Mercury

"Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon."

-Book Of Revelation.

1904.

Underneath the sweeping canopy of fall brown leaves, drops of mercury fell down the aging bark trunks of the old trees in Peoria, Illinois. They were round, dangerous, and energetic drops of metal that would fall solely during the October months. They fell deep into the woods, out of sight from the carriages, passerby, and shops. Far away from the main roads, you couldn't see how delicately they fell and dripped off the drooping plants. Each poisionous bead was traveling slowly through the crooked veins and caverns of the leaves' anatomy. Dragon wings, which were dressed in the finest of suits during the day, would sit on top of camouflaged brush. Faded scales consoled the lonely man, who was left covered in leftover bits of endoderm.

Looking up at the dusty clouds, not a single ray of sunlight could pierce through the thick gray cover of the fall gloom. His scales wouldn't be as bright, sitting here on top of his designated reading spot.

From his long navy coat, the poor creature pulled out a leather book. It was practically falling apart, binded with red string that was hanging onto the slim pages of Revelations. The end times and the killing of demonic dragons, all falling into hellfire. He was reminded constantly of the way he would eventually go.

He was Satanic.

Unwordly.

An evil spirit dressed in the sins of the fallen.

There was no place for him in Peoria, even if no one soon suspected.

A single cross necklace, given to him by the pastor during his Sunday services, continuously mocked his existence. The sharp corners were always burning a hole in the top pocket. Its silver face shimmered back and forth in his rugged palm, never failing to remind him of his pending damnation.

Yet, mercury continued to fall from the tincture of his wings.

Silver crosses and drops had always mended together in his heated dreams. He spent the afternoons napping away in the branches of his only caretakers, the trees now deemed unholy.

But these trees, forlorn and blackened by the fall vortex, hugged him as much as they could. Lifting a finger to his right wing, he glanced over as it curved towards the front of his body. With slow movements, he traced the yellow, red, and black scales. His face, once studded with the remnants of stubble and a striking jawline, now sat holding up rows of alligator-like teeth. Still, with the jacket on and torn in several places, the pseudo-human feel deep into another temporary sleep.

"Mom?"

His eyes shot open, glancing with his repitlian glare at the forest below him.

A voice echoed through the woods again.

"MOmmm..."

It was the voice of a girl, a smaller child. Maybe.

He heard some rummaging with the dead leaves at the forest floor, and twigs breaking with each step. The girl was lost for sure, and he wasn't aware of how she even got all the way out here. Especially since this part of the forest was past the safety of the main road.

After a few more moments of twigs snapping, he saw a head of black hair emerge from the deep gray shade of the forest. She had on a white bow with a dress that had been dirtied up by misshapen leaf debris. The girl looked maybe 3, with a timid look that made her stand out in the menancing backdrop of Peoria woods.

The girl seemed to give up, after pacing a few seconds, yelling again, and then sitting down on the cold ground.

But, she wasn't alone.

"How did you get here?"

The girl looked around but no one was there. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm not your mom, miss. How did you get so far into the woods?"

She made a slight sound.

The girl didn't understand who was talking to her, or where the voice was coming from.

"How did you get here?"

From the tall canopy, the suited dragon slowly flew down to meet the girl at the ground. He fell from the tree lightly, with his wings sadly carrying him on the small air currents down to meet her at eye level. He wasn't really sure how to talk to children, let alone one that is barely been around the sun a few times.

Seeing his wings and tattered suit, the girl's eyes grew wide as he sunk to her. She didn't say anything or scream. Rather, she looked at him with curiosity, shock, and confusion all at once.

"Are you from Peoria?"

She didn't answer, still looking at him curiously. There was no indication of where she came from or who her parents were. Maybe they were trying to get rid of her, seeing as she was a toddler wandering around in the depths of these cold and dark forests. If it were not for him coming out here, she might've died of many different causes.

What kind of parents does this child have, anyways?

Looking at her again, the child began to form another round of tears in her eyes. She frowned, looking unhappier than ever.

With an exaggerated sigh, the dragon man scooped her up and started to fly out of the forest back to Peoria. He kept her under his arms against the brutal winds, flying as discretely as possible since it was now approaching the early evening hours. Avoiding the last few stragglers in the town, he landed near the church in the far corner of the small city. Confused on what else to do, he dropped her off and knocked on the door.

Watching from a short distance, he didn't leave until the pastor opened it to see her standing there. The dragon didn't wait around to see what would happen next, so off he went to return to the forest.

At 7 am, he emerged from the trees with leaves to cover himself.

Back to being a man, for a little while.

1917

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The Peoria church audience chanted in unison. At the podium, stood Pastor Jensin dressed in black. He stood tall with a carefully trimmed beard, and a composure of seriousness learned from years in practice. In between biblical spurts of words, his silver dental caps sparkled against the light from the stained glass windows.

Even with this prayer every week, the town was drained from the spiritualism phase in the late 1800's. The Victorian era was in recent passing, and the obsession with the occult would still overpass the churchgoers dedication to their weekly services. Pastor Jensin knew that his audience was skeptical to the light of the creator, and so he preached to the congregation using firm language.

