Furry of claws; Chapter four; god of mind.

“Rakshasi if you keep interrupting me I can’t focus” Dion looked accusingly at Rakshasi. Yesterday he had agreed on going forth with the rite, trying to figure out if he can truly be one with his body. Rakshasi started with guiding him how he should focus his mind. It started relatively easy with some minor challenges. Trying to find out what was around him. today Rakshasi wanted to see how far he could extent his mind away. “You are not even trying!” Rakshasi waved the accusing look away. She stood up from the bed in the farm. Walking to the cattle that was boiling on the fire. “I am trying alright.” Dion protested, trying to reach his mind out far. “Dion, I say it yourself. You have trouble to connect with anything other than me.” He snout tipped over the edge to catch the scent of a stew that was boiling slowly. “I know Rakshasi.” Dion turned his head away, looking past Rakshasi and into an opened window. “Connecting to someone else’s mind just doesn’t feel right.” Rakshasi turned her gaze back to Dion. “Who so that? Does it feel intimate?” Dion gave a small nod in reply. After all one of the reasons he felt close to Rakshasi was because of the mental link they shared. “I fear what happened in the cabin the other day. After you showed me those memories. That it will repeat, I don’t want to lose my identity.”

Rakshasi slightly embraced Dion around his shoulders with her wings. “Nor I want that to happen. Trough fear is a good thing when experimenting with mental abilities right now it is a hold back for you.” Dion leaned his head against her shoulder, taking deep breaths. He tried to clear his mind of any thoughts, any emotions that might hold himself back from experiencing the mental power of a dragon.  “Rakshasi, I wonder. Can you mind control someone?” Rakshasi gave a small snort, his question amused her apparently. “My goodness, no. I don’t know what kind of stories you have read in the human world. But contrary to popular believe dragons can’t control or even read minds. The latter is only possible if the person allows it.” Dion slightly broke the embrace, letting her wing slide over his back and wings. “For example, I can only enter your mind when you allow it?” Rakshasi gave a small nod. “Any mental link must come from both ways...” She was interrupted by Dion. “Then why could you connect to me the first time?” Rakshasi seemed to be baffled by the question. She gazed at Dion, obviously searching for an answer. “I…Well if you allowed me…but you never…”  she placed her claw tips on her temples, trying to think of a possibility. “I don’t know. Maybe we met before. I do not have a single clue.” Dion rolled his neck, trying to get some stiffness out of it. “Have you ever mentally connected with someone else before?” Dion grew rather interested in Rakshasi’s own mental capabilities. “besides the rite? No, you are really the only one. No one knows what the risks are of prolonged mental exposure to someone.”

“Wait there is a risk to our mental link!?” Dion was horrified by this news. “Yes and no, it is difficult. Some see a mental link as a relation. Might also be a good analogy. A link can make one stronger but also one weaker. It depends on the person whom you have the link with.” She placed her hand on his chest. “Dion, I do not know what link we share. When I first met you I saw it as a nessesairity. You learn draconic better than anyone I ever met but it is far from capable to sustain any form of conversations.” She paused to search for words. He could feel a wave of uncertainty coming from her trough the link. he tried to figure out where it came from. Was it because she feared something? She feared an risk also? Did she fear more pain? “Our link have grown to something more than just a form of communication.” Dion nodded softly in confirmation. He still tried to figure out what the link was for him. A beacon of hope? It was true that he drawn great strength out of the experiences with Rakshasi. Was she his hope? Dion could not bring himself to agree with that. Still Dion could not help to feel a bit strange inside. Rakshasi’s mind broke contact. Dion was pulled out of the stream of consciousness to look at her. She seemed uneasy about something, something Dion missed. She removed his hand from her chest. Her eyes gazed at the hand, her motions where slow. Either out of respect or fear, Dion did not try to enter another mental connection with her.

The door of the farm opened, Pelineples entered through the door. Her gaze laid upon the two dragons and Rakshasi’s hand who hold Dion by the wrist. The elf seemed to blush, she apologized and quickly went on to cook with her back towards the dragons. Dion tilted his head slightly. that was odd. He thought to himself. He could feel Rakshasi dropping his hand quickly. Dion lost meaning of what was going on. They gone from a deep conversations about they shared to an awkward pause. Dion could not help to wonder if Rakshasi felt some intimacy with the connection they shared. In order to break the silence Pelineples spoke. “So did you two made some progress with the training.”

