After Henry’s dangerous inadvertent encounter with the four-winged eagle, nothing significant nor major had happened aside from the occasional monsters and creatures that walked right up to the door and picked a fight with Henry. Although he was gravely wounded by the eagle, he didn’t have a hard time against the challengers. Those that came to challenge him were oblivious to his fire breath. It was why they dared to challenge him in the first place. And thus, each of the challengers fell prey to his blazing roar without putting up much of a fight.

Days passed by in a mellow fashion without any hint of grave happenstances. Since there was no clock or calendar, Henry kept track of his days by marking them on the wall of the cave. Around five days had gone by since his battle with the eagle. He wasn’t sure if five days was the exact amount of time that had passed as there were days where he felt like he had slept through a whole day. But roughly speaking, five days passed. His wounds were completely healed in just two days. He guffawed at himself for the needless worry that brought him sleepless nights, thought the nights weren’t exactly sleepless as he fell asleep eventually after his exhaustion reached its peak. His scales had all grown back and not a single scar was left on his body. Around the day after tomorrow or the day after, he noticed three horns were sprouting from his head. To be precise, two were growing on top of his head and one was growing on top of his nose like a rhinoceros’ horn. It didn’t come as a shock to him. Horns were expected on a Dragon. In fact, it would be weird if he didn’t grow any horns. As the horns were just sprouting, it didn’t bring any drastic changes to his routine.

The pond he found was not far from the cave. It was actually nearer than the lake. The only downside of the pond was that the path there had plenty of trees. Sometimes, he would hear the leaves rustling accompanied by the sound of skitterings as he strode past the trees. It made his skin crawl but he deemed it harmless as he didn’t feel any danger coming from those sounds. Gradually, he adopted a timetable. He would wake up every day at the break of dawn and have breakfast with the breakfast being the baboons and the challengers he defeated. They didn’t taste great but he assuaged himself with the fact that at least he wasn’t eating the centipede or any bugs. He would then head for the pond to drink his fill of water and bathe himself. He didn’t continue to practice swimming after what happened with the eagle. He couldn’t risk the same scenario again and he might so lucky if the same scenario repeated. After he returned from the pond, he would practice using magic. He imitated the eagle by slashing his claws at the air but no matter how hard he tried, nothing came out of his claws. He tried various other ways of using magic from the fantasy stories he remembered reading but none of those ideas yielded any results. The closest thing to magic that he could use was his fire breath but it didn’t feel very magical. His ability to breathe fire felt more like a biological trait than something mystical. When dusk came, he ate his supper and promptly went to sleep after that. He wanted to continue practising magic even after dark but he didn’t want to risk making too much noise and attracting unwanted attention.

Though the recent days didn’t bear any life-threatening circumstances, Henry couldn’t help but feel restless. He knew why and it wasn’t due to his fruitless result of practising magic, though it was partly the reason. It was because he knew nothing about his circumstances. He didn’t even know much about the geography of this area. There were too many unknown factors for him to stay put and act like everything was alright. Even if things were alright, it wouldn’t be so for long. Nature was unpredictable and volatile. There was also the possibility that the master of this cave would eventually return. 

On the sixth day since his battle with the eagle, Henry decided to set out and explore the lands around him. He forewent his bath in the morning as he knew he would get dirty along the trip but he didn’t forget to drink his fill of water first before setting off. Along his journey, he came across more plants and animals he had never seen before. He caught a glimpse of a basin in the distance. It was thickened with fog but he could still see some of the trees that jutted out from the grey. He also saw a waterfall in the distance but he chose not to go there when he saw a large shadow lingering near the waterfall. 

There were so much more wonders he witnessed but overall, there wasn’t a whole lot of difference in the scenery and surroundings from the area around the cave. It was the same green, terrain, and trees everywhere. A trick he learnt on this journey was that roaring once in a while helped tremendously in deterring monsters that wished to challenge him. If that didn’t work, a show of his fire breath would completely scatter all those that didn’t get frightened by his roar. Another thing he had come to learn was that he had incredible stamina. He had walked for hours through the forest and he was only feeling a little out of breath. He thought his feet would become sore but they didn’t. The bottom of his feet was rough from the start, built for traversing through such lands.

Around the time the sun reached the summit of the day, Henry stumbled upon a ravine. Normally, he would avoid such a place but for some reason, something was beckoning him. On top of that unexplainable feeling, curiosity was also compelling him to take a peek. He stretched his head over the cliff and peered down to the bottom. Due to the trees’ overgrowths, not much light reaches the depth of the ravine. Perhaps due to the distance, his innate night vision didn’t manage to pierce through the darkness. 

