The First Dragon of Marble

Chapter 35

            [Oliver’s POV]

            Ladon transforms into a creature I have never seen before in all my years of life, and I see his mink mate jump onto his back elegantly in her beautiful black dress that had all the men in the party staring at her with wanting and the women in envy. He said he was a new race, known as a dragon and was created by Tiamat and Odin. To top it off he said the gods were married. I look at my wife and daughter and see them staring wide eyed at the majestic form of Ladon. I turn back to Ladon and hear the criminal, Noah, shout something and even my disowned son, but can barely hear anything from the sound that the dragon was making.          

            I watch my son pleading for my wife and me to do something with conflicting feelings. After a thorough investigation I learned that he wanted to take over my position and poisoned me with a slow acting poison to make look as if I suddenly fell ill. My personal doctor only noticed the poison because it only showed signs when not continuously administrated. Mathais seemed to have overlooked this trait of the poison when he left for his trip to the capital. I was given the antidote but can still feel the effects and the doctor has said that it will take time for a full recovery.

The family and I never knew he was so power hungry and impatient to take over the house. We are still investigating, and I suspect that someone had put ideas into his head to make him go against all that my wife and I have tried to ingrain into him. We did not notice the changes in his behavior until it was to late and no could stop him. My wife stayed with me throughout my sickness and my daughter has been away until recently on a diplomatic mission with another noble of the kingdom to secure more trade routes through our territory.

            I clench my jaw and hands at my own incompetence, failing to see what my son had become. We found a room that Mathais had taken to use for his more depraved hobbies. I questioned his servants, and they said that he has been participating in his hobbies since he turned sixteen and did not say anything because of the threats Mathais used to keep them silent. I shivered and was appalled at how long I had let this go on. He is currently twenty-five and that means I had overlooked his torturing, raping, and murder for almost ten years.

            I looked at my son’s tear-stained face and almost vomit from looking at this monster in human skin. “How can we call monsters, monsters, when we have our own within our own species.” I shake my head and come back to the present and see Noah brandishing his sword that was given to him for the trial. Then my vision becomes blinded by a bright, burning light. Everyone in the crowd who had been staring at Ladon in his dragon form and Lucy atop his back cover their eyes from the sudden invasion of too much light entering their vison, myself included.

            When our eyes adjusted, we are left awestruck and horrified at the scene in front of us. Ladon was streaming large amounts of flame from his mouth in the direction of the criminals. Noah was seemingly cut off midsentence and devoured by the flames along with the bear mink, Abel, and my disowned son who no longer holds the title of being a noble, Mathais. Ladon kept the flames streaming for a good five minutes before snaping his mighty jaws shut and blowing out smoke from his nostrils. He looked into my direction, and I got the message loud and clear. “This is a warning.” I gulped and just stared at the destruction his single attack had wrought on my, the lord of the city, backyard.

            The backyard was destroyed with purple flames scattered on the hedges burning the remnants of their beauty. The wall at the back of the estate was melted away and the ground black and burnt with smoke drifting up into the night sky. Ladon ignored us and the rest of crowd before calling out to his friends and then saying something about the church. I barely heard what he said as I and everyone else was still in shock at the display of raw power. I did catch something about sending aid to the church, so I’ll have to check that out along with everything else Mathais seemed to have ignored in my supposed illness.

            Everyone just stood around saying nothing and staring with both horrified and conflicting emotions. The nobles most likely had thoughts of trying to either somehow getting into Ladon’s good books or scheming to bring down this new threat that looked down on them as if they were nothing. The Commoners and Adventurers thoughts were mostly of awe, motivation, and divine prayers to both the Goddess Tiamat and God Odin. They seemed to take Ladon at his word when he mentioned that he was created by them. I take some deep breaths from the realization that my son was no more and Ladon did not even give them the dignity of burying his body.

            I shake my head and think, “Dragons are indeed both merciful and cruel. He gave Mathais a quick and almost painless death but left nothing for us to mourn over.” Suddenly I feel my daughter grabbing my arm as she speaks, “Father, I think we should end the party.” I look at her and then everyone else in attendance and nod my head. I announce that the party has concluded and bid everyone a good night before retiring to a resting area inside the mansion with both my wife and daughter. I dismissed the servants and began talking with them.

            “Honey, are you okay? Do you need anything?” I ask my wife who has had a vacant look after knowing that her son is no more. She looks at me and gives me a gentle but sadden smile and says, “I am not okay, dear. Our son turned into a monster right under our noses and now he is dead. Gone from this world so that he can hurt no one no more. He was a horrible man, but he was still our son. Sob.” She starts to cry, and I just hold her tight in my embrace feeling the same emotions and the crippling actions that I had to take upon my own son. Our daughter comes over to us. We just hug consoling one another trying to come to terms with what both Mathais and we have done.

