Compassionate Dragon

I awoke in the seat of a speeding car, to a harrowing screech roaring through the entire city. How exactly I got there was a still a mystery to me, but hearing that sound already gave me chills.

“Great, you’re awake. Odd how we always meet like this, huh?” Agent Araki joked, sitting next to me.

“You’re quite the sleeper. I carried you into the car all the way from your room and you didn’t even flinch.”

As I looked out of the lefthand window, I saw a magnificent, gargantuan creature soar through the sky. Must have been from the sleep deprivation.

“There were some immensely high levels of traumatic energy building up at the hospital you were at last night, so I figured I’d take you with us to investigate.”

The car suddenly stopped. As we all got out, where the hospital supposedly was, there was nothing there. Only a perfectly spherical crater where the hospital stood just yesterday.

What? But Yuri, she’s still in there. Even if she’s dead, she should at least have gotten a proper burial before I can join her.

“Well, as you can see, there’s nothing left of the hospital. But the dragon that arose from its crater wanted to negotiate.”

The Dragon? Not all of this again. Is he serious? Then again, there was some weird snake like thing just now. Could it actually be?

Immediately after he spoke, the flying beast reappeared. It slowly descended towards me.

Now that I look at it, that dragon doesn’t even seem too traditional or anything. It’s black and purple scales don’t seem like anything I’ve read before, at least. It does look majestic with its sharp scales reflecting back the sunlight as if they were made of glass, or even diamonds.

“You see, dragons are rather reasonable beings compared to others. Even though this one is eerily compassionate so far. They usually go on a rampage through the city, but it’s just flown around a bit without even breaking any more windows than the initial explosion already burst.”

“You there, child.” A hollow voice resounded from within the dragon’s mouth. It stared at me intently.

“Live on. That is all left to be said.”

Why would a dragon say any of this? Is this the compassion the Agent just mentioned?

My thoughts were cut short by a sudden burst of purple mass shooting out of the dragon’s mouth.

“Well, negotiations are over then, I suppose.”

Araki immediately threw me to the ground, yelling something I couldn’t quite hear. Even though the incoming mass seemed weightless and cold, its sound alone almost burst my eardrums.

Araki and the other two Agents accompanying him began weird hand movements, before one of them disintegrated. He stood in front of the car and seemed like he tried to protect it somehow, but as soon as that mass touched him, he was just gone, leaving behind nothing but a clean circular hole in the car behind him.

“This is what we in the business call a suicide mission,”

Araki yelled at the top of his lungs, only to barely top out the eerie screeching coming from the dragon’s blast.

He then manifested some sort of blade out of thin air and ran towards it.

“Call for immediate backup. All Traumata teams on alert right now, or this city is doomed!”

The glowing blade made contact with the dragon’s head, but barely scratched it. Finally, it began moving again. Accelerating at an incomprehensible speed, it burst all remaining windows of the street and soared into the sky once more. Now high above the clouds, it seemed to rest instead of engage in any further fighting.

“What was that?” I screamed at Araki, with a slight ringing still remaining in my ear.

“That was a dragon. I’ve seen that power once before. In Hiroshima, around five years ago. It’s also a Traumata, called “Leere”. Anything it touches just vanishes into thin air, and nothing within it can survive, being broken down into nothing on an atomic level.” He knelt, nearly breaking down in tears.

“One last thing for you: Using traumatic magic, no matter the scale, really screws with your mind. It’ll show you anything bad you’ve ever experienced to drain your will to live. And you need traumatic energy to fight spiritual entities like these, so good luck to your mental state on that one. Or any therapist, at that. No wait, you don’t get access to that, I forgot.”

An entire convoy of cars suddenly approached our location.

They all came to an immediate stop when they saw me.

As I turned around to face them, I could see myself in the reflection of one of the cars’ windshields. My hair had turned brown again, and my eyes stopped glowing white.

Am I back to normal now? Does that mean I can leave? Also, what kind of experience could possibly produce a Traumata like that? Leere? That’s just literally void. Nothing comes to mind to me, at least. But he saw it before?

“You there, Traumata, step back immediately, or I will use lethal force. Do not touch Special Agent Araki!” Before the woman running towards me could finish ordering me around, the sky was ripped open. In another horrifying screech, a burst of purplish light shone brighter than the sun above and tore a literal rift through space itself. At least that’s what it looked like. The dragon above the clouds had torn apart heaven itself.

“Fuck! Get that rift closed, ASAP!” She yelled back at the convoy behind her. The last car immediately turned around and drove off, presumably back to their base.

“Where are the Traumata? We need to kill that thing right now. Out of my way!” she shoved me toward the car I originally came here with, the broken glass of one of the windows scratching my right arm.

“Araki, are you alright? I told you to hold off on your fancy wizardry for a few weeks, didn’t I? Don’t need you dying right now.”

A sudden surge of old memories came forth, possibly caused by the small cut I had just received.

I saw her face, bright as day. And I saw my parents, laying before me, with nothing I could do.

Tears began welling up, before suddenly freezing in my tear ducts.

“Get this thing out of here, now!” The woman yelled, pointing at me.

One of the men accompanying her reached for my shoulder, but his hand immediately froze. As I glanced at it, it burst entirely, sending sharp icicles in every direction, piercing his vital organs and cutting a few other people around him.

I couldn’t feel anything. It was all just cold. My eyes went white, all around me was nothing but snow. Snow, and ice. No matter where I looked, it was all just one snowy field. My hearing went out, too. I merely felt my body bending and twisting in ways I’ve never moved before. Something formed inside my hand, it felt like a knife of sorts. As soon as it finished forming, though, it slipped out of my hand. The snow around me turned red, slowly. Multiple spots in the snow began bleeding uncontrollably. I tried to scream, but nothing came out.

It’s cold. Far too cold for Tokyo this season. Where am I? Where did all the others go?

I felt a sensation of incomprehensible warmth throughout my entire body. It was as if Yuri was hugging my from the inside.

As my vision returned to normal, everyone around me was laying on the ground. A few Agents hid behind car doors, but most were bleeding out on the street.

Then, I collapsed, yet again.