“Will you please stop screaming?” Oculus pleaded.

It had been two whole minutes since Oculus spotted her from behind the boulder, and ever since then, she hadn’t quit screaming. She took a pause for a quick breather, but right after, began screaming again. Oculus and the dragon, Moerchknel, looked at each other, wondering how to calm her down.

“Hey, we aren’t going to hurt you or anything.” Oculus said, raising his hands to show he didn’t have a weapon. That didn’t work, as all it did was make her scream louder.

“What will get you to be quiet?” Oculus scratched his chin. Suddenly, a great idea came to mind, which doesn’t happen often. “If you keep screaming, Moerchknel will eat you.”

Moerchknel gave Oculus a disgusted look, but he held his finger to his lips. As he thought, she finally closed her mouth, shutting her up after such a long time of screaming. Oculus patted himself on his back, but when he opened his eyes, tears fell from the girl’s eyes. Her body trembled as she was genuinely terrified of that threat.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it. I just needed to talk to you.” Oculus apologized, bowing his head to her.

The girl sniffled and wiped the tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn’t want to appear weak and helpless, but her body just wouldn’t listen to her.

“What is it you want from me?” The girl asked, her voice carrying such depression and desperation to live. “I’ll do anything. Just let me go home.”

Oculus raised his head and tried to look as apologetic as possible to come off as not a threat. If he was going to figure what was going on, he shouldn’t scare her like that again.

“What’s your name?” Oculus asked.

The girl looked hesitant for a second, but with one look at the dragon, she buckled and gave in.

“My name’s Zaundra Oing.”

She waited for any reaction from Oculus, but all he did was stand there, staring at her. Anxiety and nervousness wormed into her. She chewed at her own lip, hoping that it’d somehow make her calm down.

However, instead of acting shocked, or at the very least disgusted, he picked at his nose. Zaundra, taken aback by his lack of reaction, didn’t understand how to react herself.

“Next question.” Oculus brought their conversation back on track. “Why were you in their box?”

Zaundra looked at him as if he were the dumbest man in the world. How could anyone look at an obvious wooden cage and just call it a box? Still, she answered his question anyway.

“My father is someone who has made some very powerful enemies. Those enemies payed a high price to take me away from father.” This time, it was her turn to bow to Oculus. She got on her knees and lowered her head, putting herself in as vulnerable a position as possible. “Please, can you just let me go? I need to get home.”

The cave turned silent. Despite the overwhelming heat coming from the dragon’s nostrils, it felt colder than even the chillest of autumn wind. She waited for their answers. She didn’t want to risk provoking a dragon by leaving without its express permission, less she wanted to be covered by the heat of its breath.

Young one. You have gone through a lot, haven’t you?

Zaundra opened her eyes in absolute shock. She looked all around the cave, trying to find the source of the voice that had just spoken. It definitely sounded nothing like Oculus. The voice she heard was a lot deeper and sounded as if they were one step until falling into an unmarked grave.

You have not misheard me, young one. Look up.

Zaundra did as the voice commanded, and she turned her gaze to look straight above her. The world around her shook as the preconceived notions of what she deemed to reality to be, shattered around her. The source of the voice came from the dragon staring right at her.

I see you have finally realized.

Zaundra fell flat on her ass and crawled back until she touched a wall. There was no way a dragon was actually speaking to her, she thought. Now that she actually went through that sentence, she couldn’t believe a dragon was here at all. They were nothing but creatures told in children’s books. Why was one just relaxing in a cave of some random forest?

“What are you?” Zaundra asked.

What am I? Yes, you have not seen of my kind of scales in years passing, haven’t you? I am the dragon god, Moerchknel, the harbinger of fire and lightning.

“Yep, that’s Moerchknel alright.” Oculus said, tapping Moerchknel’s legs.

“Don’t you talk like your buddy buddy with a god!” Zaundra yelled.

“But I am.” Oculus muttered while Zaundra stood on shaking legs.

Not only was she meeting a dragon, but it’s also a god. The level of absurdity and out of nowhere punches of fiction implanting itself into reality only served to swerve her out of balance. She couldn’t let this phase her. She’s been taught to deal with situations worse than this before. As far as Zaundra’s concerned, finding a dragon god was nothing.

“So, how did you know there was a dragon god here?” Zaundra asked.

