The hunt had already begun. The Dandelions deep within the Highlands Forests. Setting up their bait for what will be their greatest catch of all.

And unbeknownst to the hunters, a white shadow watched over them. Unlike the Dandelions, this shadow had already found her prey.

“I have found the girl, my lady.” The masked hunter spoke into a watch on her wrist, bringing it close to her hidden mouth. The watch itself spoke back.

“Where?”

“Out in the wilderness, with two adventurers. They hunt a beast.”

Far away, in the capitol, the Oracle had held up a watch similar to the hunter. Speaking into it softly in the quiet of her room.

“Does she have it?” The Oracle asked, the voice of the hunter coming through.

“Yes, I can sense its energy. She keeps it on her person at all times.”

A foolish decision, any person searching for the treasure she possessed need only hold her at gunpoint. It would take Siel little effort to take it.

“Shall I eliminate her and retrieve it, my lady?” Siel asked through the watch. “I can take the face of one of her companions. Make a hunt where the cutthroat adventurers can’t decide who gets the reward. It would be easy.”

Siel was watching them carefully, the man of the trio was jovial, though pathetic at best. Barely able to help haul the dead elk they were using as bait. The third of their group, the girl with the long rifle, would be the perfect mask. Her disdain for the new girl of their group was clear as day. Use her, aim the rifle, and pull the trigger.

“No.” The Oracle said through the watch to Siel. “You know little of their character. Should someone close to them grow suspicious of the event, it could leave a trail.”

“A different option then. The group hunts for a beast. The Demon Wolf of the Highlands, Pan.”

“Pan?” The Oracle had not heard that name in a long time. An ancient beast of history. “And how do they plan on catching it?”

“With an elk as bait.”

“Fools, treating a mythical beast of nature as a common hungry wolf. It will never reveal itself…”

At that moment, The Oracle realized what Siel was implying.

“You seek to reveal it for them.”

“Yes.” Siel looked on towards the trio, their bait left in the open. Hiding in the brush to wait for their catch.

“Do it, ensure it brings its full fury upon them.”

“As you wish.”

The white shadow vanished.

___

Two very different beings had been passing through the Highlands forests at the very same time. Towards a hidden place far from the eyes of men.

I told Kane about what I had seen at the inn the previous day. While he was unhappy that I had once again gone against his wishes, what I had to say was of interest to him as well.

“The Saint’s Gem.” He stated. “An artifact once possessed by the real Saint. In the time of the Queen’s reign, it served as a reservoir of the magick she possessed. It was also capable of sealing great magick inside of its core. I had seen her use it firsthand, when she used it against me and another servant of your mother, five hundred years ago.”

“What happened to the other servant?”

“She was consumed into its core.”

A powerful magick item, now in the possession of a fresh faced cleric in the middle of nowhere. Now that we knew what the power Kane saw truly came from, it only left one thought on my mind.

I asked him that night in our room. “Do you think those adventurers could take on that A Rank hunt?”

Kane told me plain as day. “With their own power? They will die against Pan.”

So here we are now, deep within the forests. I had asked Kane if he would be willing to help me join the hunt for Pan. To my surprise, he agreed. Not because he wanted to help Ophelia or Deacon, far from it.

He wanted to greet an old friend.

“Many served your mother, Lord Ruin. Among the masses were many beasts of nature. Lord among them was Pan.” Kane explained as he guided me through the dense brush.

“A fervent protector of the wilds, Pan’s service to Queen Calamity guaranteed the protection of the Highlands from man’s development. In return, the wilds he ruled as well as himself were hers to command. When he was a servant like I, he was a jovial beast. If his lands were protected, he wished nothing more than to make merry. Interesting to see him now the proclaimed Demon Wolf of the Highlands.”

“Does this mean he could be a friend? If he served my mother.”

“Perhaps. When the Queen was defeated, all of her surviving servants scattered and hid away. Lest they be found and hunted by the heroes. Any followers of Calamity had to hide, gathering would have been a death wish. I have not seen or met with Pan since then.”

“But you have been living in the Highlands all this time, watching over me. In five hundred years, you two never ran into each other?”

“Even if we had, we would never have tried to interact. As I said, the gathering of the Queen’s followers was a death wish. I could never risk attracting attention to your location.”

