Chapter 1
A group of eleven men was transporting a cage made of hard metal with wheels in it, pulled by two lines of 4 horses each. The air was filled with silence, no one dared to talk for obvious reasons. Carrying with them common-alloy swords, and wearing light armor with coats of arms hanging from its sides made them feel weak against it. Their expression was of relief, at being able to capture the mighty monster. "I hope this demon doesn't wake up early before we arrive, or else we are dead", said one of the men that guarded one of the sides of the cage. What they feared was some sort of creature, with dark skin made of scales, two massive wings, and spikes all over his back, from the head to the very end of its long tail, being transported by them.
"Listen closely, you are interrupting our time with your loose imagination, it can't get liberated", other men who seemed the leader yelled in a reply. The dragon's breath was getting heavier, echoing through the surroundings. The guards kept an eye on it, but when less expected, it woke up from its slumber, shaking his jail and consequently stopping the horses abruptly. He lifted, unsuccessfully slamming his head on the ceiling. "Get in position!", the leader spoke loudly again. His red eyes made them tremble and move away, lifting their swords as commanded. It roared in despair, forcing everyone to cover their ears and scaring the horses. The transportation got timed out. Everyone looked at it while begging for the chains to safely hold him back.
The monster looked around and calmed himself after some time of gasping and staring deeply at everyone. They were stuck waiting to take control of it again, but no one managed to get closer, probably because of his appearance. Blood-colored eyes symbolized death itself. On the other hand, it was scared, lost, and unable to move because of the ties it managed to put on. Something wrong was happening with the dragon's mind, not usual for his port, they were always feared by humans, and now in this relative position would probably make its posture lower.
The thing was completely bewildered, knocked out of place now sited. Inside his mind, thoughts of agony and despair emerged, maybe it was scarier than his supposed prey. "What is going on?! I can't remember why I'm here!", still frightened imagined. He couldn't move at all, not even if he wanted, as if his body weren't responding to his commands. The dragon lowered his head, consecutively calming the situation. "Looks like it decided to stop for unknown reasons, let's get moving", ordered the leader while proceeding with his job. The horses continued to travel and the dragon questioned himself "What happened to me? What is this black thing that involves me? It feels so weird to have my skin grip. I'm getting uncomfortable right now, I seem to be able to breathe so deeply, but still, I feel weak inside, especially in my head. I wonder what is my purpose here, but there's not much that I can do, I'm gonna go with it and see where it takes me".
They were crossing a tall bridge made from blocks of concrete that connected two cities, which were independent of one another, heading towards the inside of big walls made of stone and concrete. Arriving at the city, people started to agglomerate around them, making comments and wondering what was happening, it was rare for dragons to be captured by humans and get brought still alive, or even from the ones to come back. Childs came closer to the cage, wanting a clear view of what was inside, but the guards pulled them further, avoiding a possible tragedy. The kids played happily around it not knowing what was inside.
The monster looked at them with delicate eyes, sniffing from far away. It didn't seem to care much about them more than understanding what was going on. Words wandered in the dragon's head, "Those kids seem so happy, I wonder where are the parents. I wish I could feel happy, but for what? I don't even remember what emotions are at all. Those humans transporting me, why I don't seem to care much? Am I just so empty like this?"
Not far away inside the city, a man came running holding papers and more books in his opened bag hanging from its side. It interfered in the horses' path and made them stop. The leader approached with an angry face at him, staring down at his clothes. "We barely managed to hold ourselves, I hope that the payment for this season will be higher than usually expected. You don't know how easier is to just send people to suicidal missions, Reginald", the leader insulted while putting his sweaty hands on the man's collar.
"Don't get worried about this Alan" said Reginal desperately to be let off. "You've done a great job on bringing it alive to us, this definitely will return great gold. I can't imagine how much you had to do to maintain such a big creature in a cage, thank you for your doings", he thanked him while apologizing for the risks of what could've happened. It was obvious by looking at his face that words couldn't describe how alive he was at seeing his plan successfully fulfilled. Alan murmured and knocked him aside, shouting for the horses to continue the transportation to the palace, where the dragon's faith would've been judged.
Near their destination, tall doors opened and they proceeded inside. Guards imposed posture around the walls and got closer to remove the chains that maintained the horses connected to the moving part. As the dragon was still held in place by other bindings all over his body, they took out the upper part of the cage, leaving only the creature and many guards circulating him. "Finally I can have a little more room, but it's useless when I am all trapped", thought to himself while looking around instinctively in curiosity. Guards were in horror, it was almost 4 meters tall. "I think I'm gonna pass out, if this dragon wanted, it could kill everyone here", shouted the same men from before in fear.
Steps caught the dragon's attention, coming from not far away. A door opened and from it came five other men, and while they were in a formation, a woman and Reginal more behind her approached without worrying about time. "What I said about you shut your mouth?", Alan cursed at the man while pushing him to the ground. Everyone looked at it and forgot the dragon in the middle of the room for one second.
"It appears that your mission was successful, my congratulations", the woman spoke while approaching closely on them. Alan quickly apologized and lifted from the ground, "My queen, pardon me for all of this shouting and nonsense". "Is this the correct dragon that I dialogue with you Reginald?", asked the queen with a suspicious stare directly into the dragon's eyes. Both looked at each other for a long time without any apparent reason. "What is this woman? What she wants with me, I'm getting anxious with those eyes staring directly at mine", thought the dragon without saying a word.
"Yes! I promise you, he will serve us well", replied Reginal with a happy smile. The queen began to approach the dragon without any fear on her face. "Be careful queen, we don't know much about this specific dragon's acting", worriedly warned Alan. The dragon lowered his head closely, showing more of how big he was. The queen slowly put his hand into the dragon's snout. "Her hand is so delicate, it remembers me the of... Wait!", the dragon moved his head back fastly without letting her touch anymore. The guards' atteint were caught, but he didn't do anything more than just avoid contact.
"This one is pretty fast in his emotions, isn't he? But look, I bet that with the training necessary he will be ready to help us in many different ways", Reginald proudly concluded. "Indeed a great creature", the queen said while lowering her hand. "I've seen enough. Reginald, you know what to do", the queen goes back to where she came from, with the guards surrounding her. "Yes!", Reginald shouts by reflexes, he couldn't hide how excited he was to see the queen's reaction. "Reginald, be sure to remember what we've discussed earlier", Alan remembered while looking deeply at him. Reginald gulped, but nodded his head and got back.
"Come on your dark thing, you are getting a place to rest, but don't be spacy", Alan informed the dragon as if he would reply. The man picked up the chains on the ground and guided him to the east side of the castle, where an open caged field was. "I am tired. I've barely walked, but my entire body and head hurt. I wish I could use those hanging from my back to get away from here" the dragon imagined. The guards weren't gentle with him, at the minimal movement he did, they pushed hardly his chains, locking him into place.