“Ti batobot bensvelk” Rakshasi replied, her voice letting trough some kind of disturbance. Dion was sure that something about him was bothering Rakshasi. “Such a shame. But even some progress is progress right?” Rakshasi gave a small nod to the elf. She dropped the conversation quickly and asked her about her day. The two soon joined in a deep conversation about how the market was set up. They talked about the way traders would price there goods, the way they started to market up the goods. The elf showered Rakshasi a small bundle of gold she gathered. Explaining how she gotten this trader to pay good coin for the goods. Dion was a little disinterested from the whole trading business. He instead gazed through the window, trying to empty his head again. That is was hard to get his mind into shape was not about to stop him. He was distracted when Rakshasi brought up his idea to wear long monk outfits to hide them in public. From what Dion could hear was that Pelineples did not found it a bad idea. She discussed the problems with it and how to avoid it. the wings and tails could be strapped up easily with a leather brace or something along those lines. But the face. It would be hard, she came with the solution of another type of dressing. Monks would be called up on a lot, so staying hidden for long would be hard. Eventually someone would request a blessing. She told that not only they would be exposed but trying to bless someone as dragon…it basically meant the death sentence for who ever happened to be blessed. She suggested something Dion did not quite know, it the group was. It was an order of some sort. The elf explained that besides having a body covering suit like monks had, they wore masks in public. Her next point was that the costumes made people feel uncomfortable to look at them. Dion quickly joined into the conversation, asking how they could get such a suit or even how they should act. Rakshasi in the other hand felt more and more against such an idea. She explained her fears to be discovered rather horrifying. Pelineples soon enough asked if they should still try to kill the king. If Rakshasi wanted to sacrifice everything to kill him. it was clear that Rakshasi doubted if she should kill at all. Both she and Dion wanted the dragon not to die out. It would be a culture change, almost even a change of faith to make most of the humans hate dragons. Pelineples gave a small hunch of an idea that they should just leave. fly away far out of the boundaries of the kingdom. An elven kingdom was far more accepting to dragons. True is that not all elves would like a dragon around but they could have a place to stay without worrying death. Dion was the first to seriously starting to think about it. Rakshasi in the other hand struggled with the idea to move. She did not like to leave everything behind. Dion wondered out loud why Rakshasi started to become so hesitant. Just a few months ago she was focused and nothing could stop her. Rakshasi did not answer, she returned to silence. Dion rather worried tried to reconnect with her mind again.

“Rakshasi.” He hoped that she was still wanting to listen to him. He felt rather cold without the mental connection, without being able to communicate  with minds to Rakshasi. “Please, Dion don’t start here with it also.” Dion was relieved that she was still open for him. “I will not. I want you to cheer up. lately you seem rather distracted.” Rakshasi softly laid her head against Dion’s shoulder. Pelineples gave a soft smile at seeing Rakshasi like that. She looked into Dion’s eyes, he knew exactly what she thought. He softly shook his head, the elf lucky did not say anything of it. “Because I no longer think of myself Dion.” Dion pulled his wing around Rakshasi’s shoulder, keeping her warm. “And why that so? Thinking about more than just yourself should not make you a grumpy dragoness.” Rakshasi snorted slightly “Yes but… I just don’t know what is right anymore.”

“Nor do I know. whatever you believe in, I am behind you. I believe the king has no right to rule, with some guidance the humans can turn around. The king made them believe we are monsters. So someone else can make them believe we are not that bad.” Dion slowly started to come with an even more crazy idea, an idea that would most likely be even worse than just leaving. Rakshasi quickly picked up on some crazy idea. “What are you thinking of this time Dion?” She gave his neck a small poke with her nose tip. “Ohh we can always try to become jarl yourselves!” Dion expelled with an almost childish delight. Rakshasi could not contain herself, she nearly fell from her chair from laughing. Causing Pelineples to looked at the two awkwardly. “Seriously. How do you even come to that idea” Rakshasi said, after finally catching her breath from the laughing. “Oh you know. Some corner of my mind that you maybe hit once or twice. Don’t you dare to laugh”  Dion teased Rakshasi, happy that she finally gave a smile again. “Stop it!” Rakshasi grinned a bit “before I bite your tail” Dion pulled his tongue at Rakshasi. “you would not even dare!” He received a ‘small’ hit against his shoulder. For any human the hit would be still strong enough to seriously injure one. His scales absorbed the impact. “shall we try to connect another time?” Rakshasi turned so she was sitting in front of Dion.

