POV: The Draconian (Logan)

The howls of hunting dogs echoed in the distance as I ran furiously, my injured wing tucked close to my body as I stumbled through the dense, pine forest. Inwardly I was cursing, cursing the damn pirates that stole me from my home, cursing the damn navy that blew up the pirate ship, cursing the damn bandits that found me afterwards, and cursing the damn slavers chasing after me now. My life had been one giant chase after another, one giant fight for survival, and for the past week it just hadn't ended. I'd maybe gotten two hours of actual sleep, not counting all those ten minute naps I took? 

"Fuck!" I hissed, ducking under the roots of another large pine and taking the moment to assess what was hurting so bad - the wound on the joint of my wing. One of those bastards had shot me - the led ball from the flintlock musket was still in there, somewhere - and now I couldn't fly because it injured the joint in my wing or something. I didn't know, I wasn't a doctor, but it hurt just to hold the limb close, to say nothing of actually flying with it. 

When I had first tried flying I'd made it maybe ten feet in the air before deciding it wasn't worth the pain. Which meant now I was running for my life from the damnable slavers and their hunting dogs, who no doubt had my blood to scent out. I'd tried to throw them off my trail, even swam up a damn river, but nothing had shaken them. I feel like they might toying with me. 

Hissing in pain I got to my feet and started running again, my muscles aching and begging for a rest but I knew that if I stopped now then I'd never be able to get going again. If only I was better at cultivation, I could run faster and farther and these asshats would never have been able to catch up to me. (At least I'm as strong as I am now. Were I any weaker, I wouldn't have been able to last two days, nevermind an entire week. This thought, even though it does flit through my mind, is banished swiftly in favor of cursing for more power, more strength.)

With a curse I juked to the side, dodging the bullet that drilled a hole in the tree next to my head, sucking in a deep breath and unleashing a blast of dragonfire, igniting the forest in an orange blaze. The man who shot at me yelp, and I sucked in another deep breath before running onwards, feeling the stinging in the back of my throat from calling upon my race's natural ability to breathe fire. Well, not all Draconians can. However, I most certainly can, not the least because I am half Fire Elemental as well as Draconian. 

"AHAHAHA! The little shit's a firebreather too! This is perfect!" And damn that slave trader, I think, as he laughs at my predicament. Belatedly I realize that the fool has been taunting me this entire time, running me ragged to ensure that I don't put up too much of a fight. But, damn it, what else was I supposed to do?! "Hey, brat! Catch!" The slaver yells, and too late I attempt to dodge, the bolt of lightning striking my side and sending me crashing through a few trees.

A few sickening cracks that I'm unsure of whether they're my bones or the trees breaking sound in my ears as I groan and roll to my feet, meeting the eyes of the bastard who had struck me with a snarl pulling at my lips. He's incredibly good looking, unfortunately, but knowing the sick and twisted bile that is the man's - no, monster's - innards is enough to make me want to hurl just looking at him. 

"B-bastard..." I croak out, barely noticing the smoke rising from my form. 

"Ah, so you've still got a little fight left in you -" He starts to say, but I'm off running before he can even finish the sentence, because I recognized this stretch of woods. 

The bandits and I travelled through here once, and the tree shaped like a man and woman kissing is no tree that I'd mistake. That means that salvation is right around the corner, because -

"Don't run from me, brat! I'm tired of playing games!" The bastard yelled, slamming one booted foot in my back and I'm grinning as I fly through the air, twisting and curling myself into a ball, all while flipping the man off. Because that is when I plunge off of the side of the cliff, conveniently hidden behind a thick wall of ivy, and plunge down into the river below. As the icy water below curled over my body, I managed to get one last thought off before lapsing into unconsciousness; at least the bastard wouldn't be able to follow me now. That fall would've killed anyone but a draconian of my level. 

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When I awake, it's to someone poking at my cheek. For a minute I continue to lay there, grumbling to myself about not wanting to wake up, but then my instincts kick in. Years of living with pirates and bandits made me realize that when someone is trying to rouse me, I had better damn well get up. 

With a startled yelp I leap to my feet, an action I immediately regret as I go crumpling to the ground again, this time landing on my injured wing. My mind races as I take stock of my surroundings - dense trees, the river to my right, I'm laying on the banks, there's dirt all over my form, I'm fairly dry except for my tail, which was sitting in the water, birds in the sky, no dogs, my senses aren't tingling about danger, my Qi is slowly recovering, I'm fairly injured judging by the pain in my leg and wing and all over because of that damn lightning, and it's a miracle I didn't drown, and -

"Are you ok?" A worried green face is peering at me, suddenly taking over the majority of my field of vision, and I attempt to scramble back. The person - no, girl - before me is looking at me with the same worried expression as before still plastered on her face. Her skin is green in color, a healthy forest green, and she had dark green hair that reached down to her ankles, along with eyes much too wide and much too innocent. For a moment I just stared at her, my breathing slowly coming to a more normal pace, as I began to relax. This little girl (a dryad, my memory informs me) who is no older than ten means me no harm. 

