Coal walked along the street. His bag was bursting with green herb, even though he’d only gone to the forest for an hour this morning he’d collected twice as much as he usually would. He’d even tried jogging in the forest.

And. It was. Amazing!

He’d almost broken into a full run but he’d managed to control himself. Super heart or not he was still weak. Years of malnutrition and lack of activity had left him thin and sallow. His arms were stringy and his chest sunken. He would need to build a proper foundation on a healthy diet and strength training. Fortunately he knew just where to go to get the information on doing that.

His route took him down the main road of Hever, past the Swordsmith and armourer. Necessary shops for any town with Hunters. Past the bakery with it’s heavenly smells and colourful display filled with iced cakes and fancy pastries for the wealthy merchants and few nobles who called Hever home. He passed the Hunters guild building too, a squat low building with benches outside, a low slung sign with the picture of a sword and staff crossed below a full face helmet hung above the big oak double doors. Coal's step slowed involuntarily but he pushed on. It was far too early to introduce himself to the Hunters guild.

He turned down a side street and approached Hever church. Standing apart from the surrounding buildings, it was a tall, rectangular building, with a peaked roof and a solitary spire that housed the church bells. The tall cross on top of the spire. Coal wasn’t particularly religious, Jesus had never done much for him or his mother, but still he visited the church often. For the books.

Coal skirted around the side of the church and up to the side door, a small wooden hatch in the back, barely five feet tall, and thumped on the wood. The Door led out into a small, neat herb garden the matron kept. That very woman opened the door and eyed Coal grumpily. The church's matron was a stout, think armed woman with an unruly mop of bright copper hair. She was a curmudgeonly old bat but Coal liked her all the same. She was grumpy with everyone so when she treated him with the same gruffness it almost made him feel normal.

“Hello, Matron,” Coal said politely. “I’m here to see Priest Thomas” Coal tried not to wring his hands as the large woman eyed him. Finally she huffed and moved away from the door. Knowing this was all the invitation Coal was likely to get he ducked inside.

The matron led him from the kitchen down a hallway and stopped to barge through a door. Coal followed and found himself in the Priests' cosy study. It was a small room, the floor covered in a colourful red and gold rug. There were a few leather bound chairs, plump with stuffing but scratched and torn in places. The walls were covered, from floor to ceiling, in bookshelves.

Priest Thomas looked up from one of the chairs where he sat, at their entrance. He wore a black priest's robe and black trousers, a large gold cross on a chain around his neck and a book open in his lap, small half moon spectacles rested on the end of his sharp nose.

The priest was a shaggy, unkempt man, especially for a priest. The other Priest of Hever, Father Richard, was a neat, fastidious man, always tidy and rigid. Neatly combed hair and beard, neatly pressed robes. In contrast Father Thomas had wild brown hair that sat in a mop on his head. His robes were ruffled and torn in places, often dirty around the edges, his face was sharp featured and almost feral, small mouth and high cheekbones. A small scar licked up his chin and he had a notch in his upper lip.

He looked up at the matron and then turned his gaze to Coal who stood awkwardly next to the large woman. His eyes were a deep green flecked through with amber and they just added to his wild appearance. Like some strange forest creature had strolled from the woods one day and decided to throw on a robe and start preaching.

Father Thomas took off his spectacles and stood, grinning widely. “Coal! How good to see you boy,” the priest said in his hearty, warm voice. He threw his arms wide as if to crush Coal in a bear hug but then seemed to think better of it and just patted Coal on the shoulder gently. “You look good lad,” The priest looked him up and down, “I think you’ve gotten taller.” Coal blushed at the compliment, “Thank you Matron, I’ve got the lad from here.” The matron huffed and barged back out of the room, shutting the study door in what wasn’t, quite, a slam. “God bless her,” The priest shook his head, chuckling to himself. “Ok lad, so what would you like to read today?” He looked down at Coal with his wild green eyes glinting.

