Anon The Dragon Slayer

“Lift your arms up boy, your stance is lacking!” Brumer yelled out his order to you as you lift up your practice sword.

Brumer nods as he picks up his sword as well. “Now one of the most important moves as a swordsman is the parry, time it just right and you can deflect an enemies attack and get an opening to strike.” Brumer explains as he gets into a parry stance.

“In this stance you can easily parry an attacker, its the most opportune stance as it gives you the most control.” You nod as you take up the stance as well and Brumer smiles at you.

“Now then let’s see how well all that training did for you.” Brumer says as he gets closer to you.

You eye him up and wait for his attack as he circles you. Before you know it he attacks as fast as lightning. Your tempted to try and parry right then and there but you know you have to wait or else you’ll get struck down with your poor timing. Right as his sword is mere inches from your sword is when you decide its the right time to act. You do as he had instructed and you parry his blow marvelously. Brumer looks surprised as you swipe away his sword and make him lose balance. Seeing your opportunity you strike, hitting Brumer across the chest. Brumer winces but smiles nonetheless. “You did great for your first time lad, that was impeccable timing. don’t forget to parry when you need to Anon, it could change the entire outcome of a battle with just a single move.” Brumer says as you nod to his words in understanding....

You wake up with a start and open your eyes. You start hacking and coughing as you breath in the fresh air. You don’t know how long you were out but miraculously your alive. You can’t believe it you survived! But as soon as joy comes to you its painted over by the aching thought of losing your two friends. People who have fought side by side with you for years. You clench your fist in anger as you speak “I promise, Gregory, Ruder, I will avenge you somehow.”

After calming down from your rage you finally take in the surroundings around you. You seem to be in some kind of forest. The tree leaves almost block out the sun and even though you can tell its sunny from the few rays of light shining through, all around you its dark. “What a peculiar place,” You say to yourself as you get up and dust off dirt and leaves from your armor.

“Wait didn’t that damn dragon say he would send me to another dimension? That must mean...” You look around and notice that your in a place that you’ve never seen or even heard about.

“So it must be true, I’m a stranger in a strange land.” Deciding now was as good as a time as ever, and since you wanted to survive this ordeal so you could get your revenge against that godly dragon, you decided to check your supplies.

You pull off the bag at your waist and open it up. Inside are about four healing potions, great for when your losing a fight and need a little pick me up. Next are about five fire flask bombs, you smile as the memory of the first time you and the new recruits ever used them. You had just joined the dragon slayers when they had given you these to practice with, You and the new recruits decided it was a good idea to throw them at one of the wooden dummies to see what would happen. Well lets just say a beating and an almost burnt down barracks later and you discovered how powerful these little flasks were. As you rummaged around you found a couple poison antidotes for dealing with those pesky venomous drakes that liked to inhabit the Heronoke mountains. Beside the antidotes were your trusty fire resistance potions, you had about four in total and while they tasted like shit, they have saved your ass many a time. Next to check up on was your food supply, you had about three bags full of jerky made from the local deer near the town of Roklo, your hometown as it so happened, with this much jerky it could last you at least three days if you rationed each bag carefully. Next you checked your leather water pouch only to discover that it was empty. “Shit.” You cursed under your breath as you packed up all your equipment and got ready to move.

You had to find some kind of river quick or else you would die of dehydration. You strode into the forest trying to listen for some sign of a river. After a few minutes of aimlessly wandering around you finally hear it, the sound of a babbling brook. Excited you run towards the source of the noise and find what you have been seeking. You grab your leather water pouch and quickly get to gathering as much water as you could. As you gather the water into your pouch you can’t help but look at your reflection in the water. You look disheveled underneath your helmet, your eyes are bloodshot and you start to feel the first signs of a headache. As you sit there transfixed on the reflected image of you playing off the water you hear a scream that startles you. It sounded close by, and from the sounds of it it seemed to be a woman in some kind of distress. Already standing at attention you quickly cap your water pouch and put it away as you slowly unsheathe your sword.

The bushes to the side of you start to rustle and you quickly take up a defensive stance in case the enemy tried a surprise attack. Out of the bushes jumps what appears to be an albino dragon with pink scales on top of its head in the shape of a Mohawk, although upon closer inspection you could mistake the spiny scales as hair just by the way it looks. Upon seeing you the dragon quickly runs to you. Putting your guard up you expect it to attack but instead it runs behind you and shouts “P-please s-s-save me!”

