Always

Prolougue

In a world like theirs, people could never be too careful. Things lurked in the shadows. Dark things. Frederick was walking behind the mares that were carrying the luggage, speeding them up if they got too slow. They were in a thick, dense forest, during the dead of night. There were sounds of rustling leaves in the light wind and owls and bats flying around. Frederick tried his very best not to think about the creatures that were likely prowling all around them. He was of the opinion that doing so would be tempting fate.

On the other hand, his uncle wished to use Deviations. All of them. He believed that they would be the answer to the unwealthy taking control of the war. Fredrick himself thought the war didn't have anything to do with the commoners. It was the royalty of each kingdom that were clashing, to put it underwhelmingly.

It had been going on for almost a century and everybody was ready for it to end. 'Except us,' Fredrick thought. Was he morbid? Yes. But was he wrong? No.

His uncle and his gang actually thought the war was benefiting them. According to them, the royals were becoming weak and far too focused on the war to focus on lowly peasants actively working on destroying them and everything they stand for. He was embellishing, but he got the gist. Frederick honestly thought that it was a long shot.

It certainly didn't help that he didn't have any way to protect himself in case he came across lethal Deviations . He couldn't wield a weapon for the life of him. He only hurt himself whenever he attempted it. He also wasn't one of...them.

He suddenly heard a bone-shaking snarl. He watched as something lurked the shadows of the high trees. It skirted around them, appearing in a completely different spot the second they whirled to find it somewhere.

The men made a tight circle. Frederick found himself being tossed and turned with the tide until finally he was thrown to the ground in annoyance. He went as stiff as a board. He made sure not to make any sudden moves.

He slowly raised his eyes and saw himself staring at... the biggest eyes he had ever seen in his life. Frederick flicked his eyes onto the rest of the creature to figure out what it was. He didn't need to look hard. The blue iridescent scales, the huge, wise eyes, and the way its harsh breathing seemed to scald Fredrick's skin. Dragon.

'I didn't even know any of these even existed anymore.' Frederick thought to himself. Hunted to near extinction, the chances of witnessing even the remnants of a dragon were exceedingly slim. The chances of living to tell the tale were even lower.

The men behind Fredrick seemed to figure it out too. He could hear the whispers, but more importantly, even his untrained self could figure out what they intended to do.

His worst fears came to fruition when his uncle yelled, "Men! This is what we've been training for!" His voice then turned low, and threatening as he growled, "Trap the beast."

The men lifted their weapons and screamed bloody murder as they charged. The dragon went feral and as it turned to Fredrick, he found himself rooted to the spot, too numb to move. He didn't have to because the dragon's tail came crashing into him and he flew across the clearing.

He saw the dragon thrust a jet of water towards the men, but there was nothing it could do as the men surrounded it. Frederick hadn't noticed before, but there were rings of crackly red on the dragon's tail and snout. Blood.

The dragon had likely been in captivity for at least half its lifetime for it to still be alive. After all, there was no way a dragon could survive for so long out in the open.

He got up, eager to help, but came tumbling back down, for whatever reason. The last thing he saw was a burst of fire licking through the trees at the men. 'Oh. The Anzars are here.'