Chapter Text

It was a day much like any other day in the town of Cassardis, in the far Southeastern corner of the land of Gransys. Fishing, wagons leaving town bringing supplies to Gran Soren and beyond, children playing in the streets. A soft, salty sea breeze blew in over the beach where fish sat drying in the sun after they'd been cleaned and gutted at the hands of skilled fishermen and women, carrying their unique scent through the town. Soldiers marched in through the gate, a welcome sight to many within the town after so many of their numbers had gone out the same way to never return, taken by monsters or stationed by the Duke far away from their peaceful home.

Talk of the Dragon's return had reached even this sleepy fishing town, driving many to sign up for the Enlistment Corps, heading off to the Encampment located a few hours North down the road from Cassardis. The merchants appreciated the recruits, because they scared away the Goblins and wolves that often roamed the route between the fishing town and the capital, Gran Soren. The Duke's seers had foretold that the scaled menace would be back within months, and Duke Edmund had immediately set in place new protections and recruitment drives so that the land wouldn't be caught unawares like they had so many years ago, before he'd risen to the Throne. They'd even heard that representatives from other countries had ventured to the Capital to renew their vows of allegiance against the Dragon's threat.

This was the day that Katrine found herself in after she spent the morning catching fish off the dock, and she'd already cleaned and set her meager offerings out to dry. She was saving up for a boat of her own one day, to join the fleets that left one morning and returned the next, taking advantage of the calm seas and rich fisheries that had prompted Cassardis to be built up in the first place. She'd come to the town much the same way, adrift on what had appeared to be the lifeboat of a much larger ship, cradled in the arms of a dead elf. She'd grown up distant from many of the townfolk as a result, and had taken to hiding her long ears within her hair or a thin cloth hat that her friend Quina had made for her.

The way it'd been explained to her by Adaro, the man who'd raised her and his own daughter Quina after she'd been found and the mayor of the fishing village, she was looked down on and considered 'different' by many of the villagers for being an elf. They hadn't been heard of in many years, and very few even knew where they came from or what part of the world they lived in. She was seen as an oddity, but aside from a scholar from Gran Soren who'd come to see her when she was very young, to study her and learn what he could about elves, she'd been left alone and for the most part forgotten. That was just fine with her, as she preferred to blend in and keep to herself without all the extra attention from being different.

She spotted Quina across the little Square near the gate and offered her friend a wave. Despite their difference in race, they'd grown up practically as sisters under Adaro's care, and Katrine was happy to call the man Father, and Quina sister. She didn't remember her own family regardless, and they didn't know if the elf she'd washed up with had been a relative or someone just entrusted with her care. Quina skipped over to her with a smile, her long hair bouncing atop her head and down her back with her movements, full and long as ever. Katrine's hair had never managed to grow very long, her snow-white locks constantly damaged by the sea and salt thanks to spending most of the last few years in and around the ocean. She kept it in a ponytail at the back of her head, her ears tucked safely away within her hair and covered by a headband besides. She still stood out a little bit thanks to her 'refined' features compared to the more ruddy build and complexion of the natives of Cassardis, as well as being nearly a foot taller than most of them, but she was just as strongly built as anyone else thanks to her long hours working at her nets and fishing poles.

"Sister! The Duke's men are here... What do you think of that?", Quina questioned as she arrived at Katrine's side and turned to face the men standing near the gate. One of them appeared to be readying some kind of scroll, likely an announcement or speech.

"Probably just more recruiters." Katrine shrugged her shoulders. She started to turn away when the men began to speak, drawing her attention back to them as she stood beside her adopted sister.

"Hear ye! Hear ye! The prophets 'ave spoken friends! The Dragon's return is nigh!" One of the soldiers stood ahead of the others, a somewhat squat man with close-cropped hair, as he recited what was likely a prepared speech. Katrine glanced to the side at Quina and shrugged once more, while Quina gently gripped the sleeve of her sister's frock.

"Oh Kat... that means that awful beast will be here soon..."

The man continued, his voice carrying across the now-silent square. "Join the hon'rable Duke's ranks and help us be rid o' the fell beast! The day's come to lay down rod and reel and take up the sword!"

