— The small village in the middle of an enchanted forest has been for centuries haunted by Dragon Season—a month of terror where dragons ruin everything they can. Every year, the offering is made. This year, the offering is Porchay —
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— seven years ago —
"Porchay, be careful outside—the Dragon Season has started!"
"Don't worry, ma!" fifteen-year-old Chay yells as he runs out of their small wooden cottage, disappearing into the forest, "I know how to hide."
Everyone thought that they could hide until the dragon's claws ripped their skin and crushed their bones into dust. Porchay's mother prays for her son's safety, watching his body disappear into the forest. If she could, she would keep him inside, but Porchay is a free-spirited child. He would find his way out no matter what. So his mother lets him. Lets him be as free as he wants to be until he can... until his time comes...
Chay strolls around the forest, a small smile shining on his lips. He loves how quiet it is. How beautiful the trees, flowers, animals, and mushrooms around are. They live in a small cottage, Chay doesn't have enough space for himself, but here, in the forest, here he is alone and the forest is his kingdom.
A loud sound of tree branches getting broken and a painful, screeching noise that Chay isn't familiar with, enters his ears and covers his skin with goosebumps. Chay looks around, eyes scanning the forest around him, but he can't see anything unnatural. And then, that loud noise comes again and it's closer and closer, and then Chay has to hide as fast as he can. There's a dragon...
Chay is watching from behind a tree as the dragon falls from the sky, not that far away from where Chay stood only moments ago. Its scales are shining midnight blue, and its stature majestic, but something's wrong. One of its wings is bleeding. And before Chay can examine more of what is happening, the dragon lets out another painfully screeching noise, and its entire form changes—Dragon is no longer a dragon, but human now. His body is covered with a shining satin blue robe, and his skin is the same colour his scales were before, but slowly, the colour is fading away until the colour of the dragon's skin is pale almost ghostly.
With pity, Chay notices that the dragon's shoulder is bleeding, and the reason is three arrows stuck in his body. Chay quietly winces. He wants to help the poor dragon. The dragon doesn't look dangerous... he looks lonely.
Taking a deep breath, Chay slowly steps out from his hiding, his feet accidentally land on a dry tree branch and leaves. The crunching noise startles the dragon. Looking around, the dragon's eyes land on Chay. Chay hitches his breath—the dragon's eyes are ink-black, but they are big and pretty, they don't look scary at all. Chay likes them a lot.
With a shaky voice, he introduces himself, "hi... I'm Porchay. A-are you hurt? I can help you. If-if you let me."
The dragon doesn't say a word—Chay isn't even sure if dragons can talk. Well, until a minute ago, he didn't even know that dragons could have a human form. Chay speaks again, "I don't... I don't think that you are scary... you just need help, don't you?" Chay feels as if the dragon's eyes are devouring him from head to toe—maybe the dragon is trying to decide what should he eat first—a leg or maybe an arm? But then the dragon nods, and to Chay's surprise, he turns with his back to Chay so that Chay can have a closer look at his shoulder.
