Chapter 4

 

The days following that conversation were the highlight of my life so far.  After my Telepathy leveled up there was no need for me to continue learning Estoran, so when Rickurd came to the forest we would while the hours away talking.  We even played together sometimes.

 

Rickurd knew all manner of games from the time he spent playing with his brother, but it was all new to me.  I was a bit awkward, but he would always try to drag me into one thing or another and I would inevitably enjoy the experience of spending time with another person…with a friend.

 

We carried on like that for quite a while, the two of us growing closer and closer as the days went by.  I was content to let things stay the way they were, but then one day, Rickurd got an idea.

 

“I’m telling you Rickurd, that will end horribly.”

 

“Come on ‘Lumen, I’m sure they’ll like you! It’ll be the best, and you won’t have to sleep in trees anymore.”

 

“I don’t mind sleeping in trees. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to refuse. I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with other humans.”

 

“You mean those guys you told me about? But my parents are nothin’ like them. Just let them hear you out, and if it doesn’t work I’ll never ask you to do anything like that again, promise!”

 

I grunted noncommittally. Rickurd wanted me to meet his parents to see if they would let me live with him.

 

Personally I thought this sounded like a bad idea, but he was certain that they would say yes.  Well…they were his parents after all, and if they were anything like Rickurd then they would definitely allow it.  But if they werent…

 

“You know what will happen if this doesn’t go the way you plan?”

 

“Don’t worry, it will work! Just let me take care of everything, I’ll tell them I have a friend coming over and then introduce you.  If you just talk to them I’m sure they’ll see how amazing you are.”

 

There was just no arguing with him when he got like this.  Rickurd was the type of guy that once he got an idea in his head he never gave up on it until he failed. It was one of his many annoying qualities…and his many endearing ones.

 

In the end I tacitly agreed to his idea with the condition that, the moment the plan looked like it might fail, he would distract his parents until I escaped.

 

…

 

Three hours later the two of us were crouched in the wheat field. The plan was simple, Rickurd would tell his mother and father that he wanted to introduce them to a friend he had been spending time with. Then I would walk out of the wheat and introduce myself with telepathy. Hopefully the two adults wouldn’t react too poorly to me and if they didn’t freak out Rickurd would tell them where he found me and ask if they would take me in.  If they said yes then Rickurd and I could stay together and…i’d finally have a home.

 

“Please say yes…”

 

“Hm? Did you say something?”

 

“No, are you ready to do this?”

 

“Heck yeah! It’ll be great having you stay with us, and I can’t wait to introduce you to big bro!  I’d bet the two of you get along great.”

 

With that Rickurd stood up and left the wheat field. It would take him a moment to get the attention of both parents, so I sat there wondering what it might be like to live with them.  If they were like Rickurd they would undoubtedly be annoying, cheery, excitable and…

 

In my mind I saw a group of smiling faces greeting me when I woke up in the morning…

 

The sound of approaching voices alerted me to the fact that Rickurd had brought his parents at the edge of the wheat field.

 

“Alright son, where is this friend you wanted us to meet.” Said a deep, somewhat exasperated sounding voice.

 

“I’m so glad you made a friend sweetie, but where is he?” Came a much higher pitched voice.

 

“Just wait a second, I’ll call him over.  Hey Illumen, you can come out now!” my friend shouted.

 

“Here goes nothing” I thought, stepping out of the wheat.

 

For a moment the two adults stared at me dumbstruck.  I was hopeful, as this had been the exact same reaction Rickurd ha had the first time he saw me.  But then…

 

Both parents jumped back, frightened. “H-Hello, my name is-” I tried to say, but the father didn’t hear me.

 

“Good gods! Get away from my son, monster!” he shouted, jerking Rickurd away from me.

 

“Wait dad! He’s the friend I told you about, he’s Illumen!” Rickurd shouted, trying to settle his parents down.

 

“What are you talking about RIckurt, that’s a-a dragon! Have you gone mad!?” His mother screamed.

 

“Wait please, he’s not a monster!  He’s-” but his father interrupted him, pushing both Rickurd and his mother toward the house while getting between me and them, like a human shield.

 

“I-I mean you no harm. I just wanted to…”

 

“By the gods, the monster speaks!  Is this how you tricked my son, you devil?!  Stay away from this place, and if you ever come near my family again, I swear I will kill you!”

 

After Rickurd and his mother were safely in their house he took off, sprinting in with them and slamming the door behind him.

 

…

 

……

 

………

 

I turned around and left the farm.

 

“I should never have agreed to that. What was I thinking? Living together with humans, as if they could ever understand me. As if I would ever wake up surrounded by people who were happy to see me. As if I could…could ever have a family……..all I want is a family…”

 

My vision was blurry…

 

Afternoon had progressed to evening by the time I had finally calmed down.  When I could think clearly again I made a decision.

