A clash with fate

In a remote area of the dynasty, on the border with the Orphen kingdom and a short distance from Morr jungle, a group of poorly built shacks made the miserable village of Fuera de Mola.

'We are looking for a magician, Xavier de Vonder. Where do we find him?' A black man with a deep voice asked a peasant who was working the land. The black man was tall, bald, robust, and wearing hunter clothes made of hard leather.

'I don't know him.' The skinny man with rags for clothes, all dirty and sweaty, answered without lifting up his sight from the ground.

All the peasants had seen the mercenaries approaching. Mercenaries were bad news; one day they fought to defend a kingdom, and the next day they looted it. One day they protected a caravan, and the next day they were bandits robbing it. It was best not to get entangled in their affairs.

'How about now?' asked another man, showing him a copper coin. This guy was a white, tall man, with just his right eye, and very short black hair. A scar marked his face from the right side of his chin to the left eyelid. He wore hunter clothes similar to those of the previous one. His voice was thicker, as if he had something stuck in his throat.

'It's not enough to risk my neck.' The farmer answered, looking at the coin. He could use a copper coin, but the mage they were looking for had a reputation for being a ruthless and merciless man.

'I don't have much patience,' said a third man, approaching the farmer as he showed the inside of his leather jacket. The mage's badge with the symbol of fire frightened the peasant. The mage was a young man, white skin, red hair, in leather hunter's clothes similar to the others.

'Go east.' The farmer pointed at his back. 'A couple of kilometers away, you will find a stone house, built almost inside the Morr jungle. But I warn you, this man doesn't like visits.'

'Thank you,' said the one eyed man, throwing the copper coin to the ground. The five mercenaries began their march eastward.

The peasant bowed down and picked up the coin while looking at the backs of the mercenaries.

'Samuel, do we really need this guy?' He's just a shadow mage. Another man asked, He was slightly lower in height and thinner than the black man, with smooth and short black hair. His clothes were lighter than the others; he wore two long daggers in his waist and had no facial hair; he was white and probably the youngest in the group.

'There are many rumors about him; they say that he escaped the masters of the liev tower when he was sixteen years old. He survived the Morr jungle, alone and unarmed. That was back in the day, when it was still an impossible mystical maze. Apparently, he participated in the war between the kingdom and the dynasty. And shortly thereafter, he returned alive from the world of dragons. A few months ago, he was asking questions about giant lizards in the Morr jungle. So far, he is the only one who seems to have seen them clearly and has lived to tell. Besides, they say in the bars that he walks in the jungle as if it were his backyard. It could be useful to us.' Samuel, the black and bald man and leader of the group, answered.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at their destination, a stone house almost in the trees of the jungle.

'Well, one thing is true: the jungle does seem to be his backyard.' The one-eyed man said.

Samuel knocked on the door. The five men waited for someone to open or answer; however, a voice behind their backs surprised them.

'What do you want?'

The five men turned around, their hands pushing their weapons by instinct. They were men with experience; most of them had been soldiers in their time. After leaving the army to avoid being sent to the front in the Dragon War, they became mercenaries to make a living. However, they were caught by surprise by this unassuming man.

'Mage Xavier de Vonder?' asked the young fire mage.

Xavier merely assented in response while leaning on his hoe.

His worn-out peasant clothes did not match his cold gaze. There was no fear in his eyes and no doubt in his stance. It was the opposite of the peasant with whom they spoke minutes earlier.

'We have been told that you know how to move around the Morr jungle.' said a man from the group. He was wearing the breastplate of a light knight's armor. He was a brown-skinned Mulato, with a shaved head and a black, dense beard.

Xavier kept looking at them without answering.

'We're forming a party to explore the jungle. Three groups of mercenaries are working as a team. We want to hunt one of those lizards that have recently been seen in the jungle.' Samuel said.

The mention of the lizards got Xavier's attention.

'Why are you interested in those lizards?' asked Xavier.

'We can't tell you unless you join the group.'

A cough attack affected Xavier. A little bit of black smoke escaped from his mouth.'I have seen these things torn a basilisk to bits. What makes you think you can kill one?' Xavier asked.

The Fire Mage showed his badge with a proud expression.

Xavier did not give that much importance to him; he knew that a fire magician who did the work of a mercenary had a low magical affinity. That wasn't a demerit; after all, a magician was a magician. But against lizards capable of killing a basilisk, a low-affinity fire magician was nothing more than dinner.

'I'm not interested.' Xavier turned around and began to walk away.

'They say you are a dual magician, but it seems you are only a peasant!' said the fire magician.

'You think you're a magician. But all I see is five dead men. I'll give you some advice; reject that contract, or you will all end up dead.' Xavier said, coughing again as he walked with his hoe in hand.

'What a waste of time. In the end, they were only rumors.'

The five men left. Xavier saw them walk away down the road. He knew what it was about: probably some magician who was engaged in experimenting with potions or something like that wanted samples for his research, or the blood of that monster was some type of drug. He heard of this kind of job when he was in Vralia's band. Good reward, but highly risky.

'Someone's trash is someone's treasure,' said Xavier, looking at the road by which the mercenaries departed.

Xavier wasn't as rich as he used to be. Trying to treat his illness proved quite expensive. Potions and cough medicines alone cost him a fortune. He still walked into the jungle from time to time. Rumors of plants that could treat miasma disease had become more popular. He would not participate in the hunting of the lizards, but the monsters had no use for swords, armor, coins, amulets, or other equipment.

A few days later, in a crappy bar in Mola town.

