Wow another story that hasn't left me alone for months, don't worry I'm several chapters in to this one already so posting won't interfere with Makarovs Circus but it takes on a different tone than that story. I was inspired to write Dragon Souls loosely based on the short stories by Penelope Fletcher (wish she had more than two books!) so I will be adding my own spin on things. Anyways please enjoy and let me know what you think! See you soon!
- Legend tells of a hidden world just on the other side of the veil that be ruled by the Dragon Lords, those born of the gift of shifting from their human bonds into those of powerful beast of folklore at a simple will. Every Lord when he come of age must chose an Empress to rule his land beside him, just and strong, cunning and true. His Queen must protect and cherish her Dragon, his chosen, his equal. Chosen from nobility of powerful families, each potential warrior must compete in grand tournaments to claim their Dragon, the final test is to earn his surrender...his submission...for to earn the throne is to earn the Dragon's love in return... -
Dragon Souls – Chapter One – Ash and Brimstone
Rubbing away specks of hot ash that had suddenly blown straight into her eyes from a change in wind direction, Lucy frowned.
This had to be some sort of extremely vivid dream, right?
Dust from the dry, arid landscape choked her lungs enough that she was forced to hold her sleeve in front of her mouth, embers that were drifting on the wind stinging her bare skin wherever they touched her. Had her vision not been blurred so suddenly, the blond might have had the opportunity to take in all that the picturesque beauty of the strange world she had seemed to step into quite by accident.
Eventually successful in her effort to rid her watery eyes of foreign objects, she found her jaw dropping open; her sleeve rubbing at her eyes in case she was hallucinating.
Unfortunately, the scenery remained the same.
Lucy found herself in a barren land, devoid of flora or fauna. Dead or petrified trees dotted around the area stood frozen in time amongst charred rock that crumbled to dust under foot of her sturdy hiking boots. The large and jagged volcano that was erupting magnificently just half a mile away was the source of the hot ash, sulphur and heated rock billowing into the atmosphere, a plume of superheated air rising thousands of feet into the sky. Lava carved channels into the side of the mountain, running like deadly rivers that destroyed anything in their path. Flames, actual flames, danced across the sky; rolling back and forth from one end of the horizon to the other, bathing the gargantuan plume of smoke in hues of orange and yellow.
An atmosphere ablaze above her in a sea of grayscale.
Lucy wracked her brain for a reasonable explanation as to her sudden arrival in such a strange world of ash and brimstone, but for all of her theories, she ultimately harked back to her earlier question...this was just a dream right?
Anything could happen in her dreams.
And so, fully under the belief that this strange new world was nothing more than another nightly escapade of her imaginative mind, Lucy simply shook her head, smiled excitedly and set off towards the rumbling giant in the distance; eager to find another grand adventure.
She would soon find out, however, that she certainly wasn't in Edolas any longer...and if that wasn't bad enough –
She was being watched.
Two days before...
The ballpoint pen that moved back and forth between her wiggling fingertips absently as she sat at her tiny desk and stared off into space, was helping to distract her from the irritating racket the monstrosity of a printer was making as it vibrated violently; churning out several pages of the fourth redo of her latest article.
Lucy Ashley was a junior reporter for the Edolas Royal Bugle, a rather fancy name for a publication with a history of inconsistent articles of mostly fabricated stories and exaggerated poppycock; but Lucy wasn't one to openly complain, she hadn't exactly been afforded the luxury of choice between job offers. A nineteen year old fresh from college studying journalism at the time, had applied to ever paper, magazine and publication as far away from her childhood home as she could possibly get; tossing her fishing rod into a sea of opportunity and misguided optimism. Months of waiting ensued with only a few tugs on the reel, but no big fishes taking her bait. The blond beauty had instead taken a small job at the local Historic Society updating thousands of tomes to digital format in order to try and generate interest for the town's museum, who were lacking younger visitors who frankly spent most of their time on their cell phones than being bothered to pick up an actual book.
Two years had gone by before she knew it and, while she enjoyed reading about the history of their country as she typed, Lucy was eager for a real challenge.
One Thursday, Lucy had received an unexpected phone call from her cousin, Michelle. They had not spoken in person for several years since the sad passing of Lucy's mother Layla, and had moved away a few months later; but the young women kept in touch via text message or email occasionally.