 

It was time for me to leave this place, as it was clear that I didn’t belong here.  Rickurd was still my precious friend and one day I would come back to see him, but for now I needed to go and find my own kind.  For him I was willing to give humanity one last chance, but if I stuck around they would definitely waste it.  I needed to become powerful, more powerful than they were if I was to be with him.

 

I would sleep tonight and be gone by daybreak tomorrow.

 

“I only wish I could say goodbye…”

 

But my mind was made up. And with that I laid down and closed my eyes.

 

Danger

 

My eyes shot open. The voice had spoken, and that word was more than enough to get my heart racing.  Though the voice had alerted me to It, I couldn’t see where the danger was coming from. I activated Predation.

 

…

 

Predation detected enemies all around me, each one about 20 meters away. They were all humans, and they were all between D- and D+ rank.  There were about 20 of them and they were completely surrounding the woods.

 

“Those damned humans…!”

 

The parents, they must have gathered helpers from the town to come get rid of me.  Without Rickurd to distract them it would have been easy to guess what direction I had run off in. This was the only patch of trees in this direction for miles.

 

I knew that his plan had gone wrong, but to think Rickurds parents had been like this. They were exactly like every other human I’d ever met. They called me a monster, and a demon and…and now they were trying to kill me!

 

I could feel my rage burning again, and my hatred for humans along with it!

 

“Damn you…DAMN YOUUUU! I’ll ki-!”

 

“Psst! Illumen, are you still here…” a voice said from the shadows

 

My rage suddenly abated as I heard the voice of my precious friend.“Rickurd?” I said “What are you doing here? You need to run!”

 

“I came to run away with you!  I’m sorry about what happened with my parents, I didn’t think they were like that, but there’s no way I’m abandoning the only friend I’ve ever had.”

 

“R-Rickurd…it..it’s not like that makes me happy!” I said, though I could feel tears welling in my eyes.

 

“Ha! Sure thing pal. We’ve got to hurry though, there’s goons surrounding this whole place. If we run as fast as we can we’d probably be able to make it through the gaps between them.”

 

“We don’t have to do anything, just leave the running to me.” 

 

I hopped down from the tree branch I was perched on and crouched down, inviting Rickurt to climb onto my back.

 

He had that awed look in his eyes as he said “You really mean I can?

 

I nodded

 

“Woohoo! It’s every boy's dream to ride a dragon, ya know!”

 

He quickly hopped on top of me, taking care to sit in a spot where there were no spikes.

 

“Ready?”

 

“Ready, let's do this!”

 

With my heart lighter than it had been a moment ago, I took off, aiming for the biggest gap between the humans surrounding me.  Rickurt was keeping low, dodging branches and doing an excellent job keeping his balance.  He was remarkably talented at dragon riding, astounding even me.

 

“I can’t wait to see how he grows. In the future he will make an excellent partner.”

 

We were nearly to where the humans were, I could see torch fires burning in the night. There were three of them that I would have to get through, one on either side of me, and one directly in front. Their faces were difficult to make out behind their torches, but I was pretty sure they were all male

 

One of them wielding with a pitchfork noticed me crashing through the brush and shouted “Here it comes! Get ready!”

 

“Damn these white scales.”

 

I had Predation active, but these humans were already on high alert.  The three of them bunched together in front of me, trying to herd me backwards towards the trees and the men who were now running this way.

 

But I was a dragon, and I would not be brought low by such a predictable strategy.  Instead of running directly into the three, I ran in a serpentine pattern, forcing them to spread out. Then I jerked hard to the left. One of the three lunged left with a sword, but caught only air. Then I jerked to the right, slightly harder to keep the fake-out going. Like last time, the man to the right of me stabbed into the dirt with a spear.

 

All that was left was the pitchfork wielder.  Such a trick wouldn’t work for a third time, so instead I made like I was going to bowl right into him.

 

He took a stance with his fork and activated some skill.  He glowed with a slight red light, and I guessed that both his speed and power were increased. 

 

Undaunted I right toward him, hoping to bait out a simple attack.  He raised his pitchfork high, aiming the four prongs straight down, into my head.  I was only a moment away from being skewered! 

 

Then I activated Avenger and kicked hard off the ground, jumping clean over the human and his pitchfork.  We landed behind the human and I took off immediately.

 

“NO!” Came the humans voice behind me, but we were already out of the range of his weapon.

 

“We did it!” I said jubilantly

 

“Oh boy, that was insane! Where on earth did you learn mo-”Rickurd started, but then suddenly he stopped talking.

 

I felt his weight leave my back so I stopped, worried that he had fallen off.  I quickly turned around and ran back to where he was sitting on the ground. Behind him, a group of twenty something humans were quickly catching up to us. Leading them was the man who had been wielding a pitchfork. Though I only recognized him by his attire, as his pitchfork was now gone.

 

“Rickurd, hurry and get back on, we’ve gotta run!”

