Raygin Akamaru (Angel Wing)

History:

Let’s see, how far back should we go in this history thingy-ma-dober. We could always go back to when Raygin wasjust a sperm? But you probably don’t wanna go back that far. No, we will go back to when Raygin was born. Ray was the son of a man named Garret and a woman named Sakura. During childbirth, Sakura died when Raygin came out leaving the boy with his father Garret. This was also a problem, see Garret was not the sort of man who could just sit down and raise a kid. No, his work would not allow that. See, Garrets field of work was something dangerous and perhaps he was the worlds worst father for making Raygin go with him on his jobs.

Raygin was five, that was the earliest he remembered. He had been traveling with his father all over the world, never staying in the same place for more than a week. Sure, they would come back to towns sometimes, but the majority of the time they lived out in the wilderness. Garret wanted to teach his son how to live off the land. He wanted to be able to live with his son, doing what he could. Raygin asked Garret one day why they did not live in a town, to which Garret responded ”I am one of the only ones who can do the things I do. It is my responsibility to do what others cannot.” Raygin did not understand. He did not know what it was his father did.

It was two years before Raygin learned what it was. Raygin had been ordered by his father to stay in the inn room he had rented for them. But, that was the day Raygin wanted to learn what it was his father did. So, Raygin followed his father. His father who had a two hour lead on him. Raygin had learned to track from his father, so he was able to easily keep track with him. The trail lead Raygin to a swamp, over three hours from the town. Raygin had no idea what his father was doing out here, but he continued to follow the trail his father unknowingly left. When Raygin found his father, it was something he never expected to see.

His father, wielding an amazingly huge sword, was fighting some sort of monster. Raygin never did learn what it was but what he remembered was that it looked something like a armored octopus. Raygin watched as his father did battle with the monster, it reminded him of a hero from a story book to be honest. Raygin then saw a flash of light, and his fathers clothes be replaced by a set of shinning armor. The armor began to glow blue right before the creature sprayed some sort of liquid at his dad. Raygin bite his lip, wanting to run down there to help his dad. But, Garret did not need it. Raygin watched as his dad leapt atop the monsters head and slashes a deep wound into its head. Raygin then watched as the sword became surrounded in fire, and with a might swing a large torrent of fire entered the monsters head.

Garret leapt off of the octopus, before using his magic to cause his weapons to vanish. He turned around to inspect the octopus and seemed to be pondering something. He then shook his head and began to turn around, to see a excited Raygin running right at him. ”Dad! That was amazing! You are like…like a knight or something! You killed the monster that was so cool!!” Raygin said as he jumped up and down in front of his father. Garret was lookin at Raygin with a look of shock and anger. ”How dare you follow me! I told you to stay at the inn! Why didn’t you listen!?” Garret shouted. Raygin did not expect his father to be angry, and had a pained look on his face.

All the way back to the inn, all three hours, they walked in silence. Garret walked in front while Ray walked behind him head down in shame. He was upset that his father had yelled at him, and he knew he did something wrong. Raygin was sniffling, whipping tears from his eyes. Garret stayed silent, pondering what he was going to do. Once back to the hotel Garret had Raygin sit on the bed, and he pulled up a chair and sat across from Ray. The two stared at each other before Raygin looked away. ”I’m sorry dad…” ”No, I am sorry. I should have told you what I am doing…but what you did was dangerous.” Garret then grew quiet and nodded his head. ”Tomorrow, we shall start your training.” Garret decided. Raygin couldn’t help but blink and question, but Garret said no more. After that, they had some dinner of bread and cheese and went to bed, but not before Ray drank his milk.

The next day, Raygin and Garret where behind the inn. Garret had two sticks, thick sticks, in each of his hands. He then tossed one right at Raygin, who barely caught it and ended up hitting his forehead against it. ”I’m going to teach you how to fight, because one day you are going to have to defend yourself.” Garret said. Garret then attacked Raygin with his stick. Lets just say, at the end of the day, Raygin had many bruises and even a black eye. That night, while his dad drank at the bar, Raygin was doing the training regime his dad had given him. Two hundred pushups, two hundred sit ups, and ten laps around the town. For a seven year old kid, this was torture. Raygin had to do various other workouts as he and his father travelled. The two sparred often with sticks, and eventually Raygin finally managed t hit his father.The two continued traveling around, living off the land, and continued to train. Raygin had finally moved up from sticks to wooden swords. All the time they traveled his father continued to hunt monsters, and sometimes Ray would follow and watch. At first Garret did not approve of it, but he eventually did not mind. He had set a strict list of rules if Ray followed him.

