In a small meadow outside of Scotland a young girl named Jessica sat combing her long golden hair with a wooden brush. The blond wavy hair was nearly to the girl’s waist and as she sat the ends of her hair caressed wild sunflowers in the breeze. The day was bright and the world seemed perfect to the seven year old girl. Then disaster struck. The once blue sky suddenly filled with dark gray smoke. For a time Jessica thought nothing of it, her concentration was solely planted on her precious long hair but distant screams caught her attention. Young Jessica lifted her angelic, heart-shaped face toward the village and watched as a large-winged beast carried out the destruction of her home.

Jessica stood abruptly, wanting nothing more than to find her parents and to be told everything would be okay. Jessica grabbed her wooden brush and ran from the sunflower-infested meadow to her village with a fluttering heart. As Jessica approached the first cobblestoned area into the village she saw up close, for the very first time, a dragon. “It’s beautiful,” thought Jessica, never having seen such an exotic creature. The dragon was massive in size and was covered in blood red scales that gleamed through the smoky haze. Jessica found herself watching the flying beast with intense curiosity. She noted how naturally the dragon flapped its wings and how its long tail swiveled behind it as it made turns and dives, but when brilliant orange flames burst from the dragon’s mouth towards the village below, Jessica screamed.

“You there, little girl!” called a voice in the distance, “Get down!” Out of nowhere the brilliant dragon loomed down and griped Jessica’s shoulders with sharp talons. Jessica felt pain and a warm wetness protruding out where the dragon’s grasp held her. Jessica helplessly watched the village become smaller with each flap of the red dragon’s wings and her eyes dripped mercilessly with tears. The dragon came to a halt as quiet wisps flew passed Jessica’s ears towards the dragon. The dragon snarled in every direction looking for the source of the sound, moments later the dragon let out a grunt, expanded its wing and snapped its teeth ferociously. Jessica could see the slim outline of an arrow in the outstretched wing. She looked down towards the direction of where the arrow had come and saw a lone silver spec standing away from the cobblestoned village. The dragon also saw the source of his pain and dove at the lone spec with amazing speed. The wisping sounds got louder as Jessica felt herself being taken towards the ground, the lone man was much closer now. Jessica could now make out a shielded man, his bow, and slim arrows poking out of a carrier on his back. Jessica feared for this man, she didn’t want the dragon to get him too. “Move!!!!!” screeched Jessica to the stranger. The man stayed cemented in place. When the dragon was only a few flaps away from the man it cackled ready to end the annoyance the man had caused. The man withdrew a long sword and with precise aim flung it straight into the dragon’s heart. The dragon’s spine arched in midair for only a moment before it fell spiraling to the ground. “Hold on to its leg!” the man yelled at Jessica, and Jessica obeyed.

Jessica had never been more afraid in her life but she trusted the shield-bearing man. Jessica braced herself for the crash, but to her amazement she was saved by the dragon’s body, the dragon had landed on the ground first, she followed and landed on its soft underbelly. The man was by her moments later, he had stripped off his metal gear and met her with dark hair, a scruffy neck, and stern eyes. “Are you alright?” the man asked. Jessica could not control her shaking body but she shyly nodded back at the man through her messy golden mane and looked up at him. “May I see your wounds?” the man asked. Jessica nodded again and watched as her savior rolled up her sleeves and inspected the damage. “A dragon’s talons are poisonous,” he said gazing intently at her arm “yet I see no venom seeping from your cut little one…strange.” Jessica waited for the man to get done looking at her arm and when he did she couldn’t help but ask “Who are you?” The man smiled crookedly back at Jessica and said “I’m a dragon slayer.”