Quickly waking up, I found myself under attack.

Something was holding me.

Foolish animals, do you not know you are beneath me?

Nothing you do will harm me

I am above all

I am-

Turning around, I found the human

Sizzling and burning from my flames

Hugging me tightly

Oh no

OH NO! WHAT HAVE I DONE

Quickly extinguishing my flames, I swiftly turned back to my Dragon form.

Cracking the surrounding grounds, taking a deep breath, and blowing it out

Snuffing the flames burning her.

Turning back to the phoenix form, I nudged myself forward to touch the burnt flesh.

But find to my surprise

Nothing

Or, I do but

The burn marks are more of a small burn rather than a life-threatening condition.

Which it should be right now

It just looks like a normal kitchen burn.

Thinking about it, she should have been screaming

Fully awake and in immense pain.

What is this?

How is this possible?

There is nothing that can survive my flames

I thought that at least.

I do not understand.

Still, I have caused this human pain, no matter how slight it is my duty to help.

Bending forward, I let my beak hit her chest.

Letting my mana flow into her, the few burns turning pink.

Making her skin even smoother than before

No, why do I know her skin is smooth?

Oh yeah, the hug,

I hate hugs.

Sitting back down, I stare at her

Pondering.

How can this be

Has the gods blessed her?

Not possible, the only god who could have given her that blessing is already dead.

Has she trained her whole life to gain a resistance to fire?

Possible, but then she should have been a hundred. No, a thousand years old at this point

And I strongly believe, she is not.

Is she actually a fire elemental?

No

Not even fire elementals could survive my fire.

I do not know. I do not understand

I. Do. Not. Know.

This is a new, a first

How long since I did not possess knowledge such as this?

This does explain her lack of fear for me, or lack of discomfort around my flames.

I should have noticed sooner.

...

I should wake her, get my answers

“Human, wake up.”

Saying that, she groggily opened her eyes.

Blinded at first by the sun,

Then focusing her eyes at me

“Ehm, goodmorning!”

It seems she has not noticed

“Human, you hugged me, you got burnt”

“What?”

Looking around in a stupor, the human seemed perplexed

Maybe I owe her an explanation.

“Before I could differentiate who was hugging me, I let my flames take power. When I realised it was you I turned my fire off and healed your burns. ”

Now she is giving me that weird look

The look between confusion and.. Anger?

Looking even more perplexed

I should just ask her, before she speaks up.

“Human, I must ask, do you have an immunity to fire? Or a very high fire resistance?”

She then looked down on her body, then up to me

Expression turning more towards anger than confusion

“YOU BURNT ME! And.. and AND THEN YOU HEALED ME!”

I have already stated as much

“Yes, answer my question.”

“No. YOU ANSWER MY QUESTION, IF YOU CAN HEAL ME, WHY HAVE YOU NOT?!”

“I did not want to. Now answer my-“

“WHAT DO YO-“

“SILENCE! IF YOU WANT TO TALK SPEAK NORMALLY, I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANYTHING ELSE!”

Aaah, human, you make it hard to think

If you want a back and forth, you should be civil

Even my greatest enemies were more civil than you

And from the way you are screaming and stomping

I am guessing this is your way of fueling your anger.

Or maybe venting it?

Human emotions can be hard to interpret.

After waiting for a few minutes, the human finally calmed down.

Her leg still visibly shaking, but her outwards appearance more calm than I have ever seen on her before.

“Okay. I’m calm now. What was your question?”

Calmed down?

“Hrmpf, As I said. Do you happen to have immunity to fire? My fire should have scorched you to the bones.”

“No.”

“No? Answer me more clearly human, I need answ-“

“You keep secrets, so do I”

Secrets?

SECRETS?

HOW DARE YOU

I GIVE YOU THE COURTASY OF JOINING YOUR ADVENTURE

I GAVE YOU GIFTS

I DID

I

A GREAT DRAGON

ASKED YOU A VERY SIMPLE QUESTION

AND YOU DARE REFUTE?

YOU INSOLENT HUMAN!

No, calm down, do not let the human get the best of you

You have been through more frustrating conversations before

Calm down

Letting my flames still, I managed to calm myself.

Mind more focused than before.

“Dragon, I have a question. Why have you not healed me before? I mean my legs and stomach.”

“I have already answered you.”

“No, you said you don’t want to. That’s a non-answer. Give me a proper one”

A proper one? Why would I deign you with such privacy?

The inner workings of a great Dragon,

...

Hmm.

I could use this

“Only if you tell me about your fire immunity”

“I won’t. But tell you what, I’ll tell you how I got this supposed fire immunity if you answer my question”

Hmm

Human, you make me even more interested in your ability.

Maybe

Maybe if I know the origins, I can figure out what exactly she has.

Yes, with my great mind

It will be a piece of cake.

“Very well. The reason is very simple, I do not find it beneficial for me to heal you. Nor do I really care if you die or suffer”

There, Human

I have given you my answer.

A Dragon never lies, never.

The human stayed silent, head down, not letting me see her expression

Interesting, this is a first for this human

Maybe she is in deep thought?

She seems to ponder, maybe thinking of what to give me to make me heal her.

Hehe, human, there is nothing in this world than you can give me that would satisfy me

Nothing

“Aha, I see... Well. My answer is that I was born with it.”

Born

What?

Is this an inborn ability?

This does not tell me anything, it could mean anything.

“Born? That does not answer my question human.”

“Yes it does, not my fault you were not specific enough.”

Specific?

SPECIFIC?

HOW DARE YOU, HUMAN

YOU FOOLED ME?

YOU TRICKED

ME?

NO ONE WHO VALUES THEIR LIFE WOULD DARE TRICK ME

“How.. HOW DARE YOU, HUMAN!“

“You did the same to me. Now we are even”

EVEN?!

YOU INSOLENT HUMAN

I WILL MAKE YOU PAY

The fire around me burning bright

Forming a pillar that reached up to the sky

Piercing clouds and painting everything in a blue hue

But my eyes, they never left the human

Walking away from me, back turned

As if she was mocking me

How, HOW DARE YOU

I..

Trusted you

...

I think I have lied

I have lied to myself

Any dragon would kill those that dare defy them

Trick them like this

I have done so before

On more than one occasion

But I can not seem to kill you

Human

What have I done for you to do this

I do not understand

I do not

Understand