Flame Bringer

The cry was the most irritating, grating sound I had ever heard, and that included the sounds of screaming knights I had devoured over the centuries.

Someone would come for it, right? Someone would shut it up? Or had I died and been relegated to purgatory and this child's incessant screaming was my punishment for my crimes?

I tried to bury my head under my legs, my claws grating against my indestructible skin as I tried to wait out the horrid braying. What even was it? Was it human or could it be a creature of some sort? I had heard of nymphs moving westward. If a tribe had decided to camp in my forest, I would be very cross indeed.

Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. The crying had been going on since sunrise and it looked like it was nearly midday. If no other creature would make this crying stop, then I would have to do it myself.

I rose my long neck and stretched my limbs, crawling out of my cave and into the daylight, into the thick, dense forest that surrounded my cave. I would have my peace and quiet. I had strived for centuries to ensure no human or beast would set foot in my forest. After my time in the bloody FirstWar where I witnessed my entire species completely eradicated, I deserved this. As the last Dragon in Talahm, I deserved solitude.

The trees shook with my every step, sending waves through the earth. I loved when they did that, when the earth trembled under my power. This was how I had driven out the hordes of trolls and river goblins a hundred years ago. How I had destroyed the armies of Draugr that had awoken and had destroyed over half the forest, bent on destroying everything in their path. I had fought tooth and nail for this forest and I would do it again until there was no breath left in my body and my fire had turned to ash.

The crying was easy to track: it was the only sound in the forest aside from the rush of the waterfall. How I loved my waterfall. This creature would get no water from my waterfall.

It took me mere minutes to find the child, but when I did, I stopped in my tracks.

It was a naked human infant, tied to three stakes under a crosshatched rope net. Next to it was a rock with a single Dragon rune on it.

"Demon."

Funny little humans. Just when I count them out they surprise me by going and using the ancient language of my brethren.

I approached the child delicately, sniffing around its tiny body. I recoiled when I inhaled the stench around its heart: iron and fire. The humans were right. This child truly was a demon.

"Foul beast," I muttered through a growl. The child then stopped crying so suddenly that it almost hurt my ears to suddenly have silence. Sweet, blessed silence.

The child turned to me, watching with precise, icy blue eyes. It watched me with curiosity and wonder. Not an ounce of fear, as I was accustomed to receiving from the city of men. It even reached out to touch my snout, its small fleshy fingers running over my scales.

I balked, scoffing at the strange sensation. The child let out a shrill laugh and my stomach lurched in revulsion at the noise. Such an awful, grating sound. No wonder the humans had left it with me.

The child then let out an unholy chortling sound and I knew I must dispose of this irritating pest. I took two steps back, summoned my fire from within and exhaled it over the child. This was my favorite part. I delighted in the cacophony of agonized screams, it was such music to my ears.

But the sounds never came. I exhaled as much fire as I could muster, but the pained cries never came. Confused, I stopped my fire and looked at the child, cursing as I did. Though the ropes that had held it down were entirely charred and burned, it was completely unharmed. It even dared to chuckle and roll towards me.

"Perhaps they were right in bringing you to me, little demon," I said, lifting the child with my long prehensile tail and lowering my eyes to the child's. "What are you?"

At that moment, the child's eyes flashed from icy blue to a flaming red; a familiar shade of red that struck a chord within me. My breath hitched in excitement.

Finally. After centuries, another dragon had been born. And among humans!

I wasn't the last Dragon in Talahm after all.