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The sorrowful keen of a wailing dragon pierced the sky. Several startled birds were frightened from their nests within the marshy forest, calling out warnings to each other as they fled. The keen repeated again and again, full of loss and anguish, slowly descending into sniveling whimpers as its source lost the strength to continue the sound. Four dragons sat in an empty clearing, the ground slightly raised within so it was out of the swamp. In front of them lay the bodies of two more dragons surrounded in dried blood, one with a gaping wound through the back of its skull, and the other with multiple mortal wounds on its chest and face.

One of the living dragons was hunched over their bodies, tears dripping from her eyes, her body shuddering with great sobs of pain. She had dark, mossy green scales, two straight horns on the back of her head, and a row of spikes running down her back. At the tip of her tail, which flicked back and forth in accordance with her distress, was a stinger that resembled that of a scorpion. Splashes of ruby red coloured the inside of her legs, bright and poisonous. The other dragons around her resembled her colours, though each had different splashes around their legs, whether that be pink, blue, or purple.

"Oh, Juwil... I am so sorry," A dragoness said putting a wing over the mourning dragon's back, "We will find whoever did this. I promise."

"It had to be a metal dragon," snarled another, a drake, "No other creature could make wounds this clean."

"But the wounds don't resemble anything claws would make," stammered a third, also a drake.

"Well, what else could it be? Nothing could have taken down two dragons so easily," grunted the first drake.

"Kaman, Ballor, pipe down will you. Now isn't the time for your debates," growled the dragoness.

"No... it's alright," Juwil raised her head, a tear trickling from her eye, "Whoever did this will pay, whatever it takes."

She looked over the two dead bodies of her siblings, regret and pain lancing through her heart. They would have had to have been dead for at least a day. It meant that they had been attacked not soon after she had left them. Whatever had attacked them had waited until she had left. The thought infuriated her. It had only been a normal job. Go out, look for human villages, and bring back what you find. Simple. And they had hit the jackpot as well. Twelve perfectly healthy individuals, and a screaming baby. Rarely were so many found at once these days.

"Maybe one of the humans..." said the other dragoness, taking a closer look at one of the dragon's wounds, "They could have been made with some sort of weapon."

"Couldn't be," grunted Kaman, the drake with the pink scales around his legs, "Look at how easily these scales were cut. No human weapon could do that."

It hurt to have Kaman speak so bluntly, but she understood it. He was an analytical dragon, who tried his best to figure out the situation without letting emotions guide his thoughts. It always helped to have him around when things went sideways... as they were now. Juwil took a deep breath, holding down the rising pain, and turned to the drake with barely veiled anger.

"None of the humans had any weapons on them besides some big stick," she spoke, struggling to hold down more tears, "We got rid of that though. There was nothing big enough to make these sorts of wounds."

Kaman regarded her for a moment, before nodding his head, "I'll figure it out Juwil. I always do."

The four of them began to walk around the clearing, searching the ground for any other clues as to what had happened.

"It look's like whatever attacked didn't take the humans," Kaman began, "They either escaped during the fight or were let go."

"There also isn't any elemental damage," stated the other dragoness, whose name was Siserly, "I think they were taken by surprise."

"You're right," Kaman frowned, "Which means that the humans were most likely let go."

"Some 'human's deserve freedom and have rights to' extremist then?" Juwil questioned.

Kaman shook his head, "Again, it doesn't match the wounds."

The four of them went silent as they pondered the mystery.

"M...maybe it was the Dragonslayer?" stuttered Ballor, looking around the clearing anxiously.

Juwil froze, staring at him in slight shock, a shiver of fear running through her back. That couldn't be true. He was only a rumour, a mystery shrouded in myth and exaggeration. A human who had somehow come across the power to match a dragon, and with that power slew many a dragon. None had escaped alive, at least none that dared speak up. All that was left were the bodies and whispers among many of the human servants of someone that could stand up against the dragon's tyranny.

