The Centenary Dragon Hunt

It was a sunny afternoon in the Higher realm where the Gods and demigods live. Moria and Freya, two gossipy demigods, have their weekly tea and have been doing so for millennia. Freya is tall, stick thin with long black hair, she always dresses in black. In contrast, Moira is short, plump, with shiny silver hair that's always in a bun. Today Moira is wearing her signature, fluffy pink dress; she looks more like a fairy godmother than a demigod. "Moira, isn't it the Dragons Centenary hunt?" Freya asked as she sipped her piping hot tea. "Yes, why do you ask, deary?" Moira asked as she put her pink flowery teacup down. "Just wondering if you've found all five of the Dragon king's mates," Frey said, knowing good and well Moira had not. "Yes, of course, I have." Moira lied. The Dragon realm is Moira's to look after. And the Centenary Hunt started when the female population dropped significantly. It's a year-long event where 12 hunts take place. Moira finds true mates for the dragons and, more importantly, the dragon kings. She will bring several women, mainly from the human realm. The dragon kings have to figure out which female is their true mate on their own. If a female doesn’t find a mate she will either mate another dragon, work in one of the five castles or make a life for themselves in one of the small villages. Moira loves watching how everything plays out. She always adds at least one or two females that she knows will cause drama. She has only found three out of the five Dragon kings' mates. She's not worried though she still has till the end of the year to find them, even though she has been looking for the past six years. Raynebow Ellan McJones, Rayne for short, was sitting at a bus stop right outside the hospital where she had just given birth 2 days ago. She was looking into her beautiful baby girls stormy eyes, trying to find the perfect name for her. All the nurses looked at her like she was crazy when she told them she didn’t have a name for her yet. Rayne thought as soon as she saw her she would know the perfect name like her mother did with her. But she couldn’t stop worrying about how she will take care of her. Rayne's mother was a free spirit. There was a terrible storm the night Rayne was born; her mother named her after the rainbow she saw the following day. Her mother might have been a little erotic and different from the other mothers, but she loved Rayne more than anything. It was the two of them against the world. When Rayne was just 17, her mother died of cancer. It was a particularly hard time for her, 17 with no family, no money, and rent coming up. Luckily, Rayne's boyfriend, Jeff, five years older than her, had a job and a place of his own. He invited her to live with him. At the age of 22, everything was going great. Rayne had an excellent job as a secretary for a big company. She was sure Jeff was going to propose any day. But that all changed. The day she found out she was pregnant. Jeff became distant; her job let her go when she was six months along, stating she was unreliable even though she had never missed a day and she was always early. It only got worse at eight and a half months. Jeff came home one day yelling crazy things like "It's not my baby" and "you're crazy like your mother." He kicked her out that very day. That was the day she realized Jeff had been using her for years. Everything was in his name, even the things she had paid for, like her car and the house. She left with only what she could carry on foot. With little money no family she had no place to go but the women’s shelter. As she set on the bench, it started to storm; Rayne felt helpless; she didn’t want to go back to the homeless shelter. A few days ago, she saw social services come and take a child away from its mother. She loved her daughter more than anything and couldn’t stand the thought of her being taken away. She had some money, but it wasn’t enough for a hotel and diapers. As she fell into despair, she smelled cinnamon rolls, her favorite. When she turned to see where the smell was coming from, she saw a small, round lady wearing a puffy, pink dress with a lot of lace. The woman smiled kindly. "Hello, Rayne," she said with a knowing smile. "My name is Moira, and I'm here to help you, deary." Help her? How could an old woman in a fluffy dress help her? "What do you mean? Help me; how can you help me? And how do you know my name?" Rayne asked as she held her daughter close. She was sure she had never met Moira before. "What if I told you I could make all your problems go away," Moira said with a spark in her eye. "What if I told you I could take you somewhere you and your daughter would be safe and taken care of?" "Um... I don't understand. Where would you take us, and what's the catch?" It sounded too good to be true, Rayne thought; there's always a catch. "I'm a busy woman. I don't have time for questions, deary," Moira said. "It's a simple yes or no." At that moment, the rain stopped, and she saw a rainbow in the sky. A sudden calm came over her like everything would be OK. She knew it was a sign from her mother. "Yes." As soon as Rayne said yes, there was a light so bright she bent over her daughter to shield both of their eyes. When she set back up she realized she wasn’t at the bus stop anymore. She was sitting in an all-white room with no pictures or windows; there wasn't a desk, just oversized chairs. It seemed to be a waiting room, but how did she get here, and where was Moira? A tall woman built like an sss warrior with black hair and black eyes came into the room looking at her clipboard. "Next," she called, looking up with a broad smile. Rayne was the only one in the room; she stood up with her daughter. "um... I guess that's me," she said nervously. The woman noticed a pink bundle in her arms. "Is... Is that a baby?" "This is my daughter," Rayne said, feeling confused and nervous about everything. Like how and why she was here and where was here. