[A/N] I hope to Allmight this works cuz Im getting kinda fed up with every post getting that weird code.]
Izuku woke to the smell of dying fires, the smell of burned meat and hair and a sweet smell of healing magic. His brain was slow to remember it's waking moments before the darkness and he laid where he was trying to remember where he was. With a slight movement, he felt a sharp pain in his left arm and hand and took note that the rest of him was sore and hurting.
"Ok kiddo you need to stop moving. I can only heal unmoving people." Said a sweet voice but sounded aged. Izuku slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the light or lack of, as he saw it was barely twilight.
"S-sorry." He mumbled out before letting himself relax and stay as still as he could, the magic he started feeling warming his joints. Slowly the pain and burning began to die down and he was able to relax himself even more.
"I saw you rush over here as soon as the explosion happened. What were you thinking? You went the wrong direction!" The woman scolded. Izuku's eyes focused on her and he saw that she was in fact as aged as he'd assumed. She was small, old but seemed to hold onto her youthful attitude. She was a cute old gal.
"I-I just heard it and without thinking I ran to see if I could help anyone.. I honestly didn't think about it, my legs just moved on their own." He explained. This wasn't the first time he ran some where without thinking, wanting to help. It was just his nature. When he was a kid it'd gotten him into quite a bit of trouble, always landing him with a lecture from his stressed mother.
After a few minutes of silence the woman sighed and sat back. She'd healed a few before this boy and was getting pretty tired, she wasn't sure if she could heal anyone for the next few hours. Two people before him were pretty bad, burns, dark magic curses and so many broken bones, compared to them this kid was easy, but it was still a lot to do.
"What.. happened?" Izuku asked as he slowly began to sit up, taking the woman's sigh as a sign that she was done with him, least for now. "I mean, I remember seeing what I can only assume was a really big black tail just before it hit me, but I can't be a hundred percent on that." He lifted his left arm and tested it, opening and closing his hand, moving his arm at the elbow up and down and rotating his shoulder.
"It was a dragon and a rider. But it was corrupted. The rider must have used the poor creature in some sort of dark ritual or even rituals.. we can't be sure but… it left as quickly as it came and what it left was a pile of corpses and deep curses that I am pretty sure no priest can cleanse." The elder woman explained as she watched him test his arm.
"I see… I had no idea dragons could be corrupted." He said with a sigh. It was interesting to know if this was a true fact, even if it was a bit scary. From what he knew dragons and their riders held deep bonds, like soul bonds and if one experienced ant sort of pain or distress, the other did as well so to perform a dark ritual on either party would cause both to feel whatever was happening in extreme intensity. A corrupted dragon meant a corrupted rider. Scary stuff.
"I don't know much about them but I do know that theres a rumor going around that a few Northern Dragon Tribes have sent requests to the Adventurers and Merchant Guilds for information on anything regarding dragon sightings. This might be why." The older woman said in a tone that made Izuku feel like she wasn't actually speaking to him, at least not fully. "I'm Chiyo, young man, in case you wanted to know." Her attention now back on him with her bright eyes.
Izuku sat up fully now and began the task of getting to his feet, but as hearing her introduce herself he paused and smiled at her, his cheeks dusting pink. "Oh! Umm hello! Im Izuku! It's nice to meet you! And thank you for healing me."
"Think nothing of it, if you can do me a favor. I need you to deliver news of what happened here, what you saw and see as you leave and whatever else you can think of in way of information, to the town to the west. They have a large Adventurer's Guild and a station of knights there. We could use the help and spread what happened."
"O-of course! I'd gladly!"
Chiyo gave him a swift nod and brought herself to her feet, honestly rather quickly for her age too, and gave him one last appraising look. She had healed him almost to full strength, she was rather proud of that, the boy was hurt pretty bad, but she did it and as she watched him steady himself as well upon his feet she gave him a smile.
"Thats a good boy. Now go and grab your things and head out! That information needs to be spread around and fast!" She gave him a rough pat on his rump before wobbling her way to an area to rest, but still letting herself be accessed should someone need her help.
