She was scared. The giant dragon landed right in front of her and she felt her heart skip. The wind of his wings was slashing all around her on the open field and she felt it was hard to breathe. Although the air was ripped away from her face she couldn't move to hide or catch her breath. The sight of this majestic creature alive and well right infront of her had caught her completely off guard. Dragons were almost extinct and very few people had ever seen one in person. The reptile had finished landing now and looked around. Sheila caught a glimpse of emerald green eyes and sharp black horns.
The scales, some as big as her torso, had a muddy green color, some with darker or lighter variations, and mesmerizing swirls. The fact that she was able to see the color so intensely at night, should've been a red flag, but instead of finally moving down into the tall grass or behind a nearby bush to hide her presence, Sheila just stood and stared. The dragon took a deep breath while turning his head and froze midway through the motion. His nostrils widened and with his head turned in her direction, he stared. When their gazes met, Sheila felt a mind numbing pain that let her fall to the ground. It felt like she bad been ripped apart internally from head to toe. Struggling for every breath, her hands and knees on the muddy ground, she tried to lift her head back to the dragon, but she could only make out the giant scales of his lower body.
~"BOW!" ~
The scales started to change color, turning darker and darker, the swirls moving to draw in her mind. The dragons order had rung through every fiber of her being and Sheila was completely frozen in place, unable to have a coherent thought. She couldn't tell for how long she had been kneeling on the ground when she noticed she could move again and the pain had faded almost completely. Without even looking up at the dragon who had somehow moved infront of her, she jumped up and ran back the way she came.
~"Stop." ~
The full and incredibly deep voice of the dragon spoke in her mind and left her ears ringing. Just like before, Sheila was unable to move further, no matter how hard she tried. Frozen in place she couldn't do much more than wait for other orders from the dragon. She didn't have to wait long.
~"Come here." ~
Involuntarily she turned around and took slow, but steady steps toward the giant dark figure. The dragon had turned his whole body to face her and his wings were slightly opened, so he looked even more dangerous. When she was only a few feet away from the sharp white teeth, which were as big as her forearm, she stopped. The dragon had his mouth slightly open and exhaled, so hot air hit her head on. Sheila wondered if she was going to die right there, just a midnight snack for this king of beasts. She had read about dragons like she had read about raccoons - enough to know what type of animal they were and what they looked like, but nothing beyond that. She didn't know what their natural food source was, but she figured it would have to be a lot bigger than a human, considering the size of that apex predator who was keeping her hostage. A minute ago she also didn't know that dragons were able to use language, so a wild idea formed in her head. If the dragon could use her language he could certainly understand it too, and since he was intelligent she would maybe have a chance to convince him not to eat her. Just looking at the creature infront of her made Sheila realize that negotiation was a sad joke of a plan. Clearly the dragon was able to somehow control her with his thoughts and if he wanted to have roasted human for dinner there was nothing she could say to persuade him to let her live.
"I'm not very nutritious." The words were a wisper in the night air, dripping with fear.
A moment passed where Sheila didn't know if the dragon had even heard her say something. Then she heard the most absurd sound she ever witnessed in her life. Inside her head a multilayered firework of laughter erupted and from the dragons body came a sound like the cries of an eagle but a few octaves deeper. After she tumbled to the ground, this time landing on her butt, Sheila fought the urge to join the chorus of laughter still ringing in her mind. A wave of adrenaline had washed over her and she had almost forgotten how serious the situation was. It felt to her like a nightmare that she was gonna wake up from any second.
"You are funny."
Sheila's heart stopped for a second, then it beat like crazy.
An unsure "Mhm" was all she could muster.
"I am searching for something. Do you know where it is?"
Sheila wasn't even surprised to learn that a mindcontroling, talking dragon was on some kind of quest, because seriously: what else would he do?
The adrenaline high was wearing down and with a limp arm she pointed east, away from the mountains the dragon must've come from.
"That way."
"Thank you."
The dragon turned to his right, where she pointed, and spread his wings. Then he stopped.
"You are trying to trick me. You don't know what I'm looking for!" , he exclaimed while he furiously turned back to her. Suddenly Sheila was not as impressed by the giant snout that came to a stop mere inches from her face. If this dragon was hungry she would've been dead by now.
"How do you know?", she asked.
"Because the other humans I asked died when I tried to send them the image."
Other humans. So he had met other people.
"What other humans? When did you ask them? And where?", Sheila asked in an attempt to make conversation and distract the dragon from his anger. He turned back to her and made himself comfortable on the grass hill they were on.
"I have been on this journey for a long time now and I have met others like you. A few hundred years back, just in this field, I asked the last one for the memories of Arrabeth."
This night was turning into a real life fairy tale, but Sheila was not about to pass this opportunity up. She had no idea how long dragons lived or what the memories of Arrabeth were, but if she was gonna make it through the night alive, she wanted to have a story to tell.
"I have never heard of them", she said.
"But I can help you look for them if you let me go."
The emerald eyes were staring her down. Suddenly Sheila felt very uncomfortable in her wet and muddy wool and leather clothes. She glanced down to escape the piercing look into her soul. Other than a small bag of food and her hunting knife she didn't have anything on her.
"If I let you go..." the dragon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened them again to look across the quiet field and down onto the vast grasslands below the foothills.
"If I let you go you won't be free of me. You will not live a normal life."
Clearly the dragon had immediately guessed her real intentions, but Sheila was confused. Sure, she would tell her family and her close friends about this encounter, but it wouldn't change her whole life.
The dragon must've seen the look of confusion on her face, because he explained further.
"When the minds of our species bind they are bound forever. This bound will grow stronger and stronger until your body will change to adapt to accommodate the shape of my mind.
Simply put: you will turn into a dragon." Sheila was stunned. That was the very last thing she had expected. She frantically tried to remember if she had ever heard anything about this kind of transformation in stories or read it in history books, but no. This was an entirely new fact to her, just like everything else she had learned tonight. A few moments passed were none of them spoke and she had time to collect her thoughts.
"So you're telling me that I'll turn into a dragon."
The dragon bowed his head slightly in agreement.
"Is there anything I can do against that? Can't I destroy this bond?" The dragon thought for a while.
"To destroy the bond we would need the memories of Arrabeth."
Sheila raised an eyebrow. "And this is not a trick to make me help you find these memories?"
"No. Unfortunately not. Arrabeth was one of the wisest dragon elders to ever live and he figured out a way to prevent or cut the bond between dragons and humans. Since he died we lost the knowledge he shared with us and we have kept away from humans to prevent bonding like this." He nodded in Sheilas direction.