Raygin was eleven when his dad put him up to his first test. His father had drugged Raygin with the soup from the evening before, and ended up leaving Raygin alone in the wilderness. When Raygn woke up, he freaked. He had no idea what was going on, did not know where he was, and only had his wooden sword and a few rations. As Raygin went through his bag he found a note. It was instructions for Raygin to find his way back to town. Raygin couldn’t help but shake his head, unable to really believe his dad did this to him.

Raygin spent the first few hours sitting up a little camp. He had gathered a fair amount of sticks and pine straw to form a natural tent. He had managed to find a pond with static water, non moving water. Essentially a puddle. The water was murky and brown, and probably carried parasite that had not even been discovered yet. So, Raygin collected some of the water in a bowl he was given and brought it back to his camp. It took Ray a few hours to start a fire, he was forced to use rotate a stick over a pile over some brush to get it going. With a fire started Raygin began to boil his water, to clean it and kill all the germs in it.

It was about an hour before Raygin decided the water would be good enough for human consumption. So, Raygin put the water in a cup and brought it to his lips. It was like drinking mud. It was thick…just thick. It wasn’t even like drinking water. Raygin gagged and coughed as he forced it down. Truly disgusting. Some of it continued to drip off his chin. So, after drinking that filth Raygin finally got his bearings. The sun was setting, so now he knew his the directions. Raygin was not sure which way he was even supposed to go. This wasn’t fair. He was given absolutely clues to which way he was supposed to go. So, Raygin decided to just go to sleep. He ate some of his rations, cheese and jerky, and tuckered in for the night.

At day break Raygin couldn’t help but smile. He had finally gotten a good look at the land he was surrounded by. It was like the Savannah. Long fields of grass, weird shaped trees, water holes and other things that where not worth mentioning. Raygin could see mountains off in the distance and knew that the town was not that way. Now then, what was a eleven year old supposed to do? How would he ever get back? Luckily, his father had taught him survival techniques over the years. Raygin knew how to forage, hunt, track, and other skills necessary for ones survival in the great outdoors. The eleven year paced the camp, trying to find something. Anything. Any sort of clue for where he should get going. And then he found it. He hadn’t seen it the previous night because he was both confused and it was dark. Garret was good, but he wasn’t perfect. Ray could see a faint footprint, bigger than his, heading away from the camp. Garret had covered the footprints leading to the camp, but not the ones leading away.

Raygin ran back to the camp, after sticking a stick in the ground by the print so he did not lose it. He quickly gathered his things in the pack his dad left him and headed back to the print. Raygin followed its general path, looking for any more. He did find something. A small patch of trampled grass in the shape of a foot. But this made Raygin confused. See, the track was turning to the left, not going straight. Was his dad trying to trip him up, or perhaps he was just drinking. Honestly, Raygin expected this was just another one of his dad’s drunken shenanigans. But if this was, then his dad had gone way to far this time. Raygin sat there, considering to follow the tracks path or keep going forward. He sighed and finally decided to follow the track. Raygin walked with head down, looking for anything out of place.

Honestly, it wasn’t even an hour before Raygin thought this was a bad idea. He had looked for anything, but there was no sign. Ray decided to stop since he had been walking all day. Frankly, it had been uneventful and ever since he lost the trail he had been feeling depressed. Ray spotted a nice tree that would probably serve as a good spot to rest. When Ray got there he looked around, wanting to make sure there wasn’t any sort of dangerous animals in or around the tree. After a few minutes of searching, he confirmed the area was clear. Raygin made the same kind of tent he did at the other camp, but it was smaller than before due to a lack of resources. He then went and found some rocks and made a circle with them. Now for the tricky part; finding dry wood. See, Ray couldn’t just yank some branches off of the tree he was camping under. Nope, it was impossible because the branches would have moisture inside them.

