Belly of the Beast

Patrick, Furia, and the warriors of the Dragon Society have finally arrived to the Bermuda Triangle... where everything will end.

Belly of the Beast

Inside the Bermuda Triangle, tension could be smelled in the air, itching like if it was some kind of irritating smoke. Everyone at every moment, unless it was a special situation, was indoors. Only Furia and I stood outside on the deck. She saddled up at all times, and I always near her, wearing my flying goggles.

The ship was coursed to the center of the Triangle. According to the Dragon Society, there was an island where the dragon eggs were stacked and guarded by the Government. We had some concern about the number of dragons I'd have to take down. There were, at this very moment, four dragons existing: The Government Elder's Dragon, the actual Government's Head's Dragon, and The Junior's Dragon… The fourth was Furia.

The thing was that we didn't know the actual cycle the Government was going through at this moment: The Junior could be right now a young man, plus his father, the Head, would be in a still strong age; which meant… I would be facing a Dragon and a Dragon Rider, plus his dragon… Or the junior might be just a little kid; everything would fall on the Head's Dragon all alone. Now the Elder's Dragon and him himself might and might not count, he could be all like "my son's dragon will handle this, I'll just watch with my grandson", or he could be "two dragons and a rider are enough, plus I'm too old for that crap", or the worst case scenario: "F**k my age! I'll ride along!".

One afternoon, the spotters sighted land where we were expecting it to be. The captain got the ship as close as possible to the island. Furia and I were staring at it when James approached me and handed me a radio.

-The captain has ordered that you must scout the island first.

-Is he aware of the risks?

-Let's say kind of...

-So he's out for gambling someone else's life. Tell him I'm going to do it my way then.

-Well… how?

I glared at Furia, made a quick eye contact and looked back to James.

-At nightfall…

We'll fight on our own backyard… She acknowledged.

A few hours later the sun had died, the island became a huge shadow and the piece of ocean between the ship and the island became as dark as dirt. After a quick warm up, I climbed onto Furia. Her tail snaking with energy, her legs flexing up and down alternately with excitement, her neck arched up and her mouth slightly open, exhaling puffs of black smoke, as I strapped myself to the saddle.

This is the day! This is the f*****g day! Furia said with a tough tone.

Are we ready for this!? I asked…

Furia fast paced and jumped with a loud roar.

-F**k yeah! -I yelled.

Furia gained altitude and flew fast towards the island, but without urgency, she had to save her best energies for the fight. I was leaning forward, my arms stretched back and hands wide open; mind clean and feeling Furia's senses. Then we saw it…

The dragon rose up from the darkness of the island like a white ghost. I felt chills on my back as it straightened toward us. It was getting nearer and nearer every second. When I managed to see its face through Furia's vision, I went to mine and got ready for battle.

Let's give him Hell! Furia yelled along with a roar.

I generated a Spear and took aim at the dragon; suddenly it made an evasion maneuver and became a hard to pick target, making me fail my shot. It flew underneath us as Furia tried to reach him with her flames. She made a closed curve and began pursuit. Having seen it relatively close, that white dragon was noticeably bigger than Furia. It made an up loop and was now diving towards us. It exhaled fire at us, but Furia evaded it by diving forward. Once again balanced, the dragon was then pursuing us. I leaned completely backwards and rained daggers at its face. It shrieked all of a sudden and flew downwards shaking its head from one side to another.

I think I got its eye! This is our chance!

Let's finish this!

Furia looped backwards and got us diving towards the dragon. She powered the dive with wing strokes. The dragon twisted and received Furia's tackling. We were now falling, the two giants trying to rip from the other a piece of meat, be it by claws or jaws.

From Furia's back I couldn't reach the dragon with a sword, but I quickly proceeded to throw him a Spear… from this close it would be devastating. My smoky weapon penetrated the dragon's chest, making it squeal horribly. Furia took advantage of my intervention and bit the dragon's neck right under its head, and with a twist of hers, she snapped its neck broken. The battle reached its finale.

Furia opened her wings and slowed our fall. The body continued its travel and met the ocean with a tremendous splash.

-Yeah!

When Furia tried to roar with me, she grunted of pain. I felt it as well, as if it was my own. It made me grunt hardly.

S**t! Are you hurt? I asked her.

He got me good on the stomach…

Can you make it back to the ship?

Furia grunted again. I don't think so… We'll have to land on the island…

Furia headed to the island, every wing stroke a new nail being hit into her belly. I unstrapped myself on the way; once we landed I would take action wasting no time. When Furia finally landed on the beach and collapsed to her side, I went down and saw a huge laceration on her belly. As quickly as it was an instinct, I went closer, put my hands on the wound; that made her grunt very hard, I reached for my energy and prepared to release it.

I saw Furia's wound slowly close up and heal as I grew tired. It wasn't a deadly wound, though it left me panting very hard. I let myself collapse to the ground, and then I took the radio.

-The beach is secured! - I dropped the radio to the sand and laughed.

We did it! We did it! We both yelled, but I was doing it outside of my mind as well; I was simply so joyful. I crawled to Furia and hugged the tip of her nose.

I threw myself backwards and ended up lying on the sand, right in front of her.

We just did it… I can't believe how it sounds. I commented.

Yeah… All this time talking about getting here, and all of a sudden… we are here.

How do you feel?

I'm alright; you are one hell of a doctor…

Thanks… It bugs me that we found just one dragon…

And I didn't see anything while we landed.

The other dragons might be at the other end of the island.

They better keep it that way. As long as they do, they won't bother me… yet… I'll take a nap.

Rest well. That was badass flying back there.

A few moments later I couldn't feel Furia's conscience; I was all alone. I took the liberty of just wonder off in my mind. Her phrase "… all of a sudden… we are here" bounced in my thoughts.

I can remember everything that had happened, all the time it took us to be ready for this, and now it only takes me a minute to revive it all. After all that we have been through… we are here. We are the first ones in who-knows-how-long to step on this sand. We were the ones required for this to be accomplished, but… since when? When did I become the man for the job? When I found Furia's egg? Or since… earlier? I knew Clyde since long before… No! This wasn't written nor planned nor nothing! I made the decisions! Furia and I did the training! This is our achievement against all odds! But everything takes its place so well… I frowned to the sky… There is no destiny, nor there are any plans… there are just the ones who give up… and the ones who stand up… as simple as that.