To Be Human

Dungeon

  I tried to go in the direction of the explosions and the way Azazel had flown, but the streets were a maze, and I couldn't go straight to where I was headed. I kept running though, not stopping until I finally found Nina. Despite my fears, she was in human form and completely fine as she was shouting toward the sky.

  Mugaro was being taken by some gods, there were soldiers all around, and the giant stone and metal knights were here as well. There was rubble scattered over the ground, and I was slowly piecing together what had happened as I spotted Bacchus and Hamsa being taken along with Mugaro.

  "Turn into dragons!" My head jerked to the side, seeing Azazel being pushed toward the ground by an Onyx Knight while his hands were held behind his back. "You have to transform!"

  "What? What are you saying?" Nina sounded confused, but I understood after seeing the slaughtered demons amongst the debris.

  "We need your powers now! You have to save Mugaro! You have to save the demons!" Azazel struggled against the Onyx Knight as Nina turned away to look around at the scene. The pale demon then turned his gaze to me, his eyes pleading. "Lila!"

  ....I had to try.

  I had to do something as the knights were surrounding us and the smell of burnt flesh and blood filled my nose. Balling my hands into fists, I closed my eyes, trying to focus as the sun was blocked out by the clouds. The wind picked up, putting dust into the air, and I bared my teeth while digging my nails into my palms.

  'Come on!' I internally screamed at myself. 'Come on, come on, come on!' Lowering my head, I growled in frustration. 'They're going to die if you can't do this!' My eyes snapped open as there was a splitting pain in my head, and I dug my fingers into my scalp as I roared. I could feel the crest of horns from my dragon form starting to poke out from my hair, and I could feel every hard scale beginning to form on my skin.

  But why did it hurt so much? I never felt this pain before, so was it because I was forcing it?

  "Lila!" I heard my sister gasp as I doubled over. Growling and clenching my aching jaws, I felt like my insides were on fire.

  "Nina....move." I managed to say, not wanting her to get hurt if something happened, and my voice sounded off from the pointed teeth in my mouth. She took a step back, and the knights were closing in. I needed more time. This wasn't going like usual, it was too slow, too painful.

  Something hit the back of my head and everything went dark.

~

  Groaning as my head ached, I felt like I had been run over by a dozen carriages. Slowly opening my eyes, I tried to move but found that my range of motion was heavily restricted. I felt my heart race with panic as the sounds of chains rattling when I moved told me what was holding me down.

  I was on my stomach, my wrists in shackles with my legs trapped and bolted against the floor. On my face was a tight muzzle, forcing my mouth shut and only having holes so that I could still breathe. I could only lift my head up a few inches until a short chain on the muzzle to the floor went taut, and there was a bar around my hips to hold my torso down.

  Looking around the room, I saw things I hoped to never see. There were torture devices all around the room and weapons hanging on the walls along with chains and shackles.

  'Nina....' I thought while feeling my eyes sting. 'I....I failed.'

  "Oh, you're awake finally?" A man came into view, his face covered by an odd mask as he bent down with his hands on his knees to look at me. "So dragons cry, huh?" He chuckled. "I hope those tears are from what you know is coming."