To say I was baffled would be an understatement. Wasn’t Loki an orphan? Why did the knight seem to care more about the kid than the safety of his city?

I watched with curiosity as the armored man embraced Loki, seemingly whispering something to him. I didn’t feel comfortable with taking my eyes off the two yet because of the feeling I had felt just prior to now.

“Thank you.”

The knightly figure seemed to be adressing me personally. I was taken aback by the sudden words and only stared blankly at the two.

The knight then held Loki by the hand, and the two left the city right afterward. Loki took a moment to look back at me, but quickly returned his attention to the knight.

What...

I watched as the father-son duo walked all the way out of the gates and turned a corner on the paths outside, going beyond my field of vision.

What do I do now?

I turned around and faced the group of farmers once again, and they were still standing there looking just as frightened as they had been a few minutes ago. I awkwardly cleared my throat before asking the crowd.

“So, uh, where is your mayor?”

An elderly fellow eventually stepped out of the main building the farmers were gathered around. He seemed wary, but still calm.

“So, it seems a dragon, as described from the legends, has come to our little town. We should be grateful; it has spared our lives and it would even seem as though it wishes to communicate with us diplomatically.”

I cringed my nose slightly. Do they think I'm some kind of politician?

The old man stepped down through the crowd and eventually reached about 2 meters from me, leaning confidently on his sturdy walking stick.

“If your intent was to kill the people of this village you would have done so long ago. Speak your mind, dragon.”

Well, at least the old man has sense.

“Look, grandpa. I only came here to ask what that army was doing so close to me and my family's cave. Anything else you have to say or ask me is really not interesting, and you would probably like to know that the more bored I get, the higher the probability of me eating you afterward becomes.”

The old man scratched his beard, seemingly thinking about what the best plan of action would be in his situation. He was wise to pick his words carefully, as per my terms.

“The army was dispatched to protect our small village here. We had heard legends of your so-called dragon cave in the woods, but none of us particularly thought them to be true. To be honest, even seeing a dragon in person is... shocking.”

I sighed. “Uh-huh.”

The mayor cleared his throat. “The capital had heard word of the creature you know of as the Naga. It has long been a feared creature and our scouts had predicted its path would lead it directly to our village here, and we would be practically defenseless if it were to strike. Our village is not much more than farmers, as you’re probably aware by now.”

He took a small pause before continuing. “Something was... off about the armies encounter with the snake, though. The massive army the capital had sent was supposed to be more than enough to deal with the creature alone, but your family obviously came in the way. Exactly what happened in the battle and if there were any survivors is unknown however, only one lone scout survived to tell the tale as far as we are aware.”

I raised an eyebrow in intrigue. “What did the scout have to tell, then?”

The mayor smirked, knowing he had piqued my interest. “The scout decided to camp out in the woods for the time being, not wanting to risk being caught by you or any of your family members. That would appear to be an invaluable decision however, as the scout spotted something extraordinary during the night periods.”

I followed the old man’s words with intrigue. I had now completely forgotten our deal and had no plans on eating the mayor any time soon.

“The Naga seemed to... lose its skin. The scout had never seen anything like it before, it looked like something was consuming it with rapid haste, but there were no decomposers visible on the creature's body. The scout had allegedly moved closer to investigate, when they saw a strange, swirling black surrounding the snake’s body. Now that I’ve gotten a better look at you, dragon, I believe the color he described is quite similar to that of your scales.”

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Gears began turning in my head. If my theory was correct, my void powers had activated in my sleep, consuming the beast in its entirety... Maybe that is why I grew so much quicker than my siblings in physical abilities?

“That’s... quite interesting. I believe I have heard quite enough. You and your city will get the privilege to see another day, rest assured.”

The mayor gave me a thankful nod. “Blessings.”

I turned around quite abruptly and headed out of the city gates again. The guards stationed outside were still just as afraid of my presence, but I paid them little attention.

My attention instead moved to the mountain in the forest that marked the peak of my home. I should get back. I bet father must be worried about me...

I made it back to the forest edge with little issue. It hadn’t really been too long since I was last here, but it felt longer than it probably should have. The forest is where I was born, it’s where I felt I belonged.

I ventured deeper into the forest, and eventually I stopped. I smelt something very peculiar, something I hadn’t ever gotten a whiff of before.

