Work, Cyrus, Study, Work, Cyrus, Study, Work, Cyrus, Study, Work, Cyrus, Study, Work, Cyrus, Study, Work, Cyrus, Study, WORK, CYRUS, STUDY!
For 3 years this is all my life had devolved into, except that the time I spent with Cyrus only grew as he got older, and being around him felt as if someone was choking me.
Staring out the window of the corridor, I see the kids my age playing outside, “How I wish I could join. When was the last time we even played outside.”
Running up to me from down the corridor Cyrus hugs my leg and says, “Mo-o-o-other.”
Picking him up, I say, “Cyrus don’t you remember what I told you about calling me mother? Bad boy.”
Freaking out in my arms Cyrus says, “S-S-S-Sorry,” then starts to cry.
Panicked, I say, “Please don’t cry Cyrus, I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”
“PARIBANOU!!!” I hear someone shout.
Turning around I look outside the window and see that the kids have been playing, and are shouting at me, “We haven’t seen you in a couple of days.”
“Come play with us!”
“Or are you too busy now to do so?”
“What are you idiots talking about, it has been three years!?” I say confused.
Turning their heads to each other they mutter, “Really I thought it had only been a few days.”
“Time really does move quickly.”
Facing me again, they say, “So what! Let’s still play, let’s see who can reach the ocean floor the fastest.”
“I won’t lose to you this time Pari”
“Come on!”
“Let’s have some fun.”
Seeing everyone smiling and asking me to come with them, makes me happy, but then Cyrus says in my arms, “P-P-Please don’t go!”
“Cyrus.”
“I don’t want to be away from you, stay with me.”
Seeing how sad Cyrus is, I say, “I won’t go anywhere, I will always be there for you.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
But looking at the other kids an idea pops into my mind. Heading outside, I ask all of them, “Sorry I can’t come out to play but could you guys play with Cyrus instead.”
Grabbing me closer, Cyrus says, “ I a-a-a-am sca-a-a-ared Pari.”
“Don’t worry Cyrus, you’re my strong little man, and you should have some friends to spend time with. Even if it is just for a little bit, and look they want to play with you.”
The kids, grouping around Cyrus say, “So this is Pari little brother.”
“The first son of the Damavand family.”
“I can tell he is going to be a strong warrior.”
“He is adorable.”
“Let's go play together Cyrus.”
Holding him up to my face, I say, “See Cyrus, these people want to spend time with you so why don’t you repay that by spending time with them.”
“O-O-O-Okay.”
Dropping Cyrus on his own two feet, I say, “Don’t do anything dangerous with him or I will execute all of you.”
Picking him up they say, “We won’t!” As they run off.
Walking back to the study, I remember something my mother told me. Dragons have a very skewed sense of time due to their life spans, days, months, years, and even centuries can go by in a couple of minutes by their perception.
But over these last three years, I have felt all of it, not a single day have I slept and not a single day have I forgotten.
Entering the study, I sit down behind my desk and get to work. Even though I will never say it, I am already aware of the answer and it is because I count each day waiting for this life to end.
-Break-
The sky is a bright clear blue, no wind, no rain, just a few sleepy clouds, the sun shines with a beautiful light as if it is trying to catch my attention, and through this wonderful scene, I fly as a dragon.
I have finally reached it my dragon form, I can fly anywhere I want, anytime I want. I am free of all weights, all burdens as I fly, no one can stop me, no one can catch me. I am free!
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“Sister save me!” I hear a voice scream.
Turning around, I see Cyrus being ripped to shreds by monsters, demons. Seeing this I try to fly back but I stop myself; if I go now those demons will never catch me, but if I help him they will be able to imprison me, I will lose my freedom.
Unable to decided I just float there in mid-air, but then as they continue to rip Cyrus apart, I fly-.
Jumping up I realize that I am in my study. After looking around for a moment I say, “That was just a dream. But now I guess sleeping for the first time in 4 years is rather nice.”
Looking through the window I see it is quite dark, walking out of the room I ask one of the servants, “Has Cyrus returned?”
“No Shah, he hasn’t for about two days.”
“Ok then, return to your post,” I say jumping out of a window.
When I land, I immediately run around the city and look for Cyrus. Seeing one of the kids who plays with him I run over and ask, “Where is Cyrus.”
“Oh, didn’t he come back with us!”
“He hasn’t returned home today.”
“Wait, I swear he was with us when we returned, or am I thinking of the last time we played? Thinking about it again, I am not sure he walked back with us. He might still be in the area we played at.”
Frightened I say, “Where do you guys usually play?”
“We head down that path over there, then take a right to an open area, but today we decided to take a left to an almost identical area. Cyrus should be able to get home by himse-.”
Before he can finish, I run off to find Cyrus, following the instructions I was given I end up in the large open area, where I see Cyrus sitting down.
Seeing me, he says, “Pari!”
Cyrus is just joyfully sitting down, so without saying anything I pick him up and start walking home.
As we reach closer to home I ask, “Cyrus why did you just sit there, the road back to the city was almost identical.”
“I knew you would come for me. So instead of choosing I just wa-a-a-aited.”
With a quiet smile, I say, “Sorry for not coming sooner I fell asleep for two days.”
