C16

"What do we do now?" his friend whispered softly as he gazed up at the great black dragon resting atop their friend in astonishment, "what should we do now?"

The young man shook himself back to life momentarily as he shook off the lingering sense of shock from what had transpired. Then, he quickly drew himself upright once more and shook the dust from off of him all of a sudden as he turned back to face their other friend and offered a reassuring smile to them both as they stared up at the giant black dragon standing before them. They both nodded in understanding at him as they too gazed upwards at the great winged creature that now stood before them in astonishment instead of hiding away within the nearby trees as they had done just moments ago. It took several more moments for their two friends to gather themselves all of a sudden, but they eventually found the courage to offer a shaky smile back to them all of a sudden as well. Then, their two companions stepped forward towards the dragon curiously at last, and they tentatively reached forth to touch its scales upon its hide as though testing it all out for the first time. Then, the young man watched intently as they both carefully peered upward towards its head and stared back at it with wide eyes as the great beast watched them back with interest. The young man swallowed nervously and fought hard to keep himself from shaking any further as he studied the dragon's massive scaled face.

"Hey! Don't you dare scare us like that again!" the young man whispered harshly under his breath, "we're stuck here with a Dragon for godsakes! What are we going to do next? Huh? Just who does it take to find us food and water when there's no other way to get it ourselves? You better hope that this isn't some kind of cruel joke for all I know."

But the dragon only cocked its head in amusement as it tilted its mighty snout downwards slightly towards them both all of a sudden. Then, the great creature lowered its mighty tail down towards them all of a sudden as it swayed lightly from side to side with each step that it made upon landing before them all. The young man stared wide eyed up at the massive tail as it continued to sway gently all of a sudden, and he held his breath for several moments before letting out another nervous gasp beneath the pressure. Then, the young man exhaled softly behind him in relief as the dragon suddenly raised its tail back up towards him in curiosity once more before slowly lifting itself away from the ground again. It lifted itself away from them all once more with its majestic wings spread wide open as if beckoning them forwards, and it settled back down onto the ground beside them once more without a care in the world whatsoever as though nothing had happened all at once. And then, the young man finally caught his breath as he glanced back up towards the huge wings again. He blinked repeatedly at the sight of them all again as he wondered whether or not they could even lift such gigantic creatures off of the ground at all. How many people had gone mad in ancient times because they had believed that they had seen dragons flying through the skies above them? And why had they thought that they had seen a dragon fly by overhead anyway? Were they simply delirious from thirst? Or had they truly seen what they claimed to see among all of the madness? The young man wondered whether or not they had really seen what they thought that they saw amidst the insanity that often plagued those who had sought refuge amongst caves during their travels all across the continent. It seemed likely, he supposed, considering just how desperate people became in such dire situations. Yet, he couldn't help but shake his head at the idea as he stared up at the wings again as he recalled the legends told by his parents all of a sudden.

"Dragons don't exist," the young man muttered quietly as he gazed back at the dragon as it gazed back at them both, "they can't possibly exist..."

"That's right," the young woman smiled brightly at her friend, "there aren't any dragons in this world, so let's just forget all of the nonsense that my sister always tells me about them all of a sudden. That will make it easier for us to deal with everything else as well. Right, Kain?"

The young man nodded reluctantly at his companion as he averted his gaze away from the dragon for fear of being overwhelmed by it again all of a sudden. He had heard enough stories growing up about how horrible Dragons could be to know for certain that they weren't something to fool around with all at once. Dragons had been known to attack humans in the past, after all, and they had slaughtered entire villages just as easily just as they had ravaged cities in the process just as easily as well. They were said to have consumed whole armies in seconds and torn them apart all of a sudden, after all, and it seemed entirely possible that they might decide to do so all of a sudden in front of their very own eyes if given the chance. No sane person would willingly go anywhere near an angry dragon, after all, and no sane person would want to provoke them in such a manner either for the simple fact that they would never come out alive if they did so all of a sudden. It seemed unlikely, however, that this particular dragon wouldn't kill them in cold blood for the mere reason that he knew that they didn't belong here in the first place, and so, the young man decided to put aside his fears in favour of trying to survive just as long as he could in the meantime regardless of whatever danger might lurk nearby. Besides, this dragon hadn't killed them yet anyway. Perhaps the rumours that circulated were greatly exaggerated after all. If anything, perhaps they should have taken advantage of such an opportunity rather than running away in sheer terror all of a sudden, but he shrugged off his concerns for the time being as they turned back to face the dragon once more.

