Jun heard the sounds of birds chirping and the singing of their morning songs.
He rubbed his eyes before opening them to see the dark, muddy blues and yellows of early dawn. The dark underbellies of long strips of clouds floated lazily through the air. It felt dewy and cold, along with a moist thickness to the air as he breathed.
Jun rolled onto his side and slowly lifted his body off of the rock he slept on. Despite sleeping on a hard rock the entire night, it felt like he had one of the more restful slumbers that he's had in a while.
As Jun adjusted his eyes to reality, he was greeted with a view he never thought he would ever see.
Arkshan was completely shirtless, well without his half breastplate, as water dripped down along the ridges of his body. The water droplets reflected in the lightly pink sunlight like glistening jewels.
They accented every muscle in his arms, chest, and defined abs.
The only thing he wore was his black pants. Though it didn't help that they sat low on his hips and showed a defined V line. His scales glistened in the dawn like beautiful grey pearls.
Jun covered his gapping mouth as he couldn't take his eyes off of the draconic man in front of him. A large blush formed on his face as he finally managed the strength to look away and curl up into an embarrassed ball.
He wasn't ready in the slightest to wake up to a sight like that that was before him.
All of a sudden he felt as he was backhanded on the back of the head, causing him to fall off the rock and onto the damp ground.
"Bathe!" Jun heard Arkshan hiss, holding where he was hit with his hand.
Tears watered in his eyes as he felt a knot start to form on the back of his head. It took a few seconds for Jun to recover from the hit before he slowly stood up on his feet.
He glanced over at Arkshan who was looking down at him. Fire burning in his eyes.
"Wha—"
Before Jun could even finish his word Arkshan pushed him away towards the forest.
The surprise of the sudden force caused Jun to tumble to the ground, almost falling over.
"Shut it!" The half-dragon snapped loudly again.
Jun decided to run into the forest so he could get away from this evil man as fast as possible.
He tried to hide his tears running as the wind whipped him in the face.
As Jun made his way through the forest, he figured out why it was so cold and damp this morning. There seemed to be a thick morning fog that had blown into the mountains.
He shivered in the dewy air as he eventually came across a small lake.
The lake had steam coming off of it while the trees created a sort of canopy that shaded it from above. The only light came from behind Jun through the sparse trees.
Jun made his way towards the lake and saw that there were some things that laid near the water's edge. He squatted down and saw that it was a small vial and a few pleasant smelling flowers.
Is this for me? Jun wondered in confusion as he examined the flowers with his fingertips.
He didn't know why Arkshan was such in a bad mood this morning since it seemed nothing had bothered them as they slept.
Jun also didn't remember waking up at all in the middle of the night to a loud ruckus or any monster of sorts.
He wiped his tear stained face and took off his clothes. Throwing them next to the sweet smelling flowers.
The water was surprisingly warm as he dipped his foot into it.
It reminded him of the public hot springs back in the East. Though Jun's family had their own private hot springs to bathe in.
The privacy he had here in the forest away from Arkshan, along with the canopied top, felt very close to what was back home.
Jun slowly sat down into the waters and leaned his head back on the edge of the bank. A sigh escaped his lips as he closed his eyes.
His whole body ached from yesterday, along with Arkshan hitting him this morning as well. The warm waters of the lake seemed to help all of his muscles to relax and calm him.
Birds singing and chirping in the trees gave the lake a peaceful atmosphere.
He took his time to bathe himself in the lake's waters. The warm waters felt exceptionally nice as he washed his hair. Wondering what could have possibly made Arkshan to be in such a bitchy mood.
Jun soon found out that the vial was the same one that contained the oil of lilies and roses.
So Arkshan had to have bathed before I had woken up.
He scrubbed himself and his clothes with the oil and flowers. Jun had never thought he would smell like a noble once again while he was adventuring out in the boonies for some "Dwarves'" mine.
Jun slowly leaned back and allowed the warm waters to float through his hair. It felt absolutely heavenly. Relaxing the muscles in his neck and shoulders. Alongside his aching body that was terribly sore from yesterday.
He groaned as he just realized that they were to be doing more hiking through these mountains.
It made no sense as to why there would be no roads or paths that would lead into this part of the empire. As obviously someone had to or else it would just be called the "wastes" like further up north.
Though it did lead him to believe that this "Dwarf" mine was some sort of elaborate rouse.
A wild goose chase to lead them to their deaths.
Though considering Arkshan's notorious reputation, it sounded like something someone would do to him.
The cold morning air made it extremely hard to come out from the lake as Jun shivered a lot form the sudden change in temperature. He quickly grabbed his soaking wet clothes and the vial before heading back to their campfire to warm up.
