A Chronometric Defect

I stand and watch the explosion fade away with incredulity, though I'm barely able to see anything due to the intense light having temporarily taken most of my vision. Is it really an explosion if it doesn't explode?

‡‡‡‡‡‡—eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee•KATHOOM‡‡‡‡‡‡

Aha, there it is!

##HHHSSSSSSSHHHHH##

What a nice breeze.

That dragon is casting spells I've never heard of, forget me knowing how to cast them.

#VSSSSSHHHHHHH#

*fzzzst-kvfzzzzst*

What, did it just... Hah? Well, I don't know what that was! I've never created such a big explosion in my lab.

What a missed opportunity! I should replicate this explosion when I go back.

Hmm.

I also don't know what that thing was that it did the thing with that thing. I'm confusing!

...

Eh?

...

I— ehm.

...

Nevermind. Was that a spell? I didn't feel Mana that time.

Since when do dragons cast spells aside from flame breath? Then again, since when do dragons talk?

*roooooaaarrr*

No, not like that! That's fire, silly.

A name pops into my head. Pure Evil. Aha? Isn't that what it called itself? Isn't that who contacted me through the inscription? That really WAS the dragon? It didn't really strike me at the time, but I mean, so much went on all at once.

Then, does that mean... Oh, FUCK!

I grab my head and hunch over. My eyes go wide as my whole body violently shakes.

I'm going to be executed. If I don't die today, I'm going to be executed. The Emperor calls it 'punishment' but flaying isn't a punishment, it's a death sentence. It's way worse than dying. I really DID curse out the Emperor!

I look up.

Can I flee the country?

I happen to see the dragon cast yet another incomprehensible spell. No, it's thousands of individual spells. What in the world is this dragon's Mana regeneration? Is it truly infinite?

#KSHFSSSSSSSS—#

It starts raining. Yes, raining.

"THAT DRAGON CAN CONTROL THE WEATHER?!"

Controlling the weather is the goal of all mages! I studied inscription for precisely this reason! To expand my knowledge so I could control the weather!

#—SSSSSSSSSS—#

#SHAHHHHHHH—#

Oh, oh. Just before I die... I can see the end. The real end. Not death, but the end of magic. I can see the godsblessed Omega when my pitiful self has barely mastered the Alpha.

#—SSSSSSSSSSS#

#—HAHHHHHH—#

I flop back to the ground and roll in the water. Yahhh, it's so beautiful. Then it stops.

#—HAHHHHAHT#

Why did it stop?

I pop up and look around. Where'd the dragon go? Didn't it want me for some reason? Oh, there it is. What's it doing? I focus my Mana senses on it and see something beyond mere weather.

That is. That's not possible.

I see the dragon. It's doing that weird thing from earlier, except this time... It's. It's eating people.

Okay. Dragons eat people all the time. But this? Not like this. It's taking the fundamental components of its victims and converting them into more of itself.

I can see it! Little by little, it's GROWING!

I drop to my knees. This dragon. It's not merely controlling the weather. The Omega? Oh, I was so foolish. This dragon, what it's doing, is beyond all comprehension.

It's the realm of god itself. It's the second coming of the Dragon God! IT MUST BE!

But no. Historical records... Even the Dragon God couldn't do this. Even it was killed by a human, ancient and massive though it was. If it could grow in power by consuming those it killed, no human would stand a chance!

This dragon. This, Pure Evil? Is the best. I love it. I want it to eat me, too. Make ME a part of your divine glory!

"I love dragons! I LOVE YOU!"

Its head snaps to looking at me again.

Aha? Is it done? Will it eat me next? Oh, please do. My other option is to flee the Emperor, which is impossible, and then be flayed. Is the choice not obvious?

No?

Well! Then for once in my life I'm saner than whatever voices in my head are disagreeing. Yes, I hear you. Don't think you can hide.

My eyes roll around in confusion.

I just wanted to have a bit of fun casting spells. I just wanted to mess with the dragon. How did it end up I'd be executed by the Emperor?

The dragon flies up toward my watchtower.

Yes, it's MINE! I told them if they came over here I'd throw them into a fiery pit and soak them with water so they didn't die! No, it doesn't make sense but they listened didn't they?! And now this watchtower is MINE all mine... Except I'm going to be executed. Fuck.

The dragon lands on my watchtower's open observation deck.

*KTHUD-krak*

It is friggin' HUGE! My watchtower is breaking under its weight. But! But but but. I don't neeeeed the watchtower because, yes, I have— THE DRAGON.

I run over to its bulky leg. I trip while trying to climb onto its huge scaly foot, but I recover and manage to flop over and hug its shin. Its many spikes stab deep into my face and body. It barely hurts; I don't even care.

"PLEASE EAAAAT MEEEHHH!"

"Excuse me. Rah. What the fuck?"

(tshshhsh)

"Oh, your voice is so beautiful. Your spikes—"

I stab my hand on another spike.

