"Scouting party, typical," Oxle complained with his axe hung lazily over his shoulder. 
"Could be worse," James stated. 
"I don't see how," Kiri quipped, "As the mage, I'm going to be doing the most work healing you when you're half dead and bleeding." 
"Sassy," Oxle added before lightly tapping James' plate armor, "I can see why you like her." 

Kiri let out an unamused scoff while James just laughed it off. It was true that the three of them had gotten the short end of the stick. After all, the scouting party was the most likely to die in situations like these, but the money was beyond good and it would earn them a place in the king's favor. A crack of thunder broke the cheery mood and seemed to summon a sudden hail storm that built from a light rain in seconds. 

Kiri huddled close to James as he held his shield above them in an attempt at shealter while Oxle just hoisted his axeblade above his head, muttering "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." 

Luckily, the mouth of a large cave was close. As scouting party, their job was to simply see if the beast they were hunting was still in the cave it was last seen in and report back, but if Oxle snagged some gold out of its lair, what would be the harm? The grassy knoll disapeared into a smog of blackness that seemed to radiate from the cave as the heroes entered. 

"Kiri," James whispered. 
"On it," she said simply as a bright light sliced through the blackness. 

Shimmering coins and vibrant gems bounced the light around the cave in a briliant series of rays. Despite the light, a black mass pulsed to the rhythm relaxed breathing characteristic of a sleeping beast. The light caused the beast to stir and sit up. Two sixty foot long wings spread out and brushed the walls of the cave in a one-hundred and eighty foot wingspan, but the owner of these wings was barely a dragon. Black scales covered her very humanoid body but lightened to a pale on her face and breasts. 

A squeaky yawn came from her maw as her slender arms streched above her head. She stood to a stature of seventy-five feet. When she turned around, the heroes saw that she had no maw. There was no snout holding rows of blood thristy teeth. Only a groggy smile dotted with dimples under a button nose and green eyes that held an air of sadness mixed with her tiredness. The reason for that sadness was a large gash along her arm that prevented her from flying away. 

"Stupid humans..." she muttered as she rubbed the wound. 
"Hide!" Kiri hissed and pushed the two brutes behind a pile of coins. 

The dragon walked passed the three and effectively cornered them by complete accident. She stood at the mouth of her cave and stared out at the castle in the distance being pelted by the weather. 

"Look at the ass on her..." Oxle muttered which, given broke the tension, earned him a slap on the back of the head delivered by Kiri. 
"Don't say things like that!" Kiri whispered sharply. 
"What? We were all thinkin' it!" Oxle quipped back. 
"James certianly wasn't!" 
"Guys..." James tried. 
"Really?" Oxle asked, "What? He can only oggle you now?" 
"What are you implying!?" Kiri demanded.
"Seriously, guys..." James started again. 
"C'mon, it doesn't take a scholar to know you're into him," Oxle stated with crossed arms.
"I am not!" Kiri yelled.
"Ouch," the dragon quipped simply as she sat, cross-legged, watching the spat unfold with James held in her fist. 

Kiri tried to pick up her staff, but a quick poke in the stomach knocked her to her back and took the wind out of her. The dragon then fliched Oxle's legs from under him and caused him to land squarly on his chest. 

"There," the dragon stated, "Fight over. Go home." 
"Like hell we-," Oxle started, but another flick to the chest stopped him. 
"Go. Home." 
"Guys," Oxle said from the ground, "I think we should go home." 

The dragon almost let herself laugh at the dry irony, but she had to keep intimidation up until the humans had left. 

"Wait," James spoke up, "Please miss... uh..." 
"Lolliyant," the dragon finished. 
"Right, Lolliyant, look at that storm. It's all flat land. In our armor, with that lightning, we'd be dead before we made it halfway back to the castle," James explained. 

Conflicting thoughts ran through Lolliyant's head, but dispite appearances, she couldn't send them out to die. She let out a defeated sigh. 

"Fine, you can stay for the night. But if anyone asks, I'm keeping you prisoner!" Lolliyant stated. 
"Deal." 

Lolliyant set James down next to a confused Oxle and Kiri. The calm of that night would serve as the last rest our heroes would get for a while. As the four slept the night away in the cave, an army of knights were preparing to slay a dragon. 

I couldn't sleep that night. I couldn't get the pounding thought out of my head that we overlooked something important and, in just a minute, I would figure out what, but for now I was trapped in a dark cave with nothing but my own thoughts and a lightly snoring dragon to fill the silence. I couldn't help the wandering of my mind as I looked over my shoulder to the sleeping dragon and the way she curled into a ball, wrapped in her tail and waited for the sun to come. 

The flashes of light from the mouth of the cave had stopped and so had the ambient sounds of hail and rain. It was enough to make me think I might get some sleep, but there was a moral choice I struggling with. The raid. It was still coming. The fact that we didn't come back was an answer to them and the one they were looking for. I sighed and sat up with the clattering of metal and clinking of my sword. 

I found myself at the mouth of the cave and staring out over the grassy plains where castle sat so peacefully in the distance that it was obvious the army was headed somewhere. The castle was always quiet the night before a raid and it was a safe bet to say the raiding party would be here before the sun was up. So I sat. I waited and watched the torches march down into the valley and up the opposite hill. I watched them quietly sneak up to the cave before I stood and I stood between them and their bounty. 

There must’ve been hundreds of them. Knights, all armored, but I had an edge… an edge in the shape of a dragon. 

“We were wrong,” I said simply, “There’s no dragon here.”
“He’s lying!” one of the footmen shouted, “I can hear the beast sleeping!”
“I repeat,” I said with grit teeth as I raised my shield, sword still down, “There is no dragon here.” 

One of the commanding officers of the party pushed to the front of the pack and stood in front of me. 

“I doubt you want the king to hear about this,” he threatened, but I gave no quarter due to threats.
“You have a strong sword arm,” I started as I put my hand on the hilt of my blade, “And I would hate to slice it off, but if you draw on me, I swear to you, I will cut your body into so many pieces that not even the rats will want anything to do with you.”
“Look around. You’re outnumbered,” he stated.
“They still have ten steps to take,” I noted and gestured to the party, “Do you know what I can do in ten steps?”
“Archers!” the commander yelled, but a much more deafening lack of noise alerted me. 

An anchoring noise that had vanished alerting me to a change in stakes… and a shift in power. 

“I’m sorry!” I shouted, “I didn’t know what you were. I didn’t mean to endanger an innocence.”
“What are you talking about?” the commander asked.
“He’s talking,” a voice boomed from behind me, “About me.” 

Surgically precise fingers, each tipped with a dull claw, swept from the sky and wrapped around the commander in an iron vice. I could only imagine the pressure she was putting on him. I remember how she grabbed me and that was when she was being nice. Flaming arrows lit up the sky, but Lolliyant simply swung her wings in front of her and the steel tips bounced off without leaving so much as a mark. 

“Cut down the beast!” one of the knights yelled as they started their charge. 

I planted my feet and ripped my sword free from its sheath as I readied myself to be torn to shreds by the charging army that watched me so confidently stand by the “monster.” I put my shield up, shut my eyes, and prayed, but what saved me was no miracle. No, what saved me was Lolliyant. She had dropped to a kneel and separated me from the army with her shin and thigh as she dropped to reach the knights on her right. This also left me in an awkward position as I was uncomfortably close to Lolliyant, more specifically, Lolliyant’s crotch. I was suddenly and painfully aware that Lolliyant wore no clothes. I diverted my attention to the gap between her calf and thigh to watch her fight. 

An open palm push knocked back all the footmen and a light squeeze took the fight out of the commander, but she was attacking so carefully that I was convinced she was a better human than I. She put the commander down in front of the front line as she carelessly blocked another wave of arrows with her gigantic wings. She flicked the wing back and sent a hurricane of air that knocked the whole party over or off balance. I couldn’t help but notice the change in heat from my position and confident smile forming on her face. She was enjoying this, maybe too much. 

A familiar creak caught my attention and drew me from my current train of thought. Lolliyant could block the other arrows fine, but that sounded like a ballista loading and I doubted anything less than enchanted steel could stop that blow. Luckily, I had some. I moved faster than I could think and dove between Lolliyant’s thigh and calf, almost getting wedged between the two fleshy giants, and rolled to a stop with shield raised. I saw the device at the back of the party and my window of opportunity closing. I charged through the ranks before they could recover from Lolliyant’s wings and threw myself in front of the ballista. My shield let off a shine as the large, wooden spike collided with the magic metal. My forearm was forced back into my chest and I was lifted off my feet by the overwhelming force. 

I thought I was dead for a while. I was weightless, I didn’t feel the pain I should’ve felt, hell, I couldn’t feel at all for a while, but I regained my senses when I was slammed into a soft wall of scales and flesh. I crumpled into a ball as the pain hit suddenly and powerfully next to Lolliyant on the cold dirt. 

“No…” she muttered as she picked me off the ground, much more gingerly than with the commander.
“Give no quarter, men!” the commander barked, “Reload the ballista!”
“No, stop!” Lolliyant injected, “He’s hurt!” 

Those knights had lost their way. I didn’t blame them. They were about to kill the monster and come home heroes… even if it meant killing one of their own in the process. Would I have acted any differently? Just as I had lost all hope, Lolliyant got a fire in her eyes that I hadn’t seen before. She pulled up one hand and hammered her fist against the ballista while also turning a poor knight’s leg into a bloody pulp. The wooden structure was smashed to pieces and the knight was writhing in agony. I was about to compliment her on her hit, but when I looked up, I saw Lolliyant close to tears with her hand clamped over her mouth. 

“I-I’m sorry!” she insisted and tried to help him, but pulled back as she realized she was too big to help with a matter so surgical.
“Get the beast away from me!” the knight screamed as footmen came in to pull him out of battle.
“Damn!” the commander yelled, “Retreat! We’ll be back! With more firepower than you could imagine!” he warned as the raid party made their temporary retreat. 

