Chapter Text
A crash.
Minho jolts upright from where he is standing behind his work table, dropping the spoon next to the cauldron he was working in. He rushes outside to see what’s happening.
Smoke.
There is smoke hanging in the air.
Unlike the crash, the smoke is subtle. You wouldn’t have seen it if you didn't know the forest. Not if you knew it like Minho, anyways.
Lee Minho, the district witch. Although known in the village as a scary witch, ready to eat your kids (you know how village tellings go), Minho is the sweetest person out there. Well, the sweetest with maybe some trust issues.
How could he not? He lives next to a village of humans for terra’s sake. Even though he knows not all humans are bad, a lot of his clients have proved him otherwise. He even refuses requests now, some requests being over the top and unethical and selfish. The clients are too scared of him to go against his decision anyway.
His cottage is located at the edge of District Levanter, one of the biggest districts of Iyagi. It is cozy and simple, not too big, but contains everything Minho ever needed. A big forest lies hidden behind his cottage, a big fog permanently floating around.
District Levanter is situated on the border between Iyagi and Nicodra, the land of magic. It’s a land where average humans better not venture in, even though humans have been living there for centuries. The stories have just been cocktailed in such a manner that humans from Iyagi have never dared to venture into Nicodra.
Minho is glad those stories were made to keep Iyagins away. Even if most humans living in Nicodra live in harmony with nature and the magical creatures, some of the Nicodrians weren’t good news. At all. If Iyagins with bad intentions ventured into Nicodra… Minho has to suppress a shudder.
The forest serves as a barrier between the two lands, and the fog protects it, like a protective shield. The fog is usually thick and white, always growing thicker if anyone, except someone such as Minho, ventures inside.
As Minho rushes outside, he notices that there are multiple grey spots at the entrance. Even in the sky, further above the trees, Minho can see small puffs of smoke. Something uncommon for the magical shield.
The witch frowns. Those puffs of smoke could only mean one thing, Minho knows that well. Even if he had never seen such a creature, he knew all about them. But in any case, it doesn’t make sense. Dragons are meant to live in the mountains of Nicodra, miles away from the border, in the middle of said country. So what was a Nicodrian dragon doing here?
Minho rushes inside to grab his bag and then enters the forest, the fog dissipating in front him and closing behind him as a door. He ventures to where he thought the smoke was coming from, walking over the path of leaves autumn had left behind.
The smoke lessens in quantity as he continues his way, but he still has to cough multiple times. Smoke is still much heavier, and is a rather unwelcome feeling in Minho’s lungs. He pulls up his scarf a little, hoping the fabric will keep some smoke away from his nose.
He continues his path, but slows down once he sees some of the burned branches above him. Step by step, he discovers more and more broken branchen, until there’s actually almost a hole in the sky. Minho sees some water elfs greet him, as they help the land elfs in spraying the trees. There must have been a fire for them to work together, Minho thinks as he says hi back. One of the water elfs, Hyunjin, comes up to him.
“I’m pretty sure you already have a hunch of what crashed here.” Minho nods.
“The dragon must have landed a couple of hundred meters further, but when we wanted to take a look, it had disappeared already. As some of the trees were burning, we started taking care of that first, so the dragon must have ran away while we weren’t looking. We don’t know how they did it, though.”
Minho nods again. “I see. Thank you for taking care of the trees and the burns. I’ll go see if I can find the dragon. They must not be far if they’re in their human form.”
Hyunjin’s eyes widen. “Oh, that’s true! I forgot they have a human form. That must be why we didn’t see anything. I’d advise asking the trees to see if they saw the dragon.”
“Thank you, Hyunjin, as always.” Minho smiles, giving a small bow.
Hyunjin smiles back, bowing as well. “The pleasure is mine.”
It isn’t the first time Minho works together with the creatures in the forest. It’s a usual thing, actually. When the creatures need help, they come to Minho and in return they help him collect ingredients and objects he might need for potions, enchantments, or just for himself, such as fabric for clothes.
Minho advances further into the forest, and addresses the first tree to ask if they had seen a human or a dragon pass. A leaf falls onto Minho’s head as the tree moves one of their branches to the right, indicating a path Minho made by walking over it often through the years. He can see some ashes on the ground, but also some blood stains. They’re hurt , Minho’s brain delivers, and he picks up his pace as he follows the way. The ashes disappear over the next few meters, but the drops of blood don’t.
Every tree he passes shows him the way to the dragon, until he stumbles upon a hedge of bushes. Minho knows the bushes very well, as they lead to the hidden lake of the forest. It’s a place hidden to others, not every creature being allowed to enter. It’s a space where creatures who are hurt can go to, so Minho or any healing creature can help them get better.
As he enters the clearing, he sees a body lying on the ground in front of the lake. He runs over to the person. They’re lying on their right side, body facing the lake, some blood traces leading towards it. They must have tried to drink some water and passed out right after , Minho realizes as he crouches down in front of the person.
It’s a young boy, fox-like features adoring his face. Minho looks over in urgency, and discovers where the young boy had been bleeding. Scratches cover the whole of his body, his clothing ripped open in multiple places. Probably because of the branches , Minho thinks.
He encants multiple ancient melodies to stop the bleeding. Slowly, he places his arms under the dragon’s body, and lifts him up. The boy’s head rests against Minho’s chest, arms resting in between their bodies. Minho walks as calmly, but as fastly, as possible, to not wake the young dragon up.
Jeongin’s eyes flutter open as he feels his body softly moving. He feels his body meeting a soft surface, and meets soft brown eyes.
“Everything will be alright. You’ll be fine.” The stranger speaks up softly.
He doesn’t know who the man is, but the safe feeling in his body takes over as his eyes close again, falling back into a deep slumber, a faint smile adoring his face.