It was cold. The Band of Steel had run deep into the forest. They had seen some other adventurers escaping into the forest with them, but all went their separate ways. They ran until they couldn't hear the screams from the town anymore. But no matter how long they ran, Jacky could still hear them. Inside his head, never to leave him again. 

After an hour of running, they decided to take a rest. They found an opening in the forest and just sat there in silence. The weight of their actions felt heavier with that dark silence. When they saw the Silver Dragon rampaging over the town, their will to fight had broken in an instant, if there was any. For them, running was the only thing they could do. But it was still disturbing; their adventurer pride was damaged.  

"What are we going to do now?" Milton, the rogue, hugged himself from the cold. It was past midnight in the northern regions, meaning it was freezing cold in the forest. 

"There is no way we can go back to the town." Antrius was still nervous; he kept looking around. "Can't we, like, start a fire or something?" He was also shivering from the cold. 

"We can't. What if it finds us?" Milton was always cautious. 

"It is a fucking Silver Dragon; I don't think it needs a fire to detect us." 

"He is right. If we don't start a fire soon, we are going to freeze to death." Karion had more resilience to the cold, but he also had a limit. "What do you say, Boss?" He looked at Jacky.  

He was sitting silently on a log, hugging his backup sword. He didn't answer. He was not even looking at them.  

"Hey, Boss? Are you okay?" 

"What is the difference? We are already dead. Word will go out to the survivors. Soon, the whole world will hear about us. The idiots who stole a Silver Dragon egg and caused a town to be ruined. They could even put bounties on our heads, for fuck’s sake. Our lives, everything we have done so far, is over now."  

They all knew that, but none had dared to say it till now. "Start a fire, do whatever you want. I don't care anymore." His companions saw how troubled he was and left him be. 

Because of the Silver Dragon, the forest seemed abandoned by its residents. There was no need to be on guard, so he didn't choose anyone to keep watch. They all needed their sleep. They should have been fine until the sun rose. Within the campfire’s warmth, Jacky slowly fell asleep. 

*** 

“So, I guess it was your first dragon encounter.” 

 Elise and the Traveler were heading deep inside the Malargo Forest, towards their prey. The man said he saw where they were headed and started to walk inside, so Elise had to follow. 

Her hood was burned severely, so she had to take it off. Her long, straight black hair was pouring down her shoulders. She reminded herself that she needed to find another way to hide her face and get her hair away from her eyes.  

She was keeping one hand on her sword, ready to draw it if any trouble occurred. Ashes and dust from the town's remains were still lingering on her. And the blood... she could still smell it on herself. The blood of the ones she couldn’t save. 

She was trying to keep her elegance while walking through the forest. She needed to pose a strong view if she wanted to win this man’s favor and be accepted as an apprentice. Her teacher always warned her to keep her presence strong so that the people around her would feel safe. If they were planning something bad, they would think twice before acting. But it was really hard to keep that elegance while trying to avoid the thorny bushes. 

The Traveler, on the other hand, was a different story. Elise had been watching him since they left the town. Most of his body was hidden under his strange clothing. He was not standing straight; he was bending forward a bit, making him look shorter than he already was. He had no shoes, but even in this wild forest, he didn’t look bothered by that at all. He was walking without a care about anything around him; nevertheless, he never stumbled on a root or bush, unlike Elise.  

She also noticed that he was not making any noise. As if he was not making any contact with his surroundings, which was almost impossible in this forest.  

Overall, he had almost no presence whatsoever. Some may even forget he was there if they weren’t focused on him. 

After giving it some thought, Elise assumed that he was just acting. Acting to veil his strength under that weak appearance. The question was why. Why was he doing that? She saw him challenging the Silver Dragon. He looked so powerful, as if he could kill the dragon without a sweat if he wanted. What was his reasoning for hiding this much power? 

If she had that much power, she would use it everywhere she could. To help people and defeat the enemies of Humanity. She felt a sudden urge to learn more about this stranger’s power. But before she could ask anything, the man had asked his own question. 

“Yes, it was my first.” She knew that she had a certain talent with the sword, but it was not nearly enough to challenge that kind of creature. “And hopefully last.” 

“Don’t say that. Dragons are noble and smart creatures; you will like them as you know them. And they also hold great conversations. Very entertaining they are. Surprisingly intellectual.”  

Elise looked at him for a moment, trying to understand if he was serious or just trying to smooth the air with jokes. “Did you hold a conversation with a Dragon? How?”  

