An old dragon`s intrest

My body feels cold, my thoughts they foggy, it doesn't hurt anymore, Finally freedom, their eyes filled with tears and regret, I tell them it`s alright that it`s what I wanted, what I needed.

they don't understand, why would they, I can tell but its fine in time they will I am sure of it, its peaceful now, silence is sweat to the ears after so long the voices have stopped, I feel... happy peace fills my body.

"Father…you don't deserve this…"

I see a boy he could`nt be older then 16, mi-long dark brown hair and a face filled with resolve, but there is a hint of sadness he then kneels and whispers words I cannot comprehend

It feels like an apology

Then again, pain, it burns I can feel it it`s real even though I know…

It's all a dream

_____________________________________________________

I wake up in sweat, screaming

Dammit that dream again…why do i keep having this dream… I stand up from my bed and then walk up to the balcony door the sun is rising and the sky is a warm orange, I open the door, a white crow jumps down from the balcony down the cliff and glides down below the clouds

You don't see such a bird everyday huh?

I lean on the wooden barrier and look down, the clouds below me are sparse today I can see the town bellow even at such an hour its bustling with activity its as if it was midday, the festival is coming again…the pilgrims will be making the climb tomorrow, some might even make it today

I sighed loudly

I really hate this festival, I mean who make a festival about a still living being right?

A festival of peace… how ironic.

After a light chuckle i stop wasting time, crack my back and start to get ready, I put on a loose kimono, I look at myself in the mirror a tall man is reflected he appears to be in his 30`s with an unremarkable face,he has long messy dark brown hair, green eyes, and a messy short beard, and he has a scar over his left eye.

I slide my finger along the vertical line and chuckle lightly remembering times long gone

I head to the kitchen and grab a small loaf of bread baked the night prior, ``its stale`` i think as i exit the house grabbing a long wooden staff that was next to the exit i then sit down on the porch stairs

It is lonely up here but ive long gotten used to it, altough I previously thought that I hated this festival in reality I enjoy the companie I get this time of years, sure they are some religious fanatics but once i shut them up it gets quite enjoyable ive also noticed that less and less of said fanatic have been showing up over the last few years, perhaps words are finally going around that I dislike them but I doubt it, perhaps the religion is dying out or something, I honestly don't care, no matter how much good they have done.

I started eating breakfast after finishing talking to myself

The stale bread is good but I am starting to wish I had something to go with it

As I was getting annoyed at the bread I noticed an exhausted young man appear in my vision towards the steps that are used to climb the mountain he is around 10 meter in front of me he was panting heavily, he looked so exhauster it almost looked like he ran the whole way, but that would be impossible for such a young feeble looking man, he looks to be barely at adulthood the age when man and woman are allowed to do their first pilgrimage

Our eyes meet and he stops breathing he had a victorious face for a moment but he quickly started to cry while falling to his knees

"I did it! waaaaaaaaa!!!"(Young boy)

Geez, that's not what I expected…wait what did I even expect anyway?

He wiped his nose and stood up straight, he already seemed to have recovered from his emotional state and physical exaustion

"Well thats curious..."

What a weird kid, I thought as he began walking towards me, he stopped at about 3 meters inhaled deeply then he bowed down at a 90 angle and said

"Please, take me as your apprentice!"(Young boy)

And sometimes you get kid`s like this one sometimes on a quest for power, revenge or fame they hear stories and get draw here, as much as I would love to have companie I have learned that teaching people is not my forte and that its not a good idea to train kids on a quest for glory, it never ends well, sometimes I even get dragged into some annoyingly complicated situation

But honestly I am quite bored lets humor him for a bit, and perhaps...no iim not starting this again

"So tell me why should I take you in? A random kid that invited himself over, tell me honestlym tell me why, I will know if you lie boy"

"Well you see, my family was killed by bandit, I want to become strong so I can kill the bandits and perhaps maybe continue hunting bandits afterward"(Young boy)

His voice dint sound honest and the way his eyes barely managed to look into mine, just showed me he was lying his ass off

"well if that's the case…you don't really need me do you? lets be real here you have at least a vague understanding of who I am or what I am if you came here, you and I both know, bandit hunting really isn't why your here"

"I! no! i… you`re right…the truth is that, hum, its that pretty much all the nobles in my country are rotten pigs that desire nothing but grow their own pocket and care not for how the people are affected by their selfishness I want to overthrow the country and get rid of them"(Young boy)

He wasn't lying, well at least not completely it seems he`s not doing this at all to become a hero, for fame or anything like that, its weird revenge isn't it?

"look if its revenge you desire I won`t help you some people are ready to go to extreme length to get such revenge and it ends up hurting a lot of people, when in a quest for revenge never ever mix innocent people into the mix, you might create an endless cycle, ive seen it happen before"

The boy looked down most likely in anger perhaps disapproval, maybe even acceptance…wait is he blushing?

"Oh god its so embarrassing.... The truth is there`s a boy I love and i want to save him he`s been imprisoned by corrupt nobles and he`s being used like a puppet, ive read stories of knight saving princesses all my life ive always loved them I know I am not feminine or a princess so all i can do to live such a fantasy is to be the knight in shining armor"(Young boy?)

What did he…he`s a she? i looked closer at his face and i then noticed it wasnt masculin at all in fact it was quite pretty and feminine, well that's a surprise for sure…not as much as why they want me to train them though ,that`s… such a childish reason…im curious…no you cant restart this buddy… im so bored though...…god dammit shes not lying not even a tiny bit, but it…could be fun right? fine.

