The Dragon's Reward

'Why of all times NOW?!' Valnyk screamed in his mind.

He couldn't feel any pain because of adrenaline, although the inability to use both of his hands set him in a bad predicament. He couldn't use his weapon and couldn't aim at his opponents with his hands.

"Val! Stay there, I'm coming for you!" Valnyk heard his father's shout from afar.

The young boy stared at his father, who fiercely cut through a bunch of mana-beasts with a sword. All of his movements were wasting too much energy, his expression made clear that he was worried about Valnyk's condition.

'And that mana-beast...' Val managed to get on his feet and look around, however, he couldn't see the mana-beast which sent him flying.

"Val, that thing can mask itself! Be careful!" Another shout came from his father, but what could he do? He barely had strength in his muscles to move around.

"Damn it." Valnyk augmented his hands, strengthening his muscles enough to stick his hands in one position.

'Where is that lizard...' he then again looked around, trying to locate the beast with sounds.

Though he later realized the mana-beast didn't even make sounds. He looked back at his father, who fearlessly kept approaching him, on his way slicing small lizards and freezing a few of them to death.

'There are too many of them.' Valnyk wanted to count the number of beasts in the cave, though not only his vision, but just numerous hissing noises didn't make it possible for him to do so.

"F*ck it. I'll burn this cave down." Out of anger, he channeled fire-mana in his legs and spread it on the floor, setting the vicinity in the blaze.

This lightened his surroundings, now he could at least see those small lizards. Many of them were caught in the attack and burned while some survived because they were far from the fire. Seeing the bright flames close to them, lizards screeched and tried to run away.

"Oh no, you don't." A certain angry boy didn't let them and launched another massive attack, this time successfully catching them in range. Smelling the burning skin of mana-beasts, a boy with an already wicked smile looked around searching for more to kill.

'Hm... big lizard hasn't shown himself yet.' His expression soon returned to serious, at the same time the pain was also coming back.

"Val, we have to get out of here. This is an incorrectly classified dungeon!" His father blinked next to him and instantly created a wall of ice.

"Exit is on the other side of the cave." the boy muttered.

"Can you walk?" the father questioned his son, who just nodded in response.

"My muscles gave out, but I can probably last long enough to get out of here with augmentation." Added Valnyk, his father just looked down and tsk-ed in frustration.

*Crack*

Cracks appeared on the ice wall, which separated them from mana-beasts.

"Charge up the attack Val and attack right after the wall breaks." Valnyk nodded at his father's instructions and willed more fire-mana into his legs.

They waited seconds till the wall eventually broke and revealed hordes of lizards piled up on each other trying to attack them. It didn't take long for Valnyk to shoot out fire from his legs.

"Burn." he muttered and willed more mana into his attack, causing the flames to turn white in color.

The results were astounding, the only things left from the beasts were black bones and nothing more. Astonished looks however quickly vanished from their faces as a new horde of lizards quickly made their way towards the duo.

Varlam swiftly created a spike of ice under his feet and shot it towards the lizards. He then grabbed his son and ran up on the ice construct.

"How the f*ck do they even breed?!" he shouted angrily, from the ice construct he could see all the lizards under them. Literally, a sea of lizards with vertical pupils was hungrily staring at the son and father duo.

"You donut, it's not time for this. Run forward!" Valnyk shouted and with the back of his foot, kicked Varlam on the butt.

This snapped out Varlam, who instantly ran towards the exit while also creating footing under him. However, their objective to reach the exit of the cave failed miserably. A big camouflaged lizard made its second debut.

"Shit, it's above us!" cried out Varlam as he dodged the incoming tail of the lizard. Tail smashed on the ice construct.

Valnyk sensed an opportunity, as he conjured fire around his legs. Varlam seeing this put him on the ground, giving some space.

"Time for revenge, ugly lizards," with this said, Valnyk launched dozens of blazing attacks towards the big lizard.

In response, it opened its big mouth and spewed out a green substance. When the liquid made contact with fire, it was too set on the blaze. The liquid was actually flammable.

"Shit." Varlam swiftly conjured ice-wall again, but it wasn't enough to defend against the blazing liquid.

It hit his leg, greatly burning through skin and muscle, while Valnyk received the same damage but only on hand. Their wounds were literally set on fire, but the lizard wasn't going to finish on this.

Shockingly, for both father and son, the lizard once again swung its tail with great force and hit them from the sides. This time both Valnyk and Varlam were sent flying, both of them crashing into the wall.

When they slumped down on the ground, Varlam quickly glanced at his son who was lying unconscious.

"*Cough* Val!" He screamed out and got up ignoring all the pain. He approached the unconscious body of his son, crouching down and he could see the bloodied face of Valnyk.

(Meanwhile in Valnyk's mindscape)

'I'm here again?' thought Valnyk, upon seeing the same sight as years ago.

Staring at nothing less in front of him, a question popped out in Valnyk's mind. Where was the dragon he saw years ago?

"Searching for me youngling?" someone whispered in Valnyk's ear, yet he couldn't see anybody close to him.

'Where is that voice...' The young boy desperately tried to perceive the darkness he was in, but all his attempts were fruitless.

"You won't be able to see me with those eyes of yours," the voice once again interrupted his thought process and gave Valnyk a clue.

He closed his eyes and when opened them again, instead of his human purple eyes, there was one with a vertical pupil and red iris. Now he could see it, the glorious dragon standing in front of him.

"Why are you talking to me only now? I have an emergency matte-" Valnyk was stopped by the dragon, who lowered its head to the same height as him.

