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Description
Chapter I

Through the mist of a cold starry night, a woman by the name of Delmira dons a cloak and boards a travel ship headed to the distant country of Ortus. Upon entering, her great stature alone draws the attention of a few people on board but her composition only worsens the case: looking strange at best and like a fugitive on the run at worst. Delmira seems unused to this kind of setting, as her attempts at being inconspicuous end up drawing more attention to herself. She frequently pulls the hood over her face and looks as if she has something to hide. After noticing the effects of her behavior, Delmira makes a conscious effort not to act in such a peculiar manner and does her best to relax her disposition. She buys a bottle of alcohol before going off to the railing of the dock but is soon followed by a rambunctious group of men with the obvious intention of striking up conversation. The apparent leader of their small group speaks up first—liquor in hand—receiving the encouragement of his friends. “Are ya’ traveling this far on your own or with company?” The man asks flirtatiously as he stoops in closer and grabs the hem of Delmira’s cloak with the intention of getting a better look at her face. Delmira smacks his hand away before responding, “If you’re this lonely, why don’t you talk to that pole over there—You’ll find it holds much better conversation than I do.” She then turns to leave them when the man grabs her cloak causing her to turn sharply and clench onto something beneath her cloak as if she was going to club the man with a concealed weapon. The man's “friends” however, though ignorant of their possible danger, swiftly convince him to give it a rest for now. The man releases her cloak and though she is still tempted to beat them all to a pulp, Delmira walks away and retreats below the deck to a restroom on the ship.

As she removes her cloak the other hand is revealed to have been tightly gripped to an ax the entire time. Removing the cloak reveals a woman of large stature and robust frame, with spiked bangs and lilac hair flowing down to her shoulders. Delmira’s honey brown eyes examine the large wounds across her torso, which appear to be open but no blood exits them. She grits her teeth before opening the alcohol bottle and disinfecting her wounds, all the while fighting off memories in her mind. When Delmira exits, she finds the same group of men from before waiting to use the restroom. “Just my luck!” Delmira thinks to herself as she attempts not to be noticed by them. Upon recognizing her, the group follows after her. This time, Delmira is not in the mood. She sets her alcohol down before swinging her elbow into one man’s side, breaking his ribs, before knocking him out with an uppercut. Delmira then proceeds to kick one of the other men’s kneecaps inward before slamming his head on the railing. The last man attempts to flee but is quickly apprehended by the towering woman. Delmira raises her ax with the intention of beheading the man before coming to her senses and stopping herself, promptly rendering the man unconscious with the butt of the ax instead. Delmira takes her bottle of alcohol and returns to the deck above, leaving the battered and unconscious men behind. Some time later, they are discovered and everyone’s attention is drawn to them while Delmira remains undisturbed as she sips the remainder of her alcohol.

The ship at last arrives at Ortus. By this point, Delmira’s vision feels blurry as she had struggled with insomnia throughout the boat ride. Upon arriving, she begins looking for a potent medicine that is difficult to find outside of Ortus (where it is quite common). Delmira soon finds a mobile retailer who sells medicine along with a wide variety of items from foreign lands. “I want this one,” Delmira says with a firm tone as she holds a small bottle with an almost luminescent glow to it. The local begins to share the history of the medicine before Delmira cuts him off, saying, “If I’m buying something from the likes of you it means that I really need it—entailing that I have no time for a history class.” As she was speaking, she pulled out the amount of money needed out of her pocket and held it out to the man. The man is visibly offended before responding with a scoff, “That’s not enough…” Delmira, both confused and annoyed, points to the price tag and argues, “It says it costs 200 Charta on the tag which can’t be more than 20 Cubus.” The man removes the tag before replying, “Yes, but that was when it was on sale. You just missed it.” Delmira furiously exclaims, “I’ll find it somewhere else then!” He then warns her that there are no stores selling the medicine nearby but she decides to take her chances.

Delmira searches for the medicine all morning, only to return back to the same place in the afternoon. “I did try to tell you. I could up the price on you for making me wait but I’m a good person so I’ll let it go this time.” Electing not to argue with him any further, she responds with a face contorted into a scowl, “How much do you want?” The man pauses in thought for a bit as he caresses his beard. “40 Cubus,” he says, pausing for a moment before going on, “You know it’s pretty fair. After all, you don’t even have Charta, so you should be glad that I’m willing to receive your currency.” Delmira rolls her eyes. “Yeah, right,” Delmira says before counting her money and giving him the payment. She leaves in a bad mood, drinking the medicine she was finally able to get her hands on. Later, upon realizing that the medicine is a cheap copy of the one she paid for, Delmira returns back to the shop angrily. Upon arrival, Delmira sees that the shop is now closed and reads that no refunds will be admitted, Delmira looks around before pushing his cart into the water, walking away with a wide grin on her face.

