An Open Heart

Kalor was a magnificent dragon. Even to her peers, she was a beauty. Deep blue scales refracted light in such a way that in every setting, she was a jewel. Her only competition was Indra, the emerald dragon. Indra was humble, whereas Kalor flaunted herself. They were known as the gems of Mountain Gods. Many legends had been passed down generations about the origins of their kind, but now nobody truly knew. Although, Kalor wondered if not the mermaids had a secret record deep under water.

But spotting a mermaid was like tasting a rainbow—tempting but unfeasible. Kalor found them fascinating, as she had no way of being under water.

On a sunny day, Kalor circled a lake, hoping this would be the day she caught a glimpse. As she glided in the sky, carried by the wind, she admired the forest reflected in the water. Remarkable. Once she was satisfied, she set off to the mountains.

Snowy peaks frosted the air; Kalor inhaled like a connoisseur, huffing out smoke in appreciation. Delicious. She could never have enough of it.

Many dragons preferred places far from a certain pest that had troubled them. Strange bipeds called humans, with weapons that posed serious danger to dragons, despite humans being so small a single bite would slice them in half. Kalor could probably kill one with a single claw. She had never needed to try.

As she moved over a valley, she saw a flock of wild horses. This morning Indra had hunted a couple of oxen for their breakfast, so Kalor let the horses be.

Returning to her beloved lake, Kalor made an abrupt stop. There was a human on the big rock she liked to sit on to catch the sun. Snout twitching, she flapped in the air. Well, that was rather impudent! A small thing like that daring to claim a dragon’s spot!

She flew closer, thinking that she should either eat or scare the human. It would probably make a filling snack. But now that she saw one so close, it didn’t look very meaty. And yet, several dragons swore that they tasted exquisite.

The human opened its eyes, perhaps reacting to the breeze generated by Kalor’s wings as she hovered. Perhaps it was the shade she cast.

Staring at her, the human remained as it was. She tilted her head. Most creatures shrieked and ran at the sight of dragons. Poor thing must have been rendered petrified. Now, the question was to eat or not to eat? It was never any fun to eat something that would not be chased. Kalor had hated it ever since she was small. She had found a rabbit in the forest and had jumped out to hunt it, but it had remained as it was, staring at her with big round eyes. Finding prey adorable was a big tactical miss for any respectable predator, but she had not been able to help it, and had flown away.

Somehow, this human made her feel the same.

Finally, it moved, distracting her from the memory. It only jerked a bit, then held its stomach as if it was in pain and lied back down.

Kalor felt uneasy, and landed on the rock, careful not to squash the frail little thing. She poked it with her snout to hint it to leave so that she would not need to feel so embarrassed for thinking about that bunny again.

The human spoke, but she did not understand human language. But the tone of the noises was tired and afraid, making her feel guilty for thinking about eating or pranking it. Maybe she could make a peace offering. It was the polite thing to do. With that in mind, she pushed off the rock to find something a human might enjoy. Not that she was well-versed in their culture. Some dragons in the forest were quite invested, however, and could probably give her advice—but searching for them would take too long.

She ended up flying to her stash at home, choosing one of the smaller crystals she had picked up in various caves. A human could probably not carry anything too big.

The human was still there when she returned. Its eyes widened as she descended, but she was brief, showing that her intent was peaceful. She put down the crystal beside the human and flew away to continue with her day.

Later, she met up with Indra in the lush green clearing outside of their caves.

“Did you hear that Rukar came back today?” Indra said when Kalor landed.

Rukar had gone off many months ago, claiming he needed to see a bigger world.

“I did not.”

“I thought you might have. I saw him flying towards the lake. Isn’t that where you like to fly these days?”

Kalor shrugged, “I fly in many places.” She leaned on a big rock to scratch her back. “Wait,” her eyes widened, and she whipped her tail. “Did you say he flew to the lake?”

“Yeah, a while ago.”

Kalor felt a chill and took off in the air. Rukar loved eating humans. If her human—the human—was still there, what if Rukar…? What a fool she had been! She should have stayed and guarded.

The sun was already under the horizon, but Kalor could still see well. She saw the human still on the rock and relaxed. Not wishing to take risks, she settled on the shore on the opposite side, where she could see well if Rukar came to hunt.

Despite her best efforts, she ended up falling asleep after a few hours.

When she woke up, the big rock was empty. There was no blood, so the human had probably not been attacked or eaten.

Good.

Kalor saw it again a few days later, standing on the same rock. She swooped down and landed carefully.

It was still as wide eyed, but not so much with terror as wonder. Kalor did not have a habit of looking too closely into the feelings of prey and was surprised to see it. She remained still and let the human approach her. It touched her wing.

What soft little hands. And with no claws!