            After what seemed like hours my wife fell asleep from the mental exhaustion of the day. I carefully pick her up and put her in our bed before coming back out to speak to our daughter. “Father, what Ladon said about being a new race, do you believe him? He looked similar to a wyvern to be honest.” Amelia says as I sit down and drink some coffee to stay awake because I was not going to get any sleep for the foreseeable future tonight. I sigh after tasting the coffee and say, “I do believe him, but in order for it to be official he will have to show his scroll to various people. Though I suspect he will not like people asking him to look at his scroll.” Amelia sighs as she also thinks that as well. Then I start going over in my head with the various books I have read and faintly remember something about the word dragon. The information is vague, and I’ll have to look for any mentions of them in the old texts later to confirm my thoughts.

            Amelia takes a sip of coffee as well and says, “Yes, he is very stubborn it seems and has no reverence for us or nobility in general.” We both sigh and sink into the couch and think about the potential workload that will come with Ladon being in the city. Eventually Amelia says, “What do you think the King will do? We must report this because he said and transformed in front of everyone. So, even if we said nothing word will get to the King sooner rather than later.” I nod and say, “Yes, I know. I have already sent a cetan explaining what has happened in detail to His Majesty including that Ladon has come forward with being a new race.” Amelia raises her eyebrow and asks, “You sent a hawk spirt?” I nod and say, “Yes, they may be rather independent but given the right reward they will follow instructions well enough and are faster than any other way of communication.”

            Amelia sips her coffee and hums, “I see.” I then look out the window and say, “As far as what the king will do, well, I have suspicions and hope that he will take advice against such suspicions, but I cannot guess what the King’s heir, or the first princess will do. They can be rather, how should I say this, adventurous.” Amelia giggles and agrees. “Yes, His and Her Highnesses can be rather curious for their own good.” I rub the brow of my nose and dread the future headaches about to come Melcox’s way.

            [Ladon’s POV]

            “Gonzo! Get your fucking head down!” I yell at him before a bullet explodes his head showering me and the others with his blood and brain matter. “Fuck!” I wipe the blood off my face and look at the others. They are scared shitless and so am I but now that the team leader is dead it is on me to get us out of this. I point to Cooper and Lin yelling over the hail of bullets hitting the HUMMVE we are using as cover, “Cooper use your fucking SAW lay down some cover, Lin keep feeding him belts.” They just stare at me, so I say it again with more aggression in my voice. They nod before crawling under the vehicle. Cooper sets up his SAW and starts suppressing the enemy while Lin lays beside him as she keeps feeding the hungry weapon with as much ammo as she possibly can.

            I then look at Cowe and say, “Get up on the .50 cal. Keep shredding them apart while Brown and I flank ‘em.” Cowe smiles and jumps into the HUMMVE and climbs into the turret. Once he starts laying hell on the enemy Brown and I sprint from cover and make our way around to the side of the field that the assholes are shooting at us. I look back at the HUMMVE and see that they are still laying it on so, I turn to Brown and say, “You with me brother.” He breathes hard to catch his breath and nods his head, “Always brother.” I nod and peek over the ditch we are using as cover.

            I see at least ten targets ducking the behind dirt mounds they used from digging their foxholes. I dip back down and tell him what I saw. We come up with a plan and get on the radio, “Whiplash One. Whiplash One. This is Whiplash Three. Shift fire, we are beginning our flank. Over.” “Whiplash Three. This is Whiplash One. Copy. Shifting fire. Over.” I look over the ditch and see my other team members shifting fire left. Brown and I look at each other and nod before taking a grenade in each hand before pulling their pins holding the safety lever. I stand up and run towards an overturned tree. Once I am about ten meters from the tree, I throw one grenade each into one foxhole and then another. I am running so fast that I slam into the tree and bouncing backward. I have no time to embarrassed as the enemy now notice our presence after the grenades took out a few of their comrades.

            Brown is not far behind me and lops his grenades as well before reaching me. He is laughing at me as we take cover. “Bro, what the fuck, haha, you got to keep situation awareness remember, haha, you just ate shit with this tree.” “Shut up, dick.” We bicker over hail of bullets coming our way. Then I get on the radio and say, “Whiplash One. This is Whiplash Three. Continue suppressive fire. We are behind the fallen tree. Over.” “Whiplash Three. This Whiplash One. Copy. Shifting back and continuing suppressive fire. Over.” We then hear friendly bullets hitting enemy positions in front of us and then Brown and I pop up to lay down our own fire.

            We use our M4’s to accurately take out the hunkered enemy. Eventually we notice they are all dead and go over the radio saying to cease fire and keep a look out for any others. “Let’s go make sure they are dead.” Brown nods and heads over with me to check out the enemy positions. He takes one hole and I another as we search the bodies for documentations or any other intelligence. Suddenly I hear something like a bee buzzing past me then Brown shouting he was hit. I hunker down in the foxhole I was in and get on the radio breathing roughly from the adrenaline of the possibility of being shot. “Whiplash One. We have a sniper. You see him? Over.” I breathe hard my brain wanting to go over to Brown, but I knew if I popped my head up, I would be next, so I shout, “Hold on brother! I’m coming just hold on!”

