I was given a choice, at the end of my own mortal existence. A choice of what I would give for a new life. To be reborn into a world that I could find peace with and if I would stomach anything given to me. In that moment when I had shed everything that was me I felt a chance to be something more than just another soul traveling through the world.
A hand was held open to me and I said yes, that I would be reborn through fire and flame to have a new life I wanted. But Only in that flash of realization when I took that hand did I understand that I was making a deal with the devil.
I was pulled upwards, although I did not have a corporeal form I felt the encroaching flames, I saw a face lined with sharpened yellow fangs, skin a blistering red and a face that was beautiful but equally terrifying, blackened midnight hair and yellow cat like eyes stared into my soul. Laughing greedily I was thrown into the hands of demons that worked with a forge. My soul, the core of my being was ripped and torn, though I did not have a mouth to scream, the woes from my soul flowed outward. Perhaps music to the greedy creatures who relished in playing with my foolish being, I could not see clearly but their forms were aflutter with nothing but delight as I felt agony. I could shed no tears and offer not up any sort of resistance, for what was but just a soul that had given itself over.
One could not imagine feeling the growth of new limbs, the pains of bones being snapped together, molded and bent, twisted even though I had died. Still the breaking continued until I had but a skeleton, I could feel the cool burn as wind passed through my bones. What followed was just nothing but pure torture as I had my limbs bound in sinew, muscles wrapped, tendons created and bound to the numerous joints and connections until I was but a throbbing mess. I would've loved to begin weeping just as an outlet for the pain but the demons were far from through with me. As each one of my joints was then stretched out and approaching from all sides were dozens of knife toothed creatures each one of them carrying what appeared to be some kind of scalding hot metal.
My mouth sagged open as hundreds of these made contact with my muscles and flesh. Boiling from the inside out was the only thing to compare it to as I did not have the means to pass out, no I had to endure it all and I could not speak or protest. Not that it would do any good.
The world around me is a demonic forge, I fail to find another word to describe it. I am already in hell, this is just a piece within it. I can not tell if I am the only soul to be put through this. I can not hear anything else beyond what echoes inside of my own head. But the world is ever changing. I see the floors rise and fall, gouts of magma erupt into what appear to be kiln forges and nothing but rows of eyes all flickering towards me.
It lasted only long enough until finally they pulled away. I fell to the ground with an audible thud, "Your body has been remade oh foolish little mortal. Although I can't say your soul will ever be the same." Her voice, the one who offered me this deal, was talking to me. The bargain, a new body, one that displayed power, prestige, and arrogance at once. "Your pain has been delightful and we haven't even put your fire within you."
Dragging my new eyes to look, they blur as I see her again. Smiling, eagerly enjoying her work. But from her side I see more creatures holding what appears to be a lit coal. A burning ember in their palms. My fire… will be literal.
Spindly spider-like fingers widen my jaws open and without concern I watch as not one attempts to push the red hot coal into my mouth. Of course not this is hell, The creature pushes itself into my mouth. This process could've been done when reshaping me but that clearly wouldn't be as fun. A childlike demon forces themselves down my throat to an impossible degree. My neck feels ready to tear, my eyes roll back into my head as I struggle to gasp a breath all the while a scalding heat drags down and between my lungs.
I could not fathom the lengths it took for that horrid creature to turn itself around and claw its way back out of my throat, but the pain I endured was not much less than that of a woman giving birth except I had nothing but agony to show for it. Still as the little devil fell out of my mouth covered in spittle, my eyes burning in pain was quickly outpaced by the literal volcano inside of my chest.
Heavy coughs and gagging sounds followed as plums of ashen smoke escaped each time I tried to grasp some hold of the air. Yet each breath I tried to draw in only fueled the burning inside of me. I clawed at my chest, trying to rip out the source of my perpetual anger by sheer instinct, or maybe even close my mouth and stop breathing but the thick black smoke escaped from my nose and out of the jaws of my mouth as the power inside of me wasn't contained and burst outwards raining over the monsters in plumes of smoke and flame. But there was no satisfaction in hurting them, they were there to enjoy my suffering and didn't even give me any small enjoyment in seeing them die.
Their chittering laughter was grating on my ears which fueled the living hell I was being forced to regurgitate. I felt like a giraffe trying to vomit tar out from their lungs. Each time I tried to draw out the bile nothing but charcoal smoke and gray ash escaped my mouth falling from the sides and filling billowing up from the sides of my mouth.
I feel my fresh claws dig into my skin tearing at my throat in an effort to release the pressure, I need to get it out. I'm not sure if it was blood as I dig into my own throat, the tightening growing to where I am all but choking and on the verge of passing out. With nothing but my eyes bulging from their sockets, and able to feel the red clouding my vision as the new veins burst blotting out everything into blood.
Then without warning fire bellows out from my mouth, I scream and flail each action only amplifying the intensity as I bury the entire area in an unholy inferno. I lose and lose more fire until my air is all but used up, my lungs straining and crying out in exertion until I just roll up and fall to the side with an unceremonious thud. Wisps of black smoke escape my nose and for the first moment I am without that blinding pain my eyes are able to look and focus. My face has been shaped and changed, the humanity of my being has been stripped away.
