The Forest

Light's eyes took a while to adjust from the darkness of the cave, to the outside light. There was a town nearby, but it was expanding rapidly. Soon, it would be at the base of the mountain. Then they'd be trapped. Light turned to see Dia right behind her. She let out a small eek. Dia stared. Light pulled herself together and stared right into Dia's eyes.
"The Town is expanding." Light said.
"Yes?"
"We have to move."
"Alright. Climb onto my back."
Light nodded and walked to the side. She clambered up and sat on Dia's neck, near her head.
Dia walked to the very edge of the cave. Then, she jumped.
At first, it looked like they would crash, but Dia opened her wings and glided up. She flew around the mountain and Light sighed at the view. This land was beautiful once, but now.. Radiation was everywhere. Purple grass, Orange bushes, Yellow trees. Dia glided around for a while, trying to find somewhere where they could sleep.

They landed near the river. Dia greeted some river dragons with a simple nod, whilst Light beamed at them all. Dia sat down near the river, and began speaking to the river dragons, while Light kneeled by the riverbank and filled a flask full of stream water. Light saw a girl approaching, and she had a sort of townie air about her. Light snapped up and raced over to Dia.
"Townies!" She gasped. Dia nodded, and Light climbed onto her back. Dia's river dragon friends did backflips into the water and vanished. Dia spread her wings. She flew off quickly, hoping no one saw.
"There's gotta be a town nearby." Light cursed.
"There are towns everywhere, Light. You just have to deal with it."
"I know. I guess, the town might be far off and the stream is the closest water?" Light said hopefully.
"With your luck, Light, that's probably wrong."
Light sighed.

Light was dropped off near the river while Dia flew off to hunt. Being near the river meant is something tried to eat her, she could run to the river, to the river dragons. Light drew her daggers and walked through the forest. Hopefully, she'd get a meal.

Animals scurried for cover as his dark shadow passed overhead. All the land bound beast new better then to show themselves when the one-horned fiery king made his journey through the sky. The thunder of his might wings giving the small mammals enough reason to induce fear. It was well enough for him, his belly was already sated and the land beast of the forest were often in poor pickings. The radiation had left many of the animals in the forest tainted and foul. Although generations have allowed most of them to become edible despite the corrupting nuclear poison, many still had a foul taste in their meat. Even among his kind one needed a strong stomach to dine on these beast.

It was another thing to fault humanity for, he mussed. Leaving the world around them in a state of ruin seemed to be a skill the hairless apes had perfected.

Still though, after his recent conquest he had been left parched, something understandable with the heat he had generating in his throat. There was a watering hole nearby he remembered, a group of thunder-kin had set up a nest a few years ago nearby it when he was last in the region. He felt no issue in passing over their nest, for they and he had little reason to quarrel with each other. Circling over head a few times, the one-horned-flame-king eventually found a clearing by the water side big enough for him to land in.

The lake water was clear, something he was thankful for as unpolluted water was sometimes difficult to find. He knew this lake to be the domain of one of the rare many-headed-kin, a delusional fool named Rokunam. Fortunately the hydra seemed to be away from his territory at the time, which meant Drograh could get his drink with out having to pacify the crazed fool.

He lowered his head to drink from the water, his snout submerged while his maw drank from the fresh source. In his younger years finding a place and drinking from it would have been difficult, both from the rarity of clean water in those years and the fact that he was younger, smaller, and more inexperienced in defending himself from the beast of the forest. Now however he had ground large and strong. As such the one-horned-flame-king had no need to be wary of the surrounding trees, for few beast would be foolish enough to consider contending with him.

He drank slowly, savoring the flavor of fresh water, and the short moment of peace in his life of constant strife.

The young dragon circled the forest searching for something to do. He couldn't understand how the others just hibernated during the dry seasons... most of them didn't even know that the poisoned plants gave them fuel. They didn't want to know anything different. He looked down at a smoky town and watched as the people ran around in a panic. “Fire dragons...” He growled finding the way that this particular dragon handled the humans way over the top. The humans were fun to play with and feed on but like any other species they shouldn't be burned into extinction. Maybe he felt that way because he was too young to remember the war and what happened not that he was ignorant he knew what happened. The young dragon was very aware of the fact that the planet's current condition was a direct result of the humans reckless behavior.