As he moved to continue, Kat felt more than she heard a dull 'thump' in the air, like a sheet being flapped near her face, or the crack of a sail that had caught the wind, but much, much larger. It was almost enough to force her forward a step, and she'd hardly turned to see what had caused it before the ground rumbled, and water splashed across the gathered townsfolk as something very, very large collided with the ocean just outside of town. She barely had time to react as a large piece of stonework from the remains of the temple or castle that had sunk into the sea just off the beach crashed into a building across from the square, and she shoved Quina to the side to avoid rubble as she herself dove to dodge the flying stones and chunks of brick.

"It's the Dragon!" rang the cries of the townsfolk, and something large and red rose into the air, wingbeats like drums on her sensitive ears as the large Wyrm took to the air again. Kat's mouth fell open as she stared, openly, as the beast raised it's head and roared, the sound like a guttural growling and clawing at her very soul. Deep, masculine, and full of malice. It slammed back into the ocean and Kat had to throw herself to the side again to avoid a piece of dock flung by his landing, feeling more seawater sprinkle across her back as she pushed herself up from the ground. The soldiers turned and ran, and she couldn't blame them. Three of them against a reptile the size of Cassardis itself? One of them dropped his sword in fright as they fled out the open gate, no doubt toward the Encampment to bring reinforcements. But they'd be long dead before then... unless...

The sword wasn't far out of reach, and something that Adaro had once told her brought itself unbidden to her thoughts.

As the leader of this town, sometimes I have to do aught what might seem crazy or stupid. But done it must be.

What the town needed right now was a protector. Someone to distract the dragon. Maybe she could get it to chase her out of town... she'd always been light on her feet. Her hand reached out and gripped at the sword, pulling it toward her through the dirt and sand of the Square. Someone had to do it, even if it meant she'd never be able to buy that boat after all...

As everyone around her ran this way and that, either out of the gates or to their homes to gather their belongings, Katrine ran the opposite direction, blade in hand. She saw Quina comforting a crying child as she passed, and she set her jaw as she ran toward the beach. She was almost knocked from her feet again as the dragon landed once more, this time on the beach just outside of town. Kat continued running, even as she saw the beast's maw begin to glow, flames flickering at the edge of his mouth. She ran even as he spat flames at villagers unlucky enough to have been caught on the beach, trying to make their way back into town, and roasted them where they stood, turning them to ash or sending charred corpses flying across the sand if they'd just been caught in the wash.

Kat felt heat wash across her face even from this far away, but still she ran, feet pounding across the dirt of the path through town, down the stone of the stairs, and finally across the sand of the beach as she brought herself face to face with the massive Wyrm. She liked to think she stood an imposing or at the very least distracting figure- Seven feet tall, muscular from long hours at work, a large scar running across her face from her left temple to her right cheek, a souvenir of an incident at the docks with a fishing knife and a disgruntled fisherman- but she knew that to a dragon she was just another morsel to be burned, clawed, or eaten.

The Dragon turned to her, flame spent for the moment, scaled beast staring down scared and trembling elf. She clutched the weapon tighter, feeling sand against the skin of her palm and her fingers, giving her a tighter grip. She'd never held a sword in her life, but she'd watched the men going away to join the Corps as they practiced and she at least knew what using a sword looked like. He raised a clawed paw, his digits splaying as if showing off, and she heard a growl deep in his throat.

She'd swing a few times, she'd get his attention, and then she'd run. That's all she'd need to do, just to get him out of town. She could run South toward Starfall Bay, buy the town enough time to try to mount a defense or evacuate. She'd die in the effort, especially once he built up his flame again, but she'd at least give her life for something that mattered, saving lives. That was enough to give her the resolve to keep her feet, and keep from running away back into the town.

His great paw swung down, claws gleaming in the afternoon sun, and she breathed in, letting her left leg relax to lower her. She felt sand meet her knee and she tucked and rolled, actually feeling scale brush against the back of her burlap frock, nearly tearing it away from her torso. She flailed with the blade as best as she could, and felt it hit something, the vibrations ringing through her hand and nearly tearing the blade away from her as she pushed herself back to her feet, sand raining around her as her face lifted to stare defiantly at the dragon. He almost looked surprised.

The Dragon's body twitched slightly as he raised his opposite paw, just enough to cause her to suspect... and sure enough, as she turned her head she saw his tail swinging around. It was spiked at the end, a large spaded tip that tapered before fattening out again toward his body. The thinnest part was what traveled toward her now, and she crouched low, feeling the muscles in her legs tighten as she prepared to jump. She lept into the air, barely clearing his tail by pulling her legs up against her body. It was as she started back down that she looked toward him again, and realized she'd done exactly as he wanted.