Michelle lived in the Royal City, the 'Amusement Park of Edolas' as it were called, it wasn't actually a theme park; but with it's gaudy neon lights, casino's and a very lively party scene to boot; it may as well have been. Her cousin lived a normal life during the day, a Receptionist in the Human Resources department at the Bugle; but by night, she donned her finest wear and partied it up with the best of them in glamour and extravagant expense.
The twenty three year old had graciously offered Lucy a place to stay until she got on her feet, regardless of her trepidation of moving to the city of lights, parties and extravagance; the younger woman had jumped at the opportunity to finally have a chance to realise her dream of becoming a reporter.
So, Lucy had handed in her notice at work, sold what little expendable items she owned, packed her bags full of what few clothes she owned, three boxes of books, an old set of decorative keys she had inherited from her mother; boarded the next flight to the capital and flown East.
Bright eyed and bushy tailed, the twenty year old had arrived at the airport to find her glamorous cousin looking like she had walked out of the pages of a fashion magazine, dressed in what Lucy assumed were designer clothes, hair and makeup looking flawless, diamond jewellery and needle thin stilettos on her feet. A dazzling set of pearly white teeth had greeted her enthusiastically while the budding reporter had felt woefully underdressed in her thrift store band tee, ripped jeans and tatty old sneakers.
The first week in the city had been a harsh eye opener to the woman who had been raised solely by her kind and loving mother (Layla didn't talk about her father much, simply explaining he had left one day just a month before her mother discovered she was pregnant with Lucy). The young girl had been tempted to try and find her father after her mother had died, but without any information to go on, the trail had run cold very quickly; Lucy didn't even have his name. 'Little Princess' as her mother called her, had soon learned her independence and how to take care of herself; Layla struggled through three jobs to keep a roof over their heads and while they had nothing extravagant, they lived a comfortable life.
People in the Royal City were, for all their finery, cold and sometimes rude; rushing about between work and home without so much as a hello or glance towards one another; Lucy didn't believe it was possible to feel lonelier in a big city than she did in her hometown. The feeling only got worse when she eventually found an apartment cheap enough to rent that didn't leave her eaten noodles for the rest of the month.
Michelle always told her she ate far too much, dressed like a homeless woman and was always trying to give her a makeover; in her cousins words, not that she wasn't naturally beautiful...but she was wasting her 'potential'.
Lucy had to stop herself from responding negatively to her jabs.
Lucy wasn't one for frivolities, she spent her money on things she actually needed and what she had left over, she put away for saving. The blond was an expert thrift shopper, buying quirky pieces that matched her personality, she bulk bought her food, cooking large batches and freezing portions in case she fell on hard times. Her one treat, she'd adopted a mischievous tom cat from a local shelter that made her cousin sneeze.
On the complete opposite side of the spectrum from three months of living with her cousin, Michelle wasn't earning the money to fund her extravagant lifestyle. Rolling in debt, she spent her money as fast as she earned it on partying, designer clothes and accessories and, Lucy was convinced, illegal substances. She forever complained about money, not having any or never having enough. Lucy had only listened to her woes, having made the mistake of letting slip about her savings account; Michelle was constantly on the scrounge.
After failing to pay her back, Lucy had lied and told her she had a fraction of the amount that she had saved. Barely enough to cover her rent. The blond had received a substantial amount of money from her mother that Layla had been secretly adding to over the years. It wasn't until Lucy was much older that she realised why her mother had worked three jobs.
Layla had saved every spare penny to ensure her only daughter could have the means to start a comfortable life.
Lucy could have started a business, put down a deposit on a nice house; but instead she chose to use some of it to put herself through college and make her dreams a reality. She had taken a gap month or two to do some travelling, but Lucy still had more money than she knew what to do with, she had a steady paid job, a tiny but functional apartment and food on the table.
So she simply left it in her saving account, used for emergencies like repairs, new appliances...important things.
Because of her spend-thrift lifestyle, Lucy wasn't much for socialising, she had a few acquaintances...but no real friends. Superficial people tended to look down on the pretty but bookish blond with second hand clothes, tatty apartment who would much rather spend time with a good book.
Lucy had inherited her mothers love of books, she spent years in heroic tales of exotic lands, myth and monsters, dashing warriors in battle and exciting tales of magic and adventure. The quirky blond beauty was well known around the Bugle to always have her nose in the pages of a book, or to be regularly seen daydreaming on her lunch break. Her imagination was her playground, books were an escape from her life as a barely known reporter.
