The Origins of Nerian
**First attempt at doing a story for someone else. This is Nerian’s story in full and I claim no part of it**

	It was a cool spring day on Foraois Mountain. The sun was dancing in and out of the clouds, birds were singing, and the air had the distinct flavor of life that was so unique to springtime. In the village of Foraois, for which the mountain was named, life carried on as normal. Women cooked, cleaned, and tended gardens. The men were sitting around, drinking and acting generally oafish. Nobody seemed to notice that something, or more specifically someone, was missing. 
	That someone was about 5 miles away, wandering through the forest, and enjoying the solitude. From a distance, he looked like any other boy wandering through the woods. He had shaggy blond hair, skinny arms and knobbly legs, and large blue eyes. He was wearing a worn t-shirt, faded shorts, and scuffed shoes. It was the sort of clothing that was perfect for someone playing around in a place where clothing could easily be damaged. What couldn’t be observed from far off were the faint scars, faded bruises, and chronic depression born from constant abuse. The boy’s father was a violent drunk who took his frustrations out on his only son, while his mother was indifferent. 
	The boy often left the village as much as he could. His years of torment made him antisocial, and he tried to be alone as much as possible. And that is what he is doing today, attempting to escape life in the village and be well and truly alone. The thing that the boy didn’t realize, as he neared a well-hidden woodland cave, is that he wasn’t alone. 
	High in the air, a dragon flew in the pleasant spring air. He too believed he was alone, although he didn’t particularly like the idea. He wasn’t the most popular of dragons, largely due to his size. Most dragons were gigantic, imposing beasts. This dragon, on the other hand, stood only a couple feet taller than most people, and was possessed of a gentler disposition than most of his kin. He lived in the cave that the boy was at this moment wandering into. The dragon continued flying, oblivious to the intrusion, his green scales glinting in the sunlight.
	Meanwhile, at the cave, the boy was looking through the cave with interest. It was clearly inhabited, but by what he didn’t know. There were no bears in these parts, wolves were common, but they never left their homes unguarded, and the boy couldn’t think of any other animals that could leave such gouged claw marks in the stone floor. He looked for other indications of what lived there. There was a large bed of straw in one corner, some small odds and ends lying about, such as shiny pieces of stone, oddly shaped branches, and other such things that were arranged in a way that couldn’t have been random. 
With another look at the gouged floor, the boy decided that no matter what lived here, it was probably dangerous. He turned to leave, only to nearly walk into a green dragon. Even though the dragon was small for his race, he still seemed huge to the boy, who was only 12 years old. The boy’s eyes got wide and he backed away slowly, trembling.
The dragon landed out in front of his cave, and immediately noted an unfamiliar scent. Going into his home to investigate, he crept up on a small boy, who was in the process of examining some of his possessions. The dragon just stood there, wondering what to do. If the villagers found him here, he’d have to move, which he didn’t want to do. He could kill the boy, but he found that idea more repellant than moving. He’d just made up his mind to sneak back out and hope the child didn’t mention the cave when the decision was taken from him. The boy turned around and saw him. The dragon watched as the boy backed up to the wall, shaking and stuttering.
“P-p-please don’t eat me. I didn’t m-mean to come in, I swear.” The boy was still trembling and looked like he’d soon faint. 
The dragon rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to eat you. I don’t eat humans.” The dragon chuckled a bit when the human in front of him jumped. Apparently he didn’t think dragons could talk. The boy’s expression changed from terror to awe in a few seconds, and before the dragon knew it, the boy was circling around him, taking in as much as he could and talking constantly.
“Wow, I didn’t know dragons really existed. You’re so awesome! Can you fly? How old are you? Can you really breathe fire? How long have you been here?” The dragon’s head was starting to spin with all the questions.
“Slow down. Breathe, a bit. Let’s just start off with names and we can get into life history later. I’m Nerian.” The dragon stuck out a large paw, which the boy grabbed and shook with both of his small hands. 
“I’m Alex, nice to meetcha!” Alex was positively bouncing with excitement. Nerian didn’t know whether to be flattered by the interest or worried. Young children who found something interesting tended to have extremely loose tongues. Nerian began contemplating where he’d move to.
