Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alionse rubbed at his green eyes, trying to fight the weariness making his eyes droop. It was early, way too early, in his opinion. The sun wasn't even fully up, and though he had gotten up this early before sometimes to work at the shop, he had spent last night turning over his conversation, trying to guess what his father meant by tomorrow.

Now he knew. Obviously tomorrow meant waking him up before the crack of dawn and traveling to the outskirts of Ashen City, deep into the grassy plains. Alionse stared over the grass, trying to make sense of why his father decided to bring him here.

"Dad?"

"Hmm," his father said stretching as he studied the area.

"Why are we out here?"

His father slapped Alionse on the back, causing him to stumble forward, before he caught himself. "You wanted to fight, right, so that's what you're going to do."

"Here?" Alionse asked, looking doubtful.

"Yes, here. Nothing too big of course. After all, I caught you rolling around the ground kicking your feet in the air, and now you want to be a serious fighter. Things don't change that quickly."

Alionse flushed at the reminder. He had just been bored and so he was twisting around and ...yeah, there was no way to make that sound like anything than what it was, even in his head. So he turned away, crossing his arms and tried not to be too embarrassed.

"So what, exactly, am I fighting?"

"Dragons," his father said.

Alionse's attention was immediately back on his father, his eyes wide with excitement. "Dragons?"

His father was grinning. "Nothing too big. They're probably go up no higher than my knee, but yes dragons. Ysali dragons to be exact. You can usually find them out here around this time."

Alionse felt a mixture of wariness and excitement. He had always wanted to see a dragon, though the way his father described them didn't seem that impressive.

"And there we go!"

Alionse's attention flickered to his father and then in the direction his father was looking. In the tall grass was the appearance of green horns tipped with brown. Alionse felt his body tense as he watched the dragon move closer.

"Well get to it. I'll be over there to make sure you don't get eaten," His father said, jerking his thumb over to a small tree, one of the very few skewed across the grassy plains. Further in the distance was an entire forest, but here, it was just meter after meter of long grass.

"Um, how am I supposed to fight it?"

"You'll figure it out," His father said.

Alionse glared at his father.

"Fine, fine," he reached for his belt, pulling out a small knife fastened there and tossed it to Alionse.

Alionse caught it, managing not to fumble, but his hands trembled a little. He was just excited he told himself.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine," his father assured him before jogging to the tree.

Alionse clenched the knife in his hand, turning back to where he had seen the dragon, but it was gone. He frantically looked for it, but he couldn't find it. He took a tentative step forward then he heard it - a sharp hiss and the brush of grass.

Alionse instinctively rolled to the side, just in time as the Ysali thumped down where Alionse had been standing. The dragon let out a loud hiss and flapped its wings as it darted forward. Alionse twisted to the side and slashed out. The dragon let out a loud screech, but leaped to the side, using its wings to give it additional lift.

The pair circled each other. All Alionse's attention focused on the dragon. His long hair wiped wildly in the breeze around him. He tightened his hand on the knife hilt, calculating just the right movement to dart forward. There!

Just at that moment he heard his father shout out. "By the way! They travel in packs."

It was the only warning he got just as a green body slammed into his knock him onto the ground. His knife skittered away, lost in the tall grass. Alionse jerked his arm up and shoved it against the dragon's throat as it open it's mouth and snapped at him. It let out a loud snarled when it couldn't get to him, revealing every jagged tooth, slick with saliva. It didn't seem so small anymore.

The claws dug into his side, as it clenched against him, trying to press closer in an attempt to bite off his face.

Alionse shoved hard against it. "Get off!" He gave a harder shove, this one harder, more frantic than the one before, knocking the dragon off of him and scrambling to his feet. He jumped back, trying to put some distance between him and the two snarling dragons as the eyed him.

Off in the distance he thought he heard laughter, very familiar laughter at that. His father was laughing at him. He nearly gets his throat ripped out and his father was having a chuckle at him. He wanted to glare at him, but he was too busy keeping an eye on the dragons as they circled him.

Alionse scrambled for a plan and an idea came to him, but just as it did he heard a new sound. His body already tense from being attack before had him leaping to the side. He slammed into the dirt and grass. It was just in time as another dragon hurled itself at him. He rolled and leaped to his feet. His face covered with dirt and grass tangled in his hair.

Three! There were three of them now. Alionse looked around, trying to think of what he could do next when he felt something brush his ankle. He had only a moment to glance down to see the vine wrap around his leg and jerk.

His back slammed against the ground as his feet were pulled out from under him. The air rushed out of his lungs. Dazed he could only suck in a short gasp before clawed feet and the sound of wings descended on him.

I'm going to die. He thought. Pathetic.

Surprisingly, he didn't feel any fear, just a crushing disappointment. Why am I so weak?

There was the sharp sound of something whistling through the air then a loud screech. Another clunk sounded in the air, the familiar sound of his father loading his crossbow, followed by the sharp whistle as an arrow sliced through the air. Again, there was another screech, and the three dragons began to back away.

Crunch. Crunch. It was the sound of booted feet crossing the grassy plain. They stopped right besides Alionse. "You're going to lay there all day then?"

Alionse wanted to glare, but his father was right. He rolled onto his hands and knees and pushed himself to his feet.

His father let go another arrow. The dragons let out another hiss, before slinking away into the grass. Once they were definitely gone, his father slapped him on the back and grinned. "That was truly a spectacular failure."

This time Alionse let himself glare at the man. "Thanks."

"Don't get so uptight. I mean everyone messed up on their first hunt, probably not as bad as you, but still..."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Not at all," his father said with a laugh. "So how are you feeling?"

"Like I just got my butt kicked," Alionse grumbled as he wiped off the front of his pants.

"True enough. Still, any fight you get back up from is never truly a lost."

Alionse ran his fingers through his long hair and turned over his father's words. They didn't do anything to heal his wounded pride, but he let them sink deep into his mind. He figured those words would be ones he would come back to over and over again.

"So, you still want to be a fighter?"

Alionse didn't hesitate. "Yes."

His father shook his head and smiled. "I figured as much. You can be pretty stubborn."

"So can you," Alionse shot back.

His father grinned. "You got quite the mouth on you, especially after just getting beat up. That dive you took was truly stunning."

"It's something wrong with a father enjoying his kid getting beaten up by dragons."

His father ruffled Alionse's hair. "Us parents have to get our jollies where we can."

Alionse rolled his eyes, but smiled. Some of the tension inside him leaked out. He had done terrible, but he was alive and more determined than ever to succeed.

"I'll get stronger," he said, his voice firm with determination.

"I know," his father said.

Together they headed back home.