DRAGON
The air in his lungs was forced out as the dragon effortlessly pinned him to the ground. The blow wasn’t lethal, but his right shoulder had hit a rock on the ground and he was in a lot of pain. A drop of sweat slid from his forehead and down his temple as he continued his pointless struggles against the overwhelming strength of the huge dragon. He swung his arms around as much as the confined space under the dragon’s claw allowed, trying at once to reach the sword he’d lost when he hit the ground and fight his way out of the dragon’s grip.
“Release me you stupid dragon!” the man yelled, not expecting any response as the dragon had not spoken a single word during their short fight, nor during the slaughter of his comrades. For a second it seemed to him as if the dragon understood him. Had the dragon just smirked? Seemingly content with the situation it lay down, still holding the man pinned to the damp ground of the forest – it had rained when he’d arrived. “Release me!” he continued, “Release me! Release me! LET ME GO!” he started crying now. He kept on yelling, and before long he started cursing the dragon. This went on till his voice was all gone and his body worn out. Soon after he fell asleep.
When he awoke the sun had disappeared. He had no way of telling what time it was, but he guessed that it was past midnight. Above him the stars shone brightly and the full moon provided enough light for him to see. Around him the sounds of the forest filled the cool night. Just as naturally as he would inhale when in need of oxygen he sat up as he awoke. Only then did he realize that he was no longer trapped underneath the dragon’s claw, though the dragon was still there, lying just a few steps away. It must have removed its hand in its sleep he though, and now it was his time to smirk. Stupid dragon!
He chose his steps carefully to avoid stepping on something that would wake up the dragon. He looked around for his sword and found that the dragon was almost lying on top of it. Thank heavens it’s not near its head! He thought. He snuck alongside the dragon and closed in on its hind legs. If the dragon was going to wake up the least he could hope for was to wield his sword once more, despite its uselessness during their last fight. He picked up his sword and sheathed it and continued his retreat.
He had taken a few more steps when he turned his head to look at the dragon. It’s still sleeping... good. Just you wait you monster! I’ll return shortly with the royal army. That’ll teach you a...
A look of utter terror and disbelief formed quickly on his paling face as he looked down on his waist. At first his optimistic part of his brain thought that he had acquired an exotic looking belt. The still working part of his sane and logic part of his brain quickly took over and told him that the dragon had wrapped its tail around his waist, piercing his skin with several of the spikes that ran along the dragon’s back and tail.
“Ow, that hurt” he muttered as he unsheathed his sword, slowed by his weakened body and blood loss. As he was about to strike the dragon’s tail it swung him high above ground and then lowered him towards its open mouth. The man wanted to strike again, but he had lost his sword once more. He resumed crying as he got closer to his death, but just as he was about to enter the dragon’s mouth it closed it and smirked again.
“Have you had enough?” The dragon said. It didn’t sound angry at all, just annoyed and somewhat sadistic. Its voice was very dark and it growled as it spoke. “RELEASE ME” the man yelled and hit the dragon’s head as hard as he could. “How sweet of you” it said in a sarcastic tone as it dropped the man to the ground. He hit the ground feet first and the unmistakable loud crack that followed filled the dragon with glee and the man with pain. The next part of his body to receive a hit was his right shoulder as it hit the exact same rock as when he’d been pinned to the ground, this time fracturing it.
“STOP! STOP! STOOooop... please stop” he cried, vision blurred from his tears and sweat running down his face. His body slowly began to shake as his terror and pain overpowered his senses.
“Oh, stop crying you wimp, what did you expect when starting a fight with a dragon? Your wounds aren’t going to kill you so you can stop crying or else I’ll just get rid of you one body part at a time.” This wasn’t a comfort at all to the man but nevertheless he stopped crying. “Good, now do you mind telling me why you fools were trying to kill me? It’s not like a five to one fight is fair but your silly attempt just looked like some sort of pathetic suicide mission to me. You weren’t even wearing armour!”
The man looked at the dragon trying to figure out if he was dreaming or not. “What are you talking about?! You’re a dragon, idiot, what did you think we were doing? And what are you doing?! GET IT OVER WITH! KILL ME YOU MORON or I’ll find a way to kill you!” By now he was waving his left arm angrily and pointing at the dragon as he reached the end of his sentence.
“Stop that!” the dragon said as it pinned the man to the ground yet again, crushing his left arm. “I won’t kill you just yet – you are so much more fun torturing.”
“Torture?! You can’t be serious! I won’t allow it!” he said as he began thrashing his head up and down. Not happy with this the dragon increased the pressure on the man, forcing him to exhale. “Stop that, or I’ll bite your legs off. Then you can bleed to death”. The man looked at the dragon with eyes wide open.
“Fine, do that! I’ll die anyway” he said and continued banging his head on the ground.
“Right you are, but not just yet. I’m saving that special moment for later” it said and picked the man up and positioned him in front of its face. “Please stop being so contrary” it said and smirked once more. “If you behave I’ll kill you fast when I’m done with you, but if you keep acting like that I’ll kill you slowly. I hear than being burnt is quite unpleasant.”
