When Tao awoke the next morning, it wasn’t hard to figure out the meaning behind the vigorous digging he had to do the day before. With the trail of heated dirt surrounding the mound of gold, each and every coin was warmed to perfection and stayed warm for many hours. How he had gotten on the pile of riches – he didn’t know. Still, he decided not to question it and continued to rest his eyes, opening them reluctantly only when his stomach began to beg and whine for food.

“I don’t feel good…” he mumbled to himself as he caressed his forehead with the tips of his fingers. Everything was blurring in his tired eyes – colors mixing and fading, objects distorting and bending – like a dizzy spell had completely washed over him. Tao was nearly completely unwilling to get up; his limbs were aching and his body felt cold, despite the warm coins pressing against him. He honestly would’ve stayed where he was had his stomach not let out an obscene noise.

“Ugh,” Tao groaned, rubbing his stomach as he his side, only to bump into something hard and warm. He peaked his eyes open, looking directly at the large scales that covered the dragon, whose eyes where closed and breath escaping slow and easy. The boy lifted his hand to caress the dragon’s snout, unconsciously admiring the feel of the rough scales beneath his fingertips as he traced random patterns from one scale to the next. In truth, he was only mildly surprised when the dragon’s eyes shot open and stared down at him, almost warningly, but Tao couldn’t bring himself to feel scared. Instead, he stared into the eyes of the beast, unable to move as he let himself be put in a trance by soothing nectar eyes.

“I’m hungry…” Tao said after countless seconds, reluctantly breaking the silence that fell over them. A deep sound rumbled from the dragon’s chest as it shifted from its bed, practically slithering to the back of the cave with its wings pressed against its back. Tao followed along, still amazed by the beautiful scenery the back of the cave provided. He watched as the dragon climbed down the cliff, movements sloppy from having just awoken, and rest in the shallow of the lake, staying utterly still until snapping its jaw down into the water and coming back up. Tao watched the dragon drag itself back up the cliff and when the dragon was in front of him once more, it opened its jaw to reveal a mass amount of fish. Even though Tao’s stomach growled for food, he couldn’t bring himself to appease his appetite as he watched the fishes jump around in the dragon’s mouth.

“I’m not hungry anymore…” Tao mutters bitterly, face turning oddly pale as he forced bile from rising in his throat. The dragon gave a near irritated growl before dropping the fish back into the water and going back to the center of the cave. It was obvious the dragon was irritated for having been awoken for no reason, but Tao just couldn’t satisfy his hunger after having to stare at his potential meal flopping around within the moist, warm cavern that was the dragon’s mouth. I think I’m going to be sick, Tao thought pitifully.

It was as the dragon readied itself to crawl back onto the ever-so-slowly cooling coins that curiosity finally struck Tao.

“What’s your name?” The boy said thoughtfully, flinching visibly when the dragon threw him a harsh glare (obviously, the dragon wasn’t a morning person creature). The dragon’s gaze was forever hard as his tail flicked toward scattered patterns on the wall that Tao had never noticed before. Stalking over, Tao looked at a particular set of patterns that caught his eye.

“W-Wu…fan…Wufan?” Tao read slowly. “Your name is Wufan?”

The dragon looked at him lazily for many seconds before huffing out in a way that didn’t confirm or deny his question, and finally crawled back onto the bed of gold, coiling its tail around its body in various positions until comfort was found.

A pout unconsciously formed onto Tao’s face. I like the name Wufan, he thought childishly. The boy was about to head back over toward the dragon but was stopped by a sudden pain that stabbed at his midsection.

“Ah!” his breath turned ragged as he clutched at his stomach. The dragon heaved a sigh, but when it looked over and saw the boy hunched over, face flushed in pain, it became alert and very much awake. Tao’s vision blurred dramatically as he slipped in and out of consciousness. His fever from the day before had calmed for a while but seemed to have returned when his body had been in a state weakened by hunger. He groaned and choked and let out shouts of agony as the pain radiated throughout his being.

Not knowing what to do or how to react, the dragon released a roar that shook the very foundations of the cave. Its tail curved around Tao’s writhing body as its wings expanded and stretched. Its legs push it forward and once they breached the caves opening, its wings took them to the sky, its tail holding the fragile boy close and away from the whipping wind. The dragon roared when it spotted a village ahead and dived down just along the outskirts, tail unwrapping around the boy and placing him close enough so that villagers could easily attend to him, yet far enough for the dragon to escape.

Expanding its wings once more, the dragon took back to the skies, flying back to the cave. It didn’t look back toward the boy as he flew away from the village, sharp ears listening to frantic cries and shouts of men and women to take the sickly boy to the village doctor. It hadn’t looked back to make sure the villagers had attended to the boy properly, but as the dragon crawled back into its now cold bed of riches, it could only stare dully at the one spot where the gold had shifted to accommodate for the body of a human boy that had once rested there.

xTaeMinX -  i was honestly expecting this chapter to be about 600 words, so image my surprise when it ends up being a little over 1000 ._____. rofl.

so... how many of you wanna kill me? come on~ don't be shy, i know you wanna for making you wait so long OTL

buuuut i think after this chapter, the others will be easier to write... hopefully.... OTLOTLOTL