain from all the walking that I've done in the last couple of days. So I go over to the bank to lay down and tell Sundrop to go get herself some food, and I'll have a campfire going by the time she gets back and I should have an answer for her by then. I didn't bother to look at her pissed off face as she gave me a dirty look before flying up the mountain

Diary entry number 13

so by the time Sundrop got back the only thing I managed to accomplish was get myself wet and gather firewood that fairly narrow stream is surprisingly deep

Why wasn't the firewood also wet?

I was smart enough to chuck it across the River

Instead of trying to swim through it with the wood held in my arms

Why didn't you jump across then

Because I'm a human I can't jump 20 feet

And to be honest some of the wood didn't make it either

But yeah I was still trying to get the fire going by the time Sundrop got back at sunset

I didn't notice the blood on her face until after she used her fire breath on the pile of wood in front of me

The pile of wood I was currently leaning over trying to get to burn

if I didn't fantasize and grab every scrap of dragon lore I can get my hands on back on Earth I wouldn't have known what she was doing until it was too late...

but I did, and I managed to lean out of the way in time. And even then the hair on my arms still got singed

After patting on my arms a little bit I say

Can you at least give me a warning next time

Are you going to give me an answer now? she replies in irritation

I look at her and I open my mouth to ask why do you care anyway what I think better of it as I realize when I first met her she was alone, and hungry enough to eat something that looks freaky

So instead I say, yes but tell me if you're okay first.

As I stand up and walk towards her to examine her head.

I spot a couple of injuries and as I reached move her head around to look for more

She smacks my hand to the side and says. I'm fine answer my question.

Realizing she still hasn't got anything to eat and she even got injured in the process. I got a little bit upset so as a response to her slapping me on the wrist I grabbed her by the horns and threw her into the river with enough strength that I fell over

and as she climbed out I grabbed my food sack and cut the top half off and inspected it for dirt

I had to quickly lean out of her way as she walked over to me and screamed with a jet of fire coming out of her mouth. WHAT WAS THAT FOR.

Because I was already moving I decided to go ahead and wrap the thing around her head well she wasn't expecting it

As she turned around I said, coleus knew exactly what he was doing when he enslaved the Physically strongest people in town and made everyone else cower in fear. And the worst part was he enjoyed it. he wasn't doing it because he had to. He wasn't doing it because he didn't have another choice, he was doing it because he was a cruel bastard.

And that's why he had to die.

And that loud bang…

I stopped to think a moment

Was a magic spell I had to use because his skin was too thick to be pierced by normal means

She could have confused look on her face before saying I thought only unicorns could use magic

To which I responded, have you seen anything like me before?

And if you want to eat sometime tonight you'll go into that forest and get me a 7 ft long flexible stick

Foot? Sundrop asks

I hold up my right foot that is currently inside a mens size 9 and ½ boot

That is exactly one foot

"Long from heel to toe," I say, gesturing from the back of my foot to the front, as she gets a confused look. "It's a form of measurement where I come from."

"I can talk about it until the sun goes down, which is in about an hour, and I don't like the idea of rummaging through a forest in the dark," I say.

"Why not?" she asks. "That's when all the best hunting happens, or at least that's what my father used to say."

"Cuz I'm not a nocturnal creature," I reply, snapping her out of whatever internal thought process she had going on.

"Nocturnal?" she says.

"I'll explain it later. Get that stick before it gets dark out," I say.

"So, how long did you want it?" she asks while unfurling her wings.

"I want it to be taller than me, skinny enough for me to wrap one of my hands all the way around it," I say, holding up one of my hands. "And it has to be relatively straight," I finish.

"And why do you need this?" she says.

"Running out of sunlight," I reply. "Do you want to eat tonight or not?"

"What the Huff," she turns around and flies off up the hill.

I walk over to the bank and watch the fish as I think about how to catch them. Every successful fish spear I've seen has multiple heads or barbs on it, but I don't have the time to do that. The water is crystal clear, and I can see the fish easily and the bottom of the river doesn't have sharp rocks in it. Looking at the river and seeing all these perfectly smooth stones in it, I briefly wonder if the river is manufactured instead of natural, and then I chastise myself for getting off track.

The river doesn't have sharp rocks in it, so I could probably take my shoes off, and I haven't seen any snakes since I got on this planet, so I can take my pants off too and let them both dry by the fire. But how do I get the fish to stick to the spear if I don't have any barbs or anything to keep the fish on after I stab it?

But I am unable to finish my thoughts as Sundrop gets back with what appears to be an uprooted sapling. It's twice as tall as I am, which is good because the base of it's too thick and the top is too thin, but it is straight. So without saying anything, I take it from her hands... talons? I draw my sword and cut off the extra branches growing out to the sides and begin to work on the base close to where it was uprooted.

When Sundrop decides to ask the question again, "So what is that thing for?"

