Thunder rumbled fiercely outside the cave with an intensity I had rarely felt in all my years. I could only stare at the same brown and grey limestone ceiling illuminated by a nearby candle that danced and flickered wildly as air currents and pressure changed.

I didn’t feel a thing. Not the slightest bit of airflow to tell me whether it was warm or cold outside.

The healer had her back turned to me as she worked tirelessly to prolong my life with a combination of medicines and pastes. Her elbow kept jerking as she ground leaves and other substances in the mortar as she worked on a new recipe, then set it down and applied the paste on my face.

My face whole face was numb to any sensation as she dabbed the green paste on what I guessed was my forehead. The healer looked worried for some reason. Was she concerned about whether or not this would work? Oh well, if she doesn’t fix me I can just have her killed.

My own guards and lieutenants sided with the healers in their insistence that I do not move at all until I am healed. As a result I have yet to see the amount of damage done to me by those two human boys.

“Xareith!” A voice outside called out. Its timbre was one of panic and concern as it echoed down the cave wall until it reached the very room I was in. A dragon poked his head in behind the cloth veil that obscured the room from any outsiders. Its red scales glowed like coal in the candlelight while its yellow horns and belly scales glimmered like gold in the sunlight.

“You must come outside and see this!” The dragon, N’Karno said.

I could see the fear in his eyes, it had to have been something big if even he were to be afraid. Of course, I didn’t keep that lizard around for his exceptional battle skills or his keen tactical mind, I already had those qualities in spades. No, I kept N’Karno around because he is opportunistic, ambitious and way too impatient for his own good. As long as he believes his fealty to me will serve him for whatever ill-conceived plan he has in his head, he will be of use to me.

But with that said, I should make a note to kill him sometime soon to ward off any grand ambitions in my underlings. Can’t let them think they can get the best of me, not after that filthy nest of humans. Not after what those two did to me!

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BOYS! They were not even men by their species standards much less our own, I cannot believe I fell for that. Why did I get that damned piece of filthy human machine in my head? Why did I think I could be better than them when augmented with their own inventions? They were nothing but an aberration on this world, I am clearly the better individual here. I killed as little of them as I could once we had one and this is the thanks I get!?

As I stood up to get off of this uncomfortable bed and follow my lieutenant’s lead the healer placed her hand on my chest. She tsked and shook her head insisting I lay down to allow my body to heal but I pushed her aside, and reached for my ornate golden helmet that sat on the table near her foul smelling pastes and herbs. Then spun the helmet around to inspect my reflection in it. For the first time in days I could see the damage done to me as my fingers glided along my face, which I couldn’t feel at all.

My once proud visage; free of blemish and skin as white as snow, was now permanently ruined with bright red burn marks covering half my head. I could feel the anger within me burn me up inside. I wanted to crush my helmet into a solid metal ball and bash those two human’s skulls in with it. The nurse forcefully placed her hand on my shoulder, insisting that I once again sit down. Wrong choice on her part. She barely had time to look shocked by the time my hands grabbed her head and twisted hard to the side, letting off a series of wet cracks. Not wasting any more time I grabbed a robe to cover my shirtless body and left the room.

N’Karno was smaller than most dragons thus granting him the ability to fit well in the cave, it was large enough for us wood elves but it was tiny and claustrophobic for Dragons. As we approached the entrance to the cave I could feel a sudden draft of warm wind brushing against. How very odd, it should be getting colder this time of year, not warmer.

Nobody seemed to be interested in my return, instead seemed more interested in gawking at the sky. I had a glance in the direction of where they were looking and saw the massive cloud of fire with bolts of lightening snaking around the central column of smoke.

My fists tightenend into a ball, I could feel myself getting angry and with some restraint I turned and asked. “What happened?”

N’Karno turned to face me and said “It was a human weapon. Some kind of flame propelled weapon that exploded. It didn’t even touch the ground, I saw it light up the entire forest in a flash before a wave of fire consumed everything as far as the eye could see.”

That only made me angrier to look at, my own people lived in small villages scattered around the forest and the humans obliterated it, there was only one answer for this.”

“Thomas, Michael” I growled through clenched teeth.

This must have caught the dragon’s attention as he turned to face me.

“That’s not all, one of my friends near that old human warrior nest was found dead. We found these near his body.”

N’Karno held out one of his claws and presented before me three dull grey rectangles made out of some kind of light yet sturdy material. The rectangles were hollowed on the inside and possessed some human inscriptions on the side followed by some numbers that had no meaning to me. They looked familiar.

Then it clicked, it was those two human boys. It had to have been them. They were the ones who killed that dragon, they were the ones who deformed me. They were the ones who betrayed my trust and took advantage of my hospitality and sympathy to their pathetic race. They were the ones who destroyed all that rainforest in mindless destruction. They did this, not me, and they are the ones that are going to pay for this.

I started chuckling, this in turn made N’Karno nervous. “Thomas and Michael,” I began. “I am coming for you.”