“It is fine.”
-Break-
“Cyrus, what do you do when you see someone weaker than you?”
“I help them!”
“Good, now it is time for the next rule.”
“Pari, why d-d-d-d-d-do I hav-v-v-v-v-ve to do this?”
“Because I need to teach you how to survive when I am not around, we can’t have anything like yesterday happening.”
With tears in his eyes, Cyrus says, “But won’t y-y-y-you alway-y-y-y-ys come fo-o-o-or me?”
Calming him down I say, “Of course I will, but when I am not physically present, I want you to at least carry my words ok, and if you can’t find an answer I will come get you.”
“Ok.”
And thus, life went on. I made sure to embed my principles into Cyrus and continued my work and study. I was able to get Cyrus to make some decisions by himself by following the words I left him.
I also began to finally get a grasp on my father's duties even though I was still below him in terms of efficiency, I was finally able to do them all and still get sleep, and because of these two things, I felt that the dragons around us stopped looking for weakness. Life was finally looking up for me.
But it would all end on Cyrus’s tenth birthday.
-Break-
Hearing a scream I rush to the source, where I see one of the servants sitting over Cyrus’s unconscious body.
“What happened!?”
“I don’t know, he was walking then fell down a second ago.”
Touching Cyrus, I see his face feels hot and he is breathing heavily. “No, no, no. What is this?”
“Let me take a look.”
Turning around I see Arianna. “Teacher.”
Walking up to Cyrus she says, “I was here for his birthday, so I came early but I didn’t expect to see this.”
“Please help him.”
“Don’t worry, I will do the best I can.”
-Break-
As I sit outside Cyrus’s room with Arianna inside, I wait impatiently. What is going on I don’t know what to do, mother, father please help me!
Opening the door, I see Arianna walk out.
“Is Cyrus, ok?”
“Cyrus, has an infection.”
“You mean those things that humans get?”
“Yes.”
“But you taught me it was impossible for dragons to get such things?”
“Yes, even the lowliest dragon cannot get them normally. But there are such expectations and Cyrus is one of them. I trust you know how much of an insult such an existence is to both of our gods.”
Falling to my knees, I say, “How much more will I have to go through, I can’t do this anymore.”
“PARIBANOU!”
“Yes.”
Grabbing me by the shoulders, she says, “Now is not the time to complain you have very few options in front of you and barely enough time to act on them. There are no cures on the continent, so you must head to the human nations to find one.”
“But will I be able to do that?”
“It is either that or you must wipe the stain of the Damavand name by valiantly killing Cyrus.
“What did you say?”
“You heard me, isn’t Cyrus's patheticness a constant source of worry that you have to deal with? His weakness invites people to challenge your rule, and without such baggage, I am sure a strong dragon like you would be able to live a long life.”
“I CAN’T DO SUCH A THING!”
“Then you have your answer, get up and let's go.”
Standing up I walk into Cyrus’s room and pick him up. Weakly he says, “Sister w-w-w-where a-a-a-are we going.”
“You don’t need to worry about it, just conserve your strength, my little boy.”
Walking out of the room, I follow Arianna to the back of the house. And when we get out there, she asks, “Is that everything you need?”
“Yes.”
Then picking me up she says, “Hold on tight.” Then runs full speed towards the coast.
As we run, I feel the air pressure move so fast against me that I start to get cut. “Just hold on a little longer Paribanou we are almost far enough away.
“I will, but I don’t think Cyrus can hold on.”
After a little bit of time, Arianna says, “Far enough.” Then throws me into the air. Moments later I see her scales have covered her body, and she has turned into a serpent-like dragon with rainbow wings.
Flying towards us in the sky she catches me, then soars as high into the sky as she can. Breaking past the clouds I get to see the sky, riding on top of Arianna.
“This should be more comfortable for you.”
“Yes, it is, thank you so much.”
As we fly, I ask, “Will I be able to turn into a dragon of your size?”
“Our size is directly proportional to our power, so I doubt someone as weak as you will become this size, well at least anytime in the next few centuries.”
Disheartened I say, “Oh I see.”
“Don’t feel down, I am only considered a mid-ranking dragon, high-ranking dragons are a lot bigger than me, not to mention the dragon's gods and their kin. But I can guarantee that you will one day soar above the cloud like this as well.”
Reaching land, Arianna says, “Where on the human nations.” Then moments later her scales start to disintegrate as her dragon body dissipates and she returns to being human mid-air.
Grabbing me, we fall until we hit the ground. As the dust clears from our landing, Arianna says, “My lower back!”
Getting out of her hands I say, “Are you ok.”
“Yes, but I need to stretch out my back more.”
Getting up, she says, “When coming back swim through the ocean, if Cyrus is healthy, you should be able to manage such a thing. I will cover for you until you come back, no one will contest one of the dragon gods' servants.”
As she walks away, I ask, “Why are you helping me I thought you didn’t like me?”
“I simply don’t like seeing young dragons getting their lives wiped away, call it repentance if you want, but I wish you and your brother can live long lives.”
“Thank you so much, I will never forget this.”
“Don’t need you thanks I just need you to hurry up, and return for your lessons.” With that, both of us go our separate ways.