Ring of Madness

by Royden Labrosse

  - I was born over a thousand years ago. Do you know how dragons are different from werewolves?

  - Your second hypostasis? - I assumed.

  Charles shook his head.

  - No. A werewolf is a man who knows how to turn into a beast. Often without control. A dragon is a dragon that knows how to turn into a human being. For us, a human being is a second person. Not the most attractive, I must say. But what is given is given. And we can control the transformation of our own will. We can turn three times in an hour - and we can live a hundred years without turning into a dragon.

  - Is that why the rumor went out that the dragons were extinct?

  - That's right. What joy is it to be caught and put in a cage like the last diplod of the planet?

  - Or a tyrannosaurus. By the way, were they birds?

  - I don't know. I didn't catch them. By the way, this is where all the dragon tales that kidnapped the girls come from. You know, the brainless lizard doesn't need them, she'll find dinner closer. But if you can handle it and you're in love... That's what happened to my dad.

  - You're only a dragon for your father?

  - Yeah. By the way, kids from that kind of marriage can be dragons, they can be people. What does it depend on? Nobody knows. But I turned out to be a dragon, and my brother is Jean, a man.

  - Your brother is Jean. And you're really Charles?

  - Alveresander Sharallorich. It's not exactly a human name, but my father gave it to me. The dragon is a dragon. It's human.

  - You mean Alexander?

  - Charles, too. I'm more used to that name now. Alexander's name was the dragon, not... not what you see before you now!

  - I see a dragon.

  - No, Julia. I'm not a dragon. Not right now. And indirectly it's the vampires' fault, but directly it's my fault.

  - Oh, yeah?

  - Yes.

  Charles told me. And there was a painting unfolding in front of me. An old castle in the mountains. The Dragon Father. His beloved wife. And two twin brothers. Jean, the eldest. And Alexander, the youngest. The fact that the younger brother is a dragon and the older brother isn't, didn't seem to bother his brothers at all. They played together. They were playing together. And together they received the cuffs from their parents.

  He was talking, and I saw it all with my own eyes. I saw a dragon father, a stunningly handsome man, just like Charles, but if Charles had dead-white hair, then his father had all the shades of blued steel. And the dragon was also an incredibly beautiful black and red tone. Scarlet, with a black crest, black wings, huge size, it could fly - and carry people away in the claws of each paw. No one dared to stand in front of him.

  Saw Charles' mother, Elena. A thin, surprisingly beautiful blonde and black-eyed woman who devotedly and tenderly loved her husband. Even if he was a dragon, and she was destined for a short human age. Not that short, though. It's known that dragon blood prolongs life and youth. Only few people know that the dragon's blood must be given by itself. And even fewer people know what magic is supposed to do.

  Everything was perfectly fine. Parents loved each other. The father took care of his youngest son, the mother the eldest. Father would put little Alexander on the wing. He taught flying, hunting, told about the magic of dragons. The mother taught little Jean everything a man should know.

  For several years, they traveled among people.

  The catastrophe happened when the children were twenty-five years old.

  And the name of the disaster was Roderick. That's the name he had back then. What name does this vampire carry now? Charles couldn't tell. The blood ligature worked. Well, that's okay. I'll check with Mečislav.

  But even then, Roderick was a vampire. And even then, people were hunting the night people.

  Charles cursed the moment his father decided to help a runner. More than that, to invite him into his house. Roderick wasn't there for very long. No more than three days. And he left. The dragon carried him across the mountains. But even then, Charles felt the evil that this creature would bring into their family.

  Dragons are not visionaries. To their great misfortune. And they're not used to believing their premonitions. It's the payback for power and strength. For some reason, they have no intuition. Equilibrium.

  Or maybe Charles just noticed the look Roderick gave at his mother. And then he said it would be better if he never saw that guest.

  But the young dragon hasn't found any understanding. Father didn't care about it. Brother admired the guest. The mother didn't even notice the vampire. For her, there was no one but her family.

