Lost [Closed]

The forest was silent. The animals were in hiding after strange loud sounds echoed through the trees. A few of these animals were very strong predators. They weren't hiding from something, but were actually stalking. Keeping themselves low and hidden from the eyes of the one survivor that now trespassed in their land, these predators kept a close eye on her. She was loud, obnoxious, and an easy target for them to take down. Right now, they were a pack of six. They were one of natures quickest predators with one of the more sophisticated and intelligent ways of communicating with each other. Beyond the brush, hidden in the shadows and blending in with their environment, a group of Velociraptors had their eyes fixated on Sofia. This woman was nothing but an intruder and a possible meal to them. She called out again and again, making herself more known to the surrounding nature.

After her final call, the group had surrounded her, slowly moving with her. One was behind her, following her every step. There were two to her left, keeping themselves low and quiet. Hidden to her right were two more, eyes focused clearly on her location. And finally there was on in the front. This one was coming at her. From the shadows of the forest, it walked out to her, standing about a foot above her as it intentionally held itself taller. It stared down at her, walking forward with a hiss and a strange inhuman shrieking sounds emanating from it. As it stepped closer, it snapped at her, as if it was attempting to bite. It continued to do so until it's friends came and surrounded her as well.

The ball of light that shot up did distract the one in front, but not for long at all. He looked up and then back down. He wasn't unfamiliar with strange magic type stuff, so it wasn't too much of a surprise. He went toward her again, but she began bringing out some other strange light thing. The noises he made changed to a strange clucking sound and the one behind her came up and used its tail to trip her in a manner that she would fall on her side. The rest of them quickly ran in for the attack, all of them making intimidating noises as they charged. As they were about to get to her, a vicious roar came from out of nowhere. It was extremely loud and was coming from just beyond the trees. It was powerful enough that the trees bent, branches blew, and leaves were torn to bits. Besides that, the roar was hot. The temperature in the area raised about ten degrees from it's previous ninety-five.

A few low thuds and what sounded like the crushing of wood were coming from beyond the trees. A large scaled creature with deep red, blue, and black coloring its body, came through the trees with smoke seeping from its nose. It looked angry. The raptors all began to back away, taking two steps back for each one that this large beast took. It was a dragon, a rather beautiful one at that. He grunted and growled low and the raptors all stepped back into a line, looking almost uniform. The dragon then looked down to the woman and stepped over her. Not over to her, actually over her. It lowered its giant head and sniffed before sitting down like a dog. It then began to transform. Its scales vanished and he formed what was a large man. Thanks to magic, he wasn't naked either. He held his hand out to the woman. If her eyes were closed, he'd take her hand and gently help her to her feet. "I'm sorry they scared you. Are you alright?" he asked. His voice was deep and a little brash, but quite calming.

This little lady was one of the sweet ones. He smiled when she admitted being terrified. He couldn't blame her. Viktor let her ramble on for a while, but only because he was thinking about where he might have seen her daughter. He didn't remember seeing or smelling anyone in the area but her, so her daughter probably went the opposite direction. If not, the kid was likely picked up or taken somewhere. That's fantastic. Viktor already felt bad for this woman. "Hey, hey, hey..." he set his large hands on her petite shoulders and gave as warm of a smile that he could give, "Look... You're hurt and are going to need some rest. I haven't seen your daughter around here, so I'm sorry I can't say I have better news. However, besides the wreckage from your caravan, I smell no more blood in the area. If you did not find her among the others, it means she probably wandered off for help. I'll keep some of them on watch for her, okay? Just try and calm down."

Viktor waited for her to agree and then turned to his pack. With a few growls, he gave them their orders and they all rushed off, all but one was heading toward the caravan area while the last was going the opposite direction. He sent that one to tell the rest of the pack to search the area for a young girl and not to hurt her, but instead bring her to him. "Alright, they'll be looking around for her and return when the moon is high and the stars are clear." he explained. He was talking about midnight, when things got much clearer in the sky. "Come on. Let me carry you to my home. The slower you move out here, the more dangerous it can be. There aren't really any towns or cities close enough either. You were attacked in the worst of places." Viktor explained. If she allowed, he'd pick her up and began to carry her deeper into the forest and in the same direction the one raptor had gone. "So, I'm Viktor. What is your name? And what can you tell me about the attack?"

"Arcana knows...?" Viktor tilted his head at the expression. He was a recluse, so things like that didn't make sense to him. The fact that it was coming from another country also made it worse. "Sofia..." he nodded in approval. Viktor tried to think of some neighboring bandits, mercenaries, and other bad folk that may have been the culprits here, but none came to mind. His brow furrowed and he groaned in annoyance. They must have been someone following her. No one around here used explosives, mostly animals. "Right... Did you hear any sounds of animals? Beasts? Roars? Anything belonging to a horse will not help since I'm sure that is what was pulling your caravan. We just have a gang of thieves that ride the back of the more aggressive beasts around here. If you heard anything like that, it might help me figure out who the people were that attacked you."

