Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of the witcher. Those are property of Mr Sapkowski and I using Netflix series canon mixed with the books and my twisted version of the lore.

Warnings : blood, wounds. Nightmares.

Notes : This is time for Geralt to catch up with his destiny. The thing that he had ignored for too long. The dream is in italic.

The dragon hunt - part 1

Warnings

###

Geralt was walking in the wyvern cave discreetly. There was not much light but his natural witcher vision was sufficient. He could hear the dragonoid snarling in the distance and the smell of rotten meat was overwhelming. He seized his silver sword with both hands. This was an easy hunt and he wasn't focused. His mind was drifting to Jaskier who was waiting near Roach with their clients. It was not usual that people came along on a hunt but he didn't have a choice this time. They wanted to see with their own eyes the result of his hunt or refused to pay. And he needed that money badly. He had a lot of stuff to repair.

This was the second summer break Jaskier and him shared. Summer was a bit easier to handle because his friend had more time with him and for a few weeks things seemed back to normal, to the contrary of the short breaks. But this was early and for the moment, the bard was in his adaptive phase. Geralt had asked him to stay with Roach and the clients. Geralt wasn't very at ease. The two men didn't seem very menacing but Jaskier was incapable of fighting and he wasn't the same, two years after he returned to Oxenfurt... Neither was he, to be fair.

###

Geralt had returned to a solitary life quite easily. He was made for this as it always seemed. Only the winter was hard to handle. He was still refusing to come back to Kaer Morhen but he found an abandoned trapper hide in the Nilfgaardian mountains, near Sodden. The weather was hotter than what he knew from the North and he hunted well there. Having a simple life had always made wonders for him.

He was communicating sporadically with Jaskier, his witcher family and even Yennefer…

After his very short affair with Essi, he had taken the responsibility to send a letter to the sorceress. A real letter. Paper and ink. He had learned a lot from the mermaid's words and her sacrifice, from Jaskier's too and from his sister. He wanted to make sure that Yennefer knew that he had a different perspective now, even if their forced break-up still felt unfair. And that led to an earnest discussion with her during a short meeting. That blurred the line further for him.

She gave him a secret rendezvous. She was sad and angry and desperate. Her complicated moves in the Brotherhood had failed so far. She didn't reach the top because of Stregobor, a mage he sadly knew the name because he almost destroyed his life too, making him the Butcher of Blaviken. Her elven heritage, even if it was from her grand grand father, made her an immediate enemy to that man, who spent months destroying her reputation to the Council, arguing that her wild temper was from her elven blood, as her immense powers too. And he made them fear her. Even under the protection of her mentor Tissaia and to some extent Istredd and Vilgefortz, she was morally hurt.

His letter came in a moment of self doubts and introspection for her, and their relationship seemed suddenly more truthful and meant to be. Their short reunion was intense. And for a brief moment, Geralt thought this was it. She loved him more than ever and that materialized in a memorable night they shared. He came back to her place and they spent a few weeks together a bit later. Unfortunately, during this time, he understood that he didn't have a real place in her mind yet. She was not ready. She was still spiralling down around this battle she had to conquer for herself : being a mother.

And to that he would never have the solution.

So he just left one day. He stepped away while she was still sleeping. He left another letter on the table where he explained his reasons. And he sent her flowers that she would find in front of the door a few hours later. She didn't call him back and he didn't anticipate her to do so. This was not fine but this was not as terrible as the way they ended it last time. Well, at least for him.

In the same time, Jaskier's life became uncannily distant and stranger to Geralt. Whatever he was doing at Oxenfurt, he could tell this was not good for them. But he, more than his friend, had adjusted to that. And then, he realized something about him, that was probably hidden from him because he was in a similar state : they were each other's drug. And as a good mutant, drugs and poisons never lasted long on him when he had the time to rest.

Their relationship was just a poison he took years to metabolise.

The addiction became apparent on their first reunion and the poison effect on their first real adventure of the year, in the summer.