She quickly earned the nickname 'La-La Lucy' by her peers, her looks were seen as a commodity, but no one really approached her.
Suddenly being shook from her absent minded pen twirling by a loud knock on her desk, Lucy jumped slightly at the sight of her boss, Jason, giving her an amused smile with an eyebrow raised. The russet haired male was only a few years older than her, one of only a few colleagues who had actually tried to get to know her instead of just believing rumours.
He was Junior Editor of the 'In Other News' section of the paper, the section at the back next to the apartment listings before the personal adds. Jason took his job very seriously, but was under the impression that his department wrote about the most boring things on the planet. He was one of the few Editors who made the effort to boost morale and encourage his staff to adopt a positive mental attitude to their laborious work.
Since most of the time Lucy was so far removed from a positive mental attitude to her job that sometimes his peppy attitude made her want to staple his favorited pen to his forehead; but the man was perfectly alright in small doses.
She learned to greet him with a cheerful smile and a secret giggle at whatever hideous tie he was wearing today.
"Good afternoon, Boss."
"Ah...it's Jason, Lucy. None of my staff need to call me 'Boss', first rule of keeping a happy work relationship with your staff –"
"Keep a healthy supply of hard liquor in the staff room?" Lucy piped up.
"Sadly not...the first rule is to loose the formalities, second...make sure to avoid Mr Erickson at all costs to minimise the threat of world annihilation." Jason spoke cheerfully.
Unfortunately, as annoyingly peppy as Jason could be, her Boss's Boss was the complete opposite. Pete Erickson was a rotund and slimy man with a badly glued on brown toupee who's angry face resembled that of a fully inflated puffer fish, he was born in a time where dinosaurs walked Earthland and sadly had the incurable condition of being without a personality. He had no idea who Lucy was, or what she did but he had no trouble remembering she had a pair of obnoxiously large boobs that he leered at several times a day while continuing to call her Lacy.
"Anyhoo Kangaroo, great job on the article on the Sewer System Incident...Erickson flung it at me to read before he went to his second lunch. Never laughed so much in my life!" Jason wiped a tear from his eye.
"I thought the title 'The Free Stool-ges' was a pretty catchy title if I do say so myself...but your Boss didn't think so, I've just finished my fourth redo."
Jason grimaced in sympathy but soon his face turned to alarm at the sight of the very man they were discussing waddling towards Lucy's desk with a wad of paper crumpled in his hand, puffer fish mode fully activated and spittle flying frown his jowls.
"Pervy Pete alert...man the battle stations! Good luck, private Lucy!" Jason saluted dramatically and quickly darted around the corner and back into his office.
"Gee thanks." Lucy grumbled.
"LACY!" Mr Erickson spat as he rolled to a stop next to her desk, his belly rattling her computer monitor ominously.
"It's Lucy, sir. Is there something –"
"I don't care if your name is Lily, Lyla or Linda! How many times do I have to tell you to stop writing humour into the damn articles...our readers want hard facts not a comedy sketch!"
Lucy had to use all of her willpower not to roll her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Sir. I just thought our readers might actually read the column if it had a little humour in it."
"WRITE IT LIKE I DAMN WELL TELL YOU TOO OR YOU CAN FIND YOURSELF ANOTHER JOB!"
Lucy nodded with a grimace of disgust as his beady eyes dropped to leer at her chest before he stormed away. She counted herself lucky that she had anticipated criticism from the Editor and had already finished her final draft. It was now a two thousand word spread detailing the inner workings of the sewer system pump malfunction devoid of any sense of flair or interest. There were three paragraphs droning on about how the rubber seal degradation was found to be the cause of fifty six toilets and a hotel septic tank overflowing one afternoon.
Riveting...
Jason had popped up like a ninja shortly before the end of her work day and just in time to collect her contribution to the next day's paper and, judging from the loud yawn that her boss let out after finishing it; Lucy had succeeded in making her article as boring as humanly possible.
"I'm not sure if I'm offended or pleased that my writing has the ability to put our readers into a boredom induced coma." Lucy remarked dryly.
Jason let out an obnoxious bark of laughter so loud at her joke that Silent George from the Sports Desk scurried away from the coffee machine with a hiss like a skittish cat.
"Well since most of our readers have all of the personality of a Flat-worm I don't see much of an issue."