"Well, if you haven't noticed, I don't really have any natural weapons like claws or fire breath or sharp teeth. So I'm doing what my ancestors did and creating something we like to call a spear," I say. I see her start to open her mouth to interrupt me, so I do something very rude and hold her mouth shut like an alligator, and like an alligator, she doesn't have very strong muscles to open her mouth with. It would be a decent tactic against dragons if they couldn't reach their head. So before she can start to reach up to swipe my hand away with her scissorhands, I make a shushing sound.

"Shhhhhhhh, let me finish," I say, and surprisingly, she crosses her arms in irritated compliance, instead of just severing my hand at the wrist.

"I'm going to use this spear to catch the trout in the river over there,"

Trout?" she said.

"Yes, trout. They are a type of predator fish that have a blind spot in their vision. And no, I don't think you have to worry about them eating you unless you somehow find one that is bigger than you, which will be fairly difficult because even the biggest one I've ever heard of would still have a hard time eating a human baby. Now, if you get too close to its tail, it will definitely knock you out, but that's for the legendary sized ones, not the small ones," I say as I finish making the pointy end of my spear sharp with my pocket knife.

I look at Sundrop, who has a zoned-out look on her face, and then I continue, "So in short, trout have a blind spot that we can exploit to catch them."

Diary entry number 14

So continuing from where I left off

Pants

I unbuckled my belt removed my sword and sidearm from my hips remove my belt and laid them by the campfire I take my socks and shoes off

As well as my pants and lay everything by the campfire and maybe if I get lucky they'll be dry by the time I get back

I pick up the spear and start making my way back to the river when I notice Sundrop has got her back turned to me and a is standing a stiff posture

I decide to ignore her

And dip my feet into the water and remember how cold it was look at the top of the snow capped mountains and silently curse them

So yeah as I told Sundrop trout have a blind spot and if I remember what that old fisherman told me correctly trout look at the bottom of the river as well as the top but they don't look to the sides so realistically I should be able to walk up next to it crouch down and spear it to the bank

So the 20 minutes it took to get dark enough that I'd have to use a torch to continue fishing I caught four

And I wasn't going to bother continue fishing because I was cold

And I didn't want to get sick and I'm probably going to get sick anyway

As I approached the campfire with fish in hand

Sundrop covers her eyes and turns away

Realizing what she's doing and realizing it's something that would make my head hurt because lizards don't blush. Why? Because their scales are on top of their skin. I don't know. my head hurts

Anyways. I speak up saying. just so you know humans have secret smaller pants underneath they're normal pants

As I sit down next to the glorious warm fire picking up my pocket knife and beginning to gut the fish

What? Oh. She says picking at me through her fingers before lowering them

Few minutes of silence go by

I break it by saying. So what happened

What? She asks

To your head. I reply

Nothing. she says

Remember rule number one tell the truth and the whole truth no matter how bad it is. I remind her

My pray fought back. she answered

I wait a few minutes to see if she was going to continue but she didn't and with irritation only I noticed I asked. And?

And what. she answered

What was your prey. what was your plan of attack. Did you at least hurt it as badly as it hurt you.

I don't want to talk about it. she replied turning her back to me

That's when it was made clear to me that I had a morale problem on my hands

So I stopped a moment to mentally ask myself 'solvang morality problems' like I was typing a keyword into an internet browser

And like an internet browser I got a bunch of responses back

No worries this is supposed to happen

…

…

…

Beep boop

I whisper under my breath

…

Beep boop

I say a little bit louder

…

Beep boop

She heard me this time

She turned her head a little bit toward me

…

… Beep boop

What are you doing? She said

Beep boop? I said questionably

Why you saying that. She said but I could see that my plan was working

Beep boop. I answered

He- stop that. She growled trying to hide her emotions while leaning forward trying to intimidate me.

I remain quiet for a minute and slowly leaned in

Until our noses were roughly five inches apart

I saw of confusion her face but she stood her ground increasing the intensity of her growling

"Beep boop," I said in a high-pitched voice, swiftly raising my finger and tapping the end of her snout.

I was starting to have doubts near the end there, but my plan worked flawlessly. It was like I was pushing an actual button; she immediately lost her integrity. I just wish I hadn't compromised my own integrity, so I could have taken a picture.

"(Wheeze wheeze) It's okay if you still don't want to talk about it," I said. "I just wanted to see if I could help improve your hunting technique."

She lay there in silence while I skewered the fish and set them up to start cooking. No, I didn't forget to take the scales off.

"I heard Sundrop speak up. A little ways up the hill, I saw a turkey rummaging through the leaves," I said.

"I dive-bombed it, and as I was going for the kill, a large beast came out of nowhere and attacked me. So, I threw the turkey at it and made a run for it."

"Can you describe the large beast to me?" I asked.

As she did so, I figured out what she was describing. "A cougar," I said.

"What?" she asked.