Lolliyant set me down and pulled her knees up to her chest. 

“I promised myself I wouldn’t do that again,” she explained as she held her bloody hand away from her body as if she could dissociate the deeds done with it.
“Lolliyant, you didn’t kill him,” I stated, but she was too deep in her own thoughts. 

She stood up and walked passed me, farther into the cave. I simply sat against the wall, holding my ribs in my dented armor and knocking my head against the rocky wall of the cave when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Oxle sat next to me. 

“I knew you had it,” he said as Kiri joined us.
“I almost died,” I stated.
“Yeah, I saw that part,” Oxle joked as Kiri simply stared at me with disapproval.
“You’re lucky I’m a good healer,” Kiri stated and put the glowing tip of her staff against my chest.
“Well, you two lovebirds have fun,” Oxle added, dryly, before getting up and starting to walk after Lolliyant, “I’m gonna check on the big gal.” 

As Oxle disappeared into the cave Kiri sighed and hung her head. 

“You can’t keep doing things like this,” she said, a somber tone in her voice.
“What? Almost dying? Well, I don’t usually plan for it,” I joked, but a solid punch in my stomach made me realize Kiri wasn’t joking.
“No, you twit!” she scolded, “You can’t keep jumping in front of danger! One of these days I won’t be able to get to you in time!”
I was stunned for a second, but quickly caught my words again, “Kiri, you’re the best healer in the world.”
“But I can’t fix dead!” she interrupted. 

I guess it took a hard slap in the face to make me realize that I was betting with my life like it was a coin I didn’t care about losing. When I defended the dragon, Lolliyant, I put, not only my life, but the life of Kiri and Oxle in more danger than we had ever been in before. The whole castle had a target on us… and I planned on protecting them until my last breath.

“Damn, it’s dark…” I muttered as I tapped the handle of my axe on the ground ahead of me to make sure I didn’t fall into a hole I wasn’t trying to get into. 

I walked carefully, eyes strained to see into the backness, when a light suddenly engulfed the side of the cave I was clumsily stumbling through and Lolliyant looking at me like I just interrupted her “girl-time”. She set the large torch she lit with her breath on the wall of the cave and looked back at me with those annoyed eyes. 

“What is it?” she asked with a condescending tone as if she was anticipating danger or alert to error. 
“You looked steamed when you walked by,” I said simply, “Figured I’d check up on ya.”  

She scoffed, but didn’t say anything. She simply pressed her fist to the floor and rubbed it back and forth as if she was trying to scrub off what she did to that cunt with the ballista. I sighed and walked up to her hand which seemed to put her on edge, but she still kept up the illusion of ignoring me that seemed so much more effective in theory. I dropped my axe and pressed the heels of my hands into median nerve before lightly working the muscle which made Lolliyant jump slightly at the touch, but quickly relax. The gentle touch must’ve been all but forgin to the kind hearted monster. 

“What are you doing?” she asked, condicention gone from her voice.
I thought before I spoke, which was rare for me, but I wanted this to be meaningful; “I’m prone to help the ones I like.” 

She slowly moved her hand away and hugged her knees up to her chest leaving me standing awkwardly next to her. I didn’t understand how she could feel so guilty about hurting someone in self defense, but that was what was so special about her. Lolliyant had more sympathy for humans than most humans had for humans. 

“I’m Oxle, by the way,” I reset the momentum of the conversation and it seemed to relieve some tension.
“Lolliyant, but you already know that. Call me Lull,” she offered, but still felt distant.
“Right. Lull. Soothing,” I said as I leaned against the rocky wall.
“Ironic, isn’t it?” she asked, “A soothing name for a monster.”
I scoffed, “Doll, if you’re a monster, that doesn’t leave much hope for me.”
“Doll?” she asked and chuckled, “You needed to make it more ironic?” 

I was suddenly aware that I was closer to Lull than I thought. Maybe she scooted closer when I wasn’t paying attention, or maybe I just sat closer than I thought, but either way, I could practically lean against her thigh. 

“I just…” she started and raised her hand to her face, “I hurt people. At my size, it’s all I do.”
“Haven’t hurt me.”
“Yet,” she quickly cut me off. 

I won’t lie. I’ve always been a ballsy guy, but I was scared out of my mind by the plan I had. Sure, Lull seemed nice, but she could still kill me if I royally pissed her off. Jokes were my nature and if she took it wrong and killed me, well, I’d worry about that if it happened. 

“Right there,” I started as I pointed to a big piece of rock in the corner of the cave, “That boulder could probably roll over and kill me and it wouldn’t even care,” Lull looked confused as I went on, “I can, and have, killed people, bad people, and I mean every kill. You kill things, but unlike me, you don’t do it on purpose. Unlike the boulder, you feel bad about it. Yeah, you hurt people, but remorse is stronger than accidents. Though you’ve got quite the pair of boulders, you’re not a rock. And you’re not a killer.” 

I stood up and picked up my axe. 

“Now, c’mon,” I enticed, “Maybe I want a rematch. Just a friendly brawl. Take out some frustration.” 

She looked at me with a dull fire in her eyes; like she was trying to hide how much she wanted to hit something. Before long, she let go and knocked my legs out from under me with one finger. I landed on my shoulder and rolled directly into her waiting hand which snatched me up to her face, but instead of getting bitten in half like I was expecting, I was pressed into her pillowy lips and put into the weirdest kiss I’ve ever taken part in. She pulled back and left me sitting in her palm with a coating of saliva on my upper body. 

“Not exactly a fighting move there,” I joked as she blushed and looked away.
“Sorry,” she said simply.
“Don’t be,” I stepped in, “I normally get slapped when stuff like that happens so this is a nice change of pace.” 

So, I had a crush on a dragon. Yep… that was- uh… Yeah. She set me down back where I was and lightly smiled. 

“Thanks,” she said, “I’m not a rock.” 

I leaned back against her thigh as I set down my axe and looked up at her. Lull was a lot like me. We were made for the same thing in a way, just by different things. I was taught to be a killer and my remorse had been stripped down to a sliver before I was old enough to decide if I wanted that or not, but Lull was born as a violent creature… she just had the will to say something about her fate and she did. When I thought about the things I’ve done with that axe, it made me sick, but it was something I’d gotten used to. I was dull and maybe Lolliyant could sharpen me again. 

The enchanting seas of her eyes seemed to sparkle in the torchlight as it framed her round face and the pale complexion of her face that faded to the dark green of her scales. Her smile refreshed me as it dotted with dimples on each cheek and I couldn’t help but think that she would be so cute if she wasn’t seventy five feet tall. The only inhuman characteristics she had were her wings and curling horns in place of hair. Maybe that’s why it was so easy for me to feel safe around her. Maybe it was because she was so soft spoken. Maybe it didn’t matter. I made two decisions that day. 

“Lull,” I started, “I’m not leaving until that bastard of a king is done trying to hunt you.”
“Oxle, I can’t-,” she tried to stop me, but I interrupted her.
“And,” I cut in, “I’m calling our brawl a tie.”
She scoffed, “In your dreams.” 

James was an idiot. Sure, he had his moments, but no one ever questioned how dumb he was because that fact, and that fact alone, was the only constant about him. He was terrible at making decisions, absolutely unreliable in monetary situations, probably an in closet drunk, and… well… mostly he was noble, but noble in that storm makes suicidal. I couldn’t leave this guy alone for a second with him almost dying by putting himself in front of an arrow or a sword or… or a ballista! 

“Kiri?” James asked with an awkwardness in his voice.
“What?” I quipped back, just as annoyed as I should’ve been.
“You’re- um,” he stammered, “I think, uh, you’re done healing me?” 

I suddenly pulled back as I realized I had zoned out and was resting my hand on his chest after I was done healing him. 

“Oh,” I said, embarrassed, “Sorry.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” he said and cleared his throat, “We should probably get ready for that second raid.”
“Yeah, yeah, we should.” 

God, I didn’t want to remember that moment, but it was the only thing I could think about the next few hours while James and I set up all manner of traps, defenses and counter weapons until Oxle and Lolliyant came out of the cave. I dismissed the fact that Oxle was damp for my own sanity and continued to enchant the plants with fire runes that would explode when they came into close proximity with ill will or anger. It was a pacifist spell at its core, but, in my experience, fire makes everything better and a few modifications to the spell gave the force rune a hot kick. I was worried though. Just down the valley, I could already see the sun glinting off the armor of the second raid coming in. 

We got lucky last time. Lolliyant snapped and got violent, but the way she acted afterwards, I wasn’t sure she would be much help if we needed to be more forceful than convincing. I wasn’t putting any trust in her. At least, I wasn’t going to. Lolliyant sat down next to me and broke my concentration on the rune I was working on. 

“Hey, uh, I never got your name,” she explained.
“Kiri,” I stated simply in an attempt to kill the conversation.
“Right, Kiri,” she said and paused for a moment, “Can we have a girl talk?”
“Girl talk?” I mocked, “About what?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she avoided and casually looked away, “Guys?”
“Oxle…” I muttered with a dim hatred.
There was a pause before Lolliyant spoke again, “No one in particular, you know. Just… Do you know if Oxle is seeing anyone?”
“Of course it’s Oxle,” I griped, “That man screws everything with a pulse.”
“Oh,” she sounded disappointed, “Really?” 

I realized that Lolliyant had something human in her then. It was a heart. Sadly, I couldn’t say if I still had mine or not, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to ruin what sympathy she had for humans. 

“No,” I admitted, “Not completely. He, uh…” 

Oxle grew up around bad people and he had a… well, a rough run in with a few of them and, despite his talk, he wasn’t a fan of intimate scenes, but it wasn’t my place to tell her about Oxle. 