"Like it?" The voice of the beguiling tempress appears behind my head, not in my vision as it's obvious by my lack of thrashing and hard stare that I see true. But I say nothing. I don't wish to speak, "Silent and reserved, it's a humble trait but we are not the reserved kind here… and neither will the place that you are going to be either."
The voice pitters off into giggling laughter into a cacophony of grating sounds as the floor around me bends and becomes a liquid that sticks and clings to my new form. The futile point of resistance does not allow me to struggle, my instincts to flee are gone as I let myself be consumed. For what can I do in hell? I let myself slip into the darkness and my own mind follows it.
I find myself waking a while later, there is no jaring pain or sounds of chittering abominations to poke and proud me into consciousness. However the world I awaken into is no comfort. It is depressing as… one could expect of hell. The entire landscape is a dry cracked expanse of a drought, the kind you see in areas that are bereft of water for years. No signs of life exist anywhere as I finally come to grips with the new version of hell and what I have become.
A soul for power, a body unlike any other. The mythical draconic flesh, bone, and scales have become my own. I twist my head around, the neck of the large behemoth allows me to bend and twist my new shape in far different ways studying the blood red scales that cover the top of my body. The purple sinew of webbed wings that now rest produly on my back which I am able to expand and see they are several times my own girth when fully outstretched. The temptation of flight, a human desire possibly made manifest.
To my hands or paws now I see claws five toes all covered with razor sharp black and yellow claws with a canine style declaw up on both of my front forelimbs. With that I see a pale yellow flesh, the armored exterior red shielding the softer skin on the other parts of my body. I tuck my claws together almost like a fist and feel it. I feel myself. Of course I can't be sure if it is an illusion or a trick of the mind as I am most certainly not in any place that can be considered alive.
As I push myself up onto all fours I feel the dragging of a long tail, no doubt my rudder in a sense to control myself as I build up speed it flows so naturally now like a third arm or a leg. Snapping and twisting as I will it… But as I stand in my new body, I wonder what I must do now or is this just the beginning of my eternity in hell?
Taking my time I find the difficulties in walking, for once a man I am now gifted with the new sensation of using many more limbs to keep myself in motion. The addition of wings on my back are even stranger; they twitch and flex as I move from place to place.
It takes… I wouldn't even know how to comprehend time if it even exists in hell. Learning to move around and walk upright. I dare not attempt something so foolish and try to fly. I was never the biggest fan of heights but neither do I possess a phobia. Though there aren't any gaping cliffs or chasms that I see around me. The muddled palate of color and textures of light could be just my new sight or the world around me is a barren and bland land of hell.
So I begin to wander, my tail dragging behind me as I move, to where I don't know but I simply cannot remain still. The wandering dragon it almost sounds like a childrens's book. From my days before it would've been something as a child I might've liked yet in the afterlife I am left alone with just my thoughts and no sense of time.
This place, or void endless, no sight of anything as I just walk aimlessly. The sky does not change, I see no other figures or signs of beings that might exist within this section of hell. Perhaps it is isolation or maybe the idea of drawing out loneliness in a person I figure.
So I begin my walk keeping the pace on a steady trail as I move the back of my tail dragging along the ground leaving a slightly dimpled groove as I pass over the dry mess. There isn't any sort of scale or relative way to imagine time as I move so who knows if I would make progress.
But as I walk I notice the vague shapes and shadows of other souls. I merely assume that as they move like people. Their forms popping in and out, but following them is their harrowing cries of suffering.
Like shadows I see them move around me more and more. Or maybe they were there all along and now I have begun to notice them. But still, their cries continue, their shadows pass through one another in the dying light of this realm.
They do not exist long as I reach out to touch one wondering if perhaps there is something more to them. My clawed toes pass through one shadow and in that moment I am granted a brief vision. Their life filled with all of their regrets, the soul of a woman and how she had taken her world for granted. How it was lost in but a brief instant as they stepped outside of their marriage to seek gratification for themselves, denying the pain it would cause others.
However once their sin was revealed they suffered, begging.. No pleading for another chance but they received none, not understanding what they felt was but a fraction of those around them were now having to bear until they acted out in desperation that pivotal chance to extract some measure of pity or maybe compassion from those that now rebuke them. I see they attempt suicide and… succeed. Now wracked with guilt for being unable to atone for their sins their souls now wander the lands of the dead. Now from the other side they experience grief and heartache without a body to protect them, no natural chemicals or endorphins to lessen the pain or help shield themselves from the problems of their own making.
Raw agony and before I realize it the fleeting soul is now gone continuing to parade around with the numbers that move around me like a parade of death.
Is this my fate? To remain here and observe the faults of the dead? To see their pain and try to understand that very suffering. Releasing a sigh I decide to rest though I feel no compunction in my body. I do not ache for water, or food, I don't feel tired but the strain of living through another soul might have exhausted me. Yet as I rest I feel the waves of souls washing through me. One moment I am a young child suffering and taking my own life only to find myself dead and wallowing in misery.
