In the Eyes of the Dragon

The storm clouded the dragon’s eyes. His wings were beginning to suffer the effects of the sustained flight in those conditions, but he felt oddly at peace, as if the storm and himself were one, such was his troubled state. Still, Fethgar could not help but feel exhausted. He could barely concentrate on where he was going, thinking instead on the look his father had given him. He would not dare think of what he had seen in his father’s eyes during their last argument, or rather, what he had not seen, but that silent stare the two of them had exchanged right before he left sounded deafening in his mind, even with the chaos that surrounded him.

In the distance, at the bottom of a cliff, he saw a cave. It’s lucky the storm brought me here, he thought, as he landed and went inside. Fethgar waited for his body to dry, so that he could use his fire-breath to illuminate the cave. It’s more like a tunnel. He ventured further into the ground. He had not walked for long when he saw light ahead.

A sudden feeling of anxiety came over him and made him feel vulnerable, small, and weak. He considered going back, but his legs would not obey him and, despite the fear, he felt compelled, almost forced to continue. Not without effort, he exited the tunnel.

Fethgar found himself in a pine forest. The weather was benign and there was a soft light coming through the pointy leaves. A bit ahead of him, he could see a clearing and, at its centre, a pond. He considered going there, but the feeling of dread continued, and a sound made him stop: rocks moving behind him. With horror, he realised that the tunnel was closing. He moved quickly, but did not manage to go back inside before the entrance was shut, bumping his head against the wall in the process.

He complained but, instead of feeling scared, he felt relieved, and then, conflicted. “What is going on?” he wondered. Suddenly, another sound. “Who’s there?” There was no answer, but something caught his attention. It was small and Fethgar only saw it because it happened to move: a pair of eyes looked at him from a fallen, empty tree trunk. Those are some weird eyes, was the first thought that came to his mind. They were too big for the thing’s head, and they were very round, especially the pupils, which were surrounded by a bright green iris. He had never seen eyes like those before, but he was not sure he liked them. The animal came out of the tree trunk and kept staring at him with a look that the dragon could not decipher. The rest of the creature’s body was equally disconcerting: it walked on its back legs, and used its front legs only to grab a rectangular, soft thing that the dragon could not identify. That’s not very practical, he judged. Its paws ended in small, feeble fingers, and its claws were laughable.

“What are you?” The creature took a step back, frightened. The dragon pondered for an instant whether it would make for a snack, but concluded it would not be enough for even a bite. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything to you,” he said, scaring the creature again.

Fethgar lost interest and decided to explore the area. The pond was surrounded by a small circle of grass, and then, by forest in all directions. It would have been a beautiful spot, safe for a disquieting realisation: there were no suns. The light did not have a defined source, and the sky was black, instead of the usual pale orange. Where am I? He flew above the tree tops and had a hard time wrapping his head around what he was seeing: he was in a dome, surrounded by an empty, dark void, except for two areas, opposite each other, in which there were two immense walls of stone that went up so high it was impossible to see the end. The dragon felt as if he was on a pebble that was stuck between two rocks. He tried to leave the dome, but a force fought against him and kept him at a distance. Disheartened, the dragon heard a noise from the ground: the little animal was shouting at him.

Fethgar landed and stared at the creature, who made a sound that he could not identify. It may have sensed his confusion because it pointed one of its little hands at itself, and repeated “Joey!” It took a few seconds for the dragon to understand.

You are intelligent! It was a rational creature, and it was telling him its name! A name that the dragon found unpronounceable —its language seemed to be widely different from that of the dragons. The being pointed at him and said “Rara!”

This the dragon could understand. “No, my name is not… Rara,” the pronunciation of that was not easy either and he was quite sure he had failed miserably. “My name is…” Fethgar did not finish, as the creature got scared again.

My language sounds threatening to the ears of this species. Odd. He would not dare speak now as he did not want to scare the creature further. Although rational, its comprehension of the environment seemed limited, and its behaviour was erratic, almost as if it was… A baby! he realised. Maybe even a toddler, he ventured, seeing that it could walk and talk. This new development raised a multitude of questions: Are its parents here? Does it even live here or is it trapped like I am? Is it a boy or a girl? Do beings from this species even have such a distinction?

The toddler pointed once again at him and repeated: “Rara!”

Okay, Rara it is, he conceded, a bit frustrated. He exhaled a bit of smoke out of his nostrils, which left the child speechless.