During the first reunion, Jaskier was in an almost quivering state of anticipation after six months of absence. They had long separations before, early on their friendship, and it never had such an effect on his human. He was insufferable… They only had two weeks to share but half of the first one was passed to settle down. Jaskier was needier than ever, he was overwhelmed and excited by anything. He was noisy and chatty when Geralt required calm and silence. And the last days were the opposite. Jaskier was falling fast in a depressive state, anticipating the separation.

Thinking this was due to the long period of separation, he didn't say a thing. But the second reunion, just a few weeks later, was similar. But Geralt didn't let it pass this time.

They talked about it from the get go. And Jaskier admitted quite easily that he was feeling unwell. He explained how he was living the separation and how it was to be back in Oxenfurt. It appeared that every trauma the man had experienced was reactivated by his forced job at the academy. He was fighting off charts levels of anxiety and letting go when they saw each other. He tried to behave more on the next reunions, but Geralt could tell he was just hiding his distress. Soon he could feel that there was a drug addict behaviour digging something between them and it amplified with the time going.

While distance cleared Geralt's head, it seems to have the opposite effect on Jaskier. He wasn't supporting the distance at all and was trying to cope in his own ways. Which had two consequences :

The first, at his work, seemed positive at first. He was doing a lot. Even he, who only looked at the news from time to time, couldn't ignore the carrier of his friend. Jaskier was burning himself in representations to escape his cage, accepting too many offers, when he wasn't at the head of projects to help students inside the walls of the academy, slowly participating in a deeper change of the academy traditions.

The second effect was pernicious. Trying to hold back his compulsive behaviours, he changed the essence of their relationship. The natural dynamic they had was sliding to something false and forced. Geralt began to feel uncomfortable in his presence. Jaskier was seeing the shift too and asking what he could change to make it better.

But from that, there was no coming back. The more he tried, the further he was sinking. But they had the summer where everything collided. Jaskier was at his best and worst. And Geralt found that ignoring signals and warnings of Destiny was a very bad idea. Mousesack and Vesemir had told him. Maybe he should have listened.

The next warnings came as all the former ones. Through his dreams. As always, they plagued him in the most inappropriate time - usually before a travel or a hunt - but they came in pieces that he had to assemble.

The most complete dream he made came just the night before this hunt.

###

He was the White Wolf. He was running. He saw many things, disjointed, blurry, some other almost too real. There was a war, many battles, many places. He couldn't recognise them well. Soldiers were firing in every direction. The sky was dark but lightened by their fire. Forests were burning. And there was magic. The chaos was so strong. Mages, wizards, sorcerers and sorceresses were fighting too.

He was trying to avoid whistling bullets, lost spells, and horror. He found himself in front of a well known forest : the one from where he became a legend. He was walking in the ashes of Posada forest at the feet of the Blue Mountains. The village afar was burning so hard that many miles away from here, he could see the glow against the darkness.

###

He saw the wyvern moving in the dark. It scales were glittering in the rare rays of light coming from holes into the ceiling. It was a female and it was eating from carcasses of sheeps. They were several of them - more that what an adulte wyvern needed - suggesting the creature was building up strength. It was probably going to lay to give birth. That species of draconid had a fast reproductive cycle and a great protective instinct of their offsprings despite the number they produced. That female would be a pain in the ass to fight. He moved slowly toward it. He had to do his job before the male would come back to their nest.

###

The ground was gray, his paws hurt while he walked on its hot dead soil. From the ghost burned trees, silhouettes emerged. First the elves. They ran past him, screaming in fear and rage. They were armed and going to war. He saw some battles playing out in front of his eyes. But they had no consistency, he couldn't see their enemy, and they faded with the next wind blow, like smoke.

He saw another battle forming shortly in the whirling chaos. It was smaller in scale. Like a raid. But it stopped and became clearer. Geralt moved forward, between men and elves trapped in their mouvement. In the middle of the battle, there was Jaskier, covered in mud and blood, hands tied-down in front of him. He was his long hair self he had dreamed of so many years ago. Jaskier was still moving. He seemed scared and lost.