The next is a man who turned to a life of crime, who preyed upon the weak and helpless until he became a victim himself and tried to repent and found himself here. Man, woman, or child I feel all of them as if they are my own memories. The haunting screams and wails still continue to swirl around me.
Regret and guilt are built up over time, I know the same shames that run through me but on an entirely different scale. Each life is intricate but at the same time similar. How the world is built unfairly, there is no lie in my mind about that, but the human spirit and resolve of others is what truly makes or breaks any existence. Perhaps this is what I am being subjected too, if my will can overcome the agony of regret? The pain of guilt?
I am barely able to keep myself conscious as I live through hundreds upon hundreds of fleeting lifes. Each shadow that flickers around me vanishes upon contact but only adding to the heavy strain of my current body.
World's begin to mix and spin together as one memory crashes into another. I was living through lives over and over again until many of them began to blur and meld together.
I see so much agony, pain, regret and each moment boils and swells inside until I can do nothing but throw my head back and scream. The draconic roar rips outwards as I can feel the shockwave of my voice flex overtop of me and my body flying upwards kicking up the barren soil into the air and all over me.
That brief moment of peace as I scream and scream I throw myself forwards, just to get away, to shake the memories I have been given, the lives I did not want inside of me out of me. My heavy clawed feet claw into the ground as I run and my wings flex and throw themselves out, the wind dragging along them as the massive span stretches almost forever and I jump seeking freedom from the ground and the souls for just a moment.
As my feet leave the ground I feel everything turn upside down, the grace of flight is not there as I open my eyes and find myself… in the air. My entire being is just hanging out as I remain in that quiet infinitesimal moment but I am not in the blood red sky or dry hardened ground. I am in a blue sky with green tree forests below me.
A sun, clouds, sounds or animals- only to fall.
I can't think, I can barely focus as my wings fully extend into the air, catching the air but I do not take any sort of flight. Like catching a draft, my large body is only slowed. I can feel how fast I am still going and I have no notion that I'll be feeling too great if I crash. I'll end a bloody mess.
I try to become like a bird and beat my wings, my teeth grit together as I pull on my longer neck trying to will myself into stopping my rapid descent. Although I feel myself getting slower I know I am still going to slam headlong into the ground. My eyes catch the shine of water as it reflects the glare of the sun.
I can see the pale blue and twist and turn my wings in desperation to just manage to jostle myself in its direction. I can see the leaves of the forest, I can smell the ground and it's only becoming a fear that is hammering in my chest. With effort I flap my wings hard enough but clip the tree on the edge of this pool of water.
If it's deep enough I don't have time to wonder as my body turns in on itself, thrown off balance by contact and then lands with a heavy splash straight into the water. I sink down into the water, my legs and wings kicking and beating to gain some bearing until I am doing the doggy paddle.
Traction takes some time as I slowly pull myself to the surface rising up until I finally break free from the water and suck in my first true gulp of air. Still kicking and swinging my legs almost on instinct I reach the edges of the water, my claws do finding the smooth mud and clay bottom as I drag and pull myself upwards and onto the shallow embankment with a heavy labored breath before collapsing.
There I remain for a time, letting only the lapping of the water's gentle waves slide up and against my scaled hide. My head is half laying in dirt and sand.
I… I am… alive? Despite the situation I had gone to Hell. There wasn't a realistic chance that I was now back in the realm of the living once more and on top of that I possess the body that I asked for? Surely not, this had to be some kind of cruel play upon my soul to only gain further pleasures at my misfortune.
Yes… that had to be it. Still even as I lay upon the water, the continuous rocking of waves rolling across my body that still just along the edge nothing else happens. I can smell the freshness of the water, the crisp fragrances of nearby plants, the long discarded droppings of animals and the carrion of the deceased in the area.
So sharp are my senses I can even hear the rustling of leaves and grinding of branches, even the flutter of bird wings as I remain idle in my position. With my eyes still closed, still exhausted, I can almost picture the entire area in my mind and I know just by sound and smell the rough location of their position.
It is there that I make the first new sin in this body. I Hope.
I'm not sure how long I lay there but I rise upwards, my body having sunk a few more inches into the wet mud and sand from my egregious weight and my clawed feet drop even further. I Then take in a full breath of nature that is around me and step forwards, the shifting and grinding of my scales feel strange but as I take more steps I begin to notice it less and less. Walking around my new surroundings I scan the lake but also take a chance to glance in the glossy outline of my own reflection. All of me is draconic, my skin no longer a spongy flesh of a mortal human but the brilliant gold of hard scales.
This cannot truly be real, I think to myself as I reach forwards a clawed finger touching the reflection that mirrors my movements and breaks up with ripples from my large clawed hand. My eyes are a light sapphire blue and seem to glow.
Still I suck in a breath of air into my lungs and with focus I feel a surge of heat take form within my lungs but not from strain throwing my head into the air I let loose a gout of flame into the air that spirals upwards some ways before fading back into nothing.