"I just can't believe my longest article to date in the city that never sleeps is a column about a Poo-splosion." Lucy sighed dramatically, placing her chin on her desk.
"Chin up. You'll get your break one day!"
"Preferably before my toilet backs up."
"Happy, I'm home!"
Lucy took the key out of the lock and squeezed through her apartment door with a paper bag of groceries in one hand and her tatty brown satchel in the other, kicking the door closed with her left foot; a pleased 'mraw' greeted her as her trotted towards her from the kitchen with his tail in the air merrily.
The exhausted blond was looking forwards to nothing more than to wile away an hour or two before dinner with a glass of strawberry milkshake, her current book and her favourite bubble bath.
First, she had groceries to put away, her answer machine to check and a demanding cat to feed...best start with Happy judging by the insistent head-butts and rubs against her legs before he decided to claw at her couch.
The bluish-grey domestic shorthair was stubborn and adamant about doing what he wanted.
Taking a fresh portion of mackerel out of the fridge that she had placed in there to defrost, her cat trilled happily as it was transferred to his bowl. Lucy then pressed the play button on her answer machine and listened to her messages as she put her shopping away.
There was a message from Jason that her article had been a-poo-ved (she groaned) for publication the next day and that Jane from payroll informed her she still had three days of paid holidays to use up before the start of the new financial year. The last message was from her cousin.
"Hey Lucy! I know you're like suuuuper busy at work right now, but I'm at a super fun party tonight so I'll forget to ask later. I was wondering if you had any free days coming up? There's a new hiking trail at the National Park that I'm dying to try out, I read somewhere that hiking is like, a really good way to tone the thighs and butt and we both know we could use the exercise! Sooo...anyway, call me back asap when you get back, k? Love ya!"
Lucy blinked at her answering machine for a long moment before she sighed. Another one of Michelle's latest 'exercise fads', she swore her cousin was trying a new faddy diet or exercise regime every week. Loosing count of every gym class, fitness retreat or holistic health spa that she'd been dragged to over the last two years, Lucy would at least be able to have fun on this one. It wasn't that the journalist hated exercise, she was in pretty good shape for a woman who loved pizza and full fat strawberry milkshakes; it was the thought of hiking miles with a woman who's longest diet and exercise regime had lasted a week before she was back to partying and heavy drinking.
So forgive her for the enthusiasm...all sarcasm intended.
Instead of entertaining the thought of exercise when she had just finished a nine-five shift at the Bugle, or calling her cousin back to confirm or deny her invitation...Lucy went to run herself a bubble bath.
Two hours before...
Oracion National Park was widely considered to be one of the finest examples of absolutely pristine wilderness in the whole of Edolas. With it's lush pine forest, a crystal clear lake bordered by rocky, hilly cliffs; it offered a multitude of thrilling outdoorsy activities for the average thrill seeker. Camping, walking and hiking trails, kayaking and other water sports. Lucy had spent several hours going back and forth between either refusing the invitation, or accepting it; settling on the later of the two when Michelle promised they would stop at the local bakery downtown for some of Lucy's favourite chocolate doughnuts.
Even the weather seemed to be on her side.
A breezy summer wind was blowing through the Park, the sky clear and the top temperature forecast was twenty. Lucy was in high spirits as she pulled the zipper up on her baby blue windbreaker and double checked that her sturdy hiking boots were laced securely.
Michelle however was not as enthusiastic when Lucy had pointed out the incline of the hilly path that led hikers on a six mile trek round the beauty of the lake below.
"Urgh...what is that smell?"
"That's nature, Chelle...there's a whole big wide world there just waiting to be explored outside of the city." Lucy giggled teasingly to her grumbling cousin.
"Yeah...I mean I get that...but couldn't they have made the path a little more...flat?"
Michelle smoothed down a strand of hair that had fallen from her shoulder length light brown hair and whined at the thought of chipping her perfect manicure.
"Who's 'they'?" Lucy tried not to let her annoyance rise at her cousin already complaining, but the blond was actually looking forward to exploring the wilderness.
"Like...the National Guard or something...they should take care of stuff like this."
With a snort of amusement, Lucy bent over to pull on her black backpack and fastened the strap across her midriff. It was obvious that Michelle hadn't bothered to take notice of Lucy's suggestions about what to bring on their hike, luckily for her, the blond had packed enough for the both of them.
