Paryl lay in bed, trembling. The hum of the surrounding lights crawled under his skin, forcing his eyes open in shock.
Everything around him was a threat.
Every shuffle of the guard's clothes made him jump back in fear, every step of a facility worker was looming death.
Each shadow belonged to the next assailant, the shadow of the person who would kill him for hurting their family.
The boy cried bitter tears, despising every moment. His face felt hot and sticky from the tears, his breathing shallow from the bile and snot building up.
The child begged and screamed for someone to come, for someone to comfort him to sleep, but the bed stayed empty.
He kept crying and screaming until he was too exhausted to continue doing so, every breath burning his small lungs, every word stinging his dry throat.
When his own sobs stopped echoing within his mind, all the child heard were Arthur's words and imagined screams of his dead victims. When he could finally close his eyes, all he saw were graves.
His sleep was fragmented, interrupted by disorienting dreams of getting asphyxiated under immovable weight or dreams of a beast's rampage, being forced to watch as it tore open the few people that actually cared for him.
Mr. Ethan, Arthur, the splintered memories that were his parents, even Ms. Maria.
The monster would break their bodies as if they were made out of clay, ripping them to shreds. He couldn't look away, he was forced to witness all of it.
When he awoke from his brief stints of sleep, he'd cry until morning.
Every day he was exhausted, each and every muscle in his body begging for rest, feeling as if on fire from the simplest actions.
He had no appetite.
Paryl would be forcefully fed until the scientist decided it was just enough for his meat not to wither off his bones, then left alone to rot in his small cell.
At some point, he had begun blaming himself. Thoughts about why he should be blamed, ruminations of what he should've done differently, devoured his sanity like ravenous locusts.
Even the regular tests, his last kind of human interaction, completely stopped.
Alone.
Paryl, for the first time in his life, was utterly and truly alone.
He lay in bed, not sleeping, but not screaming or sobbing either. His gaze was on the ceiling.
Paryl was imagining the night sky outside. Heat enveloped his back.
He wasn't scared of everything else for the first time since Elizabeth.
The boy was afraid only of himself.
The child's small back was on fire, warmth spreading. Paryl wanted to stop it from spreading, he knew that if the imprint was allowed to consume his mind and body, everyone around him would end up dead.
No guard could stop him.
Not a thousand guards could stop him.
The boy wished to fight it. He wanted to be strong enough to sacrifice his well-being for the lives of others.
The warmth spread. Innumerable scarlet sparks consumed his being as if they were rot.
The dragon's cognizance clawed at his being hungrily, and Paryl allowed it to.
By the time the guards reacted, it was too late.
The beast was fully awakened and Paryl was conscious within it.
A passenger within the monster's body.
He looked at the puny warriors through the monster's eyes. His very essence was trying to sob, but couldn't.
'I'm sorry, I really am.'
The 4 guards sprung into position. Each of them used their abilities to trap the monster.
Thousands of nails pierced the dragon, leaving it immobile. Black chains conjured from the surrounding shadows, trapping the beast fully. A translucent barrier was invoked from nothing, guarding the team from the behemoth's wrath.
"We'll keep it down! Go, Arthur!"
Arthur brandished his blade, trembling. The beast looked down upon the elf with pity.
The dragon fought against its bindings, then unhinged its jaw at an unnatural angle.
A singular thought reverberated in Paryl's mind.
'I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but you all are keeping me from being free. I'm sorry.'
Azure incandescence gathered in the back of the dragon's maw, breathing like it was alive.
It was first wild, unordered, then slowly gathered in a perfect sphere, which then turned into a column of manifested will to destroy.
The only one who could even follow the flames was Arthur, who used his ability to ignore space to the left, barely dodging the attack.
The other guards were completely consumed by the sapphire fire. It burned through the mana barrier as if it wasn't even present.
Not even cinders remained, they were reduced to nothingness.
The beast long neck slowly turned towards the remaining elf. Smoke wildly billowed from its unhinged maw.
Arthur dropped his weapon, trembling. The man was crying in fear, reaching out to where his teammates were just a few seconds ago.
Blue sparks started gathering in its maw again. The elf felt gravity increase around him. He couldn't move, he could only scream:
"Please! Paryl, please don't kill me! Please!"
The flames materialized, forming themselves into reality.
It didn't answer to the cries.
Moments before his imminent demise, the elf started praying.
He wasn't religious, nor did he know how to pray. He just begged whatever it is out there to help him.
Inferno shaped itself, ready to incinerate the whimpering man.
Paryl tried to look away, repeating empty apologies. His body yearned not to see, to not witness what was happening.
It didn't turn away, didn't blink. The beast wanted Paryl to see what he had done.
Cerulean blaze lit up the trapped cell.
Deciding it didn't wish for more prey, the dragon turned its head upwards, using inferno once more.
The attack destroyed all mana fortifying the ceiling, slowly burning it away into nothingness, allowing the night's stars to be seen.
Losing all interest in the facility, the dragon flew into the sky.
The scarlet dragon contrasted the dark sky, soaring as if it were natural.
Paryl felt the cool wind barrage his skin, the moonlight illuminating his path.
He flew until he reached a small, hilly forest.
Landing there, the crimson electricity coloring the dragon slowly retreated and settled into an inky black imprint on the child's back.
He walked, enjoying the stunning view, the nearby hills and forests. The chilly air assaulted his senses. Wherever he looked, he only found true beauty.
Every step to this freedom was built on a filled grave.
Paryl exhaled, appreciating the night sky, which seemed like a painting of an utmost
skilled artist.
"I'm a coward."