Walking across the valley at a brisk pace, Esmond encountered numerous dragons, who, as usual, showed no interest in engaging with him, either by walking away or displaying outright aggression. Luckily for him, though, he could now read their body language easily enough to know when to back off. None of these dragons, as usual, wanted anything to do with him, and he didn't want to walk around this area any longer than he had to. He knows it would just be the same as usual for him.
As he neared the border, he could see the girl, who was about his age and had accompanied him on the ship to the island, in the distance. It appeared that she had already found her own dragon. She stands there, giggling and laughing, as the beast rubs its head gently on her. While Esmond hadn't seemed to clock it before, the lady was wearing a dress—usually ones for riding horses side-saddle—and he guessed it would work the same for riding a dragon. Although she would have to ride it sideways, he had seen similar saddles on dragons in the past, but they were uncommon because it was more difficult to ride a flying dragon sideways.
The dress itself was navy blue, with a white underskirt that would peek out from underneath. She wore black leather riding boots, which appeared to have been untouched by dirt until today. The girl had long, thick brown plaited hair that went down past her hips. It looked like it would be a hassle to deal with on a daily basis. She looked almost out of place, but her confidence made up for it. No normal person would wear something so hard to run away in. But maybe that's what made the dragon choose her.
Esmond looks more closely at the wyvern. It wasn't very big, its back was only slightly taller than the lady itself, but still big enough to carry her small frame. It was a light brown in colour with darker stripes and what looked to be yellow eyes, but it was harder to tell from a distance. The Wyvern then spots him, stopping her from snuggling with her found owner and snarling at Esmond, who was standing at the top of a hill looking down at them. The young lady turns around quickly, almost frightened, looking up at what her dragon is making a fuss about. When she realised it was only Esmond, a light smile appeared on her face, and she gave him a small wave before turning back to her dragon to make more fuss.
He takes that as a sign to leave them alone, and he doesn't stick around any longer than he has to. For the rest of the journey, he jogs to make up for any lost time; at that point, it was already high afternoon, so he wouldn't have very long till it was going to start getting dark.
Signs, evenly spaced apart, marked the end of the safe zone, warning people of the dangers of crossing it. There were no laws stopping anyone from crossing the safe zone, as the island itself was a neutral zone, so the laws of each country wouldn't affect the island. No one could assist you beyond the safe zone, and the temple detested organising search parties for individuals who chose to disregard the alerts.
Esmond looked around at the entrance to the forest, it looked dark and eerily silent. He looks back one more time, almost reconsidering his choices, but he puts those thoughts aside and strides his way into the forest.
It had been hours, and it was starting to get dark. Esmond was sweating and breathing heavily. It would take days, even weeks, to search around the whole of the island on foot, but that wasn't an option for Esmond, so he was running for most of the day. He had come across two different types of dragons during his searching, but neither had been too thrilled about seeing him. During his search, he managed to find a tree that had a big burrow that a smaller dragon must have used in the past as its home. Since nothing was there anymore, Esmond decided to use it as his camping spot for the night to keep him sheltered and out of sight.
He stripped off almost all of his clothing and tossed it over nearby branches to dry off while he slept. After this, he descends to a nearby stream and uses the water to cleanse most of his body. However, the water also softens the fresh wound on his lower arm, which he had inflicted earlier that day while attempting to see if an egg would hatch for him. As the blood trickles down his hands and into the water to wash away downstream, Esmond, fully aware that this wound would only attract danger, swiftly cleans it up and returns to his camp.
Once at camp, he tears a bit of cloth from his hung-up shirt and wraps it around his arm. Normally, they would have given you a bandage to cover up your wound, but Esmond didn't stay long enough, clotting his wound and leaving immediately for the valley. It was a foolish choice on his part, as the wound could potentially become infected, but he wasn't considering the consequences at the moment.
Esmond climbs into the old burrow and places some old leaf-covered branches he had collected earlier to cover up the hole so it wouldn't leave him exposed. He tries to get himself as comfy as possible in a curled-up position at the back of the burrow. Though it wasn't the comfiest sleep he has ever had, he still managed to get some sleep, which he very much needed.
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The sun shone through the cracks in the branches placed at the burrow's entrance, shining light into his eyes and waking him up with a groan. Esmond carefully pulls the branches back to not make too much noise, peaks outside of the burrow, and takes in his surroundings. Apart from the birds chirping, everything was quiet, and there were no signs of anything nearby at the time. He leaves his temporary camp and does a quick sweep of the area, but there were no signs of anything or anyone near, the only tracks were the ones he had left the night before.