To compare, Lucy was in her comfiest thick yoga pants, a cotton t-shirt and a light raincoat in her favourite baby blue; comfy socks and a sturdy pair of hiking boots. She'd packed plenty of energy bars, a large canteen of water, several survival items along with a first aid kit (Lucy could be slightly clumsy at times) and even a compass and multi-tool in case her phone GPS lost signal.
Michelle had come in denim shorts, an off the shoulder top and a pair of strappy espadrilles...
So yeah...good thing Lucy liked to be prepared.
"'Chelle...the National Guard are soldiers, not gamekeepers." Lucy deadpanned.
"Oh..."
"Yep."
"Wow I guess you got the brains, I got the beauty." Michelle grinned.
"Guess all that partying is killing more than a few brain cells!" Lucy gave her cousin a cheeky grin and motioned for her cousin to follow her towards the trail they had picked, the blond completely missed the glare sent her way as Michelle followed.
The first part of the hike was a gentle hilly climb, no loose rocks underfoot but a well worn track through the edge of the forest with fellow hikers in front and behind them, some more seasoned walkers overtaking the two young women on several occasions. Michelle was mumbling after the fourth group overtook them. After an hour of trekking up a gentle incline and at the halfway point, several hikers wearing trail runners were turning back before the sign marked the next stage of the terrain; the cliff side path rising up around the large hill towards the back of the park, rockier and steeper ground made Lucy feel sorry for her cousins choice of attire and footwear.
"You sure you wanna continue? This stage of the trail is pretty rough but circles back to the carpark." Lucy made double sure that Michelle was up to the tougher challenge. "I'm pretty sure your shoes won't last –"
"I'm fine! Lets go..." Michelle snapped and stomped off along the path, causing Lucy to shake her head in disbelief...she had tried to warn her stubborn cousin...if she didn't want to listen to Lucy's concerns then that wasn't her problem. She would just have to keep a close watch on where they were walking.
Half an hour later and Michelle seemed much more cheerful that they weren't being overtaken every five minutes by more experienced hikers, even though she seemed to be stumbling every so often on loose rocks and gravel. The brunette was even striking up conversation as they passed through a grassy meadow and found a stunning view of the lake from the highest cliff face in the park surrounded by trees.
"Wow! Look at this place!" Lucy couldn't help but stand and look at the view, the breeze gently ruffling her hair as she took a deep breath in and out, the country air free of the pollution and smog of the capital city and the landscape untouched by the ugliness of high-rise buildings, gaudy neon lights and traffic. "Should have brought a picnic or something."
"Sure...like its pretty and all...but I'm a city girl at heart." Michelle sighed and walked forwards to stand next to Lucy.
"My Mom would love this." Lucy whispered quietly. Her cousin gave her a sad smile and patted her on the back.
"I'm sure she would..." Michelle smiled, Lucy smiled across to her cousin but her smile dropped when she saw the strange smile on the brunettes face.
"'Chelle?"
A strange sense of foreboding and unease settled in her stomach and she had the sudden urge to step away from the cliff edge.
"I guess its a good thing you packed some survival gear." Michelle chuckled.
"H-Huh?" Lucy stammered.
"You're going to need it where you are going, La-La Lucy." The brunette whispered darkly.
She felt the pressure of two manicured hands on her back pushing her roughly forwards towards the twenty foot drop off the cliff face far too quickly to try and grasp onto anything, the edge of the rocky terrain giving way under her feet. With a startled scream of terror, her stomach jolted as she plummeted towards the blue waters beneath her, Lucy felt tears pricking at her eyes from the wind, what the hell was happening?
"Oh my god, Lucy!" Michelle's anguished voice yelled out from above her.
But Lucy didn't hear her cousin yelling for her, the blonds' entire world turned black, no sound, no feeling and no colour.
Back to the present...
The volcano really hadn't looked that tough from a distance.
It wasn't until she had reached what she assumed was the base that she was beginning to wonder if her choice to explore was the right one.
Because Lucy was now convinced she wasn't dreaming.
The things she was experiencing were just too detailed to be another of her night-time wanderings, the smells, the scenery and the sheer rumbling of the slopes as she hiked up the steep sides of the volcano, far away from the lava flows and her destination a large cave thirty meters further up the side of the angry giant before her. It was dark, too hot and she was dehydrated from the hazy air.
She needed to rest, get some water and gain her bearings.
