Tears of Fire

The warrior clambered over the large boulder, stumbling onto the unpaved path that coiled around the mountaintop. As he shuffled to his feet, the air was rent asunder by the dragon’s rage-filled roar. An inferno blasted out of the dragon’s mouth and engulfed the mountaintop plateau in a blink. The showdown was inevitable, realized the warrior, with trembling knees. His heart thrashed against his chest, and his shivering body made the metal armor rattle. Overhead, dark clouds of smoke rose ominously…suspended over the mountaintop…harbingers of fire and brimstone looming above. The warrior’s resolve faltered as his knees buckled. His armored hand fell on a large stone to keep him from reeling over.

I am walking into death’s arms…he thought. But then…his beloved’s comatose face flashed before his eyes.

Months ago, in what seemed like another lifetime, the dragon had swooped down from the mountain…its reptilian eyes set on the warrior’s city. The first roar had made the windows rattle. The ground beneath the city’s feet tremored. For centuries, the people had heard folktales and legends of the monster that dwelled inside the mountain’s heart…locked in the stones by powerful enchantments millennia ago. But legends and myths were not supposed to be true…or so the people of the ill-fated city believed…until the mythical beast was breathing down raging infernos.

Blood and flesh…incinerated…homes turned to ashes. The lives violently ended that day were too many to count…the anguish and grief too great to be expressed. No language or even oceans of tears could encapsulate the horror left in the dragon’s rampaging wake. The city of ashes and cinders was bathed in blood…in which resided souls that were torn apart. Those that survived had a fate much worse than those who had perished. Dead souls in living bodies suffer more than those set free…

The flames continued to rage after the dragon left…until the sky started to weep. Rain extinguished the fire…but it couldn’t wash away the pain that afflicted the survivors. Few made it through the fiery calamity with injuries ranging in severity. Even fewer emerged unscathed, except with bleeding hearts. But most of the survivors, whom the flames had merely grazed, had gone into a comatose state from which they would not awake. From the corners of their draped eyes seeped tiny embers…the tears of fire.

The warrior’s beloved, the love of his life, the person who embodied his whole world, wept tears of fire back in the city of ruin. She and others could only be cured with the embers the dragon’s eyes would shed upon its demise…or so the legend went. Putting his faith in this lore, the warrior had set out on the heroic quest to vanquish the demon of flames…the malicious dragon of the mountaintop.

His journey had been arduous, with challenges at every turn. But one after the other, the warrior had overcome all the obstacles. The mountain was infested with all manner of monsters. The Galant and mighty warrior slayed them all, with each victory granting him resources and weapons that armed him against the ultimate showdown with the dragon.

His double-edged longword was imbued with a nebulous force that could pierce the dragon’s otherwise impenetrable hide. His armor and visor could withstand the fiery breath to a specific limit. His shield could scatter the flames…impervious to the heat. Finally, inside his armor was the magical vial that could store the dragon’s tears of fire.

Once more, the sky thundered with the dragon’s almighty roar. It was getting restless, waiting to incinerate the being that dared step into its lair. Imagining his beloved’s face, the warrior gained steely resolve…and his heart was a mingling ocean of love and anger.

Unsheathing his sword and putting his forearm through the shield’s strap, he smashed the two together, creating a resonating sound. The warrior charged forward, quickly covering the distance to the mountaintop plateau…to come face to face with the beast of fire and flames.

The monster was a malevolent shade of red, flames licking the air even when it closed its mouth. The scales on its body glistened in the fire as if they were sharp as swords. Its slitted eyes were suffused with absolute hatred and an unquenchable thirst for chaos and destruction.

For the briefest moment, the armor-clad warrior and the dragon locked eyes…the battlefield was all ashes, cinders, and flickering flames. A massive cloud of smoke was suspended above them, fed by the smoldering trees below. Without warning, the dragon’s insides rumbled like thunder as it reared its head. The seeping flames around its mouth intensified. The warrior knew what was coming…and raised his shield. Suddenly, a pleasing warmth spread through his body as the shield exuded a web of protection. The raging inferno shot by his malicious adversary scattered around his magical guard.

The dragon saw that his flames had been deflected and roared in frustration, making the ground beneath the warrior’s feet shiver. The beast tried once, twice, thrice, only to fail to incinerate its challenger. In anger, the monster spread its gigantic wings and started to beat them, kicking up little whirlwinds of dust and ashes. When it reached the sky, the dragon zoomed into the dark cloud above with lightning-fast speed. The grey smoke lit up as if it, too, was burning. The air was thick with dust and ashes; the warrior could barely see through his visor. He shuffled on the ground, looking for the dragon cloaked by the dark, burning cloud.

Heart pumping…his body drenched in sweat…the warrior barely heard the rumbling from above…and behind. Seconds before the fire jet hit his unprotected back…the warrior whirled around with his raised shield. The flames scattered once more…but now the warrior’s body was puppeteered by adrenaline alone. He was horrified by the beast’s intelligence…faltering his faith and hope.

I am sorry, my love…he thought as another jet came from behind. Whirling around, he barely caught the flame with his shield. Another second’s delay would have made the fire bite his armor, which was nowhere strong as his shield. Thinking with all his might, he desperately fumbled in his mind for a way to bring the dragon down and in close range for a slash. Pirouetting around repeatedly, he began to run out of breath. He knew the dragon was tiring him out and would eventually swoop down to kill him with its monstrous claws. The warrior had to act soon.

Focusing his mind with all his might, he strained his ears to pick the rumbling sound early, the only way the dragon would give away its position. Time froze…snailing along as the warrior understood what he needed to do. He ceased to whirl and shuffle…and looked down at the ground…closing his eyes and dropping his arms. He flipped his grip on the sword’s hilt, so the blade stretched out behind him.

He listened intently…over the sounds of his ragged breathing…and the crackling of burning wood…until his mind registered the first hint of the rumbling. Instantly twirling around, he spotted the fireball in the dark cloud. Dropping his shield, he started sprinting in its direction as fast as his legs would go…hoping that the monster would take the bait. And it did…

The jet of flames flew over his head as he ran like the wind. His armor clunked violently but could not deter his speed. The opportunity lured the dragon…who swooped down ahead of the warrior and shot its deadliest inferno at him. In a split second, the warrior cocked his arm and threw the sword at the dragon like a javelin. As the flames engulfed him, the sword flew through the air…and came down to land on the dragon’s back. Such was its magical sharpness that it instantly pierced its hide as if it was butter. The dragon’s cry was like a hurricane…

The warrior’s armor had protected him from the flames, but it could not take another hit. The dragon thrashed on the ground in pain, screeching ear-splitting roars. Dodging and rolling away from the dragon’s erratically thumping body, the warrior eventually jumped onto its back and grabbed the sword’s protruding hilt. Barely keeping his balance, he slid the blade along the dragon’s scaly back…towards its head. The sharp scales pierced his armor, and stinging pain erupted where the armor was slashed. But the warrior endured and kept sliding until…he took out the sword and brought it down on the dragon’s skull.

The monster became still… its vile spirit departing its body.

From its shut eyes, little embers started to spill. Jumping down, the warrior shed his armor and took out the magical vial. Uncorking it, he brought it close to the dragon’s eyes. The little balls of fire flew into the container. Inside, the flames turned into solid, reddish particles. Once the vial was filled, the warrior corked it.

I am coming to wake you up, my love… he thought, as tears started trickling down his cheeks.