Her eyes went wide as her vision was filled with red scales, and all she could do was watch as the paw traveled toward her, barely able to bring the sword tip to point the correct direction before it slammed into her. She was amazed to find that she wasn't turned into paste immediately by the blow, the sword torn from her hand as she was sent sailing, her face having slammed into the scales of the dragon's paw along with nearly every other part of her body, dwarfed by his sheer size. She felt wet and sand against her back as she slammed into the beach again in the waves lapping against the shore, her vision whited out by pain and shock, barely able to feel the sea lapping against her.

"So this is how I die", she thought to herself through the cacophony of pain. "At the hand of a Dragon..."

She barely managed to lift her head, watching as the dragon lifted his paw, the sword she'd been holding only moments before lodged in his scales. He flexed his hand, and the sword slipped free and fell away. It'd only been wedged into his scales, she hadn't even managed to pierce his hide. She let her head fall back with a quiet laugh. She couldn't even manage to harm him. Her dreams of heroics died as quickly as they'd began as she simply laid her head back, resigning herself to her fate as she set her head back into the surf lapping at the shore.

Kat felt thuds as the dragon moved, expecting him to walk away and continue his attack upon the village, leaving her to die of her surely fatal injuries. She could feel things grinding as she moved, sharp pain in her ribs and one leg, bones almost certainly broken... Cue her surprise as the dragon stared down at her, eyes nearly as red as his scales, earfins twitching at either side of his head with something that seemed very much like curiosity. Why had he stayed his attack upon the village for her? Why hadn't he simply squashed her where she lay, or hit her hard enough to kill her outright?

She heard his voice rumbling deep within his chest as his mouth moved, speaking a language she didn't understand. But... somehow, she knew their meaning despite her lack of comprehension of the language itself.

I will show you the truth of reality. I will tell you about God. I am now your connection to life, and my name is Grigori. I am now your shell. I will devour your heart, and the struggle will begin.

Her connection? Shell? Devour her heart? She didn't like the sound of any of it, and she began to try to force her battered body to work, to find her feet again, even as she watched his clawed paw extend toward her, one long nail ahead of the rest, lowering itself down, down...

She grit her teeth as the claw drew ever closer, expecting it to pierce her chest and end her life... The claw breeched skin and something within her surged, like an awakening from a sleep she'd never realized. Her entire body jolted as she experienced the worst pain she'd ever felt in her life, the injury to her face barely held a candle to the deep-seated searing ache that seemed to suffuse every fiber of her being. She felt herself lift nearly two feet into the air before she slammed back down into the water and sand with a gout of blood.

Kat hardly believed her eyes even as her vision faded, her mind rejecting the scene before her as she watched her heart be pulled free of her chest on the end of the dragon's claw, watched as it was raised to his mouth and his tongue extended, her heart glowing with a vivid red as it floated between his lips. Her sight grew dark as the dragon seemed to watch her for a moment before turning away to continue the destruction of her city, and she let the welcoming nothingness of unconsciousness take her as she felt the life ebb from her body.

One final thought sounded through her mind before she felt nothing more.

I can't even die properly...

"Help me! She's still alive!"

Quina? That couldn't be right, could it? Katrine's thoughts felt wild, disjointed, disconnected. She could feel, distantly, as her body was moved, surf lapping at her ankles before sand ran across her heels. One of her shoes had come free. That felt like an amusing thing to note, when an ache ran through her to her deepest core, the pain finding her even here in her constructed refuge. They should leave her there, on the beach. She wouldn't live long, not without a heart, and surely there were others they could save...

How did Quina live? The Dragon had continued his rampage through the village. Why were they here? Shouldn't they be on their way to Gran Soren by now? To report the destruction of Cassardis? The Duke would want to find new supplies of meat for his troops, since they wouldn't be able to send more fish after the town ceased to exist... She felt cobblestones against the backs of her feet. They didn't even feel particularly hot. Had the fires died? Was she too burnt to feel the flames? She wondered what the ruined city looked like now that the Dragon was done with it. She faded away again as she felt something smack against the back of her hand as she was dragged, even that small bit of pain enough to push her back down into the darkness that shielded her from the worst of it.

