Fire Doesn't Hurt?
Being a 12 year old in 1700's England was surprisingly demanding since there's the whole class and society norms of the times which I am now believing aren't going to last for very good reasons.
But I can't deal with that currently because I'm starting to feel very unwell because I'm coughing a lot and my stomach hurts as well. And I feel like I'm burning up so I've been stuck in bed with my mom looking after me. All my life, I've lived with just my mum. I've never known who my dad was since mum never told me anything saying that it's best for me to not know anything until a certain point in my life.
"Hi, sweety. Are you still unwell?" Mum said to me as she entered my bedroom. She was wearing her morning dress and had a bowl of water and a towel. She was in her late 30's and had long raven hair and brown eyes which I inherited and she said that I inherited my light brownish ginger hair from my dad.
"Yes. But I feel like I'm going to literally explode now." I said to hear in ragged breaths as sweat is dripping down my face. She then had a look on her face as though she knew something. And then she sat down next to me and dabbed the now wet towel on my forehead.
"Don't worry, darling. It'll pass eventually." She softly whispered, dabbing the towel but it had no effect on me and in fact, it felt dry upon touching my skin.
"You said 2 weeks ago and it got worse instead. I'm feeling like I'll explode with fire! What is happening to me?!" I begged her. I bolted up as I did this and that caused something to happen that I didn't expect. When I shouted, I breathed out actual fire from both my mouth and nose. Mum jumped back, spilling the bowel of water all over. I was just paralyzed with fear. And then I was physically shaking, just wishing that this was all a dream and that I'm not some freak.
"Ethan. Ethan, calm down." Mum spoke out, slowly coming up to me with her arms out, and she seems to be acting calm about it all. HOW CAN SHE BE CALM?!
"Mum…. What's wrong with me?! Why am I a freak?!" I then begged with desperation, flaying my arms around in shock and fear, which made her come up to me and tried to hold me down.
"Ethan! Please calm down! You are not a freak!" She said loudly to me to make me stop and it didn't work as I was still worked up at the fact that I breathed fire.
"Then what am I?!" I begged her, wanting answers.
"You're my son! And you've inherited your father's genes!" She told me and that last bit made me stop. What does it have to do with my father?
"What does this have to do with my father?" I asked. She looked out the window for some time, clearly thinking something over, and then sighed.
"It's time you learned about him. Come with me." She said, getting me out of bed and putting me in some clothes to go outside with her.
We walked out into the forest that was next to our home. She had never allowed me to go there for all of my life, saying that there's something in there that I can't see yet. Now must be the time.
The whole walk, I was silent and timid, not wanting to accidentally cause a forest fire, Mum noticed this and she pulled me up to her and wrapped an arm around me in comfort, which worked as I felt more safe.
After a while, we reached a cave that was so huge that it could fit a whale in it.
"We're here." She told me. I grew concerned as to what was in there, thinking that some kind of monster was in it.
"What's in there?" I asked her.
"In there are all the answers you'll seek. In there, you'll learn more of who you are and of your father." She explained, knelt down at eye level with me. I was getting a bit worried about what I'm about to learn in there. Fearing that I'd die, which I didn't know where it came from.
"What if I don't get answers?" I wondered, concerned. She then grabbed my head with her hands and stared right into my eyes.
"You will get them. You deserve them and it will help you understand everything." Mum reaffirmed strongly. This now made me feel confident to go in.
So I nodded in understanding and took some brave steps into the cave.
Entering into it surprisingly wasn't that scary at all, if anything, I felt what can be described as a wall of calm and serenity as I entered. It's as though some kind of otherworldly force is aware of my presence and wants to make me at ease.
I carefully walked further in to see what looked like an orange light which was ebbing and flickering, which means that it's a fire. My curiosity took over and I stepped closer and closer.
Once I entered through to get a clear look, I was frozen to see what looked like a circular hall and there was a ring of fire lighting the room and on the walls were cave drawings of Dragons and there was writing that initially were symbols that I've never seen before and they ended up morphing into English words that I can understand.
