“G-Gege? What was that?” Bao asked as she clung to her older brother’s leg, looking up at him with terrified eyes. Tao could feel, how his little sister was shaking slightly in fear, and the screams from outside didn’t make anything any better. So Tao just kneeled down in front of his little sister and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Bao, you stay in here. Go to your room, and don’t go outside. Understood?” Tao said with a serious yet slightly terrified voice. He was scared, horrified, yes, but he had to stay strong for his little sister, because he was everything she had left to rely on.

“O-Okay, gege…” Bao murmured with a small nod, “Take care, gege!” She turned around and quickly ran to her room, her small feet barely able to catch up with her. Just the sight of the little girl running like that, could make Tao smile a bit, just because he loved his little sister so much. However, he lost his smile immediately, as another roar sounded through the village, followed by the sound of some strange flapping, done by a pair of huge wings.

Yes. Incredibly huge wings.

Tao quickly stepped outside, to see how the few soldiers in his small village had gathered, their weapons and shields wielded in their arms. They tried to look brave, but it could clearly be seen, how they all feared for their lives, just wanting to take their tails between their legs, and run home.

“What’s going on…” Tao murmured, watching how all the townspeople were panicking, running around, fleeing, with their most beloved belongings in their arms, looking for shelter. Mothers were running with their children by their side, while their husbands were trying to help the other families and the old with getting to safety. Somehow, Tao felt like he should be helping or something, even though he still didn’t know what was going on.

“Look! It’s above us!” a young woman screamed as she held her newborn child close to her chest, trying to protect her child against the creature flying low above the village.

Tao had finally gathered the courage to look up against the sky, his eyes growing wide, as he saw the creature. He saw its grey-scaled skin that shone beautifully, yet horrifyingly, in the moonlight Its skin was almost flawless, without any bruises or damage. It had a long tail, which looked strong enough to destroy buildings as well as castles, and so it had already done – it had already destroyed the watchtower, simply by swinging its long, strong tail against it, watching as the stone tower had crumbled under its touch.

“W-What is that thing?” Tao heard himself whisper, watching as the guards where firing arrows at it, actually damaging the beautiful creature slightly, but not enough to actually kill it. The creature grabbed a few guards with its legs, wrapping its sharp claws around them and flying back up against the sky. It was forcing Tao to look away as it was suddenly raining blood, painting the gravel road through the village.

Tao had no idea what to do. His whole body had completely frozen. He really wanted to help in some way, but he had no idea how?! He was just a normal boy, he didn’t even really know how to fight such thing. He only knew how to hunt, and maybe defend himself against villains, but that was about it.

Tao didn’t really trust that the guards, who had been about half numbered by that time, could actually kill such a creature by themselves. He was afraid, that the whole village would be destroyed, if he didn’t do anything – and his sister would get hurt.

So without much thinking, he grabbed his arrows and his bow, which were lying outside his house, and got out onto the gravel road, where the guards were too busy firing arrows at the flying creature a bit away, to actually notice Tao.

Another roar sounded, and then there was fire, as flames were now being shot through the village, setting a few houses on fire. At that time, the adrenalin in Tao’s body was streaming too fast, making Tao unable to notice how scared he actually was. At that time, he would probably have run again long ago, looking for a place to hide.

He had no idea, why he actually wanted to play hero, all of a sudden.

He took aim at the flying creature that was still flying over the village, as if it was searching for something, as it didn’t stay still for one second. Tao span his bow, trying his best to actually focus, even though it was rather dark in the sky, as the sun had gone down some time ago.

However, he didn’t get the chance to fire, as the creature found what it had been looking for. Tao heard a small roar from it, as the creature’s eyes got wide and it’s pupils big. It turned around, shocking the guards even more, as it was headed right towards Tao, roaring louder than ever before, nearly making the ground shake.

“H-Holy … This was a bad idea,” Tao gasped with a small whisper as he lowered his bow, and took a run for it, which was probably a bad idea, since he was headed towards the center of the town.

“Foolish kid! Not that way!” the guards yelled behind him, wanting him to run somewhere else, which wasn’t really an option, since he would pretty much get taken by the creature if he did. He didn’t really know if his actions were foolish, selfish or just stupid, because now he could see some people ahead and they were all looking in his direction with terrified stares, since the creature wasn’t far behind him.

Why it was hunting him, he didn’t know. He hadn’t been shooting arrows at it, yet.

“, , , …” Tao groaned as he ran faster, his hands clenched tightly around his bow as well as his arrows. The guards were still right behind the creature, and they even had the chance to hit at its wings with their swords and spears, since it flew just above the ground.

“Kill that thing!” some of the townspeople screamed, terrified as Tao and the creature came closer and closer, just about hundred meters away.