When she awoke again it was somewhere dark and cold, and she forced herself fully awake, forced her mind back into the body she'd very nearly abandoned completely. She vaguely remembered Quina, tending to her wounds and setting bone, wrapping her chest and stomach in bandages to hold broken ribs in place. When she pushed herself up on her elbows, she did so gingerly, expecting searing, stabbing pain... and found nothing instead. Nothing but a dull ache in her chest, where her- Kat looked down, between her breasts, and that's when she saw it. A large, ugly scar crossed her skin where the dragon's claw had pierced her and rent her chest open to steal her heart. How was she still alive? She placed a hand upon her chest, feeling for a heartbeat... and her blood ran cold as she realized there was nothing.

How am I alive?

The question filled her mind as she pulled the tatters of her shirt more tightly closed around her chest, hiding the exposed skin behind torn, bloodied cloth. As her fist, clutching the remains of her shirt, brushed across her scar, she felt a presence force itself into her mind, oily and squirming.

"If you would face me-"

She jolted back, her hand leaving her chest, and the presence vanished as quickly as it'd come. She gasped for breath, staring around the room in shock and fear. She recognized that voice, the Dragon's deep, gravely tones were not so easy to forget. When she realized she was alone, she looked back down to the scar which had begun to glow for just a moment as the dragon's voice had sounded. He'd said that he was her connection... she lowered her hand to the scar again, and as soon as the skin of her hand brushed the gnarled surface of her chest, she heard him again.

"Take up arms, newly Arisen."

The presence vanished again, and the renewed glow upon her chest died just as quickly. She looked around the room, wondering what 'arms' he'd meant, until she spotted the old equipment that the recruits had used to train. That meant she was in Adaro's house, probably brought here by Quina... she wondered what state the rest of the village was in. She pushed herself to her feet, and the dragon's voice sprang unbidden to her mind again, her scar glowing gently as he spoke.

"Take up arms, Arisen... My kind do not fear the Toothless."

That settled it, then... the challenge had been made. Something within her awoke as surely as the power she'd felt coursing through her had when the dragon had taken her heart. A sense of purpose, a drive to do something better with her new life than she'd intended before. She'd been given a second lease on life when everyone else only got one, she had to do something better with it, something more important than fishing...

Kat strode quickly to the shelf and drawers where they kept the training equipment. The big swords were blunted, that wouldn't do... she liked moving fast, a shield would just slow her down... She took two daggers, still somewhat sharp and likely never used for training, and a bow with several arrows. She could get more from Astella's, she carried all sorts of things that travelers through Cassardis needed for their own protection or that their guards had wanted. Before she began to equip herself, she took a fresh shirt from a drawer, likely something Adaro kept around in case one of the men got hurt during training and needed a replacement that wasn't covered in blood, and left her own tattered cloth behind.

She smiled as she strapped the harness for the daggers around her waist and seated the blades within it, wrapped the quiver for the arrows around her chest and clipped the bow into the little clasp at the side of the quiver. She felt good, better than she had any right to. She didn't feel like her ribs were broken, her leg felt healed... how long had she been unconscious? It hadn't seemed like very long, but ribs didn't heal that quickly...

The elf moved to the door, but pulled up short as she heard talking through the curtain. Maybe they hadn't heard her get up yet... She glanced back into the darkened room as one of the other patients shifted. She hadn't even realized they were there, so caught up in her own visions of grandeur and purpose... she recognized one of them, one of the fishermen who'd been in the square. Maybe he'd been struck by debris, it was likely that he was here under Quina's care. She always had a way with herbs and healing potions and poultices, after all. Her head twitched back as the people beyond the curtain began to talk again, and she leaned her head against the wall to listen.

"You say it's left a glowing scar?" That was Adaro, her adoptive father, speaking. He was also the Chieftain of this village, and the room they were using as a makeshift hospital was used as the meeting room when the people of the village needed to gather in one place, usually at the beginning and middle of the year when the big shipments of dried fish went out to the capital...

"Yes." Quina began, affirming what Kat had thought about who was acting as healer... there were other women in the village who knew more, but she was surely the most talented, and with all the injured there had to be they were likely spread thin caring for the wounded... "The wounds have all closed and healed, and it seems the worst has passed, but... her heart... lies silent!"

Kat's jaw pulled a little tighter as her hand found the scar beneath the cloth of her shirt, and she again heard the dragon's voice, though it was quieter and weaker than before.



"If you would face me..."

