Modern Monsters

Noboru the Dragon

Female Reader x Male Monster

You had taken to wandering even when you were small. It had become such an issue that your mother wouldn't take you to go shopping with her anymore, you had gotten lost in the grocery store or mall one too many times. It had only proceeded to have gotten worse when your family moved to the country.

Your grandfather had gotten very sick so your parents decided to move closer to him to help your grandmother take care of him. You bought a big house that was old and needed a lot of work done so it was constantly one project after another. As such, you spent a lot of time outside. You explored the surrounding woods and fields. You ran along the creek bed and found where it disappeared under a cliff side.

Your mother insisted that, if you were going to wander around so much all day, you needed to take a pack with you. So every day she prepared you a backpack full of snacks, food, water, as well as a phone and solar charger for you just in case. There was also a first aid kit and an emergency pack in case you ever got lost you wouldn't freeze to death or worse. You never got lost though, you always found your way back. You called it your internal compass.

One day while you were out and about, hiking along the creek, you came across a new path. It opened up from the bushes and behind a fallen tree. After crossing over to it, you wandered up a hill and it twisted around until it ended suddenly at a dead end. Then there sat a small shrine. It had fallen into disrepair and was in shambles, but it was very obvious what it was.

You took your pack off and went to it. It looked old, obviously, and left unattended to for possibly decades, maybe even a century. You dust it off, clearing away the debris and vines that had grown all over it. You replace the statues that had once sat inside and fallen out. You have no idea what the shrine had once been for. Maybe a god? Maybe for the dead? You couldn't tell, you had never seen one like it before. It was quite big too for something hidden in the middle of the woods.

"It's been a long time," you say. You take out one of your snacks and lay it as an offering on the shrine. "I don't know if anyone is here now but-" you bow your head, saying a small prayer. You made a mental note, locking the position in on your internal compass. You then made a list in your head of things needed to repair the shrine. You would come back tomorrow and attempt to fix it.

The next day you return, cleaning the shrine first off. After it dried you set to painting it. You also set out a few candles, small electric ones. It wasn't exactly traditional, but if you left then one they wouldn't burn down the woods.

After working for so long you sit down to eat, placing another snack as an offering. The snack from yesterday was gone, but you just figured raccoons or something took it.

"Considering your near the creek, perhaps you're here to protect from flooding?" You say to the shrine. Whatever had been painted on the shrine before had long since chipped away and faded. Now the new paint shone brilliantly.

"Maybe, if this had once been a river, you'd be for the god of it," you say between bites of your meal. "I should ask Grandpa, he may know." You stand up, dusting yourself off. "I have to go now." You bow your head again and pray quickly. "I'll be back tomorrow. I still have some work to do." You scamper off again.

When you get home you go to your grandfather's room and tell him about the shrine. "I don't know if it's anything or not," you explain to him. "But I thought you might know."

He thinks for a moment then chuckles. "When I was younger the small creek had once been a hefty river. It flooded often and it was a great problem. They built a dam further north to combat this. The river shrunk to what it is now. I was so small then, barely five. I'm not surprised there are things in the woods the people have forgotten."