She enters into the town: it’s bustling, narrow, crowded, with adults and kids alike running in the streets to get somewhere. There are loud sounds coming from everywhere. People are talking, laughing, and cooking, all which seem foreign to Delmira. She feels that perhaps with time she can get used to it but right now it is overwhelming and frankly a little annoying. Delmira searches for an inn but is unable to find one that will accept her. She sees many people rushing into their houses from the mere sight of her. She then thinks to herself, “Is this because I’m a foreigner or because I’m from Volcana specifically…I suppose I am a little unmistakable. Well I presume we do deserve this reputation after—“ Delmira’s train of thought is cut off as she makes another attempt to get herself room at an inn. “Hello, do you have any rooms open?” She asks as she steps closer to the counter. The concierge responds swiftly. “Room three is open, would you like to take that room? Meals are included and we have a new and improved satellite dish on our roof so you’ll have no problem making phone calls!” The woman says with a mechanically trained smile. “I don’t have a phone,” Delmira states, to which there is a timely pause before the next word is spoken. With a judgmental face the woman then replies, “Of course you don’t, if you had a landline that would mean you’d have a house… which I assume you don’t by the fact that you are looking for an in. If you indeed can pay for the room, a landline is provided.” Delmira spitefully pulls out a large amount of Cubus and places it on the counter. “This will do,” The woman says simply, before taking the pile and putting it in their cash register. “Wait! How much is it for the room?!” Delmira questions loudly as she hadn’t counted the amount before putting it on the table. To this the woman only answers, “It was enough, here is your key. Remember, your room is number three. Have a nice stay!” The concierge offers the same mechanical smile from before. Delmira takes the key the concierge hands her and walks to her room with a pout. During her stay, they treat her like a queen as they now know she has money.

After spending some days recovering, Delmira goes to a blacksmith in order to repair her damaged armor. She enters the forge and sees weapons of all types hung on the walls and ceiling. It seems as if the Blacksmith loves his job so much he makes more than he needs or can fit in his place. She finally finds the man in charge of the forger and asks him. “Do you believe you can fix this? I understand it may be difficult, the materials are Volcanan.” The Blacksmith, a man of greater height than she, with stone-like skin that concealed a burning substance inside of him replied in a husky voice, “That won’t be hard at all. Volcanan soldiers' armors are hardly in short supply ‘round these parts.” As he says this, he shows her complete Volcanan armor sets he has in cases. Delmira has difficulty forming her next words. “If you know I am Volcanan why are you still willing to fix my armor?” Delmira asks. “I judge each person separately based on their own actions…and let them make their own mistakes,” The Blacksmith answers as he takes the armor Delmira placed on the counter. He pauses for a moment, seeming to take particular interest in Delmira’s axe. Delmira pays and thanks him before leaving the forge at unease, but just like all the times before, she fights off all memories of her past.

Both to clear her head and to gain an awareness of her new surroundings, Delmira takes a walk around the town. She sees a crowd of people which appear to be telling stories of a sort. As she hesitantly walks closer, the indistinct chatter becomes more audible. She hears a woman saying in a loud startled voice, “It was flying in the sky at night! It was a massive thing! How will our children be safe with that beast around?!” Although she came after the conversation had already started, it wasn’t difficult to understand. Apparently there was a monster on the loose that was startling the inhabitants of this town. Delmira says to herself, “Maybe this is what I need to truly be a hero.” She finds a group of teenagers who are fantasizing about how famous and beloved they would be if they could kill the beast and asks them where she can find the creature before volunteering to kill it herself. They laugh at her before Delmira assures them that she is completely serious. “No one actually knows where that monster lives,” they answer before walking away. Delmira then goes all around the town in search of more clues. One story she hears says that it was fifty feet tall, had hooves, and a beaver tail. Other claims say that it has a goats’ head, or is more serpent-like and has no wings. An odd and frankly a little unbelievable description claims it is a massive beaver-looking bat-thing with laser eyes and the ability to smell your thoughts and taste your fear. After hearing all these varying and incohesive descriptions of the dragon, Delmira’s brain feels like it is buzzing. She ultimately sets out in search of a creature that is massive, may or may not have any wings and looks like a beaver from hell.