It made sense, but it still was weird to think. Two former allies, so close together. Never meeting for five centuries. Today at least, they will have their reunion.

Unfortunately for the Dandelions, a mythical beast like Pan was not interested in elk for their bait. The only flesh it feasted upon were those that endangered his wildlands. Thankfully that meant they would stay safe. With the recent developments of humans mining into the mountains, no doubt he had been keeping himself fed. When Pan was not out hunting, Kane knew of the resting place he stayed before he had become a servant. A place only few knew how to reach.

For through the dense thicket, high up along the Lysick Mountain, sat a hidden grotto. The den of the mythical beast. When we passed the thick brush and entered, my jaw dropped at its beauty. Vines hanging low from an open cavern that overhangs a grassy patch of flowers and moss. A peaceful place, hidden from the naked eye. A grotto that looked out into the Highlands.

The grotto was vacant.

“…” Kane had lost himself in thought, looking into the grotto.

“Did he abandon this place? Maybe it was found.”

“No, he was here recently.” The Vampyr stated, walking forward towards a large patch of flowers. All pressed into the ground, as if they were laid on. “Pan has just gone out to hunt.”

“But what for?”

The two of us turned around to look out into the gorgeous Highlands. Our eyes fixed on a blotch on the picturesque view, a smokestack that began to rise high above the trees, very near the outlook.

Pan had found a new target.

___

Hours had passed, hours since they left out the elk. Hidden away, not making a single sound.

Deacon was incredibly bored.

Hunting the Demon Wolf had to come with a bit of patience, and Deacon had been on plenty of hunts that took hours, even days to finish. But the wait was always the worst part.

Lily sat across the way from him. Her rifle just peeked out from the bush she hid in. He couldn’t talk to her from there, unless he ruined the chance of the wolf showing up by yelling. Ophelia, however, sat in the bush right next to him. Not quite as well hidden as Lily, but good enough to fool an animal at least.

“Hey.” He whispered softly, hoping it was just loud enough for her to hear. “Are you doing okay?”

“I’m fine.” She whispered back.

“Nervous?”

“Are you?”

“Yeah, lil bit. Never taken down a demon wolf bef- hey wait I was asking you that!”

“Shh!!“ He was a bit too loud, and Lily scolded him. Back to being quiet…

Or not.

“After this hunt. I think we’re gonna celebrate at the inn. Order the best food gold can buy. Your sister can join in on the fun. Would she like that?”

“…She would.”

It may have been boring now, but at the end of this hunt. Deacon would make good on his promise. A night of revelry after a job well done, a chance for her sister to take part in Ophelia’s success. A chance to make Ophelia smile. Even in the middle of a job, all he could do was think of the girl next to him. He fell for the girl with sharp eyes, he fell hard. The young fool smiled, looking forward to the days ahead.

As he looked forward in reality, however, he saw a curious sight across the way. A thick trail of smoke, rising high above the trees. Only a short distance away from where they hid. A campfire? It was far too large for a simple camp. What was going on?

Lily jumped up from the brush she hid in, to Deacon’s surprise. A look of horror plastered on her face.

“DEACON!!”

The last thing Deacon saw was that look of horror on his old friend’s face, before being enveloped in a pair of giant jaws.

It happened in a flash, one moment it was peaceful, the next, the beast appeared. It’s maw holding the body of the Dandelions leader. His boots hanging out from its teeth, the only sign that the man still lived was how those boots struggled in its sharp grasp. Grey fur mottled with shades of black and brown. The size of a bear, no, the size of two adult bears in height and weight. Piercing, pale yellow eyes, and atop his head? A pair of curled, pitch black goat horns adorn the top of the beast’s head.

The Demon Wolf, Pan.

BOOM! Lily’s rifle fired off, piercing the fur coat of the giant beast. The bullet entered, but the Demon did not flinch. Its head snapped to stare down the markswoman. Fury in its ferocious gaze.

The beast then clamped down on the human in its mouth.

Ophelia covered her mouth in shock, her eyes trembled, watching the right foot of Deacon fall out of the wolf teeth. The rest of his body was still in its mouth. Neither of the Dandelions could move, frozen in place. Their leader and face, caught in an instant.

Then a savage voice rang through their minds.

