Chapter 20

Saras Skyclaw

How did things end up like this? I was supposed to just wander around the lands to learn about other cultures and how the people are. I was just keeping my head down while enjoying the new experiences. How come I am now standing over the dead body of the girl that saved me from myself?

My name is Saras Skyclaw of the dragon tribe. My family has had a strong bloodline for wind dragons for generations. For dragons that mate the offspring will usually have one or the other parent's element affinity. We aren't sure why it happens, but we believe it's somehow related to how dragons all have two hearts and one is usually our mana heart while the other functions as just a heart. We are the only species that have a hereditary magic system. The wind dragons are all known for having dark green scales and the fastest flight speed. My parents were both wind dragons and I have two older brothers that also wind dragons. I am a rare type of dragon that somehow came from my parents. I am a storm dragon with elements for the wind, water, and lighting. I can be considered a very rare and unique existence to the dragon kind. Because of my type I have always been treasured by my family. My brothers have treated me like a princess and my parents have always spoiled me by giving me everything.

Because of my unique type I had attracted the attention from everyone in the tribe. All the families wanted me to marry their sons so that I can boost their standings in the tribe. My family had never agreed to any of the marriage proposals and always say they will let me marry for love. All my childhood growing up I had people trying to get close to me while all I wanted was to just play at home with my brothers.

Playtime ended when I turned old enough to begin training though. All of the dragon tribe have the capability to use mana when we are born, but the young aren't taught until the age of twelve. When I turned twelve my family told me that since there are no storm dragons around right now besides myself that they can only teach me wind magic. Any other magic I would have to discover myself or look through books to find any mention of storm dragons. I rarely trained my mana until I was taught how to use my humanoid form. When I could finally transform I ended up really liking my humanoid form. I enjoyed being smaller and playing around on two legs. Overtime I only had a few spells that I could use, but they were all very powerful. My most unique ability was that I could create storms around me. I only had to will it and the weather would change with me as the center. Besides changing the environment itself all my spells became stronger in my storms. The rain, wind, and lightning all seemed to come to me naturally. My parents had told me that it would sometimes start to rain when I cried as a child.

When I had turned fifteen it was time for my journey. All dragons are supposed to go on a journey though other lands so they can experience the cultures of different races and kingdoms. This is supposed to help young dragons quickly mature by experiencing the other races. Most dragons don't have a high evaluation of other races. They don't hate other races, but they do look down on them. Almost all young dragons go on this journey except a few exceptions. My family had actually tried very hard to persuade me to stay home with them, but my curiosity was just too strong. I wanted to see the different people and cultures. I am supposed to journey for two to five years before returning home and becoming a young adult in the tribe. All dragons humanoid forms follow our age until age twenty. In our humanoid for we will always look twenty even though dragons have an average lifespan of fifteen thousand years.

I had begun my journey while deciding I would wander around the dwarven kingdom first. I enjoyed my time while keeping my head down to not draw attention. As far as anyone was concerned I was just a human girl seeing a new place for the first time. I wandered around the kingdom for about six months before I decided to cross the mountains to go to the kingdom called the Lemuria Kingdom. It is supposed to be a very powerful human kingdom. I look forward to it because I most resemble a human and I could even stand out a little more while trying to make friends.

The nightmare had started as I was crossing the mountains by foot. I was just peacefully walking on a trail I had found when from out of nowhere I felt an invisible force push me to the side. I don't know what had happened as it felt like I was falling except I was level with the ground. I had kept flying to the side until I hit a large tree. Instantly I felt my body being wrapped up by vines. I decided to show my true form to scare off whatever is attacking me. As my body enlarges in a flash of dark blue light the vines that were wrapped around me began to snap away.

Two people had then come from behind a tree and I thought they would show fear or respect since I'm a part of the dragon tribe. Instead, I felt an invisible pressure pushing my body down. Tree roots burst from the ground wrapping around my limbs. I keep struggling, but for every root, I tore off another takes its place. Soon I can't move anymore as I'm being held on the ground. I feel scared because I wasn't supposed to get in any trouble while on my journey because I was just supposed to wander and observe. I feel myself being pulled back as I'm pressed against the big tree again. No matter how much I try to struggle I can't get loose. I will a storm to begin in the sky. Clouds begin to form and become denser, but just as the first drop of rain fell the two people came close. They both had black cloaks covering their entire bodies so I couldn't even see their race.

