by Eric Vall
It was time to play “good cop.”
“Calm down, you’re safe now,” I whispered to the girl as I placed my hand on her forehand. “If you can hear me, I’m going to heal you now.”
The moment I touched the girl, she screamed shrilly and tried to back away from me, but Julia was on the other side of her. Then the Elder gently but firmly held the girl down so she wouldn’t hurt herself.
“I’ll calm her.” Power swirled in Julia’s hands as the girl grew limp in her arms. “Quickly now, Evan.”
I pulled my healing power up from the very center of me as the scales on my arms multiplied. Then the magic shimmered in my hands in a glittering kaleidoscope of color which I poured into the girl, and I focused on healing her body as I ignored the faint arguing behind me.
Ever so carefully, I guided bones to mend and flesh to stitch itself back together. The brutality of war had left its mark on the girl, and it read a savage story. I could see old wounds and scars heal under my guidance, and I knew whatever life she led before she’d been brought to fight at Hatra, it had not been an easy one.
Suddenly, a door slammed behind me, and I sensed people had left the brig, but I wasn’t sure who’d left until I could look.
A minute later, my work was done.
“Her body is healed,” I murmured as I glanced up at Julia and leaned back for some air.
“I’ll take her back to the city and see what we can do for her mind.” Julia cradled the snake girl gently to her chest as she looked down at the other cells.
I followed her gaze and frowned. How many were just in this same condition? Although it had been less than a week since the attack on Hatra, the snake girl still bore wounds from the battle. I doubted the survivors had been given anything more than some simple first aid by the guild members. From the earlier argument and the way I’d come to understand how this world functioned, resources couldn’t and wouldn’t be wasted on potential enemies.
“You’re a strange one, Master Dragon.” Daya’s voice punctured the silence in the room. “Healing and caring for the enemy.”
I turned to look at the guild’s Mistress of War and saw she was the only other guild member left in the room.
“They’re no longer the enemy.” My jaw clenched as I stood and walked to the first cell. “I don’t specifically care for torture one way or the other. I want results, so we will try a different method now.”
Inside of the cell were about ten prisoners. Their armor varied from leather to metal, but they all had one thing in common: they were completely bloody and battered.
All but one of the prisoners were pressed up against the wall and averted their gaze from me. The only one who didn’t look away from my eyes was a man with a broken and bloodied leg stretched out in front of him.
There was pure ice in his crimson eyes as he lifted his chin at me. His body was tense, and I could pick out the veins on his neck. It was obvious to me he was afraid for the others in the cell with him and that he would do anything to protect them, just as I would do anything to protect my own family.
That would be my leverage.
I glanced down at his leg and frowned at the shattered limb. I hoped there were no bone shards floating around in his bloodstream, that would make things difficult and dangerous for the man if he’d developed a fat embolism. Still, it was rare on Earth for that to happen, but he’d been without treatment for a few days now.
I almost dreaded summoning up his status information, but I did it anyway.
Classification: Crow Demi-Human.
Condition: Shattered leg, bruised rib cage, no internal bleeding detected. Broken bone shards detected in circulatory system.
Priority: Immediate healing required.
Danger: In danger of permanent crippling leading up to death.
Status: Critical.
Bone shards in the bloodstream and a fat embolism meant death if left untreated.
“I can help you,” I began as I gathered my healing power in my hands.
“So you can kill us afterward?” the crow Demi-Human laughed as he raised one black eyebrow. “No, even if you heal us, you won’t have our trust. You’re just like the rest of them. We’d rather die with dignity.”
“I didn’t kill your comrade,” I explained softly as my power shimmered over the prisoners. “I healed her body, and one of our Elders is going to heal her mind.”
The prisoners looked up at my words, startled by the fact the snake Demi-Human was still alive and by the glittering power that healed them instead of killing them.
After healing all the prisoners, I stood in the hallway outside of the brig. Julia had already left with the snake girl in her arms while I tended to the others. They’d been in better condition than the snake girl, and that had been a relief. Even so, I couldn’t stay in the airship anymore. I’d had enough, and we wouldn’t get any answers from anyone today.
I was upset, and I was angry at this world that forced everyone to be so cruel to each other, but I couldn’t blame the Blue Tree Guild members when they were a product of their environment. I was the one who needed to adapt to this new world and find a middle ground that wouldn’t have me abandoning all of my morals. I had to learn how to live in the gray area of morality and move away from the mentality of everything being so neatly black and white.
I was going to have to learn to be a dragon that was once a human.
“Where are you going?” Daya asked as she leaned on the doorframe and blinked lazily at me.
“I need somewhere quiet to think.” My voice echoed in the quiet hallway, and we were completely alone.
“More quiet than this?” Daya snorted softly as she shook her head. “You look ill at ease, Master Dragon. What troubles you?”
I buried my hands in my sleeves and clasped them tightly. How could I explain I felt pity for the survivors imprisoned in the brig while a part of me wanted to rip their throats out? How could I explain my new body was changing my mind, and that I knew I should be fearful, but I was only excited about what I was becoming?
