The Orange Dragon

Chapter 1: Her Name is Mia

Yona was travelling with everyone when Kija and Jaeha stopped suddenly. The two of them looked at each other as Zenos face pulled into a rare frown. The wind had changed and blew their hair backwards as Yona stepped towards the two males.

"What is it?" she asked with a soft voice. Kija and Jaeha were looking around aimlessly and even Shin ah was acting stranger than usual. Jaeha scratched his chin.

"It's strange. I can suddenly feel another dragon's presence," he said. The other three warriors nodded their heads in agreement.

"So, it isn't just me," Kija exclaimed. "Is it a new one of us?" he asked. The very thought of a new dragon warrior being born when they were travelling with the princess scared them. Dragon warriors don't live very long and once a new one is born their powers slowly get sapped out. The thought of that happening while they are protecting the princess scares them to their very bones.

Zeno shook his head. "No. Zeno says it's a new dragon, but Zeno doesn't understand why. Zeno says we should check it out."

"A fifth dragon warrior?" Yona's eyes lit up at the thought of another member joining their group and what strange powers they might have since they were new. Hak inwardly sighed as the group made plans to go find this new dragon warrior. Another dragon warrior. What would this one be like he wondered?

*

I dug in the dirt as I worked in the field. Eight weeks. Eight weeks I've been stuck in this strange world with no idea how I got here or how to get back. The culture is a mix of Japanese and Chinese culture I'm assuming from what they grow, eat and dress. Things didn't start out well. My appearance wasn't received well. Bright green eyes with long eyelashes framing my face and tanned golden brown skin. Even my hair was scrutinised. It was a rusty brown in colour and was starting to return to its natural colour being orange. I dyed it brown a while ago, but the colour had faded, and my natural colour was showing through the regrowth. After the first day of stares I decided it would be safer for me to cover my face and hair. As luck would have it, I found a mask that covered my face. It was a simple mask with swirls around the cheeks. It had this weird fabric attached to it that covered the back of my head which was useful in concealing my hair. Even though some people have long hair in this world I would rather be over cautious than end up in trouble.

After I got my face covered up, I managed to find a long dark blue coat that fit me loosely. My current attire, hiking clothing, wasn't really suited to this time period. The robes concealed the fact that I was a woman because of their loose fitting and made me look like a poor beggar man. With no idea where to go, I wandered around town until I found an old man struggling along the streets. I offered to help where I learned his name was Tiran and he was a farmer. He'd been struggling over the past couple of weeks because his only son had just recently left to join this countries military. After I helped him, he took me in and in exchange I would tend the fields and do all the heavy lifting.

Tiran would tell me stories of his son and his golden age as I worked. Apparently, I reminded him a lot of his son. I kept to myself about my gender. For the entire time that I had known Tiran and the rest of the town I hadn't said a word. All the townspeople would see is the strange newcomer who was hanging around old man Tiran. People that knew Tiran would ask him question about me as I stood to the side. They'd ask about the mask and where I was from, but Tiran just let out a soft chuckle and told them I was shy. Because of that rumours started spreading about Tiran's new helper. Tiran had given me a new name, Tiagen, since I hadn't disclosed my real one. Some of the rumours floating around town was that I was hiding ghastly scars under my mask from a hideous past. Another was that I was an escaped slave and my tongue was cut out during that time. I found it funny what they were saying about me and would trace lines on my face when I went to the river at night to bathe.