Coal spent the next two hours in the priest's study. After half an hour or so priest Thomas had left to go about his duties, telling Coal he could stay as long as he liked. The priest seemed curious about Coals' sudden avid studying but he didn't ask anything. Usually when Coal came to the church he would sit with a book in his lap in one of the comfy chairs, one of the Beastiarys or Monster anthologies and he would lose himself to the descriptions, the list of weaknesses and strengths, of the amazing magical feats these magical beatsies could unleash.

This time he sat on the floor, half a dozen books opened around him as he wrote notes and cross referenced material, making a plan for his training.

He wrote down a detailed copy of a strength training regimen he found, specifically designed for combat. Below it he put a copy of a dietary guide from the same book. This one worried him a little. He'd never been able to stomach hardy foods like meats and rich vegetables. Any food with any kind of flavour really. But, I'm different now. Fixed. It should be fine. Coal put it out of his mind, the diet was necessary to build muscle.

He also used several pages to copy out the forms and instructions from the swordsman manual. This was the first time he'd properly studied the book and he found it fascinating. The images were well drawn and detailed, showing the correct stances down to the smallest detail. The writings were a mix of detailed instructions and a sort of philosophy teaching. It talked about the mindset and will of a swordsman.

He didn't bother copying any of the books that covered beasts and monsters, these he'd already studied so thoroughly and for so many years that he'd practically memorised the information. For now what he needed was a plan, so he collected the books on the local area. Books on locations of monsters and beasts in the surrounding forest. He would go to the Hunters guild in town eventually and register but he needed to grow stronger first. There would be a test and he was still basically the same weak kid.

Besides he couldn't join until his 18th birthday and that wasn't for another month. For now he’d train and nourish himself. Once he had some strength he would challenge some of the weaker monsters in the forest . He knew from his reading about Hunters that their power grew when they defeated enemies. He would grow stronger and gain new powers aligned with his link.

Coal sat back and surveyed his notes with an uneasy smile. It all seemed so straight forward now that he had it outlined in writing but he knew it wouldn't be that simple. It would take months to build his body to any semblance of strength and he doubted his sword skills would be up to much by then. He knew how dumb it was to think he could become a master swordsman by copying some forms from a book. Still, he had to try.

Coal clenched his right fist, feeling the new found strength there. It almost seemed he had gained muscle definition from his one day of sword practice, though he knew that was foolish. He clenched his fist harder and made a vow to himself. Now that I am whole I will try my hardest to get strong. To live. To be happy.

This oath sounded stupid in his own head but it also filled him with happiness. All he'd ever had was his foolish dreams but now he could actually move towards them. He smiled.

The door to the study burst open and priest Thomas strolled in, swinging the door shut behind him. “So, still here?” The wild priest peered down at the books surrounding Coal, “quite a collection. Are you going to tell me what's going on or what?” The priest flicked his green eyes up to look at Coal, “like, what happened to your eyes?” He raised one eyebrow.

“My eyes?” Coal honestly had no idea what the priest was talking about.

“Well yeah, I could've sworn they were brown before but now they're yellow, almost golden. Plus, did you dye your hair? I thought you were poor, don't you have better things to spend your money on?” The wild priest spoke casually, flipping a hand at Coal.

“I honestly have no idea what you're talking about,” Coal said. He really didn't.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Huh,” the priest watched him for a moment, then shrugged and stood up. He walked over to a cupboard between the bookshelves on one wall and opened it to reveal a mirror attached to the back of the door. “See for yourself,” the young priest gestured at the mirror.

Coal stood, still marvelling at how easily his body moved now after even just a day. He walked over to the mirror and braced himself before looking into it. He avoided his reflection by reflex. He was reasonably tall for his age, maybe 6 foot, but he was also dreadfully skinny. Last time he'd seen himself his face had been sunken and gaunt, deep black pits under his eyes and massive hollows in his neck. His sandy brown hair had been limp and greasy.