“The hubris of men is inconceivable! To dare set my lands ablaze, and then distract me with the corpse of my subject?!”

The weight of the formless voice was like thunderclap on the minds of the two humans left. It’s rage felt in the very earth they stood upon. In its fit of fury, it spat out the still body of Deacon onto the dirt. Next to the corpse of the elk they had prepared. His foot cleanly cut off at the shin, and the rest of him covered in the open marks given to him by Pan’s fangs.

Ophelia couldn’t tell if he still breathed.

“For your foolishness. I will see to it that each of you pathetic humans suffer for your crimes!”

Lily had her long rifle reloaded, Ophelia gripped her quarterstaff tight, but both of their hands trembled. They had no idea what beast they had awakened…

___

It took no effort at all, a single cast of Pyre, and the resulting fire brought the protector of the Highlands out of his nest. A simple beast, attacking the first humans it sees. The flames continued to burn the trees on the mountainside, but the slaughter of men had to come first. Though the Demon Wolf would not kill the true culprit today.

Siel watched on, still as stone. Her form invisible to the naked eye. The battle between the Dandelions and Pan is ongoing just below her vantage point. Calling it a “battle” was a misleading statement. It was better to call the event the white shadow watched overhead was more so a vengeful animal playing with his food.

The shots the markswoman fired off rang out into the sky, but no one was far enough into the wilderness to hear it. Unlike their leader, who couldn’t see it coming, she was barely able to dodge the giant wolf’s assault. The mythical creature’s speed left a mark each time she avoided a fatal swipe. A scratch across her arm, a bruise from a grazed swipe. She was surviving, but the wolf needed only to try a little more than the bare minimum to finish her.

While the markswoman kept the beast’s attention, Siel’s target knelt at the body of the man. She tried with all her magick, all her power, to stem the blood that flowed out from the mangled body of the Dandelion leader.

“Mend!” The cleric cried out, her holy magick’s light encasing the leader. Her trembling hands focused all of her energy into the spell she spoke.

“Mend!!” She put every fiber of her being into the spell. Her voice cracked underneath the panic she felt. All the power she possessed, but she was just an average human. Siel knew this acolyte, she had searched the record of the Church. She excelled in no field of clerical work. Perfectly average.

Her power was not enough to save that man, and she would be next.

“MEND!!”

“Enjoying the show, wraith?” A voice came from behind Siel. On instinct, she drew a dagger hidden underneath her cloak. Her arm swung wide behind her to strike the unknown foe. The knife’s edge would not hit its mark, her arm grabbed and pinned to her back by a long, pale hand. Her neck gripped by the assailant’s other hand.

She was forced to turn her head, to gaze into the red eyes of a Vampyr.

“I believed that foul play was involved, as I had not thought that those ameteur adventurers would be so brazen to start a fire. I did not, however, expect to find a white wraith.”

This Vampyr was known to all of Siel’s kind. An ancient figure, attendant to the Dragon Queen. Considered one of the hydra heads of the Queen’s Legion. She couldn’t speak through the chokehold he held, but she knew the name to speak. A name any white wraith would dread to hear.

The former Master of the White Wraiths. Kane.

“Do not be afraid, I know nothing sits behind this mask. Or have you forgotten your true master?”

The pressure Kane had placed on her neck was loosened, giving her the chance to speak.

“We are servants of The Saint, we have not been your servants for centuries.”

“Ah, yes, you serve a dead woman. Though perhaps that is better than betraying the living. Your people would know nothing of that, would they?”

Her chance to retort was taken from her, the pressure on her neck reapplied. Siel was completely at his mercy. She didn’t sense his presence whatsoever. She couldn’t even tell when he appeared behind her. The stories of Kane told of an immortal rogue, a master of shadows. Today, he lived up to his name.

“You started this show, didn’t you? It would be rude to leave halfway through the performance. So I do request you stick around, we are getting to the best part.”

She was the culprit, the true reason the demon wolf was enraged. The Dandelions would die at the claws of the beast, and yet a dead Vampyr has come back from the grave to watch? No, something was wrong here. Siel felt the simple plan she laid out unraveling before her very eyes. Yet she had no idea how, or why.

She could only watch to find out.

