Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

A long moment passed for Andria. What she had just seen had terrified her so deeply that she thought she might have died from fright. She had watched a perfectly stable man, without a word, essentially collapse into himself. How she had kept from vomiting as she heard his bones snapping and cracking at a quick-fire speed was beyond her. Perhaps she had been too terrified to retch, though the instinct to flee had not failed her.

Silence gripped the chasm now, but she was still afraid to open her eyes. If what the seemingly-delusional man had been saying was true, it was likely that the same 50ft monster that had greeted her before was then standing directly over her, ready to sink razor-sharp teeth into her flesh. If such was the case, she would rather not see it coming.

When a few panicked minutes had passed and nothing happened, Andria dared to steal a peek. She had to allow her eyes to readjust to the darkness, but when they did, she found nothing. No monster. No man. Just emptiness. She was in complete solitude again.

A brief wave of relief flooded her. Andria had been bracing herself for the worst, but now allowed her muscles to relax somewhat. Tentatively, she rose to her feet, absently brushing more sand from her clothes. "Hello?" she called into the darkness, not expecting an answer.

Rather than the monotonous echo of her own voice, another voice answered her call.

"I'm here," it said simply. The voice was male, though more sing-songy and less gruff than what the Dragon man had possessed. Nevertheless, it startled her. Looking around, muscles tensed again, she still saw nothing.

"Where are you?" she called. "Show yourself." The demand failed to come across as such, inflected with obvious reservations, as though she wasn't really sure if she wanted anyone to show themselves at all.

She heard an abbreviated sigh, followed by a few hushed, muttered curses. "I am," the voice spat with frustration. Another whispered curse and then, "I'm on the rock still."
Andria peered carefully at the distant jut of a rock, searching for any sign of life, human or otherwise.

A flash of white. She couldn't help but squeak with surprise when she finally noticed what was waving at her, small as an iguana, from atop the craggy boulder.

Despite herself, Andria took a few steps closer to the tiny creature, so as to better observe what exactly it was that she was looking at. The thing itself bore much resemblance to an iguana, in actuality, the key differences being first that it was white as pearl, and also that it was standing upright on its hind legs. The face, as well, was dramatically different, also white. He had an elongated snout with a nose like an alligator. She could just make out the tiny tips of fangs protruding from his mouth, one on each side of his upper jaw, just below the nostrils. His eyes were elegant, as full and black as they had been as a human, though miniaturized. Escaping from his scalp was a thick mane of white prongs that moved with the current of the air, almost akin to down-less feather shafts. It was fullest around his face, but thinned to follow the long, snaking curvature of his spine. He had no ears, from what she could determine, perhaps hidden beneath his handsome white mane. He was as slender as a serpent, giving him a very lizard-like quality. His tail was nearly the full length of his body, tipped by a slender tuft of more white feather-shafts.

Yuta ceased his waving and allowed her a very long moment to take in his appearance. He noticed her inch ever closer with each passing breath. The look on her face remained quizzical at first, but soon softened to one of awe and apparent disbelief. At least she's not still screaming he couldn't help but think to himself. He did feel very awkward allowing himself to be examined so closely and in such an embarrassing Form. He hated feeling so puny and small as he did just then, especially with those soul-shattering eyes bearing down on him.

"Yu...Yuta?" she squeaked. The tiny Dragon nodded. She was now just feet from him, staring at him as though she hadn't a clue what she should be thinking. I don't believe this she scolded herself repeatedly. And then again, what better explanation could be offered for the events of the day. She blinked absently. He blinked back, his eyelids meeting from the side with a shutter-like sound.

Andria felt a shiver run up and down her spine. She found her voice, "But...but you're tiny." She said it forcefully, as if looking for a hole in her own reasoning. "The...well, thing I saw earlier was...bigger."

Yuta blinked again, "I could assume that Form again, if you would prefer." I certainly would prefer it, he mused to himself. He hated being vulnerable, though at least this Form was less vulnerable than that of a squishy human.

He allowed his tail to swish playfully back and forth, snaking quite unashamed across the slick stone. He could see the knobs turning again in Andria's mind. At one point, she looked up at him, traces of pleading evident in her facial expression, and said almost in a whisper, "So...you're not going to eat me then?"

"Well, let's not rule anything out," jested the Dragon, a half-hearted chuckle rising in his tiny throat. When tears began to flood her eyes, however, he knew he'd obviously said the wrong thing. Her face remained stoic, save a gentle trickle of tears now cascading down her porcelain cheeks. Wonderful he thought. Back to square one.