"You look like you're bleeding, and I know a little bit about healing but not much, and are you ok you don't really look ok. I found you on the beach here." The girl says rapid-fire, approaching me cautiously and squatting down. With a slight wince I nodded, reaching back to gingerly touch my injured wing. Thankfully no one had followed me off that cliff...

Which, thinking back on it, was a stupid idea, even if it was the only one I could make at the moment. There was no guarantee that it would save me from enslavement, there was no guarantee that BASTARD wouldn't have followed me or that they would've tracked me down like they had all the other times. In fact, that was still a distinct possibility, but...well, I'm too tired and hurting and hungry to care about that right now. 

"...feels like the sun and the sky and warmth and a little -no, a lot of burning heat." the girl babbled to apparently no one. 

"What?" I asked, and she gave me a confused look. 

"What, what?" She parroted back. 

"You said something about the sun and heat," I shot back, and she stared at me blankly before a blush started to creep up her face, turning her cheeks a darker green. 

"Oh. Sorry. Sometimes I speak my thoughts out-loud." She admitted, and I just stared at her before shaking my head. 

"Okay...well, I need food. And rest. And to dig this damn bullet out of my wing and -" I cut myself off at the hilariously cute look of outrage on the little girl's face (though I really shouldn't speak, being only twelve myself), her cheeks puffed out and hands on her hips and wide green eyes doing an absolutely terrible job at glaring. I would've felt more intimidated by a kicked puppy. 

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"Say please, and don't curse! Cursing's bad." She said, her tone wobbling as she attempted to make her voice sound stern, and I bit back a laugh. It was - it was just too damn cute. Even though I was half-dead (though for some reason, I didn't feel that way now...?) I couldn't help but feel relaxed and...well, admiring how innocent she looked. And not in that false-innocent kind of way that I'd seen from the dozens of children that were theives, or assassins, or worse. No, this was true innocence.

"Cursing?" I asked suddenly, my foggy mind catching up for the moment. I hadn't cast a curse, had I? I only know one curse, and it's not a particularly bad one, but I hadn't started to cast it...had I? 

"Yes! You said D-A-M-N. That's a bad word, a curse, and you're not allowed to say it. The Old Man said so." She said proudly, the pitiful excuse of a glare vanishing from her face and being replaced by a lopsided smile that is much more natural.

"That's..." I started, but already found my consciousness fading once again. "Ah, shit..." I muttered, and once more my vision blackened. 

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"Hey, hey, do you think he's a nice dragon? I think he's a nice dragon! He seems warm but a little dark, and I hope he's nice!" The outrageously cheery voice of the little dryad was what greeted me when I roused from unconsciousness once more, opening my eyes to be greeted with a luscious green canopy covering me, the noon sun streaming down between the wide leaves to warm my face. With a slight groan I sat up, looking down at my now-bare chest to see makeshift bandages made of leaves wrapped around my wounds, the pain itself having been numbed somehow. 

Then I did a double-take. My feet, which had been cut bloody and raw from all the running, had tiny...roots growing over them, glowing with a faint green light. I jerked my feet away, the roots snapping with ease as I leapt to my feet, knocking over the pile of apples directly to my left with my tail as I did so. Shockingly enough, it didn't hurt to stand. What...were those roots...healing me...? I thought, my attention split between there being little to no pain and food. 

Eventually my hunger won out, and I dug into the apples I had knocked over with gusto. Only after I finished was I aware of the snickering laughter and low growling that was emanating from the top of the tree itself. 

"Were you hunger-y~?" the little dryad sing-songed, dropping from the tree and landing a few feet away from me. I stared at her, a half-eaten apple still in my hand and juice dripping from my chin, as the growling continued. That's when a dark shape leapt from the top of the tree, landing beside the dryad and snarling at me. 

I couldn't do anything but stare at the strange, wolf-like creature. It was the size of a normal dog, only a few feet long and about two feet tall, with black and white fur and fluffy-looking wings sprouting from its back. My danger senses were screaming at me as I stared at the wolf, and I gulped audibly. This thing would rip my head off in a matter of seconds if I did anything. 

"Uh...sorry..." I muttered, dropping the apple and feeling my ears heat up a bit. The little dryad giggled, shaking her head and beaming at me. 

"I got them for you, silly! There's a whole buncha apple and orange and dragonfruit and ebonyfruit and a whole lot of other fruit trees growing all around! See, see?" She chirped, bouncing on the balls of her feet and gesturing around behind her, where a grove of fruit trees were growing, their bounties glistening in the sunlight as they hung from their respective branches. Around the trees lay the ruins of an ancient city...or so I assumed from the very low, moss-and-vine-covered walls that made up malformed squares all around the tree I had woken up under. The ancient town was all but gone at this point...

