10 Minute Tales

Jul 15 - Adopted Power

The child awoke with a grunt, holding his head. Where... where was he? He looked around, panic starting to well up within him. Where were his parents? He got up with a whimper, sniffling as he looked around again. He was in a dark cave, dull brown stalagmites lazily stretching for a ceiling he couldn't see. There was a dim light coming from the cave's mouth; he could see scorch marks from some powerful fire. He swallowed nervously, remembering the various tales about dragons he had heard. How they could breathe flames that would burn a man to the bone, how their very shadows were supposed to cause acres of death as they flew over their territories. He could almost hear their rumbling roars already... he stopped, holding his breath. He actually could hear their roars. They were getting closer! He looked around for somewhere to hide and quickly chose a particularly large stalagmite. He curled up behind it, hugging his knees and trying to keep his panic quiet. This proved difficult when the ground suddenly tumbled as something big touched down just outside of the cave. He couldn't help but whimper, screwing his eyes shut and containing his panic as best he could. The ground continued to shake in rhythmic pulses, pounding and jittering as the dragon entered its lair. It looked around, sniffing the air, and emitted a curious grumble. The child didn't dare to peep, didn't dare to cry, didn't even dare to breathe. He had to keep still, to keep silent. He had to... his thoughts were interrupted by something very large and very wet scraping up his body. This shook him out of it and he dared to open his eyes. The dragon was looking right at him! He yelped and scrabbled back, quickly thumping against the walls. The dragon didn't move,  simply staring at him. It took him a moment to realise the dragon was carrying something. He slowed for a moment, his frantic back-pedalling slowing to a crawl, as he followed the dragon's terrible maw down to the snout. Below nostrils that emitted gentle floating embers dangled the charred carcass of a deer. He couldn't help but sniff the air. That smelt good... the dragon dropped it onto the ground with a thump and pushed it towards him, grumbling quietly the whole time. He couldn't believe what was going on. Was the dragon... trying to feed him? He looked at the meat, then up to the dragon again. He pointed to it, then to himself and tilted his head. The dragon simply nudged the meat again. It was trying to feed him!
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Days passed. Weeks passed. Months passed. Years passed. The child grew into a young adult, the training of the dragon and the harshness of the mountainous terrain they called home honing his body to raw strength. Though the dragon would teach him things every day, one day in a week was dedicated to trying the impossible. The dragon would roar and breathe fire, coating the land before him in ashes and soot. He would roar in kind, and while he felt the power of the dragon in his roar he couldn't emit as much as a single ember. This particular session was during a rainstorm, a downpour that hammered against the smooth rock beneath. Once more, the mother drew back her head and roared her defiance of fate, the familiar tongues of flame lashing out and baking the sky. He closed his eyes and focused himself, let the sensation of his guardian's fire fill his very being. He opened his eyes again, and knew. This would be it. Summoning all his energy, he roared once more, louder than he had before. The jet of fire that he summoned forth was tiny, barely breaking a metre in length, but he knew it would burn with as much intensity as that of his guardian. The dragon simply watched, proud.