“So many of their comrades died, all for the whims of some mysterious master.” A muscle in my jaw throbbed as I remembered the chaos of the battlefield from the night the Green Glass Sect army attacked Hatra. “A part of me hates them for what they did, but another part of me wants to help them.”
“If you draw your sword,” Daya smiled viciously as she spoke, “you must be prepared to die. You must wield your weapon on the battlefield with honor, for either you live or you die. You come from another world, Master Dragon, but this is our world you are in now. It is a world of pain and suffering for those who do not have power. And these people? Their hearts may yet beat, but they died the moment they lost the battle.”
This wasn’t right, this wasn’t why I had become an EMT back on Earth. What was the use of power if I couldn’t save people? I didn’t know if this bloodthirsty Mistress of War would understand my reasoning, but I didn’t fight just to kill or because I needed to have power.
I fought to protect what was important to me.
“Then I’ll protect my people,” I declared. If it meant protecting the entire world, I would do it even if it meant fighting the evil sects tooth and nail. “Treat them well, and in a few days, I’ll come back to talk to them. See if I can build up some camaraderie with them.”
Daya nodded silently, and that was the end of the conversation.
I walked from the airship to the half forgotten garden by the ruins of the Lunar Palace. Ivy ran amuck within the garden, and it covered the remains of walls and benches. At the center of the garden was a pavilion made out of a seamless piece of bluestone, and in that pavilion, was the marble statue of a woman.
Ruslan hadn’t told me who she was, and I hadn’t bothered to ask him. I doubted he would know exactly who she was, since the stone felt ancient under my fingertips as I touched the cool marble that formed her cheek.
She was a beautiful woman, and for a moment, I imagined she was the
Moon Princess who built Hatra. I wondered what the princess would think of what had happened to her beautiful city, destroyed and laid to waste by demons after she’d left.
“What would you do?” I murmured to the statue as a breeze rustled through the garden. “Would you destroy everything in your path to protect Hatra, throw aside your humanity and everything that makes you who you are, all for the sake of your precious people?”
There was no reply from the statue, and she continued to look mournfully at me. It was as if that was her reply, that she had no humanity to give up for Hatra.
After all, like Alyona told me during my first night in this city, the Moon Princess left Hatra after her husband was murdered by the very people she’d sworn to protect.
I shook my head and bent to press the stone at the statue’s base that would open the passageway to the River Moonstone House. With a groan, the stone floor of the pavilion shifted. Just as the staircase came into view, I took a step down and felt the calming energy of the chamber start to work on me.
The tight ball of tension in my stomach began to dissipate, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
It was quiet inside of the River Moonstone House, and I found the silence to be deafening as I took a seat in the center of the hall. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. With each breath I took, I imagined it flowing throughout the entirety of my body, and as I exhaled, I expelled all my worries and doubts.
Everything flowed out of me, from the thoughts of the water demons and the niggling fear of the possibility of the miasma returning, to the quiet longing I had for returning back to Earth. Everyday, worry of how Aunt Emma was doing and if she was heartbroken over my disappearance lingered in the back of my mind. Deep inside of my heart, I knew I wouldn’t be returning home anytime soon.
I’d promised to protect the city of Hatra, and I always fulfilled my promises, no matter how long it took me to.
Suddenly, my mind plunged deep into my spiritual sea, and the world shifted around me. I was no longer just inside of the River Moonstone House but diving into the essence of who I was. This voyage wasn’t the smooth path I’d traveled when Ruslan had guided me to cultivate my Predation ability, so I could harness the power of stone I’d gained from killing stone giants.
No, this journey was much different.
Darkness swam around me, and stars sparkled as they orbited me at an incredible speed while I fought to stay on the path to who I was. Comets appeared out of nowhere, and I ducked as their fiery tails just missed me.
I could smell burnt hair and knew it had been a close call. Finding out if I was fireproof or not was not on my to do list right now, though, it would eventually have to come up.
Especially if that crimson dragon from the canyon ever came up again.
A shudder went down my back and through my mind, but I wasn’t sure if it was from pleasure or from fear. The dragon had been a fearsome creature, and I knew she wasn’t someone I could take in a fight right now, but fuck if she wasn’t gorgeous in her human form.
As quickly as the thought of the crimson dragon came, it was chased away by the thought of Alyona and Laika. There was a flash of tanned thighs in my mind, and I bit down on my cheek. Then I tasted blood as the path underneath my feet disappeared, and the darkness swarmed around me again.
I was lost inside of my spiritual sea, the very essence of who I was, and my power washed over me. Memories drifted over me and pulled me into a current of emotions that fueled my passion, my rage, and my sorrow.
It was in a corner of my turbulent spiritual sea that I finally found Asher. Strings hung from black globs near his feet and head, leaving him suspended in the air, and a tar-like substance dripped from the strings wrapped around Asher’s body. Blood mingled with the tar, and every droplet of blood sizzled as it fell from Asher’s wounds and into the globs of corruption.
I reached forward to try and rip the miasma imbued strings from Asher’s body, but the moment my hand touched the strings, blood bubbled up from my mouth, and I choked on it as I desperately tried to remain calm. Bright crimson blood flew from my lips as I coughed and coughed, and an aching pain filled my body as piercing screams echoed throughout my spiritual sea.
