Crushed. The familiar landscape, the neighboring town across the river—all had been trampled. The skies shook, and the ground gave way as the earth swallowed houses, cars, and trees. Those tremors even reached the boy squatting on the crest of a distant hill, as he etched cracks into the concrete sidewalk beneath his feet.
"Go away… just go away…"
Next to the boy lay a crying girl. She had collapsed to her knees on the shattered street, begging as tears streamed down her cheeks. She begged the being that had shattered the neighboring town. But there was no way such a tiny human voice would reach the giant that had so easily flattened a whole town underfoot.
It was unbelievably large. Its tail swept away mountains. Its head, hidden within clouds, was barely visible at this distance. The cause of all this destruction was one of the supernatural creatures called a dragon.
Its body was covered with blue scales, and as it moved, the scales lit up in a strange pattern. Its head, which was occasionally visible between gaps in the clouds, had neither eyes, nose, nor a mouth. In their place, there instead was a single horn-like bulge. This creature fit under no biological classification or scientific framework. It simply was. And dragons defied all logical reason.
The blue dragon wandered the world on a whim. It was a colossus that left only death and destruction in its wake. Towns in its path could do nothing but wait to be destroyed. Those who lived there could only run away or be crushed.
The girl, however, had not run from the colossus. She had, instead, headed towards the monster. The boy standing beside her had followed her; he had tried to convince the girl to stay back where it was safe. But he couldn't talk her out of it, and instead, witnessed the battle between the girl and the dragon.
The girl shouted. "Gooo Awaaaaaaaaay——!!"
Raising her head to glare at the colossus, she squeezed her demand out through a throat tight with fear and rage. As she did, a magical circle with a four-branched star appeared before her. Black flames followed, shooting towards the dragon. A few seconds later, a bright flash filled the sky, and the air shook.
Blood seeped from her ears, squeezed out the corners of her eyes, and streamed from her nose. It was a powerful spell, too powerful for the small body that had cast it—the spell could have erased a small town.
A hesitant smile teased the corners of the girl's lips, and she wiped at the blood coating her mouth and chin with a sleeve. Surely that would be enough, wouldn't it? Sadly, when the brilliant light faded, her smile vanished with it.
The dragon appeared to be unharmed.
The boy sighed and shook his head, then scraped at the sidewalk some more. All dragons were born with innate high resistance to magic. Many were immune to specific elements. Thanks to their size and thick scales, it was incredibly difficult to hurt them with physical attacks. It would take dozens of experience warriors to harm it; a small army would be required to capture it.
It was impossible for a small girl, alone and with little training, to defeat such a monster. Despite this, the girl glared at the colossus, baring her teeth.
"Leah—why won't you give up?" The boy asked her this in a calm voice. His eyes observed the immense dragon with a poise that belied his age.
"NO! I can't… There's no way I'll give up!" Lea replied, her voice raw.
"But why? Our parents are already on their way. Everyone who can has long since escaped. There's nothing you need to protect—"
"There is! Our house is still there! That town is where our family belongs!!" She yelled at him, her hoarse voice overpowering the boy's protests.
The colossus was poised to take another step. Below its gargantuan foot was the town the boy and the girl had lived in for the past thirteen years. For six of those years, they'd been neighbors—until his family had moved into a bigger house two streets over. And after that, they'd spent another seven years as close friends.
These two had many shared memories tied to their neighborhood and their town.
"I… I see." He scowled, dropped his head, and scratched at the concrete before kneeling beside his childhood friend. Understanding the reason for her stubbornness, the boy patted Lea on the head while releasing another sigh.
Leah turned to look at him with a confused expression. "Leo?"
"Leave everything to me," he promised.
Even now, six years later, Lea did not fully understand what had happened. All she knew was that Leo had fulfilled his promise and somehow had driven the dragon away.