Fire and brimstone, or eternal resting after a life without sin.

In the far back pew, the lonely dragon man had grabbed a snail from the outside pond over the course of the week. It had died overnight, but with his own unpredictable magic, the snail slowly came back to life.

Unwanted rodents, lost decaying dogs, and sometimes minuscule gnats were granted life again by the dragon. With just a touch of his palm, he willed them back to earth.

Against the teachings of the church, he was like the creator himself.

Years had passed since the little strange girl who stumbled into the forest was returned home by him. To unrelenting parents, she grew up with the one and only vivid memory of his wings carrying her to the church doors. Looking back at the peculiar circumstance, the girl figured that she had been safer with a ferocious dragon than her own caregivers at the time.

To the dragon, the girl was like a daughter. He always wanted a child, but it could never be possible. So for now, he vowed to look after her when emergencies arose. He had nothing better to do, than to count the days until he finally passed. It was a curse really, to be this blasphemous creature with powers unexplainable by humankind.

When the girl grew sick at age 12 and lay on the verge of dying, the dragon returned to her in her sleep. He took her palm in his hand, and she became new again in the morning.

It was an imaginary friendship, as they only knew of each other through memory. Now at age 16, she still looked for him in the forest but found no real evidence of his existence.

-

"Samantha, please come."

Her mother's shriek beckoned her to the end of the church steps, as she flew past the man who had flown her back to safety and healed her. The dragon looked around, noticing a single drop of mercury shining on the tip of his shoe. He quickly wiped it off, grabbed his bible, and headed out of the building to return home.

Down the road, he dodged groups of laughing children throwing apples high into the air. On posts nearby, signs of all sorts decorated the town news stories. He usually didn't pay much attention, until he saw one sign in particular.

SEARCHING FOR MYSTERIOUS CREATURE IN THE WOODS: SCALES OF RED AND BLACK

Underneath the caption, was a terrible drawing of a gargoyle like figure.

Did someone find me?

Any color left in his fake human form had drained from his face. He dropped the book and his pocket watch to the ground, stumbling to pick them back up as he took the flyer off of the wall. Crumpling the paper and looking around, he stood for a moment to collect his thoughts. The air around was dense, and now had unwanted eyes staring directly his way.

How would anyone know me? I go so deep into the woods its almost possible to spot. They got some of the scale colors right too...

"So, it was you...Im assuming."

A small voice echoed from behind him.

It was Samantha.

In her hand, she held a small red scale as a trinket of the night she was brought back to town. A reminder of worlds outside of her parents.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Don't be coy, I know you were the one with wings. Somehow they are hidden now."

This girl is very smart, and intuitive to say the least. But her approach was bold, posting up flyers for a semi-religous town to see. A town that is unforgiving in either direction, in both the supernatural and the believers of higher powers.

"I see. What would you want from me, now that you have traced me here?"

"I just wanted to ask how you did it. To thank you, as well. But... how did you manage to change ba-"

Without a moments notice, Samantha's words were cut off by an approaching crowd of people behind her.

"THAT IS HIM! RIGHT OVER THERE! IT MUST BE THAT MAN!"

Samantha's stories were never a secret like he had once believed.

Over the course of the month, she couldn't carry the burden of her secret anymore. She had managed to tell the townspeople about a mystifying dragon figure who carried her to safety, after her father carelessly left her during one of his trips so many years ago. At first, they believed she was crazy. That is, until she presented the town with evidence of the detached scale and a hunter's story to confirm her original description. Someone a few weeks ago had seen a man flying into the sky, changing mid air from a human into a disgusting monster.

He wanted to cry, no one would believe he was peaceful.

The dragon man wished to return to the safety of the trees, the cold bark and their arms were all he wanted. But the crowd grew restless, approaching him and bombarding him with a million angry questions.

"Who are you!"

"What are you?"

"Devil!"

"A spirit!"

"Go away from Peoria! Before you devour us!"

Pastor Jensin held up a cross, disappointed by this disgrace of a being.

Samantha looked on with troubled expression, as the people began to cluster around the now timid dragon. He was the last of his kind, and would remain that way if people continued their angry tormenting.

"I am sorry, I will go now. Please..." the dragon told the crowd.

He vanished into the air, with tears of mercury at the spot he left.

--

Samantha woke up from her nightmare with a shudder, sweating profusely as she looked around her. Her sweat had seeped into her night gown, tainting her sleep and making her worried about the lonely thing atop of the trees every day.

Just a bad dream, is all.

She said this to herself, yet she was still not convinced that she wouldn't ruin the man she suspected at church was the strange dragon hybrid. One day, she noticed the red and black scale still stuck on a piece of his thumb as he put his hand in his pocket during a service.

"I wont let them get to you. No one will find you, I promise." She whispered into the morning air as she visited the forest again.

Around the corner, hiding in the trees, the dragon smiled.