Authors Note: All right, just to clear it up for anyone who wasn't involved, the dragon's only RPG was a role play on a now non-existent site forum. It was ended because it got ridiculously boring and cliché. Now as far as this story goes, It is taking one, specific part, (my character) and examining his life.

So, on to the story!

I woke up the next morning and examined the camp a little closer. Our rain barrel, our only source of clean water, had broken, and I set about fixing it.

After I finished with that, I went to my father's body. He didn't seem dead; there were no wounds on him except for one barely noticeable incision. His heart had stopped, though, and so I started to dig his grave. After the hole was dug I stood over his body for a few moments. Almost on a whim, I cut two scales from the rest of his body, and placed them in one of the small pockets of space between my scales and my layer of skin, as I had done with my mother (1). After this, I slowly began to fill the grave. Once that was done, I took a few sticks off the ground and spelled out my father's name. It wasn't the most glamorous grave, but my father wouldn't have wanted more. He was a humble man after all.

As I finished the grave completely, I said a quick prayer, and left to hunt. I wanted to spend more time, simply sit in silence for a while, but I knew I couldn't. Living in the darklands, I didn't have the time to give the dead their due. That was simply the way of things.

I've always enjoyed hunting. Facing a single target in a primal contest of will appeals to me, for some reason. I searched around the camp for any sign of an animal. (2) After a short while I found some small tracks leading off into the forest. Elated, I followed them. It had been ages since I had last caught something.

The tracks slowly got fresher, and that meant I was close. Finally I came to a large clearing, and there sat my target, a moderately boar, with three spears through its head. I walked slowly into the clearing, and saw two young wolves standing there. My father had mentioned the wolves once or twice before, he said they were a rather unorganized group of hunters who traveled around the darklands, searching for a permanent home. He told me that they did some great service for the gods, and because of this they were blessed with the ability to walk on two feet. They weren't outwardly hostile, but from what he'd said, they could put up a hell of a fight when provoked.

"Hello there," I called. I watched them carefully. They didn't seem like they were planning to attack me.

"This is our food, dragon, leave, or we'll be eating you tonight." One of them said. As much as I didn't want to fight right then, I needed the food, and I hadn't found something as good as a boar in ages.

"Good luck," I said. My parents had taught me to fight, and while I wasn't the strongest due to my young age, I was a dragon, and I had just gained my fire breath.

As they ran towards me, I let out a blast of flames. They stumbled backwards, their fur now afire. I took that opportunity, and sliced at one of them, the one who had spoken. His fur was thick, but I managed to break his skin slightly. As the other came towards me from behind, I lifted my tail and struck it as hard as I could. My scales are quite sharp; they're practically weapons in themselves. He staggered back a bit, then grabbed my tail, and despite profusely bleeding hands, swung me into a tree.

I fell to the ground. I could feel a bit of blood in my mouth, and my left side had gone quite numb. I looked back at the two wolves, both of whom had left me to attend to their other catch. I grabbed one of their spears out of the boar with my mouth, flapped into the air, and stabbed it into the head of the one who I had tail swiped as hard as I could, using the momentum of my flight to propel myself. He fell to the ground, blood pooling beneath him. The other seemed to stand, paralyzed, for a few moments, and then went into a mad rage. He rushed towards me, and I knew I couldn't dodge out of the way in time. I prepared to take the hit…

But it didn't come. I heard a female voice a moment before the attack would have hit me.

"Hold it, Josef." The voice said, and I looked up to see a young looking wolf, just entering the clearing. She appeared to be about twelve (3) and her fur wasn't as thick and knotted as the other two. It was slightly longer, though, and maybe a shade or two brighter. She looked somewhat angelic, at the time.

The wolf that had been attacking me looked up. "Trasha, he killed Nelean!"

She snorted. "I devised that from the situation, Josef, but thanks for showing me that you think I'm an idiot." She walked up to me, her foot-claws crackling the dirt slightly. "So you managed to take one of our patrol members all by yourself? I'm impressed. What's your name?"

Josef stared incredulously. "Trasha what the hell are you doing, he killed one of our men! How can you speak with him so freely?"