"... From back home?" he raised an eyebrow and thought more. There were some unfamiliar scents in the area, but he figures that was just her group. Maybe his theory on someone following her was right. He was pulled from his thoughts by her questions and looked down to her. "Well, it's not like a job, but a way of life. I do, in a way, tame them, but it's more that I teach them respect for my power and they follow me. They're pack animals that need an alpha and I became theirs quite a few years back. Sometimes they mess up, like today, but they were also only defending their territory. They like guard dogs for me actually. Guard dogs and good, but unruly friends." After about a fifteen minute walk and some more small talk, the two arrived at a decent sized and well-made hut. He set her down at the front door and made sure she could stand before opening up.

"Come on in." he said, holding the door open with a smile. The hut was surprisingly well-lit with a few arcane light orbs. The furniture looked to be good quality. The floor was made of wood from the surrounding jungle. The roof and the fireplace were both made of stone. The place was built by him, but he put it together very well. It was easily a house that could sit in the middle-class part of town. Downstairs was the kitchen, a small dining area, and a medium sized living area. Upstairs was two bedrooms, but the second was kind of being used as a trophy room. There was only one bathroom and it was inside the master as an on suite. The biggest thing to note was the high ceilings that seemed to have an extra four to five feet that normal houses would not. With the masculine furniture and lonely atmosphere of the house, it was obvious that Viktor Beck did not ever expect to have a guest, let alone a female one. "Well, this is my home. I know it's not much, but I'm pretty proud of it."

Viktor quickly sensed and saw the dislike of his home, which only disappointed him. He immediately got the impression that she was some pampered noble after that. He could have drawn that conclusion from her clothes, but decided to ignore that. He watched her with a raised eyebrow as she seemingly played with the arcane orb he had. It suddenly grew brighter and was like brand new again. "Impressive." he said, kind of mimicking her from before. The apology that came confused him, but he soon understood. "No, don't worry. It's fine." he said and laughed, "If you can do that, it'd help quite a bit. The less I have to go into town the better. I don't enjoy traveling that far all the time and I'd prefer not to use fire in the house, so the help with them would actually be appreciated." Viktor went over to his chair and sat down, taking off his large boots and setting them off to his side.

"I built the house, not the stuff in it. I get money from thankful people and others give gifts... Cieria isn't exactly a safe place for many people, especially travelers or those in small towns..." Viktor got up and dusted off another chair. He then hurried over to a cabinet while he was talking and grabbed a clean blanket. When he came back, he set it over the chair so she could sit down more comfortably. "So when I help someone or prevent a T-Rex from tearing through a town, I get gifted furniture, weapons, food, clothing... Here, rest here. I can try and cook up something to eat. Would you like something to drink? I believe I have this new juice stuff I got a week ago. It was pretty good, sweeter than I like though. I've also got some rare tea leaves I received about a month ago; I don't know if tea leaves go bad. The man who gave them to me said they didn't, but I don't know. Sometimes I can't trust the gifts I'm given. I'm pretty sure this one plant made me go a little nuts. Got dizzy, saw things. It was not a fun day at all. Oh, and another guy tried to poison me with one of those Arcadian fruits... Not cool, man. Not cool at all."

Viktor watched her curiously, leaning to the right and left to get a better view of what she was doing without getting to close to the strange woman. When the light brightened, he was immediately impressed. "No way." he walked over to one of the orbs as she went to do the others and began poking at them a bit. He did it to two more before putting his hands on his hips and smiling at her. "Well thank you for that. Brightened this place up. In fact..." he grabbed two of them and turned them off, placing them in a chest near the fire place. The house was still lit up nicely, but now he could save these for when he actually needed them. "Did you say fifteen years? These things always die within six months for me, if not less than that. I've spent quite a bit of money on them." he glared at a few of the orbs that were still set up, "Well ain't that great. Well, you've saved me a bit of money. Thank you."

"An over-inflated tomato..." Viktor chuckled with a bit of a snort. The image of that was rather cute in his head. "Sorry. I don't usually offer alco-... Well, I don't usually offer anything. I don't have guests out here too often... I think I have some brandy around here. I'm not that much of a drinker, which may be surprising since I'm out here alone. I can enjoy some liquor every now and then, but it's not something take part in too often..." He rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled, "You think you're a nervous wreck? I'm rambling on a bit myself..." He got some of the juice out of the fridge. If she looked, she'd notice it was an old style arcane cooler and freezer, probably four or five years out of date, but it still worked well. He brought her the juice in small cup that was easier for him to hold with three fingers. "Um... For quite a few years now. I do my best to take care of the place... Last year a storm hit and a tree fell on it, so I kind of had to rebuild a large section of the upstairs."

