He landed on top of it, right between its eyes. The sword bit deep into its skull, making a horrible squelching noise as the blade sunk in. Karlston could feel his hands burn as the blade cut into them. Red blood seeped from his fingers, down the blade. The dragon swung its head around wildly, an indescribable noise emanating from it. Karlston held on, every ounce of strength he used was all for this moment. He flung around as the dragon’s head swerved left, right, up and down.

Without warning, pain throbbed through Karlston’s hands. It wasn’t the blade slicing him. It was something else. Karlston could feel the malicious energy coming from it. It shot up his arms, through his shoulders and into his chest. He could not breathe. Like his heart was being crushed by an invisible hand. Before the feeling consumed him, something splattered into his left eye. 

Karlston screamed. His eye was on fire, the pain was unlike anything he had ever felt. The shock snapped him out of the strange state. The intensity of his agony kept rising, his screams did as well. After what felt like an eternity, Karlston fainted.

*           *           *

He awoke, everything his thoughts a haze. Karlston couldn’t remember anything. ‘Why do I feel so weak? What am I doing here?’ Karlston looked around for answers. Only out of his right eye could he see. Below him was the massive head of a dragon. Memories suddenly poured through, the shock of it paralyzed him for a few moments.

‘I struck at the dragon. Then some attack knocked me unconscious...’ Karlston noticed while thinking, that the dragon wasn’t moving. Its head was now slumped. Its body sagged onto the ground. Karlston was stuck in disbelief. ‘Is it dead?’ He waited for a few minutes longer before he started laughing hysterically. ‘It is!’

He slowly pulled the blade out of the dragons head, orange liquid oozed from the point of the blade. ‘Dragon blood… So that’s what it looks like.’ His left eye was irritating him, what had been a piercing pain was now reduced to a dull throb. He rubbed at it with the back of his hand and looked at it. There was dragon blood on his skin. ‘It must have spurted out from its head… The stuff is bloody painful!’ Although losing his sight was disturbing, Karlston ignored it.

He had expected to lose something in the exchange. He had been prepared to lose an arm or a leg. Compared to that, losing an eye was nothing. Karlston jumped down from the dragon’s head. He had no destination in mind. He just wanted to get away from where he was now. After a few moments of wandering, he ended up at the dragon’s chest. Karlston couldn’t understand why, but he felt drawn to it.

“I see it calls to you, does it not?”

Karlston spun around to see Galton standing right behind him. The Slayer had his long sword spear with him. With a closer inspection, Karlston could see that the blade resembled his own. The silver white metal almost glowed. Galton noticed him staring at it and stroked a finger along the edge.

“This is dragon steel. Black steel’s only the incomplete piece. It is made by combining steel with powdered dragon bones. In order to turn black steel into the complete item, you need dragon fire. That is why that child could not pierce through the dragon’s scales. Black steel is durable but not sharp.”

Karlston nodded, he got the feeling that Galton was hiding something. The slayer walked past him and stood near the dragon’s chest.

“Just so you know. You are not yet a fully fledged Slayer. There is a ritual that you need to complete first, here.”

Galton swung his weapon at the dragon’s chest. It sliced cleanly through the tough hide. The sliced area opened up and something slumped out. It was a large heart. Karlston felt like retching, the stench emanating from it was unbelievable. Galton then pointed at the massive organ.

“Eat some of it, you have to or you will not become a Slayer.”

Karlston stared at him, then at the heart. ‘No wonder it is a secret, no one would join a hunt if they realized they had to do that.’ He slowly stepped towards it, he felt it calling to him. As he stood right in front of it, Karlston could feel heat radiating from it.

He grabbed the large muscle and slammed his face into it, biting hard. It tasted disgusting. His body was rejecting it, every fiber of his being was screaming at him to spit it out. But he forced it in his mouth and started chewing the stringy flesh. ‘I will become a Slayer, even if I have to sell my soul!’ As he chewed, Galton started talking to him.

“When you first killed the dragon, you felt something burn into you. That was the dragon’s soul. When its body dies, the soul finds the nearest possible vessel to store itself into. Having this allows you to sense the dragons; you will be able to know where they are from miles away.

“But just having this ability will not give you the strength to combat the dragons. In order to have the power of a dragon, the strength needed to kill one, we devour their heart. That is the secret of the Slayers, in order to kill a dragon we become alike a dragon.”

Karlston barely heard what he was being told. As he swallowed some of the heart, he felt something flare up within him. He collapsed. The burning sensation pulsated throughout his body. He could hear a sickening crunching sound as his bones clicked back together. His skin tingled. His left eye throbbed in agony. Karlston twitched and shuddered as he lay on the ground. Galton stood over him, reciting an ancient ritual.

“You have now died, your bones lay among the ashes. But you shall rise again, with a body as strong as a dragon, with senses as sharp as a hawk.

