Tisis

The nature of nature (N)

It's over.
It's all finally over.
The spirit of Ede has found us and sent the harbinger of destruction to finish the work his children have begun.

The complete eradication of the children of Garkla, who dared to set foot on his soil. Who dared to stand in the way of the destruction his children had brought upon themselves.

He has come to punish me for the mercy my forefathers felt deep in my hearts. For these foolish feelings my heart if forcing upon me.

"Hey! You! Ugly!" I hear Sirus shout all of a sudden and it breaks me out of my spiral of shock, awe and resignation.

Sirus has jumped down the ledge, his spear in hand and...actually taunts that thing?! I knew he was stupid, but I didn't know that he was suicidal!

But still, it appears to be working.
The creature begins turning its head away from me and my scent and slowly turns it towards Sirus, who is jumping, waving and shouting like a madman.

But what could he possibly be planning?
He could easily have escaped while the creature was distracted by me, just like Sera did...yet he didn't.
He must be an even greater fool than I ever thought him to be.

The creature looks at Sirus with a sense of curiosity in its eyes and then opens its maw and tries to catch Sirus, but it's too slow.

Sirus evades with a quick roll, jumps to his feet and...actually thrusts his spear into the nostril of the creature!
The creature pulls back its snout quickly, more irritated than hurt apparently, but the earth shattering roar it unleashes towards the skies clearly conveys one message: It's pissed and Sirus is the reason.

It looks back down and opens its mouth again.
A sizzling noise emerges from its open maw and only about a second later, the creature spews fire in Sirus direction and if not for the rock he ducked behind, he would have been grilled.

"Nym! Nym, a little help here would be nice!" he suddenly shouts out to me.
Only now I realize that I had remained sitting the entire time while Sirus was dancing with the creature the humans of old probably would have called a 'dragon', delivering completely pointless blows against whatever vulnerability he could find in the frenzy of the fight.

I take a deep breath, pondering possible escape routes, as a tiny voice from the back of my consciousness suddenly says, "What do you think you are doing, Nympromedonalas? Is this the woman you have become? A coward? The girl I knew would have found a way past those scales. Size wouldn't have intimidate her at all. The girl I remember just would have kicked anyone who tried to stop her in her tracks in her groin. Where did that girl go?"

It was my mother's voice and tears start running down my cheek.
That girl died a long time ago though. She died in that fire that took my mother away from me...and only left behind an empty vessel, soon to be filled with anger, fear and hatred.

"That is simply not true, my dear...that girl is still there. That man...he could have fled. He could have left you behind. But he did not. Why do you think that is?"

Clearly, because he is a damn fool...far too stupid to be afraid.

"No, my dearest...because you are important to him. And I truly believe, that he too is afraid. However he seems to be even more afraid of losing you than he is afraid of dying today. Thus he fights. As a man should."

But...what can I even do?

"You can start thinking, my dear. Do not let fear cloud your judgment. Not again. Your mind and your tongue are your sharpest and most powerful tools. They always have been. So put them to use! Save him! Find a way to slay the dragon!"