Still, if they had survived this long then they obviously had something to live for. Loz pushed on leaving the town before they could try to shoot him down. He didn't sympathize with the humans in the least. He simply viewed them as he viewed any other lesser species in need of some guidance. “It had to be Drograh...” He had never met the fire dragon face to face but he was very well known among most of the local dragons. He was a force to be reckoned with and Loz didn't want to run into him. Not that he had any personal qualms with the fire breather.

Landing near the river the dragon stuck his head underneath the water looking around for any water dragons to bug. A few bubbles escaped from his nostrils as he stuck his head deeper until the water was half way up his long neck. The purity of the water began to irritate his scales and he pulled his head out giving up his search. Something about the radiation surrounding the planet helped the thunder dragons thrive. The young dragon never thought about what would happen once the planet had finally healed itself or when the acid rain stops, or when the water dragons had finally purified all the water. They'd survive surly enough but would they weaken?

“Drograh...” He watched the older and much larger dragon land and began to drink on the other side of the lake. He quickly followed splashing his mussel into the cool water and drinking slowly. He stopped and looked up at the other. He slowly walked towards the edge of the forest and started to dig at the base of a tree before uprooting it. He gave a shake before turning to the other dragon. Perhaps eating a tree in front of an infamous creature wouldn't be too wise. “Spot any water-kin?” He spoke as he sat a fair distance away from the one horned dragon.

A light breeze found Relif at the base of one of the trees in the Forest, his pack and armor to one side as he stretched his tired limbs from the amount of traveling he had done that day. Without his armor equiped, nearly all of his draconic features showed. From his angled and clawed feet, swishing tail to his deformed right "paw" and reptilian eye that shined blue in the sunlight, he was a peculiar sight. In quick, sudden movements, Relif shot his fists forward, beating back invisible enemies as he spared around the tree's trunk.

Stopping in midstride, Relif found himself face-to-face with one of the odd creatures of the forest. It looked much like a deer, from the shape of it's body, but it was much taller strangely colored, no doubt from the radiation of the Finale War. Both hybrid and deer stared at eachother for a few moments before the deer tried to bolt for the safty of the trees. It didn't get far before Relif's claws came down on it's back from above, having jumped from ten feet away to land his target. The poor creature managed to release one pitiful bleet before his scale covered paw smashed into it's neck, breaking it in two, causing it to spazm before going still. Opening and closing his paw, Relif rose from the corpse's back, breathing heavily. If it hadn't simply wandered into the clearing, it would still be alive and well. However, it was kill or be killed, nowadays. It couldn't be helped.

Dragging the limp body to his supplies, he stored his armor within his pack and slung it over his shoudler, lifting his soon to be dinner in his arms. There was a river near here where he could clean his kill, then from there Relif would head to town. It would be nice to sleep under an actual roof tonight. Destination set, Relif left the clearing, making his way towards the river.

Grunting, Relif heaved the deer carcass off his shoulder, rubbing his sore muscles with a sigh of relief. Maybe carring his next meal whole wasn't such a great idea. Kneeling down, he scooped a small puddle of water from the river, sipping it eagerly. It had been a while since Relif tasted water this fresh. Those water dragons were a blessing.

Extending one of his claws on his right hand, he began carving the deer, setting aside the meat and skin to pack later. Relif was in the middle of cleaning out the organs when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted some sort of giant red rock next to the river. Strange, the river didn't have any stones like that. Unless...

Instinctively, Relif threw himself into the water, expecting flames to dance across the water moments after he submerged. He hung there, suspended in the water, awaiting the flames. However, several seconds later, there was still no fire where he had dove in and he was running out of oxygen. Gasping, Relif broke the surface, sucking in massive amounts of air.

I've...really got to quit being so over-caustious.

The "rock" he had seen was, indeed, a dragon. And elder dragon, from it's size. But was most interesting was that it was a fire dragon. Fire dragons were rarely seen in the Forest, and seeing one napping here was even rarer. Wading silently to the other shore, Relif pulled himself from the water. Rising slowly, he made a mental note of where his pack was and approached the dragon. The closer Relif got, the more unsure he became until he was about 15 feet away. No going back now unless he wanted to present himself as an easy meal.

"...exactly, what is a fire dragon doing here in the middle of a forest?" Relif asked, hoping the large dragon was awake. If it wasn't, he could always use a rock...

