i love the heart of yours that loved me

scarlet red

day 1 of kbweek 2023: sleep/dragon

in which aguero encountered a heilong.
__

across the sky that day, aguero spotted a new creature.

with the sleek body of a snake, it lounged itself through cloudscapes with ease; its iridescent scales mirroring the brilliance of a sunbeam, and its head boasted the mane of a lion.

and atop the regal head rested the elegant horns of a deer, there was no doubt that he was in the presence of a dragon.

he pondered if this dragon belonged to the four benevolent beasts: the long, the qilin, the turtle, or the fenghuang. aguero gazed in its direction, mesmerized by its tail playfully weaving soft peaks in the clouds.

he wondered, what was the dragon's purpose? was it here to maintain the orders of the rivers? or perhaps hatching rain? there was no room for thoughts when it noticed him from far, far away, and decided to pay aguero a visit.

a gentle wind brushed by, and this time, he welcomed its touch.

such beautiful golden eyes, aguero admires.

he bowed his head as his knees buckled to the ground, gripped his hands on his lap, and aguero's ultramarine eyes shut tight.

"hello there," the creature spoke in a friendly manner; "what are you bowing for?"

aguero looks up from his position for a while, before carefully answering the creature's question, "i am bowing to you, of course" he stated.

"is that so?" the creature replies, "i have never greeted anyone like that, is it the way you do when meet others?"

"i supposed not," aguero responded, "even for the king, this kind of position was still too much."
"i'm no king, and i supposed you're not too." the dragon then said, "so why won't you resort, and we could greet each other like normal?"

aguero hesitated for a moment, contemplating the dragon's words. with a small glance at the creature, he slowly rose from his bowing position and straightened his back. the dragon's eyes twinkled with amusement, its expression unreadable

"you're right," aguero admitted with a small smile. "i apologize for my gesture; it was just my way of showing respect to..you know."

"ah.." the dragon nodded, seemingly understanding, "is it because of this form that i now take?"

for a split second, and a thousand beams of light later, aguero found himself standing before a young man.

brown hair tangled in the wind, and when the dragon..boy? opened his eyes, aguero knew it was the same creature he had previously encountered.

those honey molten eyes don't lie.

"hello, again." the creature scratch its head as it chuckled, "i'm baam, the twenty-fifth baam, and you are?"

he held his hand to aguero, who took it without a care in the world.

"i'm aguero, khun aguero agnes." aguero smiled warmly, "it's delighted to make your acquaintance."

it was like everything was destined, from the moment we met.

aguero squinted his eyes, he had a feeling, just a gut feeling.

that he wouldn't be letting go of baam's hand anytime soon.