"— so pointy!"

"This. This is an unusual reaction. This has never happened. I don't know what's happening. I don't know what to do?"

(tshshhsh)

I yell at the dragon, demanding it make me safe from my impending flaying.

"EEEEEET MEEEEEEE!"

I start crying. And laughing. At the same time.

"Wahhahahahhhhhhnnnnn!"

"Ragh. Please calm down. You're bleeding quite a lot and I didn't want to—"

(tshshhsh)

I panic and screech.

"YOU! You won't?! Is it because I'm ALIVE? I'm not DEAD?! Okay. OKAY!"

I thrust my head toward one of its large spikes. The dragon casts the strange spell which contained the blast earlier; its clear membrane easily stops my attempted self-impalement.

*thunt*

It raises my caged body up to its face. And yet, its cage is so much less painful than the cage I live in every day.

My own mind.

"Listen, you need to calm down. The main reason I came here was to capture this city and weaken the Empire's influence. I wasn't even that mad anymore after the seagulls, which were hilarious by the way."

(tshshhsh)

My erratic thoughts slow. It's right. I need to calm myself. I can't stab my head onto its spikes if I'm stuck in here. I need to crack this spell. IT'S A TEST?!

Seagulls?

"You liked the seagulls?"

"Yeah, that was—"

(tshshhsh)

"NOBODY LIKES SEAGULLS!!!!"

I bang my head against the spell.

*thun*

My forehead's wet? I hit it again.

*thud*

Break!

*thup*

Break damnit!

*sthop*

No! I can do better than this!

I gather my Mana and cast my best multi-probing spell, trying to find a deconstruction method.

...

...

It's not working.

WHY IS IT NOT WORKING?!

...

Hrmm? I feel weird. Why does my forehead hurt so much?

I slump over against my cage's see-through wall, my blood smearing all over it in large amounts.

*slooorp*

"Please... Just... Eat me..."

"You're getting woozy from blood loss. And head trauma. Why the hell do you want me to eat you?"

(tshshhsh)

"Yar... Yoire, the new, dragon, god. N. And I'mma be... Flayed by, the, Eeeeeehmperor..."

The dragon looks so confused. Not sure how I can tell, given its face is so huge and alien.

"Reh, thank you, but— flayed? What? Why?"

(tshshhsh)

"Ooh! Suh, I cursed attem, a loht... Realle, a loht... Toldem I'd phull is teeth... Bva... Owt."

"You actually told that guy you'd pull his teeth out? Are you sure you're not confused?"

(tshshhsh)

"Yahp! Ih'ma bit sthupid..."

My vision is starting to dim. If it doesn't heal me soon, I'll be dead, which is what I want, so that's fine. No way am I gonna be tortured to death by flaying. They use magic to make it more painful. I would know; I invented that torture.

Why did I... Do that?

I always regretted it. It drove me crazy. I could never sleep after that day: the first day I saw it used. It was too horrifying for words. And if I did sleep?

Oh, gods. The nightmares.

I have dreamed of every single person I ever saw in the punishment registry. Every single one. They all point at me, body falling to pieces, and scream: 'YOU DID THIS TO ME!'

Because I did. I literally did.

I wanted to stop looking at the registry, to stop doing the punishments, but the Emperor wouldn't allow me to quit.

He said I was a 'security risk'— whatever the hell that means. Maybe it never meant anything. Maybe it was always just an excuse to control me.

"Why? Why would you do that?"

(tshshhsh)

Deep down, I knew he really was the Emperor, when he contacted me. I wanted an excuse to swear at him... Then say I was confused, or that I was tricked by the inscription.

The Emperor didn't care about stuff like that. He never does. He just tossed me right into punishment.

Oh, but at least I get a fake trial so everything looks good to the public.

"Ahy... Ahm... Tha... Ehmpeirrres... Thorturer. Seeeeaaaagulll Flaaaayyyyeeerrrr. NOH MOHR!"

The dragon's eyes widen and its face twists into all kinds of unrecognizable emotions.

It's a dragon; I can't tell. Plus, my vision's getting pretty dark. Or was its face always that dark? I dunno.

"I'm sorry you had to experience that. If your dying wish is to be eaten by a dragon— by me, then I'll certainly oblige."

(tshshhsh)

I feel my body relax. It's partly from the blood loss. But also, the weight of so, so many sins falling from my shoulders.

"Haaaaaah.... Thaaaaahnk... Yooooouuuu..."

This dragon— it's scary-looking, but it's not terrible from what I've seen. It's got nothing on the Emperor. That man is nothing but a bag of monsters wearing a human suit.

I watch the dragon's body become covered in a silvery translucent bubble, like it's signaling the arrival of the first good dream I've had in decades.

Suddenly? Nothing seems scary anymore.

The dragon touches my body with its huge claw. The transparent bubble around its claw flows inside my body.

I feel myself breaking apart, painlessly.

At long last.

Peace.