Maybe I am alive once more? My mind believes that it is impossible, but surely the entire world around me was nothing like… I shake my head the fog of old memories which now feel vague, I can picture the location faintly but my mind begins to pound as I try and remember more of what it was. The thoughts of who I was back when I was once human still remain although it makes me wonder… What if I die again?
The prospect of going through hell again makes a cold shudder run up and down my body and the further agony of knowing whether or not this is still just another part of hell as well. Do I give into the idea this is despair eternal or if not I try to make the most of this possible life? My claw digs into the sand and let it fall from around my claws, picturing the beads like sands from an hourglass as my eye can almost detect the finite details in the minute grains of sand, my ears hearing the individual pops as they land back along the ground.
Letting loose a bellow of defiance I decide it's time to get to know my surroundings.
I approach the clearing of trees that surround this small oasis of a lake, my head nearly able to reach over the high trees and my legs or arms are equally a match for any trunk in girth. With my last crash I don't have the confidence to try and start flying so I make my way along the ground for now. My sheer size and mass pushing over trees without much effort though I don't try to barrel into them like a fool. Letting the entire world know where I am didn't seem like a smart idea. Though it reminds me of Earth I can't imagine this is the same.
Dragons didn't exist.
I look around smelling the ground as my long neck cranes and twists, seeing the moss growing alongside the bark and the smell of fresh mushrooms and the small lives of the critters that have made this place their home. Birds flap and chirp, their figures and sizes no different than sparrows and robins.
The slither amongst the branches draws my gaze to that of a garden snake hunting the nests of the newly laid birds. My hearing can hear the shifting of muscles. I lean my face closer and then take in a whiff of its smell. The burst from my nose almost dislodged the snake which shook on its branch before flicking its tongue out at me.
I almost want to chuckle before continuing to walk…
Movement is mostly unhindered, I can reach a decent stride perhaps greater than thirty or maybe even up to forty miles as I want to figure out how fast I am. Controlling this body works quite well, four feet and the addition of a tail rudder is just incredible. I am nimble enough to break through the forests without tearing the place completely up. I can even use my wings to pull off hard turns that catch the current and my huge claws don't have too much trouble navigating soft terrain.
There is a rocky mountain outcropping as I circle around the terrain that I missed on my divebomb path. It isn't some monolith of rocks, maybe four or five stories at best with rounded sides and another covered in sheer cliff rocks.
The sun in the sky has begun to set and in my mind I think it is a good time as other to find a place to seek shelter. I haven't discovered any human or sentient life at this time although a few unique scents have passed by my nose. I don't know what they are but they have made a home around the lake.
And while the twinge of hunger bits at me I should find shelter rather than food. Because I could only imagine being somewhere on Earth and being the victim of a tactical airstrike. I may be a dragon but I'm not beating a jet or helicopter in a fight.
I climb up the rounded rock face without difficulty, my claws slicing into the rocks without trouble and finding a perch to pull myself along the rounded rock face until I reach a plateaued area.
A large sized cave greets me, my reward and as I fully stand atop the area I am greeted with a heavy scent from the cave… Clearly my reward is occupied and the occupant inside is not kind to my presence either.
I hear the throw thrumming growl and heavy breaths of what I know to belong to a bear… stepping out is a large dark brown bear. Her dark colored tongue and yellowed teeth are still visible in the fading light. Snorting and growling… I notice she has several small cubs trot behind her.
While I was never one for the direct harm of animals unless it was done by nature and out of human means I am… Hungry… I am more than several times larger than this bear and I'm sure that it would run but considering she is a mother she is going to fight me to the death if given the chance.
Yet I have not eaten all day, sure a few mouthfuls of water helped but I can feel the heavy groan inside of my belly. I roar and bound forwards, using my full momentum as I don't fear this creature. It rears up to intimidate me but I don't care for it and slam into it bouncing and rolling until it strikes the rocks behind it. The heavy impact was no doubt painful and jarring but to a giant bear it wasn't going to die. Shaking its head as it got up on its feet once more I remain upright and just watch the bear's movements.
I could hear the deep huff as it breathed, smelled the dead fish from its mouth and the petulant odor that now excluded from it. I remained stationary until it cried out and charged towards me trying to swipe with one of its paws but I was able to avoid it. It had speed and power but no agility. I let it swing and try to bite at my forelegs but I let it get closer though only to snap my jaw around its neck and back. My head is almost able to engulf the entire neck of this large female bear.
Blood pours into my mouth as the bear lets out a pitiful wail. It tries to pull away but my fangs are buried too deep and with just my head and neck I drive it into the ground. It still struggles but I keep it pinned, dragging it along the ground and letting the sharp teeth cut more and more blood out of the beast.
Before I realize it or maybe I don't fight it the reptilian part of this body or dragon part acts up and I shake the beast before throwing it into the air. I snap my jaws around the half of the creature's body nearly bifurcating it in half but I throw my head back and in only two gulps swallow the bear whole down my gullet… WIth blood dripping down my jaws I then decide I need three more bites as I hungrily eye her defenseless cubs.