She looked back up as the two of them continued speaking, listening in on the conversation. It seemed Quina was just as stumped as she was that her injuries, extensive as they were, had healed seemingly so quickly, if the other two patients here weren't even up and about yet...

"You're sure o' this?"

"Yes!" Kat could even hear Quina's nod, her hair rustling against the back of her shirt.

"Ill magick! The work of some curse!" She could hear the pain in Adaro's voice, he'd likely been worried that he was going to lose her to the dragon, and he very nearly did, and might even still... "The whole world's already gone made for fear o' this dragon... won't no good come o' this!"

Her face fell slightly as she listened to his words, and already she felt like a child getting ready to run away from home, what with her thoughts of adventure. She'd never even left Cassardis, and yet... would her life ever be her own again, if she did not at least attempt to face The Dragon, Grigori? Could she live her life with that weight hanging above her head...?

Adaro's voice interrupted her thoughts again. "I must go see to the others, Quina. Tell me if aught changes here." He hesitated for a moment, before she heard him speak again. "Tell no one o' the scar, or the state of her heart. She's already an outcast, we won't add to it."

"Alright." She heard Quina nod again, and she stepped out of her hiding space and pushed through the curtain as she heard Adaro open the door and leave, closing it behind him.

Quina stopped short as she turned to head back into the makeshift infirmary, a quiet gasp leaving her lips as a hand lifted to her face, watching as Katrine simply stared, waiting to see which of them would break the silence first.

As it happened, it was Quina who spoke first, her voice unsure. "Sister... you awaken. I thought..." She hesitated for a moment before continuing. "How are your injuries? I tried to do aught for them, but I am unsure of how they're healing. You seem able to walk without pain..."

"Just a dull ache in..." Kat lifted her hand to her chest, and Quina nodded. They wouldn't have to speak more of it. "My leg and ribs feel fine. Aside from a bit of bruising I think I'll be alright, you certainly know your way around a healer's work, Quina.", Kat offered with a smile.

Quina laughed quietly, letting her hand fall away from her chest. "It is not all my doing, sis. You seem to heal faster than anyone I've ever seen. Barely a day since the attack, and-"

"Only a day!?" Katrine couldn't believe it. Only a day had passed since the dragon's attack, and she was already up and walking again?

"That's right, sis. I couldn't believe it myself, but surely here you are standing before me, with naught to show of your injuries but some bruises, and even those have faded since this morning. Whatever..." She gestured toward Kat's chest, and the elf knew what she meant without her having to state it. "That Dragon did..."

"What happened to him after he... well, after he attacked me." She didn't want to tell Quina of what exactly had happened, the Dragon's speech, her heart stolen from her chest... Perhaps it was best she didn't know, she didn't want to give her adoptive sister nightmares after all. "How is the village? Is it damaged too badly?"

"Actually..." Quina looked away, toward a window near the door. "After you went to him, I came to the beach as quickly as I could. By the time I arrived he was already gone, winging his way Northeast. We fear for the Capital, but there is nothing we can do about it now."

"But none of that makes any sense..." Kat ran her hand through her hair, idly realizing she was missing her headband, but showing off her ears was the least of her worries at the moment. "Why would he just leave? He attacked the city, did almost no damage save for a building hit by flying stones and crushing part of the docks, only killed a few people, hurt me... what is the purpose in it all?"

Quina shrugged. "I'm sorry, sis, but I don't know. Perhaps Father would know more... they set up a larger infirmary for the injured in the ruins of the building the dragon hit. It was the abandoned one on the edge of the square, he's gone there to talk to the healers."

Kat nodded, and stepped past Quina to head out the door, but she was stopped by her sister's hand on her arm.

"Why the weapons? What are you doing? Are you leaving?"

Kat could hear the worry and pain in her voice, but... "Yes. I think. I... just have this feeling, this hunch... that I have to do something." She wouldn't tell Quina what, she didn't know that the elf planned to challenge the dragon that had so recently swatted her like a harmless gnat. She wasn't even sure why she wanted to do it herself, in truth, she only knew that she had to. She didn't think she could live with herself, otherwise... "I have to leave. I don't know to where, yet, but..." She looked to Quina, and smiled as reassuringly as she could. "You'll be safe here, won't you?"

Her sister clutched her hands to her chest and nodded, her lips pursed. "Of course, Kat. I'll be here."

The elf smiled once more, then she stepped to the door and pushed it open, the sunlight of a new morning greeting her as surely as the promise of a new life.