Heat burned my face as the screams became shriller and shriller while my mind tried to break free from whatever was trying to attack me. An ancient presence pressed down on my mind, and I gasped for air while blood filled my mouth with every passing moment. There was no escape from the presence or the blood, and it grew while the screams drowned out every conscious thought in my mind.
Pain, that was the only thing I could think as the strings cut my palms to shreds. Pain and an endless abyss of flame and brimstone.
Blood dripped down my face from my lips, and I was crying tears of blood as I stared down at the waters of my mind. Slowly, they changed from pure azure to tepid black tinged with crimson blood.
The waters churned, and waves crashed behind me as a sudden roaring grew underneath the screams. Everything broke open underneath me, and the water gave way to a burning abyss where I knew everything that was good came to die.
It was just never ending agony and pain. If hell had a face, this would be it.
What seemed like claws latched onto my body, and they tore at my flesh as if they were eager to consume me and my power. I struggled to gather my power and try to break free, but I could only hear that ancient presence laugh at me.
“Fuck you,” I gasped out as blood dribbled down from my mouth. “Fuck you, whatever you are. I’m going to find you, and I’m going to make you pay.”
Anger and pain was the only thing that coursed through my body, the only thing I could focus on in this world that had solely become comprised of misery and anguish.
It was like all I’d ever known was this horrible existence, and there was never anything wonderful about life. Why was I even fighting it so hard? Wouldn’t it just be so much easier to sleep and give up?
I leaned against the darkness and felt as cold tendrils reached out to wrap around me.
“Evan!” a strong voice suddenly called out in the darkness of my mind.
For a moment, I thought I’d imagined the voice, but I hadn’t. Out of the corner of my eye was a small crimson fox with a crescent moon on its forehead. It snarled and gnawed at the darkness that embraced me.
Why was there a fox? I looked down at the creature in confusion as the darkness tightened around me.
“Do I know you?” I tiredly asked the fox as it dodged the darkness. “Why are you fighting so hard? Won’t it be easier to just go to sleep?”
“This isn’t you,” the fox growled as it tore apart one of the tendrils latched onto me. “You’d never give up. What about your promise?”
Promise? What promise?
“I don’t know you.” I paused and furrowed my brow. “Who am I?”
The waters of my mind stirred, and the world around us shook as the crevices became smaller. I frowned as I tried to remember why I was here and why the darkness had been so welcoming when I’d been so disgusted by it earlier.
Had I been disgusted? It hurt me, didn’t it?
“You’re the one all of Hatra’s hopes and dreams rest on,” the fox said as it suddenly began to glow, and the light chased away the darkness. “You’re my son.”
A cascade of memories came pouring into my mind, from growing up on Earth with my Aunt Emma to coming to the world of Inati. I saw the galaxies that swirled in Alyona’s eyes and the stars that came down like meteors at her command, and I remembered Laika slaughtering water demons in a mesmerizing dance with her swords.
Behind me, a city carved out of bluestone rose up and glowed with an inner light.
An endless list of names flowed through me, and then I came to my name.
“My name is Evan,” I murmured to the darkness in front of me.
“That’s right.” The fox jumped onto my shoulder and nuzzled its head against my cheek. “And what are you?”
“I’m a dr
agon, and this darkness has no control over me,” I snarled as I reached out with my claws to slice away the darkness that held me.
Everything fell away from me, the darkness and Asher, and I opened my eyes to the marble ceiling of the River Moonstone House.
“What happened?” I groaned as I rolled onto my back and rubbed at my eyes.
“You had your first experience with not only the demons of your heart, but the demons that plague Asher as well,” Ruslan explained as he sat down next to me and placed a cool cloth on my forehead. “And I think you might have fought against the miasma.”
“You called me your son.” I paused as I turned my head to look at Ruslan. “Why?”
The fox Demi-Human smiled down kindly at me.
“Because I want you to be my heir,” Ruslan said as he placed his hand on my head. “I want to trust you with my hopes and dreams, to have you one day be Lord of Hatra.”
“Your heir?” I blinked at the older man and sat up. “You want me to inherit Hatra?”
I could understand where the fox was coming from, after all, I’d saved Hatra a few times already. But still, it was a surprise.
“I do.” Ruslan ruffled my hair for a moment as he grinned. “If you agree to this, there would be an adoption that would add my blood to yours. You would have Hatra’s blood running through your veins, and no one in this country would be able to take that away from you, even if they dared to try. I believe you can lead Hatra back to greatness, no, you’ll lead Hatra to even greater heights than she’s ever reached.”
I grinned at his words.
Ruslan was right, and I didn’t doubt I could lead Hatra to the likes of glory no one has ever before seen. I had the advantage of being from Earth, I had knowledge no one in this world ever had, and part of it came from all the time I’d spent gaming. I had the benefit of fighting thousands of battles over and over again without dying, I could see the errors I and other players made so I could learn from those mistakes and not make them.
I knew how to make life or death decisions, I’d been an EMT and studying to be a doctor. People trusted me to save them and to take care of them because I was good at that.