Interlude #1: A Dragon's Perspective
Five days. A mere blink in the long, winding rivers of dragon time, yet these past five days have been… peculiar. When first my golden gaze fell upon the small, swaying figure silhouetted against the Kyoto moonlight, a knot of annoyance tightened within my chest. Freshly impaled by that fool Odin's cursed blade, Hrotti – a testament to my own foolish pride in daring to stand against the All-Father – the last thing I needed was the intrusion of some mewling mortal.
The scent that clung to him was… unsettling. A cloying sweetness mixed with the sharp tang of decay, like overripe fruit left too long in the sun. My ancient senses initially screamed "undead," a creature touched by shadow and ill-intent. My claws twitched, ready to deliver a swift end to this unwelcome disturbance.
But then… I looked closer. Beneath the pallor and the tremor in his limbs, I sensed not the cold animation of the dead, but the fragile warmth of a life nearing its end. A flickering candle in a storm. He was dying, just as I was, in my own magnificent, dragon way.
The difference, the utterly baffling difference, lay in his reaction. Where I had succumbed to a bitter resignation, accepting the inevitable fade, this tiny human… he saw possibility. He saw a problem to be solved, a "boo-boo" as his inebriated mind so eloquently phrased it. Ancient, god-forged, anti-dragon magic be damned, in his muddled state, he believed I was fixable. A notion so utterly foreign, so ridiculously optimistic, it momentarily stunned the predatory instincts screaming at me to eliminate the threat.
He was an anomaly, this Kobayashi Takumi. A dying ember with the audacity to believe he could reignite a dying star. And now… he was my Master. The irony was almost enough to make me laugh, if the cursed blade in my side hadn't still been such an insistent reminder of my own failings.
But now, the scales have tipped. The debt incurred that moonlit night demands repayment. Over these past five days, observing my peculiar Master has been… enlightening. His human rituals are often baffling. The fervent need for scalding water immersion whenever the pressures of his fragile existence become too much – a strange form of self-soothing. Then there's the amusing, if predictable, flicker in his gaze whenever my human form graces his vision. The furtive glances, the clumsy attempts to feign disinterest. Honestly, the boy needs to learn some confidence. Just look already. For Ophis' sake, I am his maid.
More intriguing is the tempest brewing beneath his hesitant surface. He attempts a facade of composure, a quiet acceptance of his lot, but my dragon senses detect the simmering heat within. A volcano of human emotion, ready to erupt. I confess, a part of me, the chaotic dragon, yearns to witness the spectacle.
Yet, the most significant revelation is his tenacity, once a spark of hope has been ignited. When we first met, he was adrift, without anchor or expectation. My near-fatal impalement was merely an obstacle to be overcome. Now, armed with the faintest glimmer of possibility, he endures my… rigorous training. He pushes his failing flesh beyond its limits, fueled by a belief in me. A trust I do not take lightly.
Very well, Kobayashi Takumi. You have shown me what it means to not surrender. Now, it is my turn. I will make you strong. I will stoke that fragile hope into a roaring flame. You believed in me when I was broken. Now, believe in me when I push you to the brink. For your sake, Master, I will see this through... and the first step is figuring out why my master's mother hasn't told him why he is dying.