She felt the ground beneath her bare feet; solid, warm, and full of vibration from the energy of the earth. The creature was some distance in front of her, the smell of sulfur lingered in the air. She advanced forward slowly and cautiously as she did not want to startle the beast. Her dark brown skin glistened in the hot sun that was directly above. The beast roared, and Amara stopped dead in her tracks. Had it spotted her? Her cloaking magic was strong, so much so that a dear stood right next to her, unflinching. She moved forward again in a crouched position, took her gun from its holster, and readied herself for contact. 

Its scales were a glistening green and its wings stretched to their fullest, eclipsing all sunlight beneath it. Slitted yellow eyes peered menacingly out at the world, a flash of razor-sharp teeth occasionally showing. It tilted its large snout towards the ground, releasing acrid air out of its nostrils. Amara remained planted a distance away as the beast was standing tall on its two legs, claws digging large gashes into the ground. Knife-like spikes that protruded from the tip of its wings were something she kept a close eye on. The dragon before her was a beauty but that would not stop her from slaying it. She raised her gun and prepared to fire, suddenly the once stagnant deer raced out in front of her, breaking her concentration. In her mind, Amara heard a snap as her cloaking bubble disappeared, leaving her bare to the eyes of the dragon. For a brief moment, they simply watched each other.

“Fuck.” Amara muttered.

The dragon broke their stalemate, as it reared further back on sturdy legs. She could feel the heat rising in front of her long before she saw the glowing flame in its throat. Amara rolled to the side as quickly as she could while it released a torrent of flames. She was not quick enough, one of her arms was singed. It would heal later, for now she had to ignore the white hot pain radiating in her nerves.

Recovering quickly, balancing on her knees; she fired three shots with her armor-piercing rounds modified for dragon scales, knowing she would not miss. The dragon roared as the bullets entered its body, and it sent a burst of retaliatory fire in Amara’s direction. Amara held up her arm, shouting a ward spell to protect herself. The fire bounced off of her shield, the heat made her sweat and she could smell the hairs on her intact arm burning, yet she held her ground. Once the fire let up and it paused to catch its breath. Amara seized her moment, concentrated, and fired her last shot. The bullet pierced the dragon’s eye, spiraling directly into its brain. It let out one last low growl and collapsed at Amara’s feet. 

She sighed with relief, and silently cursed the deer for distracting her. Turning her attention to clean up,  Amara spat a quick spell to have the corpse transported to the government’s storage area. They would do whatever they normally did with dead dragons, and life would go on as usual. No one knew exactly what they did with all of the corpses, but Amara learned fast that asking too many questions was an easy way to make enemies. Glancing around the area, Amara nodded to herself as she noted everything had been taken care of. Her job complete, she headed back towards the city but not before she shot the deer that risked her life.

When the dragons came, no one was ready. How does one plan for an attack of former mythical creatures? There had been no means of handling them, and they had wreaked carnage on countless cities. All that money spent on the military and nuclear war lever weapons turned out to not be enough. Governments had, for once in their entire existence, come together to find a solution. Through different trials of very illegal, very questionable genetic modification and test tube breeding; Amara and others like her came to be. What they did not expect was that only women and some intersex individuals were able to be dragon slayers. The Y chromosome could not withstand the modification process, making cis men next to useless in the role. The government had tried countless ways of working around the Y chromosome, they so desperately wanted an army built from the best men. Eventually they had to accept that if they wanted dragon slayers, they would have to be Y chromosome free. 

Amara arrived at her apartment and old rundown place right on the edge of downtown, avoiding the broken glass that littered the ground. Keeping this city safe from dragons was her job but she could not keep the city safe from itself. The city of Athena, formerly known as Chicago from the history she had been taught, had fallen quite a bit. Chicago eighty years ago had been a thriving metropolis, but that changed when the dragons had surfaced. It was still a mystery as to where exactly the dragons had come from, though there were more than a few conspiracy theories about it. Some things truly never changed.

Being a dragonslayer did not pay much of anything but it was enough to have a place to live. They paid for her life as they were training her, now that she was a full-fledged slayer, she was on her own. Though not completely, the government was always watching her; she belonged to them. Amara climbed the stairs to the fifth floor, the elevator had been broken for years and people had given up on it ever being fixed. She did not mind them, they offered ground level protection and a better view than the street. 

As she walked past the other apartments, her enhanced ears allowed her to hear what was happening inside of them. Amara tried not to eavesdrop, often it was out of her control. Hearing the sounds of people going about their lives helped her feel more human. She was human at her base but it was hard to feel as such when she was not raised around normal people. No public school, no real family, no real social skills, and a body enhanced in ways she still did not always grasp. Her existence was a lonely one, especially after her training ended. Amara wanted badly to stay at the training facility with her siblings; language they were discouraged from using to avoid getting too attached. Truthfully, all things came down to money. They created her, they shaped her, but they could not be bothered to lose out on money by letting her stay. One less bed in the home was one less dragon slayer to create, and did not keep the ecosystem flowing. 

She wrinkled her nose at the stale air in the apartment. Leaving the windows closed when she left had not been her brightest idea, the heat of the sun was quickly driving the temperature inside into the unbearable range. Amara stepped around the mess on her living room floor to open the curtains and windows. Just as she sat down to relax, the communication device permanently implanted in her arm chirped. Amara sighed and wished she could ignore it but knew she could not. 

“Hello,” She answered, kicking her pile of clothes into a corner. 

The voice on the other end of the communicator was just as irritating as usual. “I trust the target has been neutralized?” Jackson, Amara’s overseer asked. 

Amara wondered what would happen if she said no. One thing she was not permitted to do was fail. “It has, the corpse has been transported to storage.” 

“That is good to hear. We need you to report to headquarters tomorrow. It is time for your routine testing.” The click let Amara know that Jackson had hung up. 

Amara and Jackson had to be in contact with each other but that did not mean they had to like each other. She got up to look at her calendar and noticed her routine testing was two weeks earlier than usual. “Why the hell do they need me so early?” She questioned out loud to an empty room.

Routine testing was a set of very rigorous physical tests, mental tests, magic tests, and lastly blood tests. Not one of the dragon slayers enjoyed the process but it was necessary to ensure peak condition. The creation of dragon slayers started at optimal levels, however over time some of the enhanced slowly deteriorated and lost their minds. Geneticists were working on a way to combat it, so everyone had been told, but there had yet to be any remedy for the madness. Amara feared everyday that  it would happen to her. She had not aged past the point where she was no longer susceptible to it. 

It had been a long day and the sun was finally setting, bringing  much needed coolness back to her apartment. For the first time in days, she allowed herself a moment of early rest. She settled into her bed that was covered in clothing and books. She knew she should clean it but she never had company, perhaps the piles felt like company. Once she rested her head on her pillow she read until she drifted off to sleep.

***