Tags: Fantasy, Male Lead, Magic
An intoxicating, and alluring aroma of food wafts through the tavern, boisterous adventurers telling their tales throughout. Up on the stage a mountain of a man sits down to tell them of his most recent exploit. The room goes silent—everyone focuses on the experienced and well-respected adventurer. His face is rough, scarred from many battles over the years. A thick bushy beard covers his square jaw. His dark brown hair cropped short, his sharp blue eyes gazing at the crowd. This man tells his tale, one that made all the others jealous; He had just slain an adult dragon.
Gasps echo as he states this, and everyone leans forward, Gods forbid they miss a single detail. In the back sits another adventurer. He had a slightly different reaction than the rest. He didn’t lean forward, nor did he pay particular attention to the man. His eyes seem to turn green as a singular desire arises in his mind when he hears about the slain dragon, and a smile surfaces on his face. Treasure.
The thought of obtaining a dragon hoard, the fame from slaying one. He wants that fame; he wants that wealth. While many, actually most, adventurers wouldn’t be strong enough to take up the challenge Lysander is. His knows his power and experience is similar to the man on stage, if nothing else he has confidence in that. He knew that this was a feat that he would be able to achieve. But, he would first need to go and see the Diviner to find out where to look, and to confirm if he was truly ready for such an adventure. More specifically he needed to learn where to find any dragon younger than an ancient dragon—as anyone who has attempted slaying an ancient dragon never came back. After all, The Diviner has greater foresight than anyone else. It is also tradition to go to a seer when going on a potentially dangerous adventure. To Lysander’s luck, not only is there a seer in this city, but she even has the title of Diviner.
Having made up his mind Lysander exits the tavern. Traveling through the bustle of the main road he hears vendors hawking their wears, and carriages transporting theirs. After several minutes he leaves the gate of the city into the surrounding woods, the morning sun setting a soft glow across the canopy. As he proceeds deeper into the woods a calm settles in the area around him. A mystical sensation, a mysterious atmosphere. Traveling through the wood he notices runes carved into the surrounding trees. Seeing this he knows he will be at the Diviners abode in a moment.
Walking into the glade, Lysander walks to the front of the Diviners hut. The soft trickle of a stream echoes through the glade as he respectfully approaches. It is made of wood and has shuttered windows, runes reminiscent of those in the forest decorating its exterior. Protective runes, he muses. It had been a while Lysander had seen them used by anyone, but they were still easily recognizable to him. He could tell that they would protect against most things, whether they be attacks or intrusions of a more spiritual nature, perhaps even from a dragon. The hut is dimly illuminated with candlelight. It is sparsely decorated with only a few pieces of furniture—namely two cushions and a table in the center. The scent of herbs and incense could be detected in the air with many tools for divination on the table.
Lysander sits on the cushion in front of the table: quiet, patient, respectful. He shudders as he remembers the first, and last, person who showed disrespect to the Diviner. They had been of similar strength to the new dragon slayer, maybe even greater. He remembers seeing the poor soul crawling back into the city bloodied, broken and bruised. Many said that the mercy of the Gods had helped him make it back alive, but he and other adventurers knew better. The Diviner left him like that as a message, a message that she won’t take disrespect. As these memories cross his mind the Diviner makes her way into the room. A subtle glow emanates from her body, while runes could be seen embroidered on her robe. She moved with a grace and fluidity that was indescribable.
“Esteemed Diviner, this humble adventurer is here to seek guidance on his next adventure.” Lysander places his payment in a small unadorned wooden bowl on the side of the table. The Diviner looks and nods to herself, as she too takes a seat across from Lysander on the cushion.
Grabbing her tools, the otherworldly and soft light around her intensifies slightly. As the light begins to fade, she comes out of her short trance, looking back at Lysander. “It seems you have quite the challenge ahead of you. The challenge may not be quite what you may be expecting,” the Diviner says as a fleetingly amused glint crosses her eyes, unnoticed by Lysander. “You shall travel to the northern forest in the hills on the outskirts of the Golden Spines. The goal you seek to achieve can be found there. My only recommendation is to bring much in the way of rations, it may take time to achieve your goal.”
Seeing the unspoken signal, Lysander stands and gives his farewells to the Diviner. Walking out of the mystical hut and back into the calm of the surrounding woods. He makes his way back into the city, preparing the things he will need for his journey. Having been successfully adventuring for a time Lysander had many things which any newbie adventurer would be envious of. Of them all there was one thing Lysander was the proudest of, that being the ring on his finger. Ever since getting it, he never had to truly worry about not having enough rations. The spatial ring had everything that he could need for a given trip. A tent, formation rods, a month of hot rations and a variety of healing medicines.
