Kiya Profile draft 1

Name: Kiya Keru

All concept art done by Matthew Hope

Age: 18

Kiya Keru is a young Wyrm Hunter who is Nero's partner. She was born in Dragu, the same small hidden town of Nero's. Kind, timid, naïve, and agile, she is the exact opposite of Nero. Her expertise with the long sword rivals many throughout Draconus, her elegant sword play surprises many, since it is both swift and powerful. As the daughter of Terk Keru, she grew up training alongside Nero, which created this long lasting relationship between the two. This relationship somewhat resembles sibling rivalry, since they were both raised by Terk; taught to be competitive and to always strive to do their best. Despite Nero and Kiya having this type of childhood, Kiya has feelings for him, and she tends to conceal them as best as she can. Although, they come out quite evidently at times.

Nero profile draft 1

Name: Nero Kirbus

Age: 19 years old

Thanks to Matt Hope for the Illustration

Nero Kirbus was born in Dragu, the small town well known as the birthplace of Ninko Kirbus, and Terk Keru. Nero is a quick witted, strong, wise, and dextrous young man. He inherited his father's mission in killing the Dragons that inhabit Draconus, to relieve the people of the pain and suffering that the dragons have inflicted. His weapon expertise is primarily utilized with a dagger made of Dragon bone, leather, teeth and claws; but he is also skilled with pistols, rifles, and utilizing his surroundings to create traps. His father died when he was very young; thus his father's partner raised and trained Nero and Kiya to become their successors. As Nero and Kiya completed more and more jobs, their fame skyrocketed and were requested across seas. Their own notoriety quickly surpassed their fathers. As Nero realized what has happened to them, he knew that their inherited mission will quickly come to an end once they returned to their distraught little town...

Prologue

Kiya Keru is a young wyrm hunter known as Nero Kirbus' partner. She is a very kind young woman, at a very vulnerable age of 18. She cares for Nero greatly, but attempts to hide her feelings towards him. They have a very weird relationship, that resembles much of sibling rivalry. She trained with Nero under her father, Terk Keru, who was a very well known wyrm hunter decades ago. He was the partner of Ninko Kirbus, and has slain many of the dragons that once existed on Draconus. Kiya grew up with Nero in Dragu, a small town which lies south of Aislu in a secluded forest. There they honed their skills at a very young age and quickly took on jobs with Terk. Their skills soon surpassed even his and became guardian hunters of Dragu.

In their early years of becoming professional wyrm hunters they stayed on their home continent. After those few short years, they quickly started taking international jobs and traveled to every large continent, slaying monster after monster. Eventually they started slaying the lesser dragons around Draconus. During this time, they have not been back to Dragu for 3 years. Around Kiya's 18th year, they finally returned to Dragu. The night they returned should have been a nightmare for them, for the Land Dragon trampled through their small town without much hindrance whatsoever.

With anger and despair on their sleeves, Kiya and Nero vowed to slay the Land Dragon, along with the remaining ones. They tire of the same destruction that lies throughout the planet, and want complete peace to reign over...

Draconus Legends Story Arc 1: Anguish

"Nero, do you feel obligated because of our fathers?"

"In a way, I do Kiya. I mean, we have to finish what our fathers started so we can save the planet. It is our duty."

"I guess you are right, I... I just wanted  some confirmation."

       Ever since that night he has not been acting very normal... The destruction of our home town was surely a devastating predicament, but he has always been so strong. Maybe i shouldn't worry about him; he can take care of himself. I'm just surprised he invited me to come with him on this job, he rarely does that. Most of the time i have to follow him to the job. Heh, maybe he just cares about me too much... I kinda doubt it though. We've known each other since we're kids, we grew up together, we trained together, and now we hunt together... Maybe we were meant to be partners due to our fathers... Ninko Kirbus hunted with my father, Terk Keru. They have slain many of the dragons that once inhabited this world, and now there are merely 8 dragons left.

      A new enemy has recently appeared though, and no one knows where they have come from. These monstrosities are known as wyrm monsters, as we assume the dragons have created them; they have traits that are very similar to dragons whom roam the world today. They have been ravishing country sides and small villages, and tend to avoid larger cities. Nero and I have mainly been assigned to ridding of this menace in our area, but with this recent attack from the dragon has deterred us from slaying them.

      Nero most likely already knows this, i can see it in his eyes... Maybe that's why he has been so flustered lately... It has been 2 days since our hometown was ravaged by the Land Dragon, and now we are slowly tracking it down since. We have been heading north, to the spiritual city of Aislu, the home of the sun god Dorran.

"When are we supposed to reach Aislu?"

"Look ahead Kiya, we're almost there. Just one more days worth of traveling."

He was right, there was a rainbow of bright sprites floating around the sky just ahead of us. The view from this hill allowed us to see across the plains to Aislu, where light filled the pitch black sky. It was so beautiful, I do not think I have ever seen such a sight. We have been all over Draconus, to each continent; it just baffled me. The dancing lights created such an aurora that was so unique... I just wanted to stay here with Nero and stare into it all night...

"Nero, can we stay here for awhile?"

"We can't stay long, we need to make camp and rest for the day ahead."

"Well, will you promise me that we will come back here some day?"

"We shouldn't be thinking about such trivial things, we have a lot of dragons to slay ahead of us"

"Oh come on! Can't you just promise me this one thing?"

"Errr, I guess. You have to keep in mind that we may not even live to see such a day."

"Oh shut up Nero! You're always the pessimist!"

"I like to think of myself more of a realist Kiya, plus you should have anticipated what I was going to say. We have been wyrm hunter partners for as long as I can remember."

He was right I should have known he was going to say that. We have known each other all throughout our lives. It is weird how two completely opposite people can be such good partners in work. We rarely argue, or get in to any fights at all. Although it could be that I actively try to avoid arguments and fights with people.

"So do you think we'll come back here some day?"

"Most likely, we are some of the most skilled wyrm hunters in all of Draconus, however we cannot do the job alone..."

"Who else will help us out? People will probably laugh at us for even attempting something this insane!"

"You may be right, but we need to try."

I wonder who we can convince to help us... There must be other wyrm hunters who are up to the task of slaying these devils. We must focus our minds on slaying the Land Dragon of Dorran, for he is our first obstacle we must slay before we can even hope to slay the rest of them.

"Let's get going Kiya, we need some sleep."

"Alright."

We walked down the hill, which was illuminated by the lights from Aislu, and made camp in a small cave at the bottom of the hill. We covered the entrance up with a large rock from within, and pulled out our sleeping bags and quickly fell asleep...