Slay the Dragon

CHAPTER 12 - ERYS

The wildfire raged like hell as it reached up to touch the night heavens. The intense heat pushed the surrounding villagers away—but not Erys. It welcomed him instead as he hasted towards the burning house.

“My King!” Forsyr called out behind, but Erys couldn’t hear anything else other than the cries of the helpless women inside—and the child. The damn child. He shouldn’t have agreed to what the Lawdra had said earlier. It was a mistake—a big mistake.

The blazing wooden stairs creaked as Erys climbed on it towards the door. Flames embraced his body, but it didn’t hurt him. He instead absorbed more energy from the heat, sending his blood into a raging flow.

Erys pushed the door.

But it’s locked.

“Open up!” Erys said, knocking hard—but the people inside gave no response … only their screams. They might have been stuck inside, he thought.

With brute force, Erys clenched his fist and then struck the burning door. The impact instantly destroyed the wood, slamming the door open.

At first glance, the woman he saw earlier was crouching at the center of the bamboo floor, hugging her two children—a young girl and an infant, sobbing and crying for help. They covered themselves with a soaked human fabric.

When she saw Erys, the woman’s eyes widened in fear, as if she’s about to face her end. “Please, not my children!” she begged. “Don’t eat them.”

Erys stepped through the doorway, raising his hands up. “I’m here to help.”

“No. Get away, you beast!” The woman covered her children firmly with the wet blanket.

“There’s no time—“

Erys stopped as the burning woods cracked above the ceiling. “Watch out!” He dashed forward and blocked the debris on top to protect the humans. The woods hit his back and his head—making him growl in pain … but fortunately, he was fine.

The woman looked shocked, her lips parted open. “Please—“

Erys cried out loud as he wrenched all his muscles to throw the woods away.

“We have to go, now!” he said, reaching out his arms to her.

At first, the woman hesitated … but then she finally gave her two children for Erys to carry while she followed him out of the doorway. They used the wet blanket to cover the burning path towards the door. At last, they managed to storm out of the house before it broke and crashed down along with the flames.

The woman and her children were coughing hard from the smoke. Erys tried to comfort the whining infant, but hopeless it was. The baby kept on crying and crying with a few tiny coughs.

As they moved far away enough to safety, Erys could feel eyes around him. He gave the crying infant and the young girl to the woman. She took them possessively, then moved her children away from Erys.

“Stay away! This one’s a dragon in disguise!” She warned her fellow humans.

“Did you see it? He walked through the fire unhurt …” One villager spoke out.

“I saw it too.” Another said.

Erys glanced around him as the humans stepped back and held their families tight. He thought they would attack and kill him with no second thoughts … but they appeared to be unarmed. They didn’t look like those brutal, merciless humans described by the mondras.

“I won’t hurt you. I saved them.” He tried to convince the villagers, but in the end, he realized he could never change how they see him.

“You burned my house!” The woman accused in tears.

The noise grew louder as the humans began cursing him.

“I …” Erys’ gaze fell down in guilt. He couldn’t believe he became the beast these humans had feared. In truth, he didn’t want to spark any conflict with them. But the fact that he was already burning their homes in his first few hours of stepping into their lands had only made him no different from those bloodthirsty dragons. His father would be very disappointed. He didn’t raise Erys to become this cruel.

“My King, we should leave now,” Forsyr said, who suddenly came behind him.

“But—“

“You’ll only complicate the matter if you stay here.”

“That … that man’s with him …” The woman pointed at them. “He’s also a dragon! They both burned my home!”

A loud gasp echoed around them.

“We’ve got two dragons in our village!” One man cried out in horror. “Light the signal!”

Erys stormed his brows. What signal?

“My King, if we don’t leave now, the dragon hunters will come to capture us,” Forsyr insisted.

“There’s no need,” another human said to his fellow. “That burning house is already our call.”

Erys quickly turned to the huge flames, going up to where black smoke ascended to the skies. It would indeed signal the dragon hunters nearby. They needed to go.

Despite the crowds of humans yelling curses at them, Erys and Forsyr made their way out of the crowd.

Erys glanced at the woman and her children for a brief moment and lowered his head in apology. He was about to walk away when the young girl spoke up suddenly and said, “Thank you.”

Erys paused and looked on his right shoulder, his breath taken away. A human just … thanked him? But there was nothing to be grateful for. It was his fault … he only saved their lives to make it up for the mistake he did.

“Myrcell, don’t say that. Come here,” the woman scolded her.

“But he saved us, mama,” the girl replied innocently.

“He’s a monster. And because of him, we have no place to sleep anymore.” She wiped the tears on her dirty cheeks while trying to hush her crying baby in her arms.

Erys shifted his glance from his shoulder to the ground. The whine of the infant was keeping him from taking any step further. He felt more guilty. He didn’t mean to destroy their home. However, he couldn’t bring back what the family had lost. If there was something else he could do … or give to help … then suddenly his eyes caught his crown hanging on the side of his belt.

“My King?” Forsyr turned when he noticed Erys had stopped.

Erys held the golden crown and pulled one of the small diamonds from it.

“My King, what are you doing?” Forsyr hissed, but Erys ignored him.

He turned around and approached the woman. She stepped back with fearful eyes, dragging her young girl with her. But that didn’t stop him.

“My apologies for what we did.” Erys lowered his eyes in respect as he offered the single piece of a diamond at his palm.

When the woman saw it, she gasped. “You’re … you’re the dragon king?” She glanced at the golden crown hanging on Erys’ belt. Her eyes seemed to overwhelm with fear over her surprise.

“Take it,” Erys said, ignoring her question.

The woman was left speechless as she carefully picked the diamond with her fingers. Her face, marked with ashes, was stunned, as if it was her first seeing such a gem. Erys didn’t know how much this diamond would cost in the human realm … but he hoped it was enough to buy them a better house.

The infant suddenly fell quiet when Erys gently touched its soft cheeks. He couldn’t help but smile. It reminded him so much of the baby dragons. Were all humans born like this innocent newborn child?

Without a word, Erys finally turned his back and head on to Forsyr, who still looked shocked at what he did. “Let’s go, Forsyr.”

“Ye … yes, My King.”

“I hope you got the same realization as I did. What we did out there earlier was not right.” Erys said as they made their way through the village, towards another forest ahead. Indeed, not all humans were brutal and merciless, as some only existed to live peacefully. He reflected on his father, who had only sought peace and unity with humans. He was not wrong at all.

Forsyr took a long moment before he answered him. “Of course.”

“Where to now?” Erys asked.

“South, My King … and fast,” Forsyr replied with worry. “The dragon hunters are coming for us. I can sense someone closing to the village now.”