The Mage/Witch Regrets

Chapter 3: A DRAGON

Yuri's POV

My heart feels like it’s about to explode. I can barely breathe from the thick aura in the air. A shiver runs down my spine and it’s so hard to stand. I don’t want to admit it, but my legs are shaking uncontrollably. It’s like staring into the face of pure destruction, a force that can turn everything to ashes.

I thought I had seen every fearsome creature that existed in the wild. Our home is surrounded by the cursed forest, after all. But facing a dragon is nothing like the monsters we’ve fought before.

Those creatures were mere shadows, weak imitations of the horror standing before me now. My past battles were just rehearsals for this, and I’m completely unprepared. Its aura alone could make any man kneel.

"Hey, what's your name?" The princess beside me asked. How can this girl be standing so calmly right now?

"Sean Yuri Elheart" I said without thinking. I scan the surroundings, searching where the voice earlier is coming from.

My mind clouded with fear as a towering creature appeared before us. Sweat dripped down my face and my hands shook as I gripped my sword tightly. Damn it, how can I defeat this? My mind raced with desperation as I glanced at the princess, her eyes wide with fear.

As the dragon’s fiery breath filled the air, I leapt forward. The flames lit up everything around us. My golden sword, a gift from my great-grandfather, flashed in the firelight. My heart pounded, fear racing through me, but my focus remained on the princess behind me.

I need to protect her, I told myself, eyes locked on the dragon’s claws. As I charged, my muscles screamed, barely dodging a swipe. My sword arm trembled, and my breath came in ragged gasps. My strikes did nothing, not even a scratch.

Damn it, where’s the weak spot? I scanned its scales, desperate. I had to get the princess out, but I couldn’t move. The dragon roared, deafening me, then flames exploded toward me. I reacted too late. Fire engulfed my left arm and chest, and my armor melted, searing my skin. I tore it off and tossed it aside, my upper body burned and bare.

The dragon's roar was distant, muffled by the sound of my pain. I stumbled, my vision were blurring as I fell to the ground. The princess's scream echoed in my mind as I tried to crawl towards my sword in the distant, but my body wouldn't respond.

"Oh, great Arcana, save me one more time." I helplessly whispered. My voice were barely audible over the crackling flames. At the moment I thought It's the end, a girl with black hair and crimson eyes appeared infront of me. Her smile somehow ease my heart, why she's smiling like that? She make it looks like everything is fine.

"Why do you keep on saying that? It pissed me y'know. Look at you, you look like you'd gonna cry" she chuckled. "Great job, Yuri. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have found those survivors there." She tilt her head a little at the side of the volcano. I saw a total of 3 people lying in there, bathing with their blood.

"You can still walk, right?" she said, helping me up. I tried to protest, but she cut me off. "No more buts, you i***t! You already look like a corpse. Just go, I’ll handle the rest."

"This is my first fight in this life, and there’s no way I’m letting this damn dragon win." She turned away. Sometimes, she spoke like a veteran warrior… but she’s just an ordinary princess. A dragon might be too much for her.

I tried to chase her, but my body wouldn’t move. I fell helplessly to the ground. I watched her charge forward fearlessly with my sword while I lay face down, unable to move my arm. I felt so useless.

The flames and burning trees lit up the surroundings. I saw the dragon freeze at her sight, but as my vision darkened, I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness.

"I'm so pissed right now, you damn dragon!" she yelled. "You're a red dragon, so I thought you were her. But you look so small. Your scales are dull and rusty, like old tin cans left out in the rain. Your wings are awkwardly large, like they belong to a different creature. And your breath smells like someone poured gas on a pile of trash and lit it on fire. You look more like a hot mess than a fearsome beast!"

Is she seriously roasting a damn dragon right now?

She started hitting the dragon, more like punishing it than killing it. The dragon roared, and she yelled back. Why does the dragon look so scared? Maybe I hit my head hard when I fell earlier, I’m seeing things.

"Don't ever think of running away from me, you smelly dragon!" She hit the dragon's head nonstop. "So you're her child, huh. I'm taking my revenge on you, blame your momma for all of this!"

She tossed my sword away, and I saw how the flames envelop her body but it somehow doesn't hurt her skin. I throw myself up to save her before the dragon's flame eat her whole alive, but it only took me one step when my vision goes entirely black, and I fell of the ground once more.

--

I woke up in an unfamiliar sight. It looks like a tent, a beam of light crept between the gap in the fabric.

Am I on the main road? I wondered, squinting against the bright light. My sword lay beside me, and my body was wrapped in bandages. I struggled to sit up, pushing with my right arm, groaning in pain. A sudden memory flashed. Alarmed, I grabbed my sword and rushed outside. My men stood by creating a fire near the five carriages, but the princess was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the princess?!" I shouted, sounded desperate.