Lucy sighed in relief as she reached the plateau in front of the pitch black cave, unbuckled her backpack, the tired blond shrugging off the straps as she let it drop to the floor; unzipping her coat, she laid it on the floor and sat on it like a makeshift blanket.
Rummaging around in her pack for her canteen of water, she sighed happily as she found it and brought it to her dry lips and took a long gulp of cooling water, paying no mind to the two splashes of liquid that dripped onto her top.
A single large bolt of lightening crackled through the sky, illuminating the darkness in a blinding white light for a fraction of a millisecond.
The sound was similar to a thousand fireworks exploding at once as the fine hairs of her bare arms stood on end, electricity charging through her skin as she yelped in surprise. Lucy grimaced as a shiver travelled through her body after and she pulled her phone from her legging pocket to pull up her GPS display to try and figure out where she was.
"Shit..." Lucy mumbled, finding she had no signal to even pull up the app, let alone try to ascertain her current location.
Taking out her compass, her eyes widened to find the compass needle spinning back and forth, stopping on none of the four points, or those in-between. She took a calming breath as she felt herself begin to panic.
Just where the hell was she?
Lucy remembered taking a pleasant hike in the beautiful countryside with her cousin, Michelle...that was all she remembered.
Suddenly what sounded like a roar shattered the silence, the rumble of the erupting volcano had stopped suddenly. Lucy froze as still as a statue as the very ground beneath her began to shake as though several short but sharp earthquakes were happening in quick succession, the sky above her swirling with fire, thunder and heat as the feeling of deathly fear shook her entire body to the core.
She was being stalked...
Her head snapped behind her, long hair whipping her in the face as she suddenly dropped her water, there were extremely heavy footsteps coming from the cave. Had she unwittingly stumbled upon a terrifying monsters hidden lair?
Panic crawled through her as she locked her wide brown eyes onto a pair of almond shaped snake like black slits with a brownish orange tint to them swaying to and fro from the shadows, rocks on the ground shaking with the rumble of heavy footfall as the beast ambled closer. Lucy would have bolted, were she not half fearful and half fascinated to see what size of beast was to make so much noise.
The light from the flaming sky slowly outlined the large body of a muscled and powerful creature, as tall as a two storey house, with a slim but strong reptilian face, razor sharp teeth, claws and spines rattling along its ridged spine.
It had...wings...and a long tail.
"Yup...should have run away." Lucy whimpered, hiding her head in her hands, a fiery and hot breath rattled threateningly across the nape of her neck as she felt the creature reach the edge of the cave and lower its snout towards her as though it was about to tear her head off.
No matter how terrified she may have looked on the outside, Lucy was strangely calm and her heart beat steadily as she oddly found herself curious as to what this winged giant would do. Lucy must have inherited her mothers bravery, that was for sure.
Her ears pricked at the sound of heavy wings beating, slowly peaking through her fingertips and over her shoulder, before she squeaked at the startling black and amber snake like eye looking at her as though gazing through her very soul as it took a long sniff.
A warning growl from the beast shattered through the air and the blond tried to look as small as possible to show the creature that she was of no threat.
Nothing...
A pained howl suddenly broke through the air and Lucy had the sense to roll to the side and scramble away as the beasts strong front legs gave way underneath it, colliding with the ground with a heavy boom; rocks scattering away at the force of a dozen ton creature falling heavily to the floor. Lucy coughed from the cloud of dust that hit her in the face as she let her eyes wander over the injured creature.
It was a dragon...a real live dragon.
Lucy ignored every sense telling her to get far away from a beast that could easily move its head to clamp its powerful jaws around her and snap her like a twig, but she couldn't help the feeling that she had to help the poor dragon.
Curiosity killed the cat...as the saying went...
Quietly, Lucy made her way slowly towards the downed predator, sweat beaded on her forehead as heat radiated out of the dragon as red as blood.
It was as though its very scales were dancing with flame, as though merely touching it would scald her fingertips like boiling water. A powerful body with defined muscles showing in bulging arms and legs, ending in pure ivory razor sharp claws, Lucy made note to make no sudden movements. Its face was in pain, the cause seeming to be the oddly bent bone of the tip of his right wing, the leathery looking membrane connecting the tri boned wing torn in several places. Whitish pink messy fur sprouted along his ridged back was dotted with a bluish purple blood right down to the twin tipped fork of his tail; which was beating wildly against the ground like an agitated cat.
