Now, at the peak of the night, Hyōen was more than eager to have taken a request after a while in Era. When he recently passed the gates at the morning, he disappeared from the flat surface of the forests that surrounded the space between Hargeon and Era - the two cities from between he travelled - and walked upon uneven, rough terrain. A rather mountainous area and city that he stepped on, and it fascinated him more than anything. Even Coda couldn’t stop looking around this next town that they discovered during their seemingly life-long journey on roads of arcana. “Well… you know the routine, girl,” he spoke to the raptor, immediately moving to the east across the roads that lead him where his nose wanted him to go. Hunger was overwhelming him, and it also caused a temporary amnesia of what he was told back then. Once he spotted what smelled like a bar, he entered the room which was pretty packed with people already. Despite his actions, he actually didn’t have much time to waste; tonight, he was going to execute his request and slay a certain beast that had caused havoc around this part of the suburban in the city. How did he gain knowledge of that already? Well, fate decided to pull a prank on him by giving him the scare of his life in the form of a midget dragon that suddenly crossed paths with him. His name was Daragast, a rather fancy member of the Magic Council that held their Headquarters in the very same city. So, once laying eyes on the creature with its scales and claws, Hyōen jumped away in fright with enough force to land on a balcony a few meters above. Thought of getting eaten alive surrounded his mind, causing him to stay up there for quite a while…

“… Are you a wizard?” the dragon-like creature asked straightforward. Surprised by his words, Hyōen looked down from the balcony in curiosity, still having his legs shaking by the thoughts from earlier. “… U-Uhh? Yes, why are you asking..?” he mumbled a little, but the lizard could hear it all too clear. “Just in time of need! Are you free for now?” Daragast continued. It sounded as if he had something to ask the Fire Mage for; something that required his magic, apparently. Given by that conclusion, why not help him? Fearing or not, it didn’t hold the man back as he leapt down from the balcony, having a piece of lingerie attached to his shoulder. “Are you hiring me?” he quickly asked, “Because then you’ve come to the right guy..!” It took about six seconds for the Fire Mage to notice the piece of lingerie on his view, slowly aiming his eyes on the strange wear. A few moments later, even before he could develop the blushes on his face, an angered scream came from above them; the owner of that very wear called down on them, shouting: “You pervert! You better be damned, give me my clothes back..!” His hair dazzled in a blue fire by the sudden shouts, frightened by the lady’s fury. It comically caused both him and the dragon to seek refuge in a useful technique; replacing themselves with dust as they dashed away from view.

Finding a hideout among the merchant stores, both him and Daragast, who was part of authority himself, had a closer look at each other. Critic as always against dragons, Hyōen couldn’t but show a vein by the near presence, but the dragon could talk; unlike any dragon that he had ever met in the Woodsea. “… So, the mission is about-“ he was about to ask about, but Daragast cut him off. “Oh, yeah, that… see, there has been incidents occurring just recently. It’s highly apparent to be the causes of a wild wolf out there,” the dragon explained, jumping down of the table that he stood on, “It has attacked nearby locals lately. If you could take it down the next time that it shows up, I would gladly reward your help.” However, that meant that Hyōen had to kill off an animal again, just like he did back with the rat case. It was tiring him to slay beasts of nature like that, but… if it caused trouble, then it had to be taken care of. So, he thought…

Therefore, he took upon the responsibility of taking care of the threat, and he was to slay the canine soon. The night was also approaching pretty fast, so he had to plan things out. Where would it go? Given it was ownerless, it would be pretty hungry at all times. It was most likely to seek out easy food in the beginning, but… it attacked people by now. Perhaps it had gotten brave enough to go out in the streets? That could mean that all that he had to do was to stand out and wait for it to arrive. He chose a specific place, the top of a pole, as his watchtower over the streets. It gave him a large field of view, and due to the torches lit around the area, he could easily follow any shadows that would move quickly and out of place compared to the already existing darkness that covered the roads. Coda was flying around the rooftops in shelter of the night, looking around the rather quiet streets for the target. It was very late, and many of the houses were out of light to rest through the night. If not for the public lamps outside, Hyōen would’ve been like a blind person out in the dark. His hair was perfectly camouflaged, though, as he waited on the pole, having brought out a little notebook from his pocket. It suited as a kind of diary, and with the help of the light that emitted from his burning hair, he could read the content of the book effortlessly. The tales that were yet to turn ancient, his early time with his mother…

