who was very lost.
No matter how much humanity faced the mighty dragons, their persistence proved to be utterly in vain. Their progressive inventions, their large numbers, and even the rarer ones who practiced magic paled in comparison to a dragon’s power. Humanity was left with no choice but to face the fearful reality that they too, are not absolute.
To ensure their survival, humanity had to offer their treasures in hopes of appeasing these great Dragons. After all, their continued impudence had angered these prideful beings, finally learning that nothing shall ever stop a Dragon from obtaining what they seek. Especially when they have found their true treasure.
Now the question is…
What is the true treasure of a dragon?
-------
Dragon POV:
“You impudent wretch!” How dare she make a mockery of my plight! It seems I have been too tolerant of her insolence, but no more.
It is time I end this impertinent cur.
“Wait wait wait don’t kill me!” Gone is her bravado as she finally realizes the gravity of her situation.
“I’m not lying,” her eyes start to dart around in panic, “I actually do know where your treasure is!”
“Why should I believe you?” I say, as I gather a breath of flame, ready to reduce her to ashes at any moment.
“Elements, hear my plea! I implore thee, to allow thy servant an Oath of Truth,” The Witch hastily begins an incantation as swirls of mana envelop her, the ground shattering beneath her feet.
“Wind of the North, Water of the South, Fire of the East, and Earth of the West, my words become yours, clarity your deliverance, falsities be punished, my life be cost of thy judgement. Through my magic, I make this vow.” The intensity of mana shakes the earth as I watch in surprise at the stakes of her proclamations.
“I know of your treasure, dragon. And I know where this treasure is.”
“How?” I say in utter disbelief.
I cannot believe it. For so long, I have searched for my treasure. I explored all corners of the world for any sign of my treasure, collected countless fakes along the way, yet somehow she is the one who ends up finding it?
“Would you believe me if I said it was a coincidence?” The Witch responds sheepishly, realizing that she should’ve started with a vow, for her cheek is making her lose credibility.
“Where?” I immediately ask, trying to reign myself in from immediately heading out to go search for it.
“Now that I won’t tell you.”
It seems my eagerness has clouded my mind to the point that I forgot just who exactly I was dealing with, making this situation even more infuriating.
“It seems you wish to die.” I summon my flames again as I slowly gather them into a blazing inferno to melt her.
“Yeah, I know you can kill me, but are you willing to risk it? After all, I'm the only one who knows where your treasure is.” Back is her boldness, unfazed by the fires gradually enclosing her.
I stop my flames just before they touch her feet. I begrudgingly dispel them, fully aware that she now has control of the situation.
Damn her! Of all beings, why did it have to be this insufferable wench?
Even if I continue to threaten her, she knows that this will give her more reason not to reveal to me the whereabouts of my treasure.
But should I really just give in like this? Should I not try other methods to make her talk?
Countless ideas from intimidation to more unsavoury means cross my mind, but after thinking it over, it seems I really am left with no other options.
No matter what I do, I will be on the losing end. I have no choice but to give in to her demands.
As long as it is for my treasure, everything shall be worth it.
Seeing the expectant look on her face makes me sigh.
“What is it you want?”
“So you heard me mention a prince, yes?” She questions while failing to hold back her grin, making me dread just what absurd demands she’ll be making.
“Oh, trust me, it’s not as bad as you think,” she must have seen the expression on my face, ”but knowing what I know now, it seems I have to make some adjustments to my plans.”
“Such as?”
“Well, I was originally planning on just having the Prince stay in your place for a couple of days, then returning him to the Kingdom right after.” She says nonchalantly.
“You were planning to have a human stay in my home?”
“Of course! I wanted to give those people a bit of a scare, but I wasn’t really going to banish him from his kingdom forever. Unfortunately, I don’t think we would achieve the desired effect – after all, we are trying to deter them from attacking the Forbidden Forest, permanently.”
“So now that you have realized how asinine that plan of yours was, it is no longer an option, yes?” For the first time, this daft Witch sees reason. Really, having some spoiled princeling brat stay in my abode? I would have incinerated them the moment they took a filthy step into my territory.
“Oh no, we're still using my idea but instead of a couple of days…” as I watch her lips stretch into a sinister grin as her next words seals my fate, “It’ll be an entire year.”
I stand corrected.
“Are you insane!?” My rage takes over once more, exploding at her nonsensical proposition.
“Possibly. Then again, others have a hard time understanding my genius.” She has the audacity to say that so proudly?
“You insufferable, dimwitted, vacuous, conceited --”
“Beautiful, intelligent, talented, all-knowing, a gift to the world, it’s almost a sin to be as perfect as me!” Cutting me off as she finishes her words with that ear-grating, irritating laugh of hers.
It is not too late to light her in flames.
“YOU!”
“Yes, me.”
I stop myself from saying anything more as I try to calm myself down, realizing that my breaths have turned into loud heaving throughout that conversation.
Do not incinerate the Witch. Do not incinerate the infuriating Witch. DO NOT incinerate the infuriating Witch who knows where your treasure is, no matter how much you want to.
A few moments pass and I finally manage to collect myself while the Witch silently stares at me with a single eyebrow raised, looking amused.
Damn her.
“You good?”
“No. I am not.” I say blankly.
“Well too bad, because I still need to explain the rest of the plan to you.”
