THE UNKNOWN SLAYER

The boy was running. His body ached and his lungs burned, but he had to keep moving. Though he did not quite understand why, the boy knew he could not afford to be caught. All he knew was that he had to escape from these men no matter what. His feet pounded the floor as he pushed himself to go faster; the walls flying past his field of vision as he went on. Turn after turn he felt himself getting closer and closer to the exit, but the men were catching up. He was almost there. He just had to a little farther to go and he would-

As he burst outside, a piece of the ground lifted, causing the boy to trip and fall. Laughter rang out as the men who had been chasing him surrounded the boy. Galvanized into action, the boy leapt to his feet and prepared to fight, only to be knocked back down by a blast of fire. The laughing began again as the boy rolled on the ground in pain.

"Ya shouldn't've run, idiot boy," said a rather uneducated voice. Now wer gonna gut you like a fish."

"Shin!" one of his ugly friends cut in. "Ya know we c'n't do tha'! The boss'd be mad!"

Anger flashed across the face of the first one. "The boss c'n suck it!" He yelled. "We ha'en't been a'le to kill no one in a long time 'n' I grown tire' of it!"

"Best do it quick, Shin," ugly said. "Ya do it quick 'n' we coul' tell the boss it were an accident."

Shin took on a thoughtful look and smiled, "Ya know Shu, ya gotta poin' ther'. I'll jus' blas'im."

As fire began to ignite all over his body, Shin laughed. "Got any las' werds idiot boy?" he yelled.

"G-g-g…" the boy stuttered as he struggled to his hands and knees.

"What was that, idiot boy?"

"Go to Hell." The boy spit out with a weak smile.

"You first!" Shin laughed sadistically as he inhaled deeply. A red-orange magic circle spun underneath his feet and his magic built up. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"

The boy knew it was over. There was no way he could survive this fire. It was such a crappy way to die too. He didn't know who he was, where he was, or even why this was happening to him; but he knew he was about to die. He had heard that this was usually the point where your life flashed before your eyes, but he guesses that only applied to people who had their memories still.

The boy closed his eyes as the heat of the fire grew nearer. This was it. It was time to face death. The boy braced himself for the blast he knew was coming...and he continued to brace himself.

Confused, the boy opened his eyes to see a man standing between him and the blast…and sucking up the fire that Shin was blasting. Was he seeing this correctly? This man was eating Shin's fire!

As the attack ended, Shin slumped over from the amount of magic he had just used. "Wha' th' Hell wa' tha'?!" he yelled. "Git outta here boy! This don't concern you!"

"Maybe not," replied the man in front of him. "But I won't stand by and watch ya murder a defenseless boy!" Anger was growing in the man's voice. "And not only that, but I won't allow ya to abuse dragon slayer magic and tarnish the dragon slayer name! Now let me show ya what a real fire dragon's roar looks like.

A huge red-orange magic circle, at least ten times the size of Shin's, expanded beneath the man's feet. The boy could feel a massive amount of magic power begin to rise from within the man as he inhaled just as Shin had done just moments ago. Ruble from the previous blast began to float up in the air as it became denser with power. The boy could see Shin and his ugly friends petrified with fear and he couldn't blame them. The amount of magic power was terrifying.

"Fire Dragon's…" the man began with a resonating voice. "ROOAAARRRRR!"

Fire erupted from the man's mouth with enough force to send everything around him flying. Shin and his band of idiots let out yelps as the flame engulfed them and the light from the blast was enough to blind the boy.

As his eyes readjusted, the boy took in the scene before him. All of his pursuers were sprawled out on the ground incapacitated, yet still alive. The building he had escaped from was completely burnt to the ground, leaving only ash. The man who had saved him stood with his back to the boy and was breathing a sigh.

The boy's vision began to go dark as the man turned to face him. Something was funny about the man, but the boy couldn't place his finger on it before finally blacking out. He had been saved, but little did he know his life was about to change forever.