Trudging inside of the cave that was now bereft of its previous owners I take a seat, curling my body in a half crescent manner, my tail nearly touching my head as my wings fold over my sides.
I would like to enjoy my first sleep but I am kept awake. Not by the actions I have just performed, that could've been excessive but I did not torture them and not a piece of them went to waste. In the eyes of a hunter I did what was respectful.
No, I am not alone and what follows me is not some simple beast. I know this because I can hear the breathing and how it keeps quiet and peers into my new den from the very edges outside. But one could say it was just a prey creature, but they didn't speak in a language foreign to me. However I do not move or show any sign of being alerted to their presence. It's just one and not a very big one either.
The voice is female, perhaps a younger girl but not a child and not quite a developed teenager, a middle ground of the two as I hear her hop around the light clatter of a stick follows her. No doubt she has a weapon… but are they so daring as to attack me?
I am a dragon… a dragon in a world that is much like my own but the language they speak gives me concern in addition to why there would be someone out here after hearing what had transpired unless they were coming after me or believed that I was a challenge.
This was something I couldn't just ignore… because if I died. No. No, I couldn't let myself begin thinking that way. If they were just a child I could send them away, terrify them and then do what I had. But I also had to be careful because I did not know what they could do.
Yet for a child they had more guts than almost any man I could say I knew back when I was human. They actually stepped inside of my cave, but not in some kind of stealthy manner.
No, they wanted to challenge me. She yelled words incomprehensible to me which I then lifted my head from my position and stared at her. My eyes got their first chance to observe what I was dealing with.
Human…ish? They had the features of a human, head, arms, legs, fingers and toes. The face and body had very similar features but adorning the side of her head were a pair of small nubbed horns and ears with a slight point to them not rounded but not knife ears either. Her hair was a light brown with green eyes.
But they were no savage nor primitive, bearing a spear that seemed far too large for her figure yet it was functional. But atop her clothing was a blue leather jerkin overtop a white top which had a flowing pair of split pants with visible undergarments.
I remain sitting down as I just stare at the young woman in front of me. 'Such a curious little thing… apparently I'm not back on Earth like I thought.' The silence continues for a few more seconds and the girl releases another bout of words that are beyond my understanding. I might know a few words from other languages but this sounds like nothing I know, but the body language is clear. She points the large spear with both hands towards me.
Releasing a low rumble of a sigh I shake my head, I might be willing to kill beasts… but if this is truly a new life I will make my first day one filled with the sin of murdering a young girl. I will just have to scare her. Getting onto all fours I give her one of the best roars I've done all day. I feel the entire place shake and rocks ready to begin falling if I push even further.
My hopes are dashed by the sight though, she is resolute still facing me down yet I can see the hesitation in her eyes with my own. She may not be truly scared-but she is fearful, keeping her composure is truly courageous. Something I do not believe I could do, because courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to act while under it.
She then takes the initiative and charges me, her speed while not sluggish is certainly not better than my own. She comes hard with a swing of her spear, the metallic tip catching the faint glimmers of moonlight from the cave's entrance. The blow comes quick but I pull my front leg back and she catches nothing but air. But there is no overcommitment from my small horned attacker, she spins through and comes back up and over attempting to drop a hard blow with the weight already in motion.
It crashes into the ground where I pull back from but then cover with one of my paws my weight alone burning the spear head into the ground as she holds onto it and is then pulled up into the air like an unbalanced sea-saw on one end. The effort is there as she tries to pull my arm up but I am clearly too much, but my attacker still does not give up. With another bellow she then charges me and begins punching my foreleg with her fists.
'Strong but not dragon strong little one.' I let her take a dozen or so swings, feeling her hit me but there isn't any damage but I can smell the small tints of iron and blood escaping from her bruised knuckles. My scales are harder than her small spongy hands.
With another heavy sigh I then crane my head down to her to give her a hard glare as if to say. 'Are you really doing this? You can't hurt me' My head is bigger than her whole body and she stops to look back at me. Still defiant, a prideful little thing. I reach forward with my other hand and she jumps away, landing quickly from my grasp but I swing the other forwards and she tucks to avoid it but ends up caught mid air as I round back and catch her with the first- my speed is still better than her own. My claws do not puncture her nor do they cause her undo harm.
I feel the struggle as he tries to break free as I walk her out to the front of the cave and set her down stating the fight's over. I twist to leave her out there but the mischievous criten jumps onto the back of my tail. 'Do you intend to wrestle me?' I snap my tail hard with enough force to send her into the air. She's no doubt thirty feet high but I don't let her hit the ground. My wing shoots out to catch her fall and let her slide down its sinewy side to the ground with a small bump on the side. The pint size attack continues to shout at me but I just shake my head and walk back into the cave where she does not follow, her fists clenched tight I pluck out her spear in my claw and toss it to the front where it spins to a stop several feet from her.
Laying back down but still alert I let her retrieve her weapon but she points the bladed tip in my direction before leaving.
No doubt I will be seeing more of her.
