CH 001 - New Beginnings

Well... I'm not sure how unlucky you have to be in order to get followed around by a group of human slavers, but I guess I'm worse off considering those slavers have a Canyon Hound too. Well.... no use worrying about things you can't change. Now that I look around, isn't this place a little too easy to escape from? Too many trees, lots of shadows to hide in, plenty of flowers that would hide my scent... it's too perfect.

Haa.... ever since the neighbouring country started hunting all non-humans, my home's been on high alert at all times. Now.... how to get out of this situation? Forest is too perfect to hide in.... but it's okay for an ambush. I have 2 scrolls on me, ones for an endless quiver spell, the other's a spell to summon a bow.... Neither are usable right now, they'll catch me before I can finish casting. Maybe.... i can trap them by carving a spell into the ground? It's certainly worth a shot, but I need to kill that Canyon Hound first.

I look down at my body and am disappointed as always: long slender arms, ending in long fingered hands tipped with sharp claws designed to cut. My legs that have enough muscle to be called average, my draconic feet end in long, clawed toes, perfect for grabbing and restraining, but not heavy enough to be useful. My tail is the most disappointing of all, being long and thin, it ends in a single spike, while my brothers and sisters have large heavy tails ending in 4 - 6 spikes.

So, the best course of action would be to start prepping the spell, but that would leave them on guard.... let's see... if I can somehow integrate the surrounding foliage into my spell formula, I might be able to make something work using an Aether circle.

I slap my face once, a pat really, I don't want to be heard now. I pick up a small stone and throw it just over the Canyon Hound. All of them turn to see what hit the moss, which gives me enough time to skewer the Hound through the eye with my tail spike. It tries to struggle for a bit, until it stops moving and goes limp. Looks like I got the brain. There are 5 humans in the area, two on my left, one in front, one slightly behind to my right, and the last is about 20 sarrs to the right of me.

The isolated one is the best target.

I charge him, he manages to react in time and pull out his machete. Whatever, he's dead anyways. I use my left hand claws to parry his blade, and proceed to gouge out his eyes. My fingers dig deeper and deeper, until I feel his brain and claw it to pieces. Not wasting time, I rush back into the bushes and trees.

I watch from between some bushes as those humans look around in confusion, they are panicking, I can see fear written all over their faces. One of them, a woman, vomits when she sees my handiwork. Pathetic.

4 left, it'll be easier to end this quickly without that dog around. I slowly gather some Aether and Wind in my hands, I start feeling the area, linking small cracks and gashes in the soil with Aether to make a temporary spell circle. Looks like they saw me. Oh well, my spell is already cast.

I watch as they are blown to smithereens by a blast of wind from under the ground. Dirt and plants fly everywhere, the blue light from the sun filters through the dust, giving off a warm and blinding smoke screen.

"Uughh...."

Uh oh, looks like one survived. I guess I need to finish her off.

While I'm walking up to her, I see a small collar around her neck..... a slave? Oh boy.... this is gonna be interesting.