A sound interrupted his reflections: there were other beings in the dome with them. It was a group of one-legged, round, and bulbous creatures with no visible eyes, and as dark as the void that surrounded them. The sound he had heard corresponded to the creatures’ jumps, which the toddler found amusing. They did not amuse the dragon as much, but he was interested. These are definitely animals, he thought, and they could make for a fine meal.

As he sat thinking, the toddler got progressively closer, until it could touch him, which is when it decided that the dragon was not a danger at all and started to touch his golden scales, and even climb on his back. Fethgar was unsure of how he felt about that. I guess baby dragons do it too, so he allowed it. Eventually, the toddler got tired of playing and hid near the dragon’s belly, where it seemed to enjoy the warmth coming from inside his body, and fell asleep holding the little furry rectangle it was carrying.

The dragon began to feel hungry, so he left the toddler, still asleep, and put his theory to the test. With one swift movement, he slashed one of the one-legged animals in two: it did not taste bad. After he finished, he took a piece of meat to the toddler, who was just waking up. The dragon put the food near the child, but it did not react, looking confused at the gift. Baby dragons would jump at any opportunity to eat… But you have no claws, and your teeth won’t help you either. Fethgar thought of what they did with the elder dragons, who sometimes could not hunt or even eat, so younger dragons would burn the food just enough that it became more tender. With a small flame, it was done in a few moments, but the dragon realised that the piece of meat was too big for the child, whose jaw was very small. You really are helpless, aren’t you? The dragon cut the meat in tiny pieces that would fit in the toddler’s little hands and put them next to him, who now ate them gladly. Afterwards, it went to the pond to drink and the dragon imitated him.

Although there were no suns, the dome began to dim gradually, and the dragon, having found no exit and being still very weary, decided to sleep. The toddler seemed to agree and the two went back to how they were earlier.

The light of day had been replaced by a pale, white light that was foreign to Fethgar. A sound of rocks could be heard somewhere but, half-asleep as he was, he did not heed it much attention. What he could not ignore, however, was the toddler, who was leaving. “Where are you going?” he whispered, a bit annoyed at having to take care of it. The toddler looked back at him with a terrified look and said “Rara” very softly. It signed him to follow, then kept walking.

Fethgar decided to accompany him, when he felt his limbs shaking. It was the same feeling of dread and anguish he had felt earlier. It took all of his willpower to follow the kid, who led him back to the fallen tree trunk and hid inside. The dragon also felt a need to hide, but did not understand why.

The answer came in the form of a sound: something was coming, and it seemed huge. He saw the silhouette, walking towards him through the trees. The kid was hidden, so he ran silently to the pond, where he dove in, holding his breath. The new creature was walking near the pond moments later. Fethgar could hold his breath for a long time, but he would have to wait to breathe fire. If he was found, he would be at a serious disadvantage. Those thoughts ran through his mind as the new creature seemed to ponder whether to dive in or not. The dragon could see its shape from the bottom of the pond: a gigantic creature, bigger than him, and as dark as the void, from which the dragon assumed it had come. It reminded him of the one-legged animals he had eaten that day, as it did not have eyes either, but this one had four legs and seemed strong, quite far from the round shape of the others. It’s him that’s making me panic, he understood. It was not a natural reaction: the creature was actively making him feel this.

This thing was near when I got here, that’s why Joey was hidden. He shuddered at the thought of having been that near the monster without knowing, but he also felt thankful towards Joey, who had warned him moments ago. If it behaves as it did then, it may leave at some point, he hoped, and after a while that seemed an eternity, the feeling of fear left his heart: the monster had returned to the void.

He came out of the water just as a sound of rocks could be heard, once again. What is that? he wondered, but he could not situate it and was interrupted by Joey, who was back to its cheery, although tired self. The dragon was also exhausted. I have to sleep, even if all the monsters of the void try to eat me. The toddler laid down near the dragon’s belly and fell fast asleep, holding tightly to the little piece of fur.

Fethgar closed his eyes and dreamt of his father and the stare they had shared after their recent argument, the last of many they had had. He could not decide whether something was missing from his look or he had lost the ability to see it. He felt something not that different from what he felt when the monster was nearby: fear. But fear of what?

“Rara!”