Ray made a face as he headed back to his tent. He was going to need a fire to get through the night, well to have a better chance. So he left his little camp from the tree and headed towards a small water hole he spotted earlier. There quite a few rocks surrounding the waters edge, but Ray was hesitant to move in. He had seen something move in the water, or perhaps even submerge. This made Ray hesitant because he had no idea what it was. Perhaps it was a gator, or a snake, or a turtle, or a chupacabra. He made a face as he looked at the precious stones that he needed to make a decent fire pit. Ray looked back at the water, praying to mother nature that whatever it was in the water was in fact not dangerous.

So Ray slowly went down to the water and quickly grabbed a nice rock and ran back. Nothing happened. He went back for another one, got it no problem. This was too easy. Ray went for a third one and the water explosion. Teeth and a hiss was the only warning as Raygin jumped back. He landed on his back and instantly rolled to the right. Whatever it was landed right beside Raygin right where he had been. Raygin quickly got to his feet and leapt as far as he could. He landed with a oomph and tried to get back up, but the went ground made him sleep. Raygin looked back to see the largest crocodile had ever seen, coming right for him.
Raygin rolled again as the croc rushed him. Ray got to his feet and instantly leapt back again as the croc swung its tail at him. Ray swore up and down, cursing his dad for leaving him out here. Ray quickly ran up the bank, away from the croc. He grabbed ahold of one of the rocks he had collected and threw it at the crocodile. The stone hit it on the head but didn’t seem to do much of anything but piss it off even more.

The crocodile ran at the eleven year old as Ray grabbed a hold of a smaller rock. He quickly jumped as the croc went under him and the boy landed on its back. He quickly turned on its back and shoved the rock right into the animals eye and pushed it in. The croc thrashed about and threw Raygin off and back down towards the water. Ray rolled and ended up in the water. He let out a discontent groan as he suddenly saw the crocodile coming at him again. Ray felt his hand hit something in the water so he lifted it up. Another rock. How ironic. Ray got to his feet and as the crocodile came at him he swung. The rock struck the injured eye and sent the imbedded stone deeper in. The animal then stopped moving since the rock had just killed it. Raygin let out a sigh and sat back on his rump. He let out a groan, promising himself he ever found his dad again he was going to beat the crap out of him. So, Ray grabbed the dead lizards tail and began the difficult process of both pulling it back to camp and eating it.

Two months. It took two months for Raygin to finally find a town. Why did it take so long? Raygin got lost, five times. It had taken him five tries to finally find a town. Raygin looked like a homeless person. His hair had grown out, he got a nice bite mark from a wolf on his left arm, and he had a starved look in his eyes. Ray headed right into the center of town and demanded to know where the bar was. When it was pointed out he headed straight for it. Ray kicked the door in and guess who was sitting at the bar? His dad Garret. The old drunk turned around and stared at Ray for a few minutes then gave him a goofy smile.

”Hey there son! I know you wouldn’t run away!!” Garret randomly said. Raygin let out a roar and rushed his dad. Garret blinked in surprise before getting headbutted by a raging Raygin. ”What kind of dad drops his son off in the middle of nowhere! Do you realize what I went through you drunk bastard!!” Raygin roared as he was on top of him, punching him in the face. Garret groaned and tossed Raygin off of him and right into a table. Raygin quickly got to his feet and attacked him again. Garret grinned and rushed his son. The two then proceeded to fight in the middle of the bar. Raygin scored a decent blow to his dad’s face, before the man kneed him and sent him through the air. The boy landed on a table which flipped it over. Ray growled and grabbed a spilled mug of ale and chucked it at his dad. It hit the man square in the face, sending him on his back. He quickly got to his feet and tackled his son, pinning him to the wall. The two of them looked each other in the eyes then embraced. No words, they were just happy to see each other. ”I knew you would do fine son. Look how much stronger ya gotten! And now, I will teach you how to fight.” Garret said as he suddenly heatbutted Ray, knocking the boy out.

