Kingdoms of Ohm: The Lonely Dragon #1 ✓

To Slay A Dragon

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The first thing I noticed was the pain.

A throbbing sensation was ruthlessly pulsing in my skull. It robbed me of my ability to speak, let alone breathe in the taint scent of oxygen. It's grip on me was strong, it's pressure unyielding, and its taste on my tongue was foul, empty, and dull. I found myself splayed out here, crushed down by the weight of a thousand ancient rocks, and forced into submission. Fortunately, for my sake, Kantar spared me from the almost instant death.

I was quite thankful for that.

Still, as I writhed and groaned, trying desperately to move through it all, I knew most of my armor (and my body alone) were compromised. I was injured at most, weakened by fear, and, by all means, buried beneath a pile of death while chaos ensued outside.

And, for a trusted guard living beneath a benevolent king as mighty as Xikori, that alone was a terrible fate to bear.

Lukewarm blood began dribbling down my face from a undiscovered gash-line, blinding my left eye in a river of dark red. It was nauseating to smell, feel, and taste, but there wasn't much I could do about it now.

More terrible things were found as I examined myself. Those smooth bends of my scaly neck were found crooked and bent by force. The surfaces of my long neck had been scathed away. And, from below, a wave of fire pounded down upon my left shoulder blade — proof of a bone out of place.

A tingle of fear suddenly coursed up my spine, shrouding all my pains in a sea of concern. It's sizzle made me gasp, coming to a dark realization of what had yet to arrive. All that I could accept was that something terrible had happened. Something tried to kill me.

A Scorn.

A beastly creature from the Eastern mountains, ones who strut across the frozen wastelands and graveyards of Ohm like sticks in the snow. Six legs and four eyes, they were nothing short of hideous cannibals to the naked eyes who feasted on the dead, and the young. And, of course, with a triangle for a head and a sword for a rear, these 'bugs' were truly monsters without any context. Yes... that was the creature that tried to kill me...

That Scorn was still out there, for whatever reason seems unknown. The most obvious is an attack on the royals.

If that was the true case, then time was running out.

Stand up, Vaanku... I growled to myself, blinking back into reality. The royals... need you...

I gathered my footing, dragging my ragged claws to the front of my chest and shoved my hind legs back. Both wings, torn up by the burial, curled up against my flanks, leaving my back as the sole form of support for the rubble above.

Steady. You can do this...

I took in a heavy breath, swallowing up my fears, and pushed.

Instant anguish skyrocketed from my left shoulder, forcing out a frantic whimper from my trembling maw. My wings swung open into the rubble, spilling more rocks onto my body and slamming me back to the crimson earth. The ground writhed beneath me for a moment as I laid there, before settling from it all.

And everything returned back to its rightful beginning.

A pained growl seeped from my throat, a mere action to hold back the need to weep. As bad as I wished to beg for help, I knew that this was a challenge to manage on my own. I couldn't dare fall this easily to cowards. That thought alone made me retch with rage.

I refused to show my weakness to a pile of rocks!

Snarling through my fangs, I arched my back and rammed into the ceiling once more. The same excruciating fire lanced up my arm, sending me on a roller coaster of emotion. Crying out to the stars, I pushed even harder, feeling my bones creak and groan from within, and tasted the sour blood leaking down my sapphire skin.