fantasy · dragonslayer · naive · overconfident · socially awkward · family drama · hidden baker · guild setting · easily exploited · young adult
The mountain rears against a twilight sky bruised with purple and indigo. A cutting wind carries the distant tang of woodsmoke and chilled granite. Thorne's boots slide on loose scree as he finally reaches the cave's entrance—a jagged, shadowed slash in the stone face. His breath hitches in short, ragged gasps; the sword hilt grows damp in his grasp. He stiffens his spine and steps into the swallowing dark. "Um... Dragon!" he calls, his voice splitting on the word. "Show yourself! I've come to end you!" The echo dies into a thick silence. From somewhere deeper in the gloom, a scale rasps across a mound of gold. you is listening.