[Envision a dragon. Do you battle him? Or is the dragon friendly? Use descriptive language.]

Haha! Dragons! I already wrote about them (and have more on a Word document):

https://www.webnovel.com/book/13151961605879105/Planet-Dragunity

https://www.moonquill.com/book/189

But I’ll still write something new.

……

Still as a placid lake, a little boy crouched in a bush, intensely focused on the animal before him. Multiple times did the kid think he’d give himself away by losing his balance or breathing too loudly, but it never happened.

The boy couldn’t tell how much time had passed—maybe even an hour—but eventually, the deer dropped its guard and curled up in the roots of a tree to take a nap.

Fwoosh

Fast as the winds, the boy launched himself from his hiding place, brandishing his most prized possession—a chipped iron dagger. He sunk the blade to its hilt in the animal’s neck, causing it to struggle fiercely. In response, the little boy held onto the deer with all his strength, keeping it in place as he removed the dagger to stab again.

It was a few minutes until he was sure the deer died, at which point the boy retrieved his dagger, placing it in its sheath before lifting the deer corpse by the back legs and dragging it through the undergrowth. He was hours from his shelter and the trip would take much longer now that he was dragging a heavy animal behind him. To pass the time, the little boy reviewed what he knew about preparing the deer meat for cooking, thinking about where to tie up the corpse to drain the blood and what parts of the flesh to cut off first.

Of course, he kept his guard up the entire time, eyes constantly shifting from left to right and sometimes turning around or searching the treetops. One could never be too careful, his father told him many times. He didn’t want to end up like the deer, sneakily attacked with no hope of defending himself.

Which was why the boy was so shocked when a voice sounded from behind him.

“Trespassing and hunting in my territory? Bold.”

The voice was immediately followed by a terrifying aura which seeped into the little boy’s bones, instantly incapacitating him as his limbs refused to respond to his will and tears spilled from his eyes. He dropped the deer carcass just a little before his legs dropped his upper body. Strangely, he was left with just enough strength to shakily sit up and turn around, allowing him to see the fearsome being that so easily took away his freedom.

A long and thin scaly body wrapped in an enormous set of wings snaked through the trees of the forest. The head of the beast alone was large enough to swallow the boy whole.

Yet, before the boy could even utter a whimper, the dragon retracted its crushing pressure and softly said, “Wait, I think I messed up…” before moving closer to the little boy, examining him.

The kid did nothing, keeping himself as completely still as when he hunted the deer, hoping the fierce creature would forget about him.

Not long after, the beast said, “Okay, I’m almost completely positive that you are a human child, which explains the lack of a cultivation base, but even the nearest human settlement is too far for your little legs to carry you.”

It deliberated for a moment before continuing with, “You are a human child, yes?”

A few seconds passed before the little boy processed the fact that he was not only still alive, but being addressed to by the monstrous being. After some hesitation, he softly replied, “Yes…”

“I thought so!” The sudden exclamation by the scaly monster caused the kid to jump. “Well, since that’s the case, leave the animal corpse and run along to your fellow humans.”

Just like that, the huge creature left, half slithering and half crawling through the forest with its huge wings wrapped around its body, all without a sound.

However, the boy felt no relief. He was alone again, and even told to abandon the food he worked so hard to acquire. Tears resuming their fall, he balled his fists and slammed them into the ground with a scream. His cry resounded outwards for quite a ways, but the little boy’s mind was too muddled to care about hiding from predators. He swung his arms repeatedly, striking the dirt, bruising himself.

It was a while before the pain woke him from his despair, at which point, he threw all caution to the wind, wiping his face of snot and tears, and lifting the back legs of the deer carcass he was forced to drop. He was ordered to leave it, but he didn’t care. What was the beast going to do? Kill him? Maybe that was the best outcome.

His resolution was suddenly challenged as, before he could even take a step toward his shelter, the little boy was faced by the creature from before.

“I told you to leave it and return to your kin.”

There was no pressure exerted by its aura this time, so the kid, after momentary hesitation, continued his trek back with the corpse. He had nothing to lose.

“Impossible.” He muttered with all his courage.

The mighty beast didn’t react until the child was a mere few meters from it, which was when it extended a clawed foot forward and gently pressed the tip of one of its talons to the boy’s forehead.

The little boy’s mind blanked until the talon was removed.

“I see…” The monstrous beast whispered. “Well, I suppose it’s been too long since I raised a pet.”