Letting myself rest sometime later once I feel that she's gone, her scene becoming distant and the sounds of her feet and breathing fade to nothing I let my eyes close. 'Don't let this be just a reprieve from hell- please let me wake once more.'
My wish is granted, my sleep peaceful but one without dreams as I lay there, but as I open my eyes I am exceptionally sluggish, my body feels a cold I am not inept but I feel the difference and slowly make my way from my lair onto the outcropping as the sun has risen just above the trees and is casting a long shadow across the ground. The beating sun feels great as I step into it and make my way to just bask in it. Like being reinvigorated, it was quite surreal. I was almost posing, my neck straight upwards with my scaly gut touching the warm rocks. Everything felt so different that I wondered how this could all be happening.
The rising sun rose in the sky and by that time I was ready to start moving around. Deciding to get some more water before investigating my surroundings again. Of course given my perch up I had the inkling of trying to use my wings to start flying but decide against it for now. Jumping several stories up didn't appear to be the best of ideas.
But as I turn to begin making my way down the mountain towards the lake… I ran into my 'attacker' from the night before. Her small frame and determined look showed off true grit even in my presence once more. Cute.
With another blaring cry she rushes me. Her large spear in hand she comes charging after me. I do not attempt to do her any harm, it is but a child and no real threat, it would spoil the good morning I had if I baked a child in flames or in my gut.
I tuck my legs and with a huge lurch I jump into the air, my body easily clearing some ten meters and well out of the range of my pint sized opponent. Her words and shouts falter as I land some twenty or so yards away on the other side of her without knowledge my wings had helped carry me catching the rush of air and let me almost land more gracefully than expected.
Still I give her a snort and rush away from her, watching her shock and confusion shift to outrage as she charges right after me.
My pace is a quick one though I am not quite to the point of straining my body. I still turn to see the girl making her way down, jumping from the rocks with precision landing and then turning to jump to another with the barest of resets. She hits the ground before taking off towards me.
I slow my pace enough just to see how hard this will push her, even with the large spear she carries it well and keeps up with me as I slow it down to allow her to keep up. Letting her gain ever so much up to me so that I can see her fierce eyes do I turn my head back and then break away into a full gallop, my clawed feet taking off in a manner she can't hope to match and leave her choking on my dust.
The crystal lake is quiet as I arrive. Having slowed down I take in the area once again, my nose picking up the smells of the creature around me before my eyes can. A deer and two of her fawns are on the other ledge, the smell of fish filling my nose from the water's edge, along with small birds splashing in the small droplets of water from the receding waters.
This is nice… nothing like the modern world I can recall, but this place is definitely amazing.
Not finding myself hungry I tip my head down into the water and let my lower jaw fill with the cool liquid.
The tranquility ends as I hear my pursuer finally reach me, she's sucking in huge gulps of air as she comes to a stop, her spear now falling to the ground as she is quite exhausted.
Her once adorable face was covered in specs of dirt and dust as she no doubt caught quite a few handfuls when I took off and she still kept running after me until reaching the end of her strength.
Turning to face her I just look as she is panting hard but beneath her bangs I still see that fire. Her moment passed she grabs the spear and helps use it to push herself back into her feet. No doubt her issue with me wasn't resolved.
I perhaps find myself able to crack a smirk as she hauls it up and comes towards me.
Her scream of defiance comes as she lands out in the water with a heavy splash and her spear beside me as I sit back on my hind legs and watch her sputter water out and begin swimming towards me.
It didn't deter her, she kept at it, she flew into the water perhaps another half dozen times until she just floated back up the surface an angry scowl showing on her face as she treaded water. It was that look that caused my humanity to show, she resembled the face of a little sister. Her expression of anger but also halpless and I laughed, the unique rumble came out as my head tipped and the chuckles just came out.
Her face got redder no doubt my mockery antagonized her further but something in me didn't want her to be cruel to her. Even if she did attack me, she wasn't a true threat, I felt it akin to a man stepping on an ant for crawling on his shoe. I shake my head in her direction and then wade into the water. My large claws reach out to grab her but she tries to evade.
Our roles reversed. I dive into the water, my mass sending waves that help push her further from me as beat my wings and legs through the waves and swim below her as I watch her face shift from looking at me and whats ahead of her.
Her expression shifts as she turns around again only to see that I have vanished, not noticing me below her I decide to strike and with a huge flap shoot upwards.
I see myself as the playful older brother messing around with a younger sister, terrify my sibling but not harm them.
She doesn't see it but her eyes are wide and panicked as my jaws snap around her, but I do not cause her harm. I explode out from the lake water draining from my jaws as I near the lakes edges, I ignore the pounding in my mouth until I stop just on the edges of the shore and open my mouth.
My 'prey' flies out shocked and drenched. I can almost smell the panic and fear coming from her, if the look in her eyes wasn't clear enough. Perhaps I just got lost in the moment. But as I see her soaked form move to grab her spear once more it leaves me wondering how long this can keep going on.
Once she has her weapon back in hand she then gives me a scornful look and begins to walk away.
I guess she has had enough for one day. Well enough I have to attend to actual business.
