The Dragon Who Was Left Alone

1. Unexpected Meeting

Taiga walked the rocky path towards the Mountains of Eternal Mist. The highest peak, which name was long forgotten, was rumoured to be one of the 8 ancient spots where magic was stronger than anywhere else. Many legends were born of the ancient places, many places were said to be one of the 8. During the past centuries when rumous flew free, the original places had been forgotten and lost to history, they were mixed with the fakes.
Finding the ancient magical places was Taiga's mission, her life's meaning. She was a magician, sorceress. She wanted to find and record all the 8 magic spots for the future generations. This task had taken her all around the world, from sea shores to mountain peaks, from burning sands to the cold snow deserts.
The wind blew Taiga's brown hair to her face, few silver shades slightly showing through the color. The sun was starting to set. She had almost reached the roots of the mountain, the forest had started to fill with thin, white mist. She stopped for a moment to take a deep breath. She sure was getting old, slowly but surely her powers had started to fade, both physical and magical. The task she had given to herself had started to take its toll. Once there wouldn't have been any troubles for her to walk the path, she might even have carried several books with her as a reading for evenings at campfire, but now she only had necessary stuff with her. Her backpack held a blanket, hammock, water flask and some food with few spare clothes and a cape. On her belt, she had little leather pouches for herbs and a little knife for collecting more of them. Last 20 years had taught her all about travelling, like the importance of a good staff. Hers had followed her everywhere, because it was important to her and had saved her many times. It had been given to her by a stranger she helped long time ago, as a thanks. The wood it was made of was dark and carved full of runes that showed lighter color beneath the surface. At the top, it had been merged together with a beautifully crafted turquoise stone. The stranger had insisted her to take it, saying he didn't need it anymore and had only carried it with him to help him walk. She later learned that the runes were part of a powerful protection spell, cast on ancient magic, which made her wonder the stranger's true identity. After years of travelling from city to city, Taiga finally came to the conclusion that the staff had belonged to an elf mage and was probably one of a kind, but she could never confirm it from the stranger for she had never met him again.

Before leaving to follow her calling and the task, she had rarely left her home town. Taiga had been the healer and sorceress of the town, dealing with everything from hiccup to broken bones. She hadn't had a family in the town and her apprentice had taken her place as the healer when she decided to leave. Her driving force was curiosity. She wanted to learn more of magic and everything it touched; spells, runes, enchantments... and the locations of 8 ancient magic circles, the hearts of the 8 different magic types.

"I summon the fire of stars", she mumbled at herself and a little spark was created on her palm. It shone gentle, but cold light, like it would have been a real star from the distant sky. She turned her head around quickly, but there was nothing but trees. Magician's instinct made her more aware of her surroundings and she was sure she had seen something in the corner of her eye. She stood there a moment frozen, listening the quiet sounds of the forest, her staff ready. Taiga was sure she had seen something little going behind a tree. She was in a forest after all, so she thought that it must have been a little animal hiding from the sudden light.

The sun had set. The only light was Taiga's little star that flew above her head and made the path easier to walk in the dark. She had reached the edge of the forest. Something made the leaves rustle behind her. Again, she readied her staff for a fight while turning around, in case there would be a wild animal looking for dinner. But she didn't expect to see a little boy, maybe 5 years old, to look at her with confused eyes. His clothes were way too big for him and he used a piece of thicker fabric as a cape. Blond wild hair and red cheeks made him look like any other little boy. He seemed scared, but curious.
"Are you lost?" Taiga asked, trying to find a gentle voice, while still keeping her staff ready. Some creatures of the dark nights were known for taking a form of a harmless creature, like a child, to get close to their prey.
The boy stared at her and tilted his head slightly. His blue eyes went to the shining star. He slowly raised a hand and pointed at it.
"It is my summon Star, my source of light. But are you lost? It is late and you are pretty far away from any villages."
The boy fixed his eyes on the old lady. She could feel magic in his stare. The magic she sensed in him was stronger than any she had felt from a living creature before, even from a dark creature. And it felt different, it was more pure and older, almost ancient. Taiga slowly lowered her staff in disbelief. No matter how unlikely it seemed, she must have encountered a legendary beast, that's the only possibility. Humans had lost the touch to pure magic long time ago, it needed decades of studying to be able to sense and be able to cast even the most simple spell. This little boy was a cub of a legendary beast.
"You aren't human, are you? It is fine, I won't do anything to you. Do you understand what I've been saying?"
"Yes, lady. And yes." His voice was quiet, like child's who isn't sure of something. Taiga looked at him a bit more, noticing that the too big clothes were all torn up and dirty.
"There is no need to call me a lady. My name is Taiga, I'm a sorceress. May I ask who you are?" She was curious of this chance, there wasn't many writings about legendary beasts and even less of encounters with them. Not many had met them and even fewer had had a conversation with one.
"Taiga.. I don't have a name. And I'm a dragonling." She gasped. A dragon! He must be very young, considering that from what she had read, dragons were much bigger and more dragon-like, with horns and wings and a tail even in their early human form, but not this human looking at all. She wanted to learn more.
"Do you have time? I could set up my camp here at the edge of the forest and we could talk a bit more." The dragonling looked at her for a second and said
"That sounds good. I don't have anywhere to go." When Taiga had taken a step back towards the woods and was almost next to him, his little hand grabbed her sleeve.
"Is there something wrong?" She asked, slightly confused of the sudden contact.
"Do you have any food? I'm hungry."