The tiny Dragon carefully shimmied his way down the rock face to stand with her on the beach. She didn't move, but bore the semblance of one resigning themselves to a terrible fate. "Wait a minute," the tiny Dragon pleaded consolingly, or as consoling as he could make himself sound. He was, after all, becoming a bit annoyed with the constant fluctuations of emotion. He couldn't help but note that female Dragons were not nearly so temperamental as their mentally unsound human counterparts. "I wasn't being serious. Honestly," he continued, inching closer to the weeping girl, "I'm not going to hurt you."

She looked down at him. The topmost tips of his mane barely reached her knees. For all he had scared her, the look of concern etched across his tiny features made him appear...well, adorable. She couldn't help but envision a handsome white puppy looking up at her from a wobbly upright posture, begging for a treat. Though nothing about his appearance screamed "puppy," he was a splendidly handsome creature. His body was as graceful as a cobra with a head as majestic and proud as that of a lion.

The fear she had been feeling abating by leaps and bounds, Andria crouched to make herself more level with the Dragon. Wordlessly, she held his gaze. Nothing in the dragon's deep, black eyes offered her anything she should be fearful of. They were practically human, strong traces of equal, or even superior, knowledge visibly evident within.
            Andria looked at Yuta longingly. “May I pet you?” she asked.

Yuta’s eyes went wide. “No!” he spat.

"Please?" Andria asked.

“Why?!" he shrieked.

"Because you're cute." Yuta cocked his head and shot her a you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me kind of look. He could feel the blood rushing to his scaly cheeks.

"This is nonsense," he stammered. "Once more, it's degrading. I will not be petted like some inferior domestic beast." With that, he folded his bony arms across his chest and glared at her in a no-nonsense fashion.

A hand came down on his head, stroking lightly down the length of his spine. Yuta was mortified. Instinctively, he reeled on her, finding her face lit up once more with the playful resonance of soft laughter that had enamored him only minutes before. This time, however, he was not so easily distracted. In a furious rage, he turned and sped to the water’s edge, diving into the murky depths without a word.

Andria called after him, "Wait! Where are you going?" She honestly hadn't meant any harm, but curiosity had seized her quite forcefully. It was not every day that one casually conversed with a mythical creature, especially one so amiable.

The minutes stretched on in silence. Just when she had assumed him gone forever, the pool began to churn and gurgle violently. Protectively, she threw herself into a far corner as a streaming geyser began to spray the beach with warm water. Like some monster straight out of an old horror film, the white, looming, serpentine body of a 50ft Yuta began to rise slowly from the pool, showering the space directly beneath him with great drops of water.

Andria watched the whole scene with stoic eyes. She had to physically crane her neck skyward to meet the angry, snarling gaze of the giant dragon. Disregarding the difference in height, he had exactly the same appearance as the miniature version of himself. He shook his spindly mane, sending more water flying in every direction.

They held each other’s gaze for a long moment. His chest was puffed out and his features were distorted from the effort of making himself appear as intimidating as possible. Pet me now, the Dragon thought, reveling in the familiar security of his own power. To his surprise, Andria wasn't screaming. She seemed calm, much calmer than he had expected, considering that even as a tiny squirt of a lizard he had made her cry somehow.

He was panting, still fuming in the heat of his own embarrassment and blind rage. He wouldn’t hurt her. No, it wasn’t the way of his Race. She would deserve it though, he angrily thought. Treating me like some household pet, a stupid, slobbering, paper-trained beast…Yuta’s angry thoughts trailed off as he continued to hold the young girl’s unblinking gaze.

As the moments passed and the furious edge to his thoughts began to dissipate, his breathing became slower. She wasn’t panicking. She wasn’t sobbing. She merely sat lightly pressed against the moist stone wall, legs tucked beneath one side of her, and stared. She didn’t speak, didn’t move, and didn’t dare to look away. She was waiting. Waiting for what wasn’t exactly evident, but Yuta could tell just vaguely that she wasn’t waiting to be eaten this time. The way she was looking at him was less frightened, less somber, but appeared rather curious instead, with slight traces of remorse evident in her sapphire eyes.

