A/N Hey everybody! Sorry about the inactivity I have been a little busy lately. Chapter 3 for Jack Dragon Darby will be up sometime soon. It would have been up last weekend if I hadn't gotten my devices taken away from me. Thank you to all who have been reading and reviewing.
And a special thanks to Prodigal The Son for all his ideas and inspiration. Thanks to him I have decided to make this story a crossover with Skyrim.
Read and review.
Aal drem los hio pah.
Birth of a Flame
It is a starry night in the Mojave Desert as we open on a long stretch of highway as a single solitary vehicle drives along its straight path. As we zoom in on the vehicle, we see that a beautiful young woman is driving. She has raven colored hair framing a gentle and shapely face. Her large eyes are a rich blue-green. Her name is June Darby; she is 22 and has recently graduated from nursing school. She is driving home from her interview at the local hospital in Fallon, Nevada. However, little does she know that tonight her life will be forever changed...
As I drive home, I am very excited because I just graduated from med school and less than a week after graduating I got a job as a nurse at the local hospital. I start work there in a few days. As I continue driving, I see a bright light up ahead, and as I draw nearer to it, I see that the light is coming from a giant flaming bird that stands at what I estimate to be easily 30 feet tall. It has its back to me so I do not have to worry about it seeing me.
Suddenly a tremendous winged shape flies out from in front of the bird in front of me. It flies straight up and over shadows the moon. The humungous bat-like figure has an extremely long tail and gigantic wingspan attached to a surprisingly small body. As I continue to gaze up at this figure through my windshield, it looks down upon me with bright orange cat-like eyes that even at this distance hold such wisdom and peacefulness that I feel safe. Even though the huge flaming bird, that I now realize is a phoenix, is still standing in front of my car.
I watch as this figure dives straight for the gigantic bird releasing a primal roar as it collides with the beast in a flurry of claws and talons. As the two titans fight, I realize just how much danger I am in and quickly shift my car into reverse and drive away as fast as possible. As I race away from the fight I see the figure in the light of the phoenix, and to my surprise I see what looks like a man. But not just any man, this man has black scales, huge leathery wings that look blood red in the light of the phoenix, a long and heavily armored tail with a single spike on the end, scaly armor along up to his elbows and back, huge pointed teeth, bright orange cat-like eyes, and stands at what I can guess would be 20 feet. I stop and get out of my car as I marvel at this as the dragon-man attacks the phoenix with untamed primal rage, hitting and clawing at it.
As the fight continues, the phoenix receives many blows but seems to just brush them off as if they are nothing more than an annoying scratch. However, as I soon find out it gives better than it gets, with the dragon-man receiving many blows that cause some sort of injury. It shoots a huge fireball at the dragon-man, but he dodges it and it sails right for me. I dodge out of the way; with one final blow from the dragon-man the phoenix is knocked to the ground its head at an unnatural angle as it soon starts to turn to ash. However, before it can finish its rebirthing process the dragon-man breathes a deep ocean blue fire unto the pile before him. As the pile burns, an unnatural wail escapes from it as the phoenix's immortal soul burns in the heat of the fire.
When the pile no longer exists, the bright blue fire ceases and I suddenly feel cold. As I tear my eyes away from the sight and go to get back in my car, a warm breath brushes against the back of my neck. I turn around and look up, scared, as I see the dragon-man kneeling behind me, staring at me with those powerful eyes that seem to go on forever.
"What is your name?" Asks the dragon-man in a voice that holds such power that I feel the rumble from it in my diaphragm. His voice reminds me of the marvelous sound of a thunder storm and makes me weak in the knees.
"J-June. W-what's y-yours?" I manage to sputter after several minutes.
"I am known as Dracko and I protect the Earth from any threat. Whether it be human, beast, or other I will not allow anything destroy this world as long as I live."
"A-are there others l-like y-you?"
"No, I am the only one of my kind."
"W-why are y-you the only d-dragon?"
"I am the only protector dragon. There a still the ravenous beasts that are similar to my species. Just mindless monsters that know only one thing: eat. They do not care what happens to the inhabitants of an area as long as they get to eat."
"D-do they eat h-humans?"
"Humans are their favorite food."
"Have you ever..."
"Eaten humans? Though I am not proud of it, yes." He said with great sadness in his voice, "Though the humans that I ate were not normal humans, they were cold, rotten, and did not smell alive. And they were trying to overrun a small town in the middle east."
"You ate zombies?!" I gasped.
"If that is what they are called...then yes. Though they did not taste very good and I have only ever eaten humans because they were a threat and never out of hunger. If I must eat I will eat wild animals."
"S-so y-you don't w-want to eat m-me?"
