Chapter 1: Reverse

Chirp Chirp~

This can’t be happening.

Chirp Chirp~

This, this can’t be-

Chirp Chirp~

Azu could hardly believe his eyes as he looked at the broken flower vase. His whole body trembled, forcing him to lie motionless on the floor.

Chirp Chirp~

The noise of the bird in the cage was already annoying but what annoyed him more was the sound of the shattering vase.

The noise had already drawn the attention of his mother, who came running in worry and confusion. Her eyes first found the vase, then Azu.

“Azu?!” she exclaimed, throwing aside the towel she had used to wipe her wet hands. She rushed towards Azu and picked him up.

Being motionless had one advantage - she picked him up with ease. Weighing barely two kilograms, it wasn't hard for her to lift him. Elisha, the lady, flipped him up and down, checking for any potential wounds. She examined his smooth black scales that could almost be mistaken for pitch-black coal. She lifted his tail and looked at the yellow undersurface - everything was fine.

I'm sorry, mother.

Azu apologized in his own way. He had seen Elisha use the stools of other animals as manure for her plants. So he instantly released almost a quarter of his body weight worth of poop into her nearly dry hands. A foul stench followed.

Elisha's face contorted in a mixture of surprise and mild disgust. She dropped him, and he fell headfirst onto the floor.

Mother?

She walked away in annoyance. This was the first time Azu had seen such an expression on her face. He felt hurt. With his not-so-lizardy brain, he made a different assumption.

Probably it was mother's favorite vase. I broke it. She is sad. I need to fix it.

It was not the first time he had fixed something broken.

He lifted his right foreleg, which had five fingers, better to say toes, with small and blunt obsidian nails. The black glossy scales furthered the beauty. Azu, in an attempt to fix the vase, cast a magic spell - [Reverse].

His body was covered in a faint violet-blue light that concentrated at the tip of his index finger. Suddenly, the color around the vase vanished. It became black-and-white around the broken pieces. Seconds later, they started to levitate and, in an instant, they combined and got ‘fixed’.

Elisha, having washed her hands again, came back only to notice the vase in its place, not even a scratch to be found.

“The vase… wasn’t it…?” Her pupils noticeably constricted as her mouth refused to close. Her gaze was fixated on the vase.

She looked towards Azu, who was now wagging his tail in happiness.

Elisha’s hands went cold. She couldn’t help but gasp and then slowly turn away. She kept muttering one word, “D-dragon…”

In old fairy tales, it’s believed that humans were at war with other races. Each side had their own reasons. The elves wanted more trees, the dwarves demanded rare materials that could be found in specific places, and the lizardmen wanted swamps and seashores for fishing. Many more reasons such as safety, ambition, and even fear existed.

This led to an all-out war that lasted for 500 years. It came to a standstill, and peace was brought about after the term ‘treaty’ was invented. Everything went well for about another century until peace was destroyed by the dragons.

They acquired powerful magic, later known as Drakonian magic, which couldn’t be countered by any other form of magic. They decided to conquer the world, and humans, who were one of the largest yet weakest races, were their target.

Over half the population was wiped out in the first attack. Not just of a kingdom or empire, but of the entire race…

The remaining humans struggled, calling on other races for help. This created debts and more debts for the humans, lowering their ranks significantly.

Ultimately, the dragons were dealt with by a new combined force formed by a group of humans called Arcanors, and thus the Path of Arcana was bestowed upon humanity.

Those who slew the dragons were given the title of Dragon Slayers and became the heroes of humanity. It was an act to forget their debts and restore peace.

5,000 years later, Dragon Slayers who are above all the Arcanors are worshipped like no other. Children go to schools to learn and grow stronger, to go out and hunt any remnant Drakonians, the beasts with dragon blood, in the Dark Forest.

“Miss, what if someone who doesn’t know any magic encounters a dragon someday? What should they do?” Little Elisha asked, her tone playful but her eyes eager for the answer.

Jarush, another cheerful boy, added mockingly, “You should learn how to train a dragon!”

The teacher chuckled. “Oh Jarush, that’s quite the idea. But if Elisha is to train a dragon, she’ll need to offer you as the first snack.” The class burst into laughter.

The teacher then turned back to Elisha with a smile. “Now, Elisha, it’s very unlikely for anyone without magical abilities to be sent into the forest. So you wouldn’t encounter a dragon in the first place. But if you ever do, your first priority should be to run as fast as you can. It’s okay to be slow in your thinking sometimes,” she said, gently tapping Elisha’s forehead, “but you mustn’t be slow when running.”

Elisha, now twenty-six, felt her knees trembling. She held back the urge to vomit. “Dragon…” she whispered to herself.

She went back to the kitchen, her eyes locking onto a knife with pieces of chili clinging to it, and walked back. The fear she emitted was transient, mingled with a sudden, sharp intent.

Azu was sensitive to such things. The moment he sensed the tiny spark of killing intent, he took a step back. It was pure instinct.

He grew nervous but remained steadfast. Even as Elisha advanced towards him, he didn’t move a muscle.

Mother~

Seeing her made him smile – though, it was not visible at the moment. To Elisha, it felt as if her pet was grinning at her malevolently.

She swung her right arm with all the strength she could muster, hurling the knife forward with enough force and precision to cut Azu in half. The blade sliced through his scales, and his body fell apart, his upper and lower halves separating with a gush of blood.

As the knife embedded itself in his flesh, the chili pieces began to burn into his skin. Azu's eyes widened in agony, his scales sizzling as the spicy residue seared through them. The pain was excruciating, a fiery torment that spread rapidly across his body.

Azu's mouth opened in a silent scream, his small body convulsing as the burning sensation intensified. His black scales were now blistering and peeling away, leaving raw, exposed flesh. The smell of burnt scales and flesh filled the room, mingling with the metallic scent of blood.

“It died easily… was it not a dragon?” Elisha asked herself, falling to her knees as she tried to make sense of what had just happened.

Dragons were not the only creatures capable of using magic. There were many beasts and monsters, noticeably, beings called Drakonians, who had the blood of dragons and could use dragon magic to a certain extent. But to activate a spell completely, especially something that could restore an object—no, her expression changed, “It’s definitely a dragon.”

A maniacal laughter erupted from her as she crazily picked up the knife and butchered her pet, with whom she held fond memories, to pieces. Each slash was accompanied by the release of a memory—tears of sorrow and joy mixing together. On this day, Elisha became a madwoman who would go around the town with the almost grinded body of her pet, announcing how she had killed a dragon… or at least it should have been.

And on that day, Azu died… for the first time.

Chirp Chirp~

“Azu?!”, his eyes blinked open as he saw it…

…the broken vase.