He allowed his muscles to relax, sinking slowly back into the deep, black pool. She continued to follow him with her eyes, until their gaze was level, and his great chin was resting along the edge of the beach, the first few ridges of his spine jutting from the settling water. His breathing was controlled and he let the anger he had been feeling melt away. True, it was very inconsiderate to treat a dragon like an animal, their intelligence, wisdom, and power being able to outmatch that of any human in existence, Yuta would wager. Then again, she was just a stupid girl, and how could she really know better at this point? It was a safe bet to say that he was the first dragon she had ever knowingly laid eyes upon. He might as well have been talking to a monkey, and what sense would it make to let a monkey offend him so violently?

Yuta’s face was resting perhaps seven or eight feet from her tiny body. He finally broke the silence with a gentle, though firm command. “Do not do that again.” He wouldn’t elaborate any further. She got the point, and that was all that was really important..
            Andria nodded energetically, assuring him that she would dare not lay another playful, insulting hand upon his mane again. An understanding having been reached, Yuta sighed, emitting great streams of thick mist from his lizard-like, slitted nostrils. Unintentionally, some of the mist caught Andria squarely in the face. Instinctively, she cringed violently as the moist, uncomfortable air sprayed her face, neck, and exposed arms.

Yuta paused for a moment, and then erupted into laughter. Andria found giggles rising in her throat, as well. She dabbed at her face with the inside of one of her shirt sleeves, as both of their laughter began to ebb.

“You never answered my question,” Yuta stated once he had been able to break the concentration he had unknowingly been centering on the smooth, polished lines of Andria’s glowing features.

“What do you mean?” she asked. His eyes were locked on hers with an expression of mild curiosity. Slowly, he lifted a great white arm out of the black water and propped his large, scaly chin against his palm. The nails of his fingers, or claws, rather, thrummed quizzically against his marble-hard cheek, making a slight tinkling sound, like the soft, non-rhythmical music of stirred wind chimes.

“I asked you who your parents were,” he stated flatly.
            It was Andria’s turn to look quizzical. She didn’t mind releasing such trivial information, but wondered as to why he continued to press for an answer. It wasn’t as though he would know them. “My father,” she began, deciding such wisdom was of no consequence to the beast, “is John Holmes. My stepmother’s name is Kathy, Kat for short.”

“And your mother?” Yuta inquired. He noticed Andria wince slightly and immediately regretted asking.

After a moment, Andria spoke. “She’s dead,” she replied, her gaze flickering elsewhere for the slightest moment, as though she was suddenly uncomfortable holding his gaze.

“I’m sorry,” the dragon stated.
Andria shrugged. “It’s been years. I’m over it.” She ran a perfectly controlled hand through her wet, tangled hair.

Eager to get away from the subject, Yuta asked, “So. What do your father and stepmother do?”

Andria seemed to relax a little bit of the obvious tension she had been harboring a moment before and drolly answered, “My father is a mechanic. He works on cars, boats, lawnmowers, anything with a motor really. He’s very good at it, too.” He could just catch the faint resonances of apparent pride in her voice when she spoke of him.

“And your stepmother?” he pressed.

“She works in a hospital. In the histology labs I think. She examines biopsy samples and does diagnostics, or something like that.”

Yuta nodded.

“What about you?” Andria asked the Dragon.

“What do you mean?” he asked absently.

“Your parents. What are they like?”

Yuta chuckled. “Does it really interest you, little human?”

“You were interested in mine,” she retorted, “and I’m far less…well, interesting than you are.”

“Fair enough,” he reasoned. “Well,” Yuta began, “both of my parents are Dragons, obviously.”

The look she gave him then let him know that perhaps such information might not have been as obvious as he would have thought. “But how can you turn into a human?” she asked him.
The question was a good one, one whose answer he was not even one hundred percent sure of.

“Well, most of my Race does possess the ability to change Forms. It’s partly a result of interbreeding with humans, but it’s also a handy survival mechanism. How else do you think dragons could have survived so long intermingled with your own over-curious species? We hide in plain sight.”

Yuta looked smug, while Andria appeared to be slightly repulsed by something. “So,” she tentatively began. “Your kind breeds with humans?”
            Yuta shrugged and said, “Well, yeah. Occasionally a Dragon will take an interest in a human or even fall in love with one, and it goes from there.” Andria was frowning with obvious disgust.

“Is that really so repulsive?” Yuta asked. “As you saw, we can become as human as yourself when we choose to. And I assure you, we love every bit as deeply. I would dare say more.”

“Well, that disturbs me a little, as well,” she explained, “but you said your ability to turn into humans was a result of interbreeding. That means it had to have started with a Dragon and a human somewhere along the line.”