After eating dinner and retrieving her newly repaired armor from the blacksmith, Delmira stakes out in hopes of getting a glimpse of the dragon herself that night. Many hours pass with no sight of the monster, until finally a faint shadow appears in the sky. Delmira rises up, shaking off the drowsiness the late hour had cast upon her and begins her chase. As she prepares herself for battle, her ax grows to an immense size and its spikes begin to spin in a chainsaw motion. She pursues the creature, jumping from one building to the next, dodging obstacles and swinging from ropes. Though Delmira is moving at incredible speeds, she still can’t catch up to the dragon. She sees the monster escape into the shadows, out of reach and sight.

Delmira searches for the creature for several days before realizing that it only comes out at night. One day—by either luck or patience—the monster appears once more. Not wanting to lose them another time, Delmira hastily chases the creature, but this time with a different plan in mind. As she did last time, Delmira jumps from one roof top to the other keeping a close distance to the flying beast. She is able to get a closer look at the beast and observes that it looked unlike any creature she had seen before and resembled a dragon. Delmira is puzzled as she had thought dragons to only be folklore before but she knew her eyes did not deceive her. Regaining her focus, Delmira hurls her ax at the beast instead. The dragon’s reflexes prove to be quite sharp as it narrowly dodges the airborne assault but the beast is caught off guard when the ax is then recalled back into the hands of its owner, Delmira. Observing that the dragon has been able to dodge her ax, Delmira decides to switch things up before it can get away. She starts throwing poorly aimed items at the beast along with the ax, making it hard for the dragon to tell which item would be the ax. As the beast gets close to the outskirts of the town Delmira readies what could be her last shot at getting the dragon. Delmira celebrates as her ax grazes one of the creatures’ wings causing it to spiral in the air for a few moments. Delmira’s celebration is cut short however, as she sees the dragon regain its senses and begin to charge at her. The beast takes a deep breath, preparing a large burst of fire, which is whitish-cyan in color, but before it can do so, Delmira throws dust into its eyes, causing its blast to be slightly misaimed. The fire blazes a trail through the trees in its shape, spanning dozens of yards. As the smoke rises from the fire, the dragon is able to escape once more, but it seems Delmira has more planned this time. She enters into the flame engulfed forest using one of the lit branches to provide light as she sets out in pursuit of the dragon. Using a special ability her ax provides her, Delmira follows a trail of blood visible only to her in order to follow the dragon to her hiding place and put an end to this long hunt.

The trail comes to end as she finds the dragon’s dwelling place: a dark cave spanning hundreds of feet underground. Delmira cautiously enters the cave with a torch in hand. As she walks, she can hear each heartbeat, breath, and footstep—the only sound accompanying her being an occasional drip of water. A gust of wind hollows from deep inside the cave and blows out her torch, leaving her in pitch-black darkness with the dragon. Delmira perseveres and heads further still into the dim cave. A distorted, subharmonic—yet distinctly female—voice echoes from within, “Go away.” Delmira is surprised to hear the dragon speak in a way akin to that of a human. “I can’t let you terrorize the town any longer,” she replies while stepping forth. “So that’s the story this time?” Delmira momentarily gains sight as light emanates from a fire blast drawing near her. An instant before making contact with the fire, Delmira lunges to the side, successfully evading the blast. After getting up, she soon gets knocked off of her feet as the dragon jets past her. Delmira then gets slammed against the wall by the dragons’ tail, but she grabs hold of it before the beast can escape into the shadows again. In response to this, the dragon swings her around, banging her on the floor and walls of the cave before ultimately flinging her off. The beast claws at Delmira, but her armor protects her from any serious damage. Using the fact that the beast was now in close distance, she swings her ax and hits the dragon. Her opponent howled before letting out another burst of fire. Using the moment of light provided from the dragons’ mouth before fire, Delmira uppercuts the beast, causing the blast to move upward instead. The dragon grabs Delmira and drags her across the floor, but the latter breaks free from its grasp. The warrior’s opponent once more disappears into the shadows. Knowing now that its fire breath gives its location away to Delmira, the dragon instead decides to quickly slash her before moving away again. This proves to be very successful as the beast is able to do so multiple times, drawing blood from her opponent. Delmira begins randomly swinging her ax, hitting the walls of the cave. The dragon keeps its distance so as to not be hit by an unaimed attack. “One more should do it,” Delmira exclaims as she pulls her ax back for a final blow. The dragons’ eyes widen as they realize their opponents’ plan. The cave then collapses on them, leaving only rubble where it once stood.

