"Where is Mister Fujita today?" Haleford asked as he took his place at the center of class the following day.

Maria leaned over and reiterated the question to Dory.

"Oh, I am sorry. He is currently out on an assignment."

"An assignment?" Haleford asked. "Could he not have scheduled better? We'll be covering polar capacity today."

"I will share my notes with him tonight. It is very important that he completes his assignment. I hope you understand."

"...Very well, as long as you ensure he does his part and studies the material we cover today. I will teach slowly, to ensure you are not left behind. And do let him know that in the event of his assignment completing early, he is welcome to be tutored after class." Haleford turned on the presentation as Dory texted her brother. "You are likely already aware of the metrics by which one's proficiency with Haonus is measured, but..."

Ken finished his drink, and tossed the can into the trash. He reached down to grab his spear, and scanned over the scene. An abandoned apartment building, derelict for almost a year now. Ken pulled a mechanical gas mask up onto his face, and headed inside.

The majority of Feeders are not dumb beasts- they reflect the intelligence of the creatures from which they are born. Although Ken did not know exactly what kind of Feeder- or Feeders- he'd be encountering, he knew that if they were intelligent enough to make a nest, they were intelligent enough to put up a fight. Unfortunately for him, this assignment did not come with any eyewitness testimonies, or descriptors at all. In fact, this whole job was a black box- the only thing that was known was that people were disappearing in this building. If luck would have it, there might not even be a Feeder here. Ken is not a lucky boy.

Ken kicked down the door into the first apartment. It wasn't locked, but he wanted to. He checked the apartment's rooms, keeping his eyes an ears open. Nothing. He left the apartment, and looked at the other fifteen rooms he had on the same floor, and at the other six floors. He sighed. He wasn't getting paid enough for this.

The first Feeder was on the third floor. By then, Ken had started to get a little exhausted. The Feeder lunged at him, and gave him that burst of adrenaline he needed. Blue sparks crackled out from Ken as he dodged to the side. He spun his spear around, reversing his grip, and stabbed into the serpentine Feeder. Amidst the burst of ash from the Feeder's wound, Ken stomped down onto its neck. He shouted, and sliced down the Feeder's body, splitting it in half from the neck down. The monster, which Ken barely gave a chance to be described, crumbled away into ash.

"That's right," Ken smiled to himself beneath his mask. "It's do or die."

Ken continued through the complex, on high alert from the ambush. Though he surveyed the rest of the third floor with no confrontation, he kept on his toes. But as he arrived at the fourth floor, Ken decided there was a better way of going about this. He walked to the end of the hallway, and placed his hand against the door of the first door of the floor. Blue sparks crackled from his morneum to his hand, and he shouted "Isonade!"

The sparks of blue amassed over his shoulder, and stretched into the shape of a shark. The blue light faded, transforming into a pitch-black shark with six pairs of eyes and a maw that stretched down to its gills.

Isonade dove into the wall, swimming straight through as if it were water, and made its way about the room. Ken couldn't see through Isonade, but he was vaguely aware of where it was in relationship to him. More importantly, he was aware if it incurred any damage. He wouldn't be able to seize any surprise attacks, letting any Feeders attack first, but it would be far preferable to putting his own life at risk. And besides, he could always summon Isonade again.

Ken made his way up the fourth and fifth floors without a single encounter. It unnerved Ken, but a part of him remained hopeful that the serpent he fought on the third floor would be the only one. As he climbed up to the sixth floor, he was immediately set on edge. Once again, he sent Isonade to scout the rooms. It made it through two of the rooms, but the moment it entered into the third Ken felt the feedback of his spirit being destroyed. Ken didn't even have time to track how long it took- he guessed somewhere in the ballpark of ten seconds. Not a good sign.

Ken walked to the third room, and summoned Isonade again. Rather than send it through the wall to be killed again, he braced himself to attack the Feeder from two sides. He sent Isonade into the fourth room- seeing no reason not to scout ahead while he was at it- and prepared to kick down the door.

The door burst open in a shower of blue sparks. Ken had little time to regain his footing as attacks flew at him- acting as quickly as he could, he jumped into the air to avoid the two pale lamprey-looking Feeders fly past him on either side. He landed and checked behind himself, watching the pair sail over the edge of the balcony and hopefully to their deaths below. As he turned back around, he grunted in pain as another lamprey buried itself in his chest. Ken screamed through his gas mask as he felt its teeth burrow into his chest cavity, and did his best to reinforce the area with Organion as quickly as he could in spite of the pain. He ducked out of the doorway as two more lampreys launched at him, collapsing onto the floor and ripping the lamprey out of his chest. He swung it like a flail, dashing its head open on the ground. As it dissolved into ash, Ken looked down at his chest, and at the numerous wounds the Feeder had ripped open in such a short time. He focused on the wound, letting the blue light of Organion fill his chest as the bleeding stopped. Ken glanced at his shirt and at the ground where he stood moments prior, checking to ensure no Feeders were rising out of his own blood. To his dismay, most of the blood had been sucked up by the Feeder he just killed. At the very least, he didn't need to kill any little versions of himself.