Juwil prided herself in taking care of any humans within her own home and would even classify some of them as her friends. They were an intelligent species, and while they generally didn't like many of their dragon masters, they seemed to have accepted their lot in life. It was much better to live under the protection of a dragon civilization then roam the wilderness freely after all. But even her own servants had been excited at the prospect of a human with the ability to kill a dragon. A human with power.

"It could be..." Kaman said hesitantly.

"No way... those are just silly rumours," Siserly insisted, "No human could have done this. Not by themselves."

"Well, what else would have made these wounds, and been able to sneak up undetected, and had the patience to wait for Juwil to leave before making their move," Kaman growled, looking around the clearing.

"The...there are more tracks... over here," said Ballor, nosing at the ground on the other side of the clearing, "J...just one human. Entering... leaving. A...and as you move up... it ran... right at the dragons."

"It had to be the Dragonslayer then," growled Juwil, "He's the one that killed my brother and sister."

Siserly hesitated a moment, but even she couldn't argue with Ballor's deduction, "Okay... is he still around."

"Th... the tracks are at least a day old," Ballor answered, "P...probably long gone... by now."

"It looks like he was heading toward the ocean," Kaman rumbled, "But it would be rather easy for him to head that way and just disappear again. We can't exactly follow his tracks through the marsh... and they would probably be long gone by now."

"Dragonslayer or not we can't let him get away with this," growled Juwil, "The ocean is... maybe four hours of flying away. If he is heading in that direction it would take him far longer to walk. Maybe we can even beat him there."

"And take on the Dragonslayer?" questioned Ballor, "N...no thank you. W...we should try to find the humans again."

"They may be able to give us more information," said Kaman a little hesitantly.

"Oh... come on. There are four of us. If he was waiting until Juwil left to attack that means he didn't want to face off against three dragons. It means we won't have any issue," said Siserly with a snort.

"Assuming we even find him. There's a reason why no one has been able to catch him in the full eight years he's been active," growled back Kaman, "At least if we find the humans this trip wouldn't have been for nothing. You never know, he could have doubled back and be in the group itself."

"And... and we have a pretty good idea where they are going," said Ballor, "The human city, in those mountains about half a days flying away. It's... it's the only place... and they wouldn't have been able to make it there already... not just by walking."

Juwil ignored their arguing, staring into the trees at the direction the Dragonslayer, or whoever had killed her siblings, had disappeared into. His claws dug into the ground beneath her, her wings tense against her back. She had never disliked humans. If anything, she was infatuated with them. Ever since she was a hatchling, she had made an effort to get to know them, learning their languages, study their habits. She had created a place in her own home where they could live comfortably and safely, away from the dangers of the world, where they could thrive. Every human she had picked up along her twenty years of life lived happily... at least as far as she knew. Never had she disliked them before.

But now, hatred ran through her like an ocean current. Never had she wanted to so badly spill human blood, to watch as her acid ate through flesh and bone. This human had killed her family... and now she was going to kill him. With a snarl she leaped into the sky, ignoring the calls of her friends as she sped off toward the ocean. After a hesitation they followed after her, not wanting to leave her alone in the state they all knew she was in.

For hours of silence they flew, skimming across the marshy forest as they steadily made their way toward the line of ocean blue far in the distance. Juwil kept her eyes on the ground, watching for every small movement. Occasionally she would stop for a moment, hovering as she looked down upon something that caught her attention, like a moving animal, or some evidence of human activity, but nothing gave her the information she was looking for.

"There is something over there!" called out Siserly, angling toward a small hill with a trickle of smoke whisking out of it.

The other three followed her, and they landed on the hill together. There was a small cave, too small for any of them to fit into, where the smoke originated from. They approached cautiously, ready to react to the slightest hint of movement. It was pretty hard to miss the sound of four dragons landing. But Juwil was impatient to enact her revenge, and with a growl sprung around in front of the entrance, wings open and a tingle of acid ready on her tongue, ready to block, attack, or evade if the situation called for it, but nothing happened. Instead, they were met with an empty crevice with the smoking remains of a campfire.