"To be honest, I'm kind of glad. Nelean was a boring old ass anyway. Everyone on the patrol hated him; except for you, apparently. Besides, you should be thankful. With your fighting ability you'd probably be dead now, if I hadn't interfered. Now where were we… Oh, yes, your name, dragonling?" She said.

I looked up at her. She looked… sympathetic, somehow. "I'm Darian. I was after this food, and your men got to it first, so I fought them for it. You have some strong hunters." I said. I couldn't believe she was helping me get away with this.

Trasha smiled. "You see Josef? This is a big misunderstanding. All he really wanted was food. You shouldn't be so quick to judge people." She had a large smirk on her face, and her voice bled pure sarcasm.

Josef looked at me with an intense, burning hatred. "But he took one of our men, Trasha; he must be punished for that at least."

Trasha frowned for a moment, and then a slight smile came back. "You know you're quite right. I can't let this go unpunished." An evil grin showed itself on Josef's face. "Darian, I think you should come and work with us. You killed one of our hunters, so it's only fair that you should replace him."

Josef's jaw dropped. "Trasha, you can't, the leader will never allow it…" He said.

Trasha chuckled. "I am your superior, Josef. The leader listens to me, not you."

Josef seemed to back off with that.

"So, I say we should probably head back to our camp. Our leader will probably want to hear about this." She said. We began walking on a carefully concealed path through the forest. I had never taken the time to really look around in this area.

This part of the darklands received far less sun than the rest of the place, and the trees showed it. While the majority of the darkland's trees had bright green leaves, these ones had large, dark black leaves, to absorb the maximum amount of sunlight. They also had developed a thick, oily outer layer, largely due to the powerful dust storms that occasionally blew through. (4) The trunks had developed a purple hue from the tainted rains that fell in this area (5) and there were small poisonous berries that glowed with an eerie luminescent light when trees absorbed more sunlight than they could use. It gave the entire area a very foreboding feel, but at the same time it was more beautiful than anything I had ever seen before.

I tore my eyes from the scenery to see that we were nearing the camp. It was pretty standard as far as camps went. The tents were of a rather simple design, not at all elegant, and they were set up in rows of ten, with a large tent that I assumed belonged to the leader they had mentioned earlier. There were about one two hundred wolves there total.

I was led to the tent that belonged to the leader. As we entered into it, I saw a great hulk of a wolf. His face was battered and bruised, but he looked oddly kind. I doubted I had any reason to fear this one.

"Trasha, I see you brought back some dinner," He said, in a loud, bellowing voice that seemed to fill up the already roomy tent, "But who is this dragon you have brought back with you?"

Trasha told him what had happened, sparing a couple of minor details to make it seem a bit more reasonable. He seemed to think for a moment or two after she finished.

"Very well, if that's what happened, then I suppose I will allow you to stay, as long as you will help us in anyway we might need of you." Josef now seemed ready to explode, but he kept his tongue, for the moment. (6)

Trasha led me off to a small tent on the edge of the camp. It was quite worn out, with a few large rat-holes here and there, but it was serviceable.

"If you have any other belongings, simply tell us where they are and we'll bring them here," She said.

"I can't think of anything," I said. Anything that I owned was stored in my scales. "Though, I would like to ask you a question…"

"Go ahead," she said. Her voice was a bit bored, but she seemed to be genuinely interested.

"Why are you doing all of this for me? I mean, you saved my life, and you let me come here even after I killed one of your own. Why?" I said.

"I don't really know why myself… I mean, Nelean was a boring old ass, but that doesn't mean he needed to die, and while I would do just about anything to tick off Yosef, this might be a step too far. I suppose, really, it's because I like you." She stared at me for a few moments, then stalked off, into the distance, the sun just beginning to dip below the endless lines of trees.

I wasn't sure whether I liked this place as much as my old campsite, but maybe, I thought, I could live this new life. I went into the tent and lay down to sleep on the small cot that lay there. (7) I remember sleeping well that night. The cot wasn't the most comfortable thing I had ever laid upon, but it was serviceable.