“He only does… uh…” I paused, “that if he really means it.”
“Oh, that’s good to know,” she admitted with a slight nod.
“Okay,” I said as I picked my staff back up and continued my work on the runes, “Girl talk. Why is Oxle wet?” 

The meadow fell to silence as I could practically hear her blush. 

“I, uh,” she paused, “It’s not, uh- We didn’t- I’m going to go check on the guys.” 

I smirked. Maybe she was alright. Anyone that could get flustered that easily was human enough for me to respect. She had my blessing for… On second thought, I didn’t want to think about that. 

“Lolliyant,” I called before she could leave, “Is that gash on your arm getting better? If not, I am a pretty good healer.” 

She smiled and sat back down before putting her arm in front of me for me to work on. I pressed my staff to the wound and watched the scales reform at an unmatchable speed. 

“Why are you guys being so nice to me?” she asked.
“Am I being nice?” I countered. 

I genuinely didn’t think I was being nice, but I guess that, for a dragon, even the slightest courtesy would be seen as a rare act of kindness. 

“You know, you’re more human than you like to think,” I said.
“Thanks,” she smiled, “And even though you act like an insufferable bitc-,”
“I can stop healing you, ya know.”
She giggled before continuing, “You’re really a nice person.” 

It was nice to have a girl friend after hanging round with only guys for so long. James and Oxle were… well… they had their perks such as Oxle reminding me I have breasts and James requiring healing, but with Lolliyant, there was a more personal connection. Plus, I could bitch about the guys with her if I wanted to. Maybe it was the idea more than anything, but I wanted to keep her around. As I looked back to meadow and the second raid party marching through the valley, I decided that I needed to make a promise to myself. 

I swore to myself that day that I would help Lolliyant and make sure she felt like she belonged. As the second raid party approached from the valley, I could’ve sworn I saw Lolliyant smirk and… well, I did too. 

I simply sat in what would be my last few moments of peace for a while as I watched the knights march over the hills that used to feel so safe and free for me. Kiri was nice enough to heal my arm so I could fly away, but some part of me didn’t want to. Maybe it was my most vicious instincts that, no matter how hard I fought against, would always eat away at my morals that made me see nothing but red when I looked at that raid, maybe it was a much more human thirst for revenge, but it didn’t matter what it was. I had a burning hate in my stomach for humans, and I’d had one for years, but, suddenly, these three humans come around and treat me like one of their own. What was I supposed to feel? 

Mom was right. I was too soft to be a dragon. 

“Oxle?” I asked as I sat next to the axe wielding man who kept busy cutting wood for a fence.
“Lull!” he said, chipper as ever, “What’s up?”
“I-,” I stopped myself for a second, but picked up again with a rushed sense of confidence that made my words fast, “These traps will just scare them off, right?”
Oxle paused before saying, “Yeah, scare them into a grave. Lull, you’re not going pacifist on us, right?”
“Oxle, I don’t like killing,” I reminded.
“Yeah, that’s why you’re not doing it.”
I frowned with an annoyed pout, “I can’t let them die. It’s not right for us to stoop to their level.” 

Our argument had to be put on hold as the knights approached. James was quick to rush in front of me with his shield up and Oxle took to his side while Kiri stayed back with me. I was sat on my knees in the grass and still the most menacing thing on the battlefield which gave me a small rush that made my body tingle, but the idea that lives were on the line ruined the fun of it. I liked fighting with the humans, but, to me, it was like playing with a puppy and now… I didn’t like it. I had to do something. 

“Come no closer, humans!” I demanded and caused the raid to ready themselves where they were in preparation for an attack. 

I smirked at the power rush. 

“I will not allow you to fight in my meadow.”
“You’re in no position to make demands,” the commander stated as he pulled free his sword and started to move closer to the fire runes Kiri set up.
“No!” I shouted on instinct, but it worked well enough for them to stop.
“It begs!” one of the knights yelled and got an uproar in the raid. 

They charged right into the runes and I was left with no choice. I lunged forward and wrapped my wings around the frontmen of the raid as the runes went off and scorched my scales which albeit didn’t hurt, but left black marks on my body. With a simple shove, I pushed the front line back into the archers and messed up their shots. I was already working hard enough when Oxle and James charged into the fray and I had to focus on them too. A large knight with an axe ran at James with his heavy blade in the air and ready to slice James into five pieces, but I carefully plucked the axe from his hands and knocked him on his back in the same action. I bumped James in the stomach with the handle of the axe as he readied a strike and knocked the wind out of him before discarding the weapon by throwing it over my shoulder. 

I was already getting tired of this. I hooked my thumb around Oxle’s leg and picked him up, deciding the safest place for him was in my hand until further notice. The ballistas were loaded at this point, but I knew they were there this time and had no trouble casually pushing the fronts of the devices down and sticking them into the mud so the only thing they could shoot was dirt. I saw a spark out of the corner of my eye and realized I forgot about Kiri and James. Kiri was about to roast the whole raid and James was about to try and block a whole firing squad of archers. I needed both hands, but I couldn’t put down Oxle without him killing someone. I’m… not proud of my decision. 

“Oxle, I’m sorry, but I need both hands,” I said quickly.
“What?” he asked as I raised him to my mouth, “Oh, no. Let’s talk about thi-!” 

I quickly tossed him in my mouth and held him in place by pressing him to the roof of my mouth with my tongue as I put my hand in front of James to block the arrows and pinned Kiri’s arms to her sides as I picked her up. I flicked a wing and knocked over the raid with a wave of wind like the first time. A metallic taste filled my mouth as I idly sucked on Oxle’s armor and casually flipped him around in my mouth. I kinda got why dragons ate people, but it wasn’t that tempting considering I knew the guy I was so casually sucking on. I picked up the commander with my free hand and tossed him in the air enough to scare the crap out of him, but made sure to catch him before he hit the ground. 

“Lolliyant!” Kiri yelled and caught my attention, “James!” 

I looked down and saw James currently brawling with the axeman I disarmed earlier. I got my thumb between them and pinned the axeman to the ground with the pad of my thumb while I tried my best to keep Kiri upright and comfortable. I used my pinky to flick James backwards and pinned him with the side of that digit. 

“Men!” the commander yelled while in my grasp, “Fire bombs!” 

I let out an annoyed sigh which almost made me drop Oxle, but I caught him with my lips before he could fall and pulled him back into my mouth with my tongue. I felt bad about keeping him in there, but I didn’t have time to pull him out and… well, maybe I liked the power I had over him. I didn’t have time to think about that though. I was fireproof, but Kiri and James weren’t and, to a lesser extent, neither was the commander. I let go of Kiri and put the commander next to her, James, and the axeman before dropping to my stomach, hugging them to my chest and making a shield out of my wings. I almost couldn’t stand the bite of the explosions when they first hit, but, luckily, the flaming oil did nothing but stain my scales. 

I rested the top of my head against the ground and opened my mouth to let Oxle out who eagerly scrambled out of the damp cave. 

“Sorry,” I said again.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Oxle muttered as he wiped a thick layer of saliva off his face, “You owe me now, I hope you know.”
“Okay,” I agreed, “Let me deal wi-,” I was cut off when a ballista bolt dug itself into the back of my upper thigh as I had my back to the raid. 

I shot up and yelped in shock from basically being shot in the ass. A second shot hit my shoulder and knocked me to my hands and knees. I could see the tip of the bolt sticking out of the front of my shoulder and the blood dripping from it. 

“Hey!” James yelled as he charged at the raid, but I caught him as he ran between my knees by pinning him between my thighs.
“Lull,” Oxle said as he put the commander in a headlock, “For god’s sake, they’re gonna fucking kill you if you don’t fight back!”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said with a sad chuckle, “I’ve had it coming for a while.”
“No,” Kiri ordered, “Not today.”
“I’m sorry…” I muttered with a barely convincing smile. 

Oxle didn’t say anything for a second before he slammed the commander into the dirt. 

“Call them off!” Oxle demanded and he reared back and hit the commander with a haymaker that made his helmet rattle.
“Fuck off, savage,” the commander quipped. 

Something in Oxle snapped, but I quickly got a finger around his chest and pulled him off the commander. 

“C’mon, Lull!” he yelled, “You owe me, pay me back by not dying here!” 

A solemn grimace covered my face as I realized I had no choice. I let Oxle go and spread my knees enough to let James free. I slammed a fist into the ground and caused a tremor that shook the raid and knocked the lucky five near me over in various ways. I grit my teeth and grabbed the bolt in my shoulder before ripping it out and letting out the roar of a dragon to the skies with a pillar of fire. I got to my knees as another ballista shot ripped through my left wing, but I barely flinched to the pain at this point. I stood to my full height and turned to the raid. 

I used what was left of my wings to throw myself hundreds of feet into the air and then propel myself downwards with more force than a bomb. I slammed into the middle of the raid party with a punch that cracked the earth and sent a shockwave all the way back to the castle. Bodies popped under my force. I landed on my knees and swiped to my left with a grabbing hand. I pick up maybe ten men before crushing them to paste in my iron vice. Maybe it was the heat of the battle, maybe it was some subconscious itch, but I couldn’t stop myself from hand picking the ballista men with my right hand and dropped them into my mouth. 

Their armor crunched to iron dust as I bit down once and spit the mutilated bodies to the side. Another fire bomb hit me in the chest and made me fall backwards, crushing a few of the footmen with my ass and maiming a few more. I put half my weight on my hands before picking up my legs and slamming them down against the raid party. My heels collided with the fire bombers by the ballistas, but I wasn’t satisfied with that. I picked myself up and added an extra stomp against the bombers. They started to scatter and I decided I was done. To be honest, there was a reason I didn’t like getting violent like that. 