Two days passed by. Dion was getting slow progress with his mental training. Rakshasi would have liked to see him advance faster trough. She did not like the idea of staying to long on the farm. Well aware that with each passing day the chance of discovery would increase vastly. It was midday, Pelineples’ husband entered the farm out of breath. Pelineples turned her head towards her husband., “honey what is wrong” Her husband offered her a poster he apparently gotten in the village. they showed two detailed drawings of Dion and Rakshasi, under the poster was written. “Wanted, alive.” With a reward and the contact details of the jarl of the next door town. Rakshasi and Dion looked shocked at each other. “That egg breaker!”  Rakshasi swore at realising the wanted posted was of the black dragon. “He doesn’t give up will…” she was interrupted by a growl coming from outside. The black dragon was actually flying into the town. Dion gasped at seeing the dragon flying casually into the town. Dion was sure that there would be at least three dragon hunters in the town right now. “He will get himself ki…” Rakshasi interrupted Dion, her anger was unmatched. “Forget that king…he is a dead dragon” Dion had not heard her with so much hatred towards any dragon. He even doubted if she had so much hatred for the king himself. “What are you talking about?” Rakshasi made wild motions with her arms. “No dragon would just fly into town like that. Not with dragon hunters around. Either he does not care about his live or he got some kind of deal with the king. The later seems more logical.” She hissed loudly. “I should have known that he was an egg breaker. Why else he would be a jarl.”

Aslan interrupted the two dragons “hang on, there is more.” Obviously he did not know what kind of mood Rakshasi was in. She turned around, silencing the poor human with a gaze to kill. Pelinebles took her time to calm her husband. “Continue love. She is not angry on you I believe.” Aslan swallowed. He gave a small nod. “Well I have heard that the King would come here. a visit to all the jarls in the outer towns. Making sure they rule to his wishes.”

“Well you can kill both now” Dion said to Rakshasi, not knowing what to think about this. It was a change they have been waiting for. Out here they could easily set the great hall alight to kill the king. Even with the amount of dragon hunters surely flushing over the town they would still be able to pull it off at night. Rakshasi gazed at Dion. “Dion, you said you are behind my choices” Dion nodded, he placed his hand on her shoulder. “I am, I might not agree with them but I will support you” Rakshasi looked outside again, at the town. Dion could hear no fighting coming from the town, nor he could hear any screams. He could feel his own hate against the dragon growing. How did that dragon dare to betray them. His mind started to spread out, trying to figure out who was around them. hoping no guards would have found them.

