Fallen: Encounter

The knight’s fingers ran unsteadily against the cliffside, jostling lightly against its texture, the wild rock almost hostile in its inhospitality. Curious, he threw his gaze to the wall, pausing briefly on his trek to assess it, before sending his eyes out to greet the far horizon. Despite the short while since the knight’s embark, the sun stood high upon it’s zenith, casting a rather gentle glow on the knight’s Perilous Adventure. Though, even in jest……“adventure” seemed a touch overstated. The knight returned his gaze to the path before him, continuing up the cliffside, once again recalling the villager’s directions. 

“Trace the cliff,” they’d obliged him, however hesitant. “Not two miles up……he’ll be there.”

The knight laughed again at the memory. How ominous. 

As the knight continued to ascend, sure he couldn’t be far off, he quietly began to take note of the moist leaves’ soft crunch beneath him, the noise effortlessly harmonizing with the whisper of song that almost seemed of phantom birds from deep within the forest; the slight chirps of woodland creatures and soft floral scents throughout brightening the knight’s hike in a way he hadn’t thought to anticipate. If he’d turned and looked back down the path exposed of thicket, an incredible view would open up before him: snow tipped mountain ranges blanketed by lush oak forests valleys, with only hints of a pure white feathering teasing at the the vast, blue dome above it all. In a word, the trail was gorgeous.

Angelic, even. 

Seemed a bit wasted on a beast. 

Either way, the knight went on, looking on at the path before him as it curved up in steep slope, angle only allowing the slightest glimpse at hollow atop the precipice, though, just barely, it was enough.

‘That should be it,’ the knight mused, steeling himself.

Right up there...

...should lay a dragon.

Chills of nerves and excitement shooting up the knight’s spine, he rushed to scale the acclivity, craning his neck just to peer into the clearing. The cavern was expectedly deep, a rather large and straightforward hollow making up the bulk of what the knight could perceive, yet, at the farthest end of the cave, there seemed to be a slope. Barely visible beyond the thick shadows, the knight could almost swear to catching a glint of an odd light from just beneath the cave’s throat. Yet……even with such possibility, he still needed to be careful. Steeling himself for the final time, the knight headed in.

His eyes never took a moment to settle as he cautiously made his way through the cave, every slight motion of shadow drawing his full attention as his ears strained to hear for movement beyond the stillness. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword as he gapped the cave’s length, hovering just before its slope before making his way down. Once through, the room immediately opened up into another of equal proportions. 

Only, this time, one of treasure. 

Mounds and mounds of treasure lay scattered all throughout the room—truly treasure as far as the eye could see. Every possible inch of the room was coated in something expensive and gold plated—from money to jewelry to weapons to……cotton mittens……—from rubies to lutes to wine to……tattered papyrus. Suddenly thoughtful, the knight approached a piece that’d drawn him in from his peripherals, needing to bend over slightly to pick up the thinly gilded ladle that lay almost regally atop a small heap of just barely gilded armor. Casting his gaze further into the room, the knight stared pointedly at the cave’s centerpiece: a truly ridiculously and enormously and almost even comically and unnecessarily oversized mountain of………trash. 

It was all trash. 

Gold and glittery, sure, but there was scarcely an item of true worth here among these supposed “riches”. For every crown of solid gold there seemed to be up to fifty dull bronze blades, and twice even that amount of small, deformed, clay dragons. The knight approached the mountain, stepping over thick bundles of dead roses and worn rugs before he stood before it, needing to fully crane his neck back in order to see the top from where he stood. 

“……trash…” he echoed, noting something odd as he stared. 

Reaching out his hand for a small glass doll before him, something occurred to him from which’d phased out of his mind from mere moments ago. He flinched, head jerking aside just barely quick enough to avoid the sudden blow. The doll before him exploded into pieces as the fist lodged itself wrist-deep into the mountain, violently jerking free with enough force to make riches rain, showering the two in minuscule diamonds and wooden sculptures. Stunned, the two stood still, the knight gazing wide-eyed at the person before him before reflexively swerving out of the way of their fist. In a singular motion, their arm chased him, fist contorting inhumanly as their appendage tore open into a massive, red claw. The knight barely avoided their talon before getting enough distance for a second of respite.

And in that second, it hit him. 

That’s the dragon. 

And in the next second, he jerked aside again. 