I grabbed the commander as I walked back and slammed him against the wall of my cave hard enough to make him spit up blood, but not hard enough to kill him. I was in a trance. I wanted more blood. I wanted more death. More carnage. I wanted to be a real dragon again. 

“You stupid human!” I yelled, “How dare you enter my realm!? This is my world, not yours! You’re death won’t be quick, I swear to you, and, after you, I’ll kill every single one of your narcissistic race! And I’ll do it happily!” I pressed harder, but only cracked his ribs with the force. 

I put two fingers around his head and slowly put pressure on him, but something caught my eye. I saw Oxle and James watching me in horror while Kiri had her staff raised… towards me. What had I done? 

“I-I’m sorry…” I stammered as I set him down.
“No!” the commander pleaded, “Don’t crush me, please! I’ll never come back! I swear!” 

He was so scared of me… Oxle quickly swooped in and helped the commander up before passing him on to the axeman who had lost his fight since he saw my display of power. 

“Don’t come back,” James warned, but it wasn’t a threat; it was advice and I didn’t blame him.
“Lull,” Oxle said as he carefully approached me, “Are you… ya know, still wacko?” he asked. 

I simply shook my head. 

“Thank god,” he said and sighed, “That was badass.” 

With that he casually walked up to me and motioned over Kiri. 

“C’mon,” he said, “Let’s get you patched up.” 
"And maybe a bath," I added. 

I was covered in blood and I needed a little alone time after what happened because the only thing that conflicted how bad I felt was how turned on I was. 

“And a bath,” Lolliyant added as Oxle’s mouth dropped in shock.
“Uh- Dibs!” he shouted, but corrected himself, “I mean, uh, I’ll help or whatever.”
“Nice try there, slick,” Kiri jumped in, “But I have to heal her anyway so I’ll go with her.”
Lolliyant scoffed, “Why can’t I bath alone?”
“Well,” I reluctantly stepped in, “You are hurt. I wouldn’t want to see you drown.”
She sighed before finally accepting, “Fine, but I get to pick which one of you comes with me.” 

I hoped it wasn’t me. Sure, she didn’t wear clothes so it wouldn’t be anything I hadn’t seen before, but seeing her bath was just… I don’t know. Different? It felt wrong. 

“Come on,” Kiri insisted, “I can heal you. And I’m a girl.”
“Good points,” Lolliyant nodded.
“Well, let’s face it,” Oxle started, “I’m hotter.”
“Sold,” Lolliyant said, shockingly seriously before putting down a hand for Oxle to climb onto. 

Kiri and I watched, dumbstruck by Oxle’s ability to be attracted to a blood covered dragon that just chewed people into meat chunks as Lolliyant walked away with Oxle in her hand. 

“There’s a healing spring down this way,” Lolliyant informed us as she walked off, “So don’t worry about healing me.” 

Kiri and I exchanged a glance. 

“Are they… gonna…?” I trailed off.
“I… hope not,” was all she could assure. 

We shared a laugh as the realities of what our situation really was sank in. We were standing at the edge of a dragon’s lair, staring out over a sea of grass and blood that leaked into the fissure that stemmed from the crater made by Lolliyant’s rage. Broken bodies littered that sea and tainted the once so beautiful field with the very human element of war, something I had grown up preparing for. I was a knight, specially built to kill without remorse, but seeing the aftermath of this… slaughter was almost too much for me to take. 

“Kiri?” I asked, “Were we wrong?”
“Wrong?” she repeated.
I sighed, “I think we made a mistake by making Lolliyant fight.”
“What?” Kiri questioned, “She would’ve died!”
“But we could’ve stopped that!” I argued, “I think we poked a bear here.” 

Kiri didn’t say anything. She just casually sat down in the grass and looked over the setting sun that struck the crimson field with a pink shimmer that would’ve been beautiful if created by anything else. I sat next to her. 

“If you’re right…” Kiri started, “And I’m not saying you are, but if you are… we just started a war. And we’re on the wrong side.” 

I suddenly felt a warmth in my hand and looked down to see Kiri had subtly put her hand in mine. 

“We’re gonna die?” she asked.
“Probably.”
“You think it’ll be fun till then?”
“Probably.” 

The meadow fell to a silence that could only be matched by the gallows after a drop and it lingered until the comfortable peace dissolved into a bubbling mess of tension and unease. 

“By the way,” Kiri said, finally breaking the tension, “You tell anyone about this and I will kill you.”
“Sex- uh- crap!” I stuttered and got a confused look from Kiri, “Secret, not sex. Secret. Secret’s safe with me.”
“Smooth,” she remarked dryly. 

A subtle fear in my stomach kept me thinking that this would be the calm before the storm, but as Kiri leaned against me and the world melted away into a blur of sunlight and a breeze… I decided it was a pretty good calm. 

“How did that work?” I asked, referring to my previous ‘hotter’ comment to which Lolliyant shrugged in response.
“I think you tapped into my inner womanly desires,” she stated.
“Really?”
“No,” she said curtly, “Kiri would’ve wanted to talk to me about… uh… my little break back there and James didn’t seem like he wanted to come.”
“Huh,” I muttered, “Well, third choice is better than no choice.” 

Lull chuckled. It seemed weird that she’d be laughing after everything that had gone on, but I was never one to look that deeply into things and, hell, if a bad situation just blew over like that I wasn’t gonna question it. The empty meadow gave way to a thick redwood forest that made Lull look small in comparison. This forest was known to house dragons because the foliage would keep them hidden, but the idea of dragons didn’t seem so menacing after I had gotten so close to Lolliyant. The forest seemed to be grown especially for dragons as the trees were perfectly placed to give Lull enough room to move around and even stretch out her wounded wings every once and awhile. 

Those wounds reminded me. 

“Hey, Lull?” I started, “How come you didn’t heal that gash on your arm with the spring?”
“Well,” she started with an awkward smile, “It- uh- It only works if- Hang on, let me tell you about it first. Okay, so a group of mages enchanted it, or so the story goes, before the dragons took it over, but the mages put a curse on the spring,” she explained and scratched the back of her neck, “So now… the water’s magic only works if applied by a human.” 

My words caught in my throat as I realized that meant I’d actually have to wash her. I mean, I know I argued to be the one doing this, but I didn’t think it’d get so intimate. I’d have to focus on keeping it completely platonic and try my damndest not to get her aroused. I was strong, but not fight off a horny dragon stong. 

“Hi, human,” she joked with an awkward laugh to break the silence that took my place in the conversation while I was lost in thought.
“Okay, okay. I can do that,” I said, mostly just to say something. 

I heard her mumble something, but couldn’t make it out past the base idea of it being something about me and the phrase “Not like you.” I figured she was taking a swing at my flirty nature, but didn’t bother bringing it up. I suddenly found myself nervous as to what was about to happen and what it could lead too. I guess I’d be… okay with it? I didn’t know, but I put my faith in the motto “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” I found my eyes drifting over her mountainous breasts, down her smooth stomach and finally resting on the gap between her thighs. I had a lot to venture. 

The forest slid past us as Lull confidently walked through the forest as if she had lived here all her life and wasn’t afraid of being hunted for scales or bragging rights. A rancid confidence that didn’t say that she was safe, but rather that others weren’t, or wouldn’t be if they pissed her off. A terrifying smirk hung on her face as if she was either proud of the blood on her body or planing something devious and, either way, I was put on edge by it. Before I knew it, the grass and vines climbing the trees broke away into a lake that stretched as far as the eye could see. I was assuming this was the spring. 

“We’re here!” Lolliyant said cheerfully as she set me down on the rocky beach to lower herself onto her ass and into the water which barely made it all the way up her thigh at the current depth.
“Yeah, we’re here,” I repeated with faux enthusiasm that masked my sceptical thoughts.
“So,” she started, “Not to be forward but…” she trailed off as she laid back and stretched her wing out where the large rip was. 

I took a deep breath to gather my courage before cupping my hands into the water that lit with a brilliant blue glow as I touched it and tingled against my skin. I gingerly let the water leak onto her wing as I tried my best to lean over it without stepping on it, but the water seemed to dim as it left my hands. I sighed as I got down on my knees and rubbed the leathery blanket. I kept the leathery material together as the wound sealed shut. 

“That feels amazing…” she sighed out as her eyes were locked on the setting sun in the distance. 

She rolled towards me to lay on her side and submerged her shoulder in the now sparkling lake that rivaled her eyes, but only barely. I swallowed hard as my throat seemed to dry at the sight of her breasts pressing together as gravity pushed one into the other and the other against the rocks. I walked closer slowly towards her wounded shoulder as the water that barely reached her injury was up to my waist. The water seemed to glow a little brighter as I splashed the water up to her open gash. Once again, the wound sealed shut faster than even Kiri could’ve healed it. 

“Mmm, god…” she muttered in a sultry whisper that made my morals stir. 

I was so close to her. 

“Just one more…” she stated, almost disappointed, but more thoughtful than that. 

Lull pulled herself up so her hips were lined up with me and rolled over so I had access to the ballista hole in her thigh, but a glance to my left was all it took to see two more holes. I blushed and focused back on the task at hand. Just as I dipped my hands into the water, I was stopped. 

“Do you want me to help with that one?” she asked, a devious plan hidden in her voice.
“Uh, sure…” I shot back, trying to sound casual, “It is a little high.” 

Lolliyant’s scaly hand dipped behind me before lifting me and bringing me much closer to her. She slowly and carefully pressed my legs into her scales that, while firm enough to be armor, were soft to the touch. I massaged the gash in her thigh and watched it close like the ones before it. 

“I-...” Lull started, but stopped for a second before continuing, “I think I have a few scrapes in some other places… if you don’t mind?” her voice was much more obviously flirtaious this time.
I thought for a second before swallowing my pride and giving into my desire, “I’m here to serve,” I joked. 