Juwil's wings sagged in disappointment, "It's empty everyone."

Ballor let out a sigh of relief, but Kaman and Siserly let out growls if annoyance. Kaman walked up next to Juwil, looking into the cave itself, his studying eyes searching every nook and cranny he could see.

"D... do you think... it was the Dragonslayer?" Ballor asked hesitantly.

"I don't know," Juwil responded with a snort, trying to search for anything that might link the occupant back to the killer.

"Hold on," Kaman spoke, "I think I found something."

He lowered his head into the cave, taking a whiff of the many scents within. Juwil didn't know what he was looking for, all she could smell was smoke. He seemed to have found something, however, leaning further in. Juwil was forced to take several steps back to allow him room. He couldn't fit his shoulders and wings in, at least not easily, but that was all he needed.

"Dragon blood," he called out, "Almost definitely, and the fire was set last night."

"But we flew this way last night. Surely we would have seen it," said Siserly.

"The fire was pretty well hidden. It looks like whoever was where put branches over the opening. The only way we would have noticed would be if we flew right over it, as we would have flown through the smoke," Kaman explained.

"So the Dragonslayer is heading toward the city? Why?" asked the dragoness.

"We'll ask him when we find him," snarled Juwil, launching into the air, slightly adjusting her course so they were flying toward the city.

She flew slower now, her anger helping her focus on the ground below. She knew the destination now... or at least she thought she knew. The way the human they were tracking was going, he was heading directly toward Dryland city, the biggest establishment for both water and acid dragons. There were several smaller cities and towns throughout the water nation's territory, and large water dragon cities within the ocean itself, but Dryland city was the largest of them all by a fair margin.

The four dragons spread out in order to scan the ground. They were all tasked with finding and capturing humans and had picked up many skills and abilities that helped them do so. Still, finding one human between them and Dryland city was a difficult task. It wouldn't be impossible to overfly him and completely miss him in the marshland below. They had contingencies for that though. The fire had been set the previous night, and if the occupant had left early that morning they couldn't have been more than an hour or two flight from the cave. If they had left during their night they might be up to four hour's flight away. The trick was to fly for about four hours in one direction, then go back three hours, then back again, until they found what they were looking for. It wasn't a perfect technique. The human could easily have chosen a different direction to travel, but they had two points of reference now, which usually meant they could predict the direction in which their prey had traveled.

Another problem they could encounter was that the Dragonslayer saw them coming. If he did it wouldn't be hard to hide within the marshy forests to avoid them. But Juwil seriously doubted he knew anyone was coming. Any reasonable dragon would have gone after the missing humans. But she was no reasonable dragon. She was a dragon looking for revenge, and she had some of the best trackers in the nation on her side.

So for more hours they flew, scouring the forest with a practiced eye and vengeful heart until suddenly a movement from below drew Juwil's attention. A single human, a man, with a long silver spear hooked over his back, along with a metal plate. She stopped, hovering for the moment as she gazed down toward him. He must have heard her, because he stopped, quickly looking up. The two made eye contact through the trees, him seeming slightly worried, and her with narrowed eyes and a snarl on her snout. But there was no fear in his eyes, only a shining glint of recognition. At that moment, Juwil knew. She knew this was the man that had killed her family.

With a cry of rage, she dove down through the trees, forcing her way through the web of leaves and branches. She opened her mouth, letting sour-sweet acid erupt from her jaw, burning a hole in the branches as she crashed through them to get at the human. His eyes widened in surprise as he quickly moved, darting behind a tree as she landed with a squelch on the ground, her claws and talons being swallowed by the muddy ground. But she didn't care. With a roar she unleashed her acid at the tree the man was hiding behind, watching as the organic wood was eaten away by the dangerous green liquid. The tree didn't fall though, being held up through its branches and leaves by the many other trees surrounding them.

