Chapter 1: Stained Purity

She flew through the air, it was peaceful, no worries, nothing but herself and the blue open skies. The wind felt good against her scales, she was a dragon, and loved flying on a peaceful day like this. She took a deep breath of the cool air, and flapped her wings.

The wind picked up, and changed direction and she suddenly felt uneasy, she looked down at the ground, looking for a sign of something, anything but she saw nothing.

She heard a whistling noise, she realized what it was, an arrow had flew past her and suddenly she felt that another arrow was heading for her, dragons could feel the magic flowing through every object and animal, she noticed that it had an essence to it, it was no ordinary arrow, it was a special stinger arrow, used by Dragoons, she couldn't do anything to dodge it, it was already too late. The arrow struck her right under her right wing, the pain was unbearable, but she had to withstand it. A third arrow headed for her, she nimbly rolled to her left just barely dodging it, just to feel a trembling pain course throughout her body, she had been hit by an arrow in her left wing, She growled loudly in pain.

She started to descend rapidly, she couldn't move her wings she was stunned. She felt more pain as the poison spread, she tried in vain attempts to keep herself in the air.

She growled loudly as she hit the first tree, it fell under her weight and so did many more trees, trees fell like they were off paper, of nothing more than dried sticks. She felt the poison of the arrows course throughout herself, and her sight faded, the last thing she saw was a big sturdy tree, and then there was just darkness.

When she woke she was on the ground and pain was coursing through her entire body, she had probably broken a few bones, it would take a few days for her to heal up, if she had that time. She saw a Dragoon sitting by a fallen tree, he was cleaning something, and he had a bow lying next to him so he must have been the one shooting those arrows, so he must have been cleaning the arrows that he had recovered. He wore armor that tried to resemble a dragon; humans would wear it not just to protect themselves from harm, but also as a symbol of their so called "powers". Dragoons weren't exactly know for letting dragons go that easily, but rather for slaying them and skinning them, and later sell that scale for high prices. Another Dragoon approached her; this one carried a sword, and held it ready to strike. "You're scales will fetch a nice price, fiend..." He said as he raised his sword, and swung it.

***

He felt the gentle breeze against his forehead, he felt really calm, but he knew he would soon have to leave, he needed to continue, he could not sit here all day, he was running low of supplies.

"So, Ramirez what will you do now? Will you sit here or continue, eh...?"

He looked towards the sky from the little glade in the forest, the skies were bright blue, nearly no clouds, It was beautiful. Suddenly the wind changed, and he felt that something wasn't quite right. A loud whoosh was heard; a shadow passed by the tree tops where he was sitting, hitting a tree just above him. "Oh, shit!" He said as he ducked; he had been caught off guard. He raised his arm thinking to fend off falling pieces of the tree, nothing fell on him. "That thing completely smashed the tree, seeing how no pieces fell here, must've been a dragon!"

A dragon had just passed above him, and he was somewhat paralyzed. He stood up and grasped his bow, turned the direction the dragon had crashed, a loud rumble could be heard followed of a shake in the ground, and the dragon had crashed. He started to run the same way the dragon had flown. He ran like it meant he would die if he stopped, he wasn't about to let someone die just like that, he had sworn to help anyone he can. He followed the trail of broken and obliterated trees, after a while of running he could see the dragon; it was of a pure white color, which was stained by the dark red color of its blood. He noticed that the dragons eyes were open, and was swaying around its field of vision, it looked at something by a tree that had fallen, there sat a Dragoon. Dragoons are ordinary humans, trained and equipped to fight dragons and similar beings, this was the Dragoon that had shoot down the white dragon, as he held a bow, and on his back he had a quiver with stinger arrows, they're tips are made in a special manner to paralyze and bring down a dragon, another Dragoon approached the downed dragon, the Dragoon had a sword clutched in his hands and was ready to strike, the dragon bared its fangs. "Shit... That dragon's done for."

He readied his bow, and fired.

***

She was surprised, the Dragoon that had tried to kill her had just fallen to the ground as he had swung his sword at her, an arrow was sticking out of the base if his neck, it was not Stinger Arrow though so it couldn't be the other Dragoon, that had stood up and readied his bow with a Stinger Arrow. A shadow behind the remaining Dragoon appeared it held its hand high and in it was a sword grasped; the shadow swung the sword at the Dragoon who fell to the ground. The shadow approached her; she sensed no fear, no regret for killing the two fellow humans. "Are you ok, dragon? I will not harm you."

The shadow said the voice was very calm and determined, of a male human; she tried to raise her head, but then slipped out of consciousness.

When she woke again, it was mid-day, the same glen that she crashed in. She was numb and couldn't move, the crash had taken its toll on her. How long had she been out cold? A griming pain coursed throughout her massive body, she growled quietly and tried to relax her body. "There that should do it... You awake?"

The same man who had saved her was there, she could feel how he gave her a gentle pat on her left back leg.

The man came around to her right side, and looked her in the eyes. "Your name, dragon?"

She groaned; she had not met a human like this, ever, what should she say? "Na T'hel, my name is Na T'hel"

She struggled to speak, and wondered if telling this human her name was a bad idea. "Okay, Na T'hel, my name is Ramirez don't worry you're safe now."

~End of chapter ~