A year and four months had passed since she had departed from the cavern. A year and four months of loneliness. Of hopelessness. Of self-doubt. Of constant nightmares. She missed him every waking minute of every single day, her thoughts constantly drifting back to him and wondering what he was doing. If he was alright. What he was thinking. Whether or not he was suffering from the same torments as she was at the moment. How often he cried out for help. Or if he slept at all. Did he suffer nightmares at night? Was he eating enough? Were his bones beginning to grow frail? He probably wasn't eating nearly as much food as he should be consuming, given his weakened state, but there was little chance of him gaining access to proper meals in his current predicament. She worried endlessly that someone might discover him whilst he was sleeping, that perhaps…the guards would take advantage of him, forcing him to eat less so that he wouldn't gain so much mass and bulk…or worse…that they would force him to eat something poisonous so that he'd end up dying painfully…
She hadn't seen another soul in almost three years now…not a living soul…aside from him of course, but she knew that he wasn't exactly a 'living' being anymore. He'd changed into a monster, a beast that no longer possessed any semblance of humanity as he'd transformed into a hideous dragon of sorts…a monstrous creature of fire and shadow and evil…who could destroy entire cities in mere seconds with a single snap of its powerful jaws…as a result of the terrible poison that his brother had forced him to consume. Her father would pay a hefty sum of gold for his hide…if they could figure out a way to sell it off…but she doubted that they would be able to do so due to his sheer size. She didn't understand what had driven her father to such depths of evil as he'd decided that killing him would've been a far better idea than trying to capture him alive…and so they'd set the trap to lure him into the open, but they weren't prepared for the consequences which followed.
They'd tried to kill the dragon as planned, but the plan backfired on them. Their attempts to murder the dragon had ended in utter failure as the dragon was too fast and strong for them to overpower. As the dragon's body grew larger and bigger, their traps started becoming increasingly useless. Eventually, they abandoned their plans completely and instead opted to keep the dragon captive until one day when one of their enemies stumbled upon their lair and found the dragon for himself. When the enemy finally arrived to confront the dragon, however, the dragon unleashed an immense amount of flame onto the unsuspecting foe before biting down viciously onto the unfortunate victim's head, devouring the rest of his body as the corpse fell lifelessly to the ground, dead by the dragon's sharp claws as the dragon snarled in anger. Then the dragon turned and roared fiercely as the flames of rage blazed brightly within his burning red eyes, casting bright orange light over the surrounding area as the sound of crackling fires filled the air with the smell of death as the dragon glared menacingly down upon the slain warrior who lay cruelly murdered in front of the dragon's feet, screaming in terror as blood spurted out of the gaping wound upon his skull as the dragon's fiery breath continued to scorch the nearby trees and shrubs and grasses.
The enemy tried desperately to escape, but he was far too slow for such an enormous opponent who was moving faster than the eye could see. The dragon gave chase, leaping into the air with blinding speed and catching the fleeing warrior midair as he flew through the sky, throwing him mercilessly to the earth below where he landed with bone-crushing force with a sickening crunch and groan as he hit the cold soil with a thud. Yet despite landing with such force, he quickly sprang up and launched himself again, aiming to crush the terrified soldier under his foot once more…
Yet this time he failed miserably because the wind had died down suddenly after the dragon had finished incinerating his prey…and he had lost all of his momentum as he slammed into the earth instead of flying through the skies with deadly force. It was a fatal mistake because the ground proved to be much softer beneath his weight than he'd anticipated as his toes sunk deeply into the soft mud underneath while he struggled to stand…before the dragon crashed atop of his prone form, crushing his torso and chest between his massive legs and knees…and driving his mighty tail forcefully upward as his tail smashed into the soldier's chin, tearing it clean off his face…
Blood spilled forth like crimson raindrops to pool upon the battlefield, covering the ground beneath with a thick layer of gore as the soldier rolled helplessly across the bloody earth in agony, gasping loudly for breath as his lungs heaved violently to draw precious oxygen into his starved frame, yet unable to move a muscle nor utter a word as he felt himself begin slowly slipping downwards into unconsciousness as his life ebbed away from him…his broken jaw lying limp upon his lap as he drifted further away from consciousness as his eyes fluttered shut in pain and shock and horror as the dragon stood above him majestically with a victorious grin…staring down at his vanquished foe, savoring each moment as the soldier shakily gasped in desperate breaths, struggling to breathe amidst the agonizing pains that wracked his mangled body as the dragon leaned down and placed his warm wet tongue against his lips to lick away some of the blood that had pooled there…and then…to taste the salty sweetness of the man's fresh flesh…and the faint hint of fear as the dragon began sinking his fangs into his neck…
As the dragon sank his teeth deeper and deeper into the wounded soldier, sucking out his sweet warm blood with ravenous hunger, a low moan escaped his throat with a shuddering gasp as he trembled uncontrollably against the ground in a fitful spasm of violent seizures that shook him to the core. His muscles convulsed powerfully in waves as his skin split open in several places, exposing raw and bleeding tissue beneath…while his wounds burned fiercely with a dull heat that made him want to scream in agony, but he fought against the urge to make noise as he remained motionless with rigid limbs as he felt himself being eaten alive by this dreadful demon of a creature…his screams muffled by his own torn skin…until he could resist no longer as his eyes snapped open with a flash of sudden realization, realizing that he had to get away from here before it was too late for him to save himself…
But the damage had already been done. There was no escaping now. His fate had been sealed. The dragon was draining the life right out of him…as he gazed down at the monster's smiling visage as it drew nearer and nearer to him…reaching for him with long black taloned fingers that glistened wickedly in the moonlight as it closed its dark hood and pulled back the cowl upon its face so that it revealed the full extent of the terrible monster within to him.
"You are mine now…my new pet." The beast grinned down upon him. "Do not fight me…"
And then the monster raised his hand and brought it crashing down upon his head. With a loud cracking sound, he broke his nose in half along with most of his upper jaw as he toppled sideways, falling limply unto his side amidst a spray of blood and mucus as he stared up at the monster with wide disbelieving eyes as the monster laughed aloud as he looked down upon him, grinning broadly and enjoying every second of watching his prey struggle to breathe amongst the painful throbs that racked his body with every passing heartbeat as the monster leaned closer towards him and said softly into his ear with a sinister smirk…"I am going to enjoy breaking you…slowly…so very, very slowly…in all ways imaginable…until I feel satisfied that you've learned your lesson…"