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They never thought I could do this. Always doubt. Always hate. Never encouraged. I shan't forget that their words spurred me forward, like stepping on nails, desperately trying to get to the finish line. Besides, who am I to say they hated, if I myself hated in return.
But none of that matters anymore.
I remember I'd always watch them, watch them grow further and closer into the darkness that seemed to surround this world. I was an outcast yes, but so much more than that. I was a misfit. I was not simply casted out, I just couldn't get in. So thus, I grew apart from this old town, it could care less of it. I left, days after I realized this, and never planned on coming back. 828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeX4b0z1WxE
Now, however, I find I'm at it's boarders.
And why am I at such a painful memory of that past?
They need help.
I couldn't flee from the haunting reflection of my past, the ghosts of friends, the spirits of family. I never felt loved there, never felt as if I belonged. Yet here I am. At the towns feet. Offering my life to save it.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZknf5GJuqR
Dragons are quite common now a days, they used to be extinct until some scientist in the late 3600's decided to biologically make one. And another. And breed them. He's dead now, since it's year 4153. A dragon has the town surrounded, it's large blackish-red form looming over houses and streets. Hover boards and bikes are left abandoned on the sides of the roads where I now walk. Evidence of struggling and chaos is vivid. 828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhudJUefjiH
Hasn't really changed much, I muse, since I first left.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZb7yY54Jtx
I have found I enjoy the traditional arts of a sword fighter, but since it's a dragon that's attacking my own town, I bet a sword feels like a toothpick. 828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WAaCoz6rl
As I enter the barracks that are below the town, I notice only wounded, only crying and dying soldiers. These men were suppose to fight, and all they've done is taken up another cot to sleep on. 828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUfNkuphNT
"Pathetic," I mumble, not meaning to disrespect. I grew up alone after I fled, so I was free to say what I want, and old habits die hard.
"Excuse me sir," I hear an old woman's call behind me. Turning around, I see her eyes. Not her ragged clothes, not her torn skin, but her eyes. For in those eyes, I saw it. I saw the loneliness of an outcast, I saw the weariness of a soldier, and I saw the desperateness of myself so many years ago. "Excuse me, please, have you come to serve the captain?"
Captain? I wonder for a short moment, I'm not here to serve anyone but the town I was raised in for my elementary years. "Miss, I'm only here to fend off the dragon," I explain.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRa0RwgUJtN
"But the captain can give you gear, gold, and glory!" she exclaimed, her fragile fingers reaching out to touch my feet that she was sitting by.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUhFGlQiNI
I back away, taking a cautious step backwards. "I'm not here to serve that captain. I'm here to fend off the dragon," I repeated myself.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bXb8zq2C7
"Foolish boy!" she says, almost glaring up at me. "What kind of man doesn't want the fame of a Dragon Slayer?"
"The kind of man who doesn't grovel at the devil's throne," bite back, turning around and leaving the conversation behind. I was here to fend off the dragon. I was not here to earn glory I already had. Not that of a dragon slayer, but inner glory I've come to gain simply by living.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6WCCg0DmUO
I didn't listen to the other cries of outrage that followed me until I reached the end of the barracks, outside, where the dragon waited. Why am I even here, helping them? They're confused, they're blind, I may as well get out now and never return.828Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXTg9iXRXd1
But I take a step forward, as if insuring my death that awaits me.
Yes. I call it death. For no one has earned the title of Dragon Slayer. Despite what these people think, no one has ever killed a dragon. This captain of their's is probably only telling legends that never happened.
I grip the hilt of my sword, I pull my shield closer. The dragon's breath lights the ground around me and I charge towards it. And in a haze I slice at it's belly, hack at it's stomping claws.
I am here to fend off the dragon.
I am not here to earn glory that I already have.
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