The dragons. John had to find the dragons. They were small. But they were here. He had to find them. He had to help them. Because they were something kind in his world. They were something extraordinary.

'Find the dragons.'

This notion echoed through John like a quest.

Where are they?

John looked at the rows of corpses around him. They had to be hidden somewhere here. Nestled between the bodies.

"Yip!"

Band-Aid screamed above John. It's brothers might be dead. It had every right to scream. The stress was crushing. The adrenaline ran through John with such intensity that John felt like he was feeling almost everything double. He was seeing two worlds. Comprehending two realities. But they were both the same.

His babies might be dead.

"Huuuuuuuuuuu."

So it was a given that John would hear the hushed breathing of a dragon near him.

There.

John blubbered with more intensity than he had ever mustered. At this point wheezing was almost a matter of course for him.

Right below him was the creature he was searching for.

Nestled in between two corpses was the twisted bodies of Stove And Refrigerator.

"Band-aid. Heal them. HEAL THEM!"

Band aid jumped from John's head towards the bodies of his siblings.

"Heal them? No. I'd rather eat them."

Slowly John turned in the direction of the voice. A face with more visible veins than should be possible. Skin-like plastic and eyes with circles darker than the blackness of the deepest cave.

It was the troll.

The veins of his severed hands were hanging a few feet too far from the ground for comfort, They were swollen and had an almost tye-dyed-looking mix of red and blue. The veins were tied to each other in tight knots to prevent the bleeding. But it was clear that it was just a temporary measure. He was going to die from the wound. There was no doubt about that.

The question was. Who would he be taking with him?

John stared at the troll. His face was blank with incomprehension, and his eyes were empty.

Well double quadruple sextuple shit!

"That's right. Time to die."

A rock shot through the air and into John's teeth.

A burning red light of pain flared through John's mind as a tooth fell back and stabbed into John's tongue.

The flare twisted into ringing sirens of tinnitus through John's ears.

Another rock bulleted towards John.

In an almost listless state, John moved his head to the side. The rock tore through his cheek. He was permanently exposing his grin to the world.

"YIP!"

"FUCKING HEAL STOVE AND REFIRGERATOR!" Screamed John.

The dragon grew quiet. All john could do was hope that it heard him.

John watched the troll with cold eyes. He felt nothing. He saw nothing. There was only darkness. There was only the void and the troll.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The troll gripped the rock and brought his arm back.

He's ready to throw. It's time.

The rock shot through the air.

But John's arm shot up faster.

*THUNK!*

The rock slammed into John's hand. His hand swelled.

'Walk forwards. Close the distance. OR DIE!'

The voice of an old man. An old man who would probably play the trumpet. That voice echoed through John's mind.

He couldn't help but agree with it.

Six steps. John found six steps until the troll wound up to throw the next rock.

Raise your hand.

John brought his hand back up into the air. The rock shot through the air.

*THUNK!*

His hand swelled once more.

Eight steps until the next rock came.

*THUNK!*

John's hand swelled.

But it didn't matter. He was there. He stood close enough to the troll to touch him.

What do I do now

John looked up at the giant creature.

Gobble and chew.

John shot his neck forward and exposed his jaws.

Only for his jaws to get a rude awakening.

A blaze of red light flared through John's mind.

Reality spun, and the sirens of past agony grew to a torrent.

His teeth. His gums. They all had been ripped away.

He's stronger so brute force will result in me losing And he's faster so I can get away. What do I do?

The troll sent a fist into John's face. John's face took two impacts. One when the fist slammed into his one bloody cheekless check and another when his head slammed into the ground.

John's vision was filled with the Troll's feet.

Shit.

John couldn't get up quickly. And he was weak. At this point, he was dead. He was just a corpse with a heartbeat.

You know what? I probably still exist."

Then, instants later, after those words were uttered. The tip of a katana burst from the troll's chest.

"

The troll fell to the side. And revealed standing behind it was Dudes grinning form.

"Damn. You're in a really bad state. Time's crazy."

Dude walked up to John. He held the blood-soaked katana with a knuckle-white grip and his eyes were laser-focused on his chest. John could already see it.

He was going to stab him. Right in the chest.

~Oh.~

The point of the blade fell.

It pierced John's chest.

The trumpets started to play. The envelope opened. Scalding memories danced to the beat of a childs laughter.

It was agonizing. Worse than the blade in his chest.

~So this is how it ends.~

John chuckled slightly and blood spilled from his mouth. His life had been like a game of ping pong. He had bounced back and forth from either side of tragedy over and over. The perpetrator and the perpetrated. He'd been both.

But now the rally was over.

The game's done might as well quit.

~Then why doesn't it feel like the end?~