The Dragon

This is a dream I had a couple of weeks ago that I never got a chance to publish

I write these upon waking, so a lot are free-flowing.

There is a breaking, an event. An industrialized society. People are disappearing, there is a strange, luminescent fog everywhere. There is an epicenter, the event grows every day. The event has a driver, a villian. like a tyrannical king. He is offering amnesty to anyone who joins him, but those who do lose their souls. We are on the edge of the epicenter, a huge colony. men, workers, women, children. There are regular attacks, we are generally well-prepared. Then there is an attack where the Dragon himself haunts the skies. He destroys many people. His luminescent fog spreads, people vanish within it. A friend or a leader is killed, I go to negotiate. Closer within the epicenter, the fog is like soup. There are objects floating, each appearing as pearly glass, unique in its structure. They look something like molecular diagram structures (circles joined by lines) They are the souls of those taken by the Dragon. As I gain ground within, I see the Dragon take flight. He is like one with the fog, more an apparition, a bending of the light, rather than great and terrible lizard. I am accelerated through space (sucked in?) toward him. I black out, and wake in a basement somewhere. I am lying on a pallet, I am alone. I sit up, I am terrified. He is across the room, cooking, reading, I don't know what, but he is a man. A beautiful one; long, fair hair, loose white shirt, regular workman's clothes. I disturb him when I wake. He comes over, he wants to have a conversation, make nice. I do not. I am stubbornly quiet. He wants me to swear over to him. I refuse. He tells me something like "you're meant for greatness" and he pulls out a brand. I fight him on it. There is another person there; his assistant? she doesn't matter. He tells me that "veronica has sworn, and she is not broken" But she is broken, she is meek and brainless. I tell him this. He banishes her. He sits me down and tells me that he's going to destroy my colony if I don't swear, that he WILL have me one way or another. I make him promise that, if I swear, he won't hurt them. He promises. He pulls out a circle that has different brands attached. He goes through to pick one, I notice they look like the souls. He tells me "you know, you've done this before. Every time I've ever come, you have sworn to me. Remember last time?" He shows me a story book, one that is old. "Back in 2011, you swore. That was only the last time, you've sworn many other times too. It's really not that bad. Remember?" And I do remember. I have a vague premonition, and then I remember "swearing" every other time. I was not swearing an oath of servitude to a tyrant, I was swearing an oath to righteousness, whatever its instrument. I remember the prescence I felt, and I realize that he is the embodiment of masculine righteousness. I choose which brand, I've found the one I want. It's not on the ring, nobody else has this brand. And it's not just a brand, it's a means to communicate with the Dragon directly(All of them are). He smiles, and fetches it. It hurts, and I know it's going to hurt. I'm crying with the pain of it, but he promises me that it will be over soon. It's not a one-and-done brand, it's like a tattoo. He brands the skin just slightly to get an outline, then scratches the tattoo in. He inscribes it differently for its function. He is debating whether to write in a means for mutual communication. He decides he doesn't want to, and I ask him why. He say something innocent. I told him that I would not accept the brand if he didn't inscribe it that way. He refused, and I asked him why, really why, and his face falls. Then I notice a storybook on the chair. It has a picture of him inscribing me, then the next page shows him in a white knight's garb, but he is crying, in grief. I realize that one of us is going to be lost. I also realize that I love him, and have all these years, every time I have ever sworn, every righteous life I've ever lived (reincarnation undertones) has been by his side, this pillar or righteousness. I tell him to finish the inscription, and come what may, but it was what needed to be done. I also realize that he is going to die, and I must carry the banner from here on out.