A Demon and a Dragon

by Virlyce

  Vur nodded. “You’re right,” he said and wrapped his arm around Tafel’s shoulder. “This is really nice.”

  Side Story 1

  A silver dragon hummed to himself while drawing a symbol on the ground with his claw. He was in a cave, brightly lit by sunlight streaming in through the ceiling. His tail scraped the walls as he turned around to draw a perfect circle. Then he brought his paw closer to his chest and spun around again, drawing a smaller circle inside the first one.

  There was a knocking sound, followed by a voice coming from the other side of the cave wall. “Luke? Are you planning on sneaking out again? If Mom finds out, she’ll murder you.”

  “If you tell Mom, Lulu, I swear on your left pinky toe that I’ll forget to bring you back a present,” the silver dragon said. “How did you even know I was going to?”

  “There’s always a scraping sound before you leave,” a different voice said from the wall opposite Lulu’s.

  Luke furrowed his brow and tucked his tail under himself before spinning again, drawing a third concentric circle. “Look, today is a day called Valentine’s Day. It’s something the cephaloids came up with to celebrate love, and Teana is really into it, and I think I’d be ruining everything that I have with her if I don’t show up to the dinner she has planned.”

  “Why don’t you tell that to Mom?” Lulu asked.

  “Because she wouldn’t understand,” Luke said, a hint of a grumble in his voice. “She still thinks I’m a child that needs to be chaperoned.”

  “Here’s an idea,” Leo said. “Why don’t you bring Mom with you to see your girlfriend? If she thinks you need to be chaperoned, then let her chaperone you. That way, you won’t get in trouble when Leila inevitably tattles on you again.”

  “Why is that an inevitability!?”

  “You know how Leila is.”

  Luke sighed. “Ever since she met that cursed dragon….” He clicked his tongue and shook his head, tracing diagonal patterns within the circle. “No, maybe she was like that before she met him, and the only reason they work so well together is because she’s the way that she is.” He stopped drawing and stood up, taking a few steps back from the circle. “And no, I’m not going to tell Mom.”

  “Not going to tell me what?” Kondra’s head poked into Luke’s cave.

  Luke stiffened and fell onto his side, attempting to block the magic circle on the ground from Kondra’s view. “Mom! A little privacy!?”

  “You’re still a child, what do you need privacy for?” Kondra lumbered into the room and peered over her son at the magic circle on the ground. Her eyes widened. “So this is the magical imprint you use to trick me when you sneak out. Were you planning on sneaking out just now?”

  Luke bit his lower lip. “N-no.”

  Kondra raised her eyebrow. “Then what’s this circle for?”

  Cold shivers ran down Luke’s spine. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before whispering, “Uh…, Leo was going to sneak out, and he wanted me to draw this circle for him so you wouldn’t notice. Don’t tell him that I told you though.”

  Kondra’s eyes opened even wider. “He what!?” She dashed out of Luke’s cave while roaring, “Leo!?”

  Luke took one glance at the broken rocks his mother left behind while charging through the passage before taking in a deep breath. He swept his tail over the magic circle, activating it. Then he leapt into the air and out of the hole in the ceiling of his room. There was a translucent barrier covering it, but after sneaking out so many times, he had already created another passage to bypass it. Once he was outside in the snowy frostlands, he swallowed and looked down at the ground. There were no hints of a cave being underneath. Luke swallowed again. “Mom’s really going to kill me this time.”

  Casting away all hesitation, Luke flapped his wings as hard as he could to get as far away as possible before his mom figured out his deceit. He headed straight north while casting holy magic on himself to cure his fatigue as he flew. Soon, he reached the edge of the frostlands, a sheer cliff of ice leading straight into the ocean. He continued flying ahead, lifted into the air by the winds rushing up from below. When the icy cliff could no longer be seen behind him, he scanned the horizon and found a recognizable landmark—a pillar of smoke rising up.

