In the dark dungeon, the dragon was an opportunity for the jailers to get rid of the children and clean the dungeons again with a flame.
I had 4 children in the same room with me. I was sleeping or trying to pretend to calm them down, but I was nervous.
I heard screaming at the entrance, it was Erza and Pilate who wanted to talk to me but it was forbidden.
I felt a presence close to me, powerful but I only saw children.
We were tight there.
I understood that they wanted to eliminate me and so did they. But they didn't know.
Then I think, and look everywhere.
Escape from here is easy, but powers and unicorns are dangers. I should kill them...
A massacre????? A dangerous dragon is a priority...
A free but not dangerous dragon is an accessory.....
They have a war on their hands...
Running away, a plan, fast....If they speed up their planning...
The guard will be strengthened if I'm supposed to know....
I opened my eyes and turned my head towards the children:
"I'm Ivan, not Ténébrion, I don't eat human flesh and I'm 7 years old like you...
You understood that by putting you here, they wanted to execute you by being eaten by me... You died for the kingdom..."
Crying,
Grief,
Cries,
What's your name?
Sylvie : Princess Sylvie......
Wil : Prince Will They killed my father to take power! Bastard! Ivan, help me to take back my kingdom.
Axula : I'm half a human being....
Robin... I want mommy!"
I said :"Why are you here?"
Sylvie, Will: "To take Dad's place!"
Axula: "Witchcraft..."
Robin: "I stole a loaf of bread, I was hungry and a black guard grabbed me and threw me here, I wasn't even tried."
Axula: "Neither do I..."
Me: "We're going to have to run away together. And we're going to go through the sewers! Discreetly!
Axula: "Aren't you going to take us hostage?"
Me: "Do you think I'm going to hide behind a child? I have my pride."
Axula:" What if we wave to the unicorns? They would help us!"
I said, "Stop it! I'm a black dragon, I'm supposed to be mean and vicious yet I'm not, I've never killed anyone. So just because a unicorn is white doesn't mean they're nice. It doesn't mean anything...... And they know you're here! You could die next to them, they don't care! Yes, if you were a little goblin or a perverse old gnome, they would free you but human children.... They disgust me.
They attacked me without warning behind my back the other day. They said I was camouflaged in green to catch the children and eat them, but we were just playing hide and seek!
With a big body like that, you had to have a little something extra to hide yourself..... I was having such a good time that I didn't see it coming. I could have killed her, I have terrible powers but they scare me too and that's unfair. All I would have to do is open my mouth and everyone upstairs would be dead, burned, but I lost my mom and my godmother and I'm in a lot of pain.
So if I had to kill, I'd be sick to think of those who loved my victims.
I have a secret and you have to keep it, okay? Otherwise, we'll never be able to escape again if they find him. You'll come live with me? Okay?
I will protect you!"
The children stroked me and the fear went away.
They regained courage as well.
In the last round of guards, I woke up from sleep and they both collapsed.
I spread the bars for the children and told them: shh, no noise.
Axula almost screamed and I turned around: shhhh Axula! we're all going together, I won't let you rot here!
She calmed down.
"Axula, look a little later at clothes for a child your age, for a boy too!"
???? She was surprised: "Is there an extra child?"
I said, "Yes! He'll be here..."
While the children dragged the 2 guards and Axula was looking for pants, a belt and a white sweater, I visualized myself as if I was on the plane following Merlin's instructions.
An amber glow surrounded me and when the light disappeared, a 7-year-old child was in my place.
I was naked but whole.
I was exactly a human being. I lost my balance but it took me a few moments to get used to the feeling of being human again.
The children came back to my dungeon but it was just me:
"And Ivan??? where is he? And who are you? Who are you? Where are you from?"
"I'm Ivan........The clothes, quickly... There are girls..."
The children, perplexed, handed me the clothes that I put on without asking for my rest and they went to a heavy grid on the ground.
"It's the water drain, we're going to run away this way!"
"But you're a child!!!!! Now what are you going to do?"
"I look like it, but I'm still a dragon!"
And, with both my hands, I lifted the grid, which must have weighed 1 ton.
"Come on, jump! Then it was my turn and we found ourselves in a flooded gallery that joined the moat of the prison.
Another gate was reached to prevent any help in the invasion and I blew it up without any problems and without noise.
We swam in the moat, staying out of sight, and reached the nearest bushes.
Axula: "Thank you for letting us escape, and you're going to fly away????"
