The Dragon's Apprentice
The glint in the eyes of the dragon was like some hidden treasure. The mannerism and voice were dripping with honey and hiding the arsenic.
"Yes, to train yourself to higher levels requires lots of resources mageling, to shed the shackles of humanity."
"This formula speaks of the transformation of the soul. A new awakening," Ashford said while caressing the book under the eyes of the dragon.
"Yes. To reach another level of magic, you have to solve that formula for yourself. To elevate yourself into something more."
"I see that you lack the drive to learn true magic." The voice of the dragon sent out waves of mockery while remaining monotone. Ashford hated it.
"It is easy for you to say. Eating human flesh is not that easy. I do have morals."
"That is why you will fail."
The juices were flowing down Ashford's throat. He tore a piece of meat from the limb and started to chew. It was tough at first, but as he proceeded, it got easier. It was as if something had changed in him. He devoured the body and felt hunger rising.
Ashford picked up a slice of orange and placed it on his tongue and spat it out instantly. The taste was horrible. The juice was something he imagined you would get from a chamber pot. Saying that food had lost all of its allure was like calling the mouse elephant.
"What do you know about magic apart from what has been taught to you by the clergy?" Locke asked and plucked a plum from the tree.
"That magic is fake and evil. Only blessings are real magic."
Locke dropped the plum. "Order always mocks chaos."
Ashford closed the door quickly and started to gnaw on the arm he managed to sever from a body. Each bite was as if a latch opened and new knowledge flowed in. He ached from where the scales were starting to grow.
"So this is how Dragons are born."
"...of which you speak is far more detrimental than chaos or as I call it, entropy. The order is about things clumped together in tight packages and refusing all that is not compatible with it. Chaos is all about spreading things evenly around in equal proportions."
Breaking out and escaping had been hard for Ashford. His body was changing and made it hard to move, but he reached the dragon by the break of the dawn.
"Seems the dog has arrived," the dragon said with such mockery that it was like being lashed with fire.
The dragon kept emanating his malice like a thick fog. It made Ashford even more uncomfortable than the continuing changes of his body.
"You are evil," he said.
The dragon lowered its head and smirked. "What would that make you then, Eater of children?"
Ashford looked at the scales on his arms while trying to find a comfortable position while the spine was continually changing. The remains of boots were still clinging on his legs, but he did not care. The ice surrounding his heart, that he cared about, and worried.