Happy did the same thing when Lucy forgot to buy him fresh fish.
The dragon, was a 'He'...she had an extremely strong sense of intuition and it was telling her that this magnificent creature was a male.
His underbelly was the same leathery hide of his wings, her eyes watched the thud of his forked tail made at it tapped aggressively against the rock by his back leg. The fur of his back seemed to be twinned with sharp barbs which were spiked up like an angry porcupine.
As Lucy crept closer, his serpentine eyes honed in on the blond human coming towards him with no hint of fear in her large brown eyes, only awe.
His scarred lip lifted to show razor sharp serrated teeth as he snarled warningly at the brave (or stupid) woman and she raised her hands to show that she wasn't armed.
"Easy there...I'm not going to hurt you...I just want to see how badly damaged your wing is." Lucy cooed, trying to placate the suspicious dragons anger.
Her foot took a step forwards, causing the dragon to suddenly roar and snap his fangs at her, inches from her surprised face. It was meant to be a show of power, threat and dominance, but Lucy only found herself grinning at him.
He was acting like a toddler who wasn't getting his way.
"That was naughty...how am I to help you if you bite my head off, Mr. Dragon?"
With a huff off annoyance at her quip through his large nostrils, Lucy yelped as a stream of super hot air hit her square in the chest, melting a large hole in her t-shirt; exposing a scandalous view of her buxom cleavage to the grumpy dragon.
"Pervert..." Lucy grumbled, raising her left hand to cover her chest, she shot a glare at the dragon and could have sworn there was a hint of amusement and satisfaction in unusually intelligent eyes.
With the very real chance of getting her head bitten off, Lucy once again moved slowly towards the resting beast, who was still watching her carefully; but now seemed to view her as nothing more than a curious insect buzzing around him.
She got to within a meter from his jaw, his eyes still watching her warily, body poised to strike if she made a single wrong move. Lucy was no fool, she was half a mind aware he could kill her at any moment, but the utterly stupid and reckless part of her was insisting on petting him.
How often did you get a chance to touch a real live dragon?
"Hi...you're absolutely beautiful." Lucy murmured in awe, the red beast flinched when he saw her right hand moving slowly, but without fear or trepidation. She let her hand slowly smooth over the dangerous barbs in his wild salmon mane of fur, trying not to coo in delight at how surprisingly soft it was, no knots or tangles to stop her.
The dragon made an annoyed huff and Lucy suddenly felt rough coil around her right ankle like a snake would constrict its prey, her world dropped out from under her and turned upside down as she found herself being dangled a few meters in the air, her foot gripped tightly in the coil of his tail.
She had a strange feeling that the dragon was testing her force of will, challenging her to back down and leave before he got annoyed with her presence and decided to end her entire existence with one quick chomp.
But Lucy wasn't backing down, she could be stubborn too, no matter if the magnificent and grumpy beast wanted to be left alone, he was injured, likely couldn't fly and she was set in her desire to help him to get better.
"Oi, put me down you silly lizard!"
With a startled scream, Lucy was swung back and forth, her head only a matter of inches away from the dragons open mouth; looking down into a gaping maw of darkness, a sharply forked tongue and a dual row of dagger like teeth, Lucy closed her eyes tightly.
"Okay! I-I'm sorry...okay?" Lucy squeaked.
All of a sudden, powerful jaws snapped shut and the dragon turned his head so his reptilian eye could regard her with a startling almost human level of intelligence.
'Will you quit screaming if I do, blondie? If I wanted to kill you I would have snapped you in half the moment I smelt your confusing stench outside my cave.'
Her eyes had snapped open in incredulity the moment she heard the annoyed but tough voice speaking to her in her mind. The dragon was not moving his mouth, but she knew that he was indeed speaking to her in a voice that sounded a little too young for his impressive stature.
"C-Confusing scent?" Lucy raised an eyebrow.
'You stink of human...but you also have a whiff of this world.'
"And...where exactly is this...world?" Lucy tried not to scowl at the dragon insinuating that she stunk.
'You are trespassing on the sacred lands of the Fire Dragon Clan, ruled by the wise and just Dragon Lord Igneel.'
"Who?" Lucy tried to process what the dragon was telling her.
'He's my Father...'
Well thats chapter one, the next chapter introduces a certain pinkette and be warned...hes a bit of an asshole...for now! Chapter 2 should be up in a few weeks.