Chapter 78: Two sides

Nathaniel: 

I find Ajax in my room, reading to Erik, as the boy writes. My eyebrows furrow, when I see how calm he is. To think, he will drag Givontair in the mud with him. What sort of father is he? I turn to leave, but the dragon stops reading. 

"Can we get a break, Erik? You can look over what you have written," Ajax says. Erik flexes his wrist, and smiles up at the shifter. I blink at that. Just when did Ajax win Erik over? 

"Sure. Can I have the book, so I can proofread what I wrote?" Erik asks. Ajax hands him the book, and then stands up. I am already halfway out of the room, when the dragon falls in step behind me. 

"Dragon slayer, I think we need to talk," I hasten my steps. That doesn't seem to stop the dragon because he falls in step behind me. "Ok, let it be this way. You will retreat, and I will say my peace." 

I whip around to face him. 

"Just what do people do to you? Why do you burn villages? Oakrest was a simple farming village. Do you even remember its name?" I can't help but raise my tone. Ajax sighs. 

"I remember it. I also remember that a dragon hatchling was drowned in the village well, by the order of the local priest of Harika," I didn't know that. Yet, one life is not worth a hundred. 

"Then you should have burned the priest, and not everyone else," I snap at him. 

"Why didn't anyone step up to save a baby, who was only five days old?" Ajax asks. I ball my hands in fists. "Why didn't anyone hear its cries, as the cold water choked it?" 

I have no words for that. Ajax comes towards me. 

"I remember that, during that week, I got at least 1,000 reports about other hatchlings. Some were abused, others sold into slavery, and there was a third group. The ones who were deemed to grow too strong, with time. Those, the priests killed. After I took actions, no more babies were mistreated. Fear, you will soon see, is the only warranty for peace between humans and dragons," he says, looking tired. 

"You don't know that. It was the fear you inspired in the humans, which made them act out against innocent babies," I argue. He takes in a deep breath. 

"I tried not to inspire fear, for a long time. The second I was deemed soft, my people's suffering began," Ajax says, and then moves pass me. When I don't follow, he looks back at me. "Come on. I want to show you something."  

Against my better judgement, I do follow him. This could be a trap. For all I know, he might be leading me to my death. A payback for his tail. Yet, something tells me that he won't stoop so low. He leads me outside, and then floods the air with mana. There is something like a screen appearing in the air. I watch the scenes unfolding before me. 

People barging in houses, and dragging whole families out. People being drowned. I know for a fact that, if someone is being drowned, they are probably a dragon. Only dragon fire can harm a dragon, so dragons don't get burned at the stake. When the pictures change to small babies being stabbed, I close my eyes. 

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"Not a pretty picture, is it?" I hear Ajax asks. "This is not from recent years. Rather, it is from before my war of conquest. This is what led me to take over the world." 

"Did you change anything?" I ask, then, I add. "How come the dragons didn't fight back?"

"You don't know much about us, do you? Only those of my line can shape-shift when they want. The rest can shape-shift only when the moon allows for it. I can bore you with the details about the different phases of the moon, or I can tell you something which can change your mind about dragons," I nod at him, ready to hear what he has to say. 

"Dragons and humans are not all that different," it surprises me that he would freely admit to such a thing. I have always thought that he takes pride in his species. "I can admit that some dragons might have been responsible for the hatred that the humans feel towards us. After Giv became a healer, he also became an advocate for human-dragon mutual understanding." 

"Why didn't you let him finish with that? Just why did you interfere?" I ask the dragon. If he hadn't conquered the world, what could have Giv's efforts achieved?

"What I showed you kept on happening, even when Givontair began to change hearts. In every race, there are zealots with long memories. People who understand only violence. If the dragon population hadn't dwindled during the years of the empire, I would still be ruling the world. Not because I have a desire to do so, but to ensure their safety," I mull over his words. Yet, one thing doesn't add up. 

"Why aren't you still fighting for dragon rights? You don't look the type to give up," I ask him. He looks up to the sky, and sighs. 

"I can't reason with myself, when it comes to the fact, that I will be terrorizing millions of people, for a handful of my own race," he runs a hand through his hair. "The world is changing, dragon slayer. The magic is slowly sizzling out. Only those who had access to it, before this change, can keep it. In a few centuries, things like mana and necromancers will become a thing of the past." 

"Are you saying that Sorix and I will die?" I gulp then, imagining the future.

"No. You will just not become any more powerful. It will be a bright new world, with just enough of the old, for people to remember this new age. This is why the Dread is churning out prophecies one after the other. It is trying to come up with one, which can negate the coming change," this all is too much for me.

 Yet, I do my best to think about how this crisis can be averted. For, there are things that can be done just with mana. If we lose them, then people will die all over the world.  

 

 

 

 

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