“Get out of my head!” Pelinelbes suddenly shouted, he threw some cold water against Dion. He glazed confused at the human. Any mental advanced stopped on that instance. “What on earth did you do?” Rakshasi asked directly, her gaze between the elf and Dion. He shook his head, getting rid of the water. “I…don’t know” He tried to apologize to Pelinebles. Explaining that he had no ill will about it, just trying to find of any guards would be coming their way to the farm. Pelinebles seemed not angry, just slightly scared at the sudden advance. Dion ‘s reaction to the whole situation was to close his mind of, trying to keep himself from moving out again. Rakshasi did her best to push Dion more open. She told him that if he would close of now, later on controlling his mental abilities would be harder. Dion did not wish to make a lot of commotion, with both Rakshasi and the elf pushing him to open up. he finally gave in, letting Rakshasi in his mind again. “Finally, thank you. I was afraid that we were to sleep without connected minds.” Dion wondered how much Rakshasi valued the mental connection. Not wanting to sleep without such a connection set of some alarm bells in Dion’s mind. What would become of this when the exposure would be longer and longer. Rakshasi never finished her talk about what risks a prolonged mental exposure would house. Did she already accept them? did she not want to lose the connection with Dion? or was there some other design at play? Maybe some effect that their minds had touched so deeply that they became one would have helped with this. Maybe they could no longer be apart. Dion was more afraid of the thought then happy. The future was uncertain. They could be killed with in the next weeks and forced to life a live without the other. Would the mental connection even allow such a thing? would they both die if the mental connection was severed for too long? Dion feared the questions, Dion feared asking Rakshasi about them. He might ask Pelinebles about the question when he was alone with her sometime. He doubted that would happen any time soon trough. With the black dragon in town they could no longer exit the farm building. Would the dragon search every house for them? Dion’s gaze turned to Rakshasi. “We have to find a hiding place” He broke a silence that had fallen between them. “If they search…” Rakshasi gave a small growl, nodding in agreement “Yes I know…” she looked around the farm. Dion turned his gaze through a window towards the forest. If the snow would not blow right now they could maybe stay out. Away from the attention. “Dion…” Rakshasi started unsure how to comment. “What if we give ourselves to the dragon” Dion was to baffled by her sudden remark to even come with an angry counter argument. Rakshasi took the pause that Dion created to explain more about her plan. “I mean if we voluntarily turn ourselves over…maybe the king would not kill us. Giving us a change to murder him up close.” Dion, overcame his shock. His voice turned angry, he could see Rakshasi visibly pained by the anger in his voice. “Are you mad! Maybe he doesn’t kill you! Only because that black dragon wants to breed with you badly! What about me!? I would certainly be killed. And even if not, we aren’t just given free will. Doubt we will be even allowed outside of a prison.” Rakshasi turned her head away, away from Dion. Dion’s gaze was still pissed, angry for even considering such a plan. He did not want to hurt her, maybe only give her a good shock but not hurting her. He could feel Rakshasi was starting to doubt more and more about herself. He swore to himself, great job he did. He had to help her not cause even more turbulence in her mind. “Rakshasi..” he placed his hand on her shoulder, he turned her around and pulled her close to him. “You doubt to much” He could feel rakshasi’s hot breath flowing over his scales. “I don’t doubt, I only don’t know what path to take” Dion let out a small smile. Typical her, placing the words around so she seemed more secure of herself then she was. “Just so you know” Dion started with a smile “I doubt one thing, I doubt that I would have made it so far without you. Rakshasi rolled her eyes at Dion “Oh stop it, you only say that to make me feel better.” Dion gave her a small pet on the back, breaking the embrace. “I mean it.” Dion said dismissively. He did not want Rakshasi even to continue on with the discussion.

The rest of the day passed mostly in discomfort. Rakshasi and Dion kept on gazing into the distance, making sure no one would come to the farm. Dion’s mind occasionally drifted off to the mental preparations. He did not dare to try it another time. Afraid that his presence would tell the location to anyone. Rakshasi made no attempt to bring it up. she was to occupied to figure out what to do next. They did not know how many guards would flood the town or how many hunters would be surrounding the forest. She tried to figure out a plan of action, trying to find a way to ether escape or fight. Dion aided her in trying to think of methods to stay hidden. They could fly at night. The risk was the coldness of the night would cool them down to fast to reach another town. They could try to build a cabin of some sort in the forest. They would have to face the risk that they might be discovered. “The smoke of fire Dion…what about that” Rakshasi kept on wondering. Dion told her about a way to minimalize the smoke. If they could make a hot fire the smoke would disappear mostly. Rakshasi wondered how, after all where smoke was fire. He was forced to explain in his poor draconic. Pelinebles plan to force Dion to learn draconic. He seemed to shock both the elf and her husband with his knowledge over what seemed to him common knowledge. With the sun setting and the soft light of the fire under the cooking pot. Dion was drawing up some quick designs of how to construct a fireplace to minimalize the smoke. They had to light the fire at night to mask the smoke, but once it was hot they could keep it smokeless.

Rakshasi gazed with her eyes over the plans, a strange type of fire pit she never seen. Pelinebles offered to get some stones from the local market place to help the design. Bricks where expensive and not commonly used, for two dragons she was more than willing to pay the price of some bricks. Dion seemed delighted with the plan, he spend the rest of the night sketching a cabin that was able to be built within a day. Alsan offered to construct the cabin himself. He had overcome his fear of dragons. He seemed to enjoy the presence of Rakshasi and Dion. Only if it were so easy to change more people’s opinions of dragons. Eventually Dion was drawn away from his drawing by Rakshasi. He had lost the time and did not realise that the rest of everyone wanted to actually get some sleep. The fire was smouldered to eliminate the light. Dion crawled into the bed he shared with Rakshasi. Slowly drifting off into an unrest sleep.