They exchanged glances with one another and grinned happily at each other as they looked upon the massive wings spread out before them all, and the young man felt oddly comforted somehow despite their situation. They would certainly need these wings soon enough as they ventured forth on their journey, after all, since they didn't seem capable of flying themselves as of yet. He frowned briefly behind him at that thought, and he tried hard to fight against the panic rising inside of him as he considered their options as far as flight was concerned all of a sudden. However, he forced himself to remain calm nonetheless. There was nothing more that he could do about it for now anyways besides wait until they discovered some means of flight somewhere along the line, and the young man resolved himself to accept their current predicament all of a sudden as he turned back to look up at the immense wings once more. After all, they had managed to find the Dragon already, so what harm would there really be in staying together with him all of a sudden? He would just need to make sure that he remained alert at all times as far as he was concerned.

"You know what?" the young woman smiled cheerfully as she glanced back at her friend, "let's call him 'Wings' all of a sudden. We'll just pretend like there aren't any problems at all."

The young man nodded at his companion in agreement at once as they returned their attention towards their new winged ally once more. They had come upon the dragon in the middle of the night, but it wasn't entirely impossible to believe that they had come across a dragon in the dark all of a sudden. A few travellers had stumbled across their own dragons in the dead of the night before too, after all, which meant that there was little difference between them all of a sudden. They had simply wandered into the wrong part of their territory all of a sudden, and he couldn't imagine what would possess them to walk straight up towards a dangerous dragon at midnight unless they wanted to die right there and then. And so, they had simply walked straight up towards their doom. It had happened more than once before, after all, and it only stood to reason that it had also occurred countless times throughout history as well. The old stories were certainly true after all, he supposed, but they still needed to survive for the moment regardless of the circumstances surrounding their discovery all of a sudden. It was probably for the best that he didn't mention it, after all; there was no sense in scaring themselves silly over every single rumour that they had ever heard regarding dragons in the first place, and so, they would just have to stick with the name they gave this strange dragon all of a sudden instead. That way, they could focus all of their attention elsewhere instead of worrying about their safety all of a sudden. The dragon wouldn't necessarily hurt them anyways. Not if they stayed away from his neck area. They were clearly trespassing as much as he was, after all.

And so, they kept walking forwards as they stroked their fingers softly upon the dragon's scales as though seeking solace from them instead. Their two friends glanced curiously up towards its large wings now too as they followed suit, and the young man felt strangely reassured by them as he continued to follow close behind. But he shook his head sadly behind them as he realised exactly how weak he actually was now that he came to think of it all of a sudden. How long had it been since he ate anything substantial before today? He couldn't recall the last time he'd eaten before now, and he was starting to feel terribly ill for his trouble too as he continued to grow steadily weaker by the minute. This was hardly surprising either though considering the circumstances. Who knew where he and his companions had wandered into during their travels thus far, and who knew what dangers had waited for them along the way in the form of bandits or monsters alike? His stomach continued to twist uneasily behind him as he recalled everything else that he and his companions had encountered in recent weeks alone all of a sudden. It had started out as merely a slight feeling of hunger in the beginning, but it had quickly grown into full blown agony by the end of his previous expedition all of a sudden.

How could a man continue on like this all of a sudden? He hadn't expected things to get worse by any means, after all, not when they were travelling on foot through an endless desert. What more could they possibly expect out of life out here all of a sudden besides death if not starvation and thirst? Yet, he had somehow made it through most of it all a sudden, which meant that he couldn't allow himself to give up just yet either. Even if he felt sicker by the day, he had to keep moving forward if only for the sake of survival itself. If nothing else, it would ensure that he survived longer than he otherwise might've without a doubt, and that was good enough for him at the moment. At least it would stop him from thinking about dying just yet, at least until he grew too tired to move anymore in the meantime. That was another problem that he had to consider at once. He had almost reached that point several times already. He had barely moved half a mile since he woke up that morning, and he had nearly collapsed numerous times as he had tried desperately to make it further all of a sudden. It seemed as though he had been pushing himself harder in each successive leg of his journey in order to try and reach his destination as soon as he possibly could all of a sudden, but he had no intention of letting himself slow down just yet.

His stomach twisted violently all of a sudden, however, and his limbs suddenly refused to work properly all of a sudden as though someone had hit them with a sledgehammer as well. They ached as he fell to his knees beside the road, and he grimaced as he pressed his palms firmly against his temples in desperation. His skin crawled as he tried desperately to ignore his pain, but he could already feel it creeping up behind his eyes. He closed them tightly as he gritted his teeth in pain, and he groaned loudly in despair as his heart pounded painfully within his chest all of a sudden.

It felt as though someone was squeezing it mercilessly all of a sudden, and he shuddered in horror as tears began to well in his eyes. He hadn't even noticed how badly he had been injured until just now, after all, and he didn't have time to worry about it all at once. Not when his body had decided to betray him just as much as everything else did out here all of a sudden.