One of them holds up something I've never seen before. It's a large white nail that's almost glowing. It gives me a sense of dread and I feel scared. I wanted mom or dad to come rescue me then. Instead of being saved the nail is held against my chest by one and the other pulls out a white hammer. They then swung the hammer and with one hit it entered my chest, but it missed both of my hearts. Instead of a physical pain, I feel a pin I have never experienced before. It was like my very essence was being hurt and when I tried to scream no sound came out. I realized that I had no control over my body anymore. I could feel, hear, taste, see and think normal, but it I could not control myself at all.

My body was then dropped onto the ground as the roots and vines released my body. My first thought was to fly away not, but I still couldn't move. Instead, my body turned towards a direction and started to move. It kept moving until it reached a mana beast walking through the mountains. My body then attacked the mana beast like a wild animal tearing and ripping it apart. After my body ate parts of the now dead mana beast it moved on. It found another mana beast and attacked it. My body just kept moving on its own attacking anything it caught site of. Eventually, my body had passed the mountain and started to walk through an open grassland. My body stopped and turned to it left. What I saw through my body is a group of human adventures. I heard about adventures a long time ago and this would have been my first time seeing them, but I had only felt a sense of dread. As I feared my body attacked the humans. It ripped their bodies apart and consumed some of them before moving on like any of the other times before. I want my body to stop, but it kept moving. Days passed and then months passed. My body ate when it needed food and rested when it needed to rest. I lost count of time and how many died by my body as my mind started to go numb and in a daze.

Eventually, my body made it to the current forest that its in. It looked up and saw a pillar of lava shoot up and I assumed it was another two mana beast fighting over territory. My body moved and what I saw made me feel shocked for the first time in a while. I felt my self-wake up a little and pay attention for once. My body was looking down on a girl probably my age except she had beautiful black hair and eyes. She was looking over the body of a giant mana beast that was completely mangled. She herself was badly injured. For some reason, my body instead of attacking like usual started using my magic to create a storm. My body fought the girl at my full strength and I could feel the pain she was inflicting on my body.

Suddenly she changed her strategy and she started trying to destroy the nail in my body. I begged the girl in my mind to save me. I want her to stop me no matter what. I can't take much more. There's a flash of light and when I regained my own senses the girl seems to be missing half her upper body and my own tail has pierced through her heart. I'm finally free from myself, but as I look at the girl's face I cant help but feel despair. I have never seen such a strong desire to live. She has tears in her eyes filled with sadness and despair. I finally can control my body and all I can do is cry. I don't know this girl or why she's here, but I owe her my life.

As I'm crying I remember an old story I was told my mother had told me. A dragon had fallen in love with a human and gave him one of her hearts. He was able to live as long as a dragon's lifespan would be. I know that what I'm about to try is stupid, but I can't do anything for her. She had saved me from me. No matter who she is or how she will feel about this I hope she will forgive me for everything I've done.

I grab her dagger that's fallen beside her and I try to stop the trembling in my hands as I stab into my own chest. It hurts incredibly badly as I slowly cut open my chest. I reach my hand to the cut and open it more. I have to try my best not to start gagging as I look at my own insides and take the dagger to cut out one of my hearts. I see tears start to blur my eyes but I can't stop. I will be in pain for a while, but I'll survive and so will she. I keep my heart covered in my mana and I hold it in her open chest. I then start to channel mana into it. A dragon can slowly heal itself if it uses mana and what I'm basically doing is tricking my own heart into believing it's in my body so it should heal itself in place. I keep channeling mana into the heart while I ignore my own injuries. Slowly it seems my heart begins to heal her. It's slowly becoming one with her. I notice that the heart is basically connected to her and has become her heart at this point.

As soon as the heart becomes hers an ominous feeling falls over the area. It is like a cold hand has reached around my neck and could snap my neck with ease. I've never felt such an instinctual fear. Dragons are considered the top of the food chain, but even my instincts are screaming danger at me and what ever this is far above me. Where her heart is I see a flicker of a black flame with some red markings. Before I could get a better look the hole immediately starts to close up, but not with skin. Black scales start covering her heart now and I watch as her crippled arm starts twitching around black muscles start forming over her damaged arm and it slowly becomes red afterward. The black scales start to grow along with her arm and the right half of her body with some parts of the right side of her jaw starts to be covered in scales now. I don't know whats happened to her, but I do know she's alive now so I begin to use the rest of my mana to start to heal myself. As soon as I am able I pick her up and begin to carry her away from this location. I stop and see her weapon. Even though it damaged me so much it is hardly damaged. I grab it so I can give it to her when she wakes up. I move in a random direction and keep walking hoping that ill find a cave or something for us to heal in. I only hope no more beast show up because I am tired of my body killing so much. If I ever see those people again I will definitely run for my life.