But then I heard a sound from the centre of the cave and I turned to see a hole that wasn't there before and smoke was coming out of it. And the smoke looked like the kind from a fire. It then started moving towards me as though it were alive and as it managed to reach me, it enveloped all over my body and then it reached my face where I breathed it in, and I fell asleep taking over me, and I blacked out.
"Rise, my son." I heard a deep voice whisper in my eye. Is this my father? I opened my eyes slowly and found myself in an open field that was scorched and fires were surrounding me. I looked around, speechless until I heard a rumbling from behind me which instantly made me turn around and I felt scared as I was staring right at an enormous Dragon which looked right at me. It was so large that it would stand a little taller than a mansion and it had maroon coloured scales and it's underbelly had light coloured scales which reached to its bottom jaw.
Its tail had a spike and there were horns protruding from the back of its head. The wings were huge and looked like they could throw me with just one wave.
"Please don't kill me." I begged, scared out of my mind. The Dragon however reacted, not by snarling but it actually made a bellowing laugh that made the ground shake.
"Why would I ever kill my own son? Especially in your mind?" The Dragon shocked me by actually speaking and by saying that I'm his son! I AM ACTUALLY THE SON OF A DRAGON?!
"Who are you?" I asked this beast.
"As you now know, I am your father. I am Gemboro the Powerful, one of the Kings of the Dragon Clans." My dad explained.
"The Dragon Clans?" I asked, wondering what he meant.
"Once long ago, there were Clans all over the world acting as protectors of the world. But we were hunted down until I was the last one left. But that was before you arrived into the world to carry on the Dragon line." He told me. I was actually blown away upon hearing this information. The idea that there actually were Dragons living and instead of being like what some tales have described them, they were forces of good. But why wasn't he there to raise me with mom?
"What happened? Why did you leave my mother?" I asked, feeling saddened and dad looked disappointed with himself as he lowered his head.
"I never wanted to leave her. I loved her so much but I couldn't bear her being in harm's way, especially with raising you knowing that there would be a chance that you would carry my genes. So I left her, to keep the both of you safe and so I came here, to the Veil where I can live without being hunted. And to wait for the day where your mother will come here and live with me forever." Dad replied. I always thought that my dad left all because he never loved us. But to actually understand that it was because he didn't want us harmed and to protect us.
I ended up falling to my knees and cried, remembering how I always wanted to know my dad and know that I know, it was just too much, especially with the knowledge that I'm part Dragon.
"I hope you forgive me, my son. I never wanted to hurt you by leaving you." Dad apologized as he nudged me with his snout to comfort me. I actually felt his rough, hard scales and it somehow calmed me and I eventually stopped crying. I looked into his eyes and they were a burnt orange. I saw the pure emotion in them, which let me know that he actually meant every word.
"I do forgive you. At least I know the truth." I told him and his eyes were glistening as he was also in an emotional state.
"You have no idea how much that means to me, son." Dad grinned.
"But how am I meant to control my Dragon side? I nearly burned mom and the bed." I said to him and he chuckled upon hearing this.
"That's why you're here. In the Veil, I can teach you how to control that side of yourself and to eventually become the bridge between the humans and the Dragons. But that will start tomorrow, for now, go to your mother and tell her that I miss her and that upon near death she is to come into the cave and enter the Veil to be by my side." Dad then told me and I nodded before he shot smoke out of his nostrils which engulfed me and I blacked out again.
I woke up and found myself in the cave again and now with the new information I feel like I'm entering a new phase in life. I also felt a new confidence within me which must stem from my Dragon side.
I walked back out of the cave and I saw mom standing there, waiting for me.
"Well?" She asked. I smiled and hugged her, which I know took her by surprise.
"I've met him. I've met dad." I told her and she gasped before kneeling at eye level with me.
"You did?" She asked, thinking she didn't hear me right.
"Yes. And he told me that he'll teach me and that you'll meet him again when you're near death." I informed her and she broke down into tears and hugged me back.
At that moment, my life had changed in ways I never thought possible. And eventually I met the love of my life named Diana.
The look of Ethan's dad and Ethan's eventual Dragon form is based on Humanoid Dragon 2 by ktmz27 on Deviantart.