So when he looked up and saw his reflection he was momentarily gobsmacked. He was still skinny, almost starved. But now his features seemed sharper, more animalistic. When he bared his teeth even they looked to have sharpened. His hair seemed fuller too, thicker and the priest was right, it looked like he'd dyed it. Instead of sandy brown it was now a very dark brown with hints of auburn. And his eyes had also shifted colour to a sparkling yellow so deep and warm it looked like true gold, little specks of brighter yellow forming a ring around his iris. “Woooooah,” Coal said in awe, taking in his new reflection.

“Coal, I'm going to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me,” the priest looked at him, more serious than Coal had ever seen him, “did you get a makeover?”

Coal couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. The laugh was loud and full. The priest smiled at him and Coal realised he'd been making a joke.

“No, no,” Coal chuckled, “I guess it's been kind of a crazy few days.” And so, seeing no reason not to and honestly really wanting to tell someone, anyone, to say it out loud, as if that would make it really true. Coal told priest Thomas everything that had happened to him recently.

When his tale was done Coal sat and watched the priest, waiting for him to speak. He tried not to twitch and fidget. Now that he'd said it all he was beginning to realise just how crazy it all sounded. How utterly unbelievable.

“Well,” the priest finally said, “well, well, well.”

“Look I know it sounds silly but I swear to you it really….”

“I believe you,” Priest Thomas broke in, “honestly it's obvious now that I really look at you, I should have noticed sooner.”

Coal was caught off guard by the priest's easy acceptance and didn't say anything. He couldn't think of a thing to say. Even to him his story sounded outlandish.

“Well,” the priest said again, “I suppose we should start with the things you need to know.”

The priest sat forward and looked Coal in the eyes, “Your link is very dangerous.”

Coal lent forward, eager to hear any information about the mysterious powers of Hunters. He knew the very basics, Hunters absorbed parts from the monsters they hunted to gain abilities similar to the monsters they got their link from. But that was it, that was all he knew. None of the books in the priests library had any more information.

The priest considered him. “What do you know about links, lad?”

Having just been thinking about this very thing, Coal answered quickly, “not much.”

“The broad strokes then. Men have been using links for a long time, hundreds of years even. How it works is actually pretty simple. You just have to hunt a monster, chop a part off and take it into your body. Sounds easy right?”

Coal nodded, though he was thinking it couldn't possibly be that easy.

“Well, it's not!” The priest thumped the arm of his chair as he said this and Coal jumped. The scruffy priest let out a gruff chuckle, “truth is lad, men have been studying links and the way they work for centuries. Different groups and familial lines horde their secrets closely. It's not as simple as just cutting off a chunk of beasty and chomping on it. Different parts have different effects. The way you integrate the monster's part with your body also matters. There are all these different procedures for achieving different results and the vast majority of them are a secret known only to a few.”

The priest paused and looked back at Coal, “but one thing I can tell you. So far as I know, nobody has ever unlocked the ability to control dragon fire.”

Coal sat back, goggled. “But….. tons of people have dragon links. They're in all the story's. I mean, that's what the mayor's bounty’s about right?”

“It is and that's true,” the priest nodded, “we know some ways to get a link from a dragon. Some of them are even common knowledge, but none give you fire.” The priest looked at him seriously, “tell me exactly what the description for dragon heart says.”

“Uh, sure,” As soon as he thought of it, the box with his dragon tree appeared instantly, “it says ‘dragon heart, trunk ability. Your heart is filled with the undying flames of a dragon’.”

“Well there you go kid,” the priest waved his hand through the air, “your trunk ability. All your other abilities are based off of that one. You can get other trunk abilities later in your growth sure, but they're usually just expansions on this initial thing. And your thing is fire.” The priest thumped his chair again, this time with both hands. Then he stood and started pacing back and forth.

“Dragon fire. Incredible!” The priest threw Coal a look as he paced, “What do you know about dragons?”

