TW: Dueling, swords, fire, mention of slaying things, and threats

The two men circled the arena, swords in hand, waiting to strike.

Clang.

Sir Roman Basilious struck first with his katana. He was a tall man, about six feet. He had tan skin, brown hair, and green eyes that made girls swoon. He was wearing his normal uniform, a white shirt with gold embellishments on the cuffs, shoulders, and chest. On the shoulder was his families' crest. He had his signature red sash that he wore wherever he went. He was also wearing white pants and black boots that almost went up to his knees, but not quite.

But his opponent— Sir Janus Falacia— was quick to block the blow with his rapier. He was shorter than Roman, maybe 5'8" or 5'9". He had pale skin and an odd birthmark on the left side of his face. He had dark brown hair, and heterochromia— his right eye was brown, and his left was gold. He had a similar outfit to Roman's, but instead of white and red, his theme was yellow and black, and he was also wearing a black capelet and a bowler hat.

The two kept fighting, swords slashing and clashing, neither of the two getting any closer to winning. Finally, a person entered the arena— their friend Joan. "Roman, you're going to want to get over with us, you can't be late to your own hunt. You too Janus." They then walked out.

The two put their swords down. "Good fight Jan!" said Roman. 

Janus smiled, and took off his capelet and replaced it with his black sash. "I would have lost if Joan hadn't come in." 

"Lies, lies, lies, lies, lieees~", Roman riffed. 

"Ugh! You're so easy to put up with!" Janus had been cursed to lie at random moments years ago. It was hard for most people to figure out if he was telling the truth, but the two had been friends so long it was pretty easy for Roman.

He quickly replaced his families' crest with Ciciero's, and the two knights made their way to the field where the rest of their group was meeting up with them. When the others were in sight, Janus stopped. "Hey, Ro, I need to ask you something insignificant." 

Roman turned to face him. "Yes?" 

Janus took a deep breath. "Do you want to go out for dinner in two days?" 

Roman paused. "Like, like as a—" 

"I'm not asking you on a date." 

Roman stood on the small hill for a moment, then smiled. "Yeah! Yeah, definitely."

 Janus's face lit up. "Great! That's great!"

The two quickly made their way to the bottom of the hill. Roman made his way to the front of the party. In front of him were about fifteen people, all of varying ages. "Everyone here?" He called out. 

A brown-haired boy named Thomas then came up to the group, sweaty and wheezing. "I'm...here." Roman laughed, then spoke again. "Alright, if you're all ready, then let's go!"

The group started walking into the woods, with Roman leading, and Janus close behind him. He looked around at the woods, and smiled. There was something about them that was comforting. It was a tangled mess of trees, but it wasn't scary, more mystical and exciting. He had lived in Ciciero his whole life, and for as long as he could remember he had been visiting these woods.

"Alright everyone, make sure to look out for fire, scales, and anything else dragon-y!" 

Janus sighed.  "And what would dragon-y entail?" 

Roman waved his hands in the air. "I don't know, something that a dragon-witch would have!"

 "You're so good at describing things." 

Roman smiled. "Eh, if you hated it, would you have asked me out?" 

Janus chuckled. "Good point."

About three hours later, Thomas came up to him. "Sir Roman, have you actually ever seen a dragon-witch? And wouldn't we have found one by now?" 

Roman turned to face him. "Actually I have. Many times. But you don't want to hear my old-man stories." 

Thomas looked at him. "Sir, I thought you were in your mid-tw—" Roman quickly cut him off. 

"Well, if you really want to, I guess I could tell you the story of my first encounter with a dragon-witch. I think I was about your age, and on my first hunt. I too, thought that we would never find one. So, I made the rash decision, and wandered off. There, I roamed around the forest for a while, until I found it. It appeared in front of me, like a bolt of lightning. It was huge and terrifying. I looked it in the eyes, walked up to it, and before it could react I sliced it's head off. "

Thomas looked at him in awe. Roman patted his head. "Maybe someday you'll get to do that, and turned back to Janus.

The other man looked at him. "Ro. I know for a fact that that happened." 

"He doesn't know that!"

Roman stopped, and looked at the group of knights. "Alright, we haven't had much luck today, and if we don't head back soon, we'll be lost, and that's the last thing you want in these woods at night." A chorus of agreement responded, and they turned back.

Suddenly, he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to it, and was met with a purple flame. He stared at it for a moment, but when he blinked, it was gone. He shook his head and kept going. "Everything good?" Janus asked. 

"Y-yeah." 

Janus rolled his eyes. "I can't tell that you're lying. What's up?" 

"Well," he started, "I think I saw a colored flame. And if there are colored flames, then there are dragon-witches nearby." 

Janus stopped for a second, and looked around. "Ro, there's nothing here. It was probably just your mind playing tricks on you." 

"Yeah, that's it..." he replied hesitantly, and continued on.

⇼

Roman looked up at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep, or stop thinking about the purple flames he saw in the woods. If there really was a village, or at least a dragon-witch, then everything might work out. He had to take the chance.

He got up, and was about to put on his knight outfit before deciding against it. He went with a simpler white shirt, but kept his red sash. He grabbed a bag and started putting some essentials in it. Then, he wrote a quick note so no one would come looking for him. When he was done, he put on a black cloak and walked out the door, but then paused, and headed back into his room. He lifted up his mattress and opened up the secret compartment inside of it. He grabbed the compartment's contents, then headed back out.

He tried to sneak through the building, not wanting to alert anyone of his absence. When he finally made it through, he breathed a sigh of relief, and looked into the forest.

It was different at night, more creepy, and less mystical as it looked six hours ago. Nevertheless, he went in. He found a piece of wood, and quickly lit it on fire, making a torch. As he wandered, he couldn't help but jump when he heard a branch crack or leaves rustling—who knew what could be lurking?

About an hour later, he finally found something— a clearing. There, inside of it, was a large wooden fence. He smiled, he had probably found the village. He walked towards it, and saw a fourteen-year-old boy standing in front of the gate.

He had dark brown hair, pale skin, and was wearing a black leather coat with sunglasses. He also had a coffee-colored tail— the kid was definitely a dragon-witch. He walked up towards Roman, a spear in his hand.

"My name is Remington Macchiato Aeneid. And unless you turn into a dragon right now, I'm going to run you through with this spear."

Here we are— the first chapter of The Dragon-Witches! And for once I'm happy with my ending :D

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-Pencil