He took off, with the snow scattering around, he pranced through the icy wind. His wings pierced the air as he sped up. Just a few moments ago, the night was calm, yet now down in the earth he could hear the sounds of the hunt.

The hunt for him.

Arrows bounced off his scales and fell down. He saw a mountain in the distance, lighted with fire torches - they wanted him to fall into a trap.

Foolish humans, he thought, diving into the valley. He sunk one of his legs in the water making it splater to the both sides. The horses reared when he huffed his icy breath at them, but continued to chase after him. The Hunters were persistent and still aimed at him from every side.

He flapped his wings and with a swish of his tail he pushed a few of them into the river. He heard shouts and curses, but paid no mind to them as he bypassed a rock sticking out of the river. He turned around and breathed out, freezing the water, the rock and created an ice wall at the bottom of the valley. At least half of them was now separated from the group.

He felt something heavy on his back. Iron wires closed around him, pushing him into the river. The water splashed when he fell. He growled when he started to gnaw on the threads. He felt humans coming closer, and with newfound determination he tried to rip the net. All of his muscles stretched and finnaly he heard the sound of cracking wires. With a roar he shot out of the water and sat on the rock, getting ready to fly, yet the humans haven't even flinched.

Torch light surrounded him, and he understood that they were no ordinary humans. Normal humans never used iron nets, neither did they posess iron spears. They cornered him, using the spears and the fire he hated so much.

The Dragon Hunters.

He was surrounded from every side. He saw more nets falling from above, that he freezed without thinking. They landed with a crash into the river. He flew into the air, yet felt sudden pain in his back. His head turned just to see second harpoon piecing his white scales. He howled and flapped harder his wings. Two huntsmen floated into the air with him, but with a jerky move of his tail they were pushed into the water.

With all strenght he could muster he shot out from the valley. He left them, without a look back, and ignoring the pain he flew through the snow. A light of hope lit in his heart, as he thought that maybe he can escape them.

One last spear reached him, and that was fatal. He could not balance in the air and crashed down to the snowdrift. Blood splattered on the white fluff as he tried get up. Using his teeth he ripped the harpoons out. He tried the same with the spear, but to no avial, he caused himself only more pain.

Crawling, he entered the forest. Tripping and stumbling her walked through the trees. With every inch of his body screaming in pain, and the beast in his mind telling him to hurry, he tried to not look back. He didn't know how far they were, or when they will reach him again, but he wouldn't just stay and wait.

His visions strarted to blurr, and he felt his determination leaving him. His breath was ragged and every step he took, felt as if thousands of iron balls were attatched to his paws. He collapsed under the tree, void of any strenght. All he could do, was to kick the snow and splash even more blood. He laid his head on the snow and closed his eyes.

The morning came.

~~***~~
Hello! As you can see I gave into temptation and wrote a sequel to an unfinished story. But don't worry! I'll try to make it as unrelated as possible to the Towards the Light. So both new readers and old can enjoy it just the same.

So, I hope you enjoyed!