Kingdoms of Ohm: The Lonely Dragon #1 ✓

I Need You Alive

"No, no... don't dampen your spirit, Vaanku. It's going to be alright-"

"B-But our... hatchlings..."

Nayre closed her eyes, shedding a tear and gave another lick across my bloodied cheek. "I'll tell them. Just rest... Don't worry about me..."

I leaned in close trying to whisper just to her. "You're all... I've... ever w-worried... a..."

Darkness. The world slipped from hold. Every sense, every thought, every breath, blink, and heartbeat known and unknown ceased in a snap. And the frail, broken body I writhed within fell limp along with it.

Gone. Lost.

Dead.

I didn't know what happened. There was nothing here, nothing I could do that is. All that stood before me was a void of blackness that stretched indefinitely in all directions. But I couldn't move anywhere. All I could do was stare deep down into its horizon, and watch.

Until something strange happened. Something was here, watching me.

Something spoke.

It is not your time, young drake... I need you to fight. 

I need you alive. For me...

A sudden warmth drew into me, a sensation similar to molten rock, which burned me from the inside out. The dark world around me quaked, and I squeezed my eyes shut, whimpering in fright. My senses began to tingle, as if on high alert, and the burning anguish in my eyes flared outward, rippling through my brain. I cried out and twitched, panting as my body returned from the grave. And, in the final moments of this emptiness, the voice returned for one final say:

Now, up I say!

Up!

My armored claws suddenly burst straight through the grassy earth, unsheathing violently as they sought the blackened skies. A single bolt of lightning illuminated the region, and dribbles of cold, crisp rainwater splashed over my freed limb, offering the promise of a midnight storm.

I've never felt so cold before. So exposed.

So... weak...

Slamming the limb into the ground, three of my blackened talons curled into the cold, mushy soil of an evergreen forest, and pulled. It was my head that escaped the raw underground first, spilling into the howling wind of the midnight storm, and piercing the cool rains that followed it. It didn't take long before I retched, jerking my neck hard, and puked out a sort of blackened bile, reeking of my stomach acid, earthen meat, and blood.

Trembling upon the ground, my aching blue head lifted to the heavens, eyes squinting as they sought out the nearest light. On rare occasions did the bolts of lightning give me some leeway to explore my surroundings, but a single second was all I had before the darkness returned. It didn't offer me much joy to look upon. So I sealed my eyes shut, and flared my nostrils, enraptured the beauty of the living world -- the taste of freshwater upon my parched tongue, the coolness of the storm that shook the forest above me, even the first breath of oxygen I took.

I'm alive.

I let it all in through a single moment, and exhaled with relief. But this joy didn't last long.

As I continued to crawl my way out of the grave, a fireball of anguish exploded from my stomach, forcing me to gasp. My glowing eyes peered at my underbelly, not seeing much else other than the dirt that collected beneath me, and moved on. It only magnified the further I pushed, and it wasn't until I fully resurfaced that this fire inside reached excruciating proportions. My teeth tightened, jaws snapping shut as a forced growl left my throat.