"No. I am just curious as to why you were out here at this time of night"
"I w-was on m-my way h-home f-from the h-hospital."
"Why are you stuttering?" He said while raising what I thought was his equivalent of an eyebrow.
"I am v-very a-afraid."
"Of what?"
"Y-you." He just stands there looking at me for a moment. Then he starts to chuckle, which quickly turns into a hearty laugh that shakes the ground beneath my feet and booms out across the desert.
"W-why would you be afraid of me. I am not so scary." He says as he trys to stop laughing.
"W-well let's s-see, y-you are massive, s-scaly, have c-claws and a armored tail, huge p-pointed teeth, and y-you breath fire." I say pointing to the areas indicated. However, as I watch he slowly starts to shrink. When he is done morphing he stands and walks towards me. He is at least 7 feet tall now but he still looks down at me.
"Is that bet...AAARGH!" He doubles over in pain gripping his side where the phoenix had ripped some of Dracko's skin with its hooked claws.
"Are you ok?!" I ask now too concerned to be afraid as I rush to help him.
"THAT ACCURSED BIRD! It did more damage than I thought." He says from behind clenched teeth with a snarl. When I arrive at his side, I see blood seeping from between his fingers.
"Oh my gosh! Is there anything I can do?" I say, as I look up at him now very concerned.
"I don...don't..." He tries to say as he falls backward and lands with a heavy thud.
"Oh no!" I say as I kneel beside him even more concerned, "Are you ok?"
"I...I...think..." He struggles to speak as he quickly loses consciousness.
"Come on stay awake." I fall back on my nurses training and quickly check his pulse to see if his heart rate is normal. Even though I have no idea as to is pulse rate might be. His heart rate, though, is dropping. I rush to where his hand rests over the gash in his side. I shout as I slide his hand away from the wound so I can inspect the gash. It does not look good; it is swollen and has a stream of blood flowing from it. It also appears to be infected.
"Oh my, if I don't seal that wound you could contract a serious infection. If you don't already have one." Upon closer inspection, I see that it has what appears to be a claw imbedded in it.
"That is probably the cause of this infection." As I go to remove the claw, I stop and think that maybe the claw is helping to stop the blood flow and keeping out other infections. So I decide to not remove the claw quite yet, at least not until I have a way to halt the blood flow. I think for a moment, and then I bolt for the car remembering the medical supplies that I keep in the car for emergencies. When I get back to Dracko I prepare a linen wrap and gauze so that once I remove the claw in his side I can quickly wrap it. I remove the large tweezers from their case and carefully remove the claw. As soon as I have the claw, free blood starts to poor out of the wound and onto the ground. I quickly apply the gauze to stop the bleeding and then quickly sit him up so I can wrap it tightly.
When the wound is secure, I run back to my car and quickly drive over to where he is lying. When I am close enough, I get out and open the side door so I can lay the seats back. When I have that done, I grab him under the arms and drag him to the car. As soon as I have him inside and safely secure I get in and drive home.
As I open my eyes, I see a bright light that hurts my eyes so I close them again. When I open them, again I realize that I am facing the ceiling. As I look around, I see that I am on a large bed in a small room. The room is without furniture except for the bed that I am laying upon, a small table with multiple medical supplies on it, and a small chair that resides in the corner. As I try to sit up a sharp and almost unbearable pain erupts in my side, catching me so off guard that I let out a startled roar and fall back into my previous position. Spots swim before my eyes. When my vision clears and the pain has subsided, I try to carefully sit up again. However, as I try to rise I feel a slight pressure on my chest preventing me from rising. When I shift my gaze down to see what it is that is preventing me from rising I see that is a hand. As I look towards the owner of the hand, I see that it is a human woman. She has a look of great kindness and concern on her face.
"Please do not try to move, Dracko. You have been unconscious for two weeks." She says in a voice that reminds me of the waves breaking over the sand, strong and powerful but gentle and patient.
"Where am I and how did I get here?"
"You were hurt in your battle with the phoenix and needed medical attention, so I brought you here to my house so I could tend to your injury."
As I listen to what she says it all comes back to me like a tidal wave, the phoenix...the final blow...my purifying fire...meeting the human woman...
"You're the human woman who saw me fight the phoenix. You're June."
"Yes and you should rest. You have been unconscious for a few days. The phoenix dealt you a bad injury leaving one of its claws in your side. I removed it and stitched the wound closed, and wrapped it. Though you will probably not be able to move for next couple of days." She then goes to leave.
"June wait" she stops and turns to look at me "Thank you for helping me. Never before has anyone done this for me."
"You are very welcome. Now, please, rest." She says in a caring voice as she turns out the lights and closes the door. As I lay there all I can think about is how she does not know anything about me. Yet she is selfless enough to see a being in need and helps regardless of the danger to herself.