And in the next, and in the next, and the next, the next, the next—every single second filled with the dragon’s barrage, his pure fury barely leaving the knight time to keep his head on his shoulders, let alone find an opening in his guard. Impulsively, he lunged forth, sliding under the dragon’s arm, hand on hilt, but the dragon was faster, meeting the knight’s maneuver with a swift knee to the ribs. He tumbled a ways away, sputtering from the hit, armor dent—just barely able to roll as the dragon’s talon came crashing down beside his head, sending a tremor throughout the cave. The knight leapt to his feet, unsteady, brandishing his sword into a swing, just narrowly missing the dragon as he jolted back, and lunged forth again. Despite the knight’s damage, he didn’t falter, nigh matching the dragon blow for blow as the two parried and weaved around one another’s attacks. A claw would hardly nick the knight’s cheek seconds before a blade would slightly trim the dragon’s hair. Back and forth, blow for blow, for lord knows how long, before the two began to tire, the dragon’s arch giving the knight a wide enough berth to barely require a dodge, as the knight’s sword almost slipped straight from his hand mid-jab. Before, yet a while later still, collapse. 

The two panted heavily, breath ragged from the spar, the dragon’s sole still sore from the only solid hit he’d landed on the knight as the knight shakily massaged the dent, wondering if anything’d broken. The two found each other’s eyes, the dragon glaring forth, entire face contorting with disdain at the knight’s unwelcome presence, while the knight, offered a smile. 

“Good match,” he laughed breathlessly.

The dragon stared at him without words, grimace softening. 

“Are you a moron?” He eventually scoffed. “You hiked out to a dragon’s den to find someone to spar?” 

“…not really. I’d intended to slay you and be done with it, but I’ve somewhat gained respect for you.”

“…………get out.”

“Hey, lend me your strength,” the knight said, standing. “If we’ve Figrid flutes, we can contact each other anytime, so if I’m in dire trouble, I’ll whistle, and the same to you. In such a case, I think—”

The dragon stood. The air froze. The two stared each other down from where they stood, the dragon’s gaze frigid, yet somehow of pure fire. The knight’s lips drew a thin line across his face as the dragon approached, muscles tensing as the dragon leaned in close, hand caressing the hilt of his sword as the dragon’s lips grazed his ear.

“Get out.”

The two stood still, barely making eye contact through their peripherals as the dragon’s menace almost dwarfed tangibility. The knight hesitated, intimidated. 

“…I’ll return tomorrow.”

“I wont hesitate to kill you.”

“Then—it’s a date.”

And with that, he was gone.

The dragon stared after him, listening acutely to his silhouette as he disappeared from view, tracing his steps back through the main room of the den before vanishing amongst the thicket’s moist terrain. Standing steadfast, the dragon gave it a some time before deciding the knight was well and truly gone, then, finally, turning around. 

There, his treasure greeted him, as it always had. Knocked about, he cringed assessing it, but there. Maybe a touch scratched, he thought eyeing a ladle out of place, but there. “There”, he repeated in his head as he stopped just before his heap……just before his doll. 

Rather, now……his dust. 

He crouched by it, running his fingers through it, letting the fragile glass dust collect upon them, then raising them to his face. The dust shimmered thinly against his sun-kissed skin, their softness still somehow so reflexive in this new, shapeless form. Sparkling of glass glitter and flame, red ran down the dragon’s finger, a large shard of the doll having caught firmly in his soft, human flesh. He balled his hand, clenching the shard deeper into him, his face twitching and contorting with pain. 

“Samaleia,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry…”

The glass seemed to burn at his voice, searing away at his insides, no doubt in retaliation for all he’d taken from her. The dragon gripped the shard tight, letting the late girl exhaust her rage, desperately wishing that to reality. Desperately wishing her here—desperately wishing her back. 

Desperate.

Yet……

He was a monster.

…wasn’t he?

……

In a moment,

Rather—

Sometime later…

His ears twitched.

The knight stepped into the cave, leather soles only barely grazing the jagged floor before a whirlwind of smoke and fire shot out to greet him, the knight narrowly avoiding losing his head as he dropped like a rock, successively rolling aside to dodge the dragon’s responsive stamp. Quickly jumping to his feet, the knight seamlessly assumed his evasive maneuvers of prior, however, he could immediately tell something was off. 

The dragon was so much faster. 

Hell, faster even seemed an understatement, as the dragon’s claw barely nicked the knight’s chin, yet his skinned burned, an acrid odor clogging his lungs, a thick fog blocking his view.

The dragon was angry.

A fiery rage one would almost expect of the beast, yet nothing like the knight had ever seen. Inconceivably unrelenting, the dragon chased the knight, swiping at him with his talons of seemingly no pattern or reason, almost as though possessed by the flame that engulfed his mane, or the smoke that billowed through his lips. With every swing he cried, as though in palpable pain through the sheer force of his aggression, his skin stretching and tearing to accommodate for blood red skin and scales as something hardly of this world stirred within him. The knight dodged back, stopping abruptly when he’d realized the two suddenly had distance, when he’d realized the dragon ceased to give chase, when he’d realized the dragon……was a dragon. Though not yet fully transformed, he’d long since begun, the previously normal man just his size splitting in two; his skin ripping and tearing himself apart in a way no human could bear, as his mouth bulged into a muzzle; face gouging itself with red skin. His arms and back splintered apart as they barely seemed able to contain themselves, long red tail slithering out from just behind the monstrosity. 