Another few months had passed since that day. Raygin and his father had continued to travel across the lands. During that time Ray had learned his father was a well known hunter of monsters, and that many people asked for him specifically when there was a problem with the ferocious beast. He also learned that Garret was also a Mage but he did not belong to any guild. He was a freelancer. He said a guild would just slow him down and take up his time.

Lets skip ahead a little, just a year or two. During this time Ray continued to travel with his dad (who continued to leave Ray out in the wild sometimes) and began to learn how to fight. We stop traveling through time to a night when the swordplay was special. Raygin and his father were practicing at night, during the rain. Not the smartest thing eh? Either way that’s what they were doing. Both where fighting with short swords summoned by Garret. Ray had, at this point gotten quite skilled at sword and was even capable of fighting on a equal level with his father. Well, Garret was holding back to E class level, but he never said that so he could preserve Rays confidence. Raygin and his Dad spared around a lantern in the middle of a rain storm. Both of their swords danced through the air and their metallic clangs rang through the air.

Garret parried Raygins swing and sent his sword flying. Rather than surrender Ray leapt after his weapon. He grabbed it as it hit the ground and spun. His fathers sword swung at him which Raygin quickly blocked. Ray kicked his swords blade back and got to his feet. Garret looked surprised at his son and couldn't help but smile. The two then went at it again. They spent more time swinging at each other than blocking one another. Both where on the offense. But then there was an accident. Ray slipped on the mud beneath his feet. The slip caused him to turn as his father swung and Ray felt a icy pain. Garrets sword swung into Raygins back from his shoulder to his waist. Raygin yelled and fell onto his back. He heard Garret shout something before Ray lost consciousness.

When Ray woke up he was inside a tent, laying on some of bench bed thing. Ray was dazed and he could barely recognize anything. His back was still in pain and it hurt more than anything he had ever felt. He was lucky the sword didn't hit his spine. His dad was sitting at his side stitching the wound closed. Soon Ray passed out again. When he woke up again he was now bandaged. His dad came in and instantly apologized for what happened, then said that Ray was gonna have to stay still for awhile to let the wound heal. When he said awhile he did not assume weeks. 

Ray was fifteen, and his dad was doing his “leave you alone and find your way back” routine. Raygin had been left in the Arkay Mountains. Ray had been blind folded and drugged, again, and left here with supplies. Ray stretched and scratched his back. His hair had begun to grow out, and Ray had a nice set of scars on his face leading up to his eye. ”Alright! Lets see what the old drunk left me this time.” Raygin said as he walked to the sack he was left. Ray opened it and noticed something new. It was a tan robe which seemed to be made of some sort of leather. He quickly put it on and practically instantly felt warm. He smiled as he continued going through the sack and found a hat. He grinned and put it on, the soft fur covering his ears. He quickly tied the loose ends together so it covered his lower face.

Other contents in the bag was a buildable tent, canned foods, a knife, some medical supplies, a map, compass. Wait…a map? Why did Garret give Ray a map this time? ”This…won’t be easy. If he gave me a map…how hard is this going to be?” Raygin asked himself as he looked at the paper. Ray shook his head and lifted the sack onto his back. He then watched something fall in the snow. Ray blinked in surprise as he saw it was a sword. He shrugged and picked up the weapon and went moving. The walk was long, and hard. Marching through deep snow, the wind and the biting cold…it was horrendous. Ray had stopped along the way to put a pair of goggles on since he just could not stand the wind. Ray had walked through deserts, wastelands, jungles, forests, swamps, plains…but this was his first snow adventure. And he hated it. Screw the cold, it was awful.

Raygin made a grunt as he slid down a small hill of snow. He easily came to a stop and hopped onto his feet and continued his journey. The wind seemed to die down some giving Ray a decent opportunity to eat some. He sat down, removed a can of mini hot dogs, and started eating. They tasted…weird. Honestly it was like they had no taste. But it was at least a form of substances and nutrients. Once he finished he dumped the remaining juice in the can out in the snow and put the can back in his sack. Ray continued his journey. He spent a good part of the day walking and taking in the sights. It was actually a pretty cool sight, but one question gnawed in his mind. How the fuck did his dad get him up here?