Tao looked back at the creature again, just as it was forced roughly against the ground, from all the cuts and arrows in its big, wide, scaly wings. It let out a loud, furious roar, as it quickly got onto its legs, continuing to hunt Tao, even though it was quite slower now, being unable to fly anymore. It actually looked a bit like some kind of huge lizard, as it crawled its way towards the young boy, who was still running for his life.

Its eyes were like pinned at Tao, looking at no one else. No matter how much the guards tried to fire arrows at it, no matter how much and how many times, they sliced it with their swords… It only looked at Tao. Its eyes were blue like ice, too, its pupil almost like a cat’s. Its sharp razor teeth was being shown in a furious frown.

It was definitely just as horrifying as it was beautiful though it had clearly become weaker from the bruises the guards had given it.

“Boy! Run off the road! Now!” the guards yelled again, once more trying to convince Tao not to run towards the center of the village, where most of the people were taking shelter.

The guards didn’t even wonder one second, why the creature was hunting Tao, neither did the townspeople. They were just all screaming, yelling at him to not come near them. They didn’t even care what would happen to him, if he stopped running. They didn’t care, what would happen, if he ran off the road – because just such a small change of his direction, would be enough for the creature to catch him between its teeth.

 Suddenly, the time went by really slowly, as he felt himself fall over his own legs, clumsy, as he had always been, ever since he was a little kid. It was one of those things that did, that he was better off if he just stayed home at such times like these.

His young body hit the gravel road, almost silently, compared to the screams around him. However, everyone around him, went completely silent, as they prepared themselves to see a young boy like him, get killed, torn and eaten by the terrifying creature.

Everything… Was just silent. Everything went by in slow motion.

Everything, but Tao.

He almost felt his body move on its own, as he rolled onto his back, ignoring the pain from the small stones under him. He span his bow, not even having time to breathe, as he tried his best, to aim at the creature, this being his only chance to actually survive this.

The guards stopped up, one by one, their faces pale and shocked.

They weren’t shocked by the dragon, but by the way the young boy seemed to move incredibly fast, even though there was such a dangerous, merciless creature, ready to devour him. The guards felt their blood turn to ice, as they could clearly see the way Tao’s eyes had changed, from dark brown, to ice blue.

Though it wasn’t only his eyes that had changed.

His sight had changed, too, even though he was far too busy to actually notice this. He was still lying on the ground, just as the creature’s head was almost above his young body, looking down at him with furious eyes, breathing down on him with its incredibly hot breath, which was almost like fire.

Then it happened, and Tao finally let go of his arrow, and fired it against the creature’s throat, hitting it right under its jaw, earning a painful scream from it, which made all the townspeople back a few meters away as it struggled a few seconds against its pain.

But it had to give up sooner or later, and it finally collapsed with its heavy head against the ground right next to Tao, making some dust from the gravel flutter around in the air.

The creature just lay there, a few more seconds, while it looked at Tao with its ice blue eye, growling quietly at him for a few seconds, which made Tao crawl a little bit backwards away from it.

But then it quieted down, as it stopped struggling against its pain.

The creature was finally – ing finally – dead.

There was still completely silent around Tao, as all he could hear was his own breath as his chest rose and fell, again and again. He couldn’t really comprehend what had just happened. Was the creature actually dead already? And he was still alive?

He found himself patting different parts of his body, just to make sure that all his limbs were there.

“W-What is that thing…?” Tao asked, his breathing still heavily, his forehead wet from his own sweat. He tried to stand, finding his legs were shaking like mad from his adrenalin rush.

“It’s incredible,” a familiar voice said, as Tao saw the old woman he had been working for earlier that day. The old woman was walking to the creature to examine it, being the only one who wasn’t scared anymore, “It can’t be anything but a real dragon!” The woman’s exclamation made the townspeople behind her whisper a bit to each other.

“Foolish woman! Dragons don’t even exist anymore!” a guard said, forcing the woman to back away from the dead creature, “Whatever this is, its body is now the property of the empire! We will decide what to do with it!”

“What? That’s not fair!” some of the townspeople yelled back, attempting to argue with the guards, which they all knew would be in vain.

“And you,” the same guard said as he turned to look at Tao, whose legs had finally stopped shaking, “You are in big trouble! You nearly got the whole town killed because you wanted to play hero!” The guard grabbed the collar of Tao’s shirt, making the young boy gulp a little bit at the sudden action.

“Exactly who do you think you are?!” the guard nearly yelled, shaking Tao a little bit in his grip, “And  what did you do, to make the creature hunt you, huh?!”

So this guard actually did notice. 

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A/N: 

This was my very first try on a battle/running scene... EVER. OuO'' 

I was really unsure whether I liked this or not~ ;;

Please tell me what you think~ I really wanna know if it was good or bad~ So pleaaase comment~ ;; 

... So yeah~ 

Comments are love and they encourage me to write more~! <3