Taking the advice of the Diviner seriously, he made his way through town to get more healing medicines. Then he made his way to a specialized shop, specifically opened to cook large amounts of food for those with spatial rings. While not many had them, there were enough in the city to give them a good amount of business. Going into the shop he gave them enough to get two more months of food, after giving them the gold from the pouch on his hip he left and would be back in the morning. As he paid then laughed at himself as he thought about still using a money pouch, he just didn’t like holding his coin in the ring. Eventually he made it home just before sundown, he restocked his silver and copper coins back to two hundred coins, checked to make sure he had sufficient arrows and his bow in the ring and finally went to sleep.
Waking up in the morning Lysander makes his final preparations, attaching his short sword to his hip and heading to the cooking store. After receiving his order he started to make his way towards the outskirts of the city. In the distance he could seek the massive spires that made the Golden Spires mountain range. Despite them being visible from there they were actually quite the distance away- several hundred miles. Not being in a hurry, Lysander started making his way at a more leisurely pace for himself. He could make it in a few days if he hurried himself after all, he just didn’t see the point as he loved the serenity of nature. He couldn’t understand those who were constantly in a rush to get to different places, at least not anymore.
Lysander took his time heading towards the west where the Golden Spires Mountains were. A rare smile crossed his face as he remembered his time in that small town in the hill area of the range. Making his way into the spires famous for their rich deposits of ores. He would look in the deeper parts looking for more uncommon and possibly rare ores, trying to make a few silver more. His smile widened when he remembered the lucky chance he had to find a good chunk of mithril in a silver vein; it was just as he was hoping since mithril was just silver transformed by mana. It was unfortunate that no one was able to artificially create it as any mana other than natural, unguided mana gained impurities. Shaking off those thoughts he turned his attention back to the beautiful scenery around him. Although there was still early in the day, he could tell that it was getting a little darker as he made his way from the woods surrounding the city into the forest. It was no problem to him though, he was used to this kind of lighting.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The day went by and the forest was peaceful. Nothing happened, that was usually the case though, he had long learned how to find the traces that marked the territories of the different predators in the area. He only had so much space in the ring, and he didn’t want waste it with a large amount of beast materials. Not to mention the time, mana and energy that would have to be spent on taking out any more powerful beast. In essence he thought it was a waste to do so; as such, he made sure to keep to the boundaries of any territories that he found, enjoying the scenery as he did. As it was starting to get dark, Lysander started to look for a place to set up camp for the night. Very quickly he found a place to settle down for rest.
Taking out the formation rods, Lysander precisely set them up around the camp. This particular formation was made to warn Lysander should anything above a certain level of strength appear within one hundred yards of the formation. After setting down a few mana runes to compliment that effect even further he took out some food, eating it quickly, and made his way into his tent. Under his covers he rubbed a small pendant in the shape of a shield, sending a small prayer to the God of Protection Althor for safety through the night. With that done he went into a mostly asleep state where he could wake up at the first signal from the formation. Nothing strong enough triggered the formation, and instincts of anything else warned them not to get close. Getting up in the morning and going through his typical routine he eventually packed up and started making his way towards his destination again.
The rest of his journey continued in a similar fashion, as after his tenth day of travel he finally arrived in the town from his memories, Copperdale. For the most part Copperdale mined and exported copper ore and goods. Though there were plenty other mines deeper inside that had other more valuable ores, such as silver, gold and mana-iron. Heading into town, he visited a few acquaintances from his time as a newbie adventurer before making his way to a tavern to get a room to rest. After all, he hadn’t had an actual good night rest for the last nine nights.
Well rested and ready to embark on the second leg of his adventure, Lysander made his way out of Copperdale. He made his way to the northern part of the forest surrounding the Golden Spires, the hilly terrain and forest only slightly impeding his travel. Only an hour after he left Lysander found himself in the valleys and hills of the northern forests. Unfortunately for him, there was a lot of places that even a somewhat large dragon could live.
In the area that the Diviner said he could find a dragon’s hoard, Lysander started to begin his search. The general knowledge of how to find a dragon’s den was well circulated- so as to protect weaker adventurers. There was also the added benefit that it helped find the den when one wanted to find one as well.
Following similar principles to when he was traveling to Copperdale, Lysander searched through the forest. He intently lookes for signs of territory, claw marks made on trees, withered vegetation at the base of trees, the smell of marking pheromones and such. Carrying on with the monotony, he continues with his search until lunch came around, taking a short break to rest as well as eat a little bit. In a short time he finishes and continues his search, while also admiring the scenery he never noticed before. With a light smile he thought of when he was always in a rush as a newbie, never taking time to admire the beauty of the world around him. Especially in the amazing scenery of the forest and spires around him. After a long day, he finished up his search. He knew better than trying to find anything at night, there just wasn’t enough light to find anything; rather, it took several times the effort which would just lessen his efficiency.