            Soon I hear the .50 cal go off and then hear a distance crash soon after. “Whiplash Three. Sniper down. Over.” “Whiplash One. Get a stretcher over here now. Brown has been hit. Over.” I respond back as I hop out of the foxhole and sprint over to Brown’s location. I leap into the foxhole he was in and see him holding the right side of his chest with blood seeping through his fingers. His breathing is raspy, and I can tell it is a sucking chest wound as his lung has collapsed. I bend down and start first aid while saying, “Brown, you’re looking good brother. Stay with me okay. I’ll get ya patched up and then send ya home, yeah.” Brown just looks at me and smiles, “It’s all good, cough, brother. Why are you, cough, hung up, cough, over me?” I fumble with the medical supplies from his first aid kit trying to get him patched up. “Of course I’d be hung up over you, brother. You just got to stay with me and stay awake.” He starts to cough up more blood from his lungs before saying, “Brother, this has already happened, and you know I don’t make it. Cough, cough! Don’t worry about me anymore brother. You, cough, got the present and the future to look forward to with your little rabbit girl, no?”

            I stop what I was doing and look at Brown’s face covered in blood in confusion. Then look around at the dead soldiers around us and then my hands which are covered in blood. Then everything starts to fade away starting with Brown. “No, Brown, brother!” I look around and start to panic and then I see monsters storming at me with makeshift weapons and their claws. I fumble backwards and notice a shield and spear in my hands. I have no idea what is going on, but I take a defensive stance and ready myself for death. We collide and I go on a rampage bashing, thrusting, and after my weapons break, I use my hands to punch, snap, and tear at the never-ending waves of monsters.

            It seemed like years of fighting when eventually the scene changes again and I see a rabbit mink’s body laying bloody and broken along with a green skin woman with wings on her back. I am confused as to why these people look the way they do and who exactly they are when memories start flooding back. I look back at the bodies and fall to my knees. I reach my hand towards the rabbit mink and say in low whisper, “Lucy? No, this isn’t possible. What happened? Where am I?” I look over at the green skin woman and say, “Melora too? Why? Everything was going so well. Why must this happen?” I finally lose my composure and fall face down wailing at the lose that I have endured over the years.

            Over my wailing and self-pity, I hear and feel someone calling my name and shaking me. “Ladon wake up. Love its me Lucy. Wake up.” My eyes snap open to see that I am sitting up with Lucy hugging me tightly. Confused and looking around the dream starts to slip away, and I start to regain my bearings. I hug Lucy close and say, “What happened?” Lucy moves so that she can look at me and I see the tears in her eyes as she looks at me with concern. “You were having a dream and yelling while thrashing in your sleep.” I sigh and look around then see Melora running down the stairs in nothing but her underwear.

            “Is everything okay? I heard you yelling Ladon.” Melora asks running over to us and kneeling in front of us. I just motion for her to join the hug. She comes over to us and wraps her arms around the two of us. We stay silent for a while before I say, “I’m fine now. It was just a nightmare and although it is starting to slip away it was just past trauma from war and other things that have happened.” Lucy just holds me tighter knowing about my past life and memories while Melora just pets my hair. Lucy looks up at me and says, “Want to talk about it?” I think for a moment and say, “What was I saying in my sleep?” “You were yelling a name, Brown, I think and saying phrases like Whiplash One and suppressive fire. Things like that, then you were calling our names in pain.” Lucy says with concern and worry.

            I take a deep breath and say, “Brown was my best friend before I was hanging with Cowe. No, he wasn’t just my best friend, he was more of a brother than Cowe had ever been. He died while we were taking out enemy positions. I, I, watched him die. He was in my arms as he suffocated on his own blood. I, sniffs, I could do nothing, but I sometimes blame myself for not reaching him in time. If I could have maybe I could have stopped his lung from collapsing, maybe…” I sniffle holding the tears from spilling and hug both Lucy and Melora tight.

            Melora is surprisingly the first to speak up. “Ladon, I still don’t know much about your past, but I do know you. If you could have helped you would have done everything you could have for your brother. It was not your fault; I promise you that.” I look into her eyes and then smile at her consoling me. I kiss her forehead and say, “Thanks, Melora. I know it wasn’t my fault from therapy for PTSD. But it just comes in waves sometimes. Time is the only medicine for this, and it only really treats the symptoms and not the trauma.” Both Lucy and Melora look at me confused with my use of words, but they just look at each other and just shrug before hugging me tight and bringing my head to their chests.

            I bask in their comfort before deciding that nothing was going to get done today if we just cuddle so I break the hug and stand up. Then I see that both Lucy and I are naked, and we head upstairs to shower and clothe ourselves before having breakfast that Melora cooked. Then head out the door and towards the Adventurer’s Guild to register Melora and look at the jobs.