Oculus grinned while staring at the ceiling. He leaned back against Moerchknel’s leg and looked as if he were reminiscing about something from long ago.

“We met when I was a kid. I stumbled into his lair and we became friends after that.”

It’s funny you say that, because I distinctly remember you using my wings as your personal playground.

“Hey, you enjoyed it too.”

Dragon and human talking to each other as if they’ve known each other since birth. Either she’s dreaming and she’ll wake back up in that cage shortly, or this is actually reality and she’s just been blind most of her life. It’s most likely the latter, but she very much wished for it to be the former.

“I don’t understand it, though. How could we not know dragons exist?” Zaundra asked.

Moerchknel closed his eyes and lowered his head. Smoke puffed out of his nostrils, and he lay back down. That look he had almost made her want to pet him. Almost.

It doesn’t surprise me. Most of my race has been cleansed from the soil, and now they walk among the specters that plague Blathe Ring. For the longest time, I’ve believed that I was the last of my kind. That I was the last dragon.”

Moerchknel raised his head and looked toward the ceiling the same way Oculus did. However, instead of looking somewhere within their own mind, it seemed like they were staring at something else entirely. Almost as if there really was a phantom in the room, and only he could see it.

That was, until one day, I heard a voice. It sounded so familiar, yet so distant that I could hardly recognize it. But, I remember what it was they said. “There are more.” For the first time in my life filled with nothing but depressed thoughts of me being the last of my kind, a ray of hope shined on my rotting corpse. And I was reborn anew, with a new purpose. I need to heed the call of my brethren and find them.

But there is one thing holding me back.

Moerchknel unfolded his wings, and Zaundra’s eyes widened upon looking at them. They were completely torn apart, mangled, and busted. Scales, flesh, and meat hung by a single thread, only the thinnest of bone keeping them together. Those wings wouldn’t even be able to flap, much less fly.

During the event that left much of my kind buried, my wings acquired severe, unrepairable injuries. I can never fly again, so even if there is the slight chance that I’m not the last of my kind, I cannot leave to pick up the search.

“Yeah, and that’s why I’ve been asking for your power.” Oculus spoke up. “With your power, I can explore the world, and eventually, we can find more dragons.”

Smoke bellowed out of Moerchknel’s nose. Zaundra assumed that was him laughing, but she wasn’t exactly knowledgeable about dragon anatomy.

And as I’ve said, time and time again, the answer is no. You are not able to handle the power that I can give you. And even if you are able to handle it, the way to my home is full of danger and strife. You would not make it.”

“Well, how would you know?” Oculus pouted. “The only way we can know is if you lend me some power.”

Moerchknel growled, shutting all bargaining attempts then and there. Oculus sulked in his powerless self and slid to the ground, groaning. Zaundra couldn’t help but think he was over-exaggerating slightly. He already has enough strength to pull an entire carriage all the way to his village. What more power could someone want?

“Now that I found you, why don’t we go back to pop’s place?” Oculus said. He stood and brushed off his pants. “Now that we know those two guys aren’t good people, we should kick them out.”

Oculus approached Zaundra and grabbed her arm to drag her with him, but she refused to move. It’s like her entire body locked up as soon as he said they were going back.

“I’m not going.” Zaundra said. “I’m leaving. I can’t stay here any longer.”

Oculus gave her a confused look, but she refused to elaborate on anything she had just said.

“Why can’t you come back?” If she wasn’t going to explain, then he’d have to get it out of her.

“It’s practically morning now, so they’re both awake by now. They’ve probably already seen that I’ve escaped, so I can’t stay any longer.”

Oculus was about to ask why, but Moerchknel suddenly growled out of nowhere. He was starting toward the direction of the road that Liam and Harold came down from.

We have guests approaching your village.

Zaundra gritted her teeth. She felt bad for letting their wrath be released on the village, but she wanted to go home. Someone needed to take that wrath for her, and they have a giant so they might win against them.

“What’s going on?” Oculus asked

Zaundra turned to Oculus, a scared look written all over her face. Right away, he knew something wasn’t right. With Moerchknel behaving this way, that must mean there’s something happening in the village.

“I’ll be right back.” Oculus said. “You stay back here for now. I won’t be long.”

With that piece of warning, Oculus took off toward his village. Anxiety and desperation ate at him as he got closer and closer to his home.