  Luke wasn’t sure why there was an ever-burning fire on the island that produced smoke, and he wasn’t sure what the three letters—S.O.S—next to the fire meant either, but he wasn’t going to question it. Once he reached the smoky island, he took a glance at the sun before flying east. There, on the surface of the ocean, he saw a familiar patch of kelp. Luke rubbed his snout while muttering, and a translucent white barrier formed around his face. Without hesitation, he tucked his wings against his side and plunged straight into the water, following the long kelp stalks down to the bottom. When the sunlight no longer broke through the water and it was almost impossible to see, Luke relied on the feeling of kelp against his scales to make sure he was heading the right way. After a few minutes of nonstop swimming, a dim light came into view, becoming brighter and brighter the more he swam.

  Luke spread his wings as far as they would go once the bright light nearly blinded him. Then, he lost his sense of weightlessness and plunged down, but he caught himself with his wings. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes. Underneath him was a sprawling metropolis made of coral, dried seaweed, and bones of various large creatures. The place was dry as if he were on land, and above him, the ocean was held back by a white barrier. It was almost as if he were looking up at the sky. He couldn’t see the ends of the barrier, the underwater city seemingly spreading on endlessly.

  Cries came from below that sounded like birds chattering. Octopi looked up at him and pointed. They were walking around on two tentacles that were noticeably thicker than the rest. Some wore jewelry made of coral, while others wore clothes made of seaweed. After the initial outburst of chattering sounds, the commotion died down, and the octopi presumably went about their daily lives, doing whatever it was that octopi did in a metropolis at the bottom of the ocean.

  “Luke!”

  Luke turned around in midair. A purple dragon was approaching him with a smile plastered over her face. Luke’s face broke out into a smile as well. “Teana.”

  The two dragons collided in midair and fell to the ground entwined in a hug. The purple dragon nuzzled her face against Luke’s. “You made it! I wasn’t sure if you were going to.”

  “How could I miss Valentine’s Day of all days?” Luke asked and grinned. “Once I go back home, I’ll definitely be grounded for years since I tricked my mom and fled instead of sneaking out like I normally do.”

  “Then don’t go back home,” Teana said, pushing Luke down to the ground, her front paws on his shoulders. “Stay here. With me.”

  Luke’s eyes widened. “C-can I?”

  “Whose permission are you asking?” Teana asked, giving Luke a slight smile that showed the tips of her teeth. “You know what it means to accept a woman’s invitation on Valentine’s Day, don’t you?”

  “Yeah,” Luke said, his face turning bright red. “I know, but I wasn’t sure if you actually…, you know.”

  Teana pursed her lips, but they were still curved up into a smile. She shook her head and rolled off of Luke, letting him up. She held her tail out towards him. “C’mon, I have a lot planned for today.”

  Luke entwined his tail around Teana’s. The warmth coming off of it combined with the giddy feeling in his stomach pushed all the dread from defying his mother out of his mind. He was going to enjoy today to the fullest. “Teana?”

  The purple dragon turned her head towards Luke. “Hmm?”

  “I really like you.”

  Teana’s eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed pink. She slapped Luke’s face with her claw, but it had no strength behind it. “What are you saying?” she asked and turned her head away, but her tail coiled even more tightly around his. “I-I know that.” Her voice shrank. “I like you too.”

&
nbsp; The two dragons stepped closer together, walking through the underwater city with their shoulders and hips touching, their wings draped over one another, looking at the scenery with red faces but doing everything possible to avoid looking at each other. A few octopi pointed up at them and chattered, but Luke didn’t mind. It didn’t matter what other people thought. He and Teana were happy, and that was all that mattered.

  Side Story 2

  Tafel was sitting on a couch, a book with yellowing pages splayed open on her lap. A stream of sunlight poured down from between the treetops, illuminating the tiny words written on the page. Tafel’s nose twitched, and she furrowed her brow. She raised her head and closed the book, careful to prevent any damage from occurring. A portal opened beside her, and she placed the book inside. She climbed to her feet and dusted off her lap. She sniffed the air before leaving the room, following the strange yet familiar smell that she suspected to be cookies. When she reached the oven in the kitchen that still hadn’t been fully repaired after her fight with Mary, a small bubble of disappointment filled her chest: Sharda wasn’t there. When she saw who was actually manning the oven, that bubble of disappointment turned to dread. Tafel swallowed and crept back, hoping she hadn’t been found out. Unfortunately for her, the tiny woman standing in front of the oven caught sight of her.