“Oh,” Yuta stated, understanding where she was heading, a little embarrassed for assuming she might already have been wise to the origins of his Race. “Yes, I do see how that might seem a little awkward to you. But let me assure you, there was no Dragon-on-human rape of any kind. It’s not our way.” He couldn’t help but feel a little hurt at having to explain away such ridiculous assumptions about his Race, but he understood that it wasn’t her fault. Her ignorance and stereotypes were the product of generations of twisted folklore. “You’re right, though. It did start with a Dragon and a human, but not in the way you might think.” He began his tale, “When you first came to Towadako, you passed another, smaller lake not far from here, right?”
            Andria nodded. Indeed, she and her peers had not only passed the small lake, but had taken a walk along the water’s edge that very morning. It was more of a pond in relation to the size of Towadako. No sand, either. The edge of the water was rimmed in lush greenery and the occasional patch of rich, brown clay, in sharp contrast to Towadako’s beaches of black sand and looming, jagged, silver-polished cliffs.

“Well, according to the legend circulated by humans, which you might be familiar with, there was once a beautiful human princess who lived close by. Legend holds it that despite her beautiful exterior, her heart was filled with vanity and pride, the extent of which were unrivaled in both heaven and earth.

“It was widely believed that the waters of the lake held certain magical qualities. They didn’t, of course, but for some reason, the princess developed a belief that by drinking the lake’s water, it would make her more beautiful. In doing so, she displeased the gods, who then turned her into a Dragon. Some legends also say that something similar happened to a man who lived near Towada, and eventually the two found each other and fell in love.”

Andria was listening intently, so Yuta proceeded. “We Dragons have a different, though similar in some ways, variation of this tale, our main argument against the human version being that the gods meant to punish a human’s vanity by making them one of our Race, and being like us is no punishment.

“There was indeed a human, but not a princess. She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant, and her beauty was very well unrivaled, at least by any woman in Japan. It is said that the extent of her physical loveliness was only matched by the depth of her own humility. She was said to have been perfect in every conceivable way, so compassionate and generous that her lesser-feeling father had to keep the stores of the family riches locked well away from her, lest she give it all away to every needy passerby she met. It was said that she pleased the gods so well that they meant to reward her virtue by making her as god-like as nature allowed. Thus, they turned the fair princess into a Dragon, the loveliest our kind has ever seen.

“After some time had passed, the Dragon princess fell in love with another Dragon, and it is from that union that those in their bloodline came to possess the ability to change Forms.”
Andria absorbed all this information without interruption, occasionally nodding her head where context deemed appropriate. “Alright,” she said simply, once his tale had been completed. “But what is it about Dragons that you believe is more god-like than any other creature on earth? What makes your Race more favorable than humans?”

“Humph,” the dragon snorted curiously, continuing to thrum his claws against the scales of his cheek. “I would have thought that would appear to be obvious.”

Andria shrugged. “Well, I’ve never met one of you before. I would have to deduce that that is because you are nowhere near as common or numerous as humans are, meaning perhaps that you possess some greater flaw against nature to cause your species to exist in smaller numbers.”

Yuta chuckled. It annoyed him when humans were cocky about their own Race and assumed it to be this great thing, especially when almost none of them had any real understanding of how the rest of the world’s inhabitants lived their lives. Andria, however, was at least attempting to make a valid point, so he humored her. “Well, firstly, I doubt very greatly that in all of your years, you have never encountered a Dragon. Do not forget the point of what I have just explained. We can make ourselves just as human as yourself, so just because you haven’t seen us in our natural Form doesn’t mean we’re not around. And you’re right,” Yuta continued. “Dragons are not as numerous as humans. Now, this does not mean that humans are the superior being of the planet, only that we reproduce much less rapidly than yourselves.”

“Why?” Andria queried. “If your Race is so superior, what keeps you from forming some great Dragon army and overthrowing the humans?”

“Overthrowing you from what?” the Dragon laughed. “What do you have that we could possibly want enough to start a war over? Your little cities? Your gold? Land? Food?”
            Andria shrugged.

“For one,” the Dragon explained, “the priorities of my Race are not so trivial as that of your own. We share this planet, as do you, with every living thing. We don’t need your land. Dragons choose to live either high in the mountains, or in the depths of lakes, rivers, oceans, anywhere with deep water. Such places few things, including humans, venture to anyway. As for food, when we’re hungry, we take it.”

