Old Man Dragon - Chapter 11 Recovery

“How is your leg feeling today sweetie?” Mary asked her son as she gently rubbed his face. Bryn didn’t respond, only staring blankly ahead. This had been his common response over the past couple months to any of her questions regarding his health.

Mary smiled sadly, kissing Bryn on the forehead and moving to leave. Before she did, she moved the covers to cover his stump to make sure it didn’t get cold.

After she left, Bryn removed the covers, staring at the place where his leg had once been. After he had made it home, he had been rushed to the city by his father to request a doctor. They were brought to the town healer, but sadly he could only do so much, he wasn’t a priest of light after all.

The sword had damaged the bone, and instead of risking possible gangrene from the severe damage, the doctor had his leg amputated below his knee to preserve his life.

Bryn’s plans for the future had been destroyed. His dreams crushed. He continued to stare into nothing.

.

.

.

The door pushed open. Luis, carrying Lily gently, had pushed the door open and entered. Bryn looked upon the now much larger lizard. Luis had grown much bigger since the attack.

Before losing conciousness, Luis had felt something shatter in his chest, as the miraculous power that had originated there diffused into the rest of his body. When he awoke, he felt the energy recollect into his chest, like a kind of “core” that held the power he had released.

All Luis knew was that after this occurred, he could now stimulate this energy on command.

Luis was very happy with this new development. For the first time since he had gotten here, he could actually manipulate the strange energy with his will.

When experimenting with it, he found that when he circulated it through his body, it would remove any fatigue and soreness he felt. Even more than that, he felt much stronger when he did so. Luis had a funny feeling that it would be able to fix almost any injury to his body. After all, it had already created such miracles before.

With continued experimentation, Luis realized he could now create blasts of damaging bright energy from his mouth on command. Depending on the amount of energy he used, the power could be varied from deadly intense beams to bursts of light similar to the light create by a child with magnifying glass. The power had a wide range.

There were limits to this, however. Luis estimated that he could only create three strong attacks with the power he possessed, then he would need to allow the power to build back up again, which it did slowly.

I seem to have grown a bit as well… Luis examined the changes that occurred to his physical form. His scales had become thicker and stronger, and his body had essentially doubled in a size. He was now a size bigger than the wolf he had killed on the day he was… born.

From staring at the mirror they had in their home, Luis found that his head was now more angular than before, and horn like growths were beginning to sprout on the sides of his head. Looking less like a cute lizard and more like a proper magical beast, Luis felt concerned that people would be more afraid of him.

Looking down, Luis noted that even the claws on his left arm were much bigger and sharper. He admitted he looked quite a bit more intimidating. If he happened to run into another wolf of the type that attacked him., Luis was confident he could kill it with his body alone.

Thinking back, it was like whatever had happened to him had removed the limit to his old size. Luis had grown to this new size in only a week.

Thankfully, he seemed to have stopped growing after that. The amount of scales being shed during this process was quite annoying. Shedding scales caused him endless suffering in the form of itchiness, although Mary was quite pleased…

Overall, Luis felt that he had “evolved” somehow. He didn’t understand what these changes happening to him were, but it brought nothing but improvements, so he wasn’t too worried about lasting defects.

So far, the only defect Luis still had was that he was still missing his right arm, not that he was expecting it to regrow or anything. He wasn’t too worried. Luis was quite used to having only three limbs.

No… right now, Luis was most concerned with someone else’s well being.

Bryn was suffering from depression. Luis knew it, and he knew that it was a tragedy what had happened to him. However, Luis also knew that family was the only way Bryn would get through this tough period. Carrying Lily, Luis walked over to Bryn’s bedside.

He lowered himself to the ground and Lily hopped off. As if by unspoken agreement, Luis used his teeth to pick Lily up, jumped onto the bed, and deposited her into her brother’s lap. Lily, without a word, hugged Bryn. A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.

Luis joined in by nudging Bryn and licking his face. His smile widened further, even letting out a chuckle. Pleased with the results, Luis grabbed a book from a desk nearby and plopped it into Bryn’s lap. With children, you needed to reasure them that everything would be ok before distracting them with something to do. Parenting 101.

I will help him get through this… Luis would make sure the boy under his care would not give in to dispair. It hurt his heart to see Bryn so sad. Losing a limb was not easy, especially when you were young. Luis didn’t have much experience personally in this regard.

Although technically, I did lose my limb right after I hatched… Luis wasn’t sure if that counted.

Picking up the book, Bryn asked, “You want me to continue on your lessons?” Luis nodded repeatedly. He could somewhat understand Bryn better now through words alone. These several months that Bryn had been bedridden, he had been teaching Luis how to read and understand their language.