However, she is helping me despite her limited knowledge of my structure. I let myself think about that as I fall asleep.
When I next open my eyes, I see that I am still in the small room in June's house. I lay there awake for several minutes until the door opens and June walks in with a tray of food in her hands. She stops when she sees that I am awake.
"Well I hope you slept well."
"Quite well thank you. What do you have there?" I ask indicating the tray of delicious smelling food in her hands. She looks down at the tray of food as if she needs to remember.
"I didn't know what you like so I just got some deer meat out of the freezer and fixed it up with some mashed potatoes and a little vegetables. All with a glass of water. I hope that is fine."
"It sounds delicious, thank you." I say as she sets the tray on the small table and helps me sit up. Once I am in the proper position, she sets the tray down on my lap and I immediately start to eat the wonderful food.
Over the next few weeks June would come in to check on Dracko then leave to go to work. When she came home she would change the bandage over his side and bring him a meal. And as time went by he gradually recovered. After a few days he was able to sit up and move his arm a little. And as the days passed the two got to know each other though they were finding it harder and harder to converse. So much that when she brought him his meals they would just sit in silence and try not to stare at the other.
After a while June removed the bandage for good for the skin had fully healed, but upon feeling the muscle underneath she found that he still could not move his arm very well and so she had him do daily exercises to help the muscle heal properly. But after about a week she decided that he should start to exercise the rest of his body as well.
I come into the room to bring Dracko his meal and find him already sitting up and waiting for the food in my hands.
"Well aren't we the hungry one," I chuckle as I have not even fully put the tray down before he starts eating with a vengeance. After I give him the tray I sit down on the small chair by the bed and watch him eat in silence.
As I watch him eat, I admire his handsomeness and even though he is a cross between a dragon and a man, he has very attractive eyes that seem to go on forever and his voice...oh his voice, it is like the roar of the sea, and it is positively wonderful. 'Wait, what? Did I really just think that? What is happening to me?' He soon finishes his meal and looks up at me.
"That was a very delicious meal. And I look forward to the next one." He says as I take the tray from him and set it down on the night stand.
"I am glad you enjoyed it Dracko. I believe that you are recovered enough that we can start on your other basic motor functions."
"What are motor functions?" He asks clearly confused.
"Motor functions are your ability to move. Like lifting your arm."
"Oh, ok. What do you want me to do?"
"Well let's start with your arm. Try and lift it up above your head a few times." I watch as he does so but with a little hesitation that is clearly caused by a little discomfort. However, he does get it fully above his head and back down again.
"Now what?"
"That was very good. Now try and stand." I am very surprised when he does so without any trouble.
"You did that surprisingly well. Now let's see if you can walk." He is hesitant to take the first few steps but after he does he is walking all around the room. After a few minutes he walks over to me and looks me in the eyes.
"Thank you for all your help. I will never forget what you have done for me," He says then starts to move towards the door.
"And where do you think you're going?" I say with my hands on my hips causing him to stop with his hand on the doorknob.
"I am very grateful for all your help June, but I cannot stay here any longer. As it is I have spent too much time here and have put you at risk just by being here."
"What?" Is all I could say in my shock as tears well up in my eyes.
"My enemies will be able to find me when I leave and if they think that you are an ally to me, then they will try and harm you in order to get to me. And that is something I cannot and will not allow."
"Where will you go?" I ask as I try not to cry.
"I will go as far away from here as I can and hope that you will be safe. Goodbye June." And with that he walks out door. And in a few moments I hear the front door open and close. After a few minutes I fall to my knees and weep, unable to stop myself.
As I walk out the front door of June's house, I stop and take a deep breath through the nose. I pause for a second as I smell a strange scent upon the wind but since I cannot identify it I decide that it is probably just the smell of human because of my proximity to Junes' house. Therefore, I just fly away thinking nothing of the strange smell. However, as I rise into the air and fly away from June, I cannot help but think of how my leaving must affect her. A single solitary tear runs down my cheek as I fly away from her.
" I am so sorry June, but I have to leave so I can ensure your safety." I say in a whisper.
Some minutes pass before I find the strength to get up and walk down the hall to the living room so I can get my mind off of him. After a few minutes I decide that the best way to do that is to clean. When I get the soap, a bucket, a mop and start to clean the kitchen floor, I hear a knock at the door. I drop everything and run to it in the hopes that it is Dracko, but when I open the door, I back away slowly from the door because straight in front of me is a very large bullhead with horns spanning beyond the width of the door.
"Where is the protector?" It asks in a very evil sounding and raspy baritone voice. I just stare at this creature in shock as it stares back at me with deep coal black eyes. After several minutes I scream and run back further into the house. As I run, I hear the creature roar in rage and then the sound of splintering wood as the beast comes crashing through the walls after me.