"Fuck me," Ken said as he stood up. His legs shook, but he silenced them with a couple quick slaps on his face. "Didn't think that thing would react so fast." Ken grabbed his spear, and prepared to turn back into the corridor.

Ken sent Isonade through the wall, and half a second later ran into the room. To his shock, the Feeder shot more lampreys at both him and Isonade at the same time- three sent at his spirit, and two at himself. Ken dodged one and impaled the other on his spear, though he could not get his spirit to react quickly enough to avoid any of them, quickly ripped apart into scraps of blue light. Ken finally got a look at what he would be fighting: some disgusting and bloated mass of flesh, of the same color and texture as a tapeworm, surrounded on all sides by numerous valves. The body of the Feeder pulsed grotesquely from within, and Ken gagged as he caught the slithering shape of what could only be countless more of the smaller Feeders underneath. Though the Feeder possessed no eyes, or any sensory organs for that matter, Ken understood that it had to be able to perceive him somehow. As another volley of worms flew at him, Ken turned and ducked into the hallway.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Ken panted to himself as he did his best to analyze the Feeder he had only a few seconds to see. One thing was for certain: this was not a Feeder of his level. Ken considered retreating and getting someone else to get rid of this thing, but as he did he remembered his expenses. Over four thousand dullors due by the end of the week, four thousand dullors he did not have. Ken pulled out his phone, and held it around the corner, using the camera to spy on the Feeder as best he could. To his surprise, not one of the smaller Feeders flew at him. Ken waved his arm up and down, and to his surprise the Feeder seemed not to react at all. Ken smiled to himself- he just made some easy money.

Ken took a picture of the Feeder, in hopes it would raise his reward money, and stood up. From outside the room, he wound up his spear, taking great care to watch its movements as he did. His guess was correct- it did not, in fact, use any eyes or ears to perceive its surroundings. From what he could infer, the Feeder most likely detected vibrations in the air, and shot its sub-Feeders without thinking. Ken let a big grin fall across his face, and sparks of blue burst from his entire body. Ken hurled the spear, feeling a deep satisfaction as he heard the crack of the sound barrier breaking, and even more satisfaction as his spear shot clear through the Feeder. Ken flexed, looking at himself in the window of the apartment, as he eyed the Feeder deflate as its countless spawn spilled out from the new wound and onto the ground. As the main body disintegrated into ash, Ken once again summoned Isonade, which gleefully set about devouring the leftover smaller Feeders.

Ken retrieved his spear, buried almost forty centimeters into the wall, and blew the dust off the spearhead. Ken looked down at the wound on his chest, and took a picture of it.

"I'm gonna wring these motherfuckers for every pinny they got," he laughed to himself.

Ken's smile disappeared as he heard a crash from another room on the floor. Ken sighed to himself. "It can never be that easy, can it?" Ken readied himself and Isonade, and stepped out into the hallway.

To Ken's shock, the Feeder before him didn't look like anything he'd never seen before. In fact, it looked quite... normal? A great lizard, similar in build to an iguana- long spines, long tail, not-so-long legs, stared him down. What disturbed Ken far more was the other part of it that he recognized: a pair of thick, fully-feathered bird wings sprouted from the shoulder blades of the lizard, folded closely against its body. The Feeder hissed at him, and lowered its head, but Ken was too stunned to move.

"Is that a fucking dragon-"

Ken snapped back to reality as the Feeder's maw split open, far past its cheeks and spreading all the way down to its upper chest. Its numerous, needle-thin teeth dripped with a thick, green fluid. The Feeder tilted its head to the side, filling the hallway and giving Ken no choice but to jump.

Ken cleared the monster's mouth and landed onto its back, between its two wings. He jabbed his spear down in between its shoulder blades among a shower of blue sparks, driving it as deep as he could. The Feeder responded with a hideous shriek, but Ken only drove his spear deeper in. As he stared down at the two halves of the Feeder's head and neck, coiling upwards in an attempt to bite at him, he could not see the monster's tail whip around.

Ken hit the wall with a wet crunch, crumpling down onto his back. The Feeder clumsily repositioned itself, coiling to face him. As it spread its maw, Isonade bit down onto the monster's neck, sinking its teeth in deep and causing the Feeder to rear back onto its hind legs. The Feeder spread its wings and thrashed about, attempting to dislodge the shark from its body. Ken stumbled to his feet, clutching his bleeding head. As it reared up onto its legs, Ken hunkered down, and rushed forward. Wreathed in blue flame, he tackled the Fiend off the edge of the balcony, and watched it begin to plummet. The Feeder twisted in the air, attempting to gain lift, but as it did Ken made a quick hand gesture to command Isonade to let go, and to bite down onto one of its wings. With a satisfying "fwoomph," the Feeder hit the ground and disappeared into a spray of ash.

