What Your Love Felt Like: The Dragon Saga

In the darkness, Liana could feel the thumping of her heart, loud and clear amid the perfect silence. She hid inside an abandoned, under construction building. Her hands wrapped around the soft bundle that was her baby boy Damian. Her legs shook and sweat dripped down her forehead and body.

"Come on out, you bitch," yelled a malicious and loud voice as one of the walls between herself and her pursuer blew open.

Liana ducked and started running down the other side of the stairs, almost crying in panic.

She had always been a fast runner. The best in her class. But this was something else. She was running for her life. Rather for both their lives. Especially her son's.

"How long do you think you can keep this up?" roared the voice once more as a few more bricks flew here and there.

"I will leave with my son, that's destined. Don't maul your feeble life in between. You have no power against my might. Stop annoying me, you little wench," the voice roared again as the thunder in the background.

Liana kept going down even though her body was terribly shaking. She was having a hard time holding onto the child in her arms.

The heavy footsteps following her weren't far behind. She could hear it quickly catching up as her fatigue and fright weakened her pace. She was struggling to find a proper footing as she descended down the stairs.

"It's going to be alright. It's going to be alright, " she was whispering in the baby's ears. But it was a reassurance for herself. She was trembling from head to toe. She had never seen anything like him ever before.

A perfectly sculpted man with hair as white as snow and eyes as red as blood. His bare shoulders had scales for skin and his lower body was made of steel. At least it looked like steel or some sort of metal. The mere sight of him was enough to make one stop breathing in fear. Leave alone the ferocity of his vocals. Everything about and around him reeked inhumane.

"Stop playing already, I have no time for this." He was suddenly in front of Liana as she froze in her tracks, petrified.

As soon as he extended his hands to try and snatch Damian away from her grips, Liana took a few quick involuntary steps backward. Neither did she think nor did she look back.

They were in an under construction building. The stairs that they were standing on had no guards. Her sudden retreat took her flying off the seventh floor of the unfinished structure.

As things around her zoomed past in slow motion, Liana turned herself with force. She thus positioned herself so that when they collide, the child stays above and she braces the earth. She was trying her best to make the collision as less traumatic and fatal as possible for her baby. It was a motherly instinct. She didn't even have a moment's room to think about herself.

As the ground came zooming in on her she closed her eyes shut. The impact sent her rolling across the ground for several minutes.

But hold on a second. Why would she go rolling over instead of smashing her skull open. She quickly opened her eyes. What met hers were those bright red irises which were now rapidly changing color.

She was lying over the steel body, covered in scales, her hands tightly wrapped around the owner. His one hand holding her around the hip and the other firmly grabbing Damian by his wrap.

Before her brain could clearly decipher what actually happened, she stood up and pulled Damian back from his grip. He didn't seem as strong as he appeared as Liana was easily able to take Damian back.

She opened him from his swaddle and checked him thoroughly for injuries.

The man suddenly came from behind as his hot breath fell on Liana's exposed back. She instinctively grabbed Damian in her arms before turning around. He raised his hands as she ducked for cover.

But he reached for her forehead and wiped something away. He then turned his hands around and showed them to Liana. It was blood. She was bleeding from her forehead. How bad was it, she had no idea. There was a lot going on around for her to feel anything. But it must have been bad because it was bleeding again after he had wiped it off.

" You need to do something about that." The malice in that voice was suddenly gone as the creature pointed in her direction. It was still hoarse and heavy but tender. Much more humane as one might say.

Liana looked at him, confused.

Just a few moments ago there was a ferocious beast, threatening her with death. Wild and feral, vicious and raw. A blood-crawling image that had made Liana cower in fright. Now suddenly in front of her, was someone rather something, with compassion.

Confused and puzzled, Liana didn't bother to respond to his gesture. Instead, she picked Damian up in her arms once more and started running as far away from the creature as she could.

This time around, he didn't seem to move. She wasn't being chased. Liana looked around. He was standing still in the position she had left him with, his sight fixated on her. Liana her pace but she kept running while looking back.

The creature standing before her was gradually morphing. The white hairs became shorter. His eyes that were already changing colors were now a shade of green. His scales and steel had already transformed into skin. But his glare still hovered above her.

Before Liana could marvel or wonder at what she was witnessing her eyes went blank. Everything around her was flooded with a stream of white, rushing from all directions. Within what seemed like a flash of a second, the white turned to black and Liana found herself engulfed in utter darkness, the darkest it could get.

In the Dragon Kingdom, the entire palace was a mess. There were soldiers running in every direction. Females wailing in the background. It seemed like the picturesque place had been turned upside down.

But it wasn't supposed to have been that way. It was supposed to have been the happiest day in the kingdom, full of joy and celebrations. The queen was about to give birth to her first child.

The midwives were ready. The palace was decked with floral decorations of the rarest type. Everybody was waiting patiently for the good news.

