Bound To The Earth (Open Novella Contest 2020)

Present Day

A sigh escaped my lips as I walked down the old back road. My thoughts drifted back to 'that' day yet again. I shook my head, as if trying to dislodge the terrible memories. Forcing myself to keep my head in the present and out of the past that I so desperately wanted to change, I concentrated on the road ahead of me.

"There is nothing you can do to change it, at least not yet," I muttered to myself. "The past can't be changed."

"Talking to yourself again?" I rolled my eyes at Volkun's comment as he walked up beside me, all casual and relaxed.

Volkun was one of my closest friends and through the war he was always there for me. We had known each other since we were both dragonlings, and knowing him was probably the best thing for me. When Volkun was still a dragon, he was a brilliant green colour, with the softest of brown eyes. Everything about him had been gentle, but the war had hardened him, like it had done for many of us. As a human, his eyes still were the same, but everything about him was different from his voice to the way he walked. The familiar green scales I had seen my whole life were gone, replaced with a short, messy, brown head of hair. As a human, he looked like he was in his mid-twenties, but was truly well over a hundred times that age.

I on the other hand, if I really had to guess, was stuck in the body of a seventeen year old. Everything that defined me as me, was gone. My beautiful blue scales and magnificent wings were gone. Like Volkun, my eyes were the only thing that was the same as my dragon form, a rich but light blue. Over the long years stuck as a human, I often tried to find anything that I could peg as 'me' but there was none. It was like looking at a stranger every time I saw my reflection. No matter how many long years were to pass, I doubted that I would ever get used to it.

"I was just telling myself something," I said, a smile growing on my face. Volkun's familiar lopsided grin slowly grew. "So how was your day today?"

"Same as yesterday," Volkun shrugged casually, his smile dropping. "Pretending to be human is quite easy once you've done it for a few hundred years."

"That's true." Even though we look human, and were trapped in their bodies, all of us were stronger and faster then them, and plus we didn't age. Most of our senses, such as sight, hearing, and smell, were also enhanced but were nowhere near what we had as dragons. Having these small little 'perks' added to the constant stress and difficulty of blending in. "It has almost become second nature."

"Sadly, yes," Volkun sighed.

We continued walking, just enjoying each other's company, which was how I liked it most of the time. I wasn't much of a talker, so just being in someone's company was good enough for me.

"I haven't seen much of the High Dragons and their allies," Volkun commented after a few minutes, breaking the comfortable silence. "If I didn't know better I would have th—" a muffled sound came from Volkun as I covered his mouth and dragged him from the street and into a nearby alley with more strength than what was probably necessary.

"What the heck was that about?" He demanded as I removed my hand. I quickly threw a finger to my lip, and signalled my head towards the entrance of the alley. Volkun peeked around the wall, spotting who I had seen walking towards us.

"You had to jinx it, didn't you?" I quietly whispered as the former dragon pulled his head back into the alley.

"Do you think they know we're here?"

I slowly looked around the corner. Two enemies were standing there nonchalantly, casually glancing around for any of the Awakened. They didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, but just scouting the area.

"Probably not. They're not coming towards us so I think we're good." Volkun visibly relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. Neither one of us was looking for a fight, especially not in a confined space where we possibly could get spotted by humans. Diminishing the enemy's numbers was always high on the list, but not being seen was top priority, with being safe in a close second. On top of that, neither one of us were very strong fighters. When we were dragons, it would have been a totally different story, well, for Volkun anyways. It was more or less the same for me.