Seven years, he'd lived with the old woman on the mountain. Some said she was a witch - often enough, she'd been visited by the people of the isle and those surrounding it, and they would address her so. But he called her mother...despite the old woman's protests.
She said he was not her child, but instead was a miracle of magic, a being that proved that just because some beings were inherently evil, it didn't have to mean that evil was all they could be. His existence and his innocent view on the world proved this, she said.
On this day, he was told his purpose in life. The old woman had told him, just before he was formed, she had given the leaders of a particular village magical aid in begetting a child, and shortly after had a vision of the baby that would be born. The baby would grow into a young girl, tasked with much on her shoulders, more than a normal child aught to have. And so, he was created to be her friend, her companion, and her guardian. This very morning, he had sworn to be all three.
And so she sent him off to find her, no tears in her eyes but a smile upon her aged face. He'd been given nothing but a name.
Ichiko Amaya. She would be known to him as Amaya.
So he found himself following the mountain stream, continually down the mountain. Eventually, he had to stop, his ears picking up a sound.
The young boy, his skin bronzed by the sun and patched with blue and black scales, glanced back and forth with golden, reptilian eyes. The red frill upon his head caught the light just so, the webbed membrane becoming nearly translucent to show the spines within. He looked further down the stream, a forked tongue darting from between his lips to taste the air.
....blood. That's what he sensed. He began moving again, small clawed feet splashing in the stream. After a moment, he followed the curve of the stream and after passing the trees, he saw her.
A little girl, his age. She had horns, and clawed fingers. This...had to be her.
His golden eyes blinked, and he hurried towards her side. From just a few feet away, he could see the trickle of blood down her brow, and when he was close enough, he seized her wrist and pulled her hand away from her head.
"Don't to that... You're bleeding. Amaya."
He smiled down at her, forked tongue hidden behind white teeth. "Hi. My name is Mizaakarn."