“They don’t have the same speaking instruments that humans use. But thoughts don’t need any instruments. As long as they think, you can hold a conversation. But of course, you need them to respect you first; that's the hard part. They really appreciate power.” The man said those things like they were common knowledge, but Elise had no idea what he was talking about. 

“So, you can talk to creatures with your thoughts. Are you a magician?” If he were, that would explain some things, but she saw him hold a giant dragon egg with one hand. Elise still couldn’t figure out this man's powers, and that was bothering her a lot. So, she decided to ask directly. 

“You could say that.” The man's answer was simple and did not satisfy Elise one bit. She needed to learn more. 

“But I saw you hold the Dragon egg with one hand, was that magic too?” 

“Why? Can’t I be both a magic user and physically strong? Some people could find that offensive, you know.” 

Again, a simple and evasive answer. Elise was starting to get irritated. She opened her mouth to ask more questions, but the man spoke first. 

“Let’s save the questions for later. We are close, and it seems the party had started without us.” He was looking deep into the forest. Elise looked there, ready to act, but she didn’t see or hear anything.  

“What is it?” She asked. 

“Follow me and keep your voice down.” He hurried in the direction he was looking. Even though he was walking a lot faster than before, he still was not making any sound. 

Elise did all she could to keep pace with him, but as they went deeper into the forest, the tree roots got thicker, and the bushes got denser. She fell behind after a while, but then she heard some noises ahead.  

She rushed there as fast as she could. When she got close, she was suddenly grabbed by her arm. Her panic eased when she realized it was the Traveler, standing behind a tree and watching the source of the noises. She thought she was perceptive, but she had not even noticed him. 

“You are making too much noise. Keep your head down at least.” His voice was really low as he pushed her head down and hid her behind a bush. 

“Look, someone got to our prey before us.”  

She looked and saw the Band of Steel. They were in a fight with a huge creature, roughly twice the length of a person, and it was not going well. 

The creature was nothing like Elise had seen before, and something was odd about it. It had thick black-purple skin with lots of scars from past injuries. Its claws and mouth were absurdly big. Its eyes also seemed larger than they should and had a burning, bright purple color. Its limbs and head had some sharp bones sticking out of them, but mostly from its long tail. It resembled a lizard overall, but its body parts were so unnatural, as if they were attached by someone else. 

The shielded tanker of the Band was still standing against it, but his shield was broken, and he had a serious cut on his shoulder. Their leader, Jacky, was lying unconscious and had blood all over his head and chest. The other one was trying to pull him out of danger while the archer was protecting and supporting the tank. They were about to be wiped out. 

“What do you think? Can you take that thing on?” The Traveler asked. 

“What even is that thing?” 

“I have a guess, but this is not the time for it.” He looked her in the eye this time. “Do you want to help them?”  

Elise quickly made up her mind. He was right, there was no time to sit and talk. Someone needed her help, even though they were the ones who were responsible for destroying a town. She couldn’t leave them to die in the claws of some monster. And this could be a good opportunity to show off her sword skills to him. 

“I see. Go on then, I’ll assist you.” Even though she didn’t answer, he had understood her decision from her eyes. 

Elise rushed out of the bushes without a second thought, straight to the monster. She hadn’t drawn her sword yet, but the monster immediately noticed her and prepared to take her on. Elise was not expecting this kind of reaction. She thought that the monster would be focused on the Band, but instead, it sensed her hostile approach and realized she was the bigger threat. 

When she got close, the monster threw its head backwards and its throat suddenly inflated. “Be careful! It spits acid!” The archer warned her at the last moment.  

The monster swung its head forward and spat a pink, mucus-like fluid from its mouth. Elise barely avoided the attack. The mucus hit the ground and splashed all around.  

Elise kept charging and drew her sword for a strong attack from up close. But she couldn’t make it. A giant claw dropped right in front of her and cut her charge. If she had reacted a moment later, she would have gotten smashed. She tried to stay close to the monster. She had a clear view of its belly and throat from this close, and the monster wouldn’t be able to attack her easily from there. But she had forgotten the tail.  

The monster turned around and swung its tail at her. There was no way to dodge the attack, so she got ready for impact. Her armor observed some of the damage, but the impact was far too strong. She flew and crashed into a tree far away. She felt a strong pain inside her chest, and her sight went dark for a moment. She tried to get back up quickly, but her head spun, and she had to hold on to the tree she had crashed into. The hit she took had messed her up worse than she hoped. 

She noticed the monster charging at her, but her body was not reacting. She closed her eyes and got ready for the inevitable. Then...