  “Tafel! Perfect, you’re here. Help me with this.”

  Tafel repressed her sigh and strutted towards the oven with prim and proper steps like she’d been taught when she was little. Even if she was about to attend something unenjoyable, Prim, her etiquette teacher, had told her to hide those feelings behind the veil of a princess instead. “Hey, Alice,” Tafel said and smiled. “What are you making? It’s rare to see you use an oven.”

  “I’m making mooncakes. This batch is almost done, but you can help me make the next,” Alice said and wiped the sweat off her forehead with a nearby towel.

  “Mooncakes?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. She looked up at the sky, but the moon wasn’t out. She lowered her head. “What are those?”

  Alice nearly dropped the bowl she had just picked up. “What? You don’t know what a mooncake is?”

  Tafel shook her head. Before Alice could reply, the nearby trees rustled, and a familiar face appeared: Alora’s. Vur was sitting on Alora’s head. “Grandma?” Alora asked. “Are you making cookies?”

  “I told you it didn’t smell like Grandma making cookies,” Vur said and snorted. “But you didn’t believe me. So, you lost again.”

  Alora set the grass in front of her on fire with two streams of flames jetting out of her nostrils. Tafel created a block of ice in the air and set it down in front of the red dragon, smothering the flames. “Do you know what a mooncake is?” Tafel asked the two newly arrived cookie seekers.

  “Duh,” Alora said. “It’s a cake made from the moon.”

  Vur looked up at the sky, but there was no moon. Tafel pursed her lips when she saw Vur copying her previous actions. “Really?” Vur asked. “Does the moon regrow like a plant?”

  “All three of you are uncultured swi—dragons. Uncultured dragons,” Alice said and clicked her tongue. “Haven’t any of you heard of the Mid-Autumn Festival?”

  “Is there a Mid-Winter Festival too?” Vur asked.

  Alice sighed. “No. No one celebrates winter,” she said. “The Mid-Autumn Festival is a harvest festival that we used to celebrate back at home.” She rolled her eyes. “Not like I expected dragons to give thanks for a bountiful harvest.”

  “Oh!” Alora’s eyes lit up. “We have harvest festivals too. The nearby villages celebrate a lot, and it’s always noisy beneath the roost. Then, on the final day of the festival, the villages each send a woman as a sacrifice to us. We tried telling them to stop, but they keep saying, ‘It’s a tradition’ and send us unwilling sacrifices anyway.” Alora scratched her chin. “Now that I think about it, they send a sacrifice every time something good or bad happens. You saw it before, didn’t you? The village of sacrifices that we’ve received and have no idea what to do with?”

  “What about you two?” Alice asked, placing her hands on her hips. “If even a dragon knows about harvest festivals, shouldn’t you two as well?”

  Tafel scratched her head. “Demons grow their crops with the help of magic,” she said. “We don’t really give thanks to anyone but ourselves.”

  “The only crops I grow are bears,” Vur said, sticking his chest out.

  Alice sighed again. “Alright, well, back home, we celebrate our harvests with the Mid-Autumn Festival. We eat mooncakes, which are not made from the moon”—she glared at Alora—“they’re actually made from wheat, bean paste, and salted egg yolk, and we worship the moon dragon.”

  Vur’s eyes lit up. “The what dragon?”

  “The moon dragon,” Alice said. “It’s—”

  “Your mooncakes are burning,” Tafel said, pointing at the oven.

  Alora dropped Vur off of her head. “I’ll get Grandma to come bake!”

  Alice drew the tray out of her stone oven and frowned. She grabbed one of the black mooncakes and blew on it before taking a bite. She spat it out and placed the tray down on top of the oven. “Okay. I think I’ll wait for the magical baking dragon to arrive. I’ve never burnt food before. Cooking with an oven sure is difficult.”

  “What about the moon dragon?” Vur asked.

