Tao was crudely awakened the next morning by a jagged tail wrapping securely around his leg and dragging him from the very uncomfortable corner in the far side of the cave. Under any other circumstance, Tao probably would’ve thrown a fit and yelled at whoever was waking him, but this was no ordinary situation and it was something waking him, not someone. The large scales pushing against his skin was undoubtedly uncomfortable enough to rouse him from his not-so comfortable sleeping space on the moist floor. How Tao managed to make the cold, rocky surface even the tiniest bit comfortable, he’d never know but he did oddly enough. The many pieces of gold scattered across the ground somehow (with as much sarcasm physically possible) made an extravagant pillow.

With a low growl, the dragon used its snout to shove Tao toward many small mounds of dirt splayed awkwardly in the left corner of the cave. Each mound was followed by another, leading up to the bed of gold. To say that Tao was confused would be an understatement. He had no clue what the dragon was hinting at, but he could feel all of the color in his face drain when the dragon breathed fire onto one of the mounds and pushed Tao toward it.

“Are you crazy?” Tao screeched, trying as hard as he could to stay away from the flaming ball. “I can’t touch that!”

The dragon huffed in irritation, moving one of its claws to dig into the red-hot mound of burning dirt. Tao watched as the dirt cascaded downward till a small trail was lumped around a small section of the gold before the dragon patted it down with its tail. The dragon then motioned toward one of the other mounds and Tao knew what it wanted. With a heavy sigh, Tao dragged his feet toward the nearest dirt mound and began to round up large amounts of it and carry it toward the bottom of the gold pile, bits at a time. When he was finally finished with one mound, a heavy sweat was already trickling down his face as he watched the dragon repeat its previous action, breathing fire onto the dirt and patting it down. The young boy whined when the dragon motioned for the next pile, but went anyway upon being gazed at by the beast’s narrowed eyes. He was interrupted many times by the prominent growling of his stomach, but did not stop to soothe his hunger, afraid of what the dragon would do if he did.

Tao worked with the dragon until the entire pile of gold was surrounded by a neat trail of heated dirt. His arms and hands were lined with cuts and bruises while sweat drenched his brow. Falling to his knees, Tao gasped, breathing in deeply and silently promising himself to never take sweet oxygen for granted again all while the dragon contemplated him.

The dragon glowered at the boy silently before using its tail to push him toward the back of the cave. Tao groaned in pain, his legs protesting against all attempts to move but doing so anyway. It only took him a few seconds for him to notice that the cave was in fact a lot deeper than he originally thought. Tao had previously assumed that it came to an end where the dragon dwelled.

Tao’s ears perked when an odd sound was introduced to them. It sounded almost like…water?

The dragon pushed him forward toward a light that signified the back exit of the cave. Tao gasped at the sight before him. A brilliant waterfall reflected beautiful colors from the sun’s light. The dragon had taken him to a cliff and below them was a lake that was calm despite the water that beat against it. Words of awe hitched in Tao’s throat as he admired his surroundings, turning on his heel just so that he would be able to take in everything, even to the last blade of grass. A squeak left his lips when he turned around, his forehead pressing against something hard.

Tao looked up with wide eyes, lips parting as a breathless “wow” left them. His eyes drank from the sight of the dragon, blocking the sun from his eyes with bowed wings and head held high, piercing eyes gazing at him. The beast’s scales seemed to ignite under the sun, turning them from their usual midnight black to a deep blood red. The boy took small steps back so he could fully admire the beautiful picture the dragon was practically painting in his mind’s eye.

He fell

Tao felt himself falling back, his foot slipping off of the edge of the cliff, plunging him downward. All air left his lungs but he did not scream; his eyes were trained on the dragon and he could think of nothing else. The dragon’s honey colored eyes stained his mind as they disappeared and reappeared from view, getting closer and closer until Tao could feel the dragon practically breathing down his neck. The boy’s breath finally returned as a struggled gasp when he felt the dragon’s clawed limb secure around his body, ultimately saving him from a painful impact with the water.

He was thankful for the quick save, yes, but it didn’t last long when the dragon dropped him into the bone-chilling water barely a second later. Tao resurfaced, gasping for air, head thrown back to aid in removing the water from his eyes. Once able to see clearly, Tao began to swim back to the rocky shore, somehow managing to get a good distance away from the water despite his wet clothes weighing him down.

Body heavy, head pounding, breath labored; Tao felt the edges of his world blur and blacken.

He fainted.

this chapter absolutely did not want to be written OTL but... all of my subscribers T^T you guiz make me wanna cry ;~~~; <3 i love you guiz so much