  A family that only has a few happy years left to be together.

  That's when Charles took off on his journey. Behind the books for his father, who wanted to give a gift.

  That night, he felt the pain of losing his own blood for the first time. At first, he didn't understand anything. It was just a stupid needle stuck in his heart. And it started spinning there, going deeper and deeper.

  At first, the dragon didn't understand anything. It didn't take him ten minutes to figure it out. And three minutes later, he ordered his horse to saddle. It took him as soon as possible to get out of town to turn around and fly home, which was strong.

  He's late.

  A few hours late.

  The poison was too strong.

  And the weeping mother, one moment older than ten years, said that her father was wounded by a poisoned arrow. He was wounded while flying in a dragon's guise. And there's no telling who did it.

  Father managed to destroy the enemy. But to question him...

  There are poisons that can kill even a dragon.

  Charles, according to the custom of dragons, took his father's body to the deepest cave he knew and left it there, stoned. Many years later, his body will also be reborn. And people will think about where the mummy came from. And then the dragon came home. To mourn for his father for a year.

  Three days later, Roderick showed up at the castle.

  Jean, who became master with his father's death, received him gently and kindly. He tried to please the vampire, took his entourage, asked Charles to get game for them, even arranged a feast, as if his father had not been killed recently. Charles's mother never left her room. And Charles tried to be with her.

  But one day he had to go hunting for a few days. And when he returned, he found his mother... asleep tightly and with a vampire bite on her wrist.

  The young dragon has gone mad.

  And he demanded an explanation from Jean.

  Explanations have been received. Such that the dragon was still twitching with disgust and disgust.

  By the will of fate, born a man, Jean was very unhappy with it.

  Jean did not want to die.

  He did not want and was so afraid of ordinary human life that he offered Roderick and his mother, and himself, and even his brother in exchange for eternal life.

  And the vampire gladly agreed. He didn't just like Charles' mother. He fell in love with her. And as for Jean or Charles...

  Vampires are quite bisexual.

  Charles has gone mad. He'd be a brother-killer by now. He sees the sky. But it was already at night. And before he could do anything, he had vampires all over him.

  The dragon was weakened. He was tired. Not so long ago he suffered the death of his father... And if anyone doesn't know, the death of loved ones hits dragons very hard. Even if it can't be seen outwardly, they are disturbed by the correct flow of power along the lines of the aura. It becomes harder to change their appearance, harder to use their original dragon power. And Charles's strength was at an end. He managed to kill either three or four before he was twisted and thrown into prison.

  But he wasn't there for long.

  To my mother's death.

  Dragons are not visionaries. Moreover, the magic of foresight is forbidden to them. But blood magic is their native element. And a dragon can do much with the creature of its blood. A lot of things. It's not always good. It's not always bad.
From illness and death to healing and getting rid of old age.

  Alexander was able to dream about his mother. She was drugged by vampires, she was asleep, well, the better. Again and again, her son would break through to her mind, explaining what was going on.

  And - explained.

  Elena, Charles's mother, the dragon's wife, managed to rip the vampire charms. And she realized what was going on around her, with absolute clarity. It was the blood her husband was giving her.

  She understood everything. She knew what was going on around her. What she's in danger of. And she also realized that her life was over for her.

  My beloved husband is dead.

  The eldest son has betrayed everything and everything. Not only did he sell it to vampires, he had a great time with Roderick himself. In all senses, he was having a great time with Roderick. And in bed, too.

  There's no way she's going to help her youngest son.

  In fact, if she just tries, she'll get caught. And she'll be a vampire. Very quickly. From her husband, Elena knew how... creatures subordinate to her creator. And she didn't want that life for herself. Especially since the two bites spoke for themselves.

  She'll be a vampire anyway. If she doesn't die. And the sooner, the better.

  Writing a charcoal note was a matter of minutes.

