Hellfire - A Dragon's Lifestory (Prologue)

Chap. 05 - "Something Cute and Something Poisonous"

The cave was cold, damp, and had little light. Even so, it journeyed on. There was a storm. It was looking for cover. And so, it went in a cave. It waited for the storm to pass, and accidentally drifted off to sleep. When it opened its eyes, the cave entrance was nowhere to be found. It walked for hours and hours on end but was still unable to find its way through the cave. It was lost. Just as it was about to burst into tears, something broke through the cave walls.

It hid itself in between two rocks. It couldn't believe what it saw if it didn't see it with its own eyes. A humongous crocodile, almost as big as the cave hall itself, was fighting against another seemingly large spider. But, the crocodile was way bigger than it. There are a few spiderwebs stuck on the crocodile's scales.

The spider shot a string of web up to the ceiling and pulled itself up. The crocodile opened its large mouth and bit the web. The spider fell back down. The crocodile put its front leg right on top of the spider, immobilizing it. It can no longer escape.

The spider starts flailing in a panic and tries to bite at the the crocodile's toes, but its fangs couldn't penetrate through its tough scales. The crocodile spoke.

Croc: "Any last words?"

The spider continues to bite at the crocodile's finger as if it didn't hear what it said. The crocodile looks at the spider with pity.

Croc: "You don't... understand me at all, do you? I feel sorry for you."

And, without effort, the crocodile pushes its leg deep down the ground, crushing the spider altogether. Then, the crocodile grabbed the spider's corpse and lifted it up.

Croc: "You're too small to be considered food in boss's standards."

The crocodile crunched the spider with one bite and swallowed it whole. It then turned around and crawled back the hole it came from.

Frightened beyond belief, the small tiny thing went out of its hiding place and tried to run away, but it tripped and fell. The chain that was wrapped around its neck makes a clanging sound and the crocodile hears it. The crocodile turns around again and comes back.

The small tiny thing was very scared and started dragging its body away from the crocodile as fast as possible. It fell down a hole. A viper serpent appears in front of it. It tried to get up but the viper serpent sunk its fangs on its back and injected poison in it. It collapsed on the ground.

A large claw suddenly broke through the ground, grabbed the serpent, and squished it in an instant. That claw was from the crocodile. The crocodile then picked it up, put it in its mouth, and hurriedly crawls away.  It was weakened, and it couldn't move its body much.

It was inside the crocodile's mouth. It felt the crocodile breathe in and out as air goes back and forth inside and outside its mouth at a rapid pace. It realized that the crocodile was in a hurry. But what was it hurrying for?

"Whoa, Croc. What's the rush?"

The crocodile then stopped all of a sudden and picked up it with its claw again from its mouth.

Croc: "Boss. Please. Save it."

It was offered in front of a small black lizard with red eyes.

Mander: "Hey, isn't that a cockatrice? It looks pale."

Croc: "Poisoned. But, Boss can save him. Right?"

"............... I can't."

Croc: "...! What?"

"I can't save it......"