Coal sat up, eager to have a question he could actually answer. He knew all about dragons. “Lots, I……”

“Right, stupid question. I know how much you read,” the priest broke in, practically bouncing as he strode back and forth in the small library, his tatty black robe flaring out as he spun back and forth and gesticulated wildly, “big flying lizards. Strong, tough and smart. But what I'm guessing you don't know, what I'm sure isn't in any of these books,” the priest waved both arms at the room, at the bookcase lining the walls, “is that their fire is the secret to it all.”

The priest stopped pacing and leaned down, putting his hands on the back of his abandoned chair. Looking Coal in the eyes he continued, Coal leaning forward avidly, “Dragon fire is powerful. Incredibly destructive. It burns hotter than even black powder but it's more than that, it doesn't just burn it consumes. It eats everything in its path. Laying waste and leaving nothing but ashes.”

Coal was completely consumed by the priest's words, his mind's eye filled with images of fiery beasts burning cities and ravaging the landscape. Then he thought of himself, breathing fire and roaring at the sky.

“But it's more than even that,” seeming to calm down some the priest moved around and reclaimed his seat, “dragon fire is more than just a weapon, it's power. Energy. When a dragon is full of fire they're incredibly strong and quick but as they use more and more of their flames they weaken. That's the key to defeating them see, you get them to use up their power until they're weak enough to kill. But what it means for you is that this link could give you the true power of a dragon. Not just it's greatest weapon but also it's incredible strength!” The priest clenched his fist, grinning wide, almost manically.

Thomas sat back, trying to absorb all that he had learned. It made sense he realised. He felt it. Even now he could feel the strong thump of his heart, sending threads of warmth through his body with every beat. He also realised this made it almost the perfect link for him.

“As you can imagine, this is basically the perfect link for you, lad.” Coal startled at seemingly having his mind read. The priest smiled at him, “it's the obvious thing to think about. And this is perfect. Not only will this ‘dragon's heart’ ability negate your body's weakness, it'll go past that. Obviously I can't tell you the specifics. As I said and as far as I know you are the only person to ever have this ability. But there are a few things we can be pretty certain of.

“This fire inside you will make you stronger, faster, healthier. So, and I know I'm repeating myself here, this is the perfect thing for you. Now come on lad, don't keep me in suspense. What's the plan?”

Thomas outlined what little he'd thought of so far. He told the priest about his plans for strength and sword training. About the diet he'd found and his idea to hunt in the woods in preparation for the hunters test.

“Hmm,” the priest stroked his chin, “it's a good start. Exercising will be important, though don't be surprised if you make remarkable progress in a very short time. Now that you're linked you'll have to get used to the unbelievable.” The priest grinned and Coal smiled back meekly, still a little scared to get his hopes up.

“But, I do think we can do better in some ways,” Coal looked up at him expectantly, “For starters, the hunting ground. The woods near our fine town are pretty well hunted clean, your best bet would be the old graveyard.”

Coal knew of it, mostly as a place to avoid. Graveyards needed to be guarded and have protections in place to prevent spirits or undead from stirring. Without those protections they could be very dangerous places.

“You know what to expect there?” The priest asked.

Coal nodded. It actually wasn't a bad idea, as long as he was prepared. And very careful.

“Ok. Next there's the Hunters guild. That's a fine way for a person with a link to get by but I think there might be another way, for you specifically. Maybe a better way.” The priest stroked his chin, “I tell you what. The mayor's going to make a speech tonight, you can probably guess what about. I want you to go and listen, hear what he has to say and see if maybe it gives you an idea. If it does come back and talk to me, got it?”

Coal nodded again, a little unsure now. He figured he did know what the mayor's speech was going to be about but honestly he wasn't at all sure what any of that could have to do with him.

“Good. Now, come on. Out with you! I do have actual priestly work to do, you know.” The priest grumped and corralled Coal from the room, shoving him out and shutting the door in his face with a thump.