Taira crouched on a burned patch of the old mountain road. The stones were still hot under his hand. Yesterday, these hills had been quiet — now, charred tree trunks stuck up everywhere, like blackened teeth.
He glanced at Rena, who shielded her face from smoke. “You think it’s true, Taira? Really a beast from tales?” she asked, half-whisper. He only nodded. There was a fallen cart ahead, torn right through, wheels still spinning.
This story’s set in the laurel-filled valleys that edge the land of Surinnen. Dragons had vanished generations back. Everyone acted like luck lasted forever.
Taira, short of money, carried a hunting bow and stories of his father, a soldier who’d once claimed to chase a wyvern “’cross the Black Spires.” That’s not why he risked trips to these hills. His little sister Kaori was missing. Last seen near the north cave, east of the traders’ path.
A local thug turned guild “hunter,” Brok, pressed for answers. The village hired him, not Taira. “Wanna stand aside? Or risk flames too?” Brok said, shoving him in the muck. Taira held tight, refusing.
Can you recall someone you wouldn’t let down, no matter sweat or fear? Taira’s journey started like that.
Behind the wrecked cart, mithril scales glinted in the dirt. Rena brushed ash away. “Too smooth for a lizard… what if we’re chasing something much, much worse?” Her words lingered. Taira thought it too. 
Here’s where things twist. The beast started leaving marks — not the savage kind, more like patterns. Branches piled, left symbols anyone could spot. Taira puzzled over a ring around a tree, smooth to the touch. He pulled Rena close. “This’s no wild beast. It’s marking territory… Puzzling,” he growled.
Brok crashed through, sword drawn, with three hired hands. “Oi, as soon as it appears, we catch it. Hear me? Scales and fangs pay well.” The smoke in the woods grew sharp.
Do you get suspicious when trackers seem too eager? Rena whispered, “He hides something, doesn’t he.”
Suddenly, river mist swirled, dense and searing. From beneath it, deep green scales the size of shields showed, and hot eyes flicked wide open. Taira never saw a thing that big move lightly. Ember Drake, an old one — not in any living hunter’s tales.
Kaori’s voice rang — scared, but not calling for help. “Brother! I’m okay, stay back!” She stood on broken stone, wild-haired, but smiling strange. She seemed… in tune with the haze, one hand stroking the dragon’s pointy nose.
Villagers screamed and scattered. Brok tried an arrow, which the creature shrugged aside, fire flickering through missing scales. Instead of an attack, it leaned close to Kaori, who whispered low. “She’s talking to it, Taira. What in blazes…” Rena gripped his sleeve.
What would you do here — rush forward or freeze cold?
Taira stepped up. “Kaori! Come away!”
She shook her head. The Drake opened its jaw, and in a slow hush, words, not roars, spilled out. “Heart for heart, fire for spark. Which thing brought you here—fear, or family?”
Taira kept one burning question: Was this why the beast had spared the road’s folk, taking only those who came after it? 
Rena crouched behind him. Brok, greedy, tried a run at the dragon. Kaori shouted — and the Drake swept him aside with a snap of its tail. Taira faced the eyes, hot and wet and endless. He spoke past the ash: “We—came here for someone we care about. If you hurt her, I’ll fight you.”
The Ember Drake flicked the flames beside him brighter, but then paused. “Fight ends where courage speaks.”
Taira blinked hard.
“If you wish for peace — swear it, child of man. Make your bond with blood or with deeds.”
How would you answer such a charge? Taira dropped his bow, one hand on heart. “By the spirit of these hills, I swear I’ll protect her and you — if that’s what’s needed.” The dragon’s glow lowered. Kaori touched his arm. “We needed only to listen.” 
Rena helped him draw a broken flame in the soot at the Drake’s claws. To the surprise of all, smoke curled, and the Drake shrank to smaller size, talking plain. “Each age, one soul feels enough loss to dare ask for my terms. Few ever did. Protect what remains, as burned hills grow new grass.”
Villagers watched Taira guide the beast upriver, Kaori at his side. Brok limped off, defeated. For the first time, locals chose to listen rather than hunt. The Drake vanished upriver, partly myth, partly new truth to these hills.
The episode closed. Rena winked with soft pride. “You’ll have a story better than your father’s.”
Taira smiled. More trials waited. Was this peace for now — or a bargain he couldn’t keep? 