"...exactly, what is a fire dragon doing here in the middle of a forest?"

Drograh was about to begin dozing off when another interruption came to bother him. He half open his eye and looked down at what had decided to bother him while he rested this time. Too his annoyance, it was one of those vermin. He gave snort at the little human's presence. It was brave to try to approach and speak with him. Foolish, but brave. Drograh, not willing to get up after he ha just settled in, decided to deal with this in a simple manner.

Venting a breath of hot air from his nostrils, he spoke. "Nothing that concerns you. Monkey."

Without warning Drograh's giant tail lashed out toward the human, Drograh intending to send the little nuisance flying with a lazy swing.

The elder dragon half opened his eye, looking down at Relif with a look disgust and snorted. He was used to dealing with dragons and having them stare at him as if he was some bug, but elder dragons were a bit more of a problem, especially with the look he was getting from this large fire dragon.

The large creature vented hot air through it's nostrils, replying,"Nothing that concerns you. Monkey."

Definatly male. And monkey? What the heck was that?

Momentarily distracted, Relif nearly got caught by the dragon's suddenly swinging tail. Even if it was a lazy blow, it was still coming pretty quickly, giving Relif nearly no means of escaping a blow that would leave him with either a broken spine at worse and a broken ribcage at best, hybrid or not. So, caught by surprise, he feel backwards, basically sitting on his slender tail as the dragon's tail swung over his head by a hair, wind buffing his face.

Relif sat on the ground a couple moments, rubbing his bruised tail gingerly as he recovered, shouting,"Honestly, there was no reason to strike at your own kin! And I'm not a monkey...what ever that is." To prove it, he raised his left arm, covered in brilliant red scales and ivory claws tipping his fingers.

Drograh gave no care that his tail didn't connect with it's target. It was just one human, easily killed and something he'd probably catch later when he burned the next dwelling. The attack was just to drive his point across that he didn't want to converse with one of those 'hairless apes'.

"Honestly, there was no reason to strike at your own kin! And I'm not a monkey...what ever that is."

Kin?

Drograh gave the human another glance. This time however his eyes went wide. When he spotted the red scales the adorned the human- no, mixed curs arm Drograh's blood started to boil. The little false-blooded foul spawn had the audacity to to call himself kin of the fire blood? HERESY!

Raising himself back onto his feet, the one-horned-fire-king towered over the hybrid. A burning rage glowed in his eyes as he glared down at the bastardized spawn.

"No..." the one horned dragon growled, heat building in the depths of his belly. "You're an abomination!" With a furious roar Drograh unleashed a torrent of fire from his jaws onto the hybrid.

This time, the large dragon took the time to glance at Relif again. When he spotted Relif's raised arm, covered in scales, his eyes went wide. Maybe he realized he struck at someone he was probably related with? However, no such luck was with Relif today. The dragon rose to he's feet, much MUCH taller than Relif with a look of such hatred in his eyes that it caused Relif to flinch. Elder dragons just couldn't stop being intemidating.

"No...You're an abomination!"

With a ear splitting roar, he released a massive torrent of flames, sending it at Relif like a tital wave. Raising his scale-covered arm in defense, Relif rushed to the left, fire washing over his arm harmlessly. The same could not be said for the rest of him. Even with those few seconds covered in flames, painful burns covered his legs, other arm and back. Dragon fire was far hotter than any human produced flame.

With a few moments to spare, Relif ran through his remaining options. Fighting was out of the question, even if Relif had his supplies. He could run into the forest and lose him between the trees, but doing so would have the chance of the entire forest going up in flames. Even if he wanted to live, Relif wouldn't sacrifice the whole forest to do so. Jumping in the river would protect him from the fire, but then he'd be even more vunurable. Damn, if only he hadn't left his pack...his pack!

Glancing behind himself, Relif spotted his pack in the exact place he left it- across the river. If he could get to it, he'd have a chance.

In a blur, Relif swirled around and made a mad dash for the river, sailing over the earth with incredible speed. Half dragon or not, if he didn't make it to the water before the dragon, he'd be toast. Literally.

Drograh clamped his jaw shut and cut off the spout of flames. The little abomination, having survived his flames, was fleeing across the river. Drograh, not one too let the bastardized spawn escape, lunged forward. With one fore claw outstretched, the elder-flame-kin made a grab for the half-breed.