Lull sat up with me still in her hand and scooted farther into the lake until the water came up to her stomach. The sun above was replaced with the glowing pools below up and twinkling stars that seemed all too dim when compared to the sparkling waters. Her eyes were hungry and sparkling with a lust I’d never seen before and it looked like she was even drooling a little, but I wouldn't have been surprised if I looked the same as she did. 

“Let me get you some water~,” she offered. 

She slowly pressed me against her chest as she leaned down to get a mouthful of water. She raised back up, but kept me pressed against her hot scales. She gently dragged my body across hers until she had me positioned over her nipple. It felt like I had a rock pressing into my chest as she slowly put more pressure on me and forced her tit to squish and mold to her force that I was caught in the crossfire of, but her scales were so soft and warm that the force that must’ve been hundreds of pounds only felt like I was laying under a mattress. She pulled me back just far enough to position her head above me and let the water pour from her mouth. 

The water was now hot and slightly gooey with saliva, but I didn’t have time to bask in the odd sensation as I was pressed back into her breast. I could hear her heartbeat quicken and she rubbed me around her breast and slight moans escaping her throat. I got in quick breaths where I could, but the mix of water, saliva, and breast made getting air hard. Luckily, I was picked up off her body and drawn in for a kiss. She pressed me deeply into her plush lips as I felt her tongue explore my body and coat me in a more thorough layer of spit to the point where a strand of drool was left connecting us after she pulled us apart. 

“Deep breath,” she panted out as advice before plunging me into the cool waters that shined into the air like a beacon. 

I wasn’t ready in time and my lungs started to burn immediately, but as I was pressed against Lull’s lower lips, my struggling was seen as eagerness. Her skin was smooth, to the point of silky, and the warmth was enough to make the water around me bubble slightly, but the glowing water countered any discomfort I may have had with the temperature. My head felt light and I couldn’t stop myself from taking a breath in the glowing liquid, but as the water filled my lungs and my body locked up, I noticed I could breathe again. The water must’ve been keeping me alive. 

The relief of being able to breathe again distracted me, but I came back to my senses when Lull started to pick up speed in dragging me up and down in her slit. I could feel her started to tense up as she pushed me back down, farther than before this time to the point where my face slid over her entrance and stomach against her exit. She tensed up and pushed against my back hard enough to send my entire head into the tight hole of her pussy. Pressure that would’ve killed me without the magic water surrounding me hit me from all sides as Lull twitched to the end of her orgasam. She slowly pulled me up into the air that felt so forien with the water still filling my lungs and placed me in her palm. 

“So,” she started, still a little winded, “I was too rough, wasn’t I?”
“Maybe a little,” I said as I cracked my neck and adjusted my shoulder, “It was quick though. What had you built up so much?”
She smiled a guilty grin, “You know, it’s just been a while.” 

The sunlight disappeared from the blood soaked field and left me and James in a darkness, void of sound save for our breathing and the chirping of crickets. Starlight bounced off the mirroresque blood and made a morbid beauty. The only stimulant that I could focus on was the smell of rot until torch light peeked over the edge of the valley. 

“Huh,” James muttered as he looked at the singular fire approaching, “Think we should be worried?”
“Always.” 

I stood up and picked up my staff as James stepped partly in front of me with his shield raised. The shiny grin of the torch got brighter as it got closer and my paranoia spiked. My heart rate heightened to the point that I could see my robe twitch slightly with each hard beat as the end of my staff started to glow, but James was locked in a state of unfading concentration. I envied that sometimes. He was never scared. 

The flame kept growing and growing until it was obvious that it was no normal human holding that flame. I quickly stepped in front of James and raised my staff to the sky as a beam of light shot from the end before splitting and creating a dome of light blue energy that flowed like water before dimming to a dull transparent grey. I spent most of my energy casting the cloak, but, if the spell worked, I wouldn’t need to cast anything else. The beast holding the torch came into view. 

A large monster, bigger than Lolliyant, made of rocks, moss, and wood with one of it’s wooden appendages that could barely be called a hand lit in a blazing inferno that was in no way earthly. It stumbled towards the cave and past us as an ungodly smell of sulfur suddenly assaulted us. The creature moved like it was new to life and created from materials you would find in a swamp, but something about it seemed older than time. 

“Lolliyant…” it called out lowly as it stumbled further into the cave, but soon realized she wasn’t home. 

It hung its head and slowly eased itself down into a seated position. With slow movements, it raised its arm and let a large slate of stone admerge from the moss and mud of its arm before pressing a burning finger into the stone. 

“When the world dies…” it paused to take a deep and raspy breath, “the humans… will call for Goliyoung… but she will be dead…” 

It burnt away markings into the stone plate as its featureless face stayed completely devoted to the tablet and barely moved away, but after the cloak started to fade, its head snapped up. 

“Goliyoung hears you… She demands you show yourself,” it spoke as it stood and pushed its flaming hand into the darkness.
James got tired of waiting as he usually does and spoke up, “We aren’t a threat.”
“Goliyoung doesn’t trust humans…” it said as it lowered itself to its knees, “Why are you here?” 

I let the cloak fall as the burning hand came to a rest about twenty feet above us and provided us with a light to blot out the stars and make the bloody mess behind us blend with the blackness. 

“We’re-,” I started, but stopped to make sure James was on board with the friendly approach. 

He nodded and motioned me to continue. 

“We’re friends of Lolliyant,” I said confidently, even though that confidence was faux.
“You know Lolliyant…” it said and nodded, “Goliyoung is… her sister,” it explained and held its mossy hand to its chest.
“But you’re not a dragon?” James said before trailing it off in the tone of a question.
“No, Goliyoung is…” it stopped with another deep breath, but didn’t restart. 

She didn’t know what she was. It was a solemn reality that I imagined wasn’t exclusive to her. 

“Well then,” James said as he stepped up to Goliyoung, “Any friend of Lolliyant is good company in my opinion.” 

A shiver went down my spine as if insight alone had just whispered in my ear and warned me about impending doom that stemmed from that sentence. I felt like Goliyoung was going to be the key to our death in some way or another, but everything was giving me that feeling at this point. What was the harm in putting one more nail in the coffin? 

“You humans…” Goliyoung started before pausing to breathe again, “Do not fear Goliyoung?”
“Of course we don’t,” James assured putting emphasis on the word ‘we’, “You’re just a little… unappealing to look at is all.”
“And to smell,” I muttered before receiving a sharp elbow to the ribs and a glare from James.
“How would Goliyoung… look better?” she asked her head swiveled in a turn which left me with the feeling of eyes on my body. 

I awkwardly smiled in hopes that I wouldn’t need to answer that. 

“Goliyoung can… change shape…” she added, “Should Goliyoung look… like you?” 

A sudden prodding hand made of moss and mud quickly wrapped around me and gripped the fabric of my robe tightly enough to constrict my movements and make me accidentally let go of my staff and my only defence. Goliyoung pulled the fabric above my head and blocked my sight with the thick burlap fabric that stood as my only defense when faced with sharp objects. The night breeze kissed my stomach, but the cool air on my skin only made my face hot as I couldn’t push my robe back down against the strength of the much bigger Goliyoung. Below my robe, I only wore a thin chest guard made of a strap of leather and a metal ring and pair of tights for modesty’s sake. 

“Woah! Woah!” James exclaimed quickly as I felt the cold metal of his shield covering me, “That’s not very polite,” he added sarcastically. 

Goliyoung quickly dropped my robe and let me fix my apparel. 

“Goliyoung is sorry…” she said as she reached to her own chest, “But now Goliyoung knows… how to look appealing…”
“I think she just called you pretty,” James said and nudged me which I almost socked him for. 

Goliyoung raised back up to her feet and grabbed her flaming wrist with her free hand. With a sharp tug and the crack of wood, her hand came off and fell to the ground as Goliyoung crumbled into a pile of mud, rocks, and wood. The flames dancing on the wood jumped from the charing substance and raised to form a ten foot tall figure of fire which copied my figure in a more… exaggerated way. The fire suddenly plunged into the dirt as the field fell to the mercy of the star light. Seconds dragged by like hours before sparks shot from the grass beneath us and formed a hurricane of grass blades that tightened together into a new version of Goliyoung. 

A creature about forty feet tall made of plants to mimic the female figure, but sans face and features. It was like a giant grass mannequin with light cracks in the flora that cut through her body to show of her flaming core. 

“Now, Goliyoung needs…” she stopped and took a raspy breath with a much more gentle weeze, “to warn Lolliyant.”
“Warn her?” I asked as Goliyoung nodded.
“Mother’s coming…”  

The guilty pleasure coursing through my veins was enough taboo energy to send me into a second orgasam at the mere thought. It was the idea of power that I had over it-... him. The power I had over him, Oxle, was what got me off. Knowing I could’ve killed him at any moment, knowing he was completely at my mercy and my control. Of course, I wouldn’t actually kill him, but I could’ve at the drop of a har. It was a rush I was still coming down from as Oxle rested in my hand while forcing out the occasional cough that I ignored to bask in the bliss of being satisfied. 

“Hey,” Oxle started, but I didn’t acknowledge him. 

A few seconds of silence passed. 

“We should get going,” he continued and I reluctantly nodded.

The glowing lake dimmed to a low sparkle as I stood and walked free of the rocky pool. An unspoken tension was present between me and Oxle, but I quickly shook the weird superiority I was feeling out of my head to dissolve the silence. 

“Sorry,” I said and raised Oxle to eye level, “I’m being weird.”
“Hey, weird is natural after…” he trailed off, but I knew what he meant. 

