Truth About the Dragon

"I will not lie to you, Lord Fred," Belboz said. "The chances of you succeeding in your quest are virtually nonexistent. Therefore, beating the odds and completing your quest will be payment enough." He patted Fred the dragon on one of his great legs. "Enough time had been wasted. Now go! I will be here waiting."

Fred the dragon nodded and left the cave, making the ground shake as he walked.

Belboz shook his head sadly and mentally added to his tally of would-be dragon-slayers that had requested his help and never returned. Many had come before and, no doubt, more will come after.

Belboz didn't realise this, but he had unintentionally lied to Fred. The truth was that the dragon Fred was going to face was not the same dragon that had decided to make the caves its home all those years ago. Well, not its body, at least.

There was an irrefutable law of nature that a dragon could only be killed by another. Those who had approached Belboz and his forebears in the past and requested to be turned into dragons either knew of this law, or like in the case of Fred, seeked to fight the dragon on what they saw was a more equal footing.

When the first dragon had been defeated, its spirit had desired revenge and had taken over the body of the victor. This continued down the centuries, with the dragon spirit wresting control of the victor's body.

Fred's future was looking bleak. If he lost against the current dragon, he would revert back to his human form which would then get eaten. If he won, the dragon spirit would fight for control of Fred's dragon body, and quite possibly win. It meant Fred was dead as an individual in either case.

1. The sinister figure of Death was lurking in the shadows. But it wasn't necessarily Fred he was after...

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