'ιт тσσк σиℓу α мσмєит σf мємσяу вєfσяє ѕнє ∂яσωиє∂ ιи тнє тι∂є σf вℓυє σи¢є мσяє.'
She's over him. Right?
...
Not everyone can be an S-rank.
E-ranked Dae jong-in is the failure of her family. The younger sister of the 'ultimate soldier', she serves...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
(GREY)
☆★☆★
тнє ρσℓι¢є σffι¢єя ѕмιℓє∂ αт нєя αѕ ѕнє ℓєfт.
"Good to know you made it out safely, miss."
She noticed the flash of pity in his eyes as he noted the rank on the hunter's badge that dangled from her front pocket. "Must've been tough."
Dae shook back a scowl and settled with a despondent, "Yeah. It was."
The officer cocked his head. "You ever wanna join us instead, we'd be glad to have you."
Polite smile. Nod. Sure. Maybe when she's old and her back begins to ache.
The officer behind her, Dae flicked her phone into her hand, typing in a search for directions. Ten minutes later, there she was, standing before the pair of enormous gates, their steel glinting with electric pulses- painful if touched, not deadly, but enough to paralyse an S-ranked hunter for twenty-four hours. Dae squinted through the dusk light, flicking a flame between her fingers to better see the thing before her.
The plaque read, 'Royal Park. Approved personnel entry only.'
Well, she wasn't approved personnel. And she also might've been banned from this place specifically, by orders of her brother.
But since when had she wanted to follow orders? Her family were behind that gate, so she would get in, no matter what.
Pacing around to another side of the fence, she examined it's height. If she tried to climb it, she'd be electrified.
And so she used the most well-known technique for getting over fences; she jumped.
A tiny circle of charred grass was left in her wake as she shot up, up up, and landed on the other side of the fence.
Easy. Dae narrowed her eyes.
Too easy.
Maybe the fence was to keep things in, instead of out.
Dae shook the thought out of her head. She survived a red gate for five years, she should do fine here for a few hours.
The foliage was thickly spread, not well-looked after, in this section. Dae frowned; was it only the section in front of the gate that looked tame?
She paused and listened. Chin-hae was large; she'd make very loud noises when she moved. It would be easy to find her in foliage this thick, and her white scales would only make it easier.
As if on cue, the sound of a tree falling echoed through the calm of the night. Dae tracked the noise, dashing towards it.
An owl hooted, the sound suddenly eerie, crawling beneath her skin. She froze.
Turned slowly, light beginning to flicker from her palms.
Dae relaxed. It was just a large orc. She could handle it fine.
It was only when she was standing over it's body when she remembered.
This wasn't a gate.
Orcs weren't normal.
So why was there one lying before her?
She knelt, inspecting it's face. It was similar to all the other orcs, minus one fact; The tattoo that spread from it's shoulder to it's back. The tattoo's ink glowed slightly in the dark, flashed once, then slowly faded.
Dae stood, trying not to worry, and continued running towards the noise.
This was obviously the place they kept creatures and spoils from the dungeon.
But the question was- who are they? The government? The guilds?
She realised she was doing the opposite of not worrying and instead attempted to admire the blurred scenery as she passed by. There wasn't much scenery, so she settled for watching the ground at her feet.
Soon enough, she noticed a glimmer of white scales between the trees, and an elephant-sized hatchling almost crashed into her.
"Hey, hey Kae-rin. It's Dae."
The hatchling paused. Cocked her horn-crowned head, and crinkled her eyes- the closest to smiling a dragon could get.
"Dae!" Kae-rin boomed, "I missed you! Everything's so different here! It's so exiting, but Dak-ho isn't coming out from under ma's wing, and Li-ra's just hanging around them."
Dae laughed, and Kae-rin bent her head for her to clamber upwards and sit between the dragon's shoulder and neck spines.
"Be careful though, Kae-rin. I found an orc-"
"Ma said I could handle an orc. I can nearly blow a full stream of fire, remember? I'm not a hatchling anymore."
Kae-rin lifted her wings, beat them up and down until she felt good enough to take off, then pushed with her two legs and launched herself up, up, up, towards the moon.
No, the hatchlings certainly weren't hatchlings anymore, she realised with a small smile as she sighted Chin-hae's form some way off.
But their age, their height, their size- that didn't matter.
Nothing and no-one would keep her from them.
☆★☆★
And, in the dark, a pair of blue eyes flared, thousands of eyes watching from the man's shadow.
Jin-woo sighed.
He really shouldn't have agreed to this.
☆★☆★
Anyone curious about what 'this' is? What about the strange tattoos on the orcs?
Sorry about the delay in the updates. I've been completely uninspired lately, so...
Anyways, hope you like the chapter. I'll go back and fix my mistakes later.