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just surprised that Moira would send a woman with a baby. I can't remember the last time I have seen a baby." The lady went on. "Please, come in. We're ready for you." An even more confused Rayne reluctantly walked into the next room, holding her baby to her chest. The room was cozier than the last. It had several large couches; bookshelves lined the wall, and there was a large window overlooking a strange forest. "Please, have a seat," said one of the five ladies, sitting on one side of the room. Rayne sat on the couch farthest from the women. "What's going on? Why am I here? And how did I get here?" she wanted answers. "Have patience, sweetling. All your questions will be answered soon enough," said a wrinkled woman wearing an apron. The sss with the clipboard bounced over to the five ladies and took a seat. "She has a baby," she proclaimed. "A baby, this is new," the wrinkled lady said. "babies are such a gift, but this could complicate things." "I think we should proceed as normal; I'm sure one of the males would welcome a child." said the middle-aged woman with wavy copper hair. The ladies agreed and decided to start with introductions as they did with everyone. Coral, the woman with copper hair, the Grand Queen-Mother of the Sea Kingdom. The lady with a clipboard, Embers, sister to the King of Kings, Fire Kingdom. Goldy, a round woman with yellow hair; Queen of the Earth kingdom. Kerryn, the lady with light blonde hair; Queen-Mother of the Lighting kingdom. And Mrs. Nippy, the wrinkled woman; Elder of the Frost kingdom. "What is your name and age, sweetling," asked Mrs. Nippy. "Raynebow Ellen Mcjones, everyone calls me Rayne; I'm 22." Rayne was embarrassed to tell the ladies that she hadn't named her daughter. "I haven't named my daughter yet; she's two days old." The ladies looked at each other with surprised expressions but did not comment on it. "Right, we will get right into it. This is going to sound.... unbelievable. We even had a few girls pass out. Would you like one of us to hold your daughter while we tell you everything?" Rayne sat further back on the couch. "No, thank you," she was not ready to let anyone else hold her baby. Freya continued, "You are not in the Human realm; you are in the Dragon realm. Tomorrow is the First Centenary Hunt. You and several young ladies will participate. Once a male catches you during the hunt he will take you to his kingdom where you will have four weeks to decide if you are suitable for each other. If not, you will run in the next hunt. You will repeat the process until you find a mate. There are 12 hunts. If you don’t find a mate, you will have to find a job within the six kingdoms.” "Did you say dragons?" Rayne is starting to think everyone is crazy. "Come have a look out the window; it's always easier just to show you." Mrs. Nippy said as she walked to the large window, looking at Rayne expectantly. A nervous yet curious Rayne got up, still cradling her daughter close, and walked to the window with Embers uncomfortably close behind her. Looking out the window, Rayne went stiff with fright. What she saw out the window was genuinely unbelievable. It looked like home, except it wasn't. The tree bark had a blue tent; the leaves seemed greener, with the veins more noticeable. The sky seemed bigger. Everything seemed bigger; trees, flowers, clouds, all bigger. But that's not what frightened Rayne; it was the dragons. There were at least three in the sky. And a gold and green dragon covered in dirt and what looked like blood was fighting on the ground. Her mind was having trouble processing what she saw; dragons, real dragons. Rayne passed out; luckily, Mrs. Nippy was close enough to catch her, while Embers was quick to catch the baby. Embers She was secretly hoping the new mom would pass out; she wanted to hold the baby. Embers looked at the baby with a mixture of emotions and started to cry, knowing she'd never have one of her own. She was the youngest full-blooded female dragon and all the females had stopped reproducing. There was nothing she wanted more than to have children of her own. Rayne Rayne slept the best she had in a long time on what felt like a bed of clouds until the baby started to cry. She opened her eyes to a large luxury ivory room. Not knowing where her baby was, she panicked, but only for a second. Her daughter was in an beautiful antique crib made of something that looked like a cross between ivory and wood beside the bed. The baby was crying; her breast hurt; it was feeding time. She thought about what the ladies said and the dragons she saw. It's still hard to believe. Looking around the warm, luxurious yet cozy room, she felt safe for the first time since her mother was alive. She decided right there, that she was just going to go with it. If it meant she and the baby would be safe and taken care of. Looking at her daughter, she tried to think of a name; she needed to find one soon. Amy, Mary, Becky, Cindy, no; those aren't right. She couldn’t understand why it was so hard to pick a name, but none of them seemed to fit her. Rayne stepped into another meeting room the next morning. There were at least a dozen females, most trying to talk over each other. The four ladies from yesterday were sitting in silence, waiting for them to quiet down. Embers Embers was happy to see Rayne when she walked into the room and waved her over to sit next to her. She wanted more time with the baby; by this afternoon, she could be going to another kingdom, and It would be a long time before she saw her again. Rayne "Please hold all questions until after we explain some things," Kerryn stood and started talking to the group, "All of you, plus some girls from the clans, will be running in what we call the Centenary Hunt. Moira, who you've all met, brings girls from other realms every thousand years." "But why?" a girl with glasses interrupted. Kerryn took a deep breath. "It was a long time ago before my time that something happened; no one knows quite what happened. Some think we were poisoned by the Hord. Anyway, most of the female dragons became infertile. There were already fewer women than men. So, as you can guess, this caused problems. That's when Moira stepped in. Only a few full-blooded female dragons were born last Centenary, and Embers is the youngest of them." Everyone looked at Embers in surprise. They didn't know what to think; they were sitting in a room with a real dragon. "I'm afraid we are running out of time; we need to get to the rules of the hunt," said Mrs. Nippy. "The Hunt will start at the edge of the forest. You girls will get a one-hour head start. You must run as fast and as far as you can. Or at the very least hide. It's best if you all separate—no need to be afraid of the forest. We have males flying over to keep watch for any danger. The idea is the girl who gets the farthest or is hardest to find will get the strongest dragon. Perhaps even a King. There will be five Kings in this race. The males will run in their human form to keep it fair. If two males arrive simultaneously wanting the same girl, they will fight; the winner gets the girl, of course. Please do not intervene in the fight, just stand a safe distance away until it's done. Again, don't be afraid. They would never hurt you; your safety is always a top priority. Embers stopped Rayne before she could follow the others out. "Rayne, it would be a great honor if you would allow me to hold her until the race is over." Rayne still wasn't comfortable handing her daughter over to anyone. Mrs. Nippy came to their side. "Sweetling, I'm afraid you can't take the baby on the Hunt. Embers will take good care of her." Embers stood by her side with the baby all the way to the field. "I hope one of my brothers gets you; I would love to be an aunt," she said wishfully. About 26 girls were wearing the same thing; a simple ivory dress that was snug at the top flared out at the hip and ended just below the knee. It reminded her of a dress from the 50s. It was easy to tell the clan girls from the others. The clan girls were in front, looking very excited and competitive. Rayne looked around at the girls. She was just in the room with; some were stretching, and others still looked confused and scared. The one with the glass was still talking to one of the ladies, and then there was a woman with long, bright, curly red hair. Standing straight with her hands behind her back, she seemed to be standing in a military stance. She didn't look the least bit impressed, scared, excited, or anything except maybe bored. Rayne was curious about the girl's story. "Line up; it's time to start! Goldy, Queen of the Earth Kingdom, yelled, "GO! May you all have a good hunt." Rayne thought it was an odd thing to say they weren't the hunters, more like prey. The local girls took off as fast as possible. The new girls hesitated but started to follow the others and the woman with red hair simply walked into the forest, not in any sort of hurry. Rayne was one of the last to take off. As soon as she stepped through the trees she saw a group of girls, she ran over to see what was up. "Ok, I know I'm not very fast, so I'm gonna try and hide," one girl said. "Does anyone want to run with me?" another asked nervously. "We're supposed to split up." said the girl with the glasses. "Y'all stay here and talk all you want; I want a king," A tall, athletic girl said before she took off. It seemed like most of the girls agreed with her and started to split up. "Hey! Why are you just walking? Don't you want to try and catch a high-ranking dragon?" the girl in the glass asked the girl with the red hair as she walked by. "Why would I want that? Just sounds like a lot of responsibility to me. A nice quiet life sounds better." She said without a care. What the girl said made sense to Rayne. Being a Queen must be a lot of responsibility. She just wanted to focus on giving her daughter a good life. Rayne made her way through the forest at a slower rate than most of the girls. She had just given birth three days ago and running wasn’t really something she could do. After about an hour, she had enough and decided she had gone far enough. She found a nice spot on the ground covered in dark green moss and decided that was as good of a place as any other to wait for her dragon. As she leaned against a large tree daydreaming about her future, she heard a loud roar. Without thinking, she jumped up and started backing away from the trail. She stopped just out of sight of the trail, trying to calm down. “They won’t hurt me. They won’t hurt me.” She kept repeating to herself. Before she knew what was happening, the ground fell out beneath her. Rayne fell into a tunnel that seemed to be manmade. The tunnel was cold, dark, wet, and went down at an angle; she couldn't stop herself. She couldn't see anything, not even the hand in front of her face, and the only thing she felt under her was slick mud. She soon stopped struggling; it only made things worse. All of a sudden, there was no more tunnel. Rayne was free falling. The only thing that went through her mind besides pure terror was her daughter. She wanted to watch her grow, go to school, and get married. She looked forward to becoming a grandmother. Hell, she hadn't even named her yet. She must have fallen over 20ft before she hit the ground and passed out.