Raygin stopped walking and looked out across the landscape. The mountains were huge and honestly looked to be a giant pair of teeth. Ray smiled, he felt like he was on top of the world being this high up. Only complaint was the air was thin, the snow was bright, and it was cold. Seriously, Ray hated the cold. It wasn’t warm. Warmth meant he was being kissed by the sun, right now he felt like he was being kissed by the moon. The moon was made of ice right? Or was it just a huge chunk of rock? Who knew, people couldn’t study the sky.

So Ray spent the rest of the day trudging through the snow, grumbling and complaining about the snow. Truthfully, he was bored. There was nothing to really look at but a sea of white. Oh wait, a rock! Worship the rock god! Raygin looked at the rock and groaned. There really was nothing here. All he knew was to keep going down. So that’s what he did. Raygin noticed a decline in the landscape and started heading down. He made a grunting sound as he moved down slowly, hopping he would not walk over a hole or something. The teen coughed a bit as he finally reached the bottom of the decline and looked at the landscape level. ”Seriously…how does my dad get me to these places and leave? Does he teleport? Fly!?” Raygin groaned as he started to continue walking.

It was getting dark and this was making Ray nervous. He still had not found any sort of place to make some sort of camp. He could not form a tent out in the middle of nothing, and he could not make any sort of fire out in a field of snow. Raygin growled, getting very worried. This was no longer just one of his dads trials, this was a serious. This was testing if Ray could actually survive on his own, and in a serious situation such as this. Raygin was losing the feeling in his legs from trudging all day. He was sore, which was odd. He had traveled extreme distances before, but never through snow.

The sun was setting, Ray was running out of time. He picked up the pace, despite what it would do to his stamina. He had begun to run, actually began to panic a little. It would get twice as cold and he would be unable to see. Ray cursed under his breath multiple times and yet also prayed. He prayed to whatever heard him for some sort of shelter. Raygin walked for a tad bit longer and came to a large serious of rocks. Ray looked at the rocks, perhaps they could help. He pressed himself against one, but the wind still stung. None of the rocks blocked him from the wind. Raygin was started to loose hope, was he going to die out here. Raygin let out a sigh and leaned against a rock but then he noticed something. A depression under a huge rock in front of him. Ray got down on his knees and reached for the depression. There was a empty space. This made Ray excited and he quickly rummaged through his pack and grabbed a hold of a rope. He tied it off to the rock he had been laying on, and began to lower himself into the hole.

It was a tight fit but he was able to go down quite easily. It was not truly deep and when he reached the bottom there was a small spacious part. There was enough space to not only set up his bedroll, but actually stretch and rest. Raygin praised mother nature and whatever gods had listened and unrolled his bed roll. He had a good dinner of jerky and apple juice. Ray sighed happily and laid down on his bedroll, covering himself in his robe. He wished he had a fire, but he could not make one in a cave this little. But, Ray was just happy he was out of the snow.

When the morning came Raygin was sore. He let out a groan as he sat himself up and rubbed his eyes. He covered one of his nostrils and exhaled with force, blowing snot out of his nose. After that Raygin went into his rations and had himself a simple of breakfast of more jerky and water. After eating he packed up his bedroll and played with the rope he lowered himself down on. He was ready to get going. After pulling himself back out of the cave he took a look around. The snow looked higher than before which would just make traveling worse. Ray was going to continue heading south. South meant warmth, so that’s where he was going to head.

Alright, Ray had been travelling for three days now without any sort of trouble (aside from the cold). He had made his way down the mountain and had come out into some kind of valley. Ray could see a frozen lake and off in the distance snow covered trees. That’s where he needed to go. At least he was out of the mountains right, the hard part was over. Right? Well, Ray did not know it yet but the mountains were nothing more than the kids stuff.