After taking another quick washdown at the stream, Esmond quickly gets dressed to avoid wasting any more time. He does some quick stretches before carrying on with his journey through the island.
Once again, the day proved to be unsuccessful. He encountered a group of smaller dragons, who did not even bother to smell him before chasing him off. He also met a drake and another wyvern, but it was once again a failure. The number of times he had almost met death was starting to take a toll on him already, so he decided to cut the day short and head back to the makeshift camp he had used the night prior. He could go in the other direction the next day and hope it ends up better for him, but that's only something he can pray for.
Once back at the camp, he notices some tracks of some kind of drake that had been by at some point during the day, but there was nothing else, it didn't even seem to check out the burrow itself, so maybe it hadn't caught the scent of Esmond. While he didn't want to take any more risks, he hadn't found any other suitable places to spend the night, and with the sun beginning to set, attempting to find another spot would risk exposing himself at night. Swallowing his saliva, he gets to work putting more branches at the entrance of the burrow, trying to make sure no one will see him.
This time he decides to sleep in his clothes, leaving them out could draw attention to his area, so it was best to leave things looking as natural as possible. Once again pushing himself to the furthest part of the burrow, he feels a slight chill of wind coming through the tunnel. He wraps his arms around himself and tucks his knees under him, trying to stay as warm as possible.
Strong winds swept through the night, settling only once the sun rose, sweeping away most of the branches and stealing sleep. He was wide awake and exhausted, unable to move from his current position, eager to return to sleep, until he heard the sudden thump and cracking of twigs underfoot.
Esmond's eyes spring wide open, and his heart starts to beat rapidly in his chest, to the point where he can hear it. He tries to take some quiet, deep breaths to calm his heart down, but a figure shadows the opening of his burrow. The beast grumbles and snorts as it sniffs around the entrance of the burrow, its tusks catching on some branches that cover it and dragging them away. The beast bears a strange resemblance to Esmond, but before he has a chance to react, an arm bursts through the branches and reaches down the burrow, attempting to seize anything within its reach. Esmond tries to push himself as far as he can to the end, but he's already there. He tries dodging the different swings the beast makes in the burrow before it starts digging at the entrance.
With its big clawed hands, the drake furiously digs, taking away massive clumps of soil with each dig of its hands. It tries shoving its rounded head in a few times, but it doesn't fully fit. Esmond's mind becomes blank as he verbally shouts "fuck!" any time it comes to close, but it didn't take long for it to finally get close enough to where its hand reaches Esmond and grasps his leg, pulling him clean out of the burrow and almost throwing him into the air. The speed at which he gets pulled out is almost surprising to the drake, as well, as it missed biting Esmond as he rolls out. The drake repositions itself to face Esmond and growls with a snort, but Esmond is quick on his feet and gets up, facing the drake with his arms and legs shaking.
Looking at the one who pulled him out, he can clearly see the drake in front of him. Recognising its features, he can clearly see that it is the same drake that killed his brother. Hatred and fear simultaneously overwhelm Esmond, leaving him uncertain about his next move. The beast lunges towards him, attempting to bite him. Esmond dodges to the side onto the ground, but quickly recovers as he scrambles back up and sprints away, with the drake pursuing him closely.
With only two legs, Esmond could not run as fast as an animal with four, and the drake was easily catching up to him. However, it appeared to be playing with its potential meal, as it pushed him over or scratched him, allowing him to escape. Esmond cursed the beast for this, but it may give him time to find an exit. Unfortunately for him, the beast was chasing him in unknown parts of the forest he had yet to explore, which left him lost and confused. Even his screams seemed to be lost, as all he could do was breathe heavily, trying to grasp at any oxygen he could.
Eventually, the drake grew weary of pursuing his prey and pounced on Esmond, causing him to lose his breath. Esmond lets out a groan of pain as he is pushed down upon with the weight of the beast on his back. He turns his head, and at the corner of his eye, he can see it open its mouth. With a grumble, he is about to take a bite when suddenly the weight is lifted from his back and the drake is pushed, tumbling into a small tree, breaking it down.
Esmond remains on the ground as he hears a scuffle of two beasts fighting, but it sounded like the drake was afraid and was yelping. Whatever had the drake was much bigger than it and was easily taking it down, but Esmond couldn't see what was going on properly. After one last protest roar, the drake suddenly becomes quiet, with only the sounds of flesh tearing and bones breaking. Esmond takes this as a hint to try and get away.
As he struggles to get up, he manages to get on his hands and knees, just in time to feel a hot breath tickle the back of his head and open wounds. He turns around slowly, coming face-to-face with a dragon.