Ballad of the Dragon - The Story of Javas
an excerpt

The first thing that he could ever recall was light. Bright, unforgiving white light that poured into his vision, making him wince and flinch.

The next he could remember was the cold. It was freezing, to be exact, and the icy air had cut into his very skin, chilling him to the bones.

And the third he could recall was the red. The color of blood. It was on his claws, his face, and he could remember himself waking up from the light to find himself under a heavy thunderstorm, the red all over him and the grassy fields, drained by the constant rain that pelted his shivering fur. Bodies were all around him, fresh corpses that looked at his frightened eyes with a soulless, lifeless gaze. And he could remember that thing that towered over him – a hideous beast like no other. Its gruesome looks were cloaked in the darkness of the shadows, but he could remember those glowing red eyes, and the fetid breath as it spoke.

“Are you lost, little one?” came the voice, its tone resonating in a sharp duality; high to low, low to high. He remembered himself too shocked to speak, too frightened to move or even open his mouth as the thing grinned to reveal canines and elongated fangs.

“Can I kill you, then?” it asked before bringing its face closer… closer… talon-like hands sharply grasped his head as warm air descended near his neck. He remember himself with eyes still wide with shock, his mind only managing to plead out a single word. No.

Then it happened.

A sudden blur blasted past him, and the next thing he knew, he found himself sitting on the wet earth, stunned with fresh blood splattered across his face. The newcomer only snorted lightly as it cleanly tore the head away from the body and muttering, “Trash. Scum like you doesn’t need to exist any longer.” And it was with that did the newcomer toss the head away as well before turning to look at him.

Looking at him with crimson red eyes.

Who are they…?

The newcomer stretched out a paw, his lupine face illuminated and highlighted by the light of the moon as it broke through the fading rain clouds. Sullen wine-red eyes looked discreetly at him as the two-legged lupine spoke a single word to him.

“Come.”

My first memory began with myself in the middle of the bloody battlefield within a stormy night.