Aira was tired. She wished she could sleep but was constantly alert, uncertain if she might wake up alive or in the underworld. After more than two hours her eyes fell heavy and she was already in the land of dreams.

A strange garden floated in the middle of an ocean, ruins scattered everywhere. The trees grew into forests and grass grew over the paths, leaving only faint traces of possible past lives.

As she walked on one of those nearly unrecognizable tracks, she came across a closed solitary door attached to nothing but pavement - walls non-existent.

She wondered what it concealed behind it. If only she could open it. A heavy rusty lock was placed on its knob. She gave up on it, then left, walking on other pathways only to find similar doors.

The seven doors were placed in a wide circle according to the shape of the island the garden was located on. In the middle of that circle, there was a fountain. As she bowed down to reach for a sip of the tempting water, she woke up from the dream, thirsty, her lips dry.

Struggling to keep her eyes opened she saw a beautoful, yet familiar face.

“Elias?”, she asked, surprised.

“Shhh! As much as I would like to let you sleep, we need to get out. The dragon is going to wake up soon.”, he whispered, then lifted Aira gently by her arm.

“The fiends!”, she said.

“I took care of them. Let’s go!”, he urged.

They carefully walked out of that chamber. The hallways looked the same and Aira had no choice but to trust the young man, following him through the creeping silence. More than an hour passed and there seemed to be no end to those hallways.

“How long do we need to walk?”, Aira asked, exhausted.

“Shh!”, he said, quickly pulling Aira into his embrace behind a thick pillar, pinning her to it, covering her mouth with one of his hands.

His eyes searched for the creatures making noises while Aira’s were locked on his face. The noises stopped, indicating that the creatures were far from them.

The dashing youth removed his hand but did not let go of her. In that silence they looked into each other’s eyes. Aira was drowning in his beauty when he leaned in, moving his face closer to hers. Only their hearts and breaths making a noise.

Hearts? Were there really two hearts? “Why can I hear only one beating?”, she wondered, looking at his chest, then quickly pushed him away.

“Hm? What is wrong, child?”, he asked, feeling wronged.

“Who are you?”, she asked, coming to a realization.

“What do you mean? It’s me, Elias, your guard. Who else could I be. It’s only me and you here.”

“My guard?”, she added.

The young man said nothing more, his look perplexed.

“Elias is not my guard. And he always calls me little lady.”, Aira said. “Who are you?”

“Tsk! I did not expect to be exposed so soon. I almost had you.”, he said, displeased, his voice growing menacing. “You really are not that stupid, it seems.”, he chuckled while his face started to change.

His eye whites turned black while his pupils turned white. His dark hair turned into a silver color and his finger nails grew into claws. He still kept Elias’ appearance as a base.

“You! You are that dragon.”, Aira said.

“Yes!”, he replied. “I haven’t taken human form for thousand of years, but it sure is convenient to move like this.”

Aira began to take slow steps back.

“You don’t need to be afraid.”, the dragon said. “I will not harm you.”

“And why should I trust you?”

“I need my vessel alive.”, he replied, then suddenly appeared before Aira, only one small step afar, grabbing her into his embrace again, this time not allowing her to get away.

Aira struggled to escape him, but to no avail. His arms were too strong. He pushed her to the wall, leaning in again. With one arm he held her tight while with the other he held her chin.

“With this kiss, you shall be mine.”, he whispered gently as he closed in.

Aira pursed her lips, trying to move her head to the side in order to avoid his touch. 

Author notes:

QUIZ:

What would you do if a dragon disguised as a human tried to kiss you.

A. Do the Tarzan yell and beat your chest to intimidate them.

B. Bite their nose.

C. Use the tiger’s claw move you secretly learned from your martial arts teacher you found on a lonely mountain and scratch their face.