Bricks and Fire [M/M]

Some lives can be defined by one moment that changes everything. Mine might have been finding my lover with another person in our bed. In the space of a week, I had thrown everything I worked for into the wind. My relationship, my house and pretty much everything I owned, my job included. That led to where I was currently.

After selling everything and putting the cash away for my peace, I travelled. Spending some time alone, hiking seemed like the best thing for me. Ill prepared with just a tent, sleeping bag and a backpack of essentials I hiked.

I learned a lot of things along the way, like how nice it was to just relax and bathe in a river and cook fresh fish. Everything else felt insignificant. And that leads me to now, falling in a sink hole right beside the riverbed.

Landing hard on the ground underneath, I looked up at the sun and let out a groan. I guess the lucky thing had been landing down here with all my gear. But regardless of that, it didn’t help me be less critical of myself for getting here in this mess in the first place. Sighing, I stood up and looked around the sinkhole, which seemed to have dumped me right into a cavern. Thank God, this means there had to be some sort of way out. Letting my mind wander about all the things that I might find in this cave only served as a distraction from what I should have been doing, setting up camp for the night.

Letting out a deep breath, I tossed my things on the ground and unpacked my tent, well that was until the smell of smoke hit my nose. I paused and spent a moment looking up and around for the evidence of where it came from. It wasn’t wildfire season, but that didn’t stop a random forest fire from happening. Not seeing the smoke from above, I investigated the cavern, but with the limited light from the hole in the roof, it was hard. I had a flashlight, but I was sure the battery wasn’t charged enough for a proper look around. Finding my flashlight in my gear, I ventured into the cave, anyway. I might regret it, but oh well. Fuck it.

Flicking the light on, I just walked.

From the cavern where I landed, a small tunnel opened into a significantly larger cavern featuring a freshwater stream feeding a deep, cave-like pond. Inside, everything was perfect; the temperature was lovely, and the sound of the water was soothing and calming. I would have no issues sleeping here for a night.

Walking to the pond, I tripped over something laying on the ground. Looking down, I dismissed the thought that it might have been a stick or tree branch after seeing the shiny scales.

What the hell had shiny scales here? Nothing should have.

Swallowing my feelings, I let the flashlight travel up the length of the scaled object. As the object grew larger, I seemed to come across a set of back legs, then front ones, and finally, a head. It was at the spot where its head had rested that the source of the smoke could be found, though it was not immediately obvious. What was once a pile of green leaves was now a pile of smoking, crisped leaves, a testament to the power of that thing.

But what was this thing? Surely, I couldn’t be actually looking at what my brain was saying was an actual dragon. There was no way. They didn’t exist. Laying my hand on the scaled muzzle of this creature—no, this dragon — I could feel the heat from it.

Squeezing the muzzle under my hand: laughing, I had actually lost my mind while travelling, that or I had hit the ground hard enough that I was out of it. Looking down at the muzzle again, I met eyes the colour of the sun looking back at me.

“Wow. You’re beautiful.”

At that moment, I think I understood how people could look at death and be completely comfortable with it. I was just hoping that this creature killed me quickly. But that wasn’t the case.

Struck with a hard blow. Air whizzed by my ears until I hit water. My skin burned where there was nothing to protect it from the water. Time seemed to stop, and even as I swallowed, water and lungs burned. It didn’t feel real. It couldn’t be.

Shivering, I coughed up water. My throat and lungs burned with every cough that I could muster. But when I tried to stand, I couldn’t. My legs wouldn’t move. It was too dark around to see where I was, but when I let out a cry, it was met with a snarl from something in the back of wherever I was now.

“Silence.” it snarled.

“Please…” I cried. “My legs---”

“Buried for warmth.” It grunted at me.

“I can’t see. It’s too dark.”

“Right. Humans can’t see in the dark.”

This was a little odd, but rustling sounds filled the cave, and a soft brightness bloomed, only to be quickly swallowed by the encompassing darkness. It was fire; I had seen a bloom of fire for a mere moment. A series of angry huffs flooded the air before a soft light again was erupting from the darkness. Set on the floor was a perfectly made fire.

Able to see now, I dug myself out of the dirt and sand on the ground of the cavern. He watched and was frustrated by me uncovering myself.

Once free, I looked around for the dragon, still not sure if it was real or not. I didn’t see it anywhere. The only thing I saw now was this man, and I really hadn’t even got that good of a look at him. Moving closer to the fire, I was wet and slimy now because of being buried in the sand and dirt.

“Um… I know this sounds messed up, but I’ve either got a severe head injury or I definitely saw a dragon, I think.” I said and looked at the man, who was looking around for something. He stopped when he heard the word dragon. He was quick to whip around, and his eyes glowed the same colour as the sun, the same colour as the dragon’s.

“I don’t understand…” I muttered openly into the air, trying to figure out how this was happening. “You, you’re the dragon… but how?”

My question just seemed to linger in the air, unanswered. But he didn’t take his eyes off me. I couldn’t tell if he was sizing me up or trying to figure me out. I watched as he seemed to become alert with more time passing until he paused and turned back to me.

“What year is it?” his voice was still husky, but far less than it had been.

“Twenty twenty-five.”

Thirty years—the phrase echoed in my ears as he muttered, a cryptic reference that ignited a burning question within me; I desperately wanted to know what event or period occurred thirty years prior. I refrained from asking it. Chances were, he might get very upset by my question, and that wasn’t something I needed.

The loud growl emanating from my empty stomach caused an immediate reaction to spring to my feet. I needed to get my belongings! I realized, with a sinking feeling, that I had squandered far too many precious hours. “I have to go! My stuff is out there, and I need it.” It was probably dark now, and nearly impossible to set up my tent for the night. The dragon wasted no time following me out of the larger cavern, into the smaller tunnel, and into the small open-air cavern.

Looking at him, he was looking up at the sky and he seemed to have a bit of confusion about how the hole in the cave got there.

“So, um, I fell through the ground here, and that’s how that happened.” I muttered. He looked me over again and nodded, looking up again at the darkening sky.

“I imagine much had changed human.” He said, and I looked up from where I was rushing to unpack my tent.

“How many years have you been here?”

“According to you, thirty years.” He spoke.

“You’ve been here longer than I’ve been alive. I’m only twenty-six.” I laughed.

He frowned deeply and grabbed my tent from my hand, tossing it away. “Enough with that. Now that I’ve woken up, I have things that need my attention, and you need to come with me, since you’re aware of what I am.”

“That sounds great, Mr. Dragon, but if you can’t see. We are still stuck in this hole, so.” I said, grabbing my backpack.

One minute I was in the hole still, the next I was in the air, my hoodie in the muzzle of a dragon and, out of fear, I closed my eyes. Set on the ground, I opened my eyes and let out a breath.

“Come along. I have too much to do.” He hissed, and I took in his pretty much naked figure.

“Um… you can’t go into public like that.”

He waved me off and walked deeper into the forest. The idea of running away right now seemed impossible to me, even if I had wanted to. He would capture me again and I would be toast.

“Walk faster, human,” he snapped, as if my slowness was getting on his nerves. But as it was, I was already jogging to keep up with him and it wasn’t working all that well.