“Come to me Dion.” he could her a strange voice into his mind. He could not place what the voice was. “Don’t be afraid” Dion could see nothing, blackness all around him. he cursed to himself, fully aware he was caught in another delusion. He seemed unable to break free of whatever hold his mind. “Step out of the light” Dion turned around. The total blackness confused and disoriented him. He could see a white glow coming from a distance. While the light was welcoming to his eyes, turning away his disorientation he did not want to walk towards it. It happened one time to many that strange vision got hold of him. Never listen to what the voices said, they were to plague him. Dion tried to run but was stuck in some kind of goo. He could not see what it was, hiding in the blackness of the room. When he tried to get out of the good he fell down. The goo started to envelope him, dragging him deeper into something. Dion screamed for air trying to break free.

Dion’s eyes shot open. The farm was empty, his head hurting. He searched for any sing of Rakshasi but the bed was empty. He turned around, his body felt strange. “Shit.” He swore out loud. His scales again made place for normal human skin. He had no tail, no claws and no scales. He quickly covered up his body with some cloths he found lying around. “Rakshasi!” he yelled out. Trying to find anyone who was around. He was answered with utter silence. He let his hands stroll across the wooden table. He was sure of it that this was a dream. The textures however made him doubt how much this was a dream. He could feel each grain in the wood, each imperfection. This could not be any dream. He stumbled around the farm house. It was awkward to walk around in his human body, to awkward not to walk slightly bend forward. Every time he bend forwards to walk like a dragon he fell on his face. Every time he stood straight up he would fall backwards. Eventually he managed to get to one of the chairs, he sat on it like a dragon would. Careful for wings and a tail he no longer had. Maybe Rakshasi fled? Afraid that a human might have discovered her. If that was so then why was he still alive? Rakshasi would have surely killed him. Was it a curse placed on him? a punishment from whatever wicked design the king had planned for him?

He had to grab all of his courage to try and walk again. He gotten the hang of it, still not walking totally straight like any normal human would. He opened the door to step outside. The coldness of the winter did not seem to cool his body down anymore. He could feel some form of internal heat keeping him warm. It was pleasant. Maybe just he missed being a human, being able to walk without worrying if they could warm up again. No longer feeling like a criminal while they tried to make a living. He felt like he was more than just himself. A presence of someone near him. “Dion!”  He could feel a mind all so familiar, yet totally strange. It was not Rakshasi. The voice was male, strong and without doubt. Dion turned around to face the strange who was talking to him. It was an emerald green dragon. His eyes shining brightly to his form. “Don’t go to the town.” The dragon hold Dion back. Trying to keep him from walking further. “Why.” Dion asked the dragon. “Also, who the hell are you” The dragon pulled a frustrated frown. “I did not know turning yourself human would make you stupid. I am you. I am the dragon in you.”

Dion glared at the dragon, not believing a word he said. How could he be in two placed in the same time. “You are not me!” The dragon shared Dion’s agitated mood. “But I am, how can’t you deny truth that is staring you right in the eyes. Aren’t you one of the scientific education?” Dion scraped some snow from the ground to throw it at the dragon. “Get away. If you are me then you dammed well know that none of this can be explained with science.” The dragon evaded the upcoming snowball with superhuman speed. “Then if you want to throw your scientific opinions in the snow so to speak. What about a spiritual explanation.”  Dion shook his head at the dragon “You are not going to convince me that you are really me?” The dragon stepped forwards to Dion. “I am not you, I am the dragon in you. You are not you. You are just the human inside of you”

“That did not make any sense!” Dion flared his arms towards the dragon. Giving up all hope for any answer that made sense. “Okay let me try again. Tell me what you feel. What you truly feel” Dion pulled his shoulders. “Pain, fear. I lost my wife, I lost my child and now I am stuck within this white hell and forced to hide.” The dragon nodded, he thought a bit before continuing. “I feel that the wife and the child where just a dream. keeping me from Rakshasi and this world.” Dion pulled his eye brown at the dragon. Still not following him. “We are both Dion. You the human, I the dragon. Both exist just as well.” Dion laughed at the dragon, the absurdness of the idea. “You can’t possibly think that such ideas will hold any ground with me. Besides if we are both Dion, then you won with the dragon body and all.”