When Jun came back to their makeshift campsite, he saw Arkshan messing with a bundle of sticks near the fire.
Still shirtless.
While Jun made his way to the campfire, Arkshan looked up and noticed his nude figure.
"Put clothes on!" Arkshan's yelling startled Jun as he tried not to drop his sopping wet clothes.
"You expect me to catch a cold?!" Jun snapped back, glaring at the half-dragon. "Plus we're both men."
Steam came out of Arkshan's nose from his deep sigh.
"Lewd devil..." He head Arkshan mutter angrily as he stopped what he was doing and stood up. "I can't even be shirtless without you perving."
The blunt statement hit Jun like a slap in the face. He looked away from Arkshan approaching him.
Arkshan snatched his clothes out of his hands and looked at them in disdain. Jun covered himself with his hands as he watched Arkshan breathe steam onto them.
After fanning and steaming Jun's clothes, Arkshan shoved them back into his arms.
Jun looked down at his clothes in awe as they felt warm and dry. He quickly put his clothes on and lavished in the warmth they provided.
He went to try and warm himself by the fire once again, but a bundle of sticks and his bow were thrown down at him.
"Don't throw my bow!" Jun criticized while he brushed the dirt off of his bow.
"Hunt." Was Arkshan's only response as he walked away. "Be quick."
"Why don't you do it yourself!?" Jun was fed up with Arkshan using him as some sort of handmaiden and commanding him left and right.
His family may be dead, but he wasn't going to become some slave for someone else.
"Are you offering to become breakfast?" Arkshan implied. He stopped walking, but not turning to look back at Jun, causing him to quickly began to gather up the pointed sticks and bow.
Jun may be stubborn, but he also had some sense of self-preservation.
————
The fog made it hard to see in the evergreen forests that resided in the valleys and cliffs of the mountains. It also made a cold that made it all the way through Jun and into his bones.
As Jun made his way deeper into the forest he heard the sounds of hooves nearby.
He crouched down low in the bushes and slowly made his way towards the sounds. Jun brushed a piece of foliage away from his face.
There he saw a clearing filled with deer. There had to have been ten or even more that lazed and grazed about in the clearing.
Jun quickly took five sticks from the bundle and notched them all at once on his bow.
He pulled back.
The sticks flew through the air with a quiet whizz.
The sticks struck five deer in their heads, instantly killing them. Jun celebrated quietly at his skill, happy that his archery skills were still impeccable after all this time.
The rest of the deer ran away. Making the loud noise of stampeding hooves.
Now he just had to figure out how to move all five deer all the way back to camp.
I could probably just get Arkshan to do it.
Though he doubted Arkshan would. Especially with the bitchy mood he was already in.
As he went towards the bodies of the deer, he heard a loud sound come from within the forest.
It was the sound of flocks of birds squawking and rushing out of the trees nearby.
Jun jumped in fear. He looked towards the sound to see trees being pushed down with great force.
But he couldn't see what was barreling through the forest towards him.
Jun rolled out of the way once he saw the trees at the edge of the clearing fall down.
A guttural roar was heard nearby.
Jun looked towards it with his heart dropping in his chest.
He immediately recognized it as a lesser drake.
The creature was about the height of the trees and had spiked scales all over its body. The drake's belly also glowed a bright red as piercing red eyes stared down at Jun.
Though the creature was massive compared to Jun, he felt his sense of fear fade away as he stared right back at it.
Straight into its glowing draconic eyes.
He threw the sticks to the ground and readied his emptied bow at the face of the drake.
The creature roared again. Causing the air to smell like death and rotten blood as it lunged towards Jun.
"Come." Jun muttered. He jumped away to the side of the large drake.
A large blue lightning bolt came down from the skies and into Jun's hand. He pointed his bow at the creature that tuned back around.
The creature lunged once again at Jun with a roar.
This time Jun didn't step to the side.
The drake opened its wide, teeth filled mouth at Jun as it was a few feet away from him.
"Release."
He released the bow's string and the plasma in his hand created a large blue bolt.
It went through the drake's mouth and right through its entire body. Jun managed to roll behind a nearby tree in time as the creature's body split down its middle.
Guts, entrails, and scales exploded in a bloody mess as its body landed, causing the ground to shake.
Jun looked out from behind the tree and saw the charred inside of the drake's body.
The lightning had caused its entire back and spine to blow out. Making it look like a spring roll that was sliced down the middle.
Its burnt corpse made the air start to smell like charred meat that caused Jun to gag a little.
He took a deep breath before making his way towards the deer. Making sure to avoid the scattered insides of the drake.
As he looked down at the deer, the ground started to shake again.
Jun sighed as he saw two drakes pounce towards him from either side.