Epilogue

What happened with Furia and Patrick after their banishment?

Epilogue

 

Nights were darker than usual… back in Texas I had a whole city to admire before falling asleep, lit up as if the whole land was infested with fireflies. Planes also were nice to see every now and then, with their red blinker lights. Here in the island, one could just see faint spots of firelight surrounded by darkness. Even with my keen night vision, it was just too dark. Surrounded by the kind of darkness that blinds you completely. The kind of darkness that reminds you what you want to forget. The kind of darkness that reminds you what you lack. It wasn’t until my own memories broke me down every night… forcing me to roar my lungs out… crying my misery away so that I could fall asleep.

 

Mornings were bothersome and dull… forced me to wake up and put up to the s**t my life was. Stretching was a bother… hunting was a bother… drinking water was a bother… Seeing all other dragons in the island having a blast at the beach and the sea and… pretty much all around the f*****g place… All of them just went about their every whim without second thoughts. Even if I needed to speak to another dragon, they simply wouldn’t be capable of understanding what I would tell them. It only made my loneliness even deeper to know I wouldn’t even relate with a dragon ever again.

 

Afternoons were no more than extensions of the morning. And even worse… dragons must be in constant exercise, it’s instinctive, dragons simply can’t afford to become fat and be unable to fly and hunt. It’s like an itch that can’t be ignored, it becomes harsher and harsher the more you try to let it pass until you can’t take it anymore and get your a*s off the ground to do some flying and running until light exhaustion. I was constantly on the wait for the night and hoped heartedly not to wake up to the next day.

 

Interaction with other dragons happened from time to time, but it didn’t last longer than some other dragon inviting me to a gathering, a hang out or something and me refusing coldly.

 

Eventually, I got used to doing the training exercises Icy, David, Mantra and Dani had taught me for the Kansas Selections… I had to do something after all.

 

Every morning I did my racing training routine and finished with a kill for lunch, having the afternoon then to nap and swim at the beach. At least this routine focused more in somewhat enjoyable deeds I relate happy memories with.

 

I saw Patrick every now and then… hunting with Vital Energy or simply going about… always by himself. Even though we were split apart, we could feel each other and thus I didn’t need to ask to know how still pissed off he was at me. I wanted to apologize for what I had told him the day of the attack in Missouri… but I never dared touch his mind when he was so fiercely enraged. If I was gone, he would probably get to miss me over time; but in this case, with my presence constantly in his mind, the memories of my betrayal refreshing themselves over and over again… I doubted he would ever leave all that behind us.

 

I was getting used to this place… to its simplicity. Many of the things that were important in the continent were simply inexistent here. I was getting used to the way things moved in this place and I was starting to move on as well. To think how cast aside I felt in the beginning while today I even started to meet up a lot with a specific dragon named Lagio. Still… there was one thing I couldn’t get used to… Patrick was starting to feel more eased as well. He didn’t try to touch my mind once, nor did I his, though many times I pondered about doing so… stopped by fear to reignite Patrick’s anger.

 

The more nights passed, the less I longed Patrick’s presence on my back… how delightfully uncomfortable it was to need to change position in the middle of the night and deciding to stay put not to wake up my Rider. The more mornings passed the brighter the sun shone and grew my eagerness to do better at my routine. The more afternoons passed, the bigger my circle of friends, both dragons and riders, they accompanied me during my exercises and I taught them how to be faster. We swam at the beach and pretty much roamed about without a care.

 

An afternoon I was flying over the plains the herds used to be at to pick a kill for lunch. My friends weren’t near, for it’s not a good idea for groups of dragons to hunt closely, all in order to avoid accidentally aiming at the same prey. We always get back together after eating, so… I was diving for the kill, had selected a bull that lost a fight competing against the alpha male… won’t be missed at all if you ask me.

 

Suddenly, a dark red smoky spear pierced through my target’s side of its head and dissipated to a puff of smoke as it exited the head of the bull, scaring the herd to run away into a stampede. Startled as well, I pulled up hard and landed next to the corpse.

 

Furia?

 

It was that one voice I wasn’t ready to hear. I looked around and saw him in the common villager outfit twenty meters away, dissipating the crimson smoke from his hands and greeting me with a surprised expression on his face.

 

Patrick?

 

Memories started to rush up like raising smoke made by flames of hatred and fueled by the gas of vengeance, both his and mine in the unison until suddenly…

 

You… you were hunting that?... Patrick asked me as everything turned back to blank and easing up.

 

As surprised as I was, I answered through a hard lump in my mind, almost with an absent and inexistent voice…

 

I… I… yeah, but… you can take it… I can always pick a new one.

 

Patrick then started to walk toward me and began saying…

 

You know, Furia? There’ll be a gathering tomorrow night… I’ll have to kill various animals and have them picked with a cart… nothing too big, just a couple o’ friends and food and drinking, both dragons and riders will attend. Maybe you can drop by and we can… you know… catch up.

 

Patrick’s chillness started to get into my head and more than surprised I was growing more and more eased, grateful and joyful about having a small talk with my best friend.

 

I’d love to, Pat.