"No, are you crazy?????? Unicorns will kill us or make us spotted and I don't want to have a ballista in my stomach.
We'll walk along the vegetation and sewers and then we'll leave the city through the sewers.
We walked along the walls like orphans and avoided the guards. The alert had not yet been issued and we had to take advantage of the advance to the maximum.
we went down the stairs and the doors could not resist my strength and we arrived in the sewers.
The stench was untenable and a river of excrement gave me the upper hand, but that was the price of freedom.
So I rushed under the ramparts to join the sewer evacuation and a big seat grid was there with huge bars. They resisted so I froze it and they gave in like frigolite.
We rushed outside and rushed towards the nearby woods.
Fresh air, finally, freedom!
It was a race against time!
"Hold all your hands, I'll pull you out, stand up" I took Robin, the smallest on my shoulders and pulled Sylvie and Axula by the hand. Will was following!
We ran and walked as far as we could in the river but the stones hurt the children's feet.
It was for the smell for the dogs.
The tension in my body was felt and I felt that I was going to transform myself again. I should train more often to stay human for longer. But it's okay.
The undergrowth became forests and the paths were avoided. There was a hill. Perfect! Behind the hill, I can fly without anyone seeing me.
We climbed and when we reached the top, I started crawling towards the other side. I couldn't be seen! Oh, yes, the camouflage!!!!!
I turned back into a dragon but my scales were green, brown and light green and spikes of yellow, a bit like the coloring of the para commandos.
In the distance we heard the bells and trumpets signaling our escape, but we were not yet out of danger.
I flatten and tell the kids, get on my back and stick! We're certainly going to be chased.
I am a storm dragon and I will take refuge in the dark clouds but it is dangerous for you so hang on well with everything you can!
I began to glide out of sight of the castle so as not to be spotted and I rushed towards the great forest and the mountains on the horizon.
The 4 children looked like the 4 Aymon sons on my back.
I launched shield and speed.
I concentrated all my strength on flying as far as possible.
We met the drape and the black mist and we couldn't see anything anymore, but I felt that they were hanging on desperately.
Then I went down again and saw small mountains with streams and lots of small caves and trees.
"We're going to hide here tonight but we're not making fire! We're still too close, I can feel it, my instincts are screaming at me!"
The children were shaking from the cold and soaking wet.
They were going to get sick, that's for sure!
Then they went to a small cave and I said to them: "Come under my wings, I don't smell very good, but at least you'll be warm!"
And I started hatching the little ones. The heat released allowed them to dry themselves and in the middle of the night, illuminated by the moon, I saw Axula looking at me from the outside, protecting the 3 children.
"Axula?"
But axula had changed in appearance.
It was a Unicorn!
We looked at each other with suspicion and mistrust.
It was a young unicorn but under the full moon, it was almost invincible.
His horn could absorb all my mana, even my lightning, fire and ice.
"I really don't trust anyone anymore! My friend King Uther told me to run away from humans, not to interact, nothing more, nothing more... But you are everywhere in all worlds. I understand the dragons' rage now! Good and evil have no meaning", I said, disappointed!
Axula knelt down: "Forgive Ivan! You were misjudged!
I had to watch you and keep you so you wouldn't escape, but you chose the path my sisters lost! They no longer know how to listen to their hearts and their vision of good and evil is confused with order and law!"
Me: "So you're going to sell me? Calling the others to help to kill me? I will defend myself this time, I am scalded, tired and I have lost all confidence. I want to get out of here! Leave me alone!"
Axula: "But you could be a hero!"
Me: "Wait, did you see me???? I'm 7 years old..." The real me is the child who ran away...
Axula wanted to enter the cave to get close to me but I growl
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Stay away!
The children are waking up!
"Oh, a Unicorn" Then, terrified:
"A UNICORN, IVAN TO HELP!"
Axula started crying...
The children stayed behind me, scared.
Me: "I'm not afraid of Unicorns! And I know how to eliminate them all! Besides, in my world, there wasn't a single one left and the last fantastic creature was me!"
Axula: "Kill me then!" and she knelt on her four legs and stretched her neck.
Me: "Shit! But you scare me and the kids! How do I know you're not going to betray us? You already lied to me when you took you with you and slipped among the children. I even covered you!"
Axula: "Sorry"
I started crying, I wanted to take her back under my wing but I was hurt in my head, bitter.
I was becoming like Ténébrion...