Confused, you don’t have long to assess the situation when a huge lion jumps out of the same bush. Although when you look at it closer it appears to have a scorpion like tail and wings. “Huh, a manticore, didn’t expect to meet one here, then again I don’t know what to expect in this new world.” You say to yourself.

Manticores were familiars of wizards and employed to guard their towers. Maybe there was a wizards tower close by with a crazy old coot who decided to have his manticores patrol the outskirts of his tower. As you think to yourself you notice the manticore sizing you up. It seemed to try to come to a decision to see if it wanted to test its luck against you, after all you did look like a dragon, so it probably thinks you’re another dragon with a weapon. After a few seconds that seemed to last forever the manticore finally decided to go for it, after all if it killed you it wouldn’t have just one meal, but two. The manticore roars as the dragon behind you screams and faints from pure shock. “What a miserable sight to see.” You say to yourself as you shake your head in disappointment.

Dragons where you came from were suppose to be vicious and fearsome, not cowards who fainted from just one manticore roar. Maybe dragons here were just all wimps. You shrug your shoulders at the thought as you stare at the manticore. The manticore leaps at you with it’s stinger outstretched. You dodge the stinger as it barely misses you. The manticore doesn’t let up though as it keeps whipping its tail at you, trying to trip you up and get a lucky shot in. As you dodge you slowly start to feel the fatigue, You can’t dodge forever after all, you still felt some of the soreness in your body from the battle with Quirog, And the fact that that dragon was still in the vicinity, one wrong swing of that tail could impale it and possibly kill it. Its not like you actually care for the dragon or anything, its just that since coming here it was the first thing that could speak and you could understand it, therefore that makes the dragon a valuable source of information on this world. Instead of dodging you switch up your stance to a more defensive one and start blocking the stinger.

The manticore is relentless as he pummels you blow after blow with his mighty stinger, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel the resounding ache in your arms. As your blocking, the manticore decides to switch up its strategy and starts swinging its mighty claws at you. Your eyes widen in surprise as you go to dodge the claws, but as you do you see the stinger out of the corner of your eye coming for you. Your helpless to do anything about it as the stinger makes contact with your armor and pierces through. You shout in pain as you feel the needlepoint of the stinger enter your abdomen and start pumping its venom into your system. “Fuck!” You shout in pain as the stinger retracts and you clutch your side where the stinger hit.

You have to finish this here and now, otherwise the venom is gonna get to you and you’ll be helpless and under the mercy of the manticore. You raise your sword into a new position as you wait for the manticores next move, the Brumer’s words echo in your mind “don’t forget to parry when you need to Anon, it could change the entire outcome of a battle with just a single move.”

You smile as you recall those words, a tear forming in your eye as you gain new resolve to finish this enemy. “Don’t worry Master Brumer. This dragon slayer sworn by oath won’t fall today, I will be victorious!” You yell out your battle cry as the manticore decides to use its tail again, this time aimed at your head with the intent of piercing your brain.

You only smirk as the tail gets closer. Not yet, gotta wait for it, little more, little more... Now! You say in your head as you flick your wrist and deflect the manticores stinger aside, throwing it off balance. The manticore gives a startled yelp as you close in and swing your blade. Your mighty mithril sword cuts through the manticore’s tail like butter. Half of it’s tail falls uselessly onto the ground as the manticore looks at its disembodied tail then back at you. Now deciding that two meals wasn’t worth its life, the manticore decides to turn tail and run away, all the while yelping in pain and terror as it does.

You smile wide as you thrust your sword into the sky and give out a victorious scream. As you do so however, you feel the pain in your side and quickly remember that your poisoned. “Shit, I didn’t expect to have to use one of these babies so early, but oh well.” You say to yourself as you open up your pack.

You find the antidote quickly and open it up before downing its contents. As you ingest the liquid cure you already feel it working its magic. You sigh in bliss as you feel a warmth coursing through your body as the antidote battles the toxins. Finally the feeling disappears and you feel right as rain again. After you toss the vial aside and sheathe your sword, you look over to the person you just rescued, or should you say dragon you just rescued. The whole scenario feels weird to you, after all, you were a dragon slayer. You were suppose to slay dragons not save their lives! But after shrugging that thought off you go over to help the poor thing. As you get closer to it you still can’t discern its gender. It does have a somewhat masculine snout, but on the other hand its body also looks somewhat curvy, you also notice that it looks to be about one foot shorter than you. Deciding that now wasn’t the best time to be ogling a dragon, you quickly pick it up and carry it bridal style.

