Chapter 52

Maybe there was meaning to the story. Bones had often told complicated stories. Some of them wouldn’t have made sense without the intro part. No doubt this was much the same. “…Okay.” “All right, then listen up! Boss… Please, continue!” “Right. So, I slayed Geilid…” And so Bash had his time for war boasting at last. If there were young orcs present, no doubt they would be listening with rapturous pleasure. But for the dragon, this was a very odd thing to experience. A dragon lays one egg once every few decades. The baby dragon hatches from the egg and is raised by its mother until it’s able to fly. Eyes met Bones shortly after Eyes learned to fly. It was after Eyes had left the nest and was separated from her mother. Eyes barely had any idea what to do. Eyes had no destination in mind but was soaring through the air in the dragon way. Dragons fly for miles and miles, and whenever they get tired or spot a comfortable-looking place, they land and make their nest. They do it instinctively. No one teaches them. Eyes was no exception. She found a comfortable-looking place and decided to make a nest there. But what’s comfortable for one dragon is also comfortable for another. The place that Eyes had chosen was actually already Bones’s territory. Dragons are highly territorial creatures. Normally, a dragon would spot the signs of other dragons before entering their territory and thus avoid it. But Eyes, still young, missed the signs. Which is why the incident occurred. A fairly common incident between dragons, especially young dragons. When a dragon enters another dragon’s territory, there are two possible scenarios that play out. One is a territorial dispute. A fight breaks out, and the winner takes control of the area. The other scenario is that the dragons will pair up. If the paired dragons are of the opposite sex, they will live together for a while and produce offspring. Once breeding is complete, the male leaves the territory. There are only these two possible scenarios. But when Eyes entered Bones’s territory, something else happened. Bones actually came out to greet the foolish young invader. Bones did not seek a fight or try to argue. Instead, Bones was welcoming. “I’ve lived around here for a long time. Let’s be friends.” Eyes, knowing nothing, simply said, “Okay, thanks.” And that was that. Maybe Bones was disarmed a little by the fact that Eyes hadn’t immediately attacked. Anyway, the two of them lived together for a while after that. Bones came to spend time with Eyes regularly. Sometimes with food, sometimes empty-handed. Bones often flew in, but sometimes came on foot. But whenever Bones came to see Eyes, Bones would tell stories. Stories about the people Bones so loved. Or just passing on wisdom about life as a dragon. What people would call small talk became essential for Eyes to learn about the ways of survival. Eyes learned from Bones what would normally take hundreds of years for a dragon to learn on their own. Bones also taught Eyes many things, beyond the obvious basics. Stories about other creatures, about people, and about mysterious objects scattered all over the world… Bones probably knew a lot of things that other dragons didn’t know. Because Bones was such a curious dragon. But Eyes only ever really half listened. Eyes wasn’t really all that interested, to be honest. But Eyes did like Bones. Often, when the mood struck, Eyes would go over to Bones’s place to see them. And when Bones came to visit, Eyes would make space in her nest. Bones was not a mother nor a mate, but what Eyes felt for Bones might be similar to what people call familial love. Bones was something like a sister or a cousin or an aunt. Then one day, Bones died. Just like that. Murdered. By a tiny little person. Eyes was consumed with sadness and anger. Eyes wanted to kill every person in existence. Specifically, if Eyes found the person who killed Bones, Eyes planned to torture them to death. Eyes had never felt such a strong murderous intent. That’s how sad Eyes was when Bones died. After that, Eyes started attacking every person she found. It seemed like revenge… But it was really just Eyes venting frustration. Eyes eventually grew tired of venting her frustration. It wasn’t like killing people would bring Bones back. And most people seemed to never have heard of Bones. Also, it was annoying when the people would fight back. But the fixation never waned. Yes, Eyes was fixated. Not on all people. Just on the one who’d killed Bones. Eyes wasn’t out there searching for them. Nor did Eyes expect to find them. But today… Eyes had found them. And the person had begun to boast of how they had killed Bones. But Eyes couldn’t have imagined how she’d feel after she’d heard the full story…