Zilla — Dave Rudden

The Chronicles of Oni is a collection of short stories based on magical characters created by my fans that take place after the demise of dragons. As a contest prize, each winner created their character by choosing the creature type, personality, name, and the time era. After choosing their basic character sketch, I created the story of how and why Oni encountered the character and determine the character’s fate.Chapter 1: ZillaThe war ended lifetimes ago, yet Oni had not aged a day. Neither human nor wizard, he found himself wandering the world alone with no place to call home. It had been over a hundred years since the dragons vanished from the skies, dragging the magic Oni once knew with them. Without the aid of magic, the humans thrived by building tools to fill the void, tools that used to hunt down any remaining magical creatures. As the humans grew in strength, so did their lust for power. It wasn’t long before they turned on the creatures they once called allies. Upon seeing the humans' ruthlessness, Oni left and set out to find his place in the new world.He wandered the planet alone for a hundred years, until he crossed Zilla's path. She was an Unseelie Fae all alone in the world and avoided the human hunters too.Even though Zilla was a dark fairy, Oni was enticed by her promise to return his magical abilities. Unfortunately, it did not take long before he realized his mistake and was in for the fight of his life.