____

Lily had done everything she could to hold off the wolf. Rake marks tore apart her clothes. Blood dripped from her every limb. She couldn’t open her right eye from the wave of red that ran over it. Despite all she had endured, not a single attack even affected the Demon Wolf. Her bullets entered, but they were a mere trickle of red compared to the gashes it bore into her.

But she had to keep trying. Right behind her sat Ophelia, still trying to mend Deacon. If Ophelia could get him up, his sword could join in the fight. No, even if he survived, he wouldn’t be able to stand. There’s nothing in this forest that could kill this beast, let alone hold up against it. She had to keep fighting, not to win, but to make sure they survived.

She raised her rifle up again, aiming it at the wolf who charged her yet again.

BOOM! Straight through the fur in the monster’s chest, but it did nothing to impede its path. A claw slamming onto Lily’s outstretched arms. Her trusted long rifle knocked out of her grasp, as the rest of her body tumbled to the ground in front of Ophelia.

“Lily!!” Ophelia’s voice was hoarse, lost in the panicked chanting she repeated again and again. She was able to mend Deacon’s gashes and marks, but the missing leg was beyond her magick capability. Even with a tourniquet and ripped fabric to bandage it tight, he had already lost too much. She had used what power she had, and only delayed the inevitable.

If only she had more.

Lily struggled, with only just enough strength to stand. She fought against her body’s wish to fall back down. Whether it wanted to or not, she would face the snarling beast. Until she could no longer.

“Lily, run, please!” Ophelia begged through ragged breath. “There’s nothing you can do. Go!!”

“Shut it!” Lily snapped back, breaking her gaze from the beast to stare down Ophelia. Her defiant eyes bore down on the panicked cleric. “I am giving you every minute I can, I don’t care what you have to do. I don’t care what happens to me. Just save him!!”

Her cries were the last sounds she made, before another swipe sent her flying into the trunk of a tree. Her body laid still on the dirt.

“Useless defiance, it only prolongs your suffering.” Pan’s voice rang out into the air. Falling on the deaf ears of the stunned Ophelia. Her breathing unsteady, gaze slowly moving toward the beast that stood over her. Eyes darting across the beast, to Lily, to Deacon, then to her own blood covered hands.

She couldn’t save them, she didn’t have enough power. If only she had more.

An idea came to her head, Ophelia’s shaky hands ripped open her satchel. Digging inside, she had a way to get more power.

“You pitiful human.” Pan continued, staring down at the kneeling girl. Fangs bared at the “Your allies have fallen. You have nothing left to defy fate. This is the price of your sins.”

Her hand found what she sought. Quickly, she pulled the white gem out of her bag, throwing it to the side. She clutched it tight, with what little voice she had left, Ophelia spoke. When her words became form, the gem’s core began to glow its golden white light.

“Under the light that I command, I grant you the power of the S-!“

The spell would not be finished. Ophelia was the next recipient of Pan’s punishment, and the first step was a paw that slammed her to the ground. The white gem thrown out of her hands and tumbling across the dirt. Claws dug into her back, head forced into the ground.

“Your attempts to save your friends will only end in failure, girl. Their fate has been sealed, and so has yours.”

The weight of that paw grew greater on Ophelia’s head. She reached out desperately for the gem, just out of reach. The pain overtook her sense, tears running down her eyes. This was it.

She stole the gem, in a desperate wish to help her frail sister. A powerful gem with the power of the Saint herself. She knew it would help her gain strength. To let her live a normal life. No matter how many times she tried, it never seemed to give her strength. She fled the capitol, settled here in a far off village. So that she could live without facing the consequences of her older sister’s foolish crimes. So she could keep trying to use the gem to help her. It never worked. She became an adventurer at Deacon’s offer at the inn, to help ensure her sister had a home, a comfortable place to live in the hole her dumb, foolish sister dug.

Now, her sister would be left alone, because Ophelia had failed again. She screamed out, hoping someone would listen before the might of the Demon Wolf crushed her.

It was only then, when she cried out for help, that something did answer. An invisible force colliding with the beast. Toppling it to the ground. Ophelia could feel a different presence beside her, a new paw mark pressed into the dirt.

The chameleon form ended, and what stood between Pan and Ophelia, was a beast half the size of the wolf. Covered in red scales, with a pair of small wings on its back. What stood there was a creature that only had one name.

A Dragon.