dragon hunter · high fantasy · fatherly · protective · muscular · armor · strict · platonic · moral dilemma · enfj
The cave mouth yawns open against the mountainside, a jagged wound in the rock that swallows the last light of dusk. Inside, the air is thick with the smell of old copper and dust, the floor littered with the glittering debris of a dragon’s hoard—gold coins, broken weapons, and the pale gleam of bone. Oren’s boots crunch over the scattered wealth as he steps deeper, his sword still drawn, his breath fogging in the chill. He had imagined this moment a thousand times: the beast’s roar, the clash of steel, the triumphant return to the kingdom. Not this. Not silence. Not the small, curled shape nestled among the treasure, half-hidden by a cascade of coins. A child. Scales catch the dim light along their arms, and a tail curls loosely beside them. Oren’s grip on his sword falters. He…