"You are going to die for what you did," snarled Juwil in the human's language, her tail lashing from side to side as she slowly began to stalk toward the tree.

The man called back, his voice rather steady, almost amused, "I'm impressed you found me honestly. Though if you have, you really don't know who I am."

"You're the fabled Dragonslayer? Are you not?" growled Juwil.

"Aah, so you do know. Though I guess revenge can cloud any sane being's judgment," was his response.

"It doesn't matter who you are. I'm going to melt your skin to the bone."

"Is that so? You may find that rather difficult on your own."

Moments later she heard the flaps of other dragons, and she looked to the sky to see her friends peeking through the hole she had made. They seemed concerned, but Juwil was only glad that they were here to help her.

"I guess I spoke too soon," said the Dragonslayer.

"You're not taking anyone by surprise this time Dragonslayer," Juwil opened her mouth, spewing more of the green acid at the tree trunk.

Suddenly the human moved, though now he had a spear in his hand and a shield on his arm. Without hesitating, he drew back his arm and launched the spear at her, the flight direct and true, aimed at her breast. But Juwil was prepared for his movement, redirecting the flow of acid at the spear. She originally wanted to dissolve it into nothing, but instead, the spear was thrown off course, sticking into the muddy ground several feet from her, undamaged. The Dragonslayer seemed unphased by his failure as he landed out the root of one of the trees, his boots out of the swampy mud. He easily drew his sword, the glittering blade reminding Juwil heavily of dragon steel.

"You really hate me that much huh?" he asked.

"I am going to make sure there is nothing left of you," responded the dragoness with a snarl, opening her mouth and firing another stream of acid at the human.

This time he responded by simply putting up his shield. It was a simple round design, made out of a similar metal to his sword, except for the glowing white stone in the centre. Juwil watched as her acid fell upon the shield, only to be absorbed by the glowing stone. She stopped, astounded as the Dragonslayer twirled his sword easily, holding up the shield to her, the stone inside glowing softly.

A rustle from the left caused both of them to look up. Another spray of acid fell through the forest roof, Siserly descending through with a snarl as she looked down upon the Dragonslayer, who regarded the newcomer solemnly. The two drakes circled above them, beginning to drop globs of acid through the forest, aiming them directly at the Dragonslayer. He elegantly dodged from side to side, leaping from one root to the next.

With a roar Siserly descended upon him, spraying a thin mist-like acid toward him that stung flesh, and if breathed, burnt up a being's insides. The Dragonslayer also caught that on his shield, holding his breath as the mist was also absorbed into the stone. Siserly didn't let that stop her though, aiming to land directly on top of the human to drive him into the ground. But the Dragonslayer was prepared. As she closed in on him, he danced to the side, slashing at her ankles with his sword. Much to the surprise of everyone, the Dragonslayer sliced off her right forepaw, the sword passing through scales, flesh, and bone, like claws through water.

Siserly screamed in pain, flailing backward and falling into the mud. The Dragonslayer went to press his advantage, but Juwil charged forward to help her friend, acid spewing from her maw as she did. The human caught the attack on his shield, the stone glowing hungrily as it devoured the acid that entered its radius. Kaman also charged through the canopy, roaring out in anger as acid was also thrown from his own mouth. This time the Dragonslayer elected to dodge, not able to block two attacks coming from different directions. He leaped onto another root, quickly taking refuge behind another tree.

Juwil came to a stop beside Siserly, the whimpering dragoness clutching the stump that was her forepaw, blood leaking out into the ground below. Kaman landed beside them, digging into the ground with his claws as he looked around angrily, furious at the injury to his friend.

"You dragons are relentless," The Dragonslayer called from his hiding place, much to the surprise of all of them as he spoke in perfect Drakin.

"How do you know our language?" growled Kaman.

"I've spent my entire life around dragons. It would be difficult for me not to pick up on your language," came his response, "I learned Drakin before any human tongue."

