Amazon Apocalypse 7: Chapter 24 (Legacy - old) (Patreon)

<Note to current and future readers: I have since chopped this chapter and 23 way down and combined them. This is the old version, but the newer version can be found in the collection.>There I stood, looming over dying beast and mortal humanoids alike. I'd swooped in for a heroic, last-second rescue many times before, and usually I was quite well received. But I'd forgotten a crucial detail. I wasn't a man anymore. I was a dragon.

"Ancestors protect us! The other dragon was bad enough!" Dernwine cursed as he reached for his sword.

Next to him, Squire Lodo picked up a discarded bow and quiver and nocked an arrow with shaking hands. The two of them glanced at one another like they knew they were about to die.

I loomed over Eowyn, who had stopped struggling out from under her horse and now used its body like a shield in front of her. But she peered over its back, staring at me with intensity. She had more shock and confusion in her eyes than fear like her subordinates.

I carefully hooked one claw and pulled her horse off the top of her. I was unused to such delicate and gentle movements in this body though, and my claws were sharp enough to dig furrows into the horse's side at just a gentle touch. As powerful as my dragon body was, even I could tell that it was built for battle and little else.

"The dragon is attacking the queen! Charge now, one and all! Buy her time to escape!" Dernwine shouted. And he bravely led the way. With sword in hand, he rushed me, D-Grade knight against A-Grade dragon. It was like a single ant rushing against a grown man with a flamethrower, but he charged me nonetheless, and others soon followed his lead.

For the first time since transforming into a dragon, my heart sank. I lacked any voice save for bestial growls only Sharky could understand. Even after all I'd done for these people over the last few months, they'd never see me as anything other than a monster.

With a flap of my wings, I knocked the incoming arrows from the sky. And with a gentle swish of my tail, I knocked him aside. Dernwine and the knights following him were knocked aside.

Despite his wounds, Dernwine jumped to his feet.

"For the Queen!" Dernwine shouted, charging me again. I swept my tail in his direction again with a bit more force. That proved to be a mistake. Though I felt the motion was slow and gentle, the raw power of my body meant that the blow caved in Dernwine's breastplate. If he hadn't been wearing armor, I'd have broken every one of his ribs with that gentle motion.

"Sir Dernwine!" Squire Lodo yelled. He'd fired his bow, but after seeing Dernwine go down a second time, he steadied his resolve and drew his sword before charging me just as Dernwine had. Other knights, squires, and men-at-arms followed suit as they rushed me to defend their beloved queen.

I flapped my wings twice more, and the gusts of wind were strong enough to knock most knights off their feet and to the ground. But they were undeterred. Despite his wounds, Dernwine climbed to his feet again and rushed forward.

I felt someone slash at me with their sword. That Pseudo-Drake's scales were nothing compared to mine, and each sword that struck me cracked and shattered in their hands. I was far beyond that thing, and even arrows to the eye would just bounce off. I could sleep here and this army wouldn't be able to wake me from my nap.

But I couldn't just ignore them. The fierce way they fought for their queen meant they'd stop at nothing to rescue her. Hell, they'd probably kill themselves trying to save her, and despite my best efforts I'd come to like these humanoids. They might be weak and foolish by my draconic standards, but I cared for them.

So I took flight. The fierce winds of my ascent kept everyone at bay as I took to the air, and from there I turned and retreated to the distance. Soon, I found a nearby mountaintop and perched myself atop it. I rested my head in the crook of my claw and felt profoundly frustrated with what had just occurred.

The woman who I was now certain was Eowyn climbed to her feet and cleaned herself off. Her first act of leadership was to organize her remaining forces and see to the wounded. They got into formation and retreated to one of the areas with a healing enchantment carved into the nearby stone, where their wounds could be more easily treated.

There, I listened in on Eowyn and her commanders discussing me. Dernwine was there sporting a new promotion as a reward for his bravery, and even Squire Lodo had found his way into the command tent even though his rank shouldn't allow it.