Raygin couldn’t help but smile at the valley. The mountains had been windy and biting cold, well at least there wasn’t any wind or at least it wasn’t as bad. Raygin stared to head towards the frozen lake, planning to travel around it to reach the woods. It would be about a mile walk to reach it but the time would seem short compared to what Ray had been walking. Plus, it was freshwater. Raygin reached the lake in no time and smiled. This was going to be easy. But right after thinking that he caught a wiff of something foul.

Ray turned around a blinked. Large hairy animals were walking right by him. They had white fur and each had a pair of horns that curved upwards and back. They looked like really big buffalo, but white. Ray watched as they walked by him, as if they hadn’t see him. He smiled as he watched them, happy to see something alive for once on this damned trip. Ray watched as they walked off, and then began walking on his own. He followed the lakes bank and finally took his hat off. Raygin let out a sigh and let his hair fall down. It was longer now, and was in a tight ponytail. Ray also had received a nice little tattoo job on his face. Four little marks around his nose and jagged lines on the sides of his face.

It was a nice day, sure it was cold, but it was not as bad as up on the mountains. Raygin looked over at the frozen lake, wondering if any fish were still alive underneath the frozen layer. Ray smiled and then headed into the woods. Boy was it nice to see trees. Walking around in a winter wasteland was dreary, and walking through a snow forest would be nice. Raygin hummed to himself as he hopped over a pair of thick gnarly roots that were exposed. Ray was ecstatic to be out of the snow and not in the mountains. Raygin loved trees.

Ray spent a few extra hours walking through the frozen forest, taking in the sites, and collecting a few extra things. He had uncovered a couple of seeds that he could snack on as he traveled, so that was a plus. But soon, Ray encountered a smell. It was not like the buffalo animals from before. They smelled like poop, this spelt like rotten meat. Raygin covered his nose with his robe and headed towards the smell. Now, this was probably not the best idea but Ray wanted to know what it was. He followed the scent and found its source. It was one of those buffalo animals, on its side, with its guts torn open. Meat, blood, bones, guts, many things were torn out and thrown about the place. Like whatever had attacked it had been ravenous, vicious, and hungry. This made Raygin swear. This kill was fresh, maybe a few days old. Whatever it was it could still be in the area. Raygin decided to go, not planning on staying around. The teen headed past the corpse, then suddenly stopped. A new scent filled his nostrils. It wasn’t rotten meat…no…this was urine. Something marked the area around the corpse. Now Raygin got a good look at where he was standing. Knocked down trees, urine stained snow, viciously ripped apart corpse. ”Wyvern” Raygin whispered. Raygin cursed his bad luck and ran.

During his time with his father, Garret had taught Raygin a lot of things about monsters. Leviathans, Chimeras, Ogres, Drakes, Saurans, Mammalians, Changelings. And then there was Wyverns. Wyverns were the closest relative to Dragons. Wyverns were smaller, lacked the body shape, and were not as intelligent. The thing was though, Wyverns were ten times more ferocious than most other species. Not many hunters in the world could go toe to toe with them. Wyverns always marked what they killed so they could come back. Wyverns were not as powerful as dragons, and they never taught their magic to humans. Wyverns only lived to eat, shit, and breed. Now, here was the problem. In the magical world there were very certain Wyverns that required A to S class mages to deal with. The flying Wyverns Rathalos, Rathian, Remobra, Diablos and others. But, many of these species did not live in snowy mountain forests. Now, Rathalos did, but the site did not contain signs of Rathalos. No, the area was not scorched. There was one other Wyvern, one that sent a wave of fear through Raygins body. One Wyvern that was known for its ferocity and never ending hunger: the Tigrex.

Tigrex was a well known Wyvern amongst Monster Hunters and Mages. This species of Wyvern did not use much magic, but it made up for it in sheer power. So Raygin ran, he ran as fast as he could through the woods. If the creature had been a Rathalos, then the threat would not have been so bad. If he had been spotted by Rathalos all he would have to do was flee, or show he was not a threat. Rathalos were intelligent, even for Wyverns. But for the Tigrex, those rules did not exist. The Tigrex did nothing but kill, eat, shit, and fuck over and over and over again. It killed for fun, not even when it was hungry. The Tigrex was a adaptable species. Despite living in desert regions, they were known for venturing far into snowy areas simply to find new prey.