  The woman asked to be buried next to her husband. Cursed her eldest son for everything. And the youngest, if he does not do her will.

  And she threw herself out the tower window.

  That night, Charles felt the pain of loss a second time. When his mother was dying.

  But they didn't find her right away. And a few hours later it was too late. She died in the gorge, alone. Dragon blood won't save a man if he rushes down a fifteen-story building. The head is on the rocks.

  Elena lived for about ten minutes. And all these ten minutes Charles rolled on the floor of his dungeon, pulling blood out of his lungs and clenched his head, which was ready to split into pieces. He wasn't yelling crazy just because he couldn't. His throat was intercepted.

  Yeah, and I could have - I wouldn't have yelled. Dragons can feel close by blood. And their own mother...

  Charles knew she wanted to die. He knew he couldn't protect her. And he obeyed her decision.

  Jean didn't know anything until almost morning. He and Roderick were very busy with each other.

  When Elena was discovered, Roderick went mad.

  He blew up half the rooms in the castle, almost nailed Jean, would have nailed Charles, but he looked so that they put paint in the coffin. And the setting of the cell - dirty with the blood of straw, a broken jug of water, peeled skin on the wrists and ankles of the prisoner, where his bodies touched the chain, a burn from the amulet ...

  Yeah, Roderick couldn't hold a dragon. He would never have had the strength to do that. Kill it, yes. Hold it, no. But Jean betrayed everyone to the end. And he was the one who showed us where the amulets made by his great-grandfather lie. Amulets that control the transformations of the children of dragons. As long as you're wearing it, you can't take it off and get free.

  Charles sincerely blamed himself for his mother's death.

  I didn't. I didn't. He told me what was going on. And didn't even fulfill her last wish. Elena wanted to lie next to her husband. Roderick ordered her to be buried in the castle.

  And then, at her funeral...

  Charles was telling - and I saw the coffin with his mother's body being lowered into the crypt slowly, under the moonlight. I saw him standing, chained up. I saw him through Jean's eyes. Thin, blonde, surprisingly mother-like...

  And she saw Charles throwing himself at his brother.

  For a few minutes, they were almost there. When they said goodbye to their mother. Even vampires couldn't say no to him at those moments. And that was enough for the dragon.

  Throw, and a strong chain punch.

  And two brothers clutching and flying into the darkness of the crypt. In the fall, Charles twists, driven by instinct, and falls on his brother's chest.

  Short hand movement - finish. And the scream of Jean standing in his ears.

  - Damn you, my death is on my life!!!

  He was cursed.

  And Charles didn't have time to kill himself.

  The vampires found him completely safe and sound. But Charles couldn't change the hypostasis anymore. He couldn't at all.

  He was imprisoned in a human body - forever.

  Roderick wasn't just pissed off. He missed Elena. He lost Jean. And Charles had to pay for everyone.

  And he was paying. For years. Centuries. The millennia.

  Rebellion. Tried to run. Tried to kill his jailer.

  Everything that Roderick did to him, what he did for revenge and just for fun, he didn't tell me. And he didn't want to remember. But if he survived, it was a miracle.

  And all the while, stronger than whips and iron, he was chewed up by another.

  The loss of all family and friends.

  What could he have done to make things work out differently?

  How could he have prevented his father's death?

  How could he help his mother?

  How could you kill your own brother!?

  The mental pain was stronger than the physical pain. It was much stronger.

  * * *

  After Charles told us, we sat quietly for a long time. The dragon was re-experiencing everything. I was just thinking about it. So much new information fell on my poor head... I was the first to speak.

  - You've been a slave to Roderick ever since?

  - Yes.

  - And how did you end up at Alfonso's?

  - I was given away as a thing. To be used. They just talked me into being tortured. All the time. Every night. It was either Alfonso himself or one of his friends. He said yes. Alfonso da Silva, just so you know, sadistic...