“Welcome to our clan, child of fire. It is only in our clan that you will be welcomed. You have now outcast yourself from this world. All lands you may have owned will be relinquished. Any title you had will be abdicated. Only as a Slayer will you live. Only as a Slayer will you die. Now arise, child of fire, accept your fate.”

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Karlston felt the pain ebb away. As he got up his surprise was apparent. He did not feel any fatigue at all. As he looked over his left arm, he saw that the large gash that had been there had now been reduced to a thin scar. It was then that he realized. He could see out of his left eye again. However something was different.

Everything looked strange, warped. He could see swirls of colour all around him. Gold light rayed down from the sun. The earth seemed to glow red. As he looked at Galton, he could see an orange glow around and within the Slayer, whose facial features were distorted. Moving energy pulsed and swirled around the man.

Out of his right eye though, Karlston could see Galton’s expression, the man looked shocked. The Slayer quickly smoothed his face to his normal stone cold one. He put a hand on Karlston’s shoulder and recited some more ritual words.

“I Galton, the Piercing Spear, do proclaim you now a fully fledged Slayer. Your Slayer title shall be… the Dragon Eye.”

Galton’s attitude changed. A friendlier tone in his voice.

“Welcome to the clan. Karlston Fireheart. You do not need to worry about taking the dragon’s remains with you. We will handle the transportation back to our headquarters. You can collect the gold from the encampment outside. We will give you two weeks to say your farewells and tie up any loose ends. Then you will venture to our clan sanctuary.”

Then Galton turned around and clapped his hands.

“Now then, time to clean up.”

As he said that, two Slayers came forward, they were dragging a man Karlston did not recognize with them. The larger Slayer came to attention.

“Galton. Sir! This man is one of the survivors. We believe he saw the ritual. What shall we do with him?”

Galton looked him over, Karlston did the same. The man had that weedy look of a coward. Galton looked back at the Slayer without giving the man another glance.

“There were no survivors, except for the new Slayer.”

The big Slayer nodded, then he grabbed the man’s head and wrenched it. There was a nauseating cracking sound as the man’s neck twisted around, he was facing backwards. Karlston was revolted, he turned to Galton angrily.

“Why did you do that? The man had not done anything wrong!”

Galton looked back with the same stone cold look he had before.

“If people come back speaking of the ritual we will be rejected by society, we will be hunted by nations. There are hundreds of thousands of people who need us to survive from the threat of the Dragons. Do you want me to risk our total annihilation against a man who would sell information for coin?”

Karlston was thinking of some sort of retort when he heard a familiar voice shouting. He turned to see Ward struggling against the two Slayers who were dragging him over to Galton. It was obvious that he knew what was going to happen. Karlston was sweating heavily. ‘We promised to go out drinking once this is over, but now... No, we will!’

Before Galton could give the order, Karlston charged at the two men, reaching them in an instant. They were both taken unawares as he grabbed them and pried them away from Ward. They suddenly flew away in both directions. Karlston was astonished. ‘I had only meant to push them off. What is this strength?’ Before the two Slayers could get up, Karlston pointed at Galton.

“You will not kill this man. I claim him as one of my followers. If you want him you will have to go through me.”

Galton showed such rage on his face, Karlston feared he would attack them there and then. But just as suddenly, his rage cooled.

“Very well, we will not kill him. But you will be held responsible for him, if he talks…”

Galton left the threat hanging. He lifted a hand dismissively. The Slayers, whom were now on their feet, nodded and left. When Karlston turned to face Ward, he could see that tears streaming down the man’s face.

“Thank you,” were the only words he could get out.

Karlston nodded. Before Galton could change his mind, Karlston grabbed Ward by the arm and pulled him along, away from this hell on earth. He could now see the left over destruction from the battle. There were bodies strewn all over the place. Broken fragments of rock scattered where the dragon had crashed against the spires.

Slayers picked through the remains. They were prying off weapons and armour which stuck to the burnt flesh of the corpses. Karlston felt revolted by the sight. ‘It is like they… no, we. It is like we are vultures, we scavenge through the remains of people who fight for our cause.’ Ward was retching. It was too much for the man. Karlston patted him on the back and lead the way. Once they left the dragon’s lair, Ward stopped.

“Hey Karlston, I need to head off to my hometown. I have some business to attend to. Is it alright if I go?”

Karlston nodded, he also needed to sort out his own private issues.

“Do that. Once you’re finished, meet me up at the Slayer outpost in the city of Zentrum.”       

Ward nodded. He headed towards a different direction in the campsite. Karlston walked the long way back to the campsite, heading to the centre. There, he found the female Slayer wearing green armour standing in front of the tent entrance. She looked him over and shook her head.

“It’s miraculous. A normal person actually managed to do it. Galton may be right after all.”

She pointed a thumb behind her.

“Your money is in the tent, take it.”

Karlston did just that, he grabbed a large bag from the table, which jingled appreciatively as he shook it. As he exited the entrance, the woman slapped him round the back.

“Welcome to the clan. It’s the only home you have now.”