'Tomorrow is the day,' said the young fire magician while drinking with his colleagues.

'For a good pay' the mercenaries raised their drinks.

In a corner, a hooded man was drinking alone. Xavier had been quietly watching the mercenaries for days. His years of experience told him that these men were not real mercenaries. A group of former soldiers, regular knights, and low-ranking young magicians that just started in the mercenary business. If he followed them into the jungle and waited for them to die, he could pick up some good spoils from the ground. Of course, if the lizards caught him, he was a dead man. But there is no reward without risk.

The next day, three groups of mercenaries, a total of eighteen people, three of whom were low-ranking magicians, entered Morr Jungle. From a distance and in absolute silence, Xavier followed them.

'I've found one. It is about two hundred meters away.' One of the mercenaries pointed in the direction he had come from. 'It is alone. It's not too big, about three meters, including the tail; it's gray, with black lines on the head.'

A few meters away, hidden in the bushes, Xavier was listening.

"It's not the size that matters." He thought as he saw the mercenaries moving towards their prey.

Perhaps it was an excess of confidence, but Xavier had managed to approach the mercenaries so much that he was almost a few meters away all the time, and they never found out. With the medications he was taking, he didn't have to worry about his cough exposing him at the wrong time.

'There it is,' said one of the mercenaries, while they hid and watched their prey from afar. 'Let's hit it with magic from the start.'

Samuel made a sign, and the fire magician began to prepare his magic. Another magician was assisting him; he was undoubtedly a wind magician.

A fireball came out a few seconds later. Marksmanship was not the young magician's strength. The lizard avoided the attack easily. But this gave the mercenaries time to launch their attack. Arrows and spears punctured through the skin of the creature without reaching much depth. The lizard emitted a screech of pain, but the damage it received did not seem to diminish its strength. With a swing of its tail, four mercenaries flew through the air and crashed into the trees.

'Come on, let's go,' Samuel encouraged.

His enthusiasm died quickly; the creature was not only strong but also fast. With a bite, the lizard ripped off the arm, shoulder, and right half of the chest of the one-eyed mercenary. The fire magician was preparing to attack. The lizard ran towards the mage at full speed. Its claws disemboweled him in one swing. Then the lizard attacked the wind magician, ripping off his head with an attack of his fists. The knights and soldiers managed to reach the creature and resume their attack. Swords and spears cut through the skin of the creature. The earth magician was frightened, and instead of defending his companions, he ran away, trying to escape the fight.

Xavier stopped watching the fight and followed the earth magician. It wasn't hard to kill him. He wasn't thinking of defending himself; he was just running away. The arrow passed through him without difficulty.

Once he came back to the battle area, of the eighteen mercenaries, only five remained standing, and two were injured. The lizard, who was also injured, was having a hard time breathing. The five men looked into the reptile's eyes. It was only a second or less; the lizard moved at high speed, made a single jump, and was right in front of the surprised mercenaries. With a couple of swings from its legs, there was now only one mercenary left. Samuel looked at the creature in front of him with horror. Those yellow eyes and those vertical pupils, the mouth almost half a meter wide, full of razor-sharp teeth. Those four strong legs had steel-like, hard, and sharp claws. His death was approaching.

'Guh!'

The lizard fell to the ground. Its breathing was fast and heavy, and its body had several bleeding wounds. The monster no longer had the strength to fight.

Samuel squeezed the handle of his spear with strength. He was about to finish the lizard off when a sword cut off his head. The lizard saw the figure of Xavier appear when the decapitated body fell to the ground.

The man and the monster looked each other in the eye for a few seconds. Xavier bowed down and began to loot the body without losing sight of the lizard. The monster remained, still breathing heavily.

"I knew it; he can't fight anymore." Xavier thought.

He took a gamble; it was best to kill Samuel while he was distracted.

'Just kill me already, human'

Xavier looked at the lizard, astonished. 'You can talk?'

'Of course, what do you think I am?' said the creature.

'A lizard,' replied Xavier.

'I am a dragon!' cried the indignant creature.

'I saw dragons during the war. One of them gave me these scars.' Xavier said, pointing to his burns on the right side of his face and neck. 'And you, I don't know what you are, but you're not a dragon.'

The creature tried to get up and attack Xavier but failed; he was too weak. Xavier decided not to get near the monster. The lizard seemed to be near death anyway. His priority was to pick up the spoils and get out of there.

'Are you not going to kill me?'

'I have no reason to do so,' replied Xavier. Although it was not entirely true, he just didn't want to take a risk. They say that a trapped and wounded animal is the most dangerous. Mercenaries stronger than himself had attacked the monster and failed to kill it. He would rather let the creature die by herself.

'I killed many of your kind.'

'And so did I; thanks for your help.'

Xavier picked up the valuables. Weapons, armor, leather jackets, some jewelry, and other trinkets. What he had gathered from the victims of the lizard, Samuel, and the earth mage he murdered. He gained sixty silver coins, plus the rest of the spoils; he calculated at least two gold coins.

"Not bad; it was worth the risk."

'Welp, it has been a pleasure, but I am going now; bye bye,' said Xavier after he gathered the spoil and disappeared among the trees.

Actually, he hadn't gone very far. He had hidden the spoil and had climbed up to a tree from which he could observe the lizard. If it died soon, he could go pick up some things. Maybe he could find a buyer for the claws, an eye, the blood, or some other piece. However, this was Morr's jungle; the smell of blood would attract other creatures, a basilisk, wolves, another lizard, or anything else that lived among these trees. The most prudent thing to do was to observe from a safe distance and wait.