No Longer Freedom

16. Boy in white.

Tom's POV

"Isn't it weird to see animals, when every living thing around KOTLO is gone, except humans?" Tord noted as he pointed at a flying squirrel gliding between the trees. It had already been 5 days since the drowning incident but he... He just acted like nothing would had happened. I could had died, the hell. However, Tord seemed to keep his distance. Though, I didn't mind. Having him close to me, Ii just confused me. He radiated mixed signals like a stray abused cat. Sometimes the kitty scratched me, so my blood would be decorating its fur but sometimes it would lick the blood away from my palm.

Brushing off my train of thought, I agreed. "I've noticed the same thing everywhere I go... It won't take many days to notice that every breathing thing around me is suddenly gone. Last time when I was here, other dragons disappeared in a few days"

Staring at the squirrel, Tord asked. "How so?" Tord leaned against a massive fruit tree. "I don't know, It has always been like that so it's normal for me." I sighed. The pressuring silence fell on top of our heads yet again. We just looked at the squirrel in silence until Tord opened his filthy mouth. "How long were you in my area before I found you?" "Maybe a day or two." I spat and crossed my arms. The memory of him chasing me in the tunnel embarrassed me. Usually I were the hunter but when the tables had turned it made me want to vomit. I felt so weak and small, back then, that it made me want to erase those memories.

"Mhhm..." Tord hummed as he glared at me. His glowing fire red eyes pierced through me like a scorpion sting, making me freeze. "How unfortunate." He took a step towards me. "What a consequen-" A powerful roar interrupted Tord's sentence. It was another dragon?! There's no way I wouldn't had recognize that type of sound.

I turned my head towards the sound, excited to see a fellow dragon. And there it was. A flower looking slender beast. It had six limbs in total. Two legs and two arms but then it had another pair of arm looking limbs. However, they were connected to its green leaf looking wings. Around its neck and head it had a mane that mimicked a huge pink flower with lot of layers. In its back and stomach it had multiple thorns in different sizes. It seemed to use protective coloration to blend in with the massive plants. Odd thing was that it didn't really seemed to have scales. Instead it had skin like humans but it was green and much thicker. I saw its eye catching ribs through its skin, showing its hunger.

I heard how Tord gasped next to me as he pointed at the massive creature. "LOOK! YOUR FRIEND! CAN YOU ASK IT TO CHANGE INTO A HUMANOID LIKE YOU!?" He covered his mouth as he placed the other one on my shoulder.

I decided to do as he wished, although this man had no idea how many times I had tried to speak with other dragons but the results were always the same. "Hemme? Mim din Tom." I introduced myself to the amaryllis dragon. It only stared at me with its pale white eyes, scared. It took a few steps away like the other ones I had talked to. It looked like it would had just seen a ghost while it started whining. Then, suddenly its leaves started to turn brown and the pink petals began to peel off. It started to...wither? Straight in front of my eyes. "What did you do?!" Tord spat as he dashed towards the rotting dragon. "The same I always do..." I sighed.

With its last strength, the dragon spread its cracking wings so the wind could took care of it one last time like mother nature did to the other plants. Gliding towards the ocean it looked at the sky, whining and begging but nobody could had gave it any mercy. I were sorry for it's destiny but I knew it was not my fault. It was just a bad luck that I had. Some dragons just fled and others might had died on me. "Was I really that scary?" I whined and buried my culpable face to my palms. "So my theory was right...?" Tord whispered.

Should have guessed that he were planing on something. How could I been so dumb, once again? "What theory?!" Anger, no... berserk rushed in my blood vessels, causing me to clench my hand into fist. Nails sank  into my soft palm. I raised my chin. Hot blood dripped on the ground as I pointed at my enemy. "I'm done!" My sour voice envenomed the air around us.