The still-small dragon understood that Arkion was looking straight at him, but it was hardly a concern to the dragon at this point. Honestly, the red dragon had killed enough people to become overconfident with its status on the food chain. It truly believed nothing in this world could topple it in that category.

“I'll show you what happens when you mess with me!” Arkion said, which was rather cliche for a pretty boy to say. He brought the hilt of his sword to his chest and hardened his form toward the dragon, who was still munching on some flesh. Did the dragon ever stop eating?

Arkion charged into the dragon, holding the sword downward so he could impale the dragon. The dragon narrowly avoided the strike by sidestepping the knight. Arkion came tumbling down to the ground with a roll as his armor made crinkling noises against the dirt. “Damnit!” He pushed himself up.

The bronze patch on his armor signified he was merely a recruit in the army. Knights in this realm were plentiful and weak. The strongest knights were heralded as knight supremes, and they themselves were another breed of human. Genetics so pure and dominant that they unveil a new realm of combat.

Unfortunately, for Arkion, this was the end of the road for him. Unless something changed within him and he managed to fight back against the incredible ferocity of the dragon. The dragon growled, a red aura coating its skin as it felt the danger of the sword swaying near.

“Syizat!” The dragon said, narrowly dodging the lining of the sword once more. Arkion was taken back from the dragon’s words. He didn’t know creatures of this nature could speak. The dragon flapped its wings hard into the air and scratched at Arkion’s armor. A futile attempt left a claw mark on the armor of his chestplate.

“You’re the devil!” He said, giving an overhead strike with his sword as the red dragon grew in size due to his special evolution state. The angered spirit of the red dragon allowed the dragon to become faster, stronger, and even larger. This would allow the dragon to fight against enemies above his level. Arkion surely was.

“Dragons, dragons, and fucking dragons!” Arkion swung his sword, “The lords always go on and on about the strength of such a creature! But what is this? You are merely a grain in the sand of time and you contest me?!” Arkion said, his breathe leaving him as his sword clattered against the wall of a building.

The dragon could sense the rage burning within the man. He couldn’t understand the anger that bottled within him, only that he should succumb to the food chain. This red dragon only knew dominance, and he would not falter here.

White claws of the dragon scratched against the metal of the sword in a cosmic duo. The dragon was only but a few days old, while the knight had prepared many years for battle. The resemblance of training would show as the dragon lost the clash of arms. The dragon fluttered its wings back and stomped against the ground. Its claw began to bleed, a slight trail of blood lined Arkion’s sword.

“So you’re not as strong as you once act eh?” He said with an arrogant smile. The knights in the background were winning the battle against the flame as the charred wood began to stink up the area around. Arkion slashed his sword in the air and then ran at the dragon, his feet pounding against the mushy dirt in the night.

The dragon whipped its spiked tail around and stabbed Arkion in his kneecap, he responded by buckling over to the ground. “Shit!” Arkion screamed, holding his knee cap in immeasurable bolts of pain. It felt as if a dagger had entered his bone while the bone continued to crack around the metal dagger. Blood glistened out like a river of velvet.

“Sziyaat!” The dragon said, mocking the bronze-ranked knight. He retracted his tail from the knight’s knee cap, as he walked around the perimeter of the knight. His tail twitched as it yearned to stab right through the neck of the knight. Before he could do so, he was restrained by some foreign knights. The other knights had extinguished the flame, but these were of a different unit that had arrived.

“I got him! Bring me a net.” The knight in full armor said. This particular knight was strong and muscular, his armor had a silver patch on its side. Another knight with the same brand came over and bagged the dragon as it struggled to pry itself from captivity.

“W-Who are you?!” Arkion asked under the excruciating amounts of pain. The full-armored knights glanced over but did not give him an answer. “A-Answer me!” Arkion yelled, his pitiful state was an eyesore to the knights. The lead knight who had captured the dragon looked back to his men.

“Let’s roll out. The Duke is expecting our return. We shouldn’t waste our time with these bottom feeders. The kingdom needs less trash like you.” The silver-branded knights left the scene without another glance. They had red capes with beautiful plate armor. These were real knights.

Arkion felt like a fraud. He and his drunk crew were nothing but a shit stain compared to the rest of the army. They were militia in armor, and even worse humans than those knights. “God damnit.” Arkion crumbled to the ground, crying in disbelief. His sword was covered in dirt as the sky began to drizzle a light rain. Arkion’s physical pain was lackluster in compared to the shame of his posture.

He had been defeated by a baby dragon and he had known it. “Don’t let it fool you Arkion, that was no normal dragon….was it?” He said to himself. The other knights had sobered up, and were just standing around awkwardly, awaiting Arkion’s orders. The building was no longer on fire, which was a good thing for the town.