"The prince is awake!" They immediately stood up and run towards me. "Sir, are you alright? You shouldn't be standing right now"

"Where's the princess, El?" I asked my oldest guard.

"Relax, sir. Her highness is on the other tent, treating the survivors." He pointed at the other tent behind my tent.

I rushed over, why was she treating others when she was injured herself? The moment I reached the tent, I pushed inside.

"Oh?" The princess looked surprised… but perfectly fine. Where were her burns?

She held a bowl of blood-soaked water with a strip of white fabric in it. Her hair was tied back, and her already bold dress was torn, making her look nearly half-naked. Yet, there wasn’t a single wound or burn on her body.

"Hey, are you looking at my boobs?" she teased. I quickly turned my eyes to the survivors.

survivors.

"You’re talking nonsense," I said, brushing it off. "So… they’re still alive?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Fortunately, yes. But their bodies is almost ripped to pieces. There's so many unlocated bones and deep wounds all over their bodies." She sighed while looking at them. "I already did everything in my part. It depends on how quick their body can heal now. They need a lot of rest. They'll wake up later and we need to be gentle with them, I don't know if they can deal with the trauma though."

"How about you?" I asked, considering whether to bring up the fire I saw on her during the fight—but maybe I was just seeing things. I wasn’t exactly in the best shape then.

"What do you mean? I'm totally fine," she replied, a little too quickly. She was definitely hiding something.

"What happened out there? Did you kill the dragon?" I pressed. She started to sweat. What's wrong with her?

“C’mon, Yuri, how could someone like me kill a dragon?” she said, avoiding my gaze, laughing awkwardly as if nothing happened.

“But… how did we survive?”

“I-I don’t know either. The dragon just… flew away,” she muttered, eyes still not meeting mine.

“Then how did we find the main road?”

“Maybe we just got lucky,” she chuckled again, clearly uneasy. Her answers didn’t satisfy me—something wasn’t right. I was about to press her further when one of the male survivors suddenly groaned.

We rushed to him as the princess helped him sit up. "Are you okay?" she asked gently. "You’re safe now."

"W-Water," the man whispered. I quickly called out to the entrance.

"Haven! Bring us some water!" I shouted. A few seconds later, Haven came in, holding a mead flask half-filled with water.

"It’s the last of our water, sir," Haven said, clearly frustrated. "Nate and Henry came back empty-handed, no animals in sight. We haven’t eaten in three days, and everyone’s exhausted. But we’re more worried about you and Her Highness, you fought a dragon and still—"

"Hey, what are you talking about?" the princess cut in, even more frustrated. "The carriages are full of food and water, you i***t! It’s already yours, how did you not check?"

"P-Pardon, Your Highness? There’s food in there?"

"Don't make me repeat myself!" She yelled. "Cooked the beef in there and give me some."

Haven dashed off with a big smile. I chuckled quietly, I forgot to tell my men what's written in the letter. Once I ordered them to follow, they obeyed without question.

I turned back to the survivor and helped him drink. His right arm had three deep cuts, burns on his stomach and back, a large scratch on his forehead, and nine wounds on his legs. How could an ordinary man survive all this?

"what's your name?" I asked.

"Call me, Yohan. Did you see other survivors?" He asked after he drinks all the water in the mead. "M-my friends..." His voice cracked.

"I'm sorry, but the only survivors left are just the three of you," I said, pointing to the two unconscious men in the corner. Their bodies and faces were wrapped in bandages, lightly stained with blood.

"Thank goodness... Nash, Drake," he whispered, finally breaking down. "Arcana saved us once more." His voice cracked as he clutched the thin blanket, tears streaming down his face.

"Stop that. You saved yourselves," the princess said gently. "You did well."

I hesitated, then asked, "Do you mind telling me what happened out there? Why were you fighting a dragon?"

"I and my friends are tracking something inside the cursed forest for over 20 years already. We stumbled over those volcano so we thought that we already found the path, but we felt a dark aura, its aura alone made us realized that we can't face anything that's in there. So we go back to the Tower of Hope to ask for backup before heading back." His body convulsed with each sob, his face contorted in agony, as if the weight of his emotions was crushing him.

We were supposed to return with 200 fighters, victorious and triumphant...but only three of us made it out alive." His voice shattered, the words tumbling out like a confession. "We were so sure... So sure we'd finally make a difference... that all our sacrifices would mean something, that all of our hard work would finally paid off. And because of our incompetence, 177 people get killed." The words ripped from his throat, raw and agonized. His chest heaving with ragged breaths, as if the weight of his guilt was suffocating him.

"So, what are you guys tracking anyways." The princess asked. Looking at him with pain in her eyes.

"It's the... Arcana Kingdom." He said silently as his gaze snapped up, his eyes blazing with a mix of pain and fury.