She huffed and pushed lightly with her nose. The human babbled something and stretched its mouth. Kalor was frustrated that she did not understand.

The human did not seem to mind, however, and kept talking. It had a pleasant voice, so Kalor was content to sit there and scrutinise. Strange. It had fur, but by the looks of it only on its head. Like the dark mane of a horse, but shorter. Maybe to compensate for the lack of natural fur, it wore fake skin. What was that called again? Clothes? Yes. Kalor remembered hearing a couple of dragons talking about how humans were odd, because they needed clothes to stay warm, and that they also used them to make themselves look more beautiful, as they did not have pretty scales. Kalor had not understood at the time what clothes were, but now that she had seen them, it made sense.

A while before sunset, the human waved its hand and left.

Kalor flew over the forest to find Braki. He knew a lot about the bipeds. Braki was brownish so it was always hard to find him—not that Kalor often needed to. When she glimpsed him between the foliage, she found a good spot to land, then made her way to him.

“Kalor! What brings the famous beauty to my corner?” he said when he saw her.

“Teach me about humans,” she said. “I need to know their language.”

“Really? I’d be delighted!”

And thus, Kalor’s daily life changed. In daytime, she searched for her human, and in the evenings, Braki taught her the human language. Having always been bright, she was learning swiftly.

A few weeks later, she could understand part of what the human was saying, and their meetings got increasingly interesting.

The human’s name was Nebo, and he was a witch’s son.

However, he had been orphaned at a young age. Still, he was using the books left behind by his kin to carry on the legacy to help the townsfolk with ailments and the like. Kalor was proud to have a friend like that but kept from bragging to her dragon acquaintances. She feared they would mock her. Or worse, eat her human!

One day, Nebo had bruises on his skin. Kalor bumped his arm as soft as she could to ask what happened—she could still not wrap her mind around the pronunciations Braki was trying to teach her—but Nebo just smiled and shrugged.

“It’s nothing,” he said and looked far away.

Kalor was frustrated that she could do so little to cheer him up. Adamant on doing something, she began scratching the rock with a claw. She covered what she was doing with her other front leg until the word was done. Satisfied, she showed Nebo what she had etched.

He gasped, gaping at the word.

“Friend,” he said, turning to her.

She had never seen his eyes so round and happy. Warmth spread inside her and she booped him. Nebo laughed and stroked her snout.

Kalor came home that night to find Indra and Rukar lounging, Rukar’s orange clashing with Indra’s deep green. Rukar peered at her with one eye.

“I saw you with that human today,” Rukar said. “Aren’t you being a little silly?”

Glaring, Kalor whipped her tail. “Mind your own business.”

“I’m telling you this as a friend. You should stop spending time with him. Humans are vile and evil.”

“They’re not that bad! They’re soft and interesting and appreciate beauty just like we do!”

Rukar’s eyes darkened. “You don’t know what they’re like. When I was out exploring, I saw them do horrible things to both their own kind and other creatures.”

Kalor tensed, thinking about the bruises on Nebo, and how his smile was sad sometimes.

“That can’t be. Nebo is kind and he helps other humans heal when they’re in pain. His mother was a witch.”

Rukar stood up, expression sharpening. “Humans are notoriously fickle. Any day now, he could decide to betray you to sell your beautiful scales. Besides, do you know what witches do with dragons? They grind our bones into powder, claiming it’s medicine.”

A chill ran through Kalor, and she leaned back. “You’re lying… Braki would’ve…”

“Braki?” Rukar scoffed. “You think he loves them so much? It’s just an obsession, he’d be just as ready to bite a human’s head off as the next dragon. Why? His interest is purely a fascination, he’s not emotionally attached like you.”

Indra, who had been quietly observing them, stood as well.

“Kalor, I’ve been thinking about it too, and I’m getting a bit worried. I feel like you’re getting carried away.”

Shaking her head, Kalor backed from them. “If you guys just opened your minds a little bit—”

“You need to make a choice, Kalor,” Rukar said. “That human or your future, because nothing good will come of a dragon being friends with a human.”

She didn’t want to hear it. Kalor spread her wings and took off into the night.

Kalor ended up going to Braki’s cave. It was dark and cosy, and she needed to be somewhere her friends didn’t turn against her.

“You’re back?” Braki said.

Kalor turned and looked at the forest splayed out under the high vantage point of the cave. “Do you also think I’m silly for being friends with Nebo?”

There were shuffles of claws against stone as Braki came to sit next to her.

“I don’t. I think you’re doing something very noble, that most of us are too cynical for. You know, you’re probably making that boy very happy. He’s got magic in his blood, and recently human society looks down on people like him, I think due to fear.”

Kalor’s head whipped to him. “What? Why have you never told me this?”