Geralt tried to reach for him, but when their eyes met, his friend just screamed in fear and he disappeared like everything else. Only him, as a wolf, remained, and the darkest forest in front of him.

New humanoid silhouettes emerged.

###

He could see the eggs now. Twenty gray eggs at least layed partially hidden in the remains of the sheeps the female of feeding of. They were probably about to hatch. They should have called him sooner. Killing the mother now was almost unnecessary. He would have to destroy the nest also. Wyverns were not endangered per se, but all of this was not right. Again the humans had pushed into a territory that shouldn't be their and now their herds were too easy targets for those draconids. The things they didn't understand though was that the wyverns had only basic instincts and needs and they were basically low in the food chain for other monsters. They counted on the number for survival, much like rats. Killing the adults was not persived as a threat per se, only the destruction of the whole nest would force them to move.

The female stopped feeding and raised its head. Its nostrils were flaring. He had been detected.

###

They were Dryads. Elven figures, dark skin kinda greenish, black eyes, vegetal clothes and partially vegetal parts growing from their forehead and hair. One of them was their leader. She was more transformed than the others.

She made a sign, inviting him to follow her and she led him in their forest. There, the darkness was different. It was inside, not around. Males were always unwelcome in Dryads forests. There was a menace here. But everything was incredible. Golden lights were piercing the canopy, bathing the trees with unreal shapes and colours.

They walked past many Dryads who were observing him and whispering in elven. They arrived in the hearth of the forest, in front of a tall tree that seemed as ancient as the Continent itself. Geralt was sure it was sacred.

In its roots there was a young girl, hair cender blond but partially hidden by mud. Her face was hidden by her blond dirty locks. She was dressed in rich clothes that suffered many travels and bad weather. She had a blue cape on the shoulders and she was squeezing a blue scarf with golden lions embroidered in it in her hand. Cintra. A young elf, dark skin, seemingly the same age, was laying next to her, holding the other extremity of the scarf.

- "She is your destiny, Gwynbleidd." This was the ancient elven word for white wolf. "She is your child."

- "She is safer with her family." He thought. The dryad heard him.

- "War is coming. The world will be set aflame. You have to reclaim your price."

- "I refuse." He growled.

###

He casted igni on his sword and the wyvern turned its head toward him hissing. Its golden eyes adjusted to this new source of light, the pupils shrinking to a single slit. He charged before it did. He slid under its sting and he sliced her chest open. The burning scales and flesh smelled as bad a the rotten meat around. The monster hit him with its wings pushing him away. His shoulder connected painfully with a rock behind him.

He looked critically at the wound he had inflicted. It was lethal. The green dark blood of the monster was already flushing out in heavy outpourings. His blade had hit deep and touched the heart, even if partially. But the wyvern didn't move. It would protect its eggs to its last breathe. Geralt charged again, he had to finish this fast. The draconid never stood a chance. The witcher was in great shape today and a bit angry. He destroyed it in three moves : breaking the bones of right wings in interception first, cutting the chest open a second time next, and in a rotation he beheaded it.

The monster's body moved backward a few steps as the nerves were still reacting kn there own and then its legs gave up and it fumbled in a heap against the cave wall.

Geralt took the head and dropped it the rock tunnel from where he came.

###

The next moment he was in the desert at night. Million stars were shining like jewels in the dark sky. The girl was there too, climbing a dune over which a strange glow was coming. He followed her from afar.

His large paws were forcing into the sliding sand and it was difficult for him to move forward, even though as a beast it should have been easier. The girl reached the top faster than him and disappeared behind the dune.

He struggled to get over the obstacle but the vision he witnessed was worth the effort. In the middle of the sand, there was a gigantic tree, glowing in blue and shedding pearls of light to the sky. The chaos was abundant here and formed a sort of mist around the roots. The girl had slid along the side of the dune and was running toward that enchanted vision. He followed her again.