I bent down and tried to conceal myself in the tall grass, and it was quite easy, actually. The sun had begun to go down beyond the horizon and dusk had fallen, giving me perfect camouflage in the darkness of the forest floor.

I moved swiftly in-between trees, expertly treading the messy undergrowth that littered the ground with little effort.

I eventually reached a small clearing in which a small ray of light pierced the thick canopies above. In the middle of the clearing, I saw a small rainbow-colored orb, just floating in the middle of the air.

Safe to say this piqued my curiosity. The smell was definitely coming from the orb, and it smelt absolutely delicious.

I got a strong primal urge to consume the orb... But something was off about it. The scene looked almost too perfect, almost as if it was-

I suddenly ducked, getting a feeling something was about to strike the side of my head. As I ducked under the projectile, I could hear a thwack as the bolt that had been shot at me hit a tree right behind me, swaying up and down a few times before coming to a halt.

-A trap!

I looked to where the bolt originated and spotted a cloaked figure dodging behind a tree trunk. I twitched an eye and swiped my claws into the wood with vicious force. The tree didn’t put up much resistance, certainly far less than required in order to stop my attack. The wood was neatly cut into 4 pieces which promptly fell to the floor, revealing the culprit hiding behind it.

The cloaked figure hiding behind the now-ruined tree turned around and spotted me. A look of absolute fear was visible in their eyes. I immediately pounced upon the individual, pinning them to the ground while also making sure they did not have access to their crossbow.

The cloaked figure struggled under my fist for a few seconds, before going limp. “Okay, fuck, you got me. What do you plan on doing now, eat my face off? Do it then. I don’t have anything left to lose.”

I cringed at the person’s words. “There is always more to lose. You just don’t know it yet.”

The cloaked figure got just as wide-eyed as all the other people I had talked to thus far. “T-the beast speaks!”

I pinched the bridge of my nose using my free hand, annoyed at the same sentence being repeated over and over. “Yes, I speak. Big deal. Now, why did you try to shoot a bolt into my head?”

The rogue seemed to start to sweat under my hand. “Uh... I figured I'd get a decent bounty if I showed up to the capital with a dragon corpse...”

I scoffed, angrily crushing the fiend’s crossbow in my hand. “How about you give me all the weapons you have on you, and I might consider sparing your life.”

I quickly charged up a small breath attack in my mouth, as a precaution in case the rogue attempted to run. If they did, I could hit them even at distance.

After I had the energy stored away in my throat, I let go of the person beneath me. “Go on.”

The cloaked person smirked, lowering their hands to their sides before releasing their belt. All matter of pouches, holsters and lose weaponry fell from the belt, clacking harmlessly on the ground. “Happy?”

I motioned to their back. “That backpack too. Drop it.”’

I figured that if I took away all their weapons and stolen valuables, they might reconsider their life, and maybe even end up being something useful to their human society, they might end up becoming a guard, farmer or something equally useful.

The criminal obliged, untying the pack they had fastened to their back before letting it tumble to the ground with a soft thud.

“Can I at least keep my sleeping bag?”

I looked at the backpack, then back up at the rogue. “Okay, be quick.” The rogue reached their hands into the bag, and I remained at-guard in case they tried to pull anything. After what felt like an eternity, the rogue pulled out an unsuspecting roll of fabric. “There. Can I go now?”

I scoffed, nodding off into the woods for them to leave. The rogue did not look back and dashed off into the woods without another word.

I spent a few moments looking to where the rogue had gone, before I finally dropped my guard and released my pent-up energy and looked down at their scattered belongings. It was worthless to me, and so I dug a small hole in the ground before burying it.

Now, that weird rainbow orb.

I looked back to where the clearing once was but to my surprise there was nothing there. Where I had once seen the clearing in the forest were nothing but unbreaking woods.

Did the assassin use a spell to trick me?

I figured it didn’t really matter. Instead of lingering around the boring scene much longer, I instead turned back to the direction I was already going before I smelt the wonderful smell.

Nothing more happened on my way back to the cave. When I arrived back home, everyone was sleeping beside me.

I decided to let them sleep, and just jumped into the nest before nuzzling in with my brother and sister.

My eyelids started to get heavy, and I eventually drifted off to sleep.

Boy, do I have a story to tell tomorrow.