5★ Draka

Fire Draka

A countless number of Astromons exist in Latecia, but those that take on the appearance of a dragon are extremely rare; the number of adventurers who have seen a Draka in the past few years, for example, could be counted on one hand.

“One may never see a Draka in their entire lifetime. And yet, recently the news spread through all Latecia that a red-scaled Draka burned down an entire village. Many lost their lives in the flames that burned for two full days. According to one report, the Draka came to punish one human that threw Astrochips at it in an attempt to catch it, and in the lot in which one house had burned down, there was a single Astrochip with fang marks in it.”

Hours after the news spread that a single Astromon set an entire village ablaze for two days, many theories about Draka began to surface. Among all the white noise arose one particularly credible theory that I will record here: “Draka lack the ability to empathize with others.”

Granted, humans use Astrochips to forcefully trap Astromons and bind them to their will, so we’re not really ones to talk…”

Still, the theory does have merit. Empathy is, after all, an ability developed for the purpose of living in groups and societies. Nothing that is weak, whether human or otherwise, can survive on it’s own, and so we all gather together and cooperate to survive. Essential to those living in these groups is the ability to understand one another.

That’s all there is to it. Empathy and warm hearts are simply tools of the weak that increase their odds of survival. Something as powerful as a Draka, sitting atop the food chain, has absolutely no need for such a trivial ability.

– One Master’s Record

Water Draka

In a remote mountain village, something special happened to a completely ordinary boy. No one knows when “it” began to wander near the boy. Even when the boy stopped by the forest on his way to draw water from the well, “it” stay nearby. After spending one particular day observing the day, it finally revealed itself to him in the shade of the forest.

The boy froze upon seeing the beast. The red, shiny scales that covered it’s body and the cold look in it’s eyes gave it an air that overwhelmed the boy. Sweat crept down the boy’s face and reached his chin just as the bag of fruit in his hands hit the ground. He remembered being told of a red dragon that burned everything on the ground, and that if he should ever encountered such a dragon, he was to run away without looking back.

Ripe and almost rotting fruit poured out of the bag he dropped, rolling off in all directions. In his fear, the boy suddenly remembered a piece of rye bread he accidentally left on the breakfast table that morning. It would probably be crawling with flies by the morning. He wished he would have put the bread away before coming out…

The boy looked up at the Draka’s brilliant scale-covered chin. A perfectly beautiful dragon towered over a lacking village boy, creating shade for him. Statements that red dragons bring only catastrophe to humans or that dragons are incapable of empathy were all lies. After a full year of spending time together, the boy and the Draka had become soul companions.

“When I first saw you, I was so scared that I ran away.” As the boy mumbled, one of the scales above him slightly twitched. “After much observation and consideration, I approached you in what I thought would be the least scary way.”

“How long were you observing me?!”

The boy gulped. In addition to saliva, he also swallowed the question that had always been on his mind: why him? He had always wanted to ask it, but had never been able to.

The boy didn’t know the Draka’s gender, or if it even had a gender. How could he describe their relationship? Like that of friends? Or parent and child? In reality, it was neither of those.

Romantic relationships between humans and humanoid Astromons were common in all corners of Latecia. They possess the same mental faculties and generally look the same. But love between a human and a non-humanoid Astromon…? Had there ever been such a thing? The boy wondered.

He remembered stories he had heard from a master of mermaids and beastmen who had fallen in love with humans, as well as a toad who suddenly became human and fell in love with another human.

A thought entered with boy’s mind. What if that dragon came to him one day as a red-headed woman? His heart skipped a beat.

Wood Draka

The day the boy had hoped for came sooner than expected, albeit in a form different from what he had imagined.

“The day in which you become a dragon is not far off. If you go to the ends of the earth, at the easternmost point, you will find a mix of astral energy and ancient energy that can transform your body into that of a dragon. Shed your weak human body and come fly with me”

The boy became confused. Of all days, why did he choose that day to fill his bag with the freshest fruit? His hand lost its strength, and as the bag hit the ground, the fruit burst out of it, rolling around in every direction. This was supposed to be what he had wanted, but it was not an option his little brain had anticipated. The future he envisioned was not this one.

“Doesn’t everyone…usually try to become human…?” The boy said as he tried picking up the fruit with trembling hands.

The Draka never raised the subject again. At some point, the boy noticed the Draka did not stare at him as much, did not do as many little things for him, and most noticeably, did not look at him with the same warmth as before. Every day, the longer and longer silences replaced the conversation between the two.

One day, the Draka stopped visiting the boy’s hut.