******************************

“Robin, take the dragon. The duke will want to see if this dragon is worthy.” The head knight of the company said. He mounted his horse, throwing the sack to Robin. Robin was in full armor as well. He took the sack with ease, the dragon inside was still trying to escape.

“Sir Orion, may I knock the dragon out? It’s a feisty one.” He said, throwing the sack into his other hand. Robin saddled his horse, a flow of black hair was peering out of the back of his helmet.

“No, Duke Rebech wouldn’t approve of such acts without his warrant. Why should I give you permission to do something so immoral? Contain yourself knight.” Orion said to Robin. Robin immediately tied the satchel to his belt without question. His boss’s decision was final and absolute, he was not to question it regardless of the circumstances.

“Yes sir.” The horses took off, and the knights made way to Trigua City, the capital settlement of the Duke’s territory. “What’s our arrival time?” Robin asked. He glanced toward the dragon who had calmed down a bit. The dragon was tired from all of the quick movements and was suffering from the effects of the angered spirit. He wasn’t a tank, but more of a glasscannon.

“We will be in Trigua City in about two days if we take two breaks.” Orion said. He never turned his head or veered his eyes off from his objective. Orion was determined to do everything perfectly, honoring the Duke’s name to the end of his life. Even if it costed his life, he’d never refute the duke.

These were the standards of being a true knight.

A hint of tree sap entered the nostrils of the dragon as it began to calm down. It had a new destination ahead of it, and the fact that it accepted that meant it had matured. It knew at some point it would be able to escape, but instead it saw this as an opportunity to gather more knowledge of this world--and eat more things.

Meditation Activated

Tommy’s POV:

Tommy and Griggs walked alongside of one another until they stumbled upon a cottage. The cottage was surrounded by crops and other things of that nature. The smell of fresh blood filled the nostrils of the two men. Griggs pulled out his weapon and then looked back at Tommy. “Put the sacks down. We might have a situation here.”

Tommy sighed, chunking the loud sacks to the ground and making a great deal of noise doing so. Griggs gave him a look of anger, “What are you doing?! Be quiet dumbass!” He yelled, and then cupped his mouth. Griggs wasn’t the brightest of the bunch, neither was Tommy though.

“HAH! Hypocrite.” He smiled, following behind Griggs as they stepped up onto the porch. They investigated the body, holding their noses so they wouldn’t--nevermind. Tommy started puking over the fencing, his throat unleashed a wave of lunch as he tried to contain himself. The idea of seeing dead people had never crossed his mind, and this was far more gruesome than dusting the floor.

“The man was definitely killed by something with claws.” Griggs was practically inside of the hole in his neck as he peered deep into the gashing hole. “I’m going to need to reach my hand inside his wound and verify this though.” Griggs said, sticking his hand down its depths.

Tommy turned, “Why are you like this?! Of course it was the dragon you damn idiot! If you’re a silver-medallion hunter I could be gold--I swear it!” He pouted, running off the porch and spitting into the field. He could see the town up ahead, smelling the taint aroma of burnt wood in the air. It was strange, because he could see where the smoke was drifting into the sky from the town even in the dark.

As he stared into the distance, he could see the stampede of horses heading away from the town. The men on the horses seemed to be knights of some capacity. They rode in dignity without fault along the path as they took another route away from town. It was a strange turn of events. The knights leaving the town after a fire was put out? Usually they’d stay for a while and make sure nothing else caught fire. The only thing Tommy could envision is that an urgent letter was sent to the knights from the duke himself.

“Yeah, after thorough investigation, I can confirm the cause of death was baby dragon!” A laugh erupted from behind Tommy. Griggs put his masculine hand on Tommy’s shoulder, only for Tommy to spazz out from the sight of blood.

“Get-get that off of me you freak!” He screamed like a girl, scrambling to the ground and whimpering among the crops. “I-You’re crazy! Why the fuck would you put your hand down a dead man’s wound? I can’t believe I’m continuing to work with you...oh God have mercy on my soul…” Tommy put his hand against his face as he tried to compose himself.

“You’re right. I just like fucking with you.” He said, a smug face washing over Griggs like he had purposefully done it this entire time. He walked closer to Tommy, “Here, I’m sorry for messing with you so much. I promise to be a better guide TomTom.” He said, throwing his hand out to pull Tommy up from the weeds below him.

Tommy clasped his hand with Griggs, his eyes closed, as he felt a rubbery and silky substance mesh against his hand. He opened his eyes to be met with dripping red blood around Grigg’s and his own hand. His heart immediately dropped, and the first thing he recognized was Grigg’s super-smug face. “Oops, this was the hand I used earlier.”

“...”

Tommy felt anger at every doorstep. He pushed it below the bridge and lifted himself up. “No, it’s fine. Just a harmless joke after all.” He said to Griggs. His eye twitched as he began monotonously walking in a straight direction. Had he snapped?