Chapter 2: Inspiration
I was out where I wasn't supposed to be. After a great fight with my parents, I was foolish enough to want to leave. So I tried. I ran away from home, from my village, and walked in the desert night. It was cold. Very cold. I was merely a child of 8. There were tears on my face as I looked back at the faint lights of my beloved home as I was about to cross over a dune that would shield my vision from it. I began to walk, looking at the moon in the dark blue sky. I loved the stars and the moon. How the stars danced in the sky, along with the moon, as they lit the heavens and governed them during the dark night.
I had been walking for what seemed to be hours when I suddenly just couldn't anymore. I fell to my knees, shivering greatly, my hands pale. I knew I had nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. I was going to die.
I suddenly felt trembling beneath my knees. I blinked, looking at the sand, and then forward at the blurry horizon. The trembling stopped. I stayed still, my heart racing. I was taking fast, shallow breaths, my mind going through thousands of thoughts a second. I then heard running footsteps and the jingling of chains behind me. I turned around and saw a man running towards me. He began to yell.
"Stay still, child!" He yelled, running really fast towards me. I then noticed a giant sword on his back, moving along with his body. I gasped, scared, wondering what he was going to do to me. He jumped forward and grabbed me as I felt the trembling happen again. Then, all of a sudden, as we were moving in circles due to rolling, I saw a great dual-horned dragon charge up out of the ground where I was laying. Sand shot into my wide open eyes as we rolled. We stopped rolling, the man's breath kept under control, though strained.
"What's your name, kid?" He asked me, calmly, though he was panting.
"D-Dariue…" I said, stuttering from the shock. I took a moment to look at the man. His hair was long and black, and he was a big man. That's all I could register in my 8 year old mind.
"Listen, Dariue," He said, gently, "I know you're scared. But I'll protect you. It's my job to fight these things." He put his hand into his back pouch and pulled out a red container, "Take this, it will warm you up."
I grabbed it with my shaky hands and then opened it and drank from it. It was kind of spicy and 'peppery' but it warmed me up almost right away. The man smiled at me, rubbing his hand through my hair, "Be right back, Dariue." He stood up, then ran towards the monster, which was now facing us. Its mouth opened, raising its head, pointing up to the night sky and then unleashed an absolutely horrible screech. It was no roar, I'll give you that! I placed my hands on my ears and trembled, squeezing my eyes shut, terrified. But then the screech was interrupted by a yell and a sound of a slice. I peeked with one eye and saw the man running his sword quickly down the Diablos' neck. The monster retaliated, trying to take a swift bite at him, but he dodged nimbly, rolling. I looked in amazement as the man fought this humongous creature. He never took one hit, and he hurt the monster as much as he could, at every chance he had! And in what felt to be so quick, the monster dropped down to the ground with a loud thud.
The man walked towards me and lent me a hand, getting me to my feet. "Let's get you home."
From that day on, I visited him almost every day, asking millions of questions about monsters. And so started my obsession.