Still, I found myself wanting to come clean about the thoughts I was having. The thoughts of a dragon… Thoughts like mother… Maybe I’d tell him later, but I wanted to know what was happening myself before I had anyone else making theories. A cool breeze drifted through the redwoods and cooled my body that was still hot with both lingering arousal and embarrassment, but the sight of a grass giant with that familiar flame in her chest at the entrance of my cave quickly took my mind off those devilish thoughts. My walk shifted to a jog as I lightly cupped Oxle in my hand to keep him steady while I hurried to meet the girl I hadn’t seen in nearly ten years. 

“Goliyoung!” I exclaimed as I picked up the much shorter giant in a hug that brought her about twenty five feet off the ground.
“Lull,” she greeted, monotone as usual with exaggerated breaths, “Goliyoung has… a warning…”
I looked at her with a disapproving glare before saying “Why are you big? You know it’s bad for your body. Especially your lungs.”
“Goliyoung must be… prepared to fight…” she explained between deep breaths that broke up her sentences.
“Fight?” I asked as I pulled her back into the hug, “Fight wh-,” I stopped. 

I dropped her suddenly and quickly pulled the hand I had pressed against her back up to my face with three worried words running through my head; “Did I just…?” Oxle laid in the palm of my hand with nothing more than an annoyed half frown. 

“I-I’m sorry!” I said as I put him down with Kiri and James who were talking amongst themselves.
“Don’t worry about it,” Oxle assured, “I didn’t need that many ribs anyway.” 

A grassy hand gently tugged on my shoulder as an impatient Goliyoung pointed to the moon above. To anyone who didn’t know what to look for, it wouldn’t have made sense, but to me I knew what she meant. It was our secret code. It meant mom was mad. That signal got my attention. 

“Let’s talk in private,” I insisted as Goliyoung nodded.
“Humans,” she said as she turned to the little ones, “Stay.” 

With that she grabbed my hand that was about head level with her and escorted me into the cave. 

“Mother is coming…” she stated.
“What?” I asked, quickly and sceptically, “She’s… Wasn’t she?”
“Goliyoung… thought so…”
“Did she follow you here?” I asked as I glanced to the night sky outside the cave.
“Goliyoung…” she stopped for longer than usual, “isn’t sure…” 

I could hear it in her voice. Monotone to most, but I grew up with her and I knew when she was scared and she was terrified. I got down on my knees to match her height and hugged her again as the heat from her fiery core got a little hotter as her comfort returned to her. 

“It’s okay, Golly,” I assured, “It’ll be just like old times. Remember? We used to pretend it was a game. You’d hide and I’d play the role of a mighty knight that protected you. Am I still your knight?” 

Her arms slowly wrapped back around me to return the hug. 

“Always.”
“Good,” I said, false confidence in my voice behind my smile, “I’ll handle mom if she shows up. You need to rest. Get out of that body and let your body reform.”
“Okay…” she said simply. 

The grass shell fell to a pile of slightly charred plants as a much more bustier version of Goliyoung appeared from the fire that used to be so at home in the grass. In her actual form, she was only ten feet tall, but what she looked like beyond that was her choice. I didn’t know who it was that corrupted her into thinking she needed a big bust, but I would have to have a talk with the three humans about that eventually. 

“Oh!” I quickly exclaimed as I shot to my feet with Goliyoung in my hand, “The humans!” 

I quickly took the few steps it took to exit the cave and kneeled next to the group of fragile people whose attention was immediately diverted towards me. I was about to fill them in when Goliyoung spoke up. 

“Does Goliyoung need a better ass to be attractive?” she asked and caused Oxle to nearly die in a fit of laughter.
“Uh, well, it’s not a bad thing-,” James started, but was cut off by a slap to the back of the head that I would have to thank Kiri for.
Kiri cleared her throat to draw attention to herself before she simply said “No. You’re very pretty as you are, Goliyoung.”
“Maybe a little off the chest…” I muttered before changing topics. “Anyway, do you three have a plan? I mean, you can’t live here forever.”
Goliyoung nodded, “Especially now that mother’s coming.”
“Mother?” James asked.
“Yeah,” Oxle tacked on after finishing his laughing fit, “Is this some ‘Idipous’ thing?”
“Oedipus,” Kiri corrected.
“Eat a what?” he shot back. 

I took two fingers and bopped them both on the head to shut them up. 

“This is serious,” I insisted.
“Yeah,” Oxle started, “And I’m not. More updates as they develop.” 

I bopped him again for good measure. After the rambling, I didn’t have time to explain the danger that was fast approaching. I could hear her wings and see her silhouette high above in the night sky. Liy was home. I put Goliyoung down and dropped on all fours to whisper to the much smaller fighters. 

“Golly, it’s time to play,” I said and lightly nudged her towards the cave. “Take the humans and hide in the cave,” I ordered before standing back up and facing the starry sky. 

It didn’t take long for her to land. She was a dragon. A real dragon. She stood to an intimidating and even one hundred feet before bending forward slightly to match my height and meet my eyes that held nothing but hate for that woman. 

A long, snakelike tongue slid between her lips and ran over her snout before she asked, “I smell men. Is my nose wrong or is my darling daughter hiding a meal from me?”
“Go away,” I demanded which made her stand back up.
“Is that anyway to talk to your mother? God’s sake, I give you life and this is how you repay me?” she asked, that devilish grin ever present and more infuriating than I’d even seen. 

She suddenly stepped forward and I stepped back on instinct. I kicked myself for showing fear, but that didn’t change the fact that she knew I was scared now. She laughed before slowly putting a hand on my shoulder and bending back over with her grin slightly bigger than before. 

“I smell men,” she repeated, but continued, “I also smell burning sulfur. Now, who do we know that regularly burns sulfur?” 

I didn’t reply. 

“That’s right!” she exclaimed, “That little creature your poor old dad was stupid enough to die for.”
“Don’t talk about dad that way,” I weakly muttered as I clenched my fist to put the fear into an act that wasn’t crying. 

I was caught off guard by a heavy slap that knocked me to my hands and knees. 

“I’m talking!” she scolded before grabbing my arm and yanking me back up to my feet.
“I’m sorry…” I said quickly and fearfully.
“That’s better.” 

I suddenly didn’t feel so big anymore. 

“If your father was still alive,” she started and pulled my wrist up above her head which put strain on my shoulder, “He’d want her dead just as much as I do. Where is that little flaming runt? I’m going to put her out like she should’ve been years ago.” 

I was paralized with fear. Absolutely stuck with a crippling and overpowering terror, but when she threatened Goliyoung, I swallowed that, if only for a second. I grit my teeth, closed a fist, and swung with everything I had to give in the awkward position Liy was forcing me into. My knuckles landed square on her jaw and made her head turn, but when she looked back I wished I hadn’t done that. With a quick movement, she wrapped an arm around my left arm and grabbed the base of my right wing. My eyes widened in shock as she wrenched the poor bone out of its cartilage and spun me around. I fell to my knees and an intense pain shot through my body like a wave of energy and Liy put a foot in the center of my back. 

I couldn’t even find the strength to cry as she ripped my wing off my back and stomped me into the ground. I couldn’t think. It felt like there was a block in my brain that didn’t even let me feel scared anymore. I was locked in a state of shock. I was left staring up at my cave and the dim light of Goliyoung cowering away from the monster behind me. 

“Always…” I muttered.
“What?” Liy asked with a laugh, “You’re still talking?”
“Always your knight…” I repeated as I forced myself to stand back up and turn back to Liy. 

Blood leaked from my back like a faucet and my lip was already swelling from her slap, but I stood between her and the cave as I became the girl I swore I wouldn’t be anymore. I was a dragon. 

“Goliyoung isn’t here,” I stated.
“Then what do I smell?” she countered, “You can’t fool me. I know that stink.”
“You’re right,” I muttered, “You must smell that a lot considering it’s your bullshit.” 

She gave me a heavy shove that knocked me on my ass, but I got back up. 

Liy scoffed as she folded her arms, “You never learn.”
“No!” I yelled suddenly, “You never learn! I don’t know what dad saw in you! He must’ve known, as a human, you were going to kill him, but I guess dad was always one to help before he thought.”
“Shut up!” Liy demanded as she pushed me, but I didn’t fall this time.
“No!” I repeated, “You can’t stand the fact that he saved Goliyoung from you. Saved… most of her.”
“What?” she asked, “You expect me to care for that harlot that was trying to steal your dad from me?”
Rage built in my throat, “I expect you to care about your goddamn daughters!” tears built in my eyes, “I expect you to care that you killed dad! I expect you to be a fucking mother! Do you know what it was like to be hunted by dragons and humans alike? Me and Goliyoung were alone, completely alone, and it was your fault! If you think, even for a second, that I wouldn’t die right here and now for the only person who stuck by me as I grew up then you’re not just a bad mother… you’re an idiot too!” 

Tears streamed down my face as I screamed at her, but it felt good to finally let it all out. I’d held onto that grudge in silence for too long. Goliyoung used to be human. More than that. She was dad’s wife, but once Liy was put to execution, dad had to step in. She kidnapped him and… well, he never told me much about it, but once Goliyoung, Rose was her human name, tried to save dad… I wasn’t sure of the spell he used, but it worked at the cost of his life. I guess Liy never let that go. She didn’t keep us around long after that. She was a horrible mother, a horrible person, but she was also stronger than me and I was reminded of that by a punch that knocked me on my back. 

The nub of my wing exploded in a fresh wave of pain, but something about the stars above me were so calming. The pinpricks in the black sea of the sky darkened as I got dizzy and my head got light. I couldn’t tell if I was dying or just passing out, but… either way… I was ready for it… 

When Lolliyant fell, it almost seemed to happen in slow motion and the gravity of what that meant hit much harder. If that other dragon, Liy, wanted to find Goliyoung then this was the only place to look. God, so many names all the sudden. If she came here to search then Oxle, Kiri, and I would be the only thing standing in the way of her bounty and I doubted she’d think twice before stomping us into the mud, but I wouldn’t give her the chance to approach us. I was the knight. I would defend my pack. 

