~ 6 ~

Just Casually Doing the Impossible

I exhaled a controlled burst of emerald flames, thick and wide to protect ourselves, but not reaching far enough to reach our foes. The fire burned away, and the steam flushed upward. The second I could see, I saw the luminescent points of the inbound, magical daggers.

Oh... fuck.

I closed my eyes and tucked the princess behind me, extending myself across the wall, feeling it wobble back and forth. It struggled to balance my weight. The princess was safe—as safe as possible—when the magical attack struck. I shut my eyes and awaited pain or death.

Two things I hadn't felt or feared since arriving in this world.

The daggers sliced into me, phased into my existence, infusing with my soul, altering the coursing energy inside of me. My eyes blinked open as I felt something about them. One of the cultists pointed and yelled. "I-Its eyes! They're... p-purple!"

I cocked my head like a confused puppy. "Huh?"

I looked down across my body to see an unfamiliar sight. Waves of glowing purple washed across my scales, travelling over my body, winding from my back to stomach. My emerald colour had absorbed it. Tinged their purple with my green. That power. Their energy. It was a foreign, temporary feeling inside of me.

"This wasn't something you told me you could do!" the princess cried, still curled in my tail, as her hands pushed on it. She struggled to create enough space for her to continue shouting. "And you're holding me too tightly!"

I growled back to her in a whisper. "I didn't know I could do this. And shh! Kidnapped princesses aren't allowed to complain." I focused back on the groom, who had shambled back in shock. Shaking his head, he raised his hands—as did his family behind him.

"Oh, no you don't!" I barked, feeling a sequence of feelings inside my head. Moving your hands didn't require you to think. You just did it. And it felt nearly the same when I channelled that alien power outward. "Feel free to take some of your edge back!"

Particles of lavender swirled into existence around my perched frame, each exploding and expanding into the knives. Nearly the same as the family had created, the four shot forward, toward the tables, slicing their middles.

The shock and explosion of wood had stunned all.

And here's my cue!

My wings flapped in preparation for flight. The groom, however, charged the last of his magic into something appearing over my right wing. I couldn't tell what the object was, only that it was getting bigger.

"You won't leave unharmed!" the groom shouted as power flushed upward from his feet. "I will take your power, Emerald Dragon!"

Is that what the humans will be calling me? Emerald? I supposed I could do worse for a dragon name.

But then I lowered my claw to him, and the boy freaked, realizing that something massive and powerful loomed before him—and he had no defence against it. Standing metaphorically with his pants down, he looked at my idle claw with fear, and immense satisfaction and pleasure coursed through me.

Now I understand why dragons messed with humans and flaunted their power.

Feeling strong... also felt pretty good.

"That's enough out of you."

I flicked his front with a talon, feeling and watching him fly from his summoning stance. He passed through the air and, before his family could catch him in a bubble of magi, his back slammed against the stoned wall. He clattered onto the ground, groaning.

My wings flapped more, and my feet unlocked from the wobbling wall. It leaned backward, falling toward the sand and water, breaking apart on impact as dust blew outward. I floated over the ruined wedding, watching everyone over.

"I will not let you leave, beast!" the hero shouted from the middle of the crowd, stuffing his fingers into his mouth, unleashing a whistle. I winced. Had they figured out something close to a dog whistle for dragons in this world—or did his pitch suck for everyone? "I prepared for one of your kind to attempt this! Now kindly look to your right."

I did so out of instinct and looked down the barrel of a giant cannon. It had not been there moments ago. It'd been on a vast, wooden platform, rolled over on the castle walls from the mighty wheels attached to its base. Its fuse was already lit by the time I looked, and orange burned down the barrel.

I barely flapped backward in time to yank myself out of the cannon ball's trajectory. I fell back as my bottom flew forward and upward. My tail whipped up, unwinding and tossing the princess. My eyes widened as I flew forward, arm thrusting forward, claw reaching after her.

More cannons rose along the castle walls, each being ignited, massive orbs of iron hurtling through the air. I inched over the first, but the second struck my side, the force like being punched by a mountain. My body twirled, but I flapped my left with all the strength in my muscles, rotating back to straightness.

My claw never stopped reaching out for the princess as she descended.

The gust of my wing had blown downward, throwing aside the people in the church, but the hero, with a lift of his own magic, used it to throw himself upward. I felt something poking my side, but that didn't matter. The princess flew over the church's entrance, down into the massive spread of sand.

I dived right after her, swiping the air, slicing dangerously close to her falling form. She reached out to me as well. I thrust my arm downward, seeing many tinies spread in a square down on the beach. I ignored them as my claw surrounded the princess, and, closing it, I felt her hold in the middle of my fist.

I sighed as my lifted wings gave a powerful downward flap, stabilizing my altitude, blowing away a covering of sand intermixed with a few people. A second later, however, the sand below dropped, pouring into an opening.

I looked down to see a square cave carved into the ground and another massive cannon tucked away in it. There seemed to be a little entrance below, and an underground system of tunnels. Was this castle, its whole domain, trapped for any who dared to attack?

Did the princess know about this? No, no way! She wouldn't risk getting blown to bits! Her family must have hidden it from her!

Within those span of seconds, the people, no doubt alerted from my bumbling at the church, had all fled into battle positions. It would take my wings a couple of more flaps to dodge to the side. My claw, holding the princess, was still thrust forward, harboured over the cannon. It was lit, and would fire in the next moment.

What can I do?

"Yeeess... yes! Fire, fire! Kill the beast!" a voice shouted closer to my frill, and I didn't have it in me to shake him off. "This is how you die, dragon. By our family. The good ol' fashioned way!"

"Are you fucking crazy?!" I barked at him as explosions started going off beneath the cannon, each one leading to another larger, a blast great enough to send a boulder of iron skyrocketing. It was then that an idea clicked. My wings doubled not to escape—but to ascend as quickly as possible as I set to straighten myself. "They're going to kill the princess!"

"What's a princess... to another dead dragon! The glory gained and the lives saved! All that deserved attention, placed where it belongs... without any beautiful distractions to take it away."

"You fucking attention whore!"

I growled as my aching wings beat harder to rise. Had I a few more moments, I might have been able to dodge. However, all I could do was ascend, and get as high as possible before the ball fired. If I got high enough, the distance would take away some force from the impact.

That left the princess.

Would she be safe in my claw? There was a chance that, when the blast struck my chest, my claws would clench. I couldn't be sure I could stop them from doing so. But where else was there to put her? Then I remembered the pain in my shoulder, the one still there.

I lifted my claw to my back, untucking my talons, opening the dome of my fist.

"Princess! We don't have much time!" I said loud enough for only her and me to hear; I angled the opening close to the pain's origin. "There's a sword buried deep onto my scales. Hold onto that and whatever else as tightly as possible. I'll grab you once it's—"

The cannon fired with a boom that popped the ears of all nearby. I couldn't hear, and then I couldn't feel anything but pain. My claw released the princess as my back flew upward into her. I felt her pelt my scales, then slide for a moment. Then I felt nothing—and hoped that she had made it.

The boulder broke into my chest, crushed into my lungs, rasing me without assistance from my wings. I could only rise as the pain flared at the same acceleration. My eyes blinked, closing on their own, the inability to breathe choking my mind.

My claws gripped the rising iron as it started to slow, before my limbs went numb, and I choked out a final exhale.