"That's what attacked you," I responded. "Cougars are ambush predators, stealthy creatures. It was probably stalking the turkey you took down, and you didn't see it because its coat blended in with the dry leaves. They have hooks for claws to grab their prey, and then they rip out the throat of their capture with their teeth. It's probably having a hard time finding food if it was hunting something that small. And who knows, it could be a mother."

"I noticed Sundrop giving me a weird look."

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," Sundrop answered.

"Sundrop," I said with an authoritative voice.

"It's just that you're not acting like someone who just killed a guy in cold blood," she said.

"It's not cold blood if the guy you killed hurts people for fun," I responded. "There's no redeeming people like that."

"But still, it's like you're two different people, the kind person who values life, and the experienced killer. I saw how fast you moved. You killed him like he was an animal."

"Hey, that's offensive to the animals," I interrupted.

"Offensive to th-that beast tried to kill me for no reason," Sundrop said angrily.

"No reason?" I said calmly. "Imagine you're a mother with, let's say, three hungry children. You're hungry too, and all the larger prey is too dangerous to hunt. And some cheeky bastard is about to steal your kill, the kill you just sat hours waiting for the perfect moment to capture. The kill that will feed your children and let them live one more week. Now tell me that is no reason. Now, comparing that to what I did, that pig was using his natural ability to enslave that town. I bet if we arrived a few days later, everyone in that town would be as hungry as you were two days ago."

She looked as if she was going to say something but decided against it when her stomach growled.

"The fish is done. Eat up. I'm going to sleep," I said, while walking to the other side of the campfire, scooping up my vegetable bag, and laying down to watch the stars as I ate my dinner.

The rest of the night was spent in relative silence.

Diary entry number 15

I woke up early the next morning

Sundrop was still asleep

So I had some time to kill

So thinking about what to do

I remember the town we were just in

Judging from what I saw I doubt they have any sort of modern medicine so getting an infection would be a bad thing

So bathing would be a good thing to do as well as remembering to get myself cleaned at every opportunity

So I take off my remaining clothes and bathe myself

15 minutes later I got out. I was cold.

And Sundrop was still asleep

So I put all my clothes back on

And practiced my sword swing

Until my arms got tired and if I had to guess was probably about 5 minutes

And that was me pushing myself

So not good but better than nothing

So I sheathed my sword went down to the river and looked for a good stone that I can use to sharpen my blades

And I couldn't find anything that would actually work

But wouldn't riverstone's be perfect to sharpen blades?

No apparently not because they're too smooth

When you're looking for a sharpening stone

You're basically looking for a stone that is smooth and rough at the same time

For example you're looking for a smooth stone with microscopic holes in it

The stones in this River there certainly smooth and had holes in it but all the holes are too big

Now if I had a sling is would be perfect stones to have

But I don't have a sling nor do I have the skill to use one

What's a sling?

Basically the first version of a slingshot

This is around the time where sundrop woke up

Good morning sundrop I say

Morning Sundrop says drowsily

Do you still want to travel with me I ask

She pauses a moment to think before saying

I still owe my life to you

Well it's time to start carrying your own weight

I say

Go over to the river on catch some fish

I don't know how she said quietly as if she was disappointed in herself

I walk up to her and say let me see your hands she looks at me with a confused face as I take her wrist and examine her claws

This is the first time I saw them up close so I'll detail it. she had four fingers if you include a thumb her fingers by themselves were stubby compared to mine and on the tip of each one of them looks like a raptor claw if a raptor claw was straight ish

Which made up for it

Sundrop can you see the fish in the river from the sky I said

Yes she said

Jeez no wonder why they fear your kind I said

Yes I know it's because I'm a monster she said pulling her hand away and turning her back on me not noticing she just cut my hand open

Why are that so scared of me she continued

I never did anything to them.

all I ever did was ask for help

And every single time they chased me away and hurt me and beat me and then leave me to die

That day when you stood over me with that killer intent. I knew I wasn't going to wake back up that time.

But then I did she said turning back around and looking at me with a happy look in her face and posture

I had my left and injured hand press firmly to my hip in my right hand relaxed at my side

What? I'm not going to interrupt her

And then you fed me and that's when I knew after all my pain and suffering I finally found the kindest person alive

Quietly to my inner thoughts I can think of someone kinder. And no it does not matter if that person doesn't actually real

For only the kindest creature in the world would do such a thing

And now your even offering to teach me.

"So I know it is right in my heart when I say this: 'I offer myself to you, sire,' she said, kneeling.

And in my head, I wondered, 'Sire? As in king or royalty?' It was a bold move, considering she had only known me for a couple of days. But she is young, and by the way she makes it sound, I may be the first person who hasn't tried to kill her on sight in a long time, so I think I know where she's coming from.

'...ok,' I said, hiding my confusion. 'So let's get a move on. I remember we still aren't that far away from town, and I didn't stick around to see if they were mad that I killed that guy,' I said, picking up my makeshift spear and checking to make sure the fire went out with my boot. 'Sundrop, could you carry my vegetables, please?'

'Ok,' she replied."