Viktor went and sat down in his chair, relaxing as he leaned back. He tried not staring at her, feeling awkward every time their eyes met. "Well um... Besides your daughter, why are you so nervous? Are you like me, a bit of a loner?" Viktor was listening to her answer when he heard a loud boom from off in the distance. He looked up to the ceiling as a rumble rolled overhead. "Mm..." he sighed and shook his head, "A storm is coming, a bit one. Time to lock down." Viktor stood up and hurried up stairs. He closed all the shutters and locked them. He came down stairs soon to do the same and then started a fire. By the time he was done, the storm was over them and the wind could be heard bashing against the side of the house. Rain began falling very heavily. "I hate these things... No warning, no signs. Just random appearances." he said with a sigh as he sat down, "Tomorrow, if the storm is clear, we'll begin searching for your little girl, okay? Until then, we just have to just bunker down and relax."

"The closest large town is Daizar and it's actually about two hundred and some miles north east of here... You were attacked close to the edge of the Pisi Jungle. It's quite a journey and we would need to prepare a lot for it. I walk everywhere or ride if I find a beast large enough and quick to tame; those aren't easy to get though. I tamed a T-Rex once... Then it tried to bite me in half when I reverted to this form. It didn't survive the attack... Rambling too, sorry. What I mean is, if that's where you're wanting to go, it will be one hell of a journey and you should expect a lot of walking, heat, lack of water and food, along with troublemakers along the road." Viktor stopped and then looked at her like she was a little crazy. He went silent for a moment and then waved his hands in front of him.

"Look, I offered to help you look for your little girl and I will; however, I won't be going birthday shopping. That's just... not my thing... at all. And two hundred and fifty miles for a birthday present?" After a moment of what was likely awkward silence, Sofia spoke up and began talking about her daughter. The woman was obviously a good Mother. Viktor couldn't relate. "No, I have no children. I don't think it's something I'll ever get to do. Not many women like my way of living and I don't see me giving up my way of life for someone. If I did, they'd had to of really impressed me or something."

The tension was there and Viktor's nervousness about his guest weren't letting them go away quickly enough for him. He was glad she chose to speak up. The silence was awkward. "I don't keep it a secret, but some women even get frightened at it." he chuckled a bit. In his eyes, it was best for him to stay single until he was willing to give up his current lifestyle. He didn't think he would ever be too, so he doubted he'd ever find that love that others could find. "It's actually not as hard as you think. Once you get into your routine, understand the area, and prepare yourself for the dangers, it's sometimes easier to live out here than with people." he explained and stared up at the ceiling, "People are manipulative and use each other, violent and cruel... Not everyone, obviously, but you never know when you're house will be robbed or whether the person on the street is a serial killer, you know?"

"Out here, everything is in your face about what it is. Those raptors are raptors. They are killing machines that only obey the alpha, which is me in this case. The jungle won't lie to you. The animals won't pretend to be something they're not, except maybe a possum playing dead, but everyone knows that is what they do. There's no fake smiles and I think that is what I like about being out here the most. It's real..." After he finished explaining, he went silent and contemplated about his own realization. He never thought about why he liked it out here so much better until now. She asked another question and he chuckled. "What you're asking is whether I'm an Elder or Disciple, right? I'm a Disciple. This old man, closest thing I had to a real Father, came by when I was having a hard time in life and trained me to take what most children my age couldn't. I was actually very young at the time."

"So, I have a question for you... Have you ever been to Osynius? I'd like to know their opinion on Dragon Disciples and Elder Dragons. I thought that would be a place I could maybe find a woman. I doubt they'd be scared of me, and every man wouldn't mind being worshiped by his woman." Viktor laughed at what he had said, but it was only a half-joke, "So you know anything about that?"

Sofia's admitance of who she was caused Viktor to freeze. He stared at her curiously, blinking twice before grabbing onto his head. "Are you serious!?" he tugged at his own hair, "What the hell?! We definitely start our journey tomorrow! There is no way in hell I'm getting caught up in that kind of shit. Are you kidding me?! You're literally one of the leaders of a country!" Viktor stood up and paced, a hand on his chin as he thought about the situation he was in. "The moment people find out you were attacked, they'll figure out where and send out trackers... This could start an entire war between our countries, especially if Salaneos thinks that it was one of our people that attacked you! And what if they think it was me?! Agh! This situation is bad, very bad..." Viktor's worrying was cut off by loud boom echoing through the sky. He looked up and calmed himself down.

Viktor decided that panicking over this was dumb. Viktor took a deep breath and then looked to Sofia. His face hardened and he sat back down. "Would you like to use my bed for the night?" he asked. He was originally going to have her sleep on the couch or make up a bed for her in his trophy room, but not now. She was practically royalty in his mind and he had to treat her as such. If he didn't, he figured he'd be executed or something. "It's time for us to get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow."