The Rescue

"What are you talking about? I'm here to rescue you. Are your ears still working, old guy?" Akai said jokingly and laughed.

Jezeboyah had a stern face while Akai's laughter died down. "Why would I kill you?" Akai asked knowing full well that the dragon in front of him was serious.

"Because I'm a monster" Jezeboyah replied.

Akai listened worryingly.

"My mind is growing weak and regressing back to my animal instincts. When dragons are young, they are like any other mindless beast, but with guidance, those instincts can be controlled."

Jezeboyah paused and took a short breath. "Let me tell you a tale. I was perched overhead on a local mountain, watching villages and people go about their daily lives. As I was sitting, my mind started to wander and I felt the need to feed. I couldn't control myself. I overlooked children playing by and my first thought was to feed on them. It was just a moment, and I tried to control myself, but In that moment, I flew down to those children playing by the mountainside and ate them, right then and there. I still remember their screams before I snuffed them out. As soon as I was finished, my mind went back to normal. It caused me great pain and knew that I could have done much worse."

"It was just an accident, Jezeboyah. It wasn't your fault. I can take you back to the other ancient dragons and they would know what to do." Akai pleaded.

"My sweet dragon. I can never leave this place. With guidance, all dragons learn to control their primal instincts to hunt and burn what they see, but as age consumes the mind, their instincts will return. Every dragon will experience this. I have seen it before, even if none of the other ancient dragons believe it. My mind has even started to wander while we speak. I don't want to hurt you or anybody else ever again. Kill me and be done with it."

"I can't!" Akai cried "You were the only dragon that cared for me!"

"I only took you in because no one else would. I was never a good parent. I only raised you up to the point where you could control your animal urges. Then, I left you to go wherever you wanted. I abandoned you."

"No. My real parents abandoned me. You raised me to be the dragon I am today."

"Please, hurry. My mind is starting to go blank. I fear for your life."

"I...I can't" As Akai said this he started to smell a strange odor. He turned around and saw green gas starting to pour out.

"What the hell is tha-" Akai started to say before he coughed.

"Akai!" Jezeboyah spoke before he too started to cough.

Akai fell to his knees covering his mouth. Poisonous gas, he thought. The dragonslayers are trying to smoke out Jezeboyah. He couldn't let them do this.

Akai's coughing grew more course and he started to lay on the pavement.

Jezeboyah roared reverberating the roar throughout the cave. Even the dragonslayers outside could hear it.

Jezeboyah's eyes started to twist and become red with rage. His wings expanded. His mouth wide open aimed towards the ceiling. He grabbed Akai lying on the ground unconscious.

Green gas surrounded the room. The giant dragon took one big breath of the poisonous air and spit red flames. At that moment, the gas sparked causing a chain reaction of explosions and fire throughout the whole cave. Jezeboyah kept Akai covered with his arms, protecting him from the fire. The ancient dragon looked to be safe, but rocks started to fall on them. The cave was collapsing. Jezeboyah's eyes filled with rage as boulders crashed down on them. He breathed in and spit fire. His red flames turned to blue and then to white. He aimed the fire upwards towards the ceilings. The entire room was lit up and the rocks falling on top of them started to melt into lava. Jezeboyah sprung upwards flying spitting out the white flame. Jezeboyah went higher and higher. The rocks around him melted forming a liquid that most dragons would die from. But not Jezeboyah.

The ruler of volcanoes spent his entire lifetime near lava and swam in them for his own pleasure. He held Akai in his arms covering him from the newly formed lava.

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Outside of the cave, the dragonslayers were in shock from a sudden explosion coming from the cave system. Some fire burst out of the entrance where their barrels of gas were being pumped into. When the fire struck the metal barrels, they only pushed them back, but not exploding them. Dragonslayers working near it were pushed back from the force of the flame.

Lord Vesuvius was watching. He was wondering what was happening in their. In his thoughts, the ground began to shake.

The ground near Troll's cave was melting. Soon, white flames erupted from the ground. Seconds later, a huge red dragon flew above spitting out white flames. The red dragon hovered above the camp. It had stopped spitting its flames and looked down upon the dragonslayers.

Everybody was stunned. It was the biggest dragon that they had ever seen. Seconds passed where everybody was in awe.

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Jezeboyah reached above ground and looked down upon the campsite. His mind was starting to wander and he didn't have too much control left over himself. He looked at Akai in his hands. A small thing. Akai wasn't awake. Jezeboyah started to gently poke him and shake him. His eyes teared up. In that moment, a giant arrow flew past him.

He looked at the camp. Giant crossbows were set up around the site. Dragonslayers started to push them in the direction of the red dragon.

Jezeboyah took one look at Akai, again. He still wasn't awake.

His tears turned to rage. He held Akai in one hand, gently, while the other strained itself.

Another arrow was shot. Jezeboyah moved a little to the right and it missed. He started to beat his wings faster and faster. His eyes turned red with rage. He breathed in one big gulp.

He took off straight towards the campsite and shot fire across the landscape. Dragonslayers rushed their arrows and started to fire at the dragon, but it was too late. Fire consumed most of the giant crossbows. Some of them ran in terror. Some abandoned their giant crossbows all together. Their captains gave them orders and the dragonslayers started shooting at the dragon with their usual small crossbows, bows, and arrows. Fire continued to rain down upon the campsite. People screamed in agony and terror. Jezeboyah landed upon the campsite and blew red flames across every corner that he could see. He saw one of the captains giving the others orders. Jezeboyah turned his flame from red to blue to white towards a line of archers being commanded by the captain. Their bodies began to melt. Their armor and skin fused. The flames turned them into liquid and their captain watched. The dragon's flames stopped. He looked around. His mind was angry, but still under control. Proof of that was that he didn't crush Akai in his hand. He looked around and saw the other dragonslayers retreating. Whatever left of their forces realized that they had lost. Jezeboyah took a look at Akai and gently put him on the ground.

He started to gently tap the small dragon in human form. Tears began swelling up his eyes, again.

With this, his mind started to go wander. He was feeling hungry and knew that he had to get away from Akai. Jezeboyah took one last look at Akai lying on the ground.

He began to take off and fly as far away from here as possible. He didn't want to hurt any more innocent lives. As he began flying up, his mind blanked out. He was hovering above a burning campsite. Bodies of soldiers crawled and gasped for help.

Jezeboyah tried to shake his head. Some reasoning of him was still in there.

As he looked at Akai, Akai's eyes began to open. This gave him relief, but didn't prevent his mind from reverting back to an animal. He gnawed at his teeth, but in the end, he couldn't stop it.