What do you want now? He would have liked to sleep a bit more, even if it was daytime again. The toddler held something in its tiny hand. Fethgar approached, and Joey presented the object to him: a drawing. However, this was not a regular drawing like the ones dragons paint on walls with different pigments, this one was hyperreal in a way that the dragon had never seen.

“Did you make this?” The toddler did not answer but, the dragon noticed, was not afraid of him talking anymore, more focused in showing him the drawing. Fethgar saw that the child was there, but also two other members of its species. These ones are older. One of them had a beard. If they share any similarities with us, he thought, touching his own hairy beard with his left paw, that one might be a male.

The kid pointed at the male being of its species and uttered a new word, “dada,” which the dragon could not quite comprehend, but that the child was adamant he understood. Joey pointed at the male in the drawing once more, then at himself, and then extended its arms.

The dragon was confused but, after a short while, the meaning was obvious: It’s you but bigger: he’s your father, he concluded. And you may be a boy, then, although you don’t have the beard yet.

The child looked at him and he exhaled a bit of smoke, so the kid told him the name of the other being, “mama,” but omitted the pointing. The dragon wanted to keep looking at the drawing, but the kid stopped.

“What is it?” Fethgar asked. Joey took the drawing and put it inside a device he was carrying in his back, which, the dragon understood, was intended to carry things. The toddler signalled the dragon to stay where he was, and then covered his eyes. The dragon imitated him by closing his eyes and heard the child running away, so he opened his eyes again. The child went around a tree and stopped, out of sight. What is this? the dragon wondered, and went around the tree until he could see Joey, who laughed upon being found. Oh, we’re playing. This was not a game that he knew, but it was easy to learn. They played for a long while: Joey was not good at finding the dragon but proved to be quite skilled at hiding. The only time Fethgar considered not playing anymore was when the child hid behind a rock and tried to escape the dragon by climbing and jumping off it. The dragon caught the child at the last moment. Yes, definitely a boy, he laughed, but his heart was beating faster.

For a while, Fethgar tried to find a way to leave the dome, but noon came and he was still unsuccessful. Seeing that he could not do anything useful, he settled to have lunch with the kid when the sound of rocks startled him. He wanted to follow it, but he saw that Joey was hiding and the feeling of dread came over him again. He ran to the pond and hid in it, just before the monster appeared in the clearing. Fethgar was anxious, but this time he could think a bit more rationally. It’s been a day since I got here, and this thing has appeared three times. The monster appeared every half day, once around noon and once around midnight. Okay, so the thing’s got a schedule. He realised that it was not the only thing that happened at regular intervals. The sound of rocks precedes the coming of the monster and it can also be heard when it leaves. An idea formed in his brain but, to test it, he would need to poke his head above the water. He considered it for a moment and then swam to the surface.

He looked around, exhaled, and took a deep breath as silently as possible. The monster was in the far side of the forest, near the wall opposite to where his tunnel had been. He could see his wall from the pond. There was his tunnel, open. Do I do it? The monster was still far. Fethgar got out of the water. He could still hear the creature, but it was nowhere near the pond. The dragon ran swiftly across the forest and got to the tunnel. He was free!

Joey.

He turned around and saw his little fur rectangle, peeking from inside the tree. The dragon whispered: “Joey.” He hoped the kid could distinguish that it was him that was speaking. “Joey,” he repeated. Slowly, his little head came out of the tree trunk. “Come here,” he said. The boy saw him and looked around, unsure. “I’ll take care of you, come on,” he urged. The monster was still far. The toddler got out of the tree and began walking towards him. The dragon was moving his tail around. Come on, come on, you’re doing great. The toddler was halfway there when he stopped on his tracks. “What are you doing? Come here!” The monster was closer, although not enough to see them. The kid looked at him, afraid, and moved his hands, then turned around: he had left the furry rectangle. “No, don’t go, please,” he begged, but it was useless: Joey was going back.

The dragon looked behind him: the tunnel would close soon. A passing thought came over him. I could… No, he could not. He looked at the child again, but could not see him, nor the forest, nor anything. For a fraction of a second, the dragon did not comprehend what he was seeing, but it did not take long. The monster was towering over him.

Before he could move, the beast slammed him against the wall and grabbed him by the neck, throwing him back into the dome. He hit a couple of trees, one of which snapped and fell near Joey. He could hear a scream from inside the fallen tree trunk: “Rara!”