For the first few days, the boy waited for the Draka all day, and for several more days the boy could do nothing except cry. Left alone, the boy lay on the floor and stared at the claw mark on his hut’s wall. The Draka had made it’s mark there, and almost set the place on fire in the process. Was this all because the boy had refuse the Draka’s suggestion? There must have been some deeper reason. It’s not like they couldn’t spend time together if the body remained human.

At that moment, the boy remembered a story he heard before from a beggar who had come from a different world. He said it was a well-known story in his world. In search of her departed husband, a woman overcame adversity and hardships to reunite with him, and since he was the god of love, the two went up to heaven. The boy started to scramble as through he was possessed, searching around his hut until in one hand he had all the money he had saved from selling fruit, and half a piece of jerky in the other.

Light Draka

According to rumors, Lord Edward, the renown entrepreneur from Bisden, has recently been searching for a Draka. He always had been interested in dragon Astromons, and even raised a number of Meras in his own home. However, can a Draka really be domesticated?

I can’t even imagine a Draka living together with a human. Hasn’t he heard the story of the Draka that razed a village because a human threw Astrochips at it? I have my doubts about Lord Edward’s Astromon-rearing skills, too. He had one Mera that ray away last year; it still hasn’t been found.

It seems there’s now someone other than Lord Edward asking about a Draka. A boy in grubby clothes has been going around asking people if they’ve seen a Draka. Everyone in Bisden knows him at this point. He seems to be from a small village, which vegs the question: why would he be looking for a Draka? I asked him myself, but he only gave me a distressed look in response.

Month 9, Day 26: Black smoke was sighted coming out of Lord Edward’s house. Fortunately, there was no fatalities, except for the house itself, which was reduced to ashes that then blew across all of Bisden, creating quite the mess for others to clean up

Multiple witnesses reported seeing a dragon-shaped figure near the house moments before it caught fire. They no doubt saw a Draka. This is the second fire started by an Astromon in this peaceful city. I’m starting to worry about having taken a loan out of my house.

“Regarding the poor boy looking for a Draka, it is said he was being detained in juvenile hall on the day of the fire, after he had tried to run out of a restaurant without paying. He hurried to the site of the fire and searched through the wreckage for any sign of the Draka, but it obviously wasn’t there. All that was there was ash.”

– Bisden Citizen’s Report

Dark Draka

Month 10, Day 15: First it was Edward’s house, and now it’s the Astromon black market he supported that was set ablaze by a Draka. The place where I was born and the house in which I grew up are now nothing more than ash. Luckily, they say the newborn Astromons in the black market were all rescued and are now being watched over. I still remember vividly the sight of those little Astromons crying.

“The entire city is frantically trying to catch the Draka. I wonder if my master also took part in plans to catch it. Or perhaps he’s too busy looking for rare Astromons he lost when his house burned down too? Er, I suppose he’s not ‘my’ master anymore, but rather my ‘former’ master. That doesn’t sadden me anymore. When I saw the house burning, all that filled me was elation.”

The whole city is understandably bustling with talk about the Draka. They’re finally starting to realize what they took for granted, and that their ‘order’ was actually exploitation.

“Humanoid Astromons must be afforded the same rights as humans, regardless of their background.”

“That is an excerpt from the United Charter, part of the magna Carta that was announced seven years after the Great Fire of Bisden was instigated by an Astromon decades ago. They say persecutions towards humanoid Astromons all but ceased shortly afterwards. But why ‘humanoid’ Astromons? What about non-humanoid Astromons like that Draka and me? The persecutions and mistreatment only worsened for us. It would seem society always needs to have tiers.

“Was the documents that secured rights for humanoid Astromons really written for the sake of Astromonkind? If it was, why were equal rights not given to all Astromons? After a great deal of research, I found an answer in human crime statistics.”

Seven years before the Great Fire of Bisden, about 6% of humans had demonstrated discrimination and violence against humanoid Astromons. But humanoid Astromons were not their only targets, and as time passed, they started to exhibit the same behaviors towards other humans.

I ask again: Was securing rights for ‘Astromons that look like humans’ really done for Astromonkind? Humanoid Astromons can be difficult to distinguish from regular humans. A Threat to them was a threat to a system that valued treating other humans with respect. The magna Carta was not, it turns out, written for Astromons. It was written by humans to preserve humans values by securing rights for humanoid Astromons.”

“I thought back to the day the Draka started a fire in the heart of the city. The fire started by a humanoid Astromon led to their receiving equal rights. What will the fire started by a dragon lead to?

As I was started to get emotional, a small boy dressed in rags stumbled and then collapsed in front of me. I suppose I will save him and we’ll see what happened. That’s enough writing for today.”

– Stained record written in sloppy handwriting