I started shaking my head and shouted, "No, get out of my head! I'm Ivan!"
Axula:"????????"
GROOAAAAR!
Me: "AXULA, YOU WANT TRUTH???? Well, I'll tell you.
Ténébrion has disappeared and you will NEVER get it! NEVER! That's impossible.
Only a God could, and only a God could!"
Axula:???
Me: "Do you want proof? You're looking at it right now.
TENEBRION????? HE'S IN FRONT OF YOU! THE DUKE OF HELL!"
And I put my head against the unicorn's head
"And what do you think about that?" I said, angry.
The unicorn closed her eyes, waiting for the final blow.
She got a lick from me!
"I am Ivan, my soul has been exchanged with the body of Ténébrion. When I opened my eyes like a dragon, I had a sword in my heart. King Uther had defeated the dragon and he immediately saw that I was someone else in the body and he spared me and we became friends. His people poisoned him because of me out of fear. Ténébrion got back in touch with me and he's about fifty years old now and they've turned back into a dragon but he lived like a human without making a mess.
In the world I come from, it's no laughing matter with the law and we have 1300 years of technological advances. If you even returned to Earth, you'd be 1300 years ahead of schedule. Even the Gods would have forgotten it. The only thing that binds me to him is his memory of blood. When I have a technical problem, if he has studied it, I can understand here. For example if I had to fight against magical creatures stronger than myself, I would make a non magical weapon.
For example, my breath wouldn't hurt you, okay?
But look now:
I drool a little in a dirt hole and take a flame on a twig:
"Imagine if I put my saliva in a terracotta bottle with a cloth.
I turn it on and throw it at a unicorn."
I put the flame in contact with my saliva and FWIISH, it ignites very hard.
"See, there's no mana but a chemical reaction."
Now you see the power of the flame?
"Imagine, if I put sharp stones or nails in it and close or make a mechanism that creates a spark under impact, like 2 flint stones with a spring: BOOM and lots of small deep holes where the blood comes from"
Axula: "But it's monstrous!"
I: "These are the weapons of my time. They are so powerful that only one bomb has razed a huge city to the ground. One of the empires created an imperial TSAR bomb that could destroy ALL of Kanda-ar in 8 minutes, creating a sun that crashes to the ground. The molten rock and the vaporized people... All dead within a 50 mile radius!"
Axula: "Are you going to build such horrors?"
Me: "No, but I will build engines to save myself faster, fly higher and further. And especially to play... then smoke to hide and pick the noses of pursuers."
Axula: "And if not, as a dragon, what would you like to do for a living?"??
Me:" Be cuddled by one or two nice dragons, swim at the beach, steal, hunt, eat and play together. I dream of being hatched and sharing a good meal and especially being able to take a nap in the sun without having the terror of being attacked... To have someone to go home to and..."
Axula had fallen asleep against me and I covered her with my wings, the other 3 between us 2.
A fire and food would be ideal but I had an extra friend but I had to take care of little Robin.
In the morning, I let them sleep and I went to pick some herbs and fruits for Axula but there were not many so I picked up young shoots of green fir trees and if they didn't have a meal, they could chew them, it gave them strength and vitamins. A few forest trefoils, a little lemony, a sugar cane root that I saw by chance.
We leave before sunrise, my night vision being perfect. I wanted to have as much distance as possible between us and the capital and we went deeper and deeper into the green sea and I saw the black rocks, a real fortress of stones and precipices
I wanted to have as much distance as possible between us and the capital and we went deeper and deeper into the green sea and I saw the black rocks, a real fortress of stones and precipices
It was exactly what I was looking for: striated mountain lines, without a plateau, without paths to cross directly and by strata.
The hell of these mountains was that when one passed one, directly another layer presented itself, which meant going down to the other side to go up again.
Valleys with lakes and forts were scattered in areas but unless you were a bird, you couldn't live there.
"Axula, you have a choice! Are you going to find the other unicorns or are you coming with us?"
She hesitated, then finally decided to stay with us.
And then what better way to look after the other children than with a unicorn, but Axula was always a Unicorn child.
I was flying between the rocky peaks and there I found a huge valley between the mountains, a real inland sea of lakes, forests and places to hide, and above all, no humans.
We're going to settle here for a while, until we can reorganize and be forgotten a little bit.
So I found a cave not too humid, facing south, whose rocks were warming up and cutting off the cold a little at night.
Everyone was going to participate!