“So Alex, what brings you up here?” Nerian was just trying to make idle small talk at this point. His main concern was the repercussions of being discovered.
“Getting away from my family,” Alex said, his previously happy attitude melting away into bitterness. 
Nerian noticed the sudden change in the boy’s demeanor and cocked his head to the side. “Really? That’s not too nice. I know that if my family was still around, I wouldn’t want to avoid them.”
Alex let out a little laugh. “Did your family used to beat you senseless, or ignore you when you were in pain?”
Nerian winced, feeling a sudden pang of sympathy for the boy. “No, not really,” the green dragon said, scratching uncomfortably behind his horns. He wished he could take back his last comment. It was probably ill-advised. “Anyways…umm…you won’t tell anyone I’m here, will you?”
Alex thought for a moment. “Okay…on one condition. I get to come visit you whenever I want.” 
“I dunno…” Nerian started. There were definitely risks to such things. The look on the boy’s face decided him. The fact that he’d get ratted out if he refused aside, the poor child had no friends and was pretty miserable. “Okay, fine. You can come visit me whenever you want.”
“YES!!!” Alex jumped up into the air and started dancing around Nerian. The dragon just giggled…worse things could definitely happen. 
The boy and the dragon spent the rest of the day talking. Alex learned that Nerian was actually extremely small for his age, and that most dragons were twice his size at least. Nerian learned that Alex was actually a very talented woodsman, and was able to sneak through the woods better than Nerian could, despite being ten years younger. 
Finally, after the sky started darkening, Nerian suggested that it was time the boy went home. Alex’s mood darkened faster than the sky. “My father will probably be drunk when I get home,” he said. Nerian truly felt for the boy, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t care for the child, nor could he justify cutting him off from his kind. In the end, Alex left, walking slowly and dejectedly back towards the village.
Nerian went back into his cave once the boy had disappeared from sight. After rearranging his possessions, he went and lay down on his bed. Nerian wasn’t entirely sure what would happen, but he felt a mixture of happiness that he had a friend and sadness that he couldn’t solve that friend’s issues. Still lost in thought, the green dragon slipped off to sleep. 
***
The next morning, Nerian woke up when something jumped on his side. Nearly jumping out of his skin, the dragon looked around to see Alex clinging to his flank. A glance out of the cave entrance showed that it was early in the morning, likely between 6 and 7am. Alex probably only got a few hours of sleep before coming back out. Nerian was flattered that the boy like him so much, but at the same time, things like that weren’t healthy.
With a large, toothy yawn, Nerian looked around at Alex. “You’re here early,” he said.
Alex just shrugged. “I missed you.” 
“How long did you sleep last night? And don’t say ‘long enough’ either.”
“About five hours,” Alex shrugged again, then paused as he clearly struggled to hold in a yawn.
“Not long enough,” said Nerian. “Come lay down here, I’m not quite ready to wake up yet anyways.” Alex hopped into the hay bed beside Nerian and quickly fell asleep, with the dragon close behind him.
Soon after, a routine was established. Alex would spend the night at his home in the village, leave at the crack of dawn, and go to Nerian’s cave to crawl into bed with him and sleep a few more hours. Once they woke up, they’d spend the day doing various things like hiking, fishing, swimming, and talking. This went on for several months, until one day when something happened to break the routine. 
Alex had left Nerian’s cave the previous night with the clear beginnings of a cold, and the concerned dragon had ordered the boy to stay home until he was well. Alex had complied, albeit reluctantly. At about noon, the boy left his bed and went out to the well to get some water. While he was cranking the lever to bring the bucket up, he caught someone’s eye.
That someone was a newcomer to the village, and looked more dangerous by far than anyone else there. She wore a long brown cloak which shrouded her body, and a mask which obscured her features. Whenever the woman moved, the cloak would shift a bit, allowing glimpses of a huge, glinting knife at her belt and a bandoleer of small, round objects.
Her name was Algara, and she was a huntress who specialized in dragons. She was walking by Alex at the well when something stuck to the boy’s clothing caught her attention. It was the size of a fingernail and bright green. The huntress knew what it was right away…a dragon scale. She waited until the boy finished hauling up his water before making her move.
She stepped directly in front of Alex as he walked back from the well. The boy walked into her and fell back on his butt, spilling his water in the process. “Sorry,” he mumbled as he got up and went to grab the bucket. 