Fethgar got up and looked around. The beast was coming right at him. He resorted to fire, but was unsuccessful: he still needed a few minutes to dry off. The monster took advantage of this and punched him right in the face. Fethgar could see its mouth open unnaturally, in a way that would have dislocated the jaw of any animal he knew. It could have eaten his head right off, but instead punched him again with the other fist, and pushed him into the pond. The dragon lost his footing and the monster grabbed him and forced him underwater. The dragon panicked and tried to breathe, but swallowed water. He begun to choke. I’m going to drown, I’m going to die, were the only thoughts that passed through his mind, but even those thoughts vanished when he felt the strong claws of the creature wrapping around his neck. There was only the hideous, distorted, and eyeless face looking right at him. The dragon could feel his consciousness drift, a few more seconds and he would be gone…

The monster released him. It did not look happy, though the dragon could not really read its emotions. Fethgar heard the rocks and the monster turned around and left, going through the veil of the dome to the void. The tunnel was closed, but Fethgar did not care about that. “Joey!”

Joey appeared, walking around the fallen tree. “Are you crazy?” Fethgar shouted. “We could be out of here right now! Why did you have to go back?” He took the piece of fur from the kid’s hands, which startled him. “I don’t care that you were afraid! This thing won’t protect you!” he kept shouting, but stopped suddenly. Joey was crying. He did not know what to say, but gave the furry object back to him, who grabbed it and ran away. The dragon considered following him, but he was still stunned at seeing him cry. What have I done?

The feelings he endured at that moment where completely new to him. He wandered off, far from the child, who had returned to his hiding spot. For a while, he just sat in the forest, trying to understand what had happened, but eventually he came to his senses. I have to do something. That thing is going to come back. Fortunately, he began to understand the dome. Every time I hear the rocks is because a tunnel has opened, which happens twice a day. However, my tunnel only opens once a day, which means that there must be another tunnel that probably leads to Joey’s world. Once he knew what he was looking for, he quickly found it: a couple of stairs, more hidden than the ones that led to his tunnel. Around midnight, this tunnel will open, and then…

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted it. The monster, looking at him, floating in the void. It was right next to the wall, as close as possible to the entrance of the tunnel. It's waiting. It knows we want to go through. This time, however, the dragon knew he had to be ready, so he ate, drank, and rested.

He did not know how to approach Joey, who had not talked to him since their argument. Fethgar thought about what he should say, but when he finally got the courage to talk to him, as night was falling, he did not have anything prepared. The kid refused to look at him when he approached. “I’m sorry for what happened earlier,” the dragon hoped his tone was enough for the kid to get what he was saying. “I know you were afraid, and it was scary to come without your protective fur, but I think you were very brave regardless of what happened. I got scared that the monster would hurt you and I shouted at you. I shouldn’t have.” He was running out of time. “I’m going to go now. You stay here, okay?” The kid seemed to perceive the question in his tone, and looked at him straight in the eye. The dragon could see fear in that glare, but also fierceness, and even worry for him. Hmm, he thought, maybe our eyes are not so different after all. The dragon left, knowing it was mere moments before the tunnel opened.

Fethgar stood right before the monster and waited. He was terrified, but did not budge. The creature did not have eyes but, if it could see him, it was going to remember his. He heard the rocks and saw the tunnel opening, right as the monster extended its front paws, entering the dome. Instead of fighting head on, the dragon exhaled a searing flare that burnt the creature, as well as the forest surrounding them. The monster screamed in agony. He doesn’t like fire, good. Fethgar spat fire once more, but the creature evaded it. Still, little branches fell, burning him. The monster roared, enraged, and charged against the dragon, grabbing him and running to the pond, where there was no fire. Oh no, you don’t. He bit its leg and escaped its grasp, flying around the dome and rapidly approaching the beast to stab it with his claws. The creature hit the ground with its huge fists, splashing water around.

The dragon was beginning to feel confident, which was his undoing: he scratched the monster once more, but was too slow. The monster grabbed him by the tail and slammed him against the ground. He tried to escape, but the creature would not let go. He tried to hit it with his leg, but the creature twisted it. He screamed. The creature grabbed him by the head and dragged him across the dome, to the pond. Not again, not again. He was losing, and he knew it. The monster threw him to the water, extinguishing his inner fire, and then grabbed him again. This time, it was not going to drown him: it dislocated its jaw and got closer to his head, about to devour it whole. The dragon could not move, his body trapped by the beast. Fethgar tried to look at the nearby fallen tree trunk, at his little friend, but was unsuccessful. The monster’s breath smelled like rotten corpses and, rather than fear, he felt sadness that it had to end this way for Joey. I’m sorry.

