A Dragon's Treasure

Chapter 3 - Broken Mirror

"Certainly, I'm sure you would make a very interesting meal."

Roman scowled at that, falling silent. He was reminded of how large Janus was when he was in his full dragon form, and how powerless he would be if he actually were to be eaten. He rubbed the mark on his arm.

"Dad, is that you?" A voice called from the room they were walking towards.

Dad? Did the dragon have a son? Did that mean there were two dragons? Roman's breath caught in his throat. What did that mean for humanity? Would the dragon grow up and take their revenge? He could feel his hand itching to grab his sword for protection but it wasn't a second dragon he saw. Instead, he saw a mirror, or not quite a mirror but rather a reflection of himself. The man stood the same height as him, hair shorter and much more unkempt. They shared the same eyes, a similar smile, but it was just slightly sideways. This man looked like chaos flowed through his veins, and Roman knew he held himself as the picture of propriety... most of the time. There was only one explanation for the man with sharper teeth and eyes that burned with fire.

"DEMON!" Roman shouted, jumping back, "The lot of you." They were going to replace him and take over the kingdom. That was why the dragon had agreed so easily to the deal.

"Excuse you, at least I'm not a pricy prince. J-Dad, who the hell is this and why does he look like me?"

"I'm assuming your brother. He walked in yesterday asking for a deal."

"Psh, no, I can't be related to something so..." Remus made a motion at all of Roman who responded with a noise of offense and anger.

"Well, at least I don't look like a wild animal. Besides, I don't have a brother! I am an only child."

Janus sighed, "Can you really look at the two of you and not see the resemblance?"

"This is a trick of some kind!" Roman shouted, fear running through his throat. The man in front of him looked to be about the same age as him, looked to be his twin, but he couldn't have a twin. Twins were evil. It had to be a demon, or a changeling, or something, anything else. He wasn't a twin. Twins were bad luck, twins brought doom to their people. Roman buried his panic under anger.

The yelling between the two of them only increased and Janus just sighed, rubbing his eyes as he left the room. Neither of them noticed him leaving. Neither of them noticed Roman's rapid breathing. In fact, the only thing Roman noticed was the burning in his wrist every time he so much as created a fist.

"Kiddo, take a deep breath."

Suddenly the only other sound in the room was the rush of blood in his ears, he could feel the beat of his own heart. Two hands were covering his ears and there was a soft face in front of him.

He wasn't breathing, was he?

Roman tried taking in a breath, only to stutter and breathe out too quickly.

"That's a good try, take another breath in, slowly, slowly, there you go, I'm so proud."

Roman hiccuped at the praise, he wasn't sure when he had started crying.

"You are doing so good, try again for me." The voice whispered, gently squeezing Roman's shoulder in a way that was grounding and comforting.

It continued like this for another 10 minutes or so before Roman had finally calmed down. The dragon and the doppelganger were gone and he stood by a man who looked at him with soft, kind eyes.

"There you are kiddo, how are you doing?"

"I... I'm not a kid..." he was too tired to have much fight left in him. "And... I'm exhausted."

"Yeah, panic will do that. How about we go sit down and get a bit of food in you."

Roman didn't have the energy to fight anymore as he was led to a table, eyes already trying to slide closed. "So, Janni brought you into the hoard, that must be a lot."

"I had to save my people, this was the only way, but now that I know he has a construct to replace me, what will happen to my people."

"Who? Remus? Oh kiddo, he doesn't want to take over your kingdom, I promise. Remus has about as much interest in politics as the trees have in people."

"Then why does he look like me?"

"Well, Janni has been raising Remus since he was a baby, he was abandoned in the forest. I don't know what that means, but I do have a few ideas. However, I think there is a more important question."

Roman looked up at him, frowning in confusion at the smiling man.

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it does."

But the look in the other man's eyes said that it didn't. "If he is your twin, then theoretically that would make him a bad omen, right? Except, that's super vague, and you are already in a place you don't want to be in, so it's not likely to get worse; it might, but it's not likely. If he is a changeling or a demon, he can't pass for you, the two of you might look the same but you are so different, I'm sure even you could see it. So, what's really the worst that could happen?"

"I... I don't want to put my people in danger."

"I can tell, you care about all of them deeply, and that's super admirable." He brought over an omelet and put it in front of Roman. "Why don't you keep an eye on Remus? That way you can keep him from doing anything bad?"

"What if he tries to leave?"

"You can find me. I'm not always in the cave, but I'll stick around until you feel safer."

Roman relaxed a little, looking down at his food.

"Ah, I almost forgot, what is your name?"

"Patton, it's a pleasure to meet you."