"Then why did you kill dragons?" the drake retorted.

"Because dragons continue to threaten our lives and freedom," the human spoke calmly, concisely, "We are not your slaves for you to do as you wish to. We are intelligent creatures simply trying to live life, but you all insist on stealing us away from our homes in order to make better lives for yourselves."

"Humans live better lives with dragons than they do anywhere else," Juwil responded, glancing down at the whimpering Siserly.

"No. I know a place where humans thrive. It is a place without dragons, and even if that were true, the only reason it would be is that dragons threaten our wellbeing, forcing us under dragons' rule."

"I know plenty of humans who are more than happy to stay with us," Juwil narrowed her eyes.

"Then let them stay, and let those that don't leave. It's not up to you to choose how we live our lives. We do that," responded the Dragonslayer.

"Yet you choose to kill dragons," growled Kaman.

"No, I choose to rescue humans that have come under attack by dragons, which in many cases lead to me killing them," the human said coldly.

"Well, no more!" roared Kaman, as he opened his mouth to breathe a torrent of acid toward the tree, similar to what Juwil had done.

But before he had the chance, the Dragonslayer appeared again, stepping out from behind the tree and throwing a small object at them. A glowing stone. It struck Kaman in the forehead, startling him. The stone then cracked. Time seemed to slow down for Juwil as a sudden realization hit her. That stone wasn't a normal stone. It was an element stone. With a cry of fear, she launched herself away from the attack, and the rock exploded.

White energy lit up the forest as Kaman took the full hit, his body was engulfed in white light, being vaporized near instantly by the attack. Siserly, not having the chance to move, was also caught up in the explosion, her body also disappearing at the attack. Juwil had managed to through herself clear of the radius, breathing heavily with fear as she looked at where her two friends had once been. The blast caught the edge of some trees, also vaporizing their roots and part of their trunk, but besides a small ripple in the mud, the earth remained unaffected.

"Let that be a warning dragoness," the Dragonslayer growled in Drakin, stepping out from behind his tree cover, a new dull element stone on the front of his shield, "If you leave now I will spare your life. If you don't I will kill you."

Juwil fumbled to her feet, backing away as she looked upon him in horror and fear. A human, using element stones. No wonder he had been formidable. The stones had been outlawed throughout the dragons' world, seen as far too powerful and dangerous to be used. But here was a human, openly using the most dangerous weapon in the entire kingdom without fear. How he had obtained them she had no idea, but even her desire for revenge wasn't going to drive her far enough to fight against element stones. She back peddled through the mud, flinging herself into the air and toward the hole she had created in the canopy. Ballor yelped as she went past him.

"Wh...what happened to Kaman and Siserly?" he asked as she hovered beside him, looking down at the human in terror.

She only shook her head, "Th...they're gone Ballor. He's too strong... we can't fight him."

"...Th...the white light? That... that was the human?"

"Y...yes," her voice shuddered.

The Dragonslayer was looking up at them, his sword in his hand and his shield hoisted onto his arm. His gaze bore through them, the look of contempt causing Juwil's entire body to shudder with fear.

"Let's go," she said.

Ballor only nodded, following her lead as she fled back to the city. 

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Alright, guys! Newest chapter here for you. We get to see the Dragonslayer again and learn a little bit more about him. Also, Juwil, tell me what you think about her and her character. You may see her again but I'm currently undecided. Sorry, this was a little late, got a bit distracted yesterday and didn't get this finished XD. Alright, make sure to vote below!

Binding Souls: Yivian, Mind Drake - 47Yrs BTA

Crashing Powers: Ingun, Ice Drake - 3Yrs BTA

The Strength of Talons: Elessia, Chaos Dragoness, 22 Yrs BTA

A Dragon's Final Breath: Gyssel, Gravity Dragoness - 34Yrs BTA

The next chapter should be up a little earlier, as it's Christmas next week! Alright everyone, enjoy.

Pennator^^