Seeing that he could no longer continue his search for the night, Lysander returned to a nearby area that he could set camp at and rest. He set up the formation and placed down a few runes that could enhance it. After having a quick dinner he made his way into his tent. With everything in place, and prayers given he made his way into the familiar and cautious sleep of adventurers.
***
Prowling through the underbrush a small creature makes its way through the Golden Forest. Unnoticed by both the larger beasts and other creatures of similar size to it. It easily blends in with the coppery color of the fallen leaves on the ground of the forest. Over time it had learned how to hide itself under the fallen leaves of the forest in its travels. Shifting, moving from one leaf to another. After a time it comes across a rather curious sight to it, four poles closely surrounding something it didn’t know- a tent. Its keen sense of smell was able to tell that a creature was inside but it also smelled something else. Something more familiar to it. With a similar rhythm it slinks its way towards the tent, towards its prize.
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***
In the morning Lysander continues on with his search, the familiar monotony of searching for his quarry sinking in. Getting into a rhythm he is able to continuously speed up his search up to a point. As such a week quickly goes by.
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Continuing with his search and at his peak performance at this point Lysander figures he can likely finish within the month but he came across a problem. Over the next month he was unable to find even a hint of the dragon. In general dragons were easy to find, as while they had greater intelligence than most sentient races their aura kept even strong beast away from their dens. Lysander had already searched the perimeters of the territories of all the beasts in the forest by this point but to no avail. There was not even a hint that the territory of a dragon was in this forest. Those with the title of Diviner would never be wrong though, their innate connection with the world allowed them to subconsciously connect with its history which influenced their visions. If a Diviner said there was a dragon somewhere then there would be a dragon, it was just a matter of finding it. It was late though, and it was time for Lysander to set up camp and get some sleep, he would try and think of a solution in the morning when his mind was fresh.
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Waking up rather early, at least compared to usual, as Aeloria’s light had yet to even breach the horizon to grace the forest with her gentle warmth. As he came to, Lysander heard a minute rustling just outside of his tent. Curiousity guiding him he took a quick peak outside, only to see a small lizard carrying a copper coin in its mouth. It deftly made its way through the underbrush, and upon further inspection he came to realize something. It wasn’t just a lizard. Its copper-colored scales matching the surrounding leaves, and the pair of iconic wings on its back. Somehow, someway this incredibly small creature was a dragon.
It was then he came to a realization, where did the copper coin come from. Grabbing his coin pouch, he realized that it was at least a fifth lighter than before he came to the forest. Right now, he didn’t have time to count, but it wasn’t all that much money anyway. Keeping a distance from the dragon, that was probably only the size of a small newborn kitten, he tracked it for an hour and a half. During this time, the light of dawn had started to trickle over the horison. He had found the cave of the dragon. It would have probably taken a long time, months perhaps, to find such a cave if he hadn’t followed it. Following it into the small cave entrance, it opened up and Lysander saw a mound of copper coins and trinkets inside the cave. At the top of the mound making itself comfortable was the tiny copper dragon.
Seeing Lysander enter the dragon tried to give itself as intimidating a presence as possible, but to him it was just adorable. There’s no way that I could kill that, it’s to adorable. Maybe some copper coins and some food will do? Never know if I don’t try I guess. Thinking this Lysander took out a handful of copper coins, as it seemed to like them, and took out a small leg of roasted meat. Placing them on the ground he backed up a few paces and waited for the dragon to make a decision.
Looking at him cautiously, it made its way over, constantly keeping an eye on him in case he tried something. To its relief Lysander stayed where he was and didn’t move back to the offering. Nodding its head in relief it made its way to the food, sniffed it and confirming it was safe started to eat. To its surprise the human started to talk to it.
“If you follow me, you can have all the food, copper coins and copper trinkets that you could ever want. I’ll also protect you from beasts stronger than you. So, what do you think,” Lysander said to the palm sized dragon.
Thinking over his proposal, the copper dragon only saw benefits. Nodding to him it continued to eat the roasted meat, finally after finishing it sadly looked at its hoard. Seeing this Lysander gave a soft chuckle saying, “don’t worry you won’t have to leave your hoard behind; I can bring it with us.”
With a happy hop and glide the dragon landed on his shoulder, curling around his neck before settling down. Up close he could tell the dragon had more feminine draconic characteristics, so he decided to give her the name Cinnamon with her approval. Taking the hoard into his ring, and Cinnamon on his shoulder Lysander started to make his journey back home.