“Have I?” the dragon completely ignored the first part of the sentences. “If I have won then you would not exist. If you have won I would not be here. More to the point, you killed yourself. You jumped before a train and now you are stuck inside of a dragon body.” Dion exploded against the ground, digging at one of the most painful memories he had. “Why don’t I just rip that scaly head of your body! then I can life again the life I want.” The dragon seemed calm, even when a sudden flash of anger filled Dion’s mind. A flash of anger that came from the dragon. “Don’t you even dare to blame me. You killed yourself. You thought without both Rakshasi and your wife you are nothing to life for. Your mind was filled with alcohol, not clear to think. Now you regret what it! You regret being weak.”

Dion could throw himself against the dragon in anger. Not that he did, a dragon was pretty much an creature that with looks alone would intimidate pretty much anyone from aggression. “You think this is all a guild trip of me? All this? Trying to carry on as a dragon. Failing horribly, driven into a corner with no way out but death!” The dragon shook his head, his warm breath condensation in the air. “No that was my fault. I did not know what to do, I made Rakshasi doubt. What you did was throwing me of balance. Longing for another change of human. No what you did was not wanting to let  go. Just as you are now. You are still in my mind.” Dion snorted at the dragon, his accusations felt pathetic. “You speak like we are one, but I know that I never seen you. Only your appearance is the same as my dragon form. Who are you. Truly tell me! I could easily let the dragon hunters come here and be all done with you.”

“You really want that? think about Rakshasi, Pelinebles, even Alsan. You would sign their death sentence by doing so. Let alone your own. I am not you, I am your dragon form if you want me to call me that. but I have a name, a name lost to you. It is sad that you are no longer capable of knowing who you are. Who you were. Dragon or human you have little knowledge of your own life.”

Dion shook his head again at the dragon. The words seemed to be said by a madmen. Or a mad dragon in this case. He honestly wanted to get rid of the dragon as fast as he could. He had a point trough, calling the hunters would mark the others as a traitor and Rakshasi would be killed or…he thought about the black dragon. He did not want to know what would happen to Rakshasi if he got hold of her. A shiver ran down his spine. “Then if you have a name why don’t you enlighten me. Tell me who you are.”

“I am Damithril. Just maybe if you think enough you might know my name. maybe if you realize who you where besides a human engineer you know who I am. If you open your mind you might know me.” Dion looked baffled by the dragon. Damithril…it sounded foreign, a strange word that he never heard of. The name echoed in his mind like a needle stuck on a record player. A demon clawing at some part of his mind he never touched before. “You are still none I know!” The dragon glared right into his eyes, trying to pry into his soul with his look. “Do you honestly believe that? do you believe that you are so separate from me? Do you fight so clearly against me because you are afraid to admit you do not know. Are you afraid of not knowing?”

“Of course I am not afraid of know knowing. Questions is where I live if you were part of me you would know” Dion extravagant answer was amusing to Damithril. “Then why you don’t admit you do not know. After all you admit to yourself you still doubt if this is still reality. This all around you. From the snow to the fire warming you. Scales or human skin both are real, both feel real for you.” Dion refused, refused to admit what the dragons said. It was just speculation. “Dion!” Another voice came into contact with his mind. It was Rakshasi. Dion could not see her anywhere around. Just her mental voice joining Damithril’s voice. “We will be inside soon.” He answered her, the dragon. “who are we Dion!?” Rakshasi was sounding rather confused and worried. “Yes we. You will hear later…just give us a moment” Damithril replied to Rakshasi. Giving Dion not a moment to protest. “See” He turned his attention to Dion. “Rakshasi does not feel the difference between my mind and yours. She thinks I am Dion. You bounded with her on a mental level, do you think she would not know a difference.”

“I don’t know! Okay you want to hear that?” Dion grew more and more agitated at the dragon’s mental prying. “Since they day I woken up in this world from that bloody train crash I don’t know what is going on. I am just along for the ride. The one moment I felt in control was when I was in the hospital. Even when I was in a heavy coma I felt like that was where I had control.” The dragon nodded, giving an satisfied look on his face. “That is what I wanted to hear yes. You don’t feel in control because you are not. Your life has been passed, you can’t do anything but to move on. Stay with me and you are forced to live a life watching how I want to life. Fly away and await oblivion, eternal rest.”