Raygin leapt over a root as he continued running. He had begun to run down hill now and only when he reached the bottom did he dare stop. He quickly turned around and listened. Silence. For the five minutes he stood there he heard nothing. Raygin sighed to himself and begun to walk again. He was now wanting to get out of these woods, and as fast as he could. Raygin could not hope to deal with a Tigrex, much less any other sort of Wyvern. Even a Qurupeco could do him in. Ray just moved, he did not stop to take his usual food break nor did he stop to do his business

When it was beginning to get dark did Ray finally stop to make camp. He found a small clearing surrounded by trees, so he would be able to finally make a fire without regret. Raygin dug out a decently sized firepit and smiled. Today was quite the day, and he felt that he was a god amount of miles away from the Tigrex’s last meal. Ray put some kindling down and got ready to make a fire when he heard it. Off in the distance, a howl. No, a roar. This was loud, and though it sounded far away it sent a wave of fear through Raygin. The teen quickly grabbed a hold of his gear and began to run again. Did it pick up his scent? Was it chasing him? Raygin didn’t know, but he ran. Oh my did he run.

Raygin ran like he had never run before. As he ran he heard something behind him. A crash, and a roar. Raygin turned and his heart skipped five beats. The Tigrex. It was running at him. Down on all fours, wings flared, steam coming from its mouth, and staring right at Raygin. How did it find him? Maybe Ray smelled like its urine? Either way, it was coming. Raygin could not outrun it. It was upon him in a few seconds. It reared its head and lunged. Raygin screamed as he felt pain on his right side. The Tigrexs teeth sank right into him easily. Raygin coughed and gasped for air as he felt its jaw pressing down. Ray had no time, he quickly drew the sword he had and swiped at the monsters eye.

The Tigrex dropped Ray and lunged back. Ray had just missed the eye, but did enough damage with that swing to release him. Raygin clutched his side and cried out. It hurt. Red blood stained his clothes and robe as well as the snow beneath him. Raygin felt something hard and gripped it, then yanked. A tooth. It was one of the Tigrexs teeth. Raygin grit his teeth and got to his feet and started to move. He could hear the Tigrex rampaging behind him, getting ready to charge. Raygin stopped when he reached the end of a cliff, overlooking a frozen lake. Raygin cursed his luck and turned to see the beast running at him. So, what did Ray do? He jumped to the side when the Tigrex was close enough, sending it straight over the edge.

The Wyvern roared as it tried to spread its wings but instead slammed into the ice. The ice cracked and broke and the beast went right into the water. Raygin let out a breath, a sigh of relief, then a wince in pain. He took his pack off and pulled out some bandages and began applying them. Ray let out a groan, wishing he had some sort of pain killer or even magic to help. After he finished applying the bandages Ray slowly got to his feet. He was about to leave when he heard a sound below him. He turned and saw the Tigrex crawling out of the hole in the ice. It seemed dazed, which wasn’t surprising considering it just took a nose dive into an iced lake. So, Raygin moved. He spent the next few days suffering from his wounds as he traveled. Ray was forced to rush it, less breaks. He was having to change his bandages far more often and he feared his wound was going to become infected. Two days of pained travel, and Raygin did it. He found a town. Ray didn’t care he marched straight to the towns doctor and demanded treatment. The bite was beginning to get infected, and Ray had lost a dangerous amount of blood. So, Ray spent three weeks in that hospital while he healed. Even after healing, his scar never vanished. That bite would always be there as a memory.

It had been a year after that incident, Ray was now sixteen. He and Garret were walking, and talking, and singing as they were having a merry time walking up a hill. The two were heading to a larger than average town called Lor Andola to get some supplies, get some food, and Garret even decided to get Ray laid. Ray had no idea what sex or anything like that, so he figured laid was getting into a fight. The two were just talking and goofing when a person ran right by them. They both turned to look at the fleeing man who was heading down the hill. ”Wonder what that’s about?” Raygin asked his dad who just shrugged. They both turned to see even more people running towards them. They were screaming things like ”Run! Everyone dead! The city! Monster!!” Both Ray and Garret adopted serious looks and both began to run up the hill. When they reached the top, the sight before them was…well amazing. The entire city was in flames. Buildings ruined, the town guard was ruining everywhere. Both Ray and Garret also saw Mages casting spells. Some where trying to put the fire out, others were healing, and a few others were firing magic attacks into the center of the city. But what where they attacking?