“I DON’T CARE! EITHER RELEASE ME OR KILL ME NOW!”
“Don’t shout like that”
“I’LL SHOUT IF I WAN” his shouting was quickly deafened by a tremendous roar. The shocked man stared into the gaping maw of the huge dragon, and he could see himself entering it in a minute.
“Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry...” he repeated. He had closed his eyes and feared what was to come.
“Much better” the dragon said and resumed smiling at his little toy. “I’m amazed that you can still shout that loud; you almost passed out a moment ago.
”sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry...” the dragon made a sound that resembled a sigh.
“Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry...”
“You can stop that now”.
“Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry...”
“stop it!”
“Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry...”
“Enough!” the dragon said angrily as it once again pinned the man to the ground, effectively putting an end to the monotonous excuse. The dragon lifted its claws from the man and lowered its other claw to rest on his chest and head, making sure not to kill him. “You were warned” it growled and lowered its head to his legs and clamped around his left leg.
“NO!” the man shouted when he felt the pressure on his leg, but it didn’t prevent the dragon from tearing it off. “AAAARGHITHURTSITHURTSSTOPITSTOOOP!!” he cried as he tried to kick the dragon with his remaining leg. The dragon let go of the man as it swallowed his leg as if it was nothing special. When the man saw this he stopped yelling for a second. “MY LEG!”
Not wanting the man to die just yet, the dragon found a large rock a few metres away and starting blowing fire on it while its tail grabbed the man around his waist again. “Relax now, it’ll only take a few seconds” it said after a while. The rock glowed from the heat and the man was about to pass out from the blood loss. Once more grabbing the man in its claws it lowered the rest of the bloody leg onto the glowing rock. The sweet smell of burnt human flesh filled their nostrils. The putrid smell was too much for the man, and after a few seconds he vomited. “Okay, that was my mistake. Sorry about that” the dragon said, but the man had already passed out. “Can’t you even stay awake? It’s not nearly as fun to hurt you when you aren’t aware of it”. The dragon put the man down gently and got ready for the wait; it wasn’t in any hurry.
When the man woke up it was morning and the bird were singing in the trees. He felt groggy, he had a terrible headache, his whole body was sore and his left knee was itching. He tried to sit up, but his body refused to cooperate.
“I see that you’re awake, good”. He immediately recognized the low, growling voice. He closed his eyes and prepared for the dragon’s next act of cruelty. “I was almost sure you would die.”
“Would you just... finish whatever it is that you’re doing? I’m sorry about causing you any trouble, but will you just please stop torturing me?” the man spoke calmly and started to cry as he did so.
“What’s wrong all of a sudden? Don’t you like being here? Don’t forget that it was you who confronted me.” As the dragon spoke those words the man couldn’t quite figure out whether the dragon was serious or if he was being sarcastic in his own twisted way.
“No, to be honest I don’t like having a crushed arm, a broken shoulder and foot, a gnawed-off leg and about half a dozen wounds around my waist. I guess it’s just me being silly and wimpy, but for a second I said to myself: ‘everybody would hate being in my position’” Despite his situation he remained calm.
“Oh stop pitying yourself like that!” the dragon said angrily and picked the man up. Its claw was big enough to almost cover his entire body, leaving only his foot and his head sticking out. “I don’t regret anything”.
“Of course not! Why would anyone regret being a sadistic and lonely dragon that nobody loves? I absolutely ENVY you!”
“Oh shut up will you? Despite our difference we have something in common” the man looked confused. “We will both die lonely”
“Very funny, I’m terrified now. I’m not alone, don’t you see my friends? I just thought you might have since you killed them all. Why is it that you haven’t killed me yet?”
“Because you bring joy to my life, as you said I’m sadistic. Speaking of which, I believe I said both legs and not just the left one.”
“DO NOT BITE ME AGAIN!”
“I could tear it off instead, but trust me! That will hurt even more”. The dragon released the man’s leg and raised him above its head. “I don’t remember when I last had this much fun” the dragon said nonchalantly as it closed its jaws around the man’s remaining leg.
“STOP THAT! STOP!!!”
The dragon smiled to itself as its teeth tore through the flesh and broke the bone in his leg.
“AAAAAAMYLEGMYLEGMYLEGYOUIDIOTTHATHURTS!”
“I’m done now, you can rest in peace”
“Peace? Do you call this peace?” the man said. His forehead was soaked in sweat and his face was losing its colour once more. This time the dragon didn’t swallow, but spat the leg out.
“Yes, peace” it said and put him down on the ground.
“I’m not at peace....... this is living hell.”
“Then think of it as leaving hell.”
“I am.... I.... I feel funny”
“I was hoping you would complain a little before you died.”
“No no, why would I complain. I feel ha... hap... hap”
Before he could finish the word the dragon had pieced his heart with one of its claws.
“I never liked happy endings”
