Stuck in the human world (an eldarya fanfiction)

15. Lance

A few years ago...

The moon was coming up to the horizon, as the sun came to a dawn with bright, warm colors. The area was quiet - it was that short time of the day, when day animals went to sleep, but the creatures of the night weren't awake yet. As the place fell to dull silenceness, no one heard the agony of the nearby town, or village, maybe, headquarters. People cried, and paid their respects - death happens, as it always did. But the faraway sorrow didn't bother, the now slowly awakening, creatures of the night. In the forest, those lives outside, didn't matter. The only thing what mattered there, was survival.

As the stars come up, a lonely rover wanders around in the forest, who knows if he comes, or goes... Maybe he got lost, or maybe he knows exactly where he's going? Nobody could know. At the same time, another person is inside the woods, too... However, this person is also a creature of the night. He hides - could he be seeking a prey, or is he the prey himself?
If you look closely, you can see that these two are actually very close to each other. Will they be friends, or foes? Maybe, it is their fate to meet each other, we can't know yet.

A few days pass by, the faraway sorrow already faded away, unlike our lonely rover. The wanderer had a tanned skintone, with silvery hair, although he wasn't old. He wanders, as a rover would do, and he sees a pair of red, glowing eyes from the woods. Not being afraid, he draws his knife, then lowers it - He feels that the creature of the night is like him, both of them carry the same, acient blood. The creature comes out of the shadows, still hiding: He covers his face with a mask, his entire body is covered with armor. None of them say a thing, for a while, not disturbing the early afternoon's sounds...but then the wanderer speaks.

"Who are you?" He asks, carefully, keeping his distance from the masked one. "You are...a dragon too...right?" He asks again, slowly this time. The motionless masked stranger made him feel uncertain. The stranger nods at the rover, and reaches his hand towards him, for a handshake.

"You can call me Ashkore."

The rover takes his hand, and shakes it. He tells his name, returning the masked one's favor. "Lance."

Weeks go by, as the two grow closer, while the masked one, Ashkore trains the ex-rover, Lance. They train everyday, after all, survival is what matters, and Ashkore seemed to be good at that. Fighting, defending, dodging... All in the same routine, until Lance know the steps from head: Then he can learn something new, the element of surprise.
As even more weeks pass, and Lance fights perfecty, he gains more power. Ashkore takes notice of that. It could be a mistake, a fatal error but...how would he know? So he continues the training.
While Lance learns shapeshifting, and he gains more power, Ashkore notices something: The soul of the rover gets more, and more corrupted. He doesn't worry about that yet, he had seen more corrupted souls before, and what could be the possible danger, if his own soul is still more corrupted than his student's? Although, a fast corruption could lead to unimaginable consequences. So he had to be cautious.

Exactly two months after they met, Ashkore began to worry about Lance, and his behaviour, and also, his corruption. He wanted to find the reason, to see behind the curtains. So he told Lance that they're taking a break that day, he will show him around.
Ashkore led him deeper, to a beatiful place, thinking that this could stop Lance from becoming something bad. He hoped for him to break at some sort, to tell him everything, which comes from the deepest of his soul: a place which still could be pure.
And Lance did. After that, things began to go better. They had a newfound emotional connection. Ashkore opened too, he took off his protection, his mask, his armor. And for the protection of Lance...From then on they shared it.