Braki looked sheepish, “I didn’t want to dampen your mood. I knew it would upset you.”

“So that’s why he is bruised sometimes—the humans are hurting him!” Kalor gritted her teeth, talons curling into the stone beneath her.

“They’re quite pitiful, you know.” Braki got up and walked deeper into the cave. “They’ve made life too complicated for themselves to even understand.”

Kalor watched as Braki curled up to sleep. She couldn’t catch a wink and could only stare at the moon and the stars with hard eyes.

The next day, Kalor waited for Nebo at the rock. He arrived with a bright smile. It eased her heart, but also made her sad that anyone would try to harm him.

Once again, she gently booped around the bruise. “Who?” she scratched on the stone surface.

Nebo blinked at the question, then folded his legs, sighing. “You don’t need to worry. People are just being stressed lately.”

Kalor stomped, then scratched a new message. “I kill them.”

Nebo paled and shook his head. He put his palm on her leg. “No, you mustn’t. Promise me you won’t,” he said.

Kalor’s heart was splitting in two, and she didn’t know which half to catch.

“Promise me. Please,” Nebo said, voice shaking.

Fine.

Kalor hated to be the reason Nebo was upset, so if her killing the humans would make him sad, she would not do it.

“Promise,” she wrote.

Nebo exhaled and leaned his forehead on her scales.

“Thank you.”

After making the promise, Kalor ached every time she saw Nebo. He was not looking well. At nights, she paced back and forth in front of her and Indra’s caves. Rukar had gone away again.

She wanted to break the promise. She wanted to fly to town and find the people who hurt Nebo, and then eat them. Chew up every single one of them until there was nothing left. And yet, every time her determination strengthened, it weaned when she thought about how horrified Nebo had looked when she offered to kill them for him.

What if he would be heartbroken to see them dead?

What if he would think that Kalor was a disgusting monster?

At the same time, maybe it was worth being a disgusting monster if it meant Nebo would be safe. But she could not bear the thought of him looking at her with hatred in his eyes.

Rukar came back after weeks of her agony, bringing stories that made her blood freeze.

“Near the villages far south, I heard from the dragons that they have started punishing Mages by death.”

“Punishing them? For what?” Indra asked, while Kalor’s tail made agitated flicks back and forth. She could not stand still.

Rukar tilted his head. “For just being magical, it seems.”

Kalor roared, sending the birds nearby into flight. “But that’s like punishing them for breathing! They won’t do that here, right? Right?”

Rukar shrugged. “Who knows.” His look hardened. “The dragons down there were disturbed by it. They don’t touch Mages since according to their legends, Mages and dragons share a bond through magic. At the same time, they’re hunted by humans and can’t do anything to save the Mages.”

“What do they do to the Mages?” Indra asked.

Rukar glanced at Kalor. “Maybe it’s best if I don’t tell you.”

“Tell us,” Kalor said.

A cold breeze entered the clearing.

“They make a bonfire in the town square and burn the witches there, and the other humans gather to watch as if it’s entertainment.”

After learning that, Kalor brought it up again the next time she met Nebo. “You hurt,” she wrote.

“I’m fine.”

Kalor growled and wrote again, “Danger. I kill.”

“You can’t. I know that you’re worried, but I don’t believe in execution. I think there are better ways we can change the world. With love, understanding, and kindness.”

“They no kind!” Kalor scratched.

“But they could be if someone reached into their hearts. And you never know when that will happen. I want to have hope,” Nebo said.

And again, Kalor relented.

But she gained a new habit of flying near town to check if she could see Nebo. Every second he was out of her sight made her want to throw up.

One day, plumes of smoke rose from town as she neared it. Flapping frantically, she reached the centre, where a big crowd was gathered around a fire. And in the fire, was a young man. Kalor cried, and the humans screamed as they saw her, dispersing.

Kalor flew down and reached into the flames, tearing the ropes that bound Nebo. She held him gently and flew away, flying him to the safety of her clearing. Indra and Rukar were both there. She had called for them while flying, unable to keep in the agonized roars.

She put Nebo down.

He was not breathing.

Kalor wept, and Indra rubbed her with her snout.

“I should have killed them. I didn’t want him to hate me, but how stupid I was. Now he’s dead!”

Rukar came beside her as well, stroking her neck. She shook both away. The people needed to pay for what they did to him.

“Rukar, do you want to help me burn down their town?”

Rukar nodded. “Let’s put it to cinders.”

“Count me in,” Indra said.

The trio flew to town, setting fire to any building in reach. The scent of charred flesh filled the air, along with harrowing screams and furious roars. Kalor recognized a man running down the street. He had looked smug when Nebo burned. She swept down like a dart, pushing him to the ground. Roaring, she tore his chest open with a single talon.

There. I reached his heart for you, Nebo.