Some minutes later, Delmira and the dragon emerge from the wreckage. The wounded beast attempts to escape but is thwarted by Delmira who had shielded herself from the rubble using her large ax. They fight once more but this time Delmira is victorious, landing a decisive blow that knocks the dragon unconscious. As the dragon falls down, it gradually transforms into a more human-like state, revealing it to be a woman of small stature, bluish-white hair, and teal skin. Delmira is caught off guard with this revelation for a few moments, this being the first time she was able to get a good look at the dragon in daylight. She kneels down to pick up the dragon-woman when she feels something brush past her arm. Not seeing anything, she carries on until her arm starts to bleed from a freshly-made cut. “Enough with all this hiding, show yourself if you want to fight me!” Delmira yells as she grabs hold of her ax, the blood that had exited her wound returning back into her body. The mysterious enemy attacks again, this time gashing her leg. Her opponent goes in for another attack but this time has to block Delmira’s ax, causing their element of surprise to be ruined. The two engage in combat with their weapons, though this proves to be difficult for the injured Delmira as the mysterious man’s speed is far greater than her own, being able to swing his blade five times in the time of one of her swings. She slashes at the man with her ax but he evades, causing her to chop down several trees instead. Delmira changes the tide of their battle when she throws her ax at her mysterious opponent, attacking him with her bladed arm guards as the ax makes its way for a return. Observing that Delmira is still putting up a fight, the assailant chooses to escape, jumping away from tree to tree. “I better be careful, my ax protects me from bleeding out but it doesn’t make me invulnerable to injury,” Delmira says to herself as she mounts the dragon over her shoulder.

She enters town, where everyone is startled as they lay their eyes on the dragon for the first time. “I thought it’d be bigger,” A bystander remarks, prompting Delmira to warn them. “Believe me, she’s much tougher than she looks,” She says as she hands the beast over to them, who restrain her using acupuncture and cuffs as they plan to publicly execute them later that same day. While everyone is celebrating, Delmira thinks everything over. “If this is supposed to make me a hero, why do I not feel any better? Everyone is celebrating…I helped the townsfolk from the dragon, isn’t that a good thing? And yet, I can’t help but feel that I might still be in the wrong here too.” After some more time in contemplation, Delmira goes to the dragon’s holding cell, where she sees a shadowed figure inside. Witnessing the person pull out a blade, Delmira rushes in and engages in combat with them. She notices that this is the same person she had fought with in the forest earlier. Once more, the man’s speed proves to be a challenge for Delmira as he bounces from walls and ceiling, attacking her this time with both of his swords. Delmira throws her ax, her opponent assumes she missed him once again, saying, “Were you even trying that time?” To this Delmira only smirks, and he soon realizes that she set the dragon free. She pulls out the acupuncture needles before transforming into her dragon form. The man tries to escape but is surrounded by his adversaries. With their combined strength, the two easily overpower him. During their fight, Delmira unmasks the man, revealing him to be the mobile retailer she had argued with upon her arrival in Ortus. Severely beaten, the man escapes through a collapsing wall—but not before losing his beard after narrowly avoiding the jaws of the dragon.

The townsfolk take notice of Delmira and the dragon and are sent into a state of hysteria. The people form a lynch mob and hunt them down, Delmira jumping on the dragon’s back as she takes flight. The dragon grunts and tries to shake Delmira off of her, violently spinning and twisting in the air. Delmira grips the dragon’s scales as she holds on for dear life and attempts to convince the beast to allow her to ride on her. “Take me with you! I did save you after all!” Delmira pleads as the wind rushes against her face. “Save me? You’re the one who put me there in the first place!” The dragon retorts as she hastens her pace. Losing grip on the dragon’s scales, Delmira grasps her tail to avoid falling to her death. “We got off on the wrong foot, I thought I was doing the right thing,” Delmira explains as she struggles to maintain a hold on the beast’s swinging tail. Delmira eventually loses her grip and falls fast towards the ground hundreds of feet below, closing her eyes and accepting her apparent fate as she plummets towards her demise. However, within the blink of an eye, Delmira finds herself safely riding atop the dragon’s back. “Alright,” the dragon relented with a groan, “but after this we’re done.” As they fly off, the mobile retailer and crazed dragon hunter: Disung Zhou, vows to hunt the dragon to the ends of the earth.

