Chapter 2: A Merciless World.

I better make something to carry the egg and to keep it warm and safe-Chronos thought. By the time the blessing stopped emitting light and energy Chronos noticed some drones approaching the mountain. "This is bad..."-he muttered. "I have to hide the egg and hurry up to leave this place".

Despite his age, Chronos was a very skilled hunter, he could also have the patience and precision enough to transform scales from DD into weapons and light armor to cover certain parts of his body. Everything he knew was thanks to the library which the collectors left when they were reduced to dust by DD. Chronos knew his parents were killed by DD, but he was not angry or sad, he just accepted it a long time ago; this helped him to have no troublesome thoughts while growing, his mind was clear and sharp.

A while after, the drone inspected the zone, Chronos came out from his hiding spot and started to create a backpack big enough for the egg. It might take me a couple of hours to finish and collect everything I need to leave. -Chronos thought. His mind processed what was happening and what he had to do. Luckily for him, the collectors had maps and dictionaries, perfect for a traveler. Sadly, the transports they used to reach the place had no use anymore.

When Chronos collected everything he needed and the egg, he heard a different noise from everything he has heard in his pacific, yet rigorous life. Some helicopters were about to arrive at the place to take DD's corpse and the egg. He had to run. But in a way he couldn't be spotted, so he used the mountain to avoid being sighted. "Goodbye, Mother..." -He sighed. Chronos was not unable to feel, but he had almost no emotional knowledge. Even though, the fact of DD's corpse being taken by an unknown group of people bothered him.

I can't do anything right now... they may be armed as well -he thought while moving cautiously towards a forest right next to the mountain's base.

When the sun set completely, Chronos could hear how the helicopters started flying again, but this time carrying DD's corpse. Chronos gritted his teeth, he had lost everything again and he couldn't do anything. So he focused on taking care of the dragon's baby with his life. He was determined.

Sometime later, he prepared a small settlement within the forest to study the maps and dictionaries to be ready when he arrived his first town, which was not so far away; he calculated a couple of days before he could arrive and three weeks was the estimated time he could learn all the languages he needed.

Chronos passed a month in the forest, and now he could talk about 6 different languages to an intermediate level, he felt prepared to travel around the current world and dedicate his life to be a collector, like his deceased parents, but this time with a mission which was protecting his new friend, even though it was not ready to hatch yet.

"I feel you will understand me or at least you will pay attention to me in the future" -said Chronos to the egg while reading the map again. It's weird to talk to something that won't reply to me -he thought.

After a deep sigh, he took the map, and some reserves of meat and water then packed them up along with the egg in his improvised but large backpack and burned down the books he read already. He knew they would not be of use for him anymore.

Then it began, the story of a boy who lost everything he had twice, and still managed to move on by accepting his fate in a world that was about to do anything to kill him and take away his unborn partner from him to study it. A merciless world.

A couple of days later, when Chronos managed to find his way to the first town he has ever been in, Argos, he noticed the language would not be different from the ones he currently knew.

"It seems the languages didn't change that much with the pass of time"-he said to himself with a small smile reflecting relief.

Argos was a town where the economy depended mostly on farming and trading. The world's currency has changed many times until now and the value of the resources increased enough to tag those who couldn't afford them as poor, but still, everyone who dedicated his life to a certain job could afford enough to survive every day and feed their family.

It looks like there's not much technolo- Chronos' thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the presence of a person; probably trying to sneak behind him.

The unknown individual took out a gun from his pants and aimed at Chronos' rib cage. "Give me everything you have" -the robber said with a low tone and with his eyes motioning for Chronos to give him his back without resistance.

Chronos, with an expression of disappointment on his face because of his first encounter with another human being like this, looked at the individual and quickly thought: this place is not as secure as I thought, maybe "poverty" brings crime.