As you put your arm under its legs you also feel its soft butt on your arm. “The fuck, when did dragons start having soft asses, man this world is full of surprises.” You say to yourself in wonderment as you start to carry it.

When you look up at the sky through the treeline you notice that its darkening. It must be late evening, which means it will be night soon. You had to make a camp and quick, before any other kinds of beasties decide to come out and play with you. After walking for about an hour you come upon a clearing. “This should do for now.” You say as you try to lay the dragon on the ground. As you try to though the dragon quickly latches its arms around your neck, refusing to be let go. “P-please, j-just five more m-minutes..” The dragon asks in its sleep as you scratch your head in puzzlement, trying to figure out a way to pry this lizard from your neck. After about ten minutes of prying and pulling you finally get the dragon to lay on the ground. It snoozes softly with a content smile on its face as you shake your head with a smile. This dragon sure was a puzzling creature, but you decide to let that thought go on the back burner as you decide to start setting up camp.

It takes you about an hour but you finally gather enough wood to start a fire. You set up the fire when you realize that you have no way of lighting. Cursing under your breath, you start to contemplate whether or not you should use one of your fire flasks just to start a stupid fire when you feel a tap on your shoulder. You quickly spin around unsheathing your sword when you see its just the dragon you saved. It gives a yelp and starts to cower before you. You sigh as you quickly sheathe your sword, making the dragon visibly relax. “Please don’t sneak up on me like that, there could be many monsters in these woods and I got to be ready for anything.” You say to the dragon as it nods its head while shaking.

You go back to wondering whether or not you should use your precious supplies when the dragon nervously walks up to the fire and blows out a bluish flame that catches the logs on fire. You can feel the warmth of the flames as you turn to the dragon who seems to be avoiding eye contact as much as possible. You didn’t get a good look at it before, what with the manticore attacking, but you now notice that it seems to have some striking red eyes as well as a pink underbelly. As it notices you checking it out it gets even more nervous as well as embarrassed, that fact made evident by the blush starting to form on its cheeks. “H-hi, m-my names F-Fizzle.” The dragon says, breaking you out of your trance as you look back up at its face.

It takes you a moment to realize that the dragon just introduced itself. “Oh, um nice to meet you, my names Anon, its uh, a pleasure to meet you.” You saw awkwardly, not really knowing what to say to a dragon.

Fizzle clacks their claws together, you can see they want to say something, but before they can speak whats on their mind you quickly interject. “So, are you a boy or a girl?” You ask Fizzle as they seem visibly taken aback by your answer.

“W-w-what...?”

“It’s a simple question, are you a boy or a girl?” You ask again as you see Fizzle’s cheeks flare to life once more with an even brighter blush.

“I-I’m a boy.” Fizzle says in embarrassment.

You nod to him as you flop down on the ground to sit near the campfire, enjoying the warmth it brings. Fizzle just stands there awkwardly while clacking his claws together. He seems to stand there in thought, as if hes trying to solve the worlds hardest question. He finally makes a move and decides to sit down by you near the fire. You both sit there for what feels like hours before he finally breaks the silence. “S-so um, thanks for s-saving me, without you I-I would have been manticore c-chow.” Fizzle says as he gives a little awkward chuckle.

“Don’t mention it, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, besides, I couldn’t just leave someone to die like that.” You say as Fizzle smiles.

“But boy am I s-sure lucky, to think another dragon just happened to be out here to s-save me.” Fizzle says as you give him a quizzical look.

That’s when you realize you’re still wearing the helmet. “I’m actually not a dragon.” You say to Fizzle as he gets a confused look.

“W-what do you m-mean?” He asks as you slowly take off your helmet and reveal your true face.

Fizzle yelps in surprise as he leaps back away from you. “W-what are y-y-you?”

“I’m a human.”

“A h-hooman?” Fizzle asks as you chuckle at his mispronunciation.

“Yes, I’m a human, I’m not from this world.” You explain to him as Fizzle starts to calm down, but he still looks confused.

“What d-do you mean you’re n-not from this world?”

