Benevolence

Everyone was scared of him. He knew it, but there was nothing he could do to change their opinions of them when they wouldn't even listen. He roamed the countryside alone. Always alone. He tried not to feel sorry for himself, but nevertheless, his heart felt broken and empty. He was filled with despair over his plight. He couldn’t bear to be alone for the rest of his life. Especially since his life expectancy was at least a thousand years.

He’d meet up with his own kind, but the human’s fear of his species meant that they’d done everything they could to eradicate them from the earth. He was truly, compeltely alone.

He came upon his salvation unexpectedly. Just as he was feeling utter hopelessness, ready to throw himself into the depths of the ocean and just give up everything, he heard the sound.

It was a mewling sound, like an animal crying, maybe injured. As much as he wanted to end it all, his heart was too soft, too caring to let another animal suffer if he could do anything to help.

He followed the sound, his keen ears twitching as he made his way through the forest. Everything was dark, closing in as he made his way through the trees. The thorns snagged on his wings, scratched his skin and left marks as he went deeper in the trees.

Still, the sound carried straight to him. He was on the right path, he just knew it.

Feeling something he hadn’t felt in a decade or more, he quickened his pace. He was going to save another animal, another being. His purpose was clear and it felt right. A smile started to curl across his face as he hurried towards the sound, his heart thumping in his chest as he got closer.

The hole was a surprise. Enough of a surprise that he almost fell in! Somehow he managed to save himself from the fall, just in time. As he stuck his snout down into the hole, he heard a shriek. I very painful, loud, heartrending shriek.

The sound scared him so much that he jumped without even thinking. A startled, terrifying scream came from him, the terror causing him to spit flames through the trees. He fell back on his rump, panting and terrified. What kind of demon span had he found? He wasn’t the savior here, it was a trap!

He curled his wings around himself and sobbed. It was all over now. The evil demon would fly out from the hole and destroy him. The last dragon would be wiped from the earth.

He cried for himself, for his long, lonely life. He cried for his ancestors, all killed and wiped out from the despicable humans. It was just too much for one little dragon to take.

He heard rustling from the hole and waiting for the pain of death to reach him.

Nothing.

There was nothing. No pain. No attack.

He peeked out between his wings, poking his head around the tree to see the top of the hole. There was nothing there. No rabid, dark demon beast ready to eat him. No raging roar or attack.

Pretty soon he couldn’t keep from looking closer. His curiosity was peaked.

He scooted over to the hole and peered down inside. There, at the very bottom of a very deep hole was a tiny human. She saw him and shrank down, but this time she just started to cry.

The dragon felt his heart start to melt. His fear had flown away, his only need now was to rescue this little human. He reached down with his giant wing and blinked at the girl. He knew that his voice was terrifying to the humans, so he just used his head to gesture to her to climb on.

Her little hand tentatively reached out and stroked his wing. It tickled, but he was good and held steady so as not to scare her again.

Finally, she wrapped her little arms around his wing and he was able to pull her up. He sat her on the ground and took a step back. She followed, clutching onto his giant leg, her fears gone.

They stood there a while, just staring at each other. The child, waiting for this giant beast to rescue her and take her home. The dragon? He was waiting for her to tell him what to do. Was he supposed to take her back to the human village? Surely she didn’t expect him to do that. The humans would blame him for the injured little human and they would kill him.
He looked down at her big brown eyes and sighed. She smiled and he was lost. He laid his wing on the ground so she could climb up.

The little girl had apparently decided that this big beast wasn’t so scary after all and scampered up onto his back, throwing her arms around his neck as though she belonged there.

The wonderful, benevolent dragon sighed a heavy sigh, careful not to let the flames out this time. The little girl giggled and his heart grew bigger. He knew he was going into danger, but this little human needed him and he wasn’t going to let her down.

He lifted his wings and rose into the sky, the little girl holding on tight and squealing with glee as the dragon turned towards her home and started to fly.

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