Henry unconsciously moved his head closer. He thought it was his imagination but it wasn’t. There was a bunch of glitter at the bottom of the ravine. It looked like crystals and it was those things that he felt beckoning him. He took a whiff of the air as a gust of wind blew upwards from the ravine. It was a wave of foul stench but amidst the terrible smell, there was a tinge of sweet fragrance. It smelled like caramel and mint. The sweet smell came from the crystals down below, Henry knew. 

Are those magic crystals?

His question wasn’t far-fetched considering the kind of world he was in. He himself was the biggest anomaly, a man reincarnated as a Dragon. A bunch of magic crystals growing at the bottom of a ravine sounded normal compared to his circumstance. However, it did make him wonder why they were all the way at the bottom. It was where the concentration of magic was the highest, was the staple explanation of any fantasy story. Henry didn’t think how that explanation wouldn’t apply to this situation too.

Henry was so entranced by the magic crystals at the bottom of the ravine that he failed to notice something was creeping up on him. It was only when the winds shifted that he caught the unfamiliar scent coming from behind him. He immediately turned around, growling with his claws ready to swipe, but he found nothing. Something was definitely in front of him as the smell made it apparent but he could not see what. Just when he thought he was going crazy over his paranoia, he noticed a tree was twisted and bent like it was made out of rubber but he quickly realized that wasn’t the case.

Camouflage.

Henry arrived at that conclusion. He wasted not another moment and unleashed his fire breath. The camouflaged creature undid its cloaking and tossed itself out of the fire stream’s path.

A lizard?

More precisely, the creature before him resembled an iguana. If Henry used his current appearance as a comparison, the iguana-like creature had a shorter neck, thinner limbs, shorter and less sharp fangs, and a smaller physique overall. It looked completely like him but just inferior in every way, except for its tail that was longer than its body. There was also its camouflaging ability, which was most likely magic. Henry was wondering why he didn’t feel any threatening aura emanating from the iguana but as it screeched and brandished its neck flap, the threatening aura came.

It can hide its murderous intent?

Henry made another shocking discovery. He immediately wondered just how many monsters could be watching him but merely hiding their presence and intent. The iguana attacked by lunging but Henry easily swatted it away. However, the iguana spewed a thin stream of green liquid from its mouth before it was swatted away. Henry didn’t know what it was but he moved away from the liquid regardless. And he was glad he did. The liquid landed on the ground and corroded the soil with a sizzling sound.

Acidic spit?

Henry felt his eyes popping out. He shuddered to imagine what his fate would be if he hadn’t dodged the spit. He doubted his hide could protect him from acid. Before Henry could retaliate, the iguana scurried back into the covers of the tall grasses. It was quick on its feet. Henry wanted to chase it down but he didn’t dare to. The iguana could be luring him into a trap for all he knew. He could run and head back to the cave but that would only allow the iguana to follow him home. He had to kill the iguana here and now. The only thing he could do was to wait for the iguana to strike again and pinpoint its location at that moment. 

Henry stood his ground and gazed vigilantly at his surroundings. He turned his blindside to where the winds were blowing so he could avoid being flanked as his nose could pick up the scent. He had half a mind to burn the entire area down with his fire breath but the saner side of him prevailed. He held on to his patience and waited for the iguana to strike. It was long before a spurt of acid came flying his way. He dove under the acid and lunged into the direction he saw the acid spurted from. However, the iguana scampered away before he could reach it. It was too quick.

Fine. Two can play that game.

Instead of waiting out in the open, Henry huddled in tall grasses too and flattened himself on the ground. It became a battle of wits and patience. It was only noon. Henry still had plenty of time to spare and waste. The light was bleak and the grasses weren’t too green. Henry had no problem blending himself into the dense vegetation.

Only a few minutes had passed when the iguana started spitting its acid attack in every direction. Henry could smell its fear. It was afraid. If he had to guess, it was because he saw through its camouflage. He understood its fear. He had the same kind of fear too when he was unable to breathe fire when he fought the eagle. The camouflaging ability was most likely the iguana’s magnum opus in terms of defence and offence, and its prey had just invalidated it. The iguana was moving around as it continued to frantically unleash its acid spit wherever it gazed. Henry began to move slowly too, slow enough to not make any sound or rustle the grass too much.

The acid spurting eventually stopped and Henry could hear the iguana panting hard. It had exhausted itself of its arsenal. Perhaps realizing the futility in its erratic attacks, the iguana no longer bothered with hiding and began its retreat. It had accepted that Henry was no prey but rather, a predator more cunning than it. Henry could hear the iguana squealing as it scuttled out of the tall grasses as if it was freaking out. He couldn’t say he didn’t expect this but he didn’t think the iguana would give up this easily. But as Henry thought about it, the iguana didn’t actually give up easily. Its camouflaging ability was exposed. It could not hit its target with its acid attack. And its tactic was copied and used against it. It was only natural that it freaked out. 