Then they saw it. Two gigantic wings rising out of the smoke. The force of the wings forced the smoke back. Garret stared wide eyed, and Raygin did not know if it was real. The beast in the center of the city was none other than a Dragon. The beast was massive and crimson red. The beast roared and released a jet of fire from its mouth destroying a large portion of the city with a single roar. ”Raygin. Stay here.” Garret ordered. The mans clothes then glowed as a set of armor appeared. The armor was gold in color, the helmet looked like a beasts mouth. The armor also came with a set of wings. The wings seemed to spread and Garret jumped. The man began to fly, right before being surrounded in magic and increasing in speed. Raygin stared up in awe before running after his dad. He was not going to let his dad do this alone.

When Ray finally made it to the town it was far worse than before. The mages seemed to be falling back saying things like the city was doomed. Raygin had a sinking feeling in his gut, and rushed into the city. He ran by countless fleeing people, bodies lined the streets, things were on fire. It was almost like a piece of hell. The heat, the smoke, the bodies, it was horrible. ”Dad! Daaad!!” Raygin cried, looking for him. The dragon roared again, followed by a burning increase in the heat. Raygin had no choice so he headed for the beast. Raygin ran through a wall of smoke and when he exited to the other side, he saw it.

His father, surrounded by a mound of shattered weapons and armor. Garret was panting, a single blade in his hand. There was blood dripping from a huge gash on his forehead. Garret grit his teeth and held his sword up and towards the dragon. White magic escaped from Garrets body and towered up into the sky. The magic was amazing, powerful. Underneath Garret was a seven layered magic circle, and his sword was glowing brightly. The dragon turned and looked at him before rearing its head back. Raygin looked at it and then at his father. ”Dad! Move!!” Raygin shouted. This was a mistake. His dad turned to look at his son as the fireball crashed into him. The explosion sent his dad flying through the air. He landed on the ground and did not move.

Raygin rushed to his fathers side and begged him to get up. Tears dropped from his eyes as he looked down at his fathers lifeless body. In that one instant, Rays entire world had been taken away from in that single instant. Raygin looked at him and held his fathers body to him and cried. The dragon made a sound which made Raygin glare up at it. He grabbed a hold of his fathers sword. The spell his father had been preparing was full charged and ready but it now just needed someone to cast it. Raygin lifted the sword up and with a mighty roar used the very spell his dad prepared. With his swing there was a bright blast of light. The light flew at the dragon and slammed into it. The beast roared in what appeared to be pain. The dragon spread its wings and roared and lashed about. It let loose another wave of flames across the city.

Raygin watched as the beast rampaged and continued its course of destruction. But, the strain of the magic caused Raygin to lose consciousness. When he awoke he found out he and his fathers body had been moved to an encampment out of the city. Raygin tried to get up but he was forced back down by doctors. Raygin fought against them, demanding to see his father. When he finally fought against the people he ran out of the tent he was in. Ray instantly stopped and saw bodies. Dozens of bodies underneath white blankets. Raygin ran to them and started pulling them off one by one looking for his father. People told Raygin to stop who responded with threats to try and stop him. Raygin kept yanking blankets off the passed away until he finally found his father. The mans body was horrible burned but he had a face of peace. Raygin fell to his knees and looked at his father, the one parent he knew all his life. The man who had always been with Ray. The drunk womanizing father he was taught Raygin everything he knew. Rays entire life was this man...and now he was gone.

Raygin began to cry. He cried louder than the woman crying over their kids or husbands. Screw them. Raygin balled, he begged for his father to be brought back, he cursed himself for not helping, he cursed himself for not being able to help. He cursed the dragon. The dragon, Rays eyes widened as he realized what he had to do. So Raygin swore he would avenge his father and slay the beast.