Doraig's past (Extra chapter #1)

I was alone the moment I was born, no siblings or parents anywhere to be found. at first, I ate the egg I was born from as my instincts told me; once it was gone I tried a variety of things growing on trees; sometimes they would taste sweet, other times they'd be sour, maybe one day I would be sick but the next day I would be okay. I knew I had to eat to be alive, as I knew I had to drink liquids.

instincts are an amazing thing, they allow a newborn to survive without previous knowledge, but at the same time, they provide a life form with the worst part of the survival instinct, the will to kill to live.

I was 10 weeks old at that time, it was a sunny day and I was happily gnawing on some fruit I found an hour before, at that moment, 2 adventurers found me.

I did not know what they said, nor did I know what they were. the only life forms I had met before that point were the occasional squirrel or bird, which didn’t approach me, I believe their instincts told them I was different compared to them, my race is like that.

I was curious, and here’s the pitfall of instincts, if you’re a race that isn’t normally preyed upon by ants, you won't fear the ants at a subconscious level. but at that moment, I knew what fear was.

they attacked me, and I evaded but got hurt in the process. then came the first time I used my breath skill. I obliterated the first adventurer, the second one yelled at me and with his eyes red he rushed at me with his sword, wishing to stab me to avenge his comrade, maybe they were family, maybe they were just trying to feed their family. But I couldn’t allow myself to die, so I cast the second one.

that was the first time I killed something.

I then became cautious of my surroundings, I would pay attention to what was around me, it’s not that I was afraid of being hurt, but my instincts told me it was beneath my status to kill the ants.

the same day I became 4 years old I met her, a human child was lost on the forest crying. I approached her because if you told me she was dangerous I would not believe you, she was completely different when compared to the 2 bulky guys I had met years and months before.

the moment she saw my figure she yelped in surprise, before laughing giving me the most radiant smile I had ever seen in my life. we looked for fruits and I purposefully chose the ones that tasted the sweetest to give her, after all, she was the first thing that didn’t either run from me or try to attack me.

while we were happily gnawing on fruit ‘teacher’ found us, he was a middle-aged man with a few gray hairs growing. I did not want to leave her side, the side of my first friend. she extended my hand, and I'm really glad teacher did not object.

I followed them to a little house distanced from everything else, it was on the other side of the mountain I was living in.

I started living with them and slowly grew up. I bit by bit started recognizing words, and one day teacher brought back a picture book, that was when I finally knew what I was, that I was a dragon.

the day I said my first word was the day teacher started to have me learn how to speak and then started to teach me about the world I lived in. Honestly, I did not like that world, I only enjoyed the company of little girl and teacher. The Little girl was the little girl, the teacher was the teacher. The teacher called the little girl ‘Child’, while little girl called teacher ‘Mister’. of course, those weren’t their real names, but that didn’t matter, they just supported each other and names became trivial. in that way, I called her little girl and him teacher.

in that way 20 years happened, the little girl became a woman, and teacher became an old man.

10 more years went by and I was still a child dragon by that point because although dragons live for an extremely long time, we age proportionally to our lifetime.

Teacher had aged, and finally, he died. Humans don’t live for long, after all. we put teacher on the bed he gave his last breath at, and cremated him using the house we spent the last 20 years as fuel. that day I decided to forgive the rest of the human race because I finally understood, not all humans are bad.

I left the little house with the now adult woman, and we traveled east. since I never met my parents I couldn’t learn how to fly, birds and dragons do not fly in the same way and drawings could only give me the hints necessary for me to be able to glide.

we reached one of the many towns of that world, and I must say, humans, are very adaptable. They freaked out for a bit, but didn’t outright attack us, because I thankfully was still small at that time.

we stayed at that village for a year, and I met many humans who had never seen a dragon before, the human curiosity can overcome the fear of the unknown and I am very glad that is like so.

Little girl had become a beautiful woman, so she was bound to meet a man. humans live for a very short time, so they spend half of their life searching for a person to share the other half with. She was like so as well.

I didn’t blame her for deciding to settle, how could I? I can easily live for two thousand years, after all. thankfully they let me stay with them in that village. and so like that, another 50 years happened. Little girl couldn’t have kids, she was infertile because of the accident that lead to her distancing from the world along with Teacher. she had no descendants, and just like that, her bloodline disappeared.

that was the day I was alone once more, but I didn’t fear the world anymore. at that time I became an adolescent dragon. I left the village to travel around the kingdom, and it’s funny how things work out because weak humans are greedy, and strong humans had no reason to hunt us and provoke a full-fledged war against the dragon race, I didn’t have a hard time living. I never went to look for my kin, because I was alright on my own, and they would probably scorn me for being different than them.

I traveled around that kingdom and became famous. I was an ally to the human race and could have fun and enjoy life with them.

that lasted for a full 100 years.

when dragons go from adolescence into adulthood, they must hibernate to transform into the adult dragon form. I wish they would have told me it would last for so long. when I felt like I was going to begin my transformation, I found a small cave and set up camp. I did not know that I would sleep for 200 years.

the moment I woke up everything had changed. the kingdom I was fond of had disappeared, everyone I knew had died, I had no connection to anyone, and thus I decided to live alone from that moment on, cherishing the memories until I had the guts to face my kin.

and just like that, another 200 years went by in a flash. on that day, I wanted to take a refreshing bath, and my new life began.