Rivetra fantasy request ? :)
The small town of Paradis had been plagued by dragons for years. The people who lived there had tried everything, every spell, every charm, every curse that was available, mountains of gold had been lost to knights who had claimed they could slay dragons- they rode off in glory but they never came back.
Eventually it became a way of life for the towns people, they learned to live with the attacks, learned to anticipate them. They built shelters in their gardens and on street corners, you were never more than a few feet from somewhere to hide when you heard a roar or saw smoke and fire in the sky. So the casualties became fewer and farther in between but never gone completely. Children were born who knew nothing but a life where you could be snatched by a dragon at any moment. Death stalked them like an old friend. Everyone knew someone who had died.
Then came the day it all changed. No one knew where they came from, there had never been an attack like it before. There were so many dragons that filled the sky at once. Before long half the towns people had been devoured. Then as suddenly as it began the attack stopped. From that day onwards there were no more attacks. Years passed. The people were scarred and bruised from the fateful day but with each year that passed without so much as a dragon sighting they learned to live without fear. A whole generation of children grew up into young adults who barely remembered what a dragon looked like and only knew of them from the stories. Many of them had lost parents but they could barely remember the creatures that had stolen them.
Then almost ten years to the day of the last attack the dragons returned. They stole away the most beloved girl in the town, Petra Ral. She had lost her entire family in the last dragon attack, she was only thirteen years old but she’d devoted herself to caring for the rest of the orphans who were left behind. She had been walking in the town square when a dragon came and scooped her up where she stood and dragged her off, her legs dangling as it held her in its claws. It was the dragons first mistake, the fear the older townspeople had forgotten returned but the orphans who had known nothing but Petra’s care as they had grown felt only rage. They who had become young adults without parents because of the dragons but had spent most of their life not living in fear of them decided that enough was enough. They set out to find the one person who could help them, Levi Ackerman the dragon slayer.
He arrived three days after they had sent word to him. He rode into town on a black horse. He was dressed in black from head to toe. Two long swords were sheathed on his back, his face bore a scar the whole way down it’s left hand side. It was the closest a dragon had ever come to beating him, the head of the beast that caused the scar was mounted on the dragon slayers wall. At least that was what the legends said Armin had whispered to his friend Eren as they had watched him approach.
Eren raced forwards before the slayer had even had time to dismount from his horse.
“Are the stories about you true?” He cried, his brow furrowed in fury, his finger pointed at Levi in accusation. “Can you really defeat the dragon!”.
Levi eyed the boy carefully. He was used to meeting with hysteria, after all the nature of his job meant that he followed tragedy in its wake. The people who called him were desperate and down trodden.
“Yes,” he replied swinging down from his horse and handing the reins to the impetuous boy. ”But first you’ll tend to my horse. Then I will need all the details of the dragons you wish defeated, and I mean every detail. And finally I need several glasses of the best ale your town serves.”
It was an hour later that he sat drinking his third glass of ale which was, surprisingly not bad, served to him by a talkative girl named Sasha. The townspeople has taken time each telling him stories of the beasts that had blighted their existence. Two things stood out to him, the girl the dragons had taken on their last attack was important to most of them, Petra, it seemed was beloved in the village, secondly they were all mostly convinced that she was still alive.
“You see, they always eat their pray straight away.” The young boy Armin explained, looking across at Levi with earnest blue eyes. “But not this time, it scooped her up where she stood and flew her away. We know it didn’t eat her then so there’s a chance she’s still alive, you need to finder her. Please sir. She practically raised us, all of us here lost parents to the dragons.”
Levi sighed, he knew the chances of this girl being alive were slim to none, but looking at this group of kids he didn’t quite have the heart to tell them that yet. Let them have hope until he brought back the beasts heads. It wouldn’t bring their beloved friend back but it might soften the blow to know that her death had been avenged. He’d play along for now.
“Describe the girl to me, so I know who I’m looking for.”
