This Life of Sin 2: Demonia

Rougier

Chapter 3: Rougier

The demon realm, nine hours after Sin fell unconscious.

I came to consciousness slowly, like trying to push up through a pool full of jelly. So slow that I was awake before I opened my eyes. I felt the cold earth beneath me, but also what felt like warm stone against my back. Warm, moving stone. As my brain began processing that bit of confusing information, I also noted that there was a loud, but dull, booming noise in my ears. And was that the sound of a bellows? What the heck.

It was as my eyes were fluttering open that my trek across the barren battlefield came back into my thoughts. I vaguely remembered reaching the mountains, and seeing the glassy, volcanic rock type stones, but... no that was it. I reached up and rubbed my forehead, hoping the pressure might just get the headache I felt coming on, out. Coffee would have done it.

I reached up and gripped my chest above my heart. Ow. That hurt. It was totally that I was missing coffee and not the damn Red Raven dwarf Dural. Definitely the coffee. Or Fiervir as he said it was called. What ever it was I could really use some caffeine right now.

"Have you awoken, little demon?" Not only was the voice like rumbling stones in a river, but as I heard the voice I also felt the warm rocks at my back vibrate. "If you are then I would ask that you stay calm and not attack me."

"Hu?" Confused I let my eyes focus. I was in a small clearing between several large black rocky spires. And as odd as that was, the massive metal manacles attached to them were stranger still. And attached to those were chains as thick as my thighs. I followed where they stretched across the purple dirt and saw that two went to my right and two went to my left. I followed the ones on my left and was immediately eye to eye with a monster. It was a red eyeball at least the size of my grimoire. That eye was set into a face of rough, stone like scales that were a deep plum colour. "Um... what?"

The eye narrowed a little and it spoke again. "I fed you, so you can not attack me, yes? I saved your life."

Again, I blinked. This time I got up and took a few unsteady steps back, only so I could get the full view of what lay before me. Well, this was a dragon... It lay on the ground, its body a deep plum color, and he look not a thing like Drogin. Not even giant Drogin. There was no comparison. I could see why people looked at me like I was crazy for insisting that my little newt was just an itty-bitty dragon.

There were no smooth or sleek lines to this beast. He was all rock-hard rough scales and plates, covered in ridges and spines from narrow, spade shamed head to its tree trunk tail. Where Drogin looked sleek and slim, this dragon was a tank. How could it even fly? Speaking of flying, its wings were massive, and that was folded. Each on a mass of bone, plate scale and leathery, battle scared and torn, membrane. Drogin looked like a piece of art, a pretty painting, compared to this creature. It screamed age, wisdom, and unspeakable power. I felt tears well up in my eyes: He was beautiful. Beautiful in a way only nature could be. Like a grizzly bear was beautiful, or a glacier... pure force of nature.

"You're a dragon!" Was all I could say, voice filled with awe.

The dragon raised its head up on a heavily plated swan neck, purple scales catching the light, and looked at me like he thought I really had hit my head. Even laying on its belly like it was, the head was a good ten feet above me, making me crane my neck to look him in the eye.

"... Yes, I am." He said in that amazing boulder-y dragon voice that I decided right then and there was the absolute best.

I laughed in pure joy. "That's amazing!"

The dragon's eye- I could only see the one at the moment- narrowed, a red slit in a purple face. "I agree. But I did not expect you to think so."

"Why?"