Dragon Guide

Chapter 19: Curse

As I sit here on this lonely mountain, listening to Julius, a chilling sadness wash over me. I can somehow feel a small bit of the overwhelming sadness and fury she experienced at that time. I think to myself though, it wasn't her fault! But I stop myself and stay quiet, she did choose to keep the egg so can I really justify her? This is a touchy subject and I don't know all the details I best not say anything about it.

Julius continues," The pain that her words caused me was so gruesome that I found a cave and hid away for nearly a century. She had searched for me all that time but I couldn't stand to look at her. I knew she didn't do anything wrong but she would not remove his child and instead chose to bear it and even tried to bring it to me. My pride simply would not allow it, I did not want to harm the child. I knew if I did Sabina would fall into depression again. The only comfort in all that is the knowledge that Sabina completely discarded Domitian. I got news of this from the Eastern dragon Akane, she was in love with me ever since we first met as children, that was a coincidence too. I did not know her feelings at that time and always mistook her care as sympathy for my poor predicament. I never truly acknowledged her feelings and that festered her dislike for Sabina even more through the years. She went as far as to vow that her bloodline will forever be rivals of Rivia's children."

"Akane later found her true mate and I thought naively that she would move on then too. She had children of her own and ruled over the place you now known as Japan. Nahla, on the other hand, was in the same state of mind as me but she was ruthless. She killed the child Sabina risked our love for. In the end, Sabina was still childless and had even betrayed her true mate. Domitian was furious and left Nahla, who was at the time also carrying his eggs, and yes, I said eggs. She laid three eggs and all lived but even though she had this great victory Domitian didn't come back to her.

Her anger reached new heights, she used ancient magic from the land of dragons, the place we all originate from, she used this magic and cursed Sabina to live in human flesh, never to free her dragon traits ever again. Little did she know Sabina and I had come to terms with our predicament and has reunited. We were in pain but we were better together than apart. After some time, she came to be with our second child. When the curse was placed on Sabina, she had not yet laid the egg and the child too was cursed to live in human flesh.

Nahla saw this as a great joke and took advantage to torment her at every turn. I eventually made the choice to send Sabina and our son away to live with the humans, if they blended in well that would be the safest place for them. In all that time when they were away from me, I searched for ways to free them of the curse. Eventually, I came across a wizard, he gave me the idea of changing my own physical shape. He told me there were others in this world who do the same. They take the form of wolves and beautiful human figures who drink blood. He thought maybe I could do the same. Shortly after I had the idea Sabina and Riven re-joined me as they often did through the years. They could never stay constantly with the humans, they never aged and this was something the humans did not take well. They see the changing of age as comfort that their life is safe and moving forward.

Around that time, they also found new ways to defend themselves from our dragons. The young whelps were being killed by the humans and their deaths were being glorified. It was not the children's fault; young dragons simply have the innate nature to hunt and defend themselves. They do not know the customs and they rebel in order to survive as best they see fit. They calm down after a few years and some intervention from the older dragons but it is not a task that can be achieved overnight.

Needless to say, we needed to adapt. We needed a new way of life, just as the rest of the world was moving on so should we. My journey to find a way to change led me to a family of shapeshifters, after spending many years with them and paying in advance a debt that I would owe to them they performed a ritual, one passed down to them for many generations. Eventually, I took the shape of a man, I eventually learned to make the change at will. With this new knowledge Sabina, Riven, and I returned to our home among the dragon race.

What we found when we returned was not what any of us could have imagined. It turned to that while we had been away on our own quest so was Domitian. He found someone to return the favour to Nahla for the things she had done to Sabina. He gave his blood to the witch in exchange for her help. She cursed Nahla and their own children and all their offspring that would follow. They would also live within human flesh, but what was even more cruel was that they could not keep any magic as Sabina and Riven did. They also would not have prolonged lives either, instead, they would live just as the humans do with fleeting lives.

Domitian later said that it was actually an act of mercy for them. They would not have to live with the curse of a long life. Grudges that run on for centuries. Instead, they would simply forget it all with the passing of time. He promised to watch over them and be a guardian to them for as long as he lived. Sadly, that was not very long. Nahla trained her children and all the generations after to hunt dragons. She showed them the weaknesses we have and it is in this way dragon slayers came to be. All dragon slayers are descendants of Nahla. Because of this discovery, Sabina made it her life's work to establish the Dragon Guide. Riven and I stood by her side and we began our work. We did all we could and shared our new knowledge with as many dragons as we could convince.

"Nahla caught wind of this and she again grew with even more hatred for Sabina. She had already lost her mate and was now stuck in this sorry state. I knew she would come for her but what I did not know is that she would use Riven as a weakness to get to her. I was away when it happened..." Julius's voice trails off and it is as if he was far away in a different place now.