Next Chapter

Description
Chapter I

Through the mist of a cold starry night, a woman by the name of Delmira dons a cloak and boards a travel ship headed to the distant country of Ortus. Upon entering, her great stature alone draws the attention of a few people on board but her composition only worsens the case: looking strange at best and like a fugitive on the run at worst. Delmira seems unused to this kind of setting, as her attempts at being inconspicuous end up drawing more attention to herself. She frequently pulls the hood over her face and looks as if she has something to hide. After noticing the effects of her behavior, Delmira makes a conscious effort not to act in such a peculiar manner and does her best to relax her disposition. She buys a bottle of alcohol before going off to the railing of the dock but is soon followed by a rambunctious group of men with the obvious intention of striking up conversation. The apparent leader of their small group speaks up first—liquor in hand—receiving the encouragement of his friends. “Are ya’ traveling this far on your own or with company?” The man asks flirtatiously as he stoops in closer and grabs the hem of Delmira’s cloak with the intention of getting a better look at her face. Delmira smacks his hand away before responding, “If you’re this lonely, why don’t you talk to that pole over there—You’ll find it holds much better conversation than I do.” She then turns to leave them when the man grabs her cloak causing her to turn sharply and clench onto something beneath her cloak as if she was going to club the man with a concealed weapon. The man's “friends” however, though ignorant of their possible danger, swiftly convince him to give it a rest for now. The man releases her cloak and though she is still tempted to beat them all to a pulp, Delmira walks away and retreats below the deck to a restroom on the ship.

As she removes her cloak the other hand is revealed to have been tightly gripped to an ax the entire time. Removing the cloak reveals a woman of large stature and robust frame, with spiked bangs and lilac hair flowing down to her shoulders. Delmira’s honey brown eyes examine the large wounds across her torso, which appear to be open but no blood exits them. She grits her teeth before opening the alcohol bottle and disinfecting her wounds, all the while fighting off memories in her mind. When Delmira exits, she finds the same group of men from before waiting to use the restroom. “Just my luck!” Delmira thinks to herself as she attempts not to be noticed by them. Upon recognizing her, the group follows after her. This time, Delmira is not in the mood. She sets her alcohol down before swinging her elbow into one man’s side, breaking his ribs, before knocking him out with an uppercut. Delmira then proceeds to kick one of the other men’s kneecaps inward before slamming his head on the railing. The last man attempts to flee but is quickly apprehended by the towering woman. Delmira raises her ax with the intention of beheading the man before coming to her senses and stopping herself, promptly rendering the man unconscious with the butt of the ax instead. Delmira takes her bottle of alcohol and returns to the deck above, leaving the battered and unconscious men behind. Some time later, they are discovered and everyone’s attention is drawn to them while Delmira remains undisturbed as she sips the remainder of her alcohol.

The ship at last arrives at Ortus. By this point, Delmira’s vision feels blurry as she had struggled with insomnia throughout the boat ride. Upon arriving, she begins looking for a potent medicine that is difficult to find outside of Ortus (where it is quite common). Delmira soon finds a mobile retailer who sells medicine along with a wide variety of items from foreign lands. “I want this one,” Delmira says with a firm tone as she holds a small bottle with an almost luminescent glow to it. The local begins to share the history of the medicine before Delmira cuts him off, saying, “If I’m buying something from the likes of you it means that I really need it—entailing that I have no time for a history class.” As she was speaking, she pulled out the amount of money needed out of her pocket and held it out to the man. The man is visibly offended before responding with a scoff, “That’s not enough…” Delmira, both confused and annoyed, points to the price tag and argues, “It says it costs 200 Charta on the tag which can’t be more than 20 Cubus.” The man removes the tag before replying, “Yes, but that was when it was on sale. You just missed it.” Delmira furiously exclaims, “I’ll find it somewhere else then!” He then warns her that there are no stores selling the medicine nearby but she decides to take her chances.

Delmira searches for the medicine all morning, only to return back to the same place in the afternoon. “I did try to tell you. I could up the price on you for making me wait but I’m a good person so I’ll let it go this time.” Electing not to argue with him any further, she responds with a face contorted into a scowl, “How much do you want?” The man pauses in thought for a bit as he caresses his beard. “40 Cubus,” he says, pausing for a moment before going on, “You know it’s pretty fair. After all, you don’t even have Charta, so you should be glad that I’m willing to receive your currency.” Delmira rolls her eyes. “Yeah, right,” Delmira says before counting her money and giving him the payment. She leaves in a bad mood, drinking the medicine she was finally able to get her hands on. Later, upon realizing that the medicine is a cheap copy of the one she paid for, Delmira returns back to the shop angrily. Upon arrival, Delmira sees that the shop is now closed and reads that no refunds will be admitted, Delmira looks around before pushing his cart into the water, walking away with a wide grin on her face.