Expanding my area I begin to trek across the landscape with more focus, knowing there is some form of more intelligent life out there-even primitive- I should know better than to just pretend I am its better based on size, speed, and strength.
'Knowledge is best gained through defeat and if I become complacent with everything I will learn of my own folly and possibly pay an even greater price.' The flashes from my memories I spent in hell are not something I can ignore.
With some clarity and focus I take time to begin analyzing the scents and smells of the wildlife that made this forest its home. The differences in plants have become much starker in comparison to what I remember being able to smell with my human nose.
For practice I stalk a pack of deer like creatures in the woods, their resemblance similar to that of deer but their colors did not. My nose moving and detecting the shifting smells I walk around with ease, able to keep downwind of them and follow without too much issue, the time confines more difficult as sections of the wooded area become denser and not something I am able to slide around easily.
Occasionally I peer my head when the foliage of the trees is low enough that I can simply look around, almost feeling comical like a giraffe, my large neck leaning over and still seeing nothing but rows of forests.
Of course that wasn't everything I was able to learn. I came upon a border… not a particularly visible one but a border that I was forced to see. It was a clear roadway, the ground had been dug up layered with rocks, refilled and trenches cut along the ground to act as water diversion.
The old roads of the Roman Empire were brought back with the concrete that had been layered down overtop the ground and seemed to stretch along the grounds with the trench acting as a barrier for not only larger wildlife but to prevent others from accessing the roads easily.
But this was obviously built and the idea of even more intelligent beings in this new world were clearly identified as much different than my pint sized attacker.
The road continued for a ways and I followed along the edges wondering if I might discover more human-like creatures. But the road had an abrupt-very abrupt cutoff at a fork-like intersection. A portion of the concrete had been uprooted and broken apart leading into another path into the fest where the third looked as if it were still under construction and possibly abandoned as a project.
Lingering smells of unidentified creatures hung in the air- a lot of them similar but individual in their own slight way.
But my vision follows the road and I am able to notice the small markings of recent movement and not a small amount either. Perhaps hundreds if not more than a thousand men had been here recently but pulled back, the faint markings of wheeled carts show atop the road surface perhaps only visible to my eyes.
Taking a chance to tread across the roadway I tuck my body lower, my wings flatting as low as they can as my head and body are merely a foot above the construction. Moving with haste but with subtlety as well I move along the path for some minutes until a distinct smell of smoke catches my nose, I stop and let my hearing pick up even more. Voices, not many speaking but I can hear people talking. Their words I can not understand but I know it best to cut my losses.
Pulling away from the built roadway I move back into the seclusion of the forest. 'At least knowing there are smarter creatures around I should best keep any desires for flight grounded until I know how they will react- of course I have a very limited number of guesses as to how it will go, Run or Fight.'
My withdrawal is quick, my concern growing with this new revelation of information. There is evident conflict taking place between intelligent races and some that are fearless. The only thing I can be more certain of is that my pint sized attacker doesn't harbor those same odors as the ones I found by the road. Meaning she is most likely not one of them. 'A nation capable of mass construction works wouldn't need to send their young out to fight a dragon.'
Making a hasty retreat I head back to my cave deciding that it would be a better chance to rest and make a later excursion in the darker hours as a chance to test my night time abilities and to see if there are many things I have missed in my general proximity. I surmise that I should be even more aware of my surroundings and cautious, relegating the notion of free flight to the back burner even further.
The human memories I still possess are able to recall some aspects of ancient history though it is muddled as through my stint in that plains of hell and where I felt the lives of others pass through me melding together. Things I should know are mired with the brief flashes of life that I gained, what memory I have of possible Roman times is at best tenuous. Still some knowledge is better than none.
A fool would've followed the roads towards a civilization without knowing what would become of them.
Once I am 'home' I scale the cliff walls and approach my den. I am met with my little friend from earlier. Perhaps she was waiting for me, or just idle and had nowhere else to go as she just looks at me. Her hand on her weapon but obviously not trying to draw me into a fight like before.
I do not intend to harm her or torment her, it has been a long day for both of us. I can tell she hadn't arrived that much more before me as I noticed the attempts at setting up kindling for a fire. I can smell the wood shavings and I notice her attempts to make a friction fire. I can still smell the dampness in her clothes, she didn't have a chance or safe location to dry them in the woods and perhaps came here out of basic necessity. Given I hadn't hurt her or killed her it was probably a safe bet.
Tilting my head in the direction of her small fire pit I decide to help her. I had breathed fire before, it shouldn't be so bad a second time. The pressure in my lungs change as my chest swells up, I don't know how this works or why but it feels like sucking air through your nose in order to clear it and a slight rubble comes out. But I don't overdo it, I decide to slow it down until I feel that the would be flamethrower in my mouth should be very reserved.
What come sout is a fair sized chunk of flame, not a little spit but the size of a basketball and torch the little kindling stack. The flames almost nip at the girl in front of me which makes her flinch backwards but I don't intentionally singe her.
