Kiro had never rode a horse before much less a dragon. He was doing his best to not scream as they flew through the sky. He slowly became more brave and eventually realised he liked it. He hoped he could take his friends flying one day, if Severesti let him.
"How much further?" Kiro asked yelling over the wind.
"Not much further. I need you to keep calm and try to talk sense into her. She is my sister, she just won't listen to me." Severesti seemed worried and Kiro kind of understood. He missed his family. He wondered what they all thought had happened to him.
As they flew, Kiro noticed the terrain changed. What had been green fields and forests slowly turned into dark briers and dead land. He got a strange feeling he wasn't going to like talking to Severesti's psycho sister. She slowly circled a spot and landed more gracefully than he would have thought possible. She then transformed into her gorgeous human form and her dress slowly formed around her. Kiro blushed as he realised he was staring and had seen way more then most are allowed.
"You really are cute, shy Kiro." Her voice almost purred. "This way."
Kiro followed the beauty down a path and toward a lower cave easily missed by the brier coverage. The cold breeze made it's way down Kiro's shirt causing him to shiver. At least, he hoped it was the breeze.
The psycho sister wasn't at all what Kiro had pictured. For one, she was really short with twin tail curled tightly on both sides of her head and was wearing a lacey dress with flowers and pearls sewn in. She was on a stool stiring something in a cauldron which was the only thing that made Kiro suspicious.
"Areneya, we must speak." Severesti calmly approached her sister. He couldn't see the resemblance at all.
"I've spoken enough, Seva. I'm tired of speaking." Her voice was even child like yet her manners were definately mature. The pleading look from Severesti had Kiro stepping forward. He was fully ready to die for this dragon he just wasn't sure why or when he'd begun to feel this way.
"Excuse me, Ma'am. My name is Kiro Higame and I'm in need of a favor." He had no idea where this speech pattern came from except maybe the movies, but he couldn't help himself.
"You brought a man here, Seva! You know I hate men!" The growl at the end had Kiro gulping. He watch as the cute tiny girl grew into a frightening ruby dragon with gold eyes and smoke already coming out of her nostrils.
Immune to natural curses, yes. Fireproof, probably not.
"Please calm down, mighty dragon. I only wish to talk." Kiro spoke fast hoping he wouldn't become barbeque in mere moments. "I hear an aweful man hurt you and I'm here to make it better. No matter what you do, the pain won't go away and the anger gets worse. Even turning men into goblins isn't enough, is it? Let me help you."
"What could you possibly know of my pain?!" The dragon roared. The sound was deafening and Kiro was finding it hard to stand on his own legs.
"I was betrayed once, too. My girlfriend for four years cheated on me with my brother. I was hurting just as bad." Kiro could still feel the sting of the day he'd come home early from work.
"And what did you do, human? Cry?!" She seemed sensitive and hurt. Kiro knew the feeling all to well.
"At first, yeah. I was pathetic and cried and ate my favorite snack until I almost made myself sick. There were times I felt like my heart was literally going to explode it hurt so much. The wedding invitation was just another kick to the ribs. I'll admit, I was doing pretty bad. But, I kept going. My friend from work noticed I'd been down for a while and took me out for drinks. It was the first time I'd had fun since it'd happened." Kiro smiled at the memory.
"Then what?" Her voice was softer now. Almost like her human child voice. Very fragile and ready to break.
"Then, I began living again. I went drinking with him every weekend and even got another girlfriend for a while. We broke up, but this time it was mutual and didn't hurt nearly as bad. I'm not saying I healed over night, but I did heal." Kiro walked over to her and placed his hand on her claw.
Areneya shrunk down to her human form and burried her head into his stomach. The tears flowed out of her and soon loud sobs could be heard escaping. Eventually she calmed down and sniffed a few more times before pulling away slightly.
"I'm sorry about the goblin thing. I just didn't know what to do. I wanted him to hurt like I hurt." She sniffed again.
"They never hurt like we hurt. They don't have the same capacity for love that we do. We love someone so much, it truely shatters us when they break us. Most we can do is hope they learn they're lesson one day. Karma is like that." Kiro held the girl for a while until she was truely alright.
"I don't know how to turn them back." Areneya finally admitted. Her eyes were still a little puffy, but she looked a lot better now. Kiro was glad. He finally felt like he had accomplished something.
"That's okay. I do. Have you ever heard of a plant called willsberry?" Kiro asked remembering his earlier discovery.