He held the child protectively against his bloodied robes, stumbling weakly across the ash laden ground.
With boots kicking up the dust, a blood drop wet the dry earth as it leaked from the corner of his mouth; mud caked to his skin from the sweat and ash combination.
The child cooed softly as he began to breathe heavily through his nostrils, tripping a few steps forward and hardly having enough strength to keep himself upright.
I must save him, he thought. He is the only one who can protect the seal…
Pausing to catch his breath, nearly falling forward, he gazed beneath his tattered robes to take a peek at the baby.
With glowing blue-green eyes, the baby peered up at him curiously, his pupils in slits that reminded him of a wildcat's.
After a moment of curiosity, the baby began giggling, giving him a gummy smile as his tiny fingers clamped down on the man's dirty fingernails.
The man smiled down at the baby, before he began coughing, choking on the blood that rushed up his throat, and he turned away from the child to vomit nearly a pint of blood on the ground beside him.
A free hand put pressure against the giant gash wound on his chest and stomach as the projectile vomit of blood sent soaring pain to it.
I don't think I'm going to make it, little one…
"Aeh…" the baby murmured from within his soaked cloaks as he began to stumble forward again, continuing his path along the edge of the lake of lava.
Fire roared around them as both huge and miniscule volcano pits shot flames of hot magma from their depth, spewing it across the ground.
Please, Eris… don't let him die…
I must find the dragon…
His legs began to give out, shaking as he husked and limped through the mayhem of flames.
Please, Eris, give me the strength…
The man continued his miserable trek, trying to hold onto the last ounce of his life through the chaotic environment, shielding the child from the heat with his robes.
To his dying relief, on the horizon of the flame spewing landscape, he saw a dark pit; the symbol of the dragon's dome.
There… it is, he thought weakly as his vision blurred somewhat, causing him to stumble sideways as dizziness grew upon him.
"Hold on, little one…" the man murmured to the baby as it continued to coo in his arms, slightly in discomfort by the heat.
"Dragon!" he suddenly shouted as high as his sore throat could manage, calling towards the dark pit.
There was no reaction to his call, only the sputters of the miniature volcanoes erupting around him.
"Dragon! I know you hear me, beast!"
With a few more steps, the man stumbled forward, his legs giving way to his weight and his wounds, falling to his knees just as the molten ground beneath him began to shake and rumble.
There was a low shriek of a dragon's roar as the ash-covered ground creaked with slits of new openings around the man, and he clung to the baby desperately.
Only feet before him, the landscape collapsed as a flame-ridden dragon's head broke through, tossing its head as it roared once more.
Each razorblade tooth was larger than the man's body as the dragon's vertical pupils glared at him in ferocity, lurching its head forward to roar directly in the man's face.
Suddenly, the dragon's immense body launched itself from beneath the ground, sending debris and lava flying in all directions.
The flames on the dragon's auburn, scaly skin cooled to a smoke as it came to a rest on what was left of the ground around them.
The man coughed weakly, blood erupting from his throat as he tried to remain alert to what was happening.
There was no escape from the dragon, as it had collapsed all the land around him, leaving him and the child trapped on a circular peak of molten landscape.
"Dragon…" the man growled roughly from his parched throat to the creature who remained partially in flight, its wings sending cool winds to counteract the heat of the magma below them.
"Humans… Filthy, filthy humans…" the dragon hissed in an echoing voice to the man, who simply gazed up at the ferocious beast above him.
"Please, dragon… Take the child…" he pleaded to it in a broken voice as he held the child to his bloodied chest.
"What!? You stupid, stupid human! Why would I care for a child of humans?" the dragon hissed angrily, snorting flames from its nostrils.
"Because… he is one of you, too," the man said softly as he began to unwrap the baby from his robes, lifting the child towards the dragon.
"He is a dragon child! Look at him!" the man husked as the exhaustion began to spread through his body, weakening his arms.
The dragon gasped, releasing a long, slow hiss as it leaned closer to view the baby, who began to giggle at the dragon, reaching for the dragon's fangs and kicking his legs playfully.
The tot's pupils were vertical like the dragon's, and glowed a bright, unnatural green.
The ginger dragon hissed again, blowing air from its nostril, taking in the scent of him.
The baby paused as the wind blew passed his body at such a speed, before he clapped and giggled more, like he wanted the dragon to do it again.
"Take him, dragon! Take him and care for him! He can do for you, what you cannot…and you know it! Please, dragon… Please take the child," the bloodied man pleaded with the last few breathes he managed, lifting the child with more urging toward the beast, before a sudden thud in his chest and a last ounce of blood leaked from his wound, crippling him unaware.
Almost in slow motion, the man's hands parted as the baby seemed to levitate upwards towards the dragon's tusks just as he began to fall backwards, limply rolling down the edge of the landscape and descending silently into the black pit below.
The dragon watched as the baby boy floated in midair and his caretaker fell from the ground and into the crevasse, disappearing into the black abyss without so much of an utter from his lips.
Touched by this act of sacrifice, the dragon extended its long neck forward, capturing the child on top of his elongated snout.
The boy giggled, clapping his hands again as he stared into the large, frightening eyes of the dragon, grabbing onto the horn just above it's nostril and hugging it close.
"You…You're important, aren't you?" the dragon hissed to the baby, who was now smacking at the sturdy horn's ridges, cackling lightheartedly.
"Human…You stink of human, boy…" the orange creature snarled lightly, exposing its fangs as it surveyed the tot almost cross-eyed.
Surprisingly, the baby began to grip the ridges in his tiny fingers, as though he were trying to pull himself to his feet, before he oofed, falling back on his rear roughly.
"Careful, you tiny tick," the dragon mused, its wings still keeping a steady beat as it remained afloat above the molten lava oozing beneath them.
"Hang on, little one …Let's take you home," the dragon announced, and to its surprise, the baby responded by settling itself into one of the deep creases of its snout, as though the child was ready to take flight.
A rumble of laughter erupted from the dragon's sturdy chest, before it shot up and away from the volcanoes, disappearing into the clouds above.