Her stare is even more curious as she looks at the fire and then to me, I feel my lower lip pull up as if I were grinning before moving to settle down on my personal haunches I am some distance from her but my head is able to watch her completely. With the crackle of fire from the heat I just lay there. My intent is made and it seems that she isn't in any hurry to provoke a fight which I am happy with. Though wary she hasn't tried any sneak attacks before, she's made her presence and methods clear. If poisoning me or trapping me was the game she wouldn't charge at me from the front.
I feel the slow pull of my eyes and I find myself asleep, though I am resting heavily my sense are still aware and even with my eyes shut and my mind limited I hear and know my assailant laid down, the soft clatter of her spear and then the shallow breathing that follow is enough to help me enjoy a much deeper sleep. With nothing but the crackle of the fire and our breathing is all that continues. My second day of rebirth has been quite the experience and even while resting I think, 'Where do I go from here?'
[***]
A heavy low blowing horn stirs my consciousness, it is a distance away but the noise pulls my slumber. I open one eye and spy my 'roommate' still asleep, the fire having long since died out and is just burnt charcoal. Lifting my head up I turn towards the entrance as the horn still continues to echo.
My movement wakes up the tiny girl who pops awake, her hand grabbing her spear tightly. 'Evidently she's been raised in the wilds if her weapon is the first thing she gathers up.' She looks at me but does not react further except when my attention turns towards the mouth of the cave.
Feeling a bit sluggish I get onto all fours and make my way towards the rising sun, my body clamoring for that reinvigoration that I felt the day before but also to see if there is more to the blaring of the horn in the distance.
I sit back on my haunches as I catch the streaks of light casting over my body as I stand on the ledge. Thinking back to what I had investigated the day prior I know that there were other human creatures in the area, an organized group with a camp formation and discretion is often the greater part of valor. It isn't wise to pursue the problem without safety.
Still as I sit overlooking the cave entrance I hear more horns and with my eyes focusing into the distance I see something flying through the air. It is hard to tell as no doubt miles away and even with my huge eyes I can't tell what it is from here concretely but as my gaze continues to try and focus I see more and more objects being thrown into the air. Slowly I realize what is transpiring.
As I remain sitting the glow of the sun, the hard glint shining off of my scales, my pint sized room mate takes it upon herself to approach me from the side. She seems almost excited as I can see the grin on her face. She points her spear in the direction of what is definitely a battle taking place and speaks to me. The words I fail to understand as I look at her but she doesn't seem disturbed by it.
Approaching me with her spear upright like a walking stick she then without my approval or acknowledgement begins to climb up my back. With the weapon still in hand I watch her begin her short climb upwards, my scales offer enough of a gap for her ringers to reach through and pull herself up. It takes her but a few seconds to fully scale me and rest upon the square of my back, the small angled bone joints that protrude from my neck and back serve as a measure for her to rest securely between them. I give her a hard stare but in her eyes she doesn't show any measure of fear but it isn't that brazen confidence I saw when she challenged me.
No I see excitement and eagerness, clearly she understands that a battle is taking place as she points with her spear in the direction of the conflict. Perhaps like a young girl excited for her first ride on the back of a horse she clicks her heels as if attempting me to begin galavanting towards the sounds of combat.
Shaking my head at her I see her happiness melt into frustration. Shouting at me again she then points her spear towards the fighting. 'Why do you want to go there?' She is too young and I will not be throwing myself into a battle especially with a child for no other purpose than just for simple kicks.
My defiance is only met with further consternation as she jumps upwards and continues shouting at me. But still I shake my head, hopefully the NO is universal, she then thwaps my side with her spear, not to impale me but like a riding crop which I barely even notice. I then give her a quick blast of warm air knocking her from my back but I don't let her fall straight to the ground. Catching her with the back of my wing and let her slide down to the ground.
She breaks into a fit, like a toddler being denied their treat or reward, she begins shouting and screaming at me angrily as if expecting me to do as she wishes. I don't understand why but clearly she has some misunderstanding that she can command me.
It goes on for several minutes until she's blue in the face from yelling but I don't move. I just give her a long look before turning my attention back to the battle. Though it is still far away I want to keep some eye on it, if they make headway closer to me I should probably avoid detection. I have no idea how the world would react to my presence and I don't wish to provoke hostility if I can… My tail idly slaps the rock behind me as I try to think of a situation as to where I could gain some kind of advantage? Maybe aiding one side directly if there is a battle, but how would I know if a side was winning in the long term or if they might even wish to attempt to befriend me in my current state.
All of these thoughts were worrying and pressing because if I remain here and do nothing, it won't be long until I'm discovered and then I'm left without any chance to gain some type of advantage, even if nothing happens for a year or even more I can't predict how long I can just be idle as I am.
What is the right answer? Only quickly do I realize that I am very much alone, my head turns and twists and notice that my child companion is now quite gone. My nose can pick up her scent but the fresher part is now coming from down the cave and in… the direction of the battle.
'Fuck!' I don't' want to get involved but how am I to let a child die? With but a thunderous crash of dragon flesh I tear off down the cliff to go and retrieve her and avoid her getting killed and possibly save myself a sin that I have a chance to prevent.