“I'm a dragon slayer who was sent here by an evil dragon lord with the power to send others to different dimensions.” You explain to him as Fizzle gets a scared look on his face.

“D-d-d-d-dragon s-s-s-s-s-slayer!” Fizzle yells out in fear as you mentally kick yourself for letting that slip out.

“Don’t worry, I only slay evil dragons, dragons that slaughter and burn down villages, dragons that enslave people. I can tell you’re not one of them, and besides all that, I wouldn’t harm something as cute looking as you.” Did you just fucking call a dragon cute, the fuck is wrong with you.

As you mentally argue with yourself, you look up and see that Fizzle seems to be blushing even more now, if that was even possible. “D-do you r-really think I-I’m cute?” Fizzle asks in a bashful tone.

“Y-yeah, one of the cutest dragons I’ve ever seen.” You say as Fizzle gives a tiny squee.

At least you dodged that bomb. After Fizzle calms down he goes back to his original spot by you at the campfire. Only now he seems much friendlier, maybe too friendly, as you eye him in your peripheral looking at you. He seems to be studying you quite intensively as you look at him. Upon seeing you turn to him he immediately looks the other way. After about a minute of silence, Fizzle turns back to you while still not making eye contact, and asks “So, you m-mentioned something about a d-dragon lord?”

You nod your head as you stare into the fire. “Yeah, apparently the dragon had already razed a village when I was sent to stop it, after a mighty battle the dragon hit me with its claws and sent me here, to this world.” You say as Fizzle nods in understanding.

“Well, in this world we also have a dragon lord, although I think she’s not as ghastly as that other dragon lord sounds, h-her name is ember.” Fizzle says

You eyes light up at the mention of another dragon lord. Maybe, just maybe, if you could find this other dragon lord, you could have her send you back to your world. “Do you know where this dragon lord is?” You ask Fizzle in excitement as he nods.

“Yep, she lives in the Dragon Lands, I-its where I used to live before I left.”

“Do you think you could guide me there?” You ask as Fizzle looks up at the sky with an uncertain look on his face.

After he contemplates about something for a few minutes he lowers his head. “Yes, I could, i-its the least I could do after you s-saved my life.”

Finally feeling relief, and a goal you can work towards, you start to feel better about your predicament. I mean you may be trapped in another world where dragons are cute, and there’s dangerous manticores roaming in a forest that want you for lunch, but hey at least you have a guide and you aren’t wandering around blind. As you think to yourself both you and Fizzle sit in silence. You look at Fizzle as he stares into the fire. Its weird to think that you’ll be traveling with a dragon. You’ve heard of some dragon slayers actually taming dragons and using them to fly in the sky, and to fight alongside them. You always thought those guys were weirdos, well, looks like your the weirdo now. “Hey Fizzle, if the Dragon Lands used to be your home, why did you leave it?” You ask as Fizzle gets as stiff as a board.

After a few seconds he starts to fidget around nervously before finally answering “That’s something I-I’d rather not talk a-about.” Fizzle says as you just shrug.

Well if he doesn’t want to talk about it you’re not gonna force him too. “Hey Anon, you s-said you’re not from this world right?” Fizzle asks as you simply nod your head in response.

“Whats it like in your world?”

You sigh as you look up to the sky, you try to think where to even start, after a moment of thinking you finally decide on where to start. “I come from a world called Ermos, a land ruled by kings and queens. a place with lush grassy highlands, mountains as far as the eye could see, meadows with beautiful flowers, and waterfalls where the water cascades down forming a rainbow with its misty spray.” Fizzle looks at you with sparkling eyes and a wide smile.

“It sounds s-so beautiful.” Fizzle says with a face full of wonderment.

You chuckle lightly at him. “Yeah, it sure is.” You say as you stare up at the sky sadly.

Fizzle picks up on this as he looks down, looking as if he did something wrong. “S-sorry, you probably miss y-your world a l-lot.”

You smile to Fizzle as you ruffle his head scales a bit, making him blush. “Its alright, you don’t need to say sorry, you did nothing wrong.” You say to him as he seems to smile in return.

Before the conversation can continue further, you hear a rumbling coming from Fizzle who immediately gets embarrassed. You laugh as he begins to blush even more. “You hungry Fizzle?” You ask him as he shyly nods.