Suddenly, the monster let him go; not completely, but enough for the dragon to look at the tree, where he saw the furry rectangle, abandoned. The monster was roaring and moved its body, leaving him partially free. What happens? Where’s Joey? He quickly found out the answer: the monster roared in pain because Joey had stabbed him with a flaming tree branch in one of its rear paws. It was about to stomp on the child, but Fethgar grabbed its leg and stopped it. Joey ran away, so he let go of the monster’s leg and grabbed it by the jaw, broadening it even more unnaturally than he had seen it do. With a heroic effort, he summoned all the heat that he could, despite having being drowned moments earlier, and exhaled an inferno inside of it. The creature tried to resist, to no avail, while he tore its face in half. The monster shrieked, but the dragon was not done and, with a swift bite, he ripped its head from its body. The decapitated body of the monster fell to the ground, while the dragon held its now jawless head in his mouth.

Fethgar spat the head and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Joey. He was coming back, after seeing what had happened. The dragon tried to conceal the corpse, but Joey looked at it and surprised Fethgar by roaring at it. The dragon was delighted. “I’m glad we’re friends again.” He touched him gently with his snout, and Joey hugged his face with his little arms. “Okay, ready to go home?” Fethgar signalled for him to get on his back and he climbed swiftly.

The dragon approached the tunnel. Trees were burning around them. “I really hope your family is on the other side.” The child patted him. Fethgar entered and walked, using a small flame to avoid bumping into something. It was not long before he saw a light ahead.

He approached cautiously, entering a grey room with stone walls that had been expertly carved, to a degree that no dragon could achieve. A group of adults from the same species as Joey were looking at him. They were all wearing an odd, white fur and seemed amazed.

Okay, now what do we do? A noise broke the silence: one of the beings had yelled something. The voice yelled again and, this time, the dragon found its owner. It's his father.

The being approached his son, cautiously looking at the dragon, who took a step back. The man ran towards the kid, who happily exclaimed “dada!” and hugged him.

The dragon looked at Joey’s father. By now, he could recognise the emotions of these beings with relative ease. He saw many on his face: fear, relief, anger, happiness. He saw something in his eyes, something he had seen before in his own father, but had forgotten… No, not forgotten, he thought. I just haven’t noticed for a long time, maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention.

Joey’s father looked at him, still hugging his son, and said something. Fethgar could not quite catch the words, but he understood it nonetheless. “You’re welcome,” he answered.

The dragon knew the tunnel was going to close soon, so he turned around to leave, when he heard Joey: “Rara!” He looked back: Joey was running towards him. Fethgar got close to him and the kid hugged him once again. He seemed to understand that he was leaving, and a few tears were dropping off his eyes. Fethgar was surprised upon realising that he was crying too. He had only known Joey for a day and a half, but it seemed a lifetime.

The kid calmed down and patted the dragon gently on the snout, which Fethgar corresponded by exhaling a bit of smoke from his nostrils. Joey laughed softly. The dragon understood that they had said their goodbyes and went back into the tunnel. He looked back one last time, and saw the child waving his little hand at him. He exhaled smoke one more time and continued ahead.

Once he got back to the forest, he was not crying anymore, but he knew that the lingering sadness would take its time to leave. He was distracted for a while, however, because the forest had returned to its original state: nothing was burning and the corpse of the monster was gone. Did it leave on its own or did something else take it? The only creatures left were the one-legged animals, but there was not an imminent danger, and once the tunnel closed behind him, he knew he had to wait. I hope there aren’t any more monsters nearby.

The wait seemed to last forever, but no monsters appeared. Fethgar still had a million questions about the dome, the beings that inhabited the neighbouring world, and the void and whoever had created it, as well as its creatures, but, at that moment, there was only one thought in his mind.

His tunnel opened. The dragon went through it and flew home as fast as he could, to the colony, until he reached the hole he shared with his parents. His father was home, and when he looked at him, his relief and happiness at his return were palpable: there was no anger and no disappointment.

Fethgar had seen that expression recently, in a being from a different species. It was a feeling that, after countless arguments, he thought had been denied from him. He saw now that that was not the truth: the feeling was still there, unconditional.

Love.

He was sure. He could see it in his eyes.