Ken gripped his head in pain. He checked the other side of his head, the side he'd been whipped, and to his shock felt a deep gash on that side as well. He attempted to stop the bleeding to the best of his ability, but between the repeated summonings of Isonade and the stunt he just pulled to knock the Feeder over, he was running on empty. Ken turned around, and was shocked to see a small hand crawling around on its fingertips on the ground. Ken stepped on it, crushing it into a pile of ash.

Ken limped down onto the first floor, praying that he'd done enough to stop the bleeding. He still felt his own warm blood in his hands, but it seemed there wasn't enough for a Feeder to form. Maybe he was lucky after all. Ken limped over to the pile of ash that was once a Feeder, and sighed as he looked upon his shattered spear. He did his best not to dawdle, watching his blood drip into the pile of ash and beginning to fear the Feeder might spring back to life, but it was hard to let it go. Ken told himself he'd be back for it tomorrow, and pulled out his phone to call emergency services. He couldn't afford professional healing, but then again he couldn't exactly afford not getting professional healing.

Ken opened the door to his dorm, and Dory sat up in her bed. By now, she was already in her pajamas, and getting ready for bed.

"アニキ?大丈夫？[Ken? Are you alright?]”

Ken opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again.

”別に [It's nothing]," he replied. He lumbered into bed, not bothering to change. Dory looked at her bother, concerned, but knew this was just how he was. He never bothered to tell her about how his assignments went, and if he did it was always "fine." She was used to it by now. It can't be helped, she thought to herself, and went back to bed.

Ken stared up at the ceiling, unblinking. This wasn't the first time he'd brushed with death- not even the first time this month. That's not what he was concerned with. Dragons aren't real- right? Right? Ken continued to look up at the ceiling, feeling the fatigue set in as he refused to blink. As tired as he felt, he couldn't sleep thinking about the possibility that dragons are real, and that more importantly dragon Feeders are real. Ken finally broke his staring contest with his ceiling, rolling over to check his phone. He opened his banking app, and smiled as he saw the balance of his account. He fell asleep with his phone on, smiling at the number that was several thousands higher than it was hours ago.

"Hey, guys," Ken asked aloud as class ended the next day. "Are dragons real?"

The classroom went silent as everyone stared at Ken. Even Sylvester Malzone, usually so concerned with his laptop, paused his work and looked at Ken. Everyone stopped- in some cases, dropped- what they were doing. They thought it was a joke at first, but the tone he said it in had them thinking otherwise.

"Girl what?" Emanuel said.

"Like, for real. Are dragons real."

"Are you serious right now?" Maria asked.

"I'm so serious. Like be fucking for real with me right now I am begging you. Are dragons real. Are dragons real and did nobody tell me because they thought I knew. Are dragons real."

Ken had a thousand-yard stare, and the sheer sincerity with which he asked caught everyone off guard.

"No?" Haleford finally said. "As far as I am aware, dragons always have been, and likely will forever be, a figment of mythology."

"Okay so like... no dragon Feeders. Right? Please."

"No, what do you mean?" Emanuel asked.

"I... I fought a Feeder that looked like a dragon yesterday."

"And it wasn't a really fucked up lizard?" Isabella asked.

"I mean it was, but it also had a full set of bird wings on it. Like bigass bird wings."

"Did it breathe fire?" Dory asked, glad deep down that Ken was finally talking about one of his assignments.

"No? At least it didn't do it when I fought it."

"Then maybe it wasn't a dragon, just a bird-like lizard?" Emanuel said.

"Oh yeah," Maria chimed in. "There's plenty of birds that display reptilian phenotypes. In fact, birds and lizards have a common ancestor in the dinosaurs."

"Oh great," Ken groaned. "Dragon Feeders aren't real, but we have fucking dino Feeders instead."

The classroom went silent with thought.

"Guys please," Ken said desperately after a pause. "It was a joke. Dinosaur Feeders aren't real, right? This was just a fucked up bird or a fucked up lizard, right? Nobody did Jurassic Park while I wasn't looking, right?"

The class remained silent.

"I... will pass this information on to my higher-ups," Haleford said with a concerned expression. "While they inevitably deliberate, I will remain vigilant for any similar testimonies, and for any news articles... especially for those regarding any potential reanimation of fossils. I suggest you all do the same."

Ken stared straight ahead, his thousand-yard stare back with a vengeance. "Dinosaurs aren't real... right?"