Burned
Despite the bolting wails and screams— clamorous roars could be heard as if it was the only sound and vibration we are allowed to hear... and feel. And it is very effective to make us all kneel and heel-toe hide.
Skin looking irkingly rough and rigid even from a far sight, claws ten spans bigger than the whole of my skull, and enormously robust wings capable of hammering houses of any height— dragons are indeed a creature of the sky....
And tonight it is only serving undefiable crudeness instead of a heavenly rhyme.
Ballistically patrolling the whole of the vicinity, their mouths are blazing with fire, making sure everything is under the chaos they were orchestrating. They had summoned fire to reign on our every home that despite the village being in the middle of the vast body of sea, we couldn’t even lift a protest of rebellion, or else it would be easier for them to spot and seethe us. And body would therefore be one with the humid air.
And it is a glaring evidence that what makes their kind prouder and even more sinister than ever is the fact that they can easily make people crumble... crumble in their humungous mouth...a delectable munch... that you could hear their teeth and the bones of their preys fighting... an effortless fatale... and in the end, it is their savageness that won.
And like in war, victory ends up with the one who had the last sleek of blood in his or her sword, but in these creatures’ case, their mouth had the most sleek and it was undoubtedly their most favored sword.
So how else could a human contest that?
“Kwaaark!”
“Wooooar!”
I could never tame or soothe any of their kind. Aunt Sylvia, the lost soothsayer was very wrong to proclaim the village that I could conquer and tame the most ruthless and virile... the greatest of this kind.
Cause here I am... bowing the lowest-low point that the situation is encouraging... bowing more than what is expected... to hide from the upcoming vengeance that’s supposed to be at the mercy of my hands.
I am ought to be a dragon whisperer but in the end, I wasn’t able to thwart them when they were gobbling the whole of my neighborhood. All of my family...
I was a civilian then, and now... still a civilian.
I hopelessly shut my eyes when surging tides threatened the slashing of the pitifully wrecked boat I am on. Yet despite the terror of sinking in the sea or being consumed by the fire, the flooded... cold spaces under my feet shushed me an upbeat and almost illegal light in doom... saying... that still, and atleast... I had the chance to get a farther distance. That I am still more privileged, as they were there, have stayed in our home, because they were burnt in place. Begging and pleading for their lives... and unfavored.
Eyes worn and weary, I thought of the people that were left behind. I had never learned who my parents are. I don’t have a sibling. Nor grandparents. But I have my strict Aunt, striving Uncle, and their children, who were not always good to me but I would always regard as family.
The whole village became my home, and yes— it doesn’t necessarily have to be good to me all the time. We were all striving to live and it is human to get tired... fuck up our lives... and shout at people when they were blocking our way... home.
It was a poor life out there, but it wasn’t hateful.
It is life, running its course.
I slowly held my hand up to my chest. Something regal ignited inside me when I felt the beating under my palm. It was like my heart told me that yeah, it is still in touch and I don’t have to worry.
“Hey, it has been tough... yeah?” I whispered.
To which the heavens replied with the dragons.
“Kwaaark!”
“Whoooar!”
I hissed at the sky.
“Damn these lizard-looking birds,”
The growls continued getting more deafening as if they are nearer my ears, causing me to lay flat on my stomach and peek at the little covert hole of the boat. My eyes dilated noticing that five of them were coming for me!
Perhaps they had smelled my human blood or had seen me even before I tried my best to hide! And with those brooding and immensely sculpted fleets, I knew it would only be a minute for them to reach me!
My mouth on aghast, “It is my death on those orbs.”
Immeasurably rattled and completely terrified of the upcoming terror, if I could just, I would gladly run up to the unknown that there is. Cause my kind won’t be able to survive the enigmatic mouth that is currently ashing and frying everything in sight.
“How I wish they were the reincarnation of those lizards whom I offered mosquitos” I prayed.
The volts of their roars amplified as if they heard and find it outrageous! But what made me flinch real is when suddenly, they started throwing flames into the sea and it almost reached to where I am! The clock in my mind ticked and the panic I tried to cage exploded in my head... infectious... all frenzy!
Wanting to escape the menace... the barbarity of their kind, in extreme hysteria, I abruptly stood up on the wrecked boat, because how can I deny the fact they have already seen me unobstructed?
And what difference would it make to bow down and hide, when it’s obvious that I couldn’t play the classic hide-and-seek game with starved dragons who were loudly competing after my flesh?
My sudden movement cajoled the other’s attention, and now ten more dragons were coming for me!
“Braveheart, foolish act” I chanted the usual as I met the most exhilarating eyes... darkest of the browns... that have ever existed.
Turning to the sea felt like falling into nonstop untold pits. Tensed and pushed over the edge, I gulped at the obvious deepness, fearing its vastness... and the translucence that is tricking me of what might have been wonderful.
“Braveheart, foolish act,”
“Here I am ready to sash,”
“Keep me safe, mend my core. ”
“Zasleigh Oza, is a fearless soul.”
More terrified than ever of seeing them nearer my position and hearing them roar ballistically as a form of mounting aggression, I chanted one last shaky ‘Brave heart, foolish act’ chant in my head before letting the sea swallow me whole.
And it seemed that the water could do me better than their fire.
Because fun fact about me, I live on the riverside, but I couldn’t swim and dive.