I woke that next morning well rested. I stretched a little, and noticed that food had been left there for me. I examined the boar, and found three spear holes in it. I guess they decided to give me the boar after all. I checked it over briefly for any poisons. It might have been a paranoid move to make, but I didn't really know very much about Josef, so I couldn't be too careful. It seemed clean, so after roasting it quickly, I set about eating it. I had worked up a beastly hunger the previous day, so I ate quite ravenously.

As I finished it, I stepped out of the tent into the pale morning light. The sky was overcast, and it rained slightly. The camp seemed to have awoken some time earlier. I looked out over the lines of tents, wondering what I was supposed to be doing.

I saw Trasha coming towards me out of the corner of my eye, and waved to her.

She waved back cordially, smiling slightly. "Morning, Darian. Sleep well?" She yawned; it seemed she too had only gotten up recently.

"Quite," I said. "And you?"

"Not bad."

I looked at her in silence for a moment. "Do you have any idea where I'm supposed to be?"

She smirked at that. "Oh, yes, we never did tell you, did we? Each morning you report to the leader's tent for orders."

"Thanks. I'll see you." I walked away towards the tent, pushing the flap open with my head. The chieftain looked over at me.

"Darian, nice of you to show up. You're going to be on Trasha's crew. Please give this to her." He passed a small envelope to me. I pushed it between two of my scales.

"Understood." I nodded my head in a sort of bow, and left quietly, the tent flap closing behind me.

I walked around the camp, looking for Trasha. As I did though, I couldn't help but notice the wolves. They all looked very worn out, as if they were in the grips of a large calamity, and yet I could see no such terror in these neatly placed rows of tents. Save the people themselves, everything looked quite clandestine. As I marveled, I noticed Trasha sitting with a small group of wolves. I walked up to her; she noticed and stood.

"Well, Darian? What 'cha got, you on trash duty? Mindless errands?" She asked, mockingly, as seemed to be quite normal with her. A few of the wolves chuckled; most of them seemed to be ignoring me.

"No, actually, I've been assigned to your crew. Unless that's what you mean by trash duty," I said. It was lame, I knew, but it was the best retort I could think of. Remembering, I pulled the letter out of my scales with my mouth, then handed it to Trasha. "The chief told me to give you this."

She took it, her small, lithe fingers opening it in a single fluid motion. The other wolves, whom I assumed were her crew members, were now staring at me, as if I was an alien, and in a sense I suppose I was. They were a team of all wolves, and I was an outsider. Not to mention how doubtful it was that anyone of them had ever seen a dragon before, except perhaps the occasional silver dragon who happened through. The silver dragons had rarely gone this deep into the Darklands as they preferred to live in areas with more sunlight. (8)

Their probing stares were interrupted as Trasha put the letter down. "We've got a special task today, boys!" she said, and her words were instantly followed by loud howls of happiness among the crew. It seemed special tasks were good things. Thinking, it was easy to see why, considering how monotonous constant hunting must be.

Yet, I couldn't really sympathize with them. They seemed to take these tasks as fun diversions from everyday life. When they hunted it was for fun. When I had hunted, it was because I needed to eat.

Somehow though, I found myself a bit elated as well. I hadn't known very many people throughout my life; this was a chance to make some new friends.

Trasha had a strange way of knowing what people were thinking, and so she decided to shift attention towards me.

"Well," she said, looking amused, "I suppose if you're working with us I should introduce you to our little team." She lazily pointed her finger towards the first of the wolves. "This is Nathaniel. He's the strongest of us. He has a bit of a tough guy complex going, but he's probably the softest among us, really." She smiled towards the wolf. I looked him over. He had large, bulging muscles, and his fur was charcoal black. He had a few scars across various parts of his body.

I hadn't really had much experience with people in general, but I could tell the look he was giving me wasn't hate. It was closer to indifference. He didn't really know anything about me, and so he didn't really have any feelings about me either way. It was a surprise for me, with the exception of Trasha; I hadn't really expected anything more than hostility from these strange creatures.