“There is more?” and it just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?
“Is it truly necessary for the human Princeling to stay in my home?”
“Of course it is!” She snaps back, her voice getting increasingly louder. “It’s impossible to have him stay at mine!”
“Why?”
“BECAUSE IT GOT BURNT DOWN!”
“Ah.”
“Yeah. Ah.”
No wonder she personally went to cause mayhem in the Northern Kingdom. From what I can assume, the damages would have been quite severe. The normal reaction to her plight would be to offer some words of comfort. Unfortunately for her, she is speaking to me.
Ha, serves her right. I cannot help being vindictive considering the amount of stress and anger she naturally incites. Especially tonight.
“You’re probably thinking ‘serves her right’, aren’t you?”
Yes, I am. “No, of course not.”
From the way her eyes are sending daggers at me, it seems she does not believe me. Oh well.
“As I was saying, the Prince will stay at yours for a full year, then we return him to his kingdom without a single scratch – simple right?”
How is that simple?
“What I can understand from this idiotic scheme of yours, is you want me to treat this Princeling more as a guest rather than a hostage,” I propose rather sarcastically.
“Exactly! So do everything you can to accommodate him. It’s going to be included in our deal.”
Now that’s a surprise. I did not expect her to actually agree and she seems fairly adamant about this. But why?
“That includes re-decorating this home of yours, honestly, how can someone have a place as big as this and have it look so utterly dreadful.” And now she is nitpicking my abode?
“This is ridiculous, why must I do so much just for one insignificant human? Besides, there is nothing wrong with my home!”
“Everything around here is black. I don’t see a single splash of colour or life in a place that's supposed to be a ‘home’,” she spreads her arms to motion to her surroundings, “and so much unused space!”
“Well, I need room to move around.” Being a dragon, of course, I have a large area to move freely and spread my wings.
“Speaking of size, tell me, when was the last time you shifted into your human form?”
“Why?”
“Because it’ll be important for later.”
“Elaborate.”
“No, I don’t think I will.”
“Then I see no reason why I should shift to my human form.” Considering how utterly inconvenient and useless it is, I have never really had much use of this ability.
“Just answer the damn question and tell me when the last time was.” Another odd thing she is adamant about.
“Many years ago.”
“Well, you’re gonna need it soon.” I beg your pardon?
“I highly doubt it. And don’t tell me the reason why you want me to shift is to be the Princeling's playmate.”
“Well, I wouldn’t use those words exactly, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she ends off rather ominously.
“What, you’re not going to be adding this to our deal?” And here I thought she enjoys making my life miserable.
“No, because I know you’d eventually do it and I’d be able to say, ‘I told you so’.”
“Not a single reason, being, or event will ever make me consider shifting into my human form, ESPECIALLY, not for some human Prince from another kingdom!”
“I’ll take your word for it, big guy.” The Witch says with a knowing glint in her eye.
She does not believe me. Why does she seem so confident about this foolish matter?
“Now let me explain our deal again. Your home will be used as a place of residence for the Prince, and you will do your utmost to accommodate him – including, but not limited to, re-decorating this depressing home of yours, feeding him the required meals to survive, and being his protector throughout the entire duration of his stay, ensuring that he will not come into any harm.”
She gives me a serious look. “Protect him. Most importantly, from yourself.”
These are all terrible conditions.
“In return, you will be freed from your countless years of fruitless searching, your doubts and hopelessness, and finally be reunited with what is yours. I will reveal to you not only the location of your treasure, but the nature of said treasure as well.”
But…
“Do we have a deal?”
If it means finally filling the yearning in my soul, to claim what is mine…
“Very well.”
Then I am willing to do absolutely anything.
“You made a wise choice, dragon.”
I cannot help but scoff.
“I highly doubt it is.”
“And…”
“What?”
“It might seem like I’m making frivolous demands, but I want you to know that there’s a reason why I’m making you do all of this, and by the end of it, when you finally figure it out…” Mana begins to form around her as each part of her body starts fading into a faint glimmer.
“You’ll realize that it was all worth it,” a rare genuine smile, unlike her usual mocking demeanor.
With that final remark, she vanishes completely.
Thinking of her words once more, I cannot help but think to myself –
I can only hope so.
-------
Well, one dragon found their true treasure to be a golden apple that granted eternal youth. Another dragon would say that theirs was a holy sword with the ability to strike down all evil. A treasure that was one of its kind, a thing that can be considered legendary, mythical, one that only a dragon can have the right to claim. A treasure that only a being with such might can protect, and look after forever. All dragons would agree that a true treasure is a material artifact beyond comparison.
This question, however, leaves one particular dragon at a loss. For the longest time, this dragon searched all corners of the world, saw and even collected countless treasures beyond comparison that other dragons would consider them true treasures.
It has come to a point that even he wonders if he has a true treasure in the first place.
‘Am I bound to forever seek such a thing that has never existed?’
These thoughts continued to plague his mind, so when the witch stated that she knew of his true treasure, and was willing to show him where it was as long as he fulfilled his part of the deal, he had no choice but to accept and follow along with her plans. Seeing this as his only chance of ever finding what he could finally call his. If only he knew…
That he was bound to be an exception. For his treasure was never going to be a golden apple, or a holy sword, or the most valuable of jewels. It was bound to be much more precious than he could have ever imagined.