Why?

'Good morning.'

So, another morning, another awakening in the embrace of Dragomum.

I greeted my Dragomum, and she greeted me back.

We walked through the forest, and I practiced my dragon breath on Dragomum's tail, like every normal day. So, like every normal day, Dragomum lets me hunt for my prey. We prepared our food and started feasting.

...

After the feast, I expected Dragomum to take me into her tail, but she didn't come. I looked at Dragomum, and she stood frozen and completely scared.

Then she turned towards me and slowly bent her neck towards me. I turned my head, and question marks were flying above me.

I only heard a female voice coming from Dragomum's mouth.

"I'm sorry, but we can't be together anymore; our time has run out."

'Was that Dragomum and what are you saying and why are you saying this?'

She looked at me sadly for a moment. Before I could react, I saw Dragomum's mouth, and a second later, I was inside it.

Suddenly, I felt the heat, rapidly increasing. It became scorching.

Suddenly, I felt a force, and within a second, she spat me out, and I saw myself flying into the unknown.

'Why? Why?'

'Why did she do this?'

'Did something happen?'

'Doesn't she love me?'

'Isn't it the same as she showed me all along?'

While flying, I looked back, and I saw Dragomum with tears falling from her eyes.

I quickly flew away, gaining even more speed until I lost consciousness.

(Dragomum's POV)

As I ate with my child, I felt something approaching, something I feared would happen. Please forgive me that I cannot give you more. I hope you grow up happy and strong.

'I'm sorry, but we can't be together anymore; our time has run out.'

My child looked at me with confusion and distress.

I quickly took my child in my mouth and shot it away so it could fly far away.

As it flew, I saw its gaze.

Tears started falling from my eyes.

'I'm truly a terrible mother.'

After a moment, I felt someone's presence. I knew who it was.

I looked in the direction where I felt the presence.

Before me stood a man or a woman; they didn't look like either, just androgynous. They had silver hair flowing down to their shoulders and heterochromatic eyes, deep red and sky blue. They were dressed in an elf tunic, primarily red-brown with golden details, and wore a black scientific cloak over it.

"Gracia, where is the offspring?"

"My lord, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Gracia, don't play games with me."

I started sweating. Before me stood my creator, Twilight Valentine. He named me Gracia. I was an experiment to create a True dragon and I was just a prototype.

Valentine sama conducted experiments on me, and I don't know how it happened, but one day, I became pregnant. And I didn't want my child to become another one of my master's experiments.

"Gracia, why did you think you got pregnant in the first place? It was me. You managed to escape because I let you. I kept you under my surveillance and waited for the offspring to grow a little."

"That offspring will be one of my greatest experiments. As it grows even more, I will take over its body because mine is becoming weaker and weaker, and the body of a True dragon will be acceptable."

"That offspring carries a seed within it that, once awakened, can become a True dragon. I wanted to treat that offspring just like Luminous before taking over"

'Why is he telling me...?'

And as if he was reading my mind he started to talk.

"And now you wonder why I'm telling you this, Gracia. Let's say that I will experiment on you, and after those experiments, you won't be able to think normally anymore, I think."

During all this, Valentine sama spoke with a small smile on his face.

"Well, I changed my mind; I will leave that offspring be."

What does he want to do with my child now?

"Of course, I'll wait until the fruit is ripe, and then I'll take it for myself."

Valentine sama started smiling strangely, and a chill ran down my spine.

"Now, back to you, Gracia, now you should fall asleep."

Before I knew it, I started slowly drifting off to sleep.

...

(MC's POV)

'Ugh, what happened?'

I looked around, searching for Dragomum and calling her with my roar.

I remembered what happened.

'Why?'

I tried to get up slowly, and then...

'Sand? Where am I?'

I couldn't see anything, just a desert.

As I looked behind me, I saw something approaching me.

I didn't know what it was since it was covered by sand, but something told me to run.

I started running as fast as I could, running, running, running. I didn't know how long it had been, or where I was.

Nothing was chasing me anymore, but I kept running with tears in my eyes.

...

(Three hours later)

I am tired, and I don't even know where I am or what to do now.

I hear something approaching me, and as I look, I see centaurs. No, they are humans on horses.

"Ruoooo"

I screamed because I started feeling pain. I had an arrow in me, and I saw three more arrows flying toward me. All of the arrows hit the mark with me. I couldn't run anymore because I was already exhausted. Still, I tried to escape, but as I ran, another arrow hit me. I fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

...

I slowly woke up, still confused about what happened. I quickly looked at my body, and all the arrows that were in me were gone.

I looked around and heard the clanking of metal. I looked at myself and saw that I was bound with chains, but I wasn't alone. Monsters of various kinds were all around me, also bound. They kept shouting, but they weren't that big, the largest being only about two meters tall, at least the ones I saw.

'I would give anything to be with Dragomum again.'

Tears started falling from my eyes, and I couldn't stop them. Suddenly, I felt a slight bounce without moving.

'I must stay strong and return to her to ask why she did this.'

'The problem is, I don't even know where I am.'

'From what I can see, these must be some kind of traffickers.'

'I must get out of here as fast as possible.'

I tried to use my fire breath, but nothing happened. Instead, my collar started to glow and shocked me.

After several attempts, all followed by shocks, I gave up.

So I decided to conserve my energy and began to fall asleep.

(End of a chapter...)