You open up your pack and get two of the bags of jerky out, one for you, and one for Fizzle. You hand one of the bags to Fizzle as he takes it with an appreciative smile. You open up your bag and start to eat some of the jerky when you hear a squee coming from Fizzle. “T-this stuff is amazing, what is it!” Fizzle says as you see him scarfing down the jerky.

You let out a small laugh as you answer him. “It’s jerky, came from my hometown back in my world.” You say with a hint of pride.

Fizzle licks his scaly lips as he finishes off the last of it. “Thanks for that Anon, I-I was really hungry, I hadn’t eaten anything in like, a day.” Fizzle says as you continue to eat from your bag.

You grab your leather water pouch and offer it to Fizzle who just stares at it with a funny look on his face. “Whats t-this?”

“It’s a container for water, its used by travelers so they don’t get thirsty on the road.” You explain to him as you uncap the pouch and hand it to him.

Fizzle doesn’t know exactly how to hold it but somehow manages to start drinking from it with a smile. After he’s done with it he hands it back to you. You take a drink as well, noticing Fizzle blushing as you do so. “So A-Anon, not to dig up any b-bad memories, but did you happen to catch the name o-of the dragon lord you fought?” He asks as you finish drinking.

You nod to him before answering his question. “His name was Quirog.”

Fizzle visibly stiffens up as he hears the name, which you notice right away. “Is something wrong?”

“O-oh its nothing, i-its just that, Quirog is the name of an old dragon lord here that got banished from this world a hundred years a-ago.”

Your eyebrows cock in intrigue as you hear what Fizzle just said. “Was he now, do you mind telling me the tale about him?” You ask Fizzle who nervously nods.

“W-well, a hundred years ago there lived a t-tyrannical dragon lord, all the dragons hated him for his absurd laws, and he ruled over all of them with an iron claw. Quirog wanted an easier way to dispatch anyone who dare s-spoke out against him so he started to research about how the b-bloodstone scepter worked.”

“Bloodstone scepter?” You ask in confusion before Fizzle continues.

“Yes the b-bloodstone scepter, any dragon who possesses it g-gets the powers of a dragon lord. W-well one of the things the bloodstone scepter could do was open portals to different dimensions, but in doing so you would drain a lot of p-power from the scepter and once it was depleted it would take about one hundred y-years for it to regain its power. Quirog k-knew this so he started to research the powers of the scepter. S-soon Quirog was able to create his own spell to send things into different dimensions.”

“Just like how he sent me to this world.” You say as Fizzle nods.

“H-he used that power to send other dragons away w-whenever they challenged his rule. After awhile of Quirog abusing this power, a group of dragons rose up to defeat him once and f-for all. They led a r-rebellion against him and stole the scepter from him and used the power to trap him in another d-dimension.”

You take a moment to process all this information. So Quirog was an evil dragon lord that lived in this dimension, who got sent to your world after being defeated by rebels. After thinking that, your mind wanders to a more important piece of information. “So the scepter can open portals to different dimensions, and the current dragon lord, Ember you said? Does she have the scepter now?” You ask as Fizzle nods.

You sigh in relief as you realize what this means. It means there’s a big chance you could return back to your world. “Thank you for telling me this Fizzle.”

“No p-problem.” Fizzle replies as you give out a yawn, all of today’s exertions coming back to you and making you feel exhausted.

“Well, I think its about time for some shut eye, we have a long day ahead of us.” You say as you lay down by the fire for warmth.

Fizzle lies down next to you as you start to get comfortable. “G-goodnight A-Anon.”

“Goodnight Fizzle.” You say as you look up at the night sky one final time before closing your eyes.

Before you can drift off into dreamland though, You feel a scaly arm wrap around your midsection. You open your eyes to see Fizzle cuddling you with a smile on his face. “H-hey Fizzle, do you think you could, um, get off me?” You ask but all you get in reply is snoring.

Whoa, hes already out cold. Do dragons always fall asleep this fast. You think to yourself as Fizzle nuzzles into your chest with a content smile on his face. You smile down at him before scratching behind his ears. Fizzle gives a blissful sigh as you continue to scratch his soft ears. This is pretty nice, you can’t remember the last time someone cuddled you in such a way. Actually, you’ve never had someone cuddle you like this. You finally decide to leave him be and give in to the job of being this dragon’s cuddle buddy. You close your eyes with a smile as you get whisked away to dreamland.