Algara planted her boot on top of it. “Hold it munchkin, I need to ask you something, and I want the right answer the first time.” She leaned in close to the boy’s face. “Where’s the dragon?”
Alex couldn’t prevent a gasp before trying his best to look confused. “Dragon? There’s no such thing as dragons. I don’t know what you mean.” He tried to pull the bucket from under her foot, but failed.
“Don’t lie to me, brat.” The huntress reached forward and plucked the scale off Alex’s shirt. “You think I don’t know what this is? I’m no fool, I know a dragon scale when I see one. Dragon scales aren’t very common, not something that would be stuck in some random little boy’s shirt. Now tell me where he is before I become…displeased.”
Alex took a deep breath and bellowed at the top of his lungs. “HELP HELP!!!” 
Algara hissed in frustration. “We’ll continue this chat some other time, yes?” And with that, she slipped away before too many villagers could see her harassing the boy. 
Alex wound up waiting two weeks before returning to Nerian again. He chose the wee hours of the morning to slip away, trying to avoid the huntress’ watchful eye. She’d been scarcely giving him a second to breathe since their little run-in, even though Alex was sure to go through all of his belongings and remove any dragon scales, which were there in surprising numbers. 
Nerian was sleeping and feeling lonely when he felt the familiar weight of his little friend next to him. 
“Nerian, wake up. Something happened that you need to know about.” There was an urgency and worry in Alex’s voice that immediately woke Nerian up. Something was clearly wrong.
“What’s the matter?” The dragon was wondering why his friend was gone so long, but understood as the story was laid out for him. “So she knows about me…that’s not good. I may have to leave.”
Alex looked incredibly sad at this, but didn’t argue. He was about to agree when a cold voice rang out from the mouth of the cave.
“Oh I think it’s a bit too late for that.” Algara was there, with her wicked knife in one hand and what appeared to be a home-made grenade in the other. “Your little friend thinks he’s incredibly sneaky, dragon, but I’ve been hunting for most of my life. Following him was easy.” With practiced ease, she threw the grenade at Nerian. She clearly didn’t care about hurting Alex in the process.
Nerian roared and dove to the ground on top of Alex, nearly flattening the boy, but protecting him from any blast that may occur. The grenade went high and flew over the dragon’s head, landing on a large rock outcropping. The explosive detonated, shattering the rock and peppering Nerian with debris. One large chunk of stone spiked downwards and slammed into Nerian’s left horn, snapping it in half. Nerian growled in pain as the sensitive bone was shattered, but didn’t let it distract him.
Looking up, Nerian saw the huntress toss her cloak back, revealing three more explosives strapped to her bandoleer. She grabbed another one and cocked her arm back to throw it. With lightning speed, the green dragon snatched up the dazed child beneath him and ran at Algara. When he drew level with her, he whipped out his tail and whacked her legs out from under her. The grenade she was holding went flying off towards the cave entrance while another still attached to her bandoleer got bounced off towards the back of the cave. Both of the devices exploded at the same time. The noise and heat were almost intolerable, but both grenades went off far enough away to do no real damage.
Nerian looked up and saw Algara stand, still holding her knife in her right hand and drawing her final grenade with the left. She then ran full speed at Nerian and Alex. Nerian reared up on his hind legs and roared, holding the boy protectively against him. Algara let fly her final grenade. Nerian beat his wings at it as hard as possible, the air surge jarring it enough to detonate in midair. The blast knocked Algara and Nerian both back into opposite sides of the cave. A piece of shrapnel from the grenade flew out and slashed across Alex’s chest, leaving a deep, bloody gash. Nerian was tempted to finish the huntress off, but Alex would likely bleed to death if he didn’t get help.
Nerian knew of one person nearby who could probably save the boy, but he had to leave now if there was to be any hope. He bent down and scooped up Alex’s unconscious form and flew away, leaving Algara dazed in his cave.
As Nerian soared away, Algara got up and walked to the rear of the cave. There, she found the broken horn fragment that had been blasted away. “Not much of a trophy,” she said, putting it in her pocket, “but then again this hunt isn’t over.” With that, she pulled her cloak back around herself and stalked out of the cave.

The End
Or is it