THE BEAST

Taming or being tamed

The sky looked sleepy at dawn. Distant sounds of crickets buzzed outside and a lush smell of soil and wood filled the air. It was raining softly. The sound of the raindrops gently tapping on the window was what woke Maya up. 

Maya slowly opened her eyes, feeling Egar's breath on her face, warm and smoky. Maya could even see the dragon's eyelids flutter in his sleep, probably chasing the image in his wild dreams. 

Maya looked at Egar's face in a pale light of dawn. She couldn't believe the beast was actually more than a thousand years old. His human form looked like he was the same or even younger than Maya - does that mean dragons usually live much longer? Maya was lost in her thought as the dragon murmured unintelligibly in his sleep, his lips slightly apart. 

Egar groaned again softly in his sleep, his face suddenly distorted. 

"No......" The beast muttered as if he was in pain. His body tensed up and the beast clenched his fist, hard. 

He must be having a bad dream, Maya realized. 

Maya hesitantly stretched out her hand and placed it on top of Egar's hair. She patted the beast gently, afraid of waking him up too suddenly. Her fingers stroked the smooth hair, lightly.

Egar sighed, his body relaxing little by little. Soon, his breathing became deep and rhythmic. Maya kept on patting Egar, thinking that for the first time, she actually felt like she was taming the beast in some way - which was another way around most of the time. 

She could have kept on patting Egar for the whole day, just listening to the calming rainfall outside. However, the peace was broken when an urgent message began to appear from the top of her staff. 

Maya yelped, leaping to her desk to catch the staff and running outside the room. The beast was still undisturbed, sleeping soundly. 

"Hello??" Maya whispered outside the dormitory corridor, opening the message. 

"Maya-! My goodness, are you alright?" 

It was her parents. They must have heard everything from the council and the school by now - about her less than desirable familiar summoning event. 

"I'm alright. Don't worry about me."

"How could we not worry about you? The beast, how could you have summoned something like that?"

"I really have no idea. I was just practicing for my school exam...and I just happened to name him before I knew he was literally a dragon." 

A long sigh came from the other end of the message. 

"The beast is alright? Is he violent? Did he try to hurt you in any way?" 

Maya thought back to the beast sleeping in her room. Kissing doesn't count as hurting, Maya guessed.

"No...not really. He's fine. Just an old creature really."

"You can't trust a dragon though. They are known for their deceiving quality and love for violence and murder - it is bound to follow its instinct sooner or later."

"Yeah...I will keep an eye on him. I named him so he is under my command for now though," Maya scratched her head. Although she felt like she was the one following the beast's command most of the time. 

"Speaking of the Code of Vocamen, we heard from the council that they are figuring out how to break that ancient spell. And right after the code is broken, the council is planning to kill the dragon for real this time." 

"...What????" Maya's voice rang loudly in the empty corridor. Maya looked around and whispered into the staff again -

"What??"