Only the sky knows

[WP] Relationships between Human and Dragon are forbidden. Not because it is heretical, but instead to spare the dragon the pain of when they inevitably outlive their lover.

“Viktor! Viktooorrr! Get yer lazy bum down ‘ere an’ gemme some wood for cookin” Such calls were basically an everyday wake up call for Viktor Nikolai. Rare was it that he would be allowed to sleep in and rarer was it that his mother would be in a good mood in the morning. So instead of putting her in a fouler mood than she already was, he would just resort to waking up with a groan or grumble out some profanities as he proceeded to the task, but he would still do them without fail. And getting firewood for that day was no exception.  

As he made his way up the steep snowy path, he noticed the most unusual thing he had ever seen. It was a rock. A large rock that irradiated a blue hue. Curious as to what it was, he came closer and closer until he was close enough to pick it up from the snow it was nestled in.

He had wanted to inspect it further when he heard his mother call out to him from the foot of the hill. And again, that thundering voice of hers never failed to surprise him with how far it reached.

Knowing that she would continue to call him, he hurriedly pocketed the stone then proceeded to chop the nearest tree and returned with a pile of wood which his mother immediately took from him

“Go put up a fire for the bath. I’m gonna cook” Without a word, he nodded then went out back where they had set up their water storage. He began throwing in chunk after chunk of wood and as soon as the fire was lit, he could feel shaking in his pocket. His hands wandered his clothes in search of the shaking until he stopped at his pocket. It was the rock and it was somehow reacting to the heat. The closer he got to the fire, the more it shook. After taking a few moments to ponder on what to do next, he had decided to place the stone into the fire. And as soon the stone had nestled into the fire, it had stopped moving

“Such a weird stone” Was what he thought to himself yet for the following days, he found himself always keeping the fire lit. And each passing day, he would watch how the stone’s blue glow seemed to grow stronger until one day, he heard a crackling sound.  At first, he had thought it was just the fire but then he heard it again and the next thing he knew, the stone was breaking apart.

Blue flames emerged after some time; he could see small wings flapping open. It was a dragon egg. Never had he seen a dragon before, much less its eggs. They were long thought to be owned only by the nobles, but it turns out, there were still free dragons that roamed the land. And this one was one of them. 

It seemed rather attached to him and in the first few days since it hatched, Viktor decided to hide it in his vest and carried it everywhere he went until of course, when it got too big to even hit into his shirt. It only took around a week before it was already half his height and by that time, the dragon could hunt for itself and was already learning how to fly but to be safe, he mostly made the dragon walk on its legs to not be seen by the others.

But it seemed like no matter what precaution he had thought of, eyes would never fail to notice them. All of a sudden, their house was ravaged by the villagers, wanting to claim the dragon to sell it off to some desperate noble but to Viktor’s surprise, the dragon had thrown him onto its back and flew off so they could both escape safely but for sure, these people would go to any lengths for a quick buck. It would not be long until they would be hot on their trail.

Night fell and they took refuge in an abandoned cave and out of sheer exhaustion, with adrenaline finally catching up to them, as soon as they hit ground, they both just collapsed and blacked out.

When Viktor had finally roused from his slumber, it wasn’t a scaly dragon that was beside him, but a young woman who was tucked in his arms. He was about to yelp in surprise but when he noticed that she was starting to wake, he held her closer. There was something about her that felt right whenever their skin would make contact.

He gazed at her for what felt like the longest time, and just simply watched her sleep comfortably in his arms. Even as her lids slowly fluttered open, he just watched and smiled to her. The moment she saw her pupils, he knew that it was the dragon he was raising

“Hello” His smile grew wider when he saw her reciprocate his smile.

“Hello to you, Viktor” Her smile was as radiant as the light of that morning and he had thought that he wanted nothing more than to stay like that for as long as time allowed. Growling stomachs where an interference to that small fantasy, however and soon they were forced to get up to hunt for food. And maybe find clothing for her.

Needless to say, She was a much better hunter as a dragon than as a human. In human form, she could barely walk straight and it took her some time to figure out how to walk properly, much more, to walk without making a sound so that they could hunt easily.

“Oh wait, I never asked. What’s your name?” He looked to her curiously, yet she seemed to be distracted by the clear sky

“The sky tells me I’m called Tilli” Her attention shifted to him then she smiled, one so bright that it could rival the sun even “Sounds strange to say that the sky gave me that name, but such is the fate of all dragons”

He nodded with a hum “What else does the sky tell you about?”

She shrugged her shoulder, probably clueless on where to start “A lot of things but mostly she tells me to stay away from humans. Right now, it tells me to stay away from you because you’ll hurt me and it's forbidden” Her gaze again turns to the blue sky as she exhaled a heavy sigh “sometimes I don’t even know what it tells me about but I just listen anyways. There was something about leaving me alone too but that can't be true, right? You'll always be with me”

Since that time, He didn’t ask again about what the sky told her but on times, he would catch her staring at the sky and at times, tears would well up in her eyes yet he would pretend to not have seen and instead, he would do everything he could to cheer her up.

Their companionship grew stronger with the years and they even made a place for themselves in the woods they had escaped to back in their youth. In all that time, never did Viktor regret having fled his homeland. How could he when each moment was bound with adventures, either the quests they would accept on the rare times that they would go to the nearby town at the outskirts of the forest or simply just when they decide to wander on their own accord. It was never a dull moment.

Just like in that moment. They had accepted a quest that was to exterminate creatures that were trying to reside in the forests near the neighboring town. According to the quest description, it was just minor creatures but upon their arrival and first very accidental encounter with the creatures, there was nothing minor at all about 10 feet tall ogres that were armed to the teeth. Viktor was doing everything he could to serve as the bait as Tilli had made preparations for pitfalls on such short notice. They had planned to trap the creatures in the pit and Tilli would deal the finishing blow with her flames but they never anticipated one ogre                                   to start throwing boulders at Viktor’s direction. Boulder after boulder, Viktor would jump or dodge the rain of boulders. They both thought they would get through this together like the countless of times that they had turned the tables, but this time wasn’t one of those. This time wasn’t one of those times where Tilli would be worried sick while Viktor would smile like the simpleton he was despite having so many injuries. No. This time, Viktor was an unfortunate victim caught in the downpour of boulders.

In that moment, Tilli felt her heart shatter in a thousand pieces. Her movements had come to a stop and she crawled out of the pit. She ran to where Viktor was. She had hoped it wasn’t too late, but it seemed fate had other plans for her. It was only a protruding hand that remained intact, the entirety was nothing but a puddle of blood.

She clutched his arm, holding it close to her as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her flames soon began consuming everything in its path. By the time the fire had been put out, there was nothing but ashes and there, at the very center, was she who still held onto the bones of her beloved Viktor. She finally understood what the sky meant that day when it wanted her to stay away from Viktor. He did hurt her in the end. And it was the kind that was embedded so deeply in her soul that every waking moment without him felt like death to her.   

I'll continue watches tomorrow. I at least wanted that to be a happy ending. Today, I just feel sad because of the issues at the dorm