As I fly, I hear the faint sound of a scream on the wind. I stop in my flight path and swiftly turn around flying back in the direction of June's house now concerned for her safety. As I fly I hear a chilling roar, I increase my speed to maximum now very worried over what has happened.
As I near the house, I see that the front of the house has a gigantic hole in it. As I land I take a deep breath and pick up the same scent I smelled when I had left the house. Only this time it is stronger and I can easily identify it...Minotaur. I let out an enraged roar, the likes of which I have never let loose. I begin to scour the house in search of a clue that will give me a lead as to where June is. That is when I find it, a message carved into the floor where the debris has been cleared away. It reads 'If you want to see the woman alive come to Job Peak and get her' I quickly transform into my larger form and take to the air. I turn in the direction of Job Peak and June.
"Don't worry June, I am coming for you." I think as I race through the air.
When I land on top of the designated mountain, I take in everything from the wind howling in my ears to the rocky ground on which I stand. Then I hear laughing coming from behind me. I whip around just in time to see the Minotaur steps over a small rise with June in its clutches. She is bound and possibly unconscious for she is not moving and her eyes are closed.
"Put her down you monster!" shouts Dracko at the beast in primal rage, "You better have not hurt her in any way or I will tear you limb from limb!"
"She is unharmed protector. I have not done anything to harm her for all I want is you." It replies in a deadly and threatening tone.
"Do whatever you will with me, but let the woman go."
"Gladly." It says with an evil smile right before it throws June at the side of the mountain with all his strength.
"Juuuune!" Dracko shouts as he dives to catch her before she collides with the mountain. He barely gets into the space between June and the mountain in time to catch her. As he continues his decent he firmly wraps his hands around June so as to protect her from his collision. He lands so hard that he creates a crater in the of the mountain, knocking him unconscious. After a few minutes Dracko begins to wake, but quickly remembers the situation he is currently in. Concerned, he looks down at the small figure in his hands.
"June?" He asks in a soft and concerned tone. She stirs in his hands and slowly looks up at him.
"D-Dracko?"
"I am here June. You are safe," He says relieved that she is ok.
"You came back."
"I will always come back to you."
"Uh do you mind?" She asks while lifting her hands so he could cut the rope.
"Of course," He says as he cuts the ropes binding her hands and feet with one razor sharp claw. After a few moments of rubbing her wrists she leans forward coming closer to his face.
"June what are you..." He tried to say but she swiftly cut him off as she kissed him. He is startled at first but soon delights in the kiss and kisses her in return, both of them quietly moaning into the kiss. They broke away reluctantly and just stare into each other's eyes swearing they can see the universe in them.
"Don't die." She says in an almost pleading tone. He just stares at her for a moment, then standing he looks down at her and kneels.
"I swear to you, June, that I will always return to you. No matter where you are, I will always find you and return. This I vow upon my honor as the Protector." He then stood and turned to face the approaching Minotaur.
"Now please hide," he pleads in a very serious tone.
As she runs for cover the Minotaur roars and charges at Dracko, only to crash into a stand of trees when Dracko dodges to the left. He quickly advances on the beast and goes to deliver a powerful blow but is stopped mid swing as the bull-man kicks him from behind sending him spiraling down the mountainside. The Minotaur recovers and races down the slope in pursuit of his enemy.
When Dracko reaches the bottom and stops, he is almost immediately back on his feet and flying back up the slope to meet the beast half way. The two mythical monsters exchange blows for a few minutes as they tumble down the slope once more. Dracko claws at the Minotaur dealing many cuts and breaking more than a few bones. However, the Minotaur just keeps fighting despite the obvious pain, dealing many broken bones to Dracko as well. They continue to fight for what seems like hours. Until Dracko deals one final blow to the bulls head with so much force that, a shockwave moves the trees nearby and shatters the beast's skull, killing it. As the beast falls, time seems to slow as Dracko releases his mighty blue fire upon the body. Like before, there is a sound but not that of screaming. Oh no this one is a deep and mighty roar, it dies quickly as the body turns to ash and then to nothing.
As Dracko cuts off his fire and turns to back up the slope to see where June is he stops as he sees she is standing beside him.
"I thought I told you to hide?" He said to her in a slightly irritated tone.
"I was until I saw you deliver that punch from behind the boulder up there." She said as she indicated the boulder, "When you started using your fire I raced down the slope so I could see if you required medical attention...again." Upon hearing this, he was overwhelmed by a sense of companionship. He shrunk down to his smaller self and pulled her in for a deep and passionate kiss. As they broke away they both, said just three words.
"I love you."