"Just what in the abyss was that thing? Have any of the scouts spotted such a terrifying beast on previous expeditions?" asked Dernwine.

"We thought that first thing was a dragon, but it was nothing compared to the big black monster we just saw." Squire Lodo shook his head in wonder.

"Perhaps we should cease exploring in this direction. We were lucky this time, but if we meet another of those dragons and it's in a bad mood, we could lose half the expeditionary army," Dernwine suggested.

The arguing started in earnest again, mixed in with frequent talk of how terrifying I was. Under other circumstances, I would have taken the frightened words as praise. But today it struck differently, and my sour mood turned for the worse.

Soon, I realized I could listen to them no longer and turned to join Sharky in another hunt.

***

While Sharky and I chased down some A-Grade cat-like monster called a Shadowblade Beast, I looked inward to analyze my feelings.

I'd long since noticed that my feelings were different. For one, my perception of time seemed off. One day bled into the next, though I hardly noticed the change and couldn't for the life of me recall why such things were important. Even weak dragons lived for centuries, while strong ones like me had no upper lifespan at all. Why bother counting time in any unit less than a full year?

My emotions were likewise altered. The... incident involving my son had been hard on me in dragon form, and I was certain it would be far harder if I ever shifted back to being a human.

Dragons weren't entirely emotionally stunted, but a lot of things important to humans were of limited interest to dragons. What this body had for empathy was mostly built for analyzing the often illogical behavior of my prey.

I shouldn't have cared what Eowyn and her people thought of me at all. And yet, for some reason I did.

I could only assume it was some mental holdover from my experience as a human. The whole situation was horribly frustrating. I was a dragon because I didn't want to feel anything. I envied Sharky. Having never experienced the human form, these issues didn't bother him in the least.

I put a great deal of thought into my current predicament, and after considering things from a draconic point of view, I realized I had a couple of options. Part of me wanted to simply destroy everyone and everything, then leave this ringworld far behind. But a more rational part of me told me that despite being an Apocalypse Dragon, I was more than a creature of pure destruction.

I could also terrorize and plague a civilization with the threat of destruction in any number of creative ways.

I realized that was the solution. Who cared what the humanoids thought? They were there to entertain me. And just because I wasn't interested in actually destroying them didn't mean I couldn't come close. Besides, they never needed to know I didn't actually intend to destroy them.

Hell, it might even do them some good. I could tell they were hunting monsters to get stronger. I'd helped them a lot recently. I could push them a little harder.

They looked at me and saw an evil dragon, so an evil dragon was what I needed to be.

I was already picturing Eowyn's face in my mind as she struggled with all her might against terrible odds, barely succeeding and claiming victory. That look of defiant fury on her face had been so sweet to gaze upon.

Thinking about it, I suddenly started seeing the appeal in kidnapping princesses. I'd have to give that a try sometime. But I'd need to at least give my old humanity a small tribute first. Surely I still had enough skill as a Kindling Architect to craft vocal cords and give myself a voice.

With my troubled thoughts resolved for the time being, I formulated a devious draconic plan.

<Outline>

This chapter ended up coming out short, mostly because the follow up scenes will work better from Eowyn's perspective. Anything else I tried to add here ended up just feeling like filler, so hopefully you guys don't mind me skipping over it.

We've got a few more chapters of Apocalypse Dragon Carter, but not too many. I know human Carter is who we're here for. The Apocalypse Dragon body does seem to make Carter a bit evil, and I'm not sure how long you guys will enjoy that. It's novel, but might wear thin if I take too long to humanize him again.

His personality is still there, it's just been twisted through the eyes of a dragon, and his interest in steering civilization to a better end has scaled to something a bit more aggressive, like sending challenges against the people he is interested in instead of directly helping them.

Also, happy Christmas Eve!

I probably won't be able to swing a holiday special chapter this year. Sorry. Maybe for new years.