She enters into the town: it’s bustling, narrow, crowded, with adults and kids alike running in the streets to get somewhere. There are loud sounds coming from everywhere. People are talking, laughing, and cooking, all which seem foreign to Delmira. She feels that perhaps with time she can get used to it but right now it is overwhelming and frankly a little annoying. Delmira searches for an inn but is unable to find one that will accept her. She sees many people rushing into their houses from the mere sight of her. She then thinks to herself, “Is this because I’m a foreigner or because I’m from Volcana specifically…I suppose I am a little unmistakable. Well I presume we do deserve this reputation after—“ Delmira’s train of thought is cut off as she makes another attempt to get herself room at an inn. “Hello, do you have any rooms open?” She asks as she steps closer to the counter. The concierge responds swiftly. “Room three is open, would you like to take that room? Meals are included and we have a new and improved satellite dish on our roof so you’ll have no problem making phone calls!” The woman says with a mechanically trained smile. “I don’t have a phone,” Delmira states, to which there is a timely pause before the next word is spoken. With a judgmental face the woman then replies, “Of course you don’t, if you had a landline that would mean you’d have a house… which I assume you don’t by the fact that you are looking for an in. If you indeed can pay for the room, a landline is provided.” Delmira spitefully pulls out a large amount of Cubus and places it on the counter. “This will do,” The woman says simply, before taking the pile and putting it in their cash register. “Wait! How much is it for the room?!” Delmira questions loudly as she hadn’t counted the amount before putting it on the table. To this the woman only answers, “It was enough, here is your key. Remember, your room is number three. Have a nice stay!” The concierge offers the same mechanical smile from before. Delmira takes the key the concierge hands her and walks to her room with a pout. During her stay, they treat her like a queen as they now know she has money.

After spending some days recovering, Delmira goes to a blacksmith in order to repair her damaged armor. She enters the forge and sees weapons of all types hung on the walls and ceiling. It seems as if the Blacksmith loves his job so much he makes more than he needs or can fit in his place. She finally finds the man in charge of the forger and asks him. “Do you believe you can fix this? I understand it may be difficult, the materials are Volcanan.” The Blacksmith, a man of greater height than she, with stone-like skin that concealed a burning substance inside of him replied in a husky voice, “That won’t be hard at all. Volcanan soldiers' armors are hardly in short supply ‘round these parts.” As he says this, he shows her complete Volcanan armor sets he has in cases. Delmira has difficulty forming her next words. “If you know I am Volcanan why are you still willing to fix my armor?” Delmira asks. “I judge each person separately based on their own actions…and let them make their own mistakes,” The Blacksmith answers as he takes the armor Delmira placed on the counter. He pauses for a moment, seeming to take particular interest in Delmira’s axe. Delmira pays and thanks him before leaving the forge at unease, but just like all the times before, she fights off all memories of her past.

Both to clear her head and to gain an awareness of her new surroundings, Delmira takes a walk around the town. She sees a crowd of people which appear to be telling stories of a sort. As she hesitantly walks closer, the indistinct chatter becomes more audible. She hears a woman saying in a loud startled voice, “It was flying in the sky at night! It was a massive thing! How will our children be safe with that beast around?!” Although she came after the conversation had already started, it wasn’t difficult to understand. Apparently there was a monster on the loose that was startling the inhabitants of this town. Delmira says to herself, “Maybe this is what I need to truly be a hero.” She finds a group of teenagers who are fantasizing about how famous and beloved they would be if they could kill the beast and asks them where she can find the creature before volunteering to kill it herself. They laugh at her before Delmira assures them that she is completely serious. “No one actually knows where that monster lives,” they answer before walking away. Delmira then goes all around the town in search of more clues. One story she hears says that it was fifty feet tall, had hooves, and a beaver tail. Other claims say that it has a goats’ head, or is more serpent-like and has no wings. An odd and frankly a little unbelievable description claims it is a massive beaver-looking bat-thing with laser eyes and the ability to smell your thoughts and taste your fear. After hearing all these varying and incohesive descriptions of the dragon, Delmira’s brain feels like it is buzzing. She ultimately sets out in search of a creature that is massive, may or may not have any wings and looks like a beaver from hell.