 

But Rickurds’ only reply was to make a choked gurgling sound.  For some reason he couldn’t talk.  He looked in my eyes, and I saw tears in his. I also saw fear. Something was terribly wrong. It didn’t take me long to figure out what.

 

From the front his body was obscuring it, but sticking out of Rickurds back were the four, foot long prongs of the pitchfork.  Each of which was buried in his back.

 

“No…nononono. Rickurd, you’re going to be ok, we’ve just got to find another town and we can-”

 

But Rickurd was already fading, and he knew it.  Tears were streaming down his face and his eyes were begging me for help but…but I didn’t know what to do.

 

“…Please Rickurt…please don’t die…please…please…please”

 

It was too late. My friend's eyes had started drooping and I couldn’t hear his heartbeat anymore.

 

“Rickurd…please gods, save him!” 

 

I was crying, begging for anyone, anything. But no help came. Just a voice. A small, frail, frightened voice.

 

“ ’Lumen…i’m cold…”  were his final words before Rickurd Lanshire, my best and only friend, died.  

 

Murdered by another human.

 

The human in question had finally caught up to us and came upon the scene of a dragon, crying over the corpse of a twelve year old boy with a pitchfork sticking out of his back.

 

“What is thi-” started the man who had thrown the weapon, but he stopped himself when he saw the face of the boy.

 

“My gods, is that…is that Rickurd!? My son…oh my son! Why!?”

 

It turned out that the pitchfork man had been Rickurds father.  He collapsed to the ground wailing and crying, cursing the gods for taking his son away and…

 

“Damn you dragon! It’s your fault my child is dead! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill every last one of your kind for this!”

 

…What?  He was blaming me for this?  

 

The…the gall. The…this human!

 

My sadness and anger were mixing together, rolling and burning in my belly and heart. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to wail but most of all…most of all

 

I wanted to kill the men who had taken away my friend!

 

“You..you dirty human! You murdered Rickurd! You took him away from me! I’ll…I’LL BURN YOU TO ASH!”

 

Skill Unlocked <Flames of Wrath Lv.1> A skill granted to those who have met the required conditions

-Must be a member of a fire wielding race.

-Must have the skill <Avenger Lv.1> unlocked

-Must bear unshakable hatred for the users mortal enemy

 

With sword and axe they come to slay thee, nay burn them all with thine hatred!  Leave not a soul unscathed, nor a heart unbroken! For that is the strength of thy animosity.

 

-(Young Dragon Illumen) gains the ability to breathe (Variant) Blue Fire

*Variant Dragon Breath burns hotter than average and may come with additional abilities

-Locked-

-Locked-

-Locked-

 

“It’s coming at us! Form up, the beast won’t be able to attack if he meets a wall of blades!” one of the men shouted.

 

“…you bastards…”

 

“The hell was that?!” one of them shouted.

 

“You murderers…!”

 

“What the hell? The dragon speaks!” shouted another

 

“You Monsters!”

 

“Don’t let it intimidate you! It’s just a dumb animal!” Shouted Rickurds father, now joining the line with hate and grief in his eyes.

 

“YOU HUMANS!!!” I shouted as loudly as I could.

 

I inhaled a great breath, activating <Flames of Hatred> and then adding <Avenger> on top of it to power up my attack.  Then I unleashed hell upon the men in front of me.

 

My fire burned a bright blue, hot enough to melt the earth beneath my feet.  The humans stood no chance, and all caught within the sapphire wreath of flame were turned to ash. 

 

As promised.

 

Behind the men the woods where my dear friend and I had spent so many happy days had also caught fire and were rapidly burning away.  My hatred had consumed all before me, leaving nothing.

 

The few men who hadn’t died immediately were screaming in agony as their melted skin and charred bones were exposed to the crisp morning air. Among these men was Rickurds father, who was now clawing his way toward his son. He seemed to want to end his life near my beloved friend.

 

As if I would allow that.

 

I jumped between the two of them and blasted the humans face with Flames of Hatred at point blank range.  Nothing of him remained when I was finished, save for a black shadow fused into the molten earth.

 

To avenge Rickurd, I took 23 lives today. It was nowhere near a fair trade, but going to a nearby town to kill more humans would put me in danger of having to fight a knight. And I wasn’t quite ready for that. For now all I could do was put Rickurd to rest.

 

I dug a pit and gently lowered his body into it, then I found as many large stones as I could and  laid them over the opening. Finally I breathed my flames over the stones, melting them together and forming a protective tomb where he could sleep, uninterrupted, forever.  Before leaving I carved an image of the two of us into the stone with my claws. My final goodbye for him.

 

Then I ran. I ran faster, and harder than I ever had before. I didn’t want to think about what had happened. I didn’t want to think about the promises we made or the times we enjoyed. I didn’t want to think about anyone or anything at all.

 

So I ran, and I didn’t look back.