For a brief moment, Chronos stood motionless looking at the finger in the trigger then without any warning the robber moved closer to Chronos in order to take away his backpack from him. Chronos reacted grabbing the hand with the gun and raising it up, this made the robber shoot twice to the sky and gave enough time for Chronos to reach his relatively small blade made of DD's scales and sliced the hand which was holding the gun, making the robber yelp in pain. Blood ran down the severed wrist and the robber fell on the floor twitching and crying because of the fear and pain. Chronos just stayed still watching with a straight face the once determined robber, and placed his dagger-like blade into his backpack.

"Fuck you!" was the last thing that person said to Chronos before he walked away from the now dying robber.

Human beings...I thought we would be more...friendly to each other... -Chronos thought. of course, this was only the first one I met, sadly it ended up like this -He Continued.

Chronos tried to erase his first impression of humanity from his head. After all, he would end up socializing and traveling along with others, which was an unpleasant thought for him at the moment.

To be logical, he needed to interact with other humans in order to progress on his goals. Not that he wanted to, but he had to.

"I should look for a place to sleep and I still need to find out which currency is used in this place... maybe I could sell one of the precious stones I brought with me from the mountain I wonder how much they are worth" -Chronos said to himself.

Some minutes later, Chronos realized none of the people who saw the fight moved to save the robber or cared enough to call for help. Noone cares -Chronos stomach tied into knots making him feel upset but he didn't understand why. The town looked like the buildings would be made from basic materials, and the technology was basic as well, just for comfort.

After arriving at a sort of inn for travelers, Chronos eavesdropped a conversation between two animal-like people, the first half-breeds he saw.

"Did you see the foreigner who cut Dan's hand?" -asked one of them.

"Yes, I knew it would eventually happen if he kept trying to rob travelers, but I think his gang would still try to avenge him" -answered the second Half-breed.

Chronos kept that in mind while going inside the inn. Probably only the closer ones to someone would only care -Chronos thought. Finally, inside the inn, Chronos went straight to the receptionist with a half-serious and half disinterested expression. "Excuse me...how many days does this worth?" -Chronos placed an emerald of about 6-7 centimeters of diameter on the counter.

The receptionist chuckled. "I'm sorry kid, but I'm not stupid. I won't let you stay here if you bring me a fake stone that worths nothing."

Chronos frowns confused. "Fake?"-He replies.

The receptionist was a suspicious-looking man with some extra pounds on his body. The look in his eyes expressed joy and amusement. The man smiles at the innocent look of Chronos. "Yes fake, only by watching it in the distance I can tell it is obviously fake. Therefore I will take it so no one will be fooled by you".

The receptionist is about to take the emerald when suddenly someone storms in, slamming the door of the inn and shouting "STOP!"

The stature of the individual was lower than the average Chronos has seen so far. a kid? -he thought. The receptionist looked scared, something which confused Chronos even more.

"Nat, what does bring you here today?" -The receptionist stuttered.

"Get your dirty hands off that precious stone, Bernard!" The girl exclaimed.

The girl called by the receptionist "Nat", seemed related in some way to him, who answered to the name of Bernard. Chronos was trying to pick up on what was happening. But he just stayed there watching them argue about the emerald's value. A couple of minutes later Nat jumped on the counter and snatched the emerald from Bernard's grip, and grabbed his tie. "May this be the last time I see you trying to fool someone, fat-ass. That's why travelers almost never come here in the first place!".

"Rude...I just do what it's necessary to succeed in life" -Bernard "innocently" explains.

"SAY YOU ARE SORRY!" -Nat pulls higher Bernard's tie making it more difficult for him to breathe.

Bernard sighs in defeat. "I-I'm sorry...."

"Good," Nat says triumphantly. Then she jumps down from the table with the emerald in her hand and turns to Chronos. "Boy-"

Boy? -Chronos thought.

"-if you don't want this to happen again you should sell this to a real professional, you shouldn't have these kinds of valuable stones with you" Nat continued.

"Alright, but I don't know anyone who I can trust to sell them" -Chronos explained.

"Luckily for you, I know someone in this town who could help you, follow me" -Says Nat with authority in her tone.

Without having anything to add, Chronos follows Nat, and the moment they leave, Bernard sighs and fixes his tie. His expression is more serious than before. Then he takes a radio from beneath the counter and turns it on: "Yes, he was here".