As the queen went into labor, nothing seemed out of control. But within a few moments, she started going pale. The doctors and caregivers went into a frenzy trying to find out a cause for that. The errand boys and girls were running across the mountains and clouds, trying to find the herbs they were instructed to. Every possible anecdote was made and given to the queen who was severely withering in pain.

"Has anybody sent word to the master?" yelled the lady in waiting.

"Yes, they have. He is on his way," answered a young assistant of the senior doctor.

"We also need to send word out to the front line. Master Draco needs to know about the situation too. Things are escalating very fast out of our hands. " The lady in waiting signaled another assistant to immediately write a scroll and dispatch it.

The males in the dragon kingdom usually stayed away from the birthing process. It was women who usually handled it. But the sudden exacerbated condition of the queen had pulled everybody out of their chambers and had made them surround the Royal Birthing Hall in anxiety. There was a panic amongst the nobles as well. Dragons had near to no complication rate during labor. This situation was so complex that they had to call in the Master, that is, their heavenly doctor , breaking his decade-long meditation retreat.

An emergency note was sent to the ruling dragon king, and husband to the queen in labor, who was fighting at the borders. He was widely known for his bravery and courage. With his widespread expeditions and expertise, the dragon kingdom was able to reach its farthest trenches, unifying lands that nobody had ever dreamt of annexing. He was a true namesake, a versatile, fearsome dragon, Draco.

"Girls, give me a hand here and help me sit up, " The queen whispered with whatever strength she was left with. She soon started spitting blood all over herself as two of the ladies tried supporting her. They immediately panicked and tried pulling her back again but she raised her hands, instructing them to stop. She pointed at the head of the midwives and asked her to come over to her left side.

The little maid ran at her order.

"Yes, Our Lady, what do you want me to do?" she asked with enthusiasm.

The queen reached her ears and whispered something that made her enthusiasm disappear. Her eyes and mouth were wide open, "Not possible. You cannot do that our lady. " She was trying to pull away but the queen caught her hands. " You have to do it. It's for the sake of our kingdom. It's our duty. You cannot run away from that. "

The little maid stopped for a moment at the queen's words and then nodded her head with a smile, filled with sadness.

"Everybody please evacuate the room. The queen needs something done in private. Quickly now. " She shoved everybody out of the room as they kept looking back with mixed feelings of sadness , worry and confusion.

As soon as the room was empty and the door was shut, the little maid stood there perplexed, urging, " My lady, it is going to hurt. Should you not... "

But before her speech was ended the queen harnessed whatever little energy she was left with. A crystal light engulfed her and it strained towards her right. It circulated upwards at the heart and the queen, with the final ounce of strength that she had saved, pulled her Core out. With trembling hands and dripping body fluid, she secured the core, around her womb.

"This will keep him safe till the birthing is complete," the queen whispered, gasping for breath. " Take us to the Hidden Fountains. Keep him safe. Hand him over to none other than his father. Trust no one. " Before the maid could even confirm, she had to rush to support the queen's limp arm. She looked at her Queen with a deep look in her eyes and then diligently proceeded to fulfill her duty assigned.

People, unaware of all the tragedy, grew more and more worried as they waited outside. They couldn't even barge in as it was the queen's order. But one from amongst the crowd slipped away, totally unnoticed. He kept running, till he reached an abandoned ruin in the outskirts.

"My Lord, my lord, master, master," he huffed as he reached the broken doors.

"Is it over?" called back a sweet and melodious voice from behind the closed doors.

"Yes, Master. I have done exactly as you have instructed. But the queen has locked all of us away from her chamber. Only one of the midwives is with her. I thought you needed to know, so I came here right away. " He said it all together without a pause.

"Hhhhmmm, that's interesting. But you shouldn't have been this careless. How can you come here straight from the palace? Now go back and keep doing what you do best. " The melodious voice rang with rhythm again.

"Yes Master. I will be careful not to commit any more mistakes in the future, " He bowed and swished away as fast as he could, on his way back.

"The queen locked herself inside in this condition. Interesting. " The melodious voice was heard, contemplating, from somewhere far inside those ruins, behind two closed doors.

By the time the assistant was back at the palace, the imperial doctor, also referred to as Master by all, had just arrived. Everybody moved aside, paving his way. He looked at them, waiting for somebody to open the doors. But everybody was just staring back at him.

"What's wrong? Why aren't the doors being opened? I thought it was an emergency I was called for. " He looked over his half moon-shaped scanners, hanging from his head, over his fat, chubby face.

"Master, well, ummm, the queen has locked herself in, along with one of the midwives and asked us all to wait outside. It's been awhile but we couldn't interfere because it's an imperial order. Maybe you could try calling," replied one lady in waiting.

The doctor was already looking at the door with a weird gaze, through his crescent scanners. He slowly walked away from the doors, and instead of asking permission to come in, rammed right into it. The doors went flying in two directions, leaving the entrance wide open for all those waiting to pour in.