I Tame Radiant Beasts!

Xenar had found Mike strange, the slim man reminded him of something but he couldn't put his finger on. Being a keeper in training had its perks, he gets to learn the history, tradition and the teachings of the ancestors, the dwarves how didn't write a lot and so notable events of the past had to be passed down by words and it was his duty to make sure those events stick in his mind until he joined his ancestors, so it was very jarring when he was certain he had seen something like Mike somewhere.

The young dwarf was under the chief's guidance and was poised to becoming the next.

It was especially frustrating as he knew that the information about a creature like Mike was written down and not told to him. He was certain of it. The dwarves of Reas didn't make many books or tablets, so going through them wouldn't be as time consuming as rummaging through his mind for the right answer about the new creature.

So while the others partied, he studied the books and wooden tablets.

Mike helped himself to the fruits and meat that was brought to his table. He had been starving and though the berries were tasty, they hardly satiated his hunger. The young man ate to his delight.

He rushed in meat and fruits alike, almost choking on them twice.

"Are you guys good cooks or are things better tasting in this world?" Mike was betting on the latter, he couldn't taste any traces of spice on the meat, yet, the taste made him euphoric. They were incredibly delicious. There was also that faint invigorating feeling, except now, it felt much familiar.

Draya and Thundel received ample attention having found this distant relative of theirs. They chug juices, bursting out in laughter to whatever joke was made.

Mike finally felt comfortable in this crowd, the chances of things going south now was extremely low, and he let himself wallow in the enjoyment.

He looked to his hands, seeing the kids play with elements made him crave what he had done when the dwarves first arrived. He had done that all by himself, had he not?

He shook his head and continued eating when he noticed a disturbance in the crowd. Someone was breaking through the people, trying to reach the tables.

"Stop! He is not what we think he is. He is not a distant relative, he's an enemy, an evil one." Xenar claimed, holding with him a thick leather bound book.

Seeing the dwarf's finger pointed at him had him realized that something had gone wrong. Mike stood up.

The chief walked to this dwarf, and Xenar opened the large book, dust bursting from the pages. The dwarf stopped at a page, and on it was a drawing of what looked like a human.

The drawing was of a lanky figure, and though it looked every bit human, there was a distinct feature that Xenar didn't catch on. The creature on the drawing had pointy ears, Mike didn't, the dwarves however couldn't tell the difference. To them, the drawing looked just like Mike.

A number of dwarves huddled about the book and they read the words.

"Oh my!" Draya exclaimed and looked back to Mike. Mike knew right there that his time was up and he began backstepping.

"This creature is cunning, and though it looks like us, it possess an evil unknown to our kind. It devours and grows on the flesh of radiant beasts." Xenar read aloud, and glared at Mike once he was done.

"I think things just got fucked." Mike mumbled.

The dwarves now began walking towards him, their eyes didn't hold the gentle spirit they once held, there was only coldness and indifference.

"Rid this evil from the forest!" Xenar cried, agitating the crowd.

The dwarves at the utmost front took a stance and swiped their arms. Gouts of fire burst forth from their palms, searing the air with their heat.

The flames were close to swallowing up Mike when his red chains sprouted from within him and spun against the flames, siphoning the radiance present within the elemental attacks and undoing it.

The flame blowers backstepped, seemingly cautious about these chains. Anything that fed on radiance was known to be bad news.

Mike swiftly turned around, and began running. The dwarves sent another wave of flame attacks, and just before they got to Mike, gusts of wind burst from his hands sending him flying.

"Whoooaaa!" He screamed as he levitated. Then came the tree branches.

"Ouu! Ouu! Ouu!" He broke through multiple branches, splinters embedding on his skin.

"Holy fuck." He was atop the trees, and the view beneath him was beautiful. The uniformity of the large-leaved trees and the lights that hovered between them made the view picturesque.

Wherever he was, it was closer to a fairytale than earth.

And it was right at that moment that the wind beneath his palms gave out.

"Oh no."

He fell.

The dwarves had lost him, and they huddled around their chief hoping for instructions.

The dwarves were hoping for a hunt, such evil shouldn't be allowed to roam for so much as a day.

"Let the creature be." The chief spoke. The dwarves were left disgruntled, that wasn't what they hoped for.

However, there was wisdom in age, and that was why he was chief.

'I sensed no malice from it. To judge a creature on the behavior of another is primitive.'

However, a number of dwarves weren't having it, including Xenar. Such evil shouldn't be allowed to roam.

They would hunt the vile thing before it caused chaos across Talcaf. That was what Rólos would want of them, they decided.

"Woohoo!" Mike screamed as he fell, flailing his arms in struggle. He had no control over the wind that stepped in to save him. He was inches off the floor when his red chains sprouted from him with an almost instantaneous speed, fixing themselves into tree trunks, and holding him up, preventing him from turning splat on the forest ground.

The young man hyperventilated as he slowly let open his eyes to the bottom, and he looked to the chains that had saved him.

'Thank you.'

For the first time, he was glad that the chains had a mind of their own and they were bent on keeping him alive.