  “Something smells good!” Emile and Susan flew down from above before Alice could respond. The two phoenixes landed on the still-hot metal tray. They stared at Alice with unblinking eyes. “Can we eat this?”

  “…If you want.”

  Emile and Susan cheered before pecking away at the burnt food.

  “What about the moon dragon?” Vur asked again.

  “If I could stop being interrupted,” Alice said and looked around. She made sure no one was coming. Then she nodded. “Okay. The moon dragon is a legend about a gluttonous dragon. He used to eat all of the crops and livestock that the villagers grew, so much so, that the villagers rose up and revolted. They defeated the moon dragon after a huge ordeal involving bribing the river dragons and earth dragons. But the river dragons and earth dragons couldn’t stomach the thought of killing another dragon, so they worked out a compromise.

  “The moon dragon was ordered to stop eating everything the villagers had because they couldn’t provide offerings to the other dragons if they were to all die of starvation. So, the moon dragon, unwilling to give up his gluttonous eating style, decided to instead bless the villagers’ crops and livestock, making sure that even if he ate his fill, there would always be some left over.

  “This worked well for many years, but one year, a curious child went up to the moon dragon whilst he was eating the child’s favorite chicken. That child asked, ‘Mister Dragon, why do you have to eat my chicken? The moon is made of cheese. We can’t fly, but you have wings, Mister Dragon. Why don’t you eat the moon instead?’

  “So, the gluttonous moon dragon, moved by the prospect of eating a whole moon’s worth of cheese by himself, immediately flew up into the sky towards the moon and disappeared. That’s why we pay our respects to the moon, specifically the moon dragon, in the hopes that he’ll continue to give us bountiful harvests.”

  Emile swallowed. “What about the child’s chicken? Did it survive?”

  “It was eaten,” Alice said.

  “Oh.”

  Susan stared at Vur, who was staring up at the sky. She raised her head, but the moon wasn’t out. “I wonder if Dad has met the moon dragon up there.”

  Emile choked. “What?”

  Susan tilted her head at her brother. “What do you mean what? Dad lives on the moon, remember?”

  Emile picked apart the burnt mooncake in front of his sister with his talons. He glared at Alice. “Did you put liquor in this? We’re underaged! You have to warn us first.”

  Susan pecked her brother’s head. “I’m not drunk, stupid! Mom said Dad lived on the moon when I asked her where he was!”
/>   “Mom lied to you! Don’t peck my head; you’ll make me dumb!”

  Alice ignored the squabbling phoenixes. “And that’s the story of the moon dragon.”

  Vur nodded. “So that’s how all those craters on the moon were made. The moon dragon ate those parts of the moon.” Vur smiled at Tafel. “Let’s go to the moon one day.”

  Tafel smiled. “Yeah, sure. I wonder what it’s like up there.”

  Alice stared at the two idiots smiling at each other. They weren’t planning on bringing her along, were they? If they were, trying to make mooncakes while they were around might’ve been the dumbest thing she had tried in a while. She sighed. Two dragons lumbered into view, shaking the ground, and Alice waved her hand at them. “You’ve arrived, Mrs. Matriarch.”

  Sharda glanced at the oven. “I heard that there are some pastries that need to be made?”

  “Yes,” Alice said. “Yes, there are.”

  Afterword

  Thanks to Simon T Andreasen, Sharda Hartly, Travis Cox, Kyoma, David C., A Big Axolotl, Tyler Loeffler, Moth, Hadrian Battlefury, and Zachary Smith, Moth, William N., Taylor T., Roman V., Magnanix, and Donald Fuqua for supporting me on Patreon.

  If you liked the story, feel free to check out my website at www.virlyce.com.

  There will be a sequel to this book.

  Thank you for reading!

  Other books by Virlyce available on Amazon:

  The Blue Mage Raised by Dragons (Prequel to The Kingdom Razed by Dragons.)

  The Kingdom Razed by Dragons (Prequel to A Demon and a Dragon)

  The Godking’s Legacy (Not recommended for children.)

  The Immortal Continent (Sequel to The Godking’s Legacy (Still not recommended for children))