"I'm well aware because I feel, experience, perceive everything that you do." stated the dragon, staring in Valnyk's eyes with its own.

"Then why now? I'm dying outside because of this damn thing!" Valnyk screamed, obviously worried about his father and life.

"What can you do even if you are conscious?" The sudden question from the dragon silenced Valnyk, he simply didn't know how to answer. He couldn't do anything.

"Do you know why I brought you here only now?" questioned the dragon.

"I don't know." Valnyk answered briefly.

"Oh well, obviously..." The dragon straightened himself and brought out a big claw, with it the dragon scratched head.

"Young Valnyk Aurae, I brought you here to give you your real self." stated the dragon again lowering its head and continuing to stare in Valnyk's eyes.

"My true self?..." muttered Valnyk, already getting few ideas what the dragon meant.

"As you might have by now realized. Those recollections aren't actually yours, they are in fact of my own. I'm awfully sorry, but I did this to pace up the process." explained the dragon.

"Eight years ago, the day you were born. I manifested in your mindscape as the dragon, however, I already lived once and died in the end. Why was I suddenly in the mindscape of a newborn child?" the dragon continued.

"When darkness began consuming me on my deathbed, I heard a roar of the dragon and command. You can recall it can't you?" Valnyk nodded in response, it was truly hard to forget those words.

'Destroy everything, That is the only mission bestowed upon you.'

"For the first day in your mindscape, I observed everything around me. I quickly came to realize, my soul wasn't the only inhabitant of this young body, the other one was you!" The dragon pointed with its big claw towards Valnyk.

"You were in control of this body, you were the real owner of it. I was simply an abnormality, so to speed up the process of uncovering the mystery behind our existence, I gave you my memories."

"The memories of a soldier who died on the battlefield, that was me. I don't know... how did I come to subsist after my demise? How did I spring up in the body of a toddler? This is why I have a favor to ask, young Valnyk."

"What is it?" questioned a young boy.

"Learn the truth of our coexistence. For this favor, I'm prepared to give you something in return. This reward will help you in your experiences and save you from the present predicaments." The dragon's words lightened the mood in Valnyk, his face shining from excitement.

"I will be the reward for your future, past and present struggles. I will pass down my soul and mind to you, with the assistance of mine, you will get out of these hard circumstances and gain strength to be unparalleled to others."

"The choice is yours, die here or accept and learn the truth," with this said the dragon extended his gigantic hand towards Valnyk for a handshake...

"What will happen to you?" Valnyk asked.

"Eventually this consciousness will perish." the dragon answered truthfully.

"So you will die?" queried Valnyk, as he looked down a little bit sad.

"Don't fret, Valnyk. I gave you my memories and you became me, I will remain in this realm as you. Besides, I already lived the period of time given to me." the dragon reassured the young boy.

"Then, I'm ready." Valnyk put his own hand on the dragon's claw accepting the deal.

"Then it's time for us to say goodbye." the dragon smiled, as its eyes softened.

"Yes, I should hurry and save my father."

_________________________________________________________________________

For a few minutes already, Varlam has been trying to get out of this goddamn dungeon, while carrying his son on his back while being chased down by the horde of lizards, with the enormous one in the lead.

He was in a tough situation, he just physically couldn't fight with weight on his back.

"Sorry Val, but lay here for a second. I'll take care of them quickly," he then proceeded to lay down Valnyk and after doing so, he just cracked his neck, ready to engage in battle.

"Let's get this over with," augmenting his body, he dashed forwards horde of monsters.

Using the ice magic he froze the front of the monsters and after jumping over it, he arrived right next to the boss. It stared down at Varlam with hungry eyes. When it saw its prey right in front of him, it opened its mouth and tried to bite the man, however it wasn't fated to happen.

Varlam sent the ice spike right in the lizard's mouth, this gave him a moment to finish off the monster. He jumped on the immobilized head of the monster and prepared to pierce his sword through its skull, but again how could lizards breed without a partner?

Shockingly, the second lizard removed its camouflage and swung its tail on Varlam, who this time masterfully evaded the attack and side-stepped away. By this time, the first lizard had already broken the ice and joined the second in the assault.

"And here I was wondering how those lizards are breeding, heh," a chuckle escaped Varlam's mouth, as he launched another ice spike towards one of the lizards, successfully hitting it, but not penetrating scales.

"Tsk." Varlam clicked his tongue.

"Hsss." one of the lizards hissed and opened its big mouth as if charging some attack. Subsequently, the lizard again spewed out the same liquid as before.

"Ah, this sh*t again!" he screamed out and jumped away from the incoming attack, some of the liquid was still spewing on his legs though. His previously burnt leg was in the worst condition, but now with this acid-like liquid added to it again, Varlam most likely will lose the leg.

"Fuck..." From the pain, Varlam lost his footing and fell on his knees. Using ice magic didn't help in removing this acid from the leg and all his attempts were futile.

When he looked up, he only saw two lizards looking down on him. Their hungry eyes and hissing sent chills down his spine, was he going to die? With his son that is. He glanced in the direction where he placed Valnyk... but the ice wall he placed around him melted.

"Shout from the soul, driving everyone weaker than you into a state of despair... with the addition of mana. It becomes even more intense." a chilly voice interrupted a little quarrel between lizards and Varlam.

"Father, brace yourself." Varlam now could see his son walking next to him, with longhorns materializing on his head.

[Dragon's Awakening, Phase One: Dragon's Fear.]