Lily giggled from her brothers lap. “Monster’s shouldn’t be reading. They’re monsters! They fight!” She puffed up her face for emphasis. Luis couldn’t resist licking her for her clear provocation. She screeched as Luis “attacked” her. Bryn watched their interaction with amusement. “Ok then… let’s continue where we left off…”

Time passed slowly, Bryn teaching Luis in secret day by day while he acclimated to a new life as a cripple himself. Because of his injury, Bryn was unable to assist his father with the planting, meaning George had to work himself ragged every day to make up the difference.

Despite being told numerous times it wasn’t his fault, Bryn couldn’t help but feel responsible. The weeks passed by, and Luis did everything he could to support Bryn through this tribulation. Then, one day, something happened.

“Bryn! Come to dinner!” Mary yelled as she set the table. A lack of a response greeted her answer. Luis, who had been laying by the fire, also noted the silence. Mary turned to Luis. “Can you go get him please?”

Luis nodded and headed for the stairs, neither finding the interaction strange. The mother, having been told how Luis saved her son’s life, had accepted Luis as a member of the family.

What she didn’t realize was that if it was discovered that she was communicating with a magical beast like this, it would have created huge waves throughout the country. For her though, it was simply daily life.

Luis searched the bedroom Bryn had been sleeping in, but found no traces of his presence except his scent. Following that scent, Luis wandered out of the house.

Strange… did he go for a walk? Luis pondered. This wasn’t an impossibility. George had fashioned his son a crutch out of wood and cloth that he could use to move around. Without him missing half his leg, he couldn’t have gotten far… Luis was sorry to think.

Following the scent, Luis found Bryn a mile up from the stream that ran alongside the grain mill located next to their house. He was staring into a small pond, throwing stones.

Without making any sound, Luis walked up next to Bryn and sat down, sensing that Bryn was brooding and maybe wanted to talk. He was proven correct.

“What am I going to do now? Bryn asked to no one in particular.

Scritch… Scritch…

Bryn looked down at the dirt. ‘Live… find… out…’ Bryn snorted.

“You forgot the ‘to’ you dumb lizard.” Bryn was no teacher, but he had been doing the best he could. Luis could now understand most of what Bryn was saying, but reading and writing had been tougher to grasp.

Their language used wavy lines combined in different ways to represent their alphabet. It was quite a challenge to comprehend.

“What’s there to live for… what? Do you think I want to live the rest of my life as a crippled farmer? No!” Bryn started yelling.

“I dont want to live the rest of my life as a damned invalid!” Bryn threw the crutch he had been leaning on into the pond as far a he could. It sank, while Bryn sat down to prevent himself from falling, panting heatedly.

Unfettered by his anger, Luis paused for a minute before wading into the pond, picking up the crutch and bringing it back, dropping it in front of Bryn. Bryn watched with incredulity before the blood rushed to his head.

Bryn exploded.

“What the fu** do you think you’re doing you god damned lizard! If you’re so fu***** smart why do you stay with us. Why dont you just leave! Do you pity me? Why…” Bryn picked up the crutch in his sitting position.

“DON’T” Bryn smashed the crutch against Luis’ head. Luis barely stumbled.

“YOU” Bryn hit him again in the same manner.

“JUST” Bryn struck again, a cracking sound coming from the crutch.

“GO!” The crutch shattered as Bryn smacked it across Luis’ face one last time.

Breathing heavily from the exertion, Bryn expected Luis to retaliate, attack him, do something! In a darker part of his heart, Bryn hoped the lizard would kill him so he wouldn’t have to live life this way.

Scritch… Scritch

Instead, Luis wrote something in the dirt. Unfazed from the assault.

Bryn looked down. ‘Family… don’t… leave… family.’ Bryn chuckled humorlessly. The chuckles turned to hiccups which evolved into full on sobbing.

The damn had burst.

Bryn wept uncontrollably as he hid his face from Luis. He felt so ashamed.

Luis stood by in silence, watching the boy completely break down. Bryn had hit an all time low, and Luis was prepared let this tragedy run its course before helping him build back up. He didn’t even mind being hit, didn’t hurt much anyway.

Shifting closer, Luis placed his head against Bryn’s, cooing softly as a show of support. Bryn hugged Luis hard and cried onto his scales. After what felt like a long time, Bryn stopped shedding tears. Without any more words, Luis lowered his body so that Bryn could hop on. Bryn complied silently, picking up the pieces of the broken crutch in the process.

Luis’ bigger size meant that carrying Bryn wasn’t that difficult, and he carried Luis home to enjoy a nice dinner with his family. He would show Bryn that he was never alone. On the way back, Bryn came to a decision. He finally thought of the name he would call the kind lizard.