The tree was further than he anticipated and probably way taller than he imagined. Everything was an optical challenge.

The girl entered the mist and she stopped. He entered in turn and felt weird.

The chaos was distorting everything. Shadows were playing with his mind. The roots of the tree ramping in and out the sand created shapes he could recognise. And kind of saw Vesemir. Further he imagined seeing Eskel but his body seemed pierced by divergent smaller roots, which was uncanny. He saw Yennefer then, but she was lying on the ground in an unnatural posture.

Then he heard a voice, coming from the tree. Two elven figures emerged from the mist. He recognised one of them. This was Filavandrel, from Posada. Next to him was a female elf that seemed as ancient as him, and from an equivalent high lineage of pure elves. His child surprise was between them and looking back at him with revulsed eyes. The three of the spoke simultaneously and produced a terrifying voice.

- "Verily I say unto you, the era of the sword and axe is nigh, the era of the wolf's blizzard. The Time of the White Chill and the White Light is nigh, the Time of Madness and the Time of Contempt: Tedd Deireádh, the Time of End. The world will die amidst frost and be reborn with the new sun. It will be reborn of Elder Blood, of Hen Ichaer, of the seed that has been sown. A seed which will not sprout but burst into flame."

This was the old prophecy he printed on a paper to challenger Jaskier's linguistic skills when they met. Filavandrel told him about it and he already dreamed of Jaskier saying some of those words. But to the word flame, the scenery changed to a more terrifying thing.

###

Geralt went back to the body and cut the sting out. He put it on one of his empty side pocket of his trousers. Then he turned around and looked at the nest. Here was the worst part of his job.

He casted igni to his maximum. Fire had always been a forbidden magic for the chaos user, because it was said to cost a lot for the one who used it. Signs were different. The cost had nothing to do with chaos. This was more a question of focus. He usually never used that sign that much and that long, so he discovered that this use who give him a headache.

He looked at the carcasses burn and the eggs fry with their almost mature wyverns inside. The flames were so bright, the scene so violent...

###

In front of him was another sacred tree. One that he knew. This was Bleobheris oak. And it was burning, like everything around. Hundreds of voices were screaming over the bangs of the guns discharging and killing.

In the backlight produced by the flames, he recognised one man. This was his Jaskier physically but he seemed stripped of all of his inner light. He was holding against him the body of an elven child. They were both bloodied. His eyes were dead when they met. His voice joined the one from Filavandrel, the woman and the girl went he spoke to finish what seemed like the whole prophecy.

- "Ess'tuath esse! Thus it shall be! Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves…"

Jaskier turned his head toward the sky and screamed what seemed an infinitely painful howl. The flames took him and the child he was holding. They grew so big that they engulfed him as well but he didn't feel the heat. Then another scream topped the one from his friend. It was a feminine one. He recognised her voice before her shape. Yennefer emerged from the fire sea. Her black dress was torn in several places. She was bleeding as well but was fighting another battle somewhere else. Her scream was full of pain also, but mixed with rage and many other powerful emotions.

She disappeared in the flames too. And everything faded away to pure darkness.

###

Leaving the destroyed nest behind, Geralt walked back to his car, holding the wyvern's head by one horn.

He heard the commotion from afar and came back running. When he arrived, there was a dead man at the feet of two Zerrikanian warriors and an old man from the same place, by the look of his outfit but not his manners. The dead man was one of his clients. The other one was clutching one of his packages, clearly taken from Roach platform. Jaskier was terrified and rushed toward him when he saw him coming.

For a brief moment, Geralt's eyes lingered on the new atrocity his friend was wearing. He had a red shirt with printed scales forming lines on his sleeves and some suggestive and not very subtle Y shaped arrows on the front and on the back. He hoped this was just a phase too.

- "I believe this belongs to me." He growled to the thief.

The man didn't protest. He dropped the package to the ground and ran away.

- "Fuck… My money... Jaskier, what the hell ?"

- "Not my fault."

