A Dragon's Treasure

Chapter 6 - Who are You?

Roman had managed to find his way back to the kitchen after his bath. He had happily relaxed in the water, eaten, and then helped Janus more until he was too tired to do anything before falling asleep. The next few days went like that, Roman being pushed to his brink physically, but always getting the reward of the bath in the morning. If he was being honest, doing manual labor was a nice break for once. His life in the castle had predominantly been studying he had had to prepare for his role of king. It got boring, and though manual labor wasn't as creatively enriching as he hoped, it did afford him the time to sing to himself or tell stories to pass the time. His mind was able to wander but he continued to remind himself that he had to stay on guard. Remus was a challenge he didn't want to face. He was able to avoid him over the week, but Roman was still trying to figure out what the dragon was planning with a copy of him.

Even if he didn't live in the castle, Roman wanted to protect his people.

Janus finally told him that he had helped as much as he could for now and was free to do whatever he wanted. What Roman wanted was to figure out what the dragon had planned, what use could he have for Roman, but he didn't even know where to start. He ended up exploring the caves most of the day. It was uneventful and didn't give him any further insight, but he felt more comfortable knowing a bit more about his surroundings. He felt mildly satisfied as he settled into his bed for the night, expecting a satisfying rest as he had had every night before.

He wasn't expecting to be woken up only a few hours after falling asleep.

"I have questions and you are going to answer them."

Remus was sitting on top of him, and Roman attempted to shove him off. "Get off of me cretin!" He scrambled to sit up, Remus' wide eyes staring at him.

"Answers, now!"

"Who attacks someone in their sleep to ask questions?"

"Who avoids their twin for a week? Oh right, spineless little jellyfish."

Roman groaned. "If I answer your stupid questions will you let me go back to sleep?"

Remus nodded and Roman preceded to rub his face slowly. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Who are you?"

"I am Roman Soterios, Prince of Nevarci, who are you?"

Remus rolled his eyes, "that doesn't tell me who you are, that just tells me your title dumbass. I want to know who you are, why you look like me, I want inside your skin!"

"I don't understand what you mean!"

Remus sighed and rolled his eyes, again. "I am the son of a dragon. I was found in the forest as a baby. I like exploring things and learning about this weird world we have and once when I was a kid I thought I was a dragon and tried to jump out of a tree. That's who I am."

The confusion was written all over Roman's face but he opened his mouth. "Um, I am the son of the king and queen. I was born and raised to be the next heir to the throne. I have been taught about world politics and cultures since my birth, and when I was a kid I thought I would be able to slay a dragon to prove I was a hero."

Remus obviously wasn't satisfied with that answer, but he moved on to what seemed to be more important to him. "Rude, what did the dragons ever do to you?"

"Hey! I was raised to believe that dragons are vile and vicious creatures. That their only goal is to exploit their own selfish desires."

"So?"

"So, so that's not noble, and they have so much power that they could easily hurt others in their desire for selfish gain."

"And yet somehow a bunch of humans killed most of them."