“So what you’re saying is that you steal?” asked Andria in a judgmental tone.
            “That depends entirely on your definition. For example, take myself. When I hunger, I eat fish from the lake, or occasionally hunt for game in the forest when I crave red meat. If there are cattle in a nearby farm, I might take one. It depends on how hungry I am and if I’m in the mood to stage such a feat.” Andria started to protest, but Yuta cut her off before she was able to utter a word, “But when I am in my human Form, I obey the laws of the humans, however silly they are.”

“How are our laws silly?” Andria retorted. “I kind of like our laws. They keep the peace.”

“Silly to me, is what I meant, I guess,” Yuta answered. “Most of your laws revolve around the concept of possession, a perception that is not very familiar to the rest of nature. Those that have the strength and skill to eat do so. It matters not where the food comes from.”

Andria said nothing else, so Yuta went on, “Now, returning to the subject of population. No, Dragons do not breed near as often as humans, and that is mainly because Dragons do not choose Mates as easily as your kind does. We live much longer, and the partners we choose, we typically keep for life. That, and even once a Mate has been found, female Dragons are only physically able to reproduce once every thirty or forty years. And it’s a good thing for you,” he nodded at Andria, shifting his weight slightly. “Dragons are not violent creatures by nature, but if our numbers grew to a point where we were forced to compete with your kind for food, I daresay you and your species would fail miserably.”

As Yuta continued to absently thrum his large, sharp claws against his cheek, flashing two rows of intimidating, pointed teeth easily the size of her forearm every time he opened his mouth to speak, Andria became all-too aware that his predictions were probably very accurate. As Andria was just about to pose another question to the Dragon, Yuta’s face became suddenly hardened. Before she could speak, he held up a great hand to silence her. He sniffed the air, and his eyes darted purposefully overhead, scanning the canopy of brush for something unknown to Andria.

The girl swallowed her words and followed his gaze. Only a few specks of late-afternoon blue dotted the thick curtain of dark green. Suddenly, Andria noticed one hole become shrouded in shadow, then another. They began to flicker overhead, until just as suddenly, the shadows disappeared. From a good distance, the cawing of a bird reached her ears.

“Crows.” Yuta said flatly. His expression remained hard, purposeful.

He was beginning to pick himself up out of the water when a violent tremor shook the ground on which they were both positioned. The cave walls shook violently, sending flecks of rock and moss flying loose onto their heads. Andria instinctively lifted both hands and covered her exposed temples.

 “Miroshi!” Yuta yelled to no one in particular. For a moment, the ground became still, before another great impact shook the cavern again. Loose rocks were falling down on them from the weakening walls in greater quantity. Yuta looked to Andria, as though he were making a decision. I could fight him off, Yuta thought, but there’s a good chance the squishy human might become buried under debris before I return.

A decision having been reached, Yuta quickly snaked out of the water, flexing his spine so that in the flash of an eye, two giant, scaly, white wings had erupted from the ridge of his back. Without saying a word, Yuta seized Andria around the waist, securing her close against his chest, and made a dart for the ceiling. His wings pounded with rhythmic urgency, allowing him to take flight at a rapid speed and break cleanly through the thick blanket of brush overhead.
Once they were out in open air, each opened their eyes and found the same sight. Crows. A gang of more than twenty winged, black fowl were flying in the opposite direction, keeping low to the water and scanning its surface.

In a moment they’ll circle back around, thought Yuta.

Andria’s screams were catching in her throat as Yuta whipped around and began flying at breakneck speed toward a range of distant mountains. “Do…not…scream,” the Dragon whispered close to her ears. He must have felt her trying, or predicted that she might. “I will not drop you, but you must keep quiet until they have lost our trail.”

Andria didn’t speak nor nod, but merely clung to the Dragon’s large fingers for dear life, suppressing the urge to scream with all her might. Below, the ground was receding from beneath them at an alarming rate. The wind whipped wildly around her face, becoming colder every second. She did her best to keep her eyes pressed tightly shut, nearly gagging when it felt as though someone had thrown a large bucket of water at her face. It was then that she looked down and saw a large white cloud fading from view, a singular spot purposefully punctured through it.
She felt the Dragon slow his speed. She was finally able to take a decent breath of air once they were no longer racing at what might have been Mach 5.

She choked.

The air was thin, so thin that for all the effort she was exerting to inhale, she was rewarded with only a minimal amount of actual oxygen. She started to wheeze violently as panicked thoughts began to seize her and less and less air reached her lungs.