I ran before anyone could stop me and slid to a stop just beside Lolliyant’s shoulder as Liy eyed me with a hungry smirk. 

“Stop!” I demanded.
She chuckled as she bent down to stare at me which sapped my courage before asking “And how do you think you’re going to make me? I don’t respond well to yelling, honey.”
“I-,” I paused before swallowing the confidence I once held and threw my sword into the dirt. “I’m not here to make demands,” I explained as I unbuckled the shield from my arm and let it drop before sighing what could’ve been my last breath. “I’m here to offer myself in place of Goliyoung. So just kill me!”
“Oh?” Liy asked as she dropped to her knees to lessen the strain on her legs from the prolonged standing that she must’ve been bored of. 

She was bored. In the middle of a life or death situation and bored. 

She let her smirk drop, but that cocky supiriority was still in her eyes and her voice as she said, “How noble… and stupid.”
“Stupid, maybe,” I said as I dropped to one knee and gripped the pendent on my neckless, “But human.” 

I hung my head, grit my teeth and fully prepared myself to die, but, with an act of either mercy or the simple motive of not wanting to get bloody, she decided not to crush me then and there. 

“Ya know, short stuff,” she said and knocked me on my back with a simple poke, “You remind me a lot of Dansworth, old lover.” 

I decided I shouldn’t risk saying the wrong thing and kept my mouth shut. 

“He’s out of the picture now. Anyway, I’ve been struggling with some… empty nest syndrome, but I think you could help me with that,” she casually mentioned before tacking on, “And, if not, well, then you don’t have a use to me and it’d just be easier to kill you.” 

She carelessly picked me up by the leg and raised me to her face as she stared at me with a smirk. Her eyes… that was the difference. At first glance, Lolliyant and Liy looked exactly alike, save for the snout that Lolliyant lacked, but Liy’s eyes… those were the eyes of a dragon. 

“How about it?” she asked. 

I was all for dying for a good cause, that was drilled into me when I was learning the art of swordplay, but dying for my dignity was a step too far. I swallowed my pride. 

“Fine. Let’s go,” I submitted and shot one last glance to Kiri who was being held back by Oxle before Liy took off into the night sky with me in her grasp. 

Liy laughed as she held me close to her breast before trying to make small talk that somehow felt condescending, but the fact that she was trying to be friendly eased the creeping realizations of my own mortality. It wasn’t a thing she was doing on purpose, it was more a learned subtext and tone that made me feel small. She was actually pretty transparent in her attempts to be nice. I think she was trying to woo me, but I had seen too much of her real self to fall for it… so soon, anyway. I figured I wouldn’t look this in the mouth and take the kindness at face value until I had to make a decision. 

“You know,” Liy started, “I used to be called ‘Lolliyoung’, but when the rugrats came around I had to give them pieces of my name to give them power. Worst decision of my life.”
“Aren’t you proud?” I asked and she shrugged.
“I-... I was,” she started, “But you can only be so happy for having two kids that hate you.”
“Well,” I took some pride back, “Not to be rude, but you did just try to kill both of them.”
Liy scoffed, “Dragon parenting is a whole different world than what you humans know. We have to toughen our young.”
“It didn’t sound like tough love was your goal with Goliyoung.”
Liy frowned and I didn’t think she was going to dignify me with a response, but she soon spoke back up with “That’s a can of worms there. I admit, I haven’t been the best mother to her, but I can’t help but think about Dansworth when I see her. You can imagine, it’s not easy to raise the person you lost someone too,” she explained. 

We suddenly landed in a heavily reinforced overgrowth in a redwood forest that didn’t feel too far off from Lolliyant’s cave and Liy set me down before sitting in front of me and plopping her head into her hands with a tired and defeated sigh. What she was confused me. If I wasn’t cynical about her, I could very easily believe she wasn’t a bad person. I just had to remember what she did to Lull. 

“I know,” she said suddenly and broke the silence, “It’s not the most heroic reasoning, revenge, but sometimes I can’t help myself. And I-, uh, I don’t say this a lot but… Sorry if I scared you.” She laughed, “This is why I don’t like humans like you. They make me soft. Dansworth did the same thing.”
“Really?” I asked, “I didn’t take you for the type to go after knights.”
“Knights? God no. They’re just… I don’t know. They aren’t moral. You are.”
“Thanks?”
“Yeah, it’s a compliment,” she said and knocked me into a seated position with a light flick. 

There was a charm to her that I couldn’t ignore and I started to question who was really in the wrong in this familial spat. I wasn’t a parent. I didn’t even understand what it took to raise a human child, let alone a dragon one, so I couldn’t really judge her parenting method. A question of morality hit my head, could I really forget what she did to Lolliyant in the name of cultural difference? And her thoughts on Goliyoung, what was I supposed to make of that? I’d want revenge on someone who killed someone close to me, but if they were my kid? How did that even happen? I had too many questions stemming from each corner of this convoluted family. Only one way to find out. 

“Can I ask something?” I asked and received a nod in response. “What is Goliyoung?”
Liy cringed at her name before letting a puff of air out of her nose, “An accident. And a long story. Short version is Dansworth got the idea in his head that he could save everyone and tried to cast a spell of resurrection. You know, the ones that don’t exist. He overdid himself and his heart stopped, but the next morning I was pregnant. Lolliyant was ecstatic about having a sister, I was on the fence on even having the thing and… well… I didn’t. Things get a little hazy, but I think I killed the spawn and then… I don’t remember, but Lolliyant and Goliyoung didn’t stick around long after.”
“You know… It’s not too late to change,” I risked, but received a positive half smile.
“I know… but sometimes… people need someone to hate. Makes life easier.” 

More and more, I was starting to think that real evil didn’t exist. Motive, desire, and morality all counteracted her actions. I didn’t know if I could forget what she did or not yet, but she was on the right track… Maybe I was just naive. 

“Let go of me!” Kiri demanded before shoving her elbow into my stomach and knocking the air from my lungs. 

She pulled herself free and ran out into the now empty field that James just got snatched from and fell to her knees, but I didn’t have time to make sure she was okay. Lolliyant was still bleeding badly. 

“Goliyoung,” I ordered, “Help me with Lull!” 

Goliyoung didn’t reply, she just reformed her grass body and sat next to her wounded sister. Everyone was emotionally broken and that left me no room to mourn the friend that may or may not be dead already. I had to swallow my emotions until someone else was strong enough to bare the torch. I’d need Kiri working at full capacity to heal Lolliyant so I had to work on her first.

“Kiri!” I called out as I came to a stop next to her and sat down in front of her, “Kiri, I need you to snap out of it.” 

She didn’t say anything, just kept staring past me and into the distance where Liy had flown off with James. It was time for plan “B”, if I couldn’t reason with her, I’d do what I’m best at. 

“Well,” I said and leaned back, “I guess this confirms that you’re practically in love.” 

As if by magic, Kiri broke her stare and punched me in the stomach. I doubled over and let out a sputtering cough as Kiri took a breath. 

“Thanks,” she said to which I gave a pained thumbs up.
“Yep,” I said in a weak exhale, “Not using that plan with the big gal.”
Kiri shook her head, “Well, I’m not getting involved in that. I’ll help Lolliyant, you deal with Goliyoung.” 

Though my first thought was, “Great, I wanted the unstable one anyway,” I didn’t argue and quickly made my way to the grassy giant. Or, what used to be a grassy giant. Goliyoung was in the midst of an emotional break and was surging with a heat that turned the outer layer of grass to a shell of char that chipped away and fell with the breeze leaving the much smaller, and much hotter, fiery figure sitting in place of the bigger body. Large loops of fire shot off her body like the sun and sent waves of heat that threatened to scorch the fields. I had to calm her down and… well… I wasn’t exactly good at that most the time. 

“Hey,” I called over the roaring of her fires, “It’s okay, Lull’s gonna be fine!” I tried to assure her, but she didn’t pay me any mind. 

I guess I’d have to make her listen to me before she had a supernova and killed everyone within a five mile radius. I grit my teeth, braced myself and walked forward into the heat. I felt my skin warm to the point of what should’ve melted it, but I was only uncomfortable. Confident in my new found resistance, I pushed myself farther until I was right next to a kneeling Goliyoung, who was still just as tall as me on her knees, and I hugged her. 

Now, I wouldn’t advise hugging a flame unless the stake of what you assume is the world rests on calming that fire down and you’re really confident on your hugging abilities. “Heat” barely described what I felt, but, for some reason, there wasn’t any pain, no burns, hell, my skin didn’t even redden, but even the rocks around us were melting. Either way, Goliyoung, without a word, slowly cooled down until it felt like the light breeze was ice water and the cool shade felt like the arctic until my body readjusted. 

“Ya know,” I said as I fell back, drenched in sweat, “I normally don’t throw myself into fires on the first date, but you really charmed me with your silent girl act.”
“What is a date?” she asked, and ruined my joke.
“Eh, nevermind. I kinda need you to help me and Kiri care for your sister.” 

She nodded before she reformed her grassy body and rolled Lolliyant on her side so Kiri would have access to her wing. Now, I wasn’t one to brag, but I think I did a damn good job on damage control. Not like I was gonna get credit for it in Kiri’s eyes and I wasn’t sure Goliyoung even knew what emotions were, but, in my mind, I did a damn good job. I fell backwards in the charred grass and stared up at the rising sun. It was a long night. I think I earned a little nap. Maybe a long one. Maybe… a coma. 

I rolled into a ball on my side and shut my eyes. I earned my meltdown and I was going to spend it on a depression nap. 

“Kill her. Do it!” Liy demanded.
“I…” I started, but a stuttering cough got caught in my throat. 