- "Not his fault." Confirmed the old man with a corner smile.

He seemed to be in his late sixties but quite in good health. He had not much hair left but it was white as snow, as much as his tin beard. He was wearing a brown leather jacket and trousers of the same color. It had a strange soft glow under the sun. The two warriors were two tall women of ebony complexion. They were wearing what he could call old fashioned huntress leather armor pieces with a simple dress light underneath to protect the skin. They seemed to be directly taken out from the old area of the Continent before the Dark Age. But they were proudly wearing their traditional outfits. They had swords at their hip and judging by his first observation, he could tell they were at least connoisseurs.

- "Who are you ?" He asked, suspicious.

- "My name is Borch three Jackdaws, but you can call me simply Borch. And may I present you Thea and Vea. They are from Zerrikanian lands."

- "I can see that. And you ?"

- "Oh I simply borrow their local outfits. I have been fond of the Zerrikanian people for a very long time. I think I am a bit from there too I guess."

- "Hmmm."

- "It is all nice but we have a problem here." Said Jaskier, pointing at the body at the feet of the warriors.

- "Barely so." Replied Borch.

- "Well, if that one who ran is clever, he would keep his mouth shut. Anyway, I am here to hire your services. That might compensate for your lost cash price."

- "What is it about ?" Said the witcher putting the wyvern's head on Roach platform. He had other plans for it now.

- "A dragon hunt."

Geralt scoffed.

- "I don't do dragons."

- "Why is that ? You seem to have no problem beheading wyverns. They are draconids too."

- "Wyverns are dangerous for populations and they reproduce very fast. Even here I was reluctant to destroy the nest. Dragons are very intelligent creatures and they are rares. I don't kill them lightly. And except if you give me a good reason to go on this hunt, I won't."

- "Please, let's get back to Cairngorm. I pay for lunch. And I will explain."

- "Why not…" Geralt was more interested in the food than the rest.

- "Marvellous. There is a good road restaurant near the oil station just before the city. That's on the path from here. What do you say ?"

- "That's good for me. I have to prepare the head for the trip back. We will join you there later. Or maybe you need a lift ?"

- "No, we don't need it, thank you. We have our own… vehicle. See you there, sir witcher."

The old man and his warriors ladies went back from the path they came.

- "Are you really interested in what he has to say ?" Asked Jaskier.

- "Since I don't have the payment I needed, yes." There was a bit of accusation in his tone.

- "Hey ! I tried to stop them but…"

- "You don't fight, I know."

- "But ?"

- "But nothing." He sighed. "Help me with the head, I can still sell this to a mage. I have the sting too."

Jaskier obeyed. They enveloped and fixed the remains to the platform.

- "What about the body ?" His friend was looking back at the man one of the Zerrikanian warriors had killed.

- "Don't touch it and leave it there. They are things in those mountains that would clean this mess up faster than us."

- "This is not…"

- "Moral ? Well, you already know what is going to happen anyway. The evidence is that I was the witcher commissioned here so…"

- "This is so messed up."

Jaskier was silent during the ride back to Cairngorm. Geralt understood progressively that the murder was the cause. This was the first time in more than twenty years they travelled together that he had to face this kind of thing. Zerrikanian people were one of the rare human civilizations to live outside the boundaries of the Continent. From Vesemir's maps at Kaer Morhen, he knew that this was a vast territory beyond the Korath desert. The wild lands ravaged by the chaos tempests were not habitable, or more precisely, not habitable for the people of the Continent. The rules were different. Survival was the key word. And murder was probably not that problematic.

Geralt was feeling neutral about this. He had lived a long life before meeting Jaskier and confronting this kind of thing was more current in his time. Also, he was a murderer himself. Jaskier tended to forget under what name he was known before he created the legend of the White Wolf.

But overall he understood that his friend was unwell and probably scared.

###

They arrived in the valley of Cairngorm after a long hour drive. The restaurant the old man had mentioned for the rendezvous was easy to find. The BP sign of the oil station was visible from afar. The surprise was how full it was. He had difficulties finding a place in the parking lot.

