"I don't understand why everyone is so nervous about this," the young man muttered to himself as he climbed and picked his way through the forest that surrounded his small village. "Honestly, if it's only a legend, then there should be nothing to fear."<br/><br/>People always talked about some sort of dragon that lived in the woods, and though it was really only the elderly people who knew the tale, but they were so adamant about it, that most others believed it.<br/><br/>Well he, Axael, did not.<br/><br/>His long brown hair, pulled back from his face in a tight ponytail, dressed in just a simple, sleeveless tunic which revealed his muscled figure well, with boots and no hose, the youth was only just 21. The son of a farmer, thus, his muscled physique, he was determined to prove that there was nothing to be afraid of.<br/><br/>At least, that's what he was planning to do until he found the cave.<br/><br/>It was dark, dank, and enormous, just as the stories said. And as he strained his ears, he could have sworn he heard the sound of breathing within. BUt that was just his imagination. And so, pressing onward, his small sword drawn, Axael made his way deeper.<br/><br/>It was then he saw it; the huge, sleeping form of the dragon in the dim light from the entrance of the cave, and it was then that all his courage left him. It was true! The stories were true!<br/><br/>Falling to his knees in panic, he tried to scuttle backwards, only to trip over a small rock jutting out of the ground, and with a yelp that echoed off the walls, he fell to the floor.