Izuku watched the elder walk away and was soon filled with the pressing need to run and get to the next town, the woman's urgency not actually causing such a feeling, really it was his logically side that agreed and sent the emotion of rush. Finally after a few more seconds of watching her, he turned and made his way quickly towards the inn, doing exactly what the older woman told him, grabbed his bag.
Tears and hugs, Izuku can't seem to get enough of them when saying goodbye. The elderly couple gave him a large basket full of food, enough to last him a weeks travel, a spare blanket and a few more coins, all in grateful reverence, of which made Izuku feel very, very bashful but grateful.
As he walked back towards city center he saw the true damage of it all. The corrupted dragon not only ruined things with it's sheer size but it'd also left so many dark spots of curses, Izuku did note that the spots of corruption seemed to be like dots or splats of blood, as if the creature was wounded and its blood was nothing but curse. As he walked he made careful task of watching where his feet landed and where he moved.
"I'm off… again!" Sighed the young man as he trotted off westward. This destruction was a lot and the town so small, but he had a very important mission now and he wanted to do what he could to help. He was a capable alchemist and physical enhancement magic user, but none of that would be as big of a help as getting even more help. He'd not fail to deliver the news to these guilds as fast as he could!
Green lines covered his legs as he faced himself towards the next town and took off at the highest speed he could reach. Each pound and touch of the ground was quite painful, but he pushed past the painful feeling and ran harder. He was used to slow heavy lifting and jumping while using his magic, the magic his mother's new beau taught him from a fairly young age, but running with it was a skill he'd used only a handful of times and he was not used to it, but ever he ran.
The town, a good 3 days walk by average walking on foot, was reached in 4 hours by his speedy run, a feat he would later marvel at. The greenette reached the gates and stopped himself, however, as soon as he released the magic on his legs, his whole body slumped forward and he hit the dirt road with a very loud thud, startling the knight stationed to the side.
"Sir! Do you require assistance?" The knight asked walking over in a vert stiff manner. He was dressed in a light variation of a typical knights uniform, his shoulders held metal pads, he wore a chest plate, metal leg guards and boots, the rest of his outfit was tanned and hardened leather, giving some protection. The man's face, however, wore a serious expression and his dark hair framed his face well. Guy was handsome.
"Yesth, I juss con't moob." Izuku pressed out, his face in the dirt where he fell. As he spoke he was eating dirt and with every breath he could feel and taste the grit, it was gross and he just knew some of what was going into his mouth was not dirt and he tried to avoid thinking about what else it could be.
"I see.. let me help you." The knight offered and lifted him to his feet easily, however, the green haired being found no bones in his legs to stand on and nearly fell forward, but the knight held him upright. "You came in so fast, where are you heading?"
"Thank you!" Izuku said before he heard the man's question. "Oh! I need to get to the Adventurer's guild! Quickly! There was an attack in the village to the east! I need to tell them and they need to send help! There are so many people hurt!"
The knight eyed him for a few seconds before slinging the guy over his shoulder and running into town as fast as he could, which compared to Izuku was lightning speed, man could run! To Izuku the run was fairly smooth and they reached a large building, the knight wasted no time on questions, he knew priority as well.
"Can you walk yet or do you need my help still?" He asked setting Izuku down testing to see if any feeling was back in the guy's legs. Izuku however, still had no bones and slumped against the kind man. He felt his cheeks warm, he over did it and where he did have feeling, it was mostly pain.
"Y-yeah sorry.. I am gonna need your help going any where for a bit." He said with a slight wince. It was starting to throb, but he was glad this knight seemed really accommodating, or rather, knightly. His experience with knights was less than ideal and came in the form of an aging squad from home, who abused their power as often as they could.
"Alright, traveler, I'll help you. Fair warning tho, the Guild Leader is a lot to handle.. he is very noisy." He warned as he scooped the man up once more and carried him into the hall to the reception desk.