"You`re serious geeze fine"

Her eyes that were beaming with passion while she was talking about knight and princesses turned to joy

"But first I must ask what do you know of me ?"

"Some things here and there"(Young girl)

"…like what?"

"Well first while i was reading about ancient heroes in the public libraries i stumbled on one of the stories about you then I kept finding more and more stories about you in books or random stories while I followed the trails-"

"wait, what trails?"

"I was getting there, I followed random folklore and legends about heroes after deciding to travel to gain experience about the world ,while I was doing that I met some people claiming to be in an organization related to you and that they had heard I was tracking you they gave me a pendant and told me where I could find you"

She then pulled out a metal pendant from her pocket

This metal pendant had the shape of a shield with a backward seven with a vertical line going through the middle engraved on it, that symbol is an ancient draconic symbol symbolizing an Eternal Sacrifice

…the Ancient Draconic written language is a language that was never thought to mortals and will never be as even amongst the dragons it is a dead language only the oldest and leaders amongst dragons know it and it is taboo to teach it amongst living being as it is far beyond just a language, the words written can infuse, give or create things in an unnatural way and it is seen by many gods that its existence is an affront to heaven itself …I in fact, am the only originally non-dragon to ever learn it and it is going to stay that way ill make sure of it

In other words that pendant should not exist before my very eyes there as been less then 20 dragons to ever learn it in the last 25 000 years and the amount of living dragons that know it right now should only be able to be counted on your hands

The pendant doesn't appear to have the effect it should meaning the artisan that made them definitively do not know the meaning behind that word plus its implication.

Owning said pendant is actually quite a great sin in the eyes of the dragons as it is a symbol given to one that has sacrificed themselves to the point it will hurt them for eternity even beyond reincarnation a sacrifice that has damaged their soul, to be exact it has the power to give true immortality to anyone that have been engraved by it plus a gift chosen by the engraver

But the symbol cannot achieve full power unless a part of the engraved souls has been damaged or destroyed completely I am the only one that has ever reseved said symbol it was engraved on the forehead of my soul through magic manipulation, it is mostly painless

The young girl noticed a shift in my expression the moment she pulled out the pendant

"Please hand this over to me you should not have this nobody should…this item will get you hunted down by many dragons…me included"

She was surprised as I had a complet 180 in my expression and the fact she feltlike she was about to die or so I though, apparently she was more surprised about the fact I said ``most dragon including me``

"wait what?!, I never heard about you being a dragon in any of the stories ive heard or read!"(Young girl)

I sighed, ive been sighing a lot lately maybe taking her in will ease my boredom enough to stop sighing so mutch

"look you must be tired from the trip to come up here, come inside and ill explain to you some things before I decide if ill take you in or not"

Little did she know I already am taking her in hehe im so evil…what`s wrong with me lately? Seriously…

I went inside and looked back when I realised she dint follow

"please come in?"

She then pumped herself up by slapping her cheeks and walks in, she then proceeds to looks around curiously

"You can sit at the table ill be right there in a second"

I come back moments later with more stale bread and two glass of water

She seemed hesitant, once again I was mistaken

"Wow! It`s really not like how I imagined it at all but I can`t believe im in the ancient heroes house and that he`s offering me food and water!"

Please don't tell me she speaks to herself all the time like this

"Please give me the pendant, then ill explain to you what exactly it is"

She hands the pendant to me with a sad expression, I don't understand her I literally just told her she would be hunted down by dragons if it was me I would have thought that its not worth the trouble for just a silver pendant

"You see this symbol? It`s actually ancient draconic for eternal sacrifice its given to living being that have sacrificed themselves and a part of their soul it is a great sin to the dragons to wear such a symbol without deserving it"

"It also allows the dragon inscribing the symbol to gift whatever they own that isn't physical, for example a power, a bloodline, literal life span and so on there`s no limit, the gift I received was the bloodline of the dragon`s royal family in turn making me a full fledge dragon while making me immortal, the symbol was initialy created to give a dragon that had a heroes death a gift for his or her next reincarnation all that was 25 000 years ago and i have never really talked about it, well only to around a couple hundread people over the millenia`s"

I left out some critical information out on purpose in case she gets any funny idea

"Wow that`s amazing" (Young girl)

"The ancient Draconic language is a taboo and the amount of dragons that can write it nowaday can be counted on your fingers simply because of what it can potentially do, I hope you understand that dragons that see a symbol of the ancient will attack you on sight they may not understand the language but they know how to differentiate it from normal written language it is still draconic after all"

Although she seemed confused, I believe she understood but seeing her fixated on the pendant made me feel the need to ask her

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do it is a dangerous language in the wrong hands is what you are saying right?"(Young girl)

"pretty much yes but evn in the right hand is bad since humans love to pass on anything intresting,i mean even I don't use it, I know how to read and write it but… id prefer never having to use it"

"Sir Ancient hero? will you please teach me, and take me as your apprentice?"

The way she asked was nice and sincere

"I already decided I would from the moment I heard your childish reason, young knight you peaked my interest,so you can call me Leiyto from now on, so whats your name?"

Her face illuminated with joy

"Thank you! You wont regret it! My name is Samuel bu you can me Sami, Sir Leiyto!" (Sami)

"Haha…we will see Sami"