  I didn't know. And I didn't want to think about it. I had to change the subject immediately. And so nightmares - eat with a spoon, I didn't have enough to know exactly how Charles was tortured.

  - And nobody tried to break the curse on you?

  - Who would do that? Roderick, and then Alfonso forbade everyone to help me. And wizards aren't lying around on the road with enough power.

  - Because they drink quality drinks at home too," I burst out with a joke with a beard. - Why don't we try it?

  The violets with the scarlet tide in the depths, the eyes looked at me timidly and uncertainly. Charles seemed to wonder why I wasn't turning my back on him. But I really didn't judge the dragon. What in the name of all gods and heroes could he do?

  That's okay! One, among his enemies... it's a miracle he was able to help his mother.

  Yes, exactly help. And stupid Elena was writing about the funeral. What difference does it make where you lie if people who love you meet you there?

  I didn't think it was worth asking at all. And I didn't think Charles was guilty of anything. He was behaving with dignity.

  I think the dragon realized it and stopped hunching. It's a calmer look.

  - Are you sure you can help?

  - I don't know. But with Peter, I did it. And with Alexei, the other day, I stole this crap...

  And it was also a great way not to think about some vampires with green eyes. And what we did with him last night.

  Charles looked insecure, so I pressed him with my voice.

  - Do you like living in your second and far from the best hypostasis?

  - No. But what if you can't?

  I shrugged my shoulders. I'm sick of walking around, around and around!

  - Can we give it a try?

  - We can. When?

  - Now.

  I put my fingertips on Charles' aura and led them to the nearest node of the black grid on the dragon.

  An outsider would think I was just driving my hands through the air. And Charles is playing along with me and making grimaces. But we weren't playing. I was trying to feel the old curse. I wasn't just trying to feel it. I w
anted to break it. Tear it up for fuck's sake!

  Break it down!

  To shreds, to dust, to powder!

  But once I touched the knot...

  It was like an electric shock. Only normal electric shocks didn't throw me on my beloved and even my home meadow somewhere.

  And that was her.

  Pine forest. High, mighty trunks that stretch upwards to the serene blue sky. Tender green grass - it's never like this in cities. And this time (for a change?) the clearing is not covered with dandelions. No. Here and there, from the grass, gentle lily of the valley blossomed, spreading a delightful scent.

  I knew if I wanted to, the clearing would be covered with dandelions again. And I was also aware of something new.

  The Glade is just my idea of it. In fact, it's something incredibly complicated. It's like a giant puzzle with many parts. Someday I'll be one of them. One of these days. In the meantime... the clearing is starting to change slowly. For everyone, it's its own. And I suspect the gamer will see some of the toys here, the astronaut will see his ship's cabin... no matter what she looks like. That's not what matters. The way we look here. And what we do.

  A weak moan broke my thinking.

  - Charles!?

  Awesome!

  Whoever came here - Clara, Diego - they didn't change outwardly. And now on my beloved glade (she had to increase for that) there was a cute alo-lilac dragon. It's a small one. Just the size of a double-decker bus. He'd lie down and look at me with his eyes begging.

  And there was a reason. The dragon was rewound with some kind of black chain that looked like a sausage. Its paws, wings, tail - everything was barbarously drawn to its torso. Even the jaw - and that one was wrapped in three layers.

  - Charles? - I was genuinely surprised.

  The Dragon has slowly covered his eyelids. You could see that even this attempt at movement was causing him severe pain.

  In several places the scales were opened - and from there, from deep wounds, blood was oozing. In the wounds were inserted... some kind of black sword. And there were quite a few. I counted ten of them. And only from one side. That's a tough one! Those swords were the ones that fastened the chains. And it slowly came to me. Chains are the dying curse of my own brother. It's hard, it's nasty, but Charles would have been free himself. Sooner or later. But there was also a mother's dying wish. Unfulfilled. And the guilt of her death and her father's death.