A scattered thought of... evil

The huge body was hanging by its tail, expertly tied to half a dozen trees. Below, the hunters were gathering the dragon blood, a thick, blue substance that had a huge number of supposed applications. Most were bullshit, dragon blood helped with neither sickness nor with anything not magical. These people knew that very well, but the market for selling it to foolish human folk was vast. No Harvonger, a few drops of dragon blood won’t help you with your loose manhood, nor it will silence the voices, Gretchen, think. Such fools. Unfortunately, I’d need a lot of dragon blood, all of it in fact. That’s unfortunate for them hunters. They are a dime a dozen, still, I detest killing. Alas I doubt they’d willingly give me what I need, and I haven’t got the time to ask. Time, that’s funny. Anyhow, I counted 5 hunters. Brave boys and girls to have been able to successfully take down an adult dragon. I so hate killing the brave. With that thought I stepped from the shadows in full view. The hunters were not phased the slightest by my sudden appearance. I am in no way menacing, at least on first glance, an elder dremodai, thinning hair, cushy build and a weak smile. That look I’ve cultivated, I cannot do anything about my eyes though. They betray my intent, they are the abyss, they are every abyss, they are the unrelenting infinitum of the Universe. I love epochs when I can wear shades, but not in ancient Mesopotamia, especially pre-shock.

I didn’t greet the hunters, I just walked slowly. The first hunter was mere meters away. His chiseled look was stunning, a true dragon slayer, as taken from a storybook. Death. That’s what I was bringing to the poor fellow. As soon as I touched his forearm he fell down wit a thud. I hate myself, yet I keep on going. Nothing can stop me. Nothing. Upon assimilating what had happened, the second hunter threw himself at me, spear at the front. It simply broke on contact with my body, a neat trick I can do. I can take a spear to the gut, but it hurts like hell. I grabbed the remaining wood shaft and cast it away. Then I proceeded to grab the hunter’s face. I squeezed his head into a bloody mess. The sound of cracking scull and bursting blood vessels made me sick.

The remaining three mobilized themselves. They quickly surrounded me. A sound tactic, three against one, I should’ve been finished then and there. I wasn’t. I didn’t want to toy with them too much. A riposte from the gal behind me caught me by surprise. Her spear entered my body with ease. It was rather painful which made me angry. I turned around and knocked her down, as she was still clutching the spear that was in my chest. I pulled myself closer to her. The fear in her eyes was palpable and totally justified. What I did was unspeakable, but I will try. I grabbed her by the ear and pulled her up. I could feel her spirit twisting in my arm like a worm. Souls rarely get grabbed so physically. I yanked it out of her body and squeezed hard. A soul is a fragile thing, my grasp fractured it into a million pieces that scattered. In my anger, I did the same thing to the other two, they didn’t even realize what was going on. How I detested doing that, yet I never stopped myself. The spear was still sticking out from my chest. The pain was almost unbearable. I grabbed and tried to pull, but the nasty weapon had some sort of a hook. It had to go the long way. I pushed and pushed until the metal head came the other side. It was a very crude weapon, crude and efficient, none else would’ve survived but me. Such were the tools of dragon hunters. When the metal spike came free from my body, I broke the wooden shaft and pulled the two pieces out of me. Below my feet the ground was soaked with my blood. I needed that back. With a gentle hand movement the red liquid jumped from the ground right back into my veins which promptly closed after everything was back, so did the entry and exit wounds. I was healed, only the pain remained. That tended to linger for longer, my primitive brain as the rest of my body were still made out of meat, which couldn’t comprehend my abilities. Can I be killed? Yes. Will I truly die? Not really. What then? I will linger in limbo for all eternity, until the universe dies and is reborn again, and me along with it, again flesh, deranged even further from the endless solitude, because I will experience every moment of unbeening. That had happened too many times until I learned to protect myself. Yet slip ups still can happen. I usually live out the course of the universe, at least to the point where life is possible, then it’s rest for those who lived and limbo for me. And the planning for the next iteration. I am no god. I am one man, my knowledge might have grown, but so with it my contempt and misanthropy and self loathing. I hate myself, I hate what I am, yet I still go on, not that I have a choice. Not that anything matters, not really. The cycle will turn and we’ll be right back here, might as well have fun going the rounds. And the real use for dragon blood? It burns pretty good, smokeless fire, fuel for my mini Industrial Revolution.

With my adversaries so thoroughly defeated, I went to inspect the dragon’s corpse. Those hunters had been really efficient, almost all of the blood was drained and stored in a few skins that were lying on the ground. I whistled. The sound filled the forest and soon their horses came back, I wasn’t about to drag such a heavy load all by myself, not that I couldn’t, but why, I have more important matters to attend. I loaded a total of 20 skins on the 5 horses. Poor creatures were almost at capacity. I’d release them after they bring the dragon blood, I don’t want horses, not to mention how awful horse meat tastes.

The road to my humble abode was a long one. It took us more than 7 hours to reach my sanctuary. I unloaded the precious fuel and set the horses free. They preferred to graze at my doorstep for awhile. I didn’t mind too much. My house was hidden beneath the ground, the entrance was a winding staircase inside a huge tree stump, it wasn’t camouflaged perfectly, but if anyone but me tries to get inside – they’d experience a rather violent death.

Beneath I had one large room that resembled a warehouse. Stuff was scattered all around, and at the center was my current project – a power generator. I need electricity and in this primitive epoch burning dragon blood is the best and the most inconspicuous source of energy, at least until the change, then it’s back to scraping by. Anyway, I need power to prepare for the change. This time I am not leaving anything to chance…