“How can I possibly choice between that?! I just want to life my life.” “Your life is done!” “how can you say that! I am here I am…” “A ghost in a dragon’s mind.” “No I am what I want to be I am still…” “Mentally active, yes. But really. Do you wish to fight? You make it really hard for me. Memories get scrambled in my mind.”

Dion turned his back to the dragon, the quick discussion turned him of balance. Giving him little to argue on against the dragon. “You get your mind scrambled? What you think of me? I feel myself fading the whole time. Only when I sleep I feel alive. Only when I long for humanity I feel strong.”

“That is because you are fading. You try to hold on to me. Try to stay alive but you drag me with you. Even Rakshasi feels what you do. Both her and me have a connection. Prolonged mental exposure entangles two minds. With you feeding from us we grow strong. With your doubt Rakshasi no longer knows what she should do. Your humanity keeps her from taking the kings live.”

Dion snorted at the dragon’s words. “good! You know” he turned around to point with his finger to Damithril. “You ate humans, you try to drag me on to be dehumanized.” The dragon gave an angry grin, it made Dion’s neck hairs stand up right. The creepy smile of the dragon flooding his mind with fear. “You did not protest! You are still holding on. You are still trying to influence me. You are still strong enough to stop me from choice. Eating humans was easily something you could stop me from. But you believe you are no longer human. You are the only one who is dehumanising here.” Dion stepped closer to the dragon, closer and closer until he was face to face with the dragon. His index finger poking against the dragon’s chest. “You…You try to blame all on this on me.”

“No I try to open your mind. Dig into your soul. I want to stop this before it destroys me. The rite, it was all because of you. I try to keep balance in mind because you starting to become a real problem within my mind. Do you honestly think I wouldn’t just want to gone? You keep threatening with killing me. What is it what you really want? Why you fight so hard against what I say.”

Dion could feel a strange warmth surrounding his finger. When he looked down he could see a light glowing from the place his finger touched Damithril’s scaled chest. He could feel his finger becoming one with Damithril’s body. “Dion…You are an important part of what I am…but it is time for you to get some rest. You have been fighting so long. You are strong but even you cannot win such a fight. It will destroy me. It will destroy Rakshasi and it will destroy you. Please Dion. just listen to me.” Dion pushed more of his finger and his hand inside the chest of the dragon. The light started to glow brightly. He could not pull out, his mind started to be drawn into the dragon’s body. “I…what is going on?”

“You finding peace. Don’t be scared, you will always be with me. The experiences. The memories. It will be part of who I am. We have a new body…time to get a new mind.” Dion was drawing into the body. he wanted to pull out but he couldn’t. Soon his shoulder followed, his legs touched the legs of the dragon. Joining with even more light shining of the two. Dion felt some sort of peace flood over his mind, the more he was drawn into the dragon the less his worries became. He was only a chest sticking out of the dragon’s body. his mind empty of worried his vision clear. “Damithril?” “Yes Dion.” “Thank you for everything.” With a last burst of light, Dion was no more. Absorbed with in the dragon’s body.

My head. The emerald dragon pushed his claws against his temples. Why was he standing outside? A cold shiver ran down his scales. He quickly ran inside. Only to find Rakshasi gazing worried at him. “What the hell is going on!?” She asked, her mood mixed with anger and fear. “I don’t…know” He had to reply. He could remember all of it…the great debate. “Dion…” The emerald dragons topped Rakshasi. “No…I am no longer Dion…Dion is a human name. Dion is a human soul” He could see Rakshasi almost fall back. He could feel her mind in disarray, struck between more worried feelings and a sense that things would take a turn for the worse. The emerald dragon closed in to Rakshasi. He kneeled in front of her. “I have found my name. I have found the human within me, I found the dragon within me. I found who I was as human, I found who I am as dragon. I do not know who I was before my humanity. I do not know why I have this body. I only know what I am dragon, that I want to be a dragon. That my name is one I carried for longer than my human life. My true name was lost to me Rakshasi. I found it again, I am Damithril”

Rakshasi’s scales turned to white form anger. “Don’t you dare calling yourself that!”