A part of him wanted to just let the iguana go but that was only a small part of him. The rest of him shouted for blood. Henry broke into a sprint and chased after the iguana. The lizard increased its haste after noticing Henry was on its proverbial tail. It took a sharp left and sprinted down into a shallow chasm. Henry followed without a single moment of hesitation. He knew if he hesitated, he would surely lose sight of the iguana. There was a shallow stream at the bottom of the chasm. The iguana dove into the stream and rode on the flow that was going down. It could swim, Henry realized. Of course, it could stream. It was an iguana after all. But it wasn’t swimming as fast as it could run. Henry surmised the iguana was probably conserving its stamina. It most likely knew it would run out of stamina first before it could outrun him.

Henry ran alongside the stream. It was shallow but he didn’t want to risk the water splashing into his mouth and going down the wrong pipe. The stream began to decline and the flow became faster. The distance between them was widening He was going to lose the iguana at this rate. He tried to use his fire breath but it proved to be a near-impossible task. It was like trying to sing while running. The iguana was getting further and further away. There was no problem in letting the iguana go now as it would not be possible for it to follow him now but for some reason, Henry couldn’t let it be. It wasn’t because of the inner voice. He no longer heard an inner voice. He only heard his own voice and that voice was telling him to kill the iguana no matter what. He wanted to see through this till the end.

When he saw a turn up ahead, he climbed out of the chasm and took the shortcut by running diagonally to where the stream turned. The iguana jumped with a shriek as Henry landed in front of it from above. It instantly leapt out of the water and climbed out of the chasm. But before it could run far, a small stream of flame grazed its right hind leg. It almost fell but it held on to its bearings and kept running.

Henry didn’t run after it. Instead, he kept to a moderate pace and simply jogged after the iguana. He knew it would only be a matter of time before the iguana was no longer able to run. His fire breath had caught its leg. It was a grave burn and unfortunately, the wound wasn’t cauterized. And so, it was left bleeding. Henry was amazed just how hot his fire breath was. He began to wonder how fast he could melt metal with his fire breath. He suddenly got the desire to find out just how hot his fire breath was.

As Henry filled his head with random thoughts of the near-future, he came to a stop after a sound entered his hearing. To be precise, it was a voice and not just any voice. A human’s voice and not just one. It was proper words they were speaking. He broke into a dash and rushed to the iguana. A small clearing was ahead and there was where he found the iguana, unmoving on the ground but that wasn’t all he saw. There were humans around the iguana.

Henry quickly took cover behind a fallen log and sneaked a peek by perching his head on top of the log. He held his breath and only exhaled when he truly couldn’t hold it anymore. There were three humans, two men and one woman. All three of them were naturally tanned and their hair was as dark as their eyes. While the men’s hair was loose around their shoulders, the woman’s hair was tied to a ponytail that reached her waist. Under different circumstances, Henry would have walked up to them and greeted them but each of the humans had a weapon in their hands. Furthermore, they were wearing clothes that he could only describe as tribal. The men were shirtless and wore only loincloths and hides of some animal wrapped around their waist. The woman wore similar clothing and her chest was wrapped in layers of sash out of some fabric. 

Contrary to their primitive appearance, their weapons bore intricate designs and seemed like something out of steampunk in Henry’s view. The men wielded greatswords two-thirds of their height. The woman wielded a spear with a helix-shaped blade at the head. The spear was slightly longer than the woman’s height and she was taller than the men by half a head. She was also the one that exuded the most imposing aura out of the three. Fear unlike before gripped Henry’s heart. It wasn’t the kind of suffocating fear he had when he discovered the cave or when he faced off against the rabbit. This fear wasn’t greater but neither was it less. It was just… different. He could hear the humans talking but he couldn’t make out the words. He thought that was because they were speaking in a language unknown to him but he picked a few words he recognized. They weren’t speaking a language he was familiar with but he understood the meaning, somehow. 

Curiosity ended up getting the better of him and slowly snuck his way closer. He hid behind a large tree and huddled close to the roots. He leaned his ear towards the voices of the humans.

“The wound is burnt and it’s still hot,” one of the men said as he assessed the dead iguana’s wound. “It doesn’t seem like a natural burn wound. Only magic can leave such a wound.”

“Outsiders?” the woman asked.

“If it is, we would have known. No, this is the work of another monster.”

“The fire genera are all in the depths of the mountains. It couldn’t be one of them, could it?” asked the other man. 

“Not likely. We would know if a fire genus wanders astray from its habitat. We might be looking at something new. A monster we haven’t encountered before.”

“But what manner of monster is capable of this?” 

Henry felt a tad excited hearing human words after such a long absence of it but the next words he heard were akin to a meteor dropping on him.

“The kind that is currently watching us from the shadows,” the woman said as he gazed directly at the tree where Henry was hiding behind.