After eating dinner and retrieving her newly repaired armor from the blacksmith, Delmira stakes out in hopes of getting a glimpse of the dragon herself that night. Many hours pass with no sight of the monster, until finally a faint shadow appears in the sky. Delmira rises up, shaking off the drowsiness the late hour had cast upon her and begins her chase. As she prepares herself for battle, her ax grows to an immense size and its spikes begin to spin in a chainsaw motion. She pursues the creature, jumping from one building to the next, dodging obstacles and swinging from ropes. Though Delmira is moving at incredible speeds, she still can’t catch up to the dragon. She sees the monster escape into the shadows, out of reach and sight.

Delmira searches for the creature for several days before realizing that it only comes out at night. One day—by either luck or patience—the monster appears once more. Not wanting to lose them another time, Delmira hastily chases the creature, but this time with a different plan in mind. As she did last time, Delmira jumps from one roof top to the other keeping a close distance to the flying beast. She is able to get a closer look at the beast and observes that it looked unlike any creature she had seen before and resembled a dragon. Delmira is puzzled as she had thought dragons to only be folklore before but she knew her eyes did not deceive her. Regaining her focus, Delmira hurls her ax at the beast instead. The dragon’s reflexes prove to be quite sharp as it narrowly dodges the airborne assault but the beast is caught off guard when the ax is then recalled back into the hands of its owner, Delmira. Observing that the dragon has been able to dodge her ax, Delmira decides to switch things up before it can get away. She starts throwing poorly aimed items at the beast along with the ax, making it hard for the dragon to tell which item would be the ax. As the beast gets close to the outskirts of the town Delmira readies what could be her last shot at getting the dragon. Delmira celebrates as her ax grazes one of the creatures’ wings causing it to spiral in the air for a few moments. Delmira’s celebration is cut short however, as she sees the dragon regain its senses and begin to charge at her. The beast takes a deep breath, preparing a large burst of fire, which is whitish-cyan in color, but before it can do so, Delmira throws dust into its eyes, causing its blast to be slightly misaimed. The fire blazes a trail through the trees in its shape, spanning dozens of yards. As the smoke rises from the fire, the dragon is able to escape once more, but it seems Delmira has more planned this time. She enters into the flame engulfed forest using one of the lit branches to provide light as she sets out in pursuit of the dragon. Using a special ability her ax provides her, Delmira follows a trail of blood visible only to her in order to follow the dragon to her hiding place and put an end to this long hunt.

The trail comes to end as she finds the dragon’s dwelling place: a dark cave spanning hundreds of feet underground. Delmira cautiously enters the cave with a torch in hand. As she walks, she can hear each heartbeat, breath, and footstep—the only sound accompanying her being an occasional drip of water. A gust of wind hollows from deep inside the cave and blows out her torch, leaving her in pitch-black darkness with the dragon. Delmira perseveres and heads further still into the dim cave. A distorted, subharmonic—yet distinctly female—voice echoes from within, “Go away.” Delmira is surprised to hear the dragon speak in a way akin to that of a human. “I can’t let you terrorize the town any longer,” she replies while stepping forth. “So that’s the story this time?” Delmira momentarily gains sight as light emanates from a fire blast drawing near her. An instant before making contact with the fire, Delmira lunges to the side, successfully evading the blast. After getting up, she soon gets knocked off of her feet as the dragon jets past her. Delmira then gets slammed against the wall by the dragons’ tail, but she grabs hold of it before the beast can escape into the shadows again. In response to this, the dragon swings her around, banging her on the floor and walls of the cave before ultimately flinging her off. The beast claws at Delmira, but her armor protects her from any serious damage. Using the fact that the beast was now in close distance, she swings her ax and hits the dragon. Her opponent howled before letting out another burst of fire. Using the moment of light provided from the dragons’ mouth before fire, Delmira uppercuts the beast, causing the blast to move upward instead. The dragon grabs Delmira and drags her across the floor, but the latter breaks free from its grasp. The warrior’s opponent once more disappears into the shadows. Knowing now that its fire breath gives its location away to Delmira, the dragon instead decides to quickly slash her before moving away again. This proves to be very successful as the beast is able to do so multiple times, drawing blood from her opponent. Delmira begins randomly swinging her ax, hitting the walls of the cave. The dragon keeps its distance so as to not be hit by an unaimed attack. “One more should do it,” Delmira exclaims as she pulls her ax back for a final blow. The dragons’ eyes widen as they realize their opponents’ plan. The cave then collapses on them, leaving only rubble where it once stood.