Abruptly, the knight raised a satchel from his belt to the beast. 

“Meat,” he said, voice perfectly level—rather, stunned. 

Just as abruptly as the knight’s confession had been, the dragon paused, transformation halting almost immediately at the word. In what could have only been a few short moments, but would probably reign as one of the most frigid moments of the entire knight’s life, the two stood still, dragon staring him down nigh expressionlessly through a bulging, reptilian eye……before he began to revert. 

Human, the dragon stood before the knight, eyeing him. 

And, without a word, he approached. 

Taking the pouch from the knight’s outstretched hand, the dragon peered inside, regarding the presence of the aforementioned meat, before turning to face the knight. 

“For you,” the knight laughed, of nerves. 

The dragon stared a moment longer, the monstrous rage of a moment prior vanquished.

“Leave.”

Laughing, nervous still, the knight obliged. 

“Then, I’ll return again tomorrow.”

And with that, once more, he was gone. 

The dragon stood still, staring down at the meat, once again at a total loss as how to register the interaction. He lifted a steak from the bag, blood dressing his finger as he marveled the fineness of the cut, recalling memories of such quality. Thoughtfully, he bit into it, a smile tugging at his lips from the flavor and memories it’d brought with it. Such fine meat……how much would it have had to have cost? Even back then, the dragon had never thought to ask. 

The dragon paused, arm dropping to his side. 

Lifting his head and turning to the cave’s wide opening, he stared out at the afternoon sky, the view having long since become apart of him. He approached it, stopping just by the cliff’s end, and looked out. The leaves swayed gently in tandem with the light wind, some picking up and taking to the sky, perhaps in a naïve search of some folly dubbed “adventure”. Perhaps the mountains called to them. Perhaps they wished to see what amongst the snow they could find. The dragon smirked, taking seat, delighted by the thought. 

“Treasure!” He called, voice of fictitious accent. “In the dragon’s den, just here! I hear he’s enough riches to make your riches rich!!”

Throwing his head back and cackling, the dragon’s feet childishly bounced off the lip of the precipice beneath him, coloring him righteously and thoroughly amused. ‘That’s how they all sound,’ he thought, grin almost gnarling in its eagerness. “Slay the dragon” this, “avenge the people” that—but they’re just out for the money of it all, aren’t they?

“Treasure”……they call it. 

“WELL, I DON’T HAVE ANY!!” The dragon roared into the day, sending birds into migration with a tremor nigh shaking the valley. With another chuckle, he smirked. “Not for you, anyway.”

And again, he quieted. In a half decent mood for the first time in a few decades, the dragon focused his gaze back before him, finally—finally—letting his mind process the events of the last two days. That knight……who had he been? Where had he gotten such fine training? Who did he serve? What was he doing so far out here, and for what true reason had he come in search of a dragon? 

The dragon continued to bounce his legs, watching the sun unnaturally jerk across the sky with every flicker of his lashes, daylight waning and dawning mere seconds apart. The whole while, the dragon mused of the knight, expectantly watching the sun as it rose higher and higher in the sky, prophesying another encounter due midday. And, without fail, the knight returned.

“Waiting for me?” The knight hummed playfully upon sighting the dragon.

The dragon kicked his feet slow in response.

“Here.” Digging into one of the many pouches he always seemed to have along, the knight unveiled a small gold coin, gently outstretching his arm in offering. “You like shiny shit, right?”

The dragon turned to the coin, regarding it expressionlessly. 

Though, after a moment, he took it. 

Turning the object over in his hand, it disappeared from view, hidden behind the dragon’s fingers as they met his palm, the dragon whispering something even the knight couldn’t make out, despite their proximity. Suddenly, the dragon’s fist began to simmer, burning, acrid smell from the day before stinging the knight’s nose. Though, before he could startle, the dragon’s hand reopened, coin appearing just as it was prior, even—radiant. Offering it to the knight, the knight took it, turning it over to examine its unusual glow. 

Then, once again, the knight recalled the den’s odd light. 

“A blessing?” He inquired, grinning hugely.

The dragon shrugged. 

“A curse.”

The knight laughed, finding himself lighthearted as the dragon stood from the cliff’s ledge, turning to face him.

“Hey,” he said, a new twinkle in his eyes. “Let’s go.”

“…what of your treasure?”

He shrugged.

“If it calls, I’ll return. But……”

The dragon threw his gaze to the cave, eyeing its depths as he massaged the shard of glass within his hand, the thing having fused with his flesh as his damage cauterized.

Then, again, he turned to the knight. 

“Let’s go.”

“Then…you’ve any place in mind?”

The dragon grinned.

“How about an adventure?”