Around the forest, animals of all kinds resided. Wolves were only one example, and Hyōen wasn’t unfamiliar with them. Back when he was around 9 years old, he saw them casually targeting larger preys than him and his mother, in which he was safe as long as bigger animals existed to satisfy the hunting lusts of the canines. He never thought about it, but without hesitation, he relied on his parent’s knowledge. Therefore, he could see them scout the woods every morning, through fogs and dusk. Those species that lived in Worth Woodsea had a very dark fur with lighter carvings across their chests and bellies. Their eyes were dark-yellow or brown, and their physique wasn’t extremely huge. Despite that, they could still take down an average human with ease, and a few individuals had shown Hyōen how to take down an aurochs, singlehandedly. It was all seen a few hundred meters from his window, a scene that fascinated him so much that he darted out holding his mother’s hand. “Mum! You have to try it; maybe we can eat cow meat..!” he spoke in excitement, but she was smart enough to pull him back against his will. “Have you lost your mind, boy?!” she scolded him, continuing until they reached back home again. It was good that she realized his intentions, or they would’ve been badly hurt. Once returning home, she put little Hyōen on a bench and spoke in their native language: “Wolves around here are dangerous, how many times do I have to tell you? Don’t approach them, and don’t interfere with their lives..!” Obviously, the boy was obedient like a dog, because when it came to his mother, her voice could stun even bears. Then why did she show respect for the wolves, then? Comparing those two species, a bear would be having the same treatment if Hyōen ever wanted to chase one down. Her words indicated that there was something special about wolves, in which he asked back: “B-But… I don’t know what they can do.” Sighing, his mother turned around and looked outside of the opened door, replying: “If you ever stood in front of it at one time… you would wish not to mess around with them ever again.” It genuinely creeped the little boy out; what was she talking about? Was mother attacked by wolves at one point? Quick to understand, he simply took those words in and stopped running out of the cottage by the sight of every, single animal that he could see…

Returning to the surroundings around him, he could hear voices in the distance. Coda was off the view, so he concluded that the bird had found their target. Leaping off the pole, the Fire Mage quickly ran across the streets, only having the echo of the voice leading him. After a couple of moments, when the lightbulbs decreased in numbers between the roads, other sounds reached his ears. It sounded like those of a woman’s… but it was mixed with fright. Turning a corner in full speed, Hyōen arrived at yet another lightbulb on a pole, shining down on a trail of blood and with the leftovers of a stranger. Despite the connection to the scream, it didn’t appear to be the woman that he heard; this corpse was older than that. “… Crap,” he mumbled, “It’s nearby…” As he mentioned those words, a strange presence ran around. First, he thought it to be the woman who was having a lot of paranoia haunting her, but he was soon proven wrong when canine teeth came forth right in front of him. Jumping from the shadows, a large wolf assaulted him, attempting to send its white teeth directly into his flesh. Crossing his arms in front of him for protection, razors erupted from his arms, born in fire and scaring off the wolf. As it stepped down to avoid further damage, the wolf swung its claws at him from each side. Hyōen reflected by parrying with the razor blades, causing the poor dog’s paws to get sliced in the hot material that they were made of. It quickly retreated for an instance, but it didn’t fall yet. It was a very tough and fast dog, but the razor blades were still active. Holding his arms up like a boxer, the Fire Mage sought to slash it on its sides, aiming mainly for its paws so that it couldn’t use them to harm him any further. It was frightened by the fire, but it held its distance from it after a while of exchanges. Then, the wolf suddenly ran back into the shadows, having a Fire Mage chasing after it. He was a little slower, but his fierce, orange-flaming hair illuminated his path, letting him follow its tracks until they made it to an open area. It was in the middle of a boulevard, and the wolf began barking loudly to the Fire Mage. Then, it charged towards him, but something felt odd near Hyōen’s body; after having stepped on the ground, a kind of heatwave was emitting from his skin, and the human’s movements matched the speed of the dog’s. Moving to the side, he cut its body four times and swung around to put another couple of hits on its back from behind. His breath was visible despite the heat, and the wolf’s anger only grew. “It might be overkill…” he mumbled as his hands swung around in a strange pattern, meeting each other in the middle. From there, heat erupted in a bright, light-orange blitz as something sturdy and smoking hot was formed; a large kind of boomerang/axe was now on his grasp. Swinging his body around to prepare for a power throw, he aimed it at the dog as it was crushed by its force at point-blank range…

Over at the gate, he approached where Daragast was waiting for him. His clothes and arm had got damaged pretty fairly, but the task was over; his evidence would be the dog’s skull. As he saw the dragon at a distance, he held up the skull to let him see it, impressing the little creature for the first time…

WC: 2014

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