Some minutes later, Delmira and the dragon emerge from the wreckage. The wounded beast attempts to escape but is thwarted by Delmira who had shielded herself from the rubble using her large ax. They fight once more but this time Delmira is victorious, landing a decisive blow that knocks the dragon unconscious. As the dragon falls down, it gradually transforms into a more human-like state, revealing it to be a woman of small stature, bluish-white hair, and teal skin. Delmira is caught off guard with this revelation for a few moments, this being the first time she was able to get a good look at the dragon in daylight. She kneels down to pick up the dragon-woman when she feels something brush past her arm. Not seeing anything, she carries on until her arm starts to bleed from a freshly-made cut. “Enough with all this hiding, show yourself if you want to fight me!” Delmira yells as she grabs hold of her ax, the blood that had exited her wound returning back into her body. The mysterious enemy attacks again, this time gashing her leg. Her opponent goes in for another attack but this time has to block Delmira’s ax, causing their element of surprise to be ruined. The two engage in combat with their weapons, though this proves to be difficult for the injured Delmira as the mysterious man’s speed is far greater than her own, being able to swing his blade five times in the time of one of her swings. She slashes at the man with her ax but he evades, causing her to chop down several trees instead. Delmira changes the tide of their battle when she throws her ax at her mysterious opponent, attacking him with her bladed arm guards as the ax makes its way for a return. Observing that Delmira is still putting up a fight, the assailant chooses to escape, jumping away from tree to tree. “I better be careful, my ax protects me from bleeding out but it doesn’t make me invulnerable to injury,” Delmira says to herself as she mounts the dragon over her shoulder.

She enters town, where everyone is startled as they lay their eyes on the dragon for the first time. “I thought it’d be bigger,” A bystander remarks, prompting Delmira to warn them. “Believe me, she’s much tougher than she looks,” She says as she hands the beast over to them, who restrain her using acupuncture and cuffs as they plan to publicly execute them later that same day. While everyone is celebrating, Delmira thinks everything over. “If this is supposed to make me a hero, why do I not feel any better? Everyone is celebrating…I helped the townsfolk from the dragon, isn’t that a good thing? And yet, I can’t help but feel that I might still be in the wrong here too.” After some more time in contemplation, Delmira goes to the dragon’s holding cell, where she sees a shadowed figure inside. Witnessing the person pull out a blade, Delmira rushes in and engages in combat with them. She notices that this is the same person she had fought with in the forest earlier. Once more, the man’s speed proves to be a challenge for Delmira as he bounces from walls and ceiling, attacking her this time with both of his swords. Delmira throws her ax, her opponent assumes she missed him once again, saying, “Were you even trying that time?” To this Delmira only smirks, and he soon realizes that she set the dragon free. She pulls out the acupuncture needles before transforming into her dragon form. The man tries to escape but is surrounded by his adversaries. With their combined strength, the two easily overpower him. During their fight, Delmira unmasks the man, revealing him to be the mobile retailer she had argued with upon her arrival in Ortus. Severely beaten, the man escapes through a collapsing wall—but not before losing his beard after narrowly avoiding the jaws of the dragon.

The townsfolk take notice of Delmira and the dragon and are sent into a state of hysteria. The people form a lynch mob and hunt them down, Delmira jumping on the dragon’s back as she takes flight. The dragon grunts and tries to shake Delmira off of her, violently spinning and twisting in the air. Delmira grips the dragon’s scales as she holds on for dear life and attempts to convince the beast to allow her to ride on her. “Take me with you! I did save you after all!” Delmira pleads as the wind rushes against her face. “Save me? You’re the one who put me there in the first place!” The dragon retorts as she hastens her pace. Losing grip on the dragon’s scales, Delmira grasps her tail to avoid falling to her death. “We got off on the wrong foot, I thought I was doing the right thing,” Delmira explains as she struggles to maintain a hold on the beast’s swinging tail. Delmira eventually loses her grip and falls fast towards the ground hundreds of feet below, closing her eyes and accepting her apparent fate as she plummets towards her demise. However, within the blink of an eye, Delmira finds herself safely riding atop the dragon’s back. “Alright,” the dragon relented with a groan, “but after this we’re done.” As they fly off, the mobile retailer and crazed dragon hunter: Disung Zhou, vows to hunt the dragon to the ends of the earth.

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