Dragonic Intervention: Stop Stupid Humans

Upon the quiet night sky, amidst the bright stars and the luminescent moon, Asteris Kaiser was enjoying an evening flight. The thin barrier that protected his form caused him to dimly glow as he flew, contributing slightly to his flight by illuminating the clouds below him. He passed over the land, remaining unseen to the small settlements that he passed over. He saw that very few people were roaming the paths of their tiny insignificant villages. He paused to give the area a cursory glance.
‘They’re probably guards.’ Asteris concluded, flapping his wings idly for a few moments before continuing.
He was on his way back from a job that had taken a lot longer than it should have and he had decided to take the scenic route back. He passed over several forests and plains teeming with glowing insects. ‘Fireflies.’ He recalled the name of the small glowing insects as he passed over another stretch of small forest. He paused in his flight, stopping above the clouds before he suddenly dove into the forest in search of something.
Moments later he returned to the heavens, mouth full with an entire adult wild boar. He chewed the wild beast before swallowing all of it whole and letting loose a belch that sounded like a mix of a roar and a burp.
His flight continued and it brought over the sea near Hargeon. The smell of salt filled Asteris nostrils as he took in a breeze. Slowly he descended from the sky, dipping beneath the clouds and let his claw lazily drag across the water’s surface. He set his sights on Hargeon Town and slowed his flight down.
He had visited Hargeon several times already and he still couldn’t but feel disappointed whenever he saw the damage that had been dealt to the town.
“Hm…what’s this?” Asteris asked as he slowed to a halt and went upright, the tip of his tail touching the sea.
Even at a distance, Asteris could see several dark figures running away from a building. They were leaving a trail of something and weren’t picking it up so it seemed that they were in a great hurry to get somewhere. Curious, Asteris sank into the sea, leaving his head above the water and began to follow the dark figures.
He trailed after them as they ran across the port, he could yell gruff voices whooping in joy and telling others to either ‘Hurry up!’, ‘Don’t pick those up!’, and ‘Just run you idiots!’.
One of the things that the humans were dropping fluttered off of the boardwalk, which was near the water, that they were running on. It flipped and fluttered its way down onto Asteris’ snout. Asteris stopped following the humans and peeled the item off of his face to get a better look at it. His eyes narrowed as he quickly recognized what the running humans were leaving behind as a trail. It was Jewels, also known as cash, money, currency, bills, or dough.
“These humans must be thieves!” Asteris concluded as he turned his head to stare at the retreating thieves.
His wings suddenly flapped once and launched him into the air, spraying the boardwalk with droplets of seawater. Asteris reoriented himself in the air and began to chase the retreating thieves.
The large group of bandits cried out in surprise as a dragon landed in the middle of their group. Asteris put himself between the rear end of the running group and the rest before roaring as loud as he can. The thieves behind him eyed him with terror before they continued to run, the difference now was that they knew that they had a dragon on their heels.
“Dragon!”
“Run away!” One bandit yelled as he stumbled on his feet and feel on the boardwalk.
“Head for the ship!” Another yelled as he leaped over his fallen ally and left him behind.
Asteris head turned to look at the now panicked retreat of bandits with veiled amusement before turning to face the bandits he had managed to separate from the rest. One bandit had the bright idea of charging him while he was looking away and was met with Asteris; claw swiping him off of the boardwalk and leaving his money on the platform. A loud scream and a splash signified his short trip to the water.
“This is the part where you run away.” Asteris announced, sending a tooth filled grin their way.
The bandits didn’t have to be told twice. They dropped the money that they were holding and leaped off of the boardwalk, choosing to instead swim away instead of facing the ire of a dragon that was blocking their way. Several loud splashes marked the bandits landing in the water.
Asteris let out a low chuckle as his wings stretched once more and launched him into the air in one massive flap.
He landed in front of the bandits again, this time without even thinking of it the ones in the front of the running party went down another path that branched off if the boardwalk that lead to the pier. Before the rest could think of following Asteris roared loud and flapped his wings, sending a harmless breath of wind to ruffle the clothes of the bandits that remained.
To their credit the bandits didn’t jump off of the boardwalk to escape him and instead they instead brought out their weapons. They wielded a deadly assortment of knives and longswords that gleamed in the moonlight. Though they were fewer in number that didn’t make them less braver.
“Do you really think that you can face me with such generic weaponry?” Asteris asked, incredibly amused by the turn of events.
Asteris gave all the bandits a derisive snort before firing an Aura Bolt into their area and punching through the wood. They plummeted into the water bellow with a scream and a splash.
Asteris turned to look at the pier and began to fly, his wings causing a small breeze to form as he hovered over the boardwalk. He suddenly shot into the water and followed the last group of humans into their ship
Soon the group of humans in a hurry reached a ship of decent size. It was made of mostly wood and he could see evidence of it going through some rough times. The barnacle hull was covered in boards of weathered wood, covering what Asteris could only assume to be holes on the ship’s hull. It was also covered in scrapes and scratches of different sizes. Asteris wondered how the ship was still afloat as he passed it.
Asteris was almost fully submerged in the water. He left his head above the surface so he could watch the humans scramble about on the deck of the ship with panicked expressions.
Asteris counted the people on the ship. “Only four?” Asteris mumbled as the people that he could only assume to be pirates quickly worked on the ship in order to get it sailing. Asteris waited patiently, watching the pirates untie ropes to release the sails and drag the ship’s anchor up from the water.
The ship began to move. “Finally.” Asteris said, causing bubbles to rapid form and burst for his mouth was underwater.
He swam into a patch of water in front of the ship and slowly began to stand. His full height slightly towered over the pirate ship and caused the pirates to panic. The ship bumped weakly into Asteris and he didn’t move, essentially blocking the ship’s exit into the sea.
“Pirates.” Asteris began, lightly pushing the ship away from his massive torso and into the pier. “Originally I’d wanted to ask what you were thinking, deciding to go into a life of villainy and sin. I wanted to know what would cause you to disappoint your nest mothers.”
“Then I came into a realization that I don’t care.” Asteris swiped the ship’s hull with his large claw, leaving behind a gash.
“You pirates cause such a mess for your species. What with your looting, and thieving, and killing.” Asteris swiped the ship’s hull but this time he aimed lower. Water began to fill the bottom of the ship and it began to sink slowly.
“Granted, that’s typical behaviour for young dragons-“ A cannonball hit Asteris’ torso but his barrier blocked it. He picked up the cannonball with one arm and threw it into the ship’s mast with as much strength as he could.
“As I was saying,” He continued as if he had not just been shot at and he had not just thrown the cannonball back at the pirates. “Looting, thieving, and killing is typical behaviour for young dragons. Even for some adult dragons as well.”
“But you are not young dragons, are you?” A third swipe of his claw destroyed what remained of the hull, causing the ship to sink faster.
Asteris yawned. “Alright, I think this is enough playing around with you.”
He began to pick the pirates up by the neck with his talons and tossed them over his shoulder and into the water. He picked the bags of Jewels on the ship, took some as payment for his service, and left them on the pier for someone else to pick up.
“An eventful evening such as this has worked up my appetite once more. Perhaps I shall stop for boar again.” Asteris thought aloud as his wings carried him in the direction of home.