Trasha pointed to the second person in the line. "This is Tobias. He's a sneak and a prankster. I wouldn't trust a word that comes out of his mouth.

He smiled at her. "Now, now, Trasha, just because YOU don't like me…" She smiled back.

"Tobias, if there's anyone who likes you, I recommend you get switched over to their patrol so that we don't have to deal with you. Moving on…"

I looked at Tobias for a moment. His fur was heavily matted and he smelled somewhat of garlic. He didn't seem trustworthy.

"This one," she said, pointing to another member, "is Desgae, He's agile, he's got some muscles, and he's more full of himself than an Elsnieth flower in mid-June (8). Be careful with him."

His fur certainly wasn't matted, in fact he was probably the best groomed of anyone there. His fur was smoothed out and bright white, it almost appeared that he had trimmed it back a bit. The look on his face was one of deviousness. I made a note to watch him.

Finally, she pointed to the last member of the group. "This is Banron. He's a serious business type. He's trustworthy, but good luck trying to get him into a conversation."

He didn't seem particularly special. He looked rather strong, but very calm. Something about him seemed familiar, though I couldn't quite place from where. I decided to ignore this for the moment.

Trasha turned towards us. "Alright boys, listen up, we're going into the woods today. We'll be searching for some artifact that crashed out there not too long ago. I don't need to tell you all how dangerous the wilderness can be, but we need to cover ground quickly, so we're going to be heading out in two person teams. Keep your eyes open, I don't want to be losing any of you… well with an obvious exception." She looked menacingly towards Tobias for a couple moments. "Since we no longer have an odd number of people, you won't have to go alone this time, Tobias. You'll be searching with Darian."

Tobias snorted. "You're sticking me with the newbie?"

"Yes." Trasha said, her voice menacing. She gave him a look that asked 'what, did you expect anything more?'

Tobias grudgingly abated.

"So, do we know anything other than what you've told us? Like maybe what this object looks like?" She didn't seem to like me asking.

"All we know is that the flight path leads us to believe it crashed in the third sector of the deep forest. Now if you ever interrupt me like that again, I guarantee you that I won't be nearly as pleasant as I am being now."

I wondered for a moment why she was being so hostile. I hadn't done anything to offend her, had I? Then I realized the answer. She was trying to look tough in front of her team. If she let them see her being nice to a newbie, or being any less macho than one of the males, they would lose respect for her. I was an outsider after all. So, I decided, I would have to live with it. She had saved my ass after all. I owed her one.

We headed off into the forest, splitting off as we had been told, and made our way carefully into the wilderness.

(1) The way my scales are set up allows me to stow small items away with relative ease. I can carry all manner of items like this.

(2) Oddly, I didn't find any track left by the puppeteer as I searched. I it's possible he covered them as he left, but it remains somewhat of a mystery to me, even now.

(3) The average lifespan for a wolf is about thirty years, meaning that she was about middle-aged in their society.

(4) The Darklands are often pointed to as a proof of evolution; almost every plant and creature has developed some sort of unique trait that helps it to live in the harsh conditions.

(5) Most believe that these were caused by human interference; indeed some groups believe that humans had once populated the region. I always attributed it to the Darkland's taint, myself.

(6) Actually I later found out that he had little choice. Trasha was his superior in their society, and it was never considered proper to question something a superior said.

(7) Sleeping on that cot was actually quite an achievement, what with how sharp my scales were. I nearly cut through it a couple of times in that one night. I asked them to install a bed, but no one ever followed up on it.

(8) Silver dragons actually undergo a similar process to photosynthesis. They get part of their energy from this process and part of it from eating. Which allows them to survive for long periods of time without food.

(9) Elsnieth flowers are one of the most unique organisms in the darkland ecosystem. They grow from August to May to positively monumental sizes, to the point where they can actually eat medium sized animals. Then, in June, their (currently unknown) food source disappears, and they are forced to eat their own body, dying in early July.

Well, this chapter didn't turn out quite as well as I wanted it to, but I suppose it'll do. If you find any grammatical errors, spelling errors, or errors in general mention them in a review or PM them to me. Thanks for reading!