Chapter #4An Unexpected Sequence by: Unknown Eric's arms did not move. Instead, rather, something else moved. Not physical, but it felt otherworldly and almost purely telepathic.
Suddenly, there was naught but darkness...
Eric awoke, but only to the feeling of pressure upon his face in a way that he never experienced before. Something was different, he could sense it, and began to take in things one instance at a time as he slowly fluttered his eyes open. One detail that he noticed almost immediately was the still shining of steel above him.
It was... Eric's sword held in front of his eyes, only smaller than how he last recalled it... and it was being held by... Eric!
But, no, it was not him. It was his body, but how could Eric not be inside his own body? He started to piece it all together... and he began to remember.
In his slowly waking stasis, Eric tried to understand the situation as he watched his sword relinquish its aim from his head and as his human body seemed to walk off on its own. Eric broadened his eyes in surprise.
"What? Have you never seen yourself before?" he heard. It was Eric's voice! Yet, it seemed as if every syllable was thoroughly and unnaturally pressured on, giving an almost comic after-effect. His voice continued, "No, I'm not going to slay you like you would have done to me. I have morals, you know."
Eric began to understand the situation.
Eric tried to speak, saying, "You!" when he shocked himself. The voice that came out... it was the dragon's voice! He began to look around when all he saw were thick black scales across his body and serrated claws at the ends of his fingers. As Eric pulled his weight up, he looked at his human body only to see that it was below him and much smaller in stature. Eric bellowed, "You did this!?"
"Well, you cannot blame me for this. I never expected this to happen!" he heard his voice respond from his human body, "Besides, I never expected such an odd feeling within a human body. It feels... inadequate, as if you are constantly trying to make up for the lack of something. No wonder you desire to slay any form of intelligent life you encounter!"
With a burning rage, Eric heaved his hand onto a chunk of rock within the wall of the cave, ripping a boulder away from the rest of the structure.
As he was about send the massive stone towards the enemy that stole his body, he was halted with a logical statement, "Hold! Unless you wish to destroy your own body out of pure foolishness!" his voice punctured the wall of emotions. Eric set the boulder down onto the cave floor.
Eric's human body continued, "My name is Zartax. If you still view us as enemies, then you are unfortunately mistaken. We are much more alike than ever before!"
Eric watched as Zartax clutched the side of his human body with his limp shield-arm. It seems as if the injuries from the battle were still present.
"Now, I will go seek out what you humans call a 'healer'. Hmph. Typical that those like you seek out the aid of another instead of relying on your own experience. I guess it comes with the body." Zartax concluded as he began to walk towards the exit of the cave.
As he watched Zartax walk off, Eric looked at his new dragon body. He noticed the heavy lacerations across his arms and side. Also, he noticed that a few of the more fatal-looking wounds were bandaged over with some of the wrappings and medicinal ointments that Eric remembered taking earlier in his journey to the cave. Glancing over at the exiting Zartax, he noticed his human hands were largely stained with blood.
"But, why?" Eric solemnly asked after a short pause.
"Why? Call it a personal flaw, but I believe that everyone deserves a second chance." Zartax glanced at the sword he was carrying as he responded, "Even you. A week from now, I will come back here after I correctly repurpose the spell I used that led to our body switch. Then you can make the decision. For now, I recommend that you look for the springs on the eastern side of this mountain to heal those wounds you gave yourself."
And with that, Zartax walked out into the blinding daylight outside of the cave.
"Wait, what decision? And after a whole week!?" Eric cried out after him, but no response was received this time.
Eric looked behind himself. The wings were folded at his sides and his spiked tail was flicking around absent-mindedly. He saw the sword wounds again. I have to find those springs...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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