- "Reavers…" Commented Jaskier while they passed a large grouping of bikes with the characteristic paintings on the sides.

- "Dwarves too." He added, pointing discreetly at one old farmer truck with a large platform.

Dwarves didn't use much human vehicles. They were more sedentary than any other species, but they also had the most long range travelers for the commerce. They usually put their merchandise on rails, but they also used trucks as caravans. They liked it when it was old, full of mechanics that they could adapt to their size. Nothing was done for them but they had a lot of imagination and were very good engineers. This truck in the parking lot was a bit different though and Geralt could easily think that it belonged to warriors instead of merchants.

When they entered the restaurant, everything made sense. The place was packed with potential hunters. The smell and the noise were a constant aggression.

He spotted Borch and his Zerrikanian ladies, and went directly for them. Jaskier followed. The old man welcomed them and, without asking them what they preferred, ordered some meat pie and some beer.

- "So, now that we are here. What is this all about ?" Asked Geralt.

- "Well, for a few months already, a dragon has been ravaging the valley and the mountain sides of Cairngorm. It has destroyed several potato fields, at least ten farms, killing oxen, sheeps and pigs. The king Niedamir has posted an announcement for a hunt to kill this dragon."

- "Why are you participating ?"

- "I am an old man now and I feel the need for a last adventure before I am good for anything." To this Jaskier seemed to react strangely. "This competition is rude and I want to reach the top. It is said that dragons keep treasure. For sure if we are winning you could keep a part of this as payment."

- "Although I need money, I am not interested in treasure. What you said doesn't convince me to go against my principal to kill a dragon."

- "Well you are not obliged to kill it. My friends Thea and Vea here could handle it. But the road in the mountains is a difficult hike with a lot of danger. Having a witcher by my side could greatly increase my chances to win the competition. And…" For a brief moment, the noise in the room seemed to diminish significantly and Borch's voice seemed clearer. "I know what is the key to your dreams, Gwynbleidd. I will tell you what you are searching for for all those years, if you help me."

Geralt felt weird. His medallion didn't react but there was something magical that happened. The next blink everything was back to normal.

- "I… I am not interested." He said again.

- "What are the other groups concurring ?" Asked Jaskier. Geralt clicked his tongue, annoyed. "Well, I am just curious." Said his friend for his defense.

- "We have the Reavers. I gather you recognised them from their bikes outside and the noise they make here." Said Borch, designating a group of six men with blue tatoos of the side of their head. They were talking loudly near the bar. "Equally noisy and quite as much vindictive, we have Yarpen Zigrin and his fellowship." The dwarves' company was very animated too, spitting impressive and imaginative swearings in between two sips of beer and laughs. "And, in this corner, we have sir Eyrc Denesle, the king's champion. He is like the real knights of the old times. He is accompanied by…"

Borch didn't finish his sentence. Geralt felt her chaos in the room. He knew Yennefer was there from that sign only. She was leaving the restroom. She didn't notice him and went directly to sit next to that knight Borch presented.

She was wearing a black outfit unnecessarily sophisticated for a hike but he guessed that it was magically enhanced. She put a hand on the man's leg in a very suggestive manner before leaning toward him to kiss him.

- "Sir witcher ?" Asked Broch trying to get his attention back while he was feeling his heart break.

- "Oh no no no no no... We are not interested." Said quickly Jaskier for him. He clearly noticed the sorceress too and his own expression. He was clearly trying to protect him. But Geralt was a pit of dark emotions and longing now.

- "Shut up, buddy. I am in." He growled, watching the woman he loved parading with that man who was said noble.

[Edit] I have published this raw version through the app yesterday after almost 3 days of blackout. I am now adding my notes.

I don't know if you are interested in the writing process. I could share with you some hints I have left behind through the chapters to build certain moments. You tell me. If only you lansalla respond, I will give you in private ^^'

See you soon everyone. Lots of love !