I screamed as loud as I could and the piercing scream was enough to hurt my throat. I hoped that was enough to reach Danamus' ears and he knew that I was safe and that there was no need for him to fight.

*Buosh*

*BOOM*

“ROOOOUR”

I saw the gate and I saw hope, a feeling of security filled my body. Walking through that gate meant no more trouble, it was my salvation. So when I was only a few steps away from the door, in a desperate attempt to reach that safety, I threw myself on my belly. Unfortunately for me the ground of the city is not friendly, I had overlooked that I am made of flesh and that any debris on the ground can cause me an injury.

I lost some skin and tomorrow I will surely have bruises all over my body from the blows of the roots. I'm sure I dislocated my shoulder and even my head was hit by some debris because I could feel a warm liquid spilling from my head, but I didn't care and immediately turned around hoping to see the young dragon behind me, unfortunately it wasn't and I could still hear the sounds created by their fight.

“DAANAAMUUSS”

From my place I could see Danamus throwing fireballs, but these did not have enough power to hurt the armadillo, which in turn countered with pieces of earth that shot out as if they were projectiles, but Danamus managed to avoid them from the air. At this point the fight looked like a draw, the armadillo couldn't catch Danamus and Danamus couldn't hurt the armadillo.

But the young dragon was having a hard time keeping up his flight and the projectiles were getting closer and closer, so it was only a matter of time before the armadillo managed to land a blow and gain the upper hand. If Danamus was at the mercy of the animal it wouldn't be good news, it was a battle of attrition that the monster was winning. After all, Danamus is just an infant dragon, while the armadillo is clearly a more experienced adult.

“BOOM”

“GAAAAAR”

“DANAMUS”

I had only screamed a couple of times but I no longer had a voice and my throat hurt tremendously, so with willpower I forced my throat to give one last scream that I hoped he could hear. I don't know if he still hadn't realized that he had already managed to escape or he was fighting for his pride as a dragon, but one thing was for sure, he was running out of time.

A moment after my scream, Danamus flew in the direction of the city so I don't know if he heard me or gave up trying to harm the armadillo. Although by his unstable flight, I don't know if he was injured or just tired, in any case it gives the impression that he could fall at any time, I can only wait until he arrives to confirm it, but at least now he was returning to a safe area, that gave me more peace of mind.

The armadillo for its part was not willing to let him escape and although I thought he was slow, the damn thing transformed into a massive ball and rolling at an incredible speed chased Danamus while destroying anything that crossed his path. Watching the scene only made me feel more helpless than I already felt, the beast was victorious while I was covered in wounds that I made myself while trying to flee.

What hurts my non-existent pride the most is that surely the beast does not even remember that I existed, besides the fact that we are in trouble again due to my imprudence. I thought that with the attack suffered by the goat I had learned my lesson, but apparently I did not learn what was more obvious and that is that in this world I am at the bottom of the food chain.

The chase continued until about 30 meters from the wall the armadillo stopped its advance and strangely when the animal stopped, Danamus regained his flight stability, which allowed him to increase his speed and a second managed to cover the remaining distance to enter the city.

At a quick glance I realized that we were lucky. The poor dragon was having trouble breathing and I could see some wounds on its scales, although they were not very serious. But on the other hand, one of his wings has a hole the size of a fist. So things were as I guessed, and it was only a matter of time before the armadillo managed to knock Danamus out of the air.

"I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU SON OF A BITCH AND TURN YOU INTO A BARBECUE, I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAVE LEPROSY, NOT EVEN THE BONES WILL BE LEFT AND YOUR SHELL WILL BE MY TOILET"

“ROOOOOUURK”

"I WILL NOT REST UNTIL I TURN YOU INTO PUREED ARMADILLO SON OF A BITCH"

“ROOOAAAAAR”

“HAAAAAAAAAA”

“ROOOOOOUUK”

The beast was not as calm as its appearance said and in its anger it rolled in circles while roaring, this caused a huge tornado to be created around it that raised dust and debris. Even at a distance I could feel the strong winds, the nearby animals ran in different directions trying to escape from the dangerous winds, but despite his anger the monster did not advance any further, every time he tried to roll forward he only rolled in circles.

"Fuck, are you okay? I mean it's clear you're not okay, is there anything I can do?"

“Gra..aa.a.ar”

*Haaaa*

"Looks like we got lucky this time, thanks for saving me again. At this rate I'll be indebted to you for life hahahahaha........ I'm sorry, it's my fault that this happened"

“Graar”

"Are you going to the castle? Don't worry, recover your wounds calmly, this is not going to stay like this, I assure you that we will take revenge for what happened"

'Does he plan to recover his wounds by resting, with some magic trick or are the red stones he eats some kind of elixir? Anyway, there's no point in thinking about it. They have no reaction in me, so it doesn't matter right now'

“ROOOOOOUUK”

With every second that passed the animal seemed more angry, the sky turned completely black, not even the nights are so dark, I could not see the beast, but by the continuous roars of frustration and anger I knew that he had not given up yet, though it was clear that he wouldn't be there forever. So a few minutes later the roars stopped and soon after the day returned and along with the light the prairie returned to calm, its normality, as if nothing had happened.

When the adrenaline wore off, all the physical and mental exhaustion along with the pain of the wounds turned my body into jelly. Danamus went to the castle to recover, but I hadn't been able to stay calm during the attack. I mean, nothing could make sure the bastard couldn’t get in, and if he did, I’d have nowhere to run. So that fear had kept me on my toes until now.

"Fuck, now what am I supposed to do? I knew I was down the food chain, but this is absurd. This has to change somehow, but it's all out of my control, I can only try my best and hope for a lucky blow"

*HAAAAA*

"To get out of this cycle of being hit, I have to wait for a blow, it's very funny"

*HAAAAA*

"Shit"

On this excursion I did not suffer a physical injury at the hands of a prairie animal like on the previous excursion, but the mental blow and humiliation of the fact that the injuries I have were made by myself while fleeing, are something that at the moment I don't know how to deal with. I mean, it's not that I care much about my pride and it's not like there's anyone here that I want to impress, but I'm worried that because of the fear my mind will create a barrier, a trauma that will prevent me from leaving this place and the fact that I'm afraid of pain doesn't help.

All I can do for the moment is to keep experimenting and hope that hopefully one of my plants will give me the solution or so I hope. I'm still not giving up on that magic peach of wisdom.

But everything in due time and now the important thing is to lick my wounds like a stray dog and rest, which I urgently need. Luckily I can sleep anywhere since there is no rain and the trees cover me from the wind. Besides the way things are, the only danger I could face would be if Danamus tried to eat me which I hope won't happen or my fate would be to turn me into a delicious snack.

It was still daylight, but I was exhausted and I just wanted to disconnect from life, tomorrow I will resume the experiments and now I plan to try with the poisonous plants, of course I will not be able to test the results, but I know that Danamus will not mind, so being a taster will be his job, and I hope that some of the plants that are under observation, show some variation. While I was trying to forget the pain, thinking about how busy the coming days would be, I fell asleep.

That night I dreamed I was lounging on my couch watching a documentary and enjoying one of Mrs. Margaret's lemon cakes. Everything was bliss until a wretched man decided to knock on the door as if the world was going to end. And then I woke up. It's funny how what was my reality is now just a dream and what was just an interesting dream is now a harsh reality. It's been a while but I still don't get used to it.

*Yawn*

"I accept that you're angry because it was my fault you were hurt, but in case you forgot, I'm hurt too, so please be more careful"

"....."

"Forget it I'll let it go for this time, come on buddy, there's a lot of things we have to do today, don't be wasting your time"