Chapter 1 The Dragon Hearthstone

Yana’s Point of View

“Meow!” Lumi, my cat, purred as its tail curled around my neck, tickling my ears.

“Hey, let me sleep.” I snapped; my forehead was pressed hard against my work table.

I had spent the entire night working on a betterment plan for my inn; I researched tirelessly to improve my services to attract more customers, and eventually I passed out on the chair in the early hours of the morning.

My muscles were cramping, but I couldn’t get out of the chair to go to bed…I heard a loud tumble, crash, and a low growl—but I paid it no mind.

That was probably Lumi and the sprites fighting again, but whatever it is, I’ll tend to it when I wake up, because even a fox needs her eight hours of sleep.

But my inn is a real concern; I barely had fifteen customers last month, and if this continues, I might have no choice but to close it.

I must not let it get that far.

“Meow!” Lumi purred; this time it was sharper than last.

I jolted up, not because of the aggressive meow, but because something was freaking burning.

“Holy Goddesses! Lumi!” My eyes widened in horror; Lumi’s furry tail was on fire, and he was running around my office, setting every paper or book he touched on fire.

No… You can’t do this to me; you’re supposed to be my comfort animal.

“Lumi!” I jumped out of the chair, picked up my blanket, and ran after my burning cat. I caught it at the corner of the office. I slammed the blanket hard on it, trying to put out the fire before he could burn down my entire office, and/or probably the entire inn.

“Pip!” I yelled, and the cute translucent water sprite floated out; its big blue eyes blinked at me. “Please help me, Pip.”

“Chu.” It turned away, as if telling me to let the cat burn a little more. I know Lumi is a little mischievous, but we can’t just watch him burn to death.

“Please, Pip, I will give you sea jellies,” I promised.

Pip’s eyes went wide almost immediately, and then she floated towards Lumi, who was still burning. She puffed out her tiny cheeks and blew water on Lumi, putting out the fire.

In a matter of seconds, I was drenched in water, along with every other thing in the shop.

I should have asked Feather, the wind sprite, for help instead.

“Maw!” Lumi moaned painfully as I grabbed it from the floor; its tail was badly burnt.

“Don’t look at me like that.” I snapped. “That’s what you get for taunting Sparky.”

My eyes searched the rest of the office. Sparky, the fire sprite, was not in sight; after the ruckus, he was probably hiding. I rubbed my sleepy eyes, wondering how long it would take for me to clean up the entire place…ugh, Goddess, I’m tired.

Pip hovered close to me, gurgling like water in a bottle.

“Chu!” She squeaked, asking for her reward.

“We go fishing on Sunday,” I told her. “I’ll give you the jellies then.”

The light in her eyes died, but not completely.

“In the meantime, we have a lot of things to clean up.” I reached for a jar in the cupboard and took out the moonstone.

It was the last one I had, and I had reserved it for my customers, but since Lumi was injured, I didn’t mind.

Light whooshed from the stone as it repaired Lumi’s damaged tail, and in a matter of seconds, it felt like the tail was never burnt in the first place.

Chime! Chime! My front doorbell rang, and my eyes widened.

A customer?

My fox ears twitched.

I waved my hand lightly, and all the papers on the floor were swept into the back room. I pulled the curtains over it, hiding the mess. I used my concealing magic to hide my fox ears and tail, and transformed myself into a honey badger shifter.

“Come in!” I yelled, and then I almost rolled my eyes when I saw the familiar silver hair that belonged to that bloody serpent.

Sareth.

The lights in the office dimmed before they went out, and my seven fox fires hovered around my head.

“What the hell are you doing here, you thieving scammer?” I snapped, aiming the fires at him; they stopped directly in his face.

I only paused to listen to his excuse before I burnt him.

“Hey…” His hands were raised in surrender. “I know you still hate me for what happened the last time, but I swear I didn’t know it, too.”

“You sold me a stolen artifact, and the owner came and nearly closed down my shop! I was arrested, and you were nowhere to be found.”

I growled, still aiming all my blue flames at him.

“It was given to me,” He claimed, sounding a little desperate. “I was scammed as well.”

“Then what the hell are you doing here, you slithering bastard?” I smirked. “Did you come to die?”

“Calm down, Miss Fox.” He grinned, and I hated it when he did that. “I brought you something that you would love.”

“I don’t run the pawn shop anymore.” I turned away from him, my fox fire extinguishing. “Now I’m a legitimate inn owner.”

“Until you see this.” He opened his cloak, and from his side, he brought out a glowing gold gemstone. It was so bright that it felt like the sun was thrown into the room.

“Wait!” I yelled; the concealment magic wore off from just how excited I was, and my fox ears wiggled out. “Is that a Dragon hearthstone?

Where in the hell did you find a dragon hearthstone?” I was about to reach for it when he pulled it away from my reach.

“You know what to do for you to get it.” He smirked, rubbing two of his index fingers together, requesting money.

I frowned.

“I see what this is, another scam, right?” I turned away from him, heading towards the counter. “That cannot be a dragon’s hearthstone. What dragon will be stupid enough to let a snake steal from him—he’ll burn you before you even try.”

“I found a dead dragon in the valley this morning.” He said, and my body whipped back towards him.

“So, you stole it?” I panicked.

“I mean, a dead dragon has no use for the stone, but you?” He neared me. “Just imagine how many customers you will have every day using this stone.”

A dragon’s hearthstone is extremely valuable to shifters; it can restore strength, vitality, and even grant the holder up to a thousand years—but as valuable as it is, it is extremely rare, because dragons are powerful and noble.

The strongest shifter to ever exist, it was almost impossible to find one—except, like in this case, a stray dragon dies on the outskirts.

“And why would you give this to me?” I asked him suspiciously; I hoped this wasn’t another trap. “You could take it to the Tiger clan or to the Lions; they would pay you more than I can afford.”

“You’re my friend, and I feel bad for what happened last time; with this, we are even,” He murmured. “Just that you have to pay.”

“How much?”

“Two hundred thousand gold coins.”