Beyond the town limits was a clearing filled with golden grass that waved in the slight breeze, and beyond that...a dense, green forest. 

What I saw in the forest, however, had me growling and tensing, taking a few hasty steps back and bumping into the tree, which had the winged wolf snarling at me. 

"Hush, you! He's not being mean." The little dryad assured the wolf, petting its head. 

"We need to run," I croaked out, staring directly at that bastard of a slaver, who was prowling around the edge of the forest all red-faced and angry. The little dryad just cocked her head to the side cutely, following my gaze to where it met with that of the slaver's...who, for some reason, wasn't moving any closer. Why?!

"Why, cuz of him? He's harmless though! At first he wanted to come in and look at your wounds, but I could tell he was lying because he felt like a sneaky snakey snake-man, so I told him that he could only come into my meadow if he promised to be nice and not do anything mean or think any mean thoughts. So he hasn't come into my meadow yet becuase he's trying to not think mean thoughts." The dryad said, as if that explained everything. 

"What." I deadpanned. "But - but that's now how that works!" I couldn't help but blurt out. If simply asking someone to not do something would prevent them from doing it, then, then...NO! That's just not how this works!

"Why?" the little dryad asked again, cocking her head to the side once more. I worked my jaw a bit, attempting to come up with an answer, when the dryad giggled. "You look like a gaping fish! Heehee, you're funny. Hey, wanna go fishing? The Old Man and I used to go fishing in the river but he's gone now so I haven't gone fishing in a while, but you still look hungry and the Old Man said that fish is good to eat, but I'm a tree so I've never had to eat any meat. I eat sunlight and air and water, and sometimes fruit cuz sugar tastes nice." She said rapid-fire, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Oh! But you might still be tired and if you are that's ok, we can just go fishing another time." 

Now, normally, I would've asked any number of questions before even considering accepting her offer. One; why wasn't I hurting? Two; how long had I been out? Three; what about the slaver, would he come to attack them once they left the meadow? But this wasn't normally. The little dryad had swept me up into her current, and I found myself nodding numbly and reminiscing about fishing with my father - or even on the pirate boat. They were always good times...even on the pirate boat, the ruffians had whooped and hollered whenever I would haul up a fish - be it large or small. 

"That sounds fun," I told the dryad, and the beaming smile she shot me was absolutely blinding. 

I couldn't help but smile back as she darted off in search of fishing poles, the winged wolf no longer snarling but still giving me a look that said if you try anything I will eat you. With a slight laugh I allowed myself to slide to the ground, closing my eyes and resting my head in my hands. My mind and heart were still in chaos, but...well, everything seemed a bit better now. 

It was at least a start...to what, I didn't know, but...well, I hoped it was better than anything I had experienced previously. 

POV CHANGE: Statera Luotian

Music rang out through the air, the sound of violins telling of a story of breaking dawn and rising higher. Kei swayed back and forth as she played, the entierty of the Four Realms stopping to listen to her song, allowing the melody to flood through it and ease its burden...and strengthen its heart. I smiled and rested my chin in the palm of my hand, half-lidded eyes turning away from Kei to look at a certain planet where a certain little dryad, and now draconian, resided. 

"You finally found something worth latching onto, didn't you, my son?" I whispered, eyes glittering as I looked at the strings of fate. This meeting had no hand of mine in it, it was a meeting of freewill and destiny that brought those two together. "Took you long enough." Then I closed my eyes, falling into Kei's music and allowing myself to relax into the soothing sounds. Kei had picked up playing music while I was sleeping, and I had to admit, she took to it like a fish to water. It was her favorite past time, and I was glad that she was taking the time to share her gift with the world. 

"What did you think, Grandpa?" Kei asked when the song ended, grinning widely at me and holding her violin behind her back. I shot her a beaming smile and stood, walking over to her and ruffling her hair. 

"It was wonderful, Kei. Truly wonderful." And I meant it. Kei's smile grew wider before falling a bit more somber, looking at her violin. 

"I still have a long ways to go, though." She murmured. I chuckled and looked up, towards the Realm Sun we currently sat under. 

"Don't we all?" I whispered, before shaking my head. "Don't worry about it too much." Kei smiled at me and nodded before vanishing off to go do some more work...or slack off. Probably slack off. Kei hated working with a passion, not that I blamed her. One of the first things I did upon creating the Four Realms was devise new ways to push my duties off onto other beings. With a slight chuckle I shook my head, glancing back towards the dryad and draconian with a small smile before vanishing as well. 

Left behind, floating in the space beneath the Realm Sun, was a small message I left in the form of my thoughts.

We're waiting for you...Sol.