“We can do better than that sir.” Said Armin with a small smile. “Jean drew a picture of her, it’s a very good likeness.”
An annoyingly tall teen handed a piece of paper to him. Levi studied it and felt his stomach drop. She was beautiful. If this picture was truly a good likeness and the boy hadn’t been exaggerating then-
Levi folded it up and placed it in his pocket, he didn’t want to look into those amber eyes a moment longer, why did the dragons always have to take the beautiful ones.
“Ok, I’ll leave at night fall.”
“We’ll come with you.” Eren said, jumping to his feet.
“No! I fight dragons alone. Just be sure my horse is ready.”
The moon was bright in the sky as Levi rode into the mountains, when he hunted dragons it was essential that his mind was pin sharp and focused, ready for what lay ahead. They were not easy beasts to conquer, they were as intelligent as they were brutal and only a fool would assume that he had learned everything about them.
But tonight his mind was plagued by the image of the girl the dragons had stolen. He was being foolish he knew after all it was only a drawing, the rose tint to her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes might be the product of the artist imagination and not the subject. And yet something about the way her a red hair has flowered about her shoulders sparked something inside him-
Mentally he batted the imagine away and muttered a curse under his breath. He couldn’t keep doing this, focus!
He followed the clues carefully, over years he had learnt how to find a dragons nest, he was sure he’d reach it soon, then he would need to be ready for anything.
A voice, a feminine one coming from nearby caused him to jump. He swung his horse round in the direction that it had come from but he couldn’t see anything.
“Who’s there?” He cried out.
“Are you hear to slay the dragon.” The voice came again but there was a slight tremble in it that made him pause- it couldn’t be, could it?
“Yes,” he answered trying to make his voice gentle as he dismounted from his horse. If it was truly her she’d been up here with dragons for over a week it was a miracle she was alive. “My name is Levi, the townspeople from Paradis sent me to find you.”
“Me?” Her voice was quiet, Levi’s eyes scanned the area trying to find her, he cursed the darkness he usually relied upon.
“You’re safe now, you can come with me.”
A movement to his left caught his eye, he realised it was her stepping out into the moonlight. His breath caught in his throat. The picture had been no exaggeration, if anything it hadn’t done her justice. Her Amber eyes seemed to shimmer in the moonlight, she was breathtaking. No wonder the townspeople had been so desperate to get her back.
“I can’t come with you.” She said as she studied him carefully.
“There are kids in the town below who sent me to find you. They are desperate to get you back.”
“I can’t go back, I made a promise, a long time ago. A promise to keep them all safe.”
What she was saying didn’t make any sense. But then given all she’d been through it made sense that she was a little disorientated.
“Armin and Eren they sent me and Sasha and Jean, they’ve all been worried about you.”
“Then you can give them a message for me please, tell them I’m fine. I had to pay my debt for keeping them all safe and that I hope all I’ve taught them in the last ten years will be enough for them to live long happy lives.”
Levi furrowed his brow, he wondered if she’d even been able to eat or drink the whole time she’d been here, dehydration alone could make people delirious.
“You can tell them yourself, come with me I can help you.”
“You can help me?” She asked her head tilted, she looked disbelievingly at him.
“Yes I can take you back with me.”
“You need to leave now. It’s not safe here for you.” She sounded angry.
“I can make it safe, I am Levi Ackerman the Dragon Slayer.”
“Ah that’s the problem, you see...” Suddenly her eyes seemed to grow brighter, they weren’t just shimmering in the moonlight they were glowing, they were on fire.
Light glowing red shot across her face outlining scales across her delicate pale skin, it almost blinded him as she began to transform. He had just enough time to reach for his sword as he heard her voice echoing all around him.
“I am Petra Ral. I am the dragon!”
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A/N - Hi all, this was a combination of the above prompt and the one below. I’m not sure if your the same anon or two separate ones! But I hope you enjoyed.
As always reviews or evening just screaming in the tags is always appreciated.