I couldn’t do it. No way, but it was for Liy… I… I had to. I raised my blade over my head and got ready to cleave the head of my friend off, but the weight of the steel in my hand seemed to tire out my arm way more than it should’ve. Kiri was on the dirt. 

“Please, James…” Kiri pleaded, “She’s using you!”
I stopped for a second, but took a deep breath and said, “I know.” 

My arm seemed to move without my consent and meaty slice echoed through my head. I shot up from the leafy bed Liy supplied for me and the rising sun brought me from my dark haze. A pain in my head like a migraine shuffled through my brain and rifled through my thoughts like a thief. I shook my head and tried to remember the dream that left me breathless, but it was gone. I hated nightmares. 

“James,” Liy said, as if addressing a dog who had done something wrong, but sat still after that and waited for me to answer.
“Yes?” I asked and she smiled.
“Yes…?” she dragged on.
I stopped for a second, but came back with the most obvious response, “Yes, ma’am?” I questioned, unsure in my words.
“Hmm,” she hummed with finger on her chin, “That’ll work, for now. Anyway…” she continued with a subtle note to her words as if she were singing a song. 

She crouched down and laid on one of the wide branches that supported the treetop we were so comfortably sat on. 

“How did you sleep?” she asked.
“Oh,” I was taken aback by her sudden shift in demeanor, but brushed it off, “Fine. Yourself?”
She smiled, “Please, call me Miss Liy. I didn’t raise to kids to not use the title of an adult,” she explained before adding, “I didn’t sleep. I normally don’t. I had to make sure you didn’t fall, little one, so… we’ll say you… owe me~.” 

The words themselves seemed to have such a heavy weight behind them. An implied prison, but what could I do to stop it? 

She spoke up again before I could reply, “I think I know how you could repay me. I have to go, we’ll say shopping and you’re gonna help.” 

Before I could even get a word in, I was swept off my feet by a hand that rammed into my shins and forced me to tumble backwards into Liy’s hand. A rush of wind and the roar of a hurricane later, we were once again high in the clouds, but I was being held much more carelessly than last time. I looked down over the flowing hills and valleys of grassy knolls that rolled through the meadow I had taken for granted not so long ago. What I would give to be on the ground again. 

“Liy,” I called up to her, but received a sharp glance that reminded me of my mistake, “Miss Liy,” I corrected, “What do you mean by shopping?”
“You’ll know soon enough,” she replied simply as we landed in front of the castle. 

Before I could even ask what we were doing here, Liy bashed down the outer wall with a devious smirk etched into her face. I shuddered at the mere sight. A deep fear resinated from that smirk that I couldn’t contain. It wasn’t long before knights surrounded the invading dragon, but I knew they stood no chance against this beast. With a quick flick of her tail, she isolated one soldier and dropped me roughly right next to him. 

“Be a doll and cut up my food for me,” Liy ordered as she kneeled down above us to watch the battle.
The knight looked at me, disbelief in his face, “You help that monster?” he questioned.
“I…” I started, but pulled out my sword, “I serve who I serve just as you serve the king.” 

The knight’s betrayal shifted to a steely eyed determination as he raised a poleaxe to his chest. 

“If you’ve any humanity left in you,” he started, “I’ll bleed it to the surface.” 

He charged me with the spear tip of his weapon pointed at my chest, but I got my shield between us before the hit collided. A metallic clash rang through my ears before I thrusted my sword forward and just barely missed his chest. A streak of crimson ripped across his ribs as I grazed his tunic clad chest with a wide swipe that quickly followed my stab. He backed up and my next slash was met with the wooden handle of his weapon. With a careful push, he rammed the blunt end of his axe into my exposed temple. I had almost forgotten I stripped away my armor. 

I fell back and landed hard on my ass. My eyes met the giant ones above and was frozen for a second, but quickly got back up to face the knight that circled me slowly, waiting for me to strike. 

“You don’t have to do this,” the knight insisted, “We can kill this beast. Together!”
I grit my teeth, “I watched a beast not three fourths of this beast’s size destroy an entire raid party. We are only alive because she wills it,” I explained, a somber tone woven into my words.
“You’re wrong!” he insisted, but I shook my head.
“You’re naive,” I turned my attention to the crowd forming to watch the battle and ready their weapons to the dragon, “You all need to run!”
A deep sigh from above rushed over us, nearly knocking me over as Liy said the words I dreaded, “You’re boring me.” 

With one quick flick, she knocked the knight across the kingdom with a sickening crackle and signified his death. A life extinguished in the blink of an eye. I fell to my knees as a dark feeling filled my chest. Guilt. 

“James!” a voice called and I looked up to see Liy staring me down. “Kill another. Come on, this one,” she ordered as she pushed a woman into the empty circle.
“Please!” the woman begged, “I have children!”
With tears building behind my eyes, I called up to the dragon. “Liy, don’t do this!” I begged, but it only seemed to make her angry.
“You, little one,” said as she lowered her scaly snout, “Do not tell me what to do.” 

With one quick movement, her jaws pushed unto the dirt around the poor mother in the ring with me. 

“No!” an unexpected scream broke my throat as I pushed myself forward and reached for the woman. 

My hand passed the threshold of quickly closing teeth and into the slimy tunnel that housed that snake like tongue that wrapped itself around the woman. I felt the jagged edge of enamel close in on my forearm before a crushing pain exploded through my body like hot iron. My body collided against a wall of closed fangs and was forced back into the dirt. I landed on my back and right arm as my left was now no more than a bloody elbow with a stump. Liy looked at me with no remorse, but instead… satisfaction. I watched from the ground as I bled and the town I used to love so dearly was encased in a layer of hot magma spewed from the maw of the beast above. This was it. This was hell. 

Anger boiled hot in my veins as I paced the bloody field in front of my cave. Liy, my mother of all people, had just put me on the fast track to conflict and I was worried I’d have to kill her to save James. A subtle resentment hung in my thoughts towards the humans that had made themselves at home and gave my mother a hostage, but that was no more than the hatred for my mother boiling over onto every annoyance. Of course, I didn’t mind the humans, it was actually great that they were keeping me company, but I knew that this would be something I had to do alone. 

Goliyoung grabbed my hand and stopped me dead in my tracks as I looked down at the grassy giant. Almost alone. 

“Goliyoung is…” she stopped for breath, “getting tired.” 

Alone.

I knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder, “I told you. No giant forms unless you need to. It’s too hard on your body.”
“But… Goliyoung can… help,” she insisted.
“I’m sure you could,” I replied, “If there was something to help with.” 

A few seconds of silence and my scolding stare convinced the stubborn girl to back down. The emotionless mask of shredded plant life fell to nothing more that a heap of sod as the fiery figure of a resting Goliyoung gently floated to the ground. I caught her and placed her away from the grass just to ensure that no fires started while she slept. I looked back to the sky. Where ever Liy was, I would find her and I would save James just like he was willing to do for me. 

Though I tried to keep my eyes off them, I couldn’t help but glance back to Oxle who was still unconscious and Kiri who was still attending to him. Guilt stuck deep in my heart as the selfish anger started to bubble down and evaporate into a fog of regret. I needed to find Liy soon. 

As if my wish was granted, a large, fiery explosion broke the horizon where the human’s castle used to stand and I could vaguely make out the shape of my horrid mother causing the destruction. I didn’t have time to wait for Goliyoung to rest up, I had to go now. 

“Kiri,” I said as I started towards the castle, “Watch Goliyoung. I’ll be right back.” 

I broke into a run as my lack of a wing prevented flight. I ran through the dips and hills of the meadow until I made it to the burning remnants of the castle and Liy standing and seemingly in awe of her destruction. James was gripped in her right hand and it looked like he was bleeding. 

“Let him go!” I demanded as I carefully stepped over the wall of the castle and approached my mother.
Liy smiled, “Or what? Is little Lull gonna stop me?” 

I grit my teeth and raised my claws to the menacing dragon that was at least twenty five feet taller than me. Liy just laughed.

“Ooh,” Liy cooed, “Feisty. I’ll deal with you later.” 

With that, she took off into the sky where I couldn’t follow her. I kneeled in the debris of the castle and stared down at the broken houses and crushed bodies in the rubble. It was too much for me to take in. Slowly, I started to sift through the rubble of the castle with my fingers, listening closely for any signs of life, but there was nothing to be found. Defeat boiled like rage in my body as I fell forward onto my hands and knees. I hid my face as I rested my head against my now folded forearms as tears dripped from my face and onto the ruins of the old castle. I should’ve been able to stop it; stop the death, the needless killing, stop… Stop her. 

It was suddenly becoming more and more clear that the only way to stop Liy and her horrifying assault was to kill her. I couldn’t be a pacifist any longer. I had to be a dragon, but to do that, I had to swallow this hopelessness caught in my throat and stop being afraid of the beast inside me. I shut my eyes and let my mind wander back to the second raid party. I felt the power course through my body and explode through my veins like firecrackers as the mere idea of knowing the amount of power I had over the people trying to kill me made my heart beat faster as excitement worked its way into my head. 

My fists closed around handfuls of rubble that I squeezed into stone dust with the force of my up and coming arousal. My mind drifted back to Oxle and how the warmth of his body felt and his struggles felt inside me. My breathing got faster as my hands slowly drifted below my beltline and I rolled onto my back in the still burning ruins. With careful precision, my fingers danced around my sex, slowly circling as I teased myself and arched my back up with a hushed moan, but as I did, I felt the bony stump of my amputated wing and the powerful feeling that had been turning me on so much faded. 

I sat up and sighed a heavy sigh of defeat. I’d never be able to fly ever again. It was depressing. With knees hugged to my chest, I slowly let myself work through all the emotion I had been put through, but it didn’t last long before I was interrupted by a gentle presence sitting next to me.