Keita couldn't avoid to widen her eyes at Simus' words this time. The tigerman clearly noticed her reaction, but fortunately he simply assumed that what he had just said would be enough to amaze anyone, so he didn't pay much attention to it. After all, a dragon that let a newcomer ride on their back was a very rare thing. Simus however couldn't know that what he said had done more than amaze Keita: it had literally sent her mind into complete turmoil.
Keita was a dragon, and so she knew how much that gesture meant. Dragons were proud creatures: they would never let anyone ride them. From their point of view, it was the equivalent of stooping to the status of beasts of burden; for them, who were used to considering themselves the top of the food chain, it was tremendously humiliating and demeaning. If showing their belly from their point of view meant making themselves vulnerable and ridiculous, letting themselves be ridden by any newcomer meant reducing themselves to the lowest possible degree... unless that newcomer was very important for them. If a dragon had considered a newcomer so important to them that they considered that person almost as a part of themselves, just separated from their body and able to think and speak, then they could have accepted to carry such person on their back, since in fact they wouldn't have carried another being but only a extension of themselves. Such a feeling was absolutely not impossible: both Keita and all of her siblings considered themselves part of each other, as if they were one creature with many minds and thoughts, and in fact they had no problem showing their bellies or jumping on each other. But with a newcomer… Keita had no idea what level of friendship was needed to allow such a thing. Even Darbi, who was the most sociable of them all, refused to let anyone ride on his back; even Rhaegal, Corgorin and Serengal, despite their deep friendship with the adventurers, never let them ride on their backs but at most allowed them to cling to their necks or the spines on their backs, but never to sit on them.
If Natharal had gone so far as to allow Malak to fly with her, then the bond between them must have been extremely strong. Keita had initially thought that perhaps the tigerman had helped the dragoness for ulterior motives, but now she no longer had any doubts that his affection was genuine: a dragon couldn't be fooled easily, and if after all those years Natharal had deemed Malak worthy to sit above her, then what existed between them must be real. Even if Malak originally had secret plans for the dragoness, it was likely that he had completely forgotten them and learned to appreciate the strange creature he befriended. Flying together must have been a sort of conclusion of their journey, the maximum degree of their friendship, a declaration of mutual trust between them.
From a dragon's point of view, the story was almost touching. Keita wasn't empathetic like some of her siblings, but she wasn't emotionless like some others either; she knew how to appreciate a good tale when she heard it and she couldn't help but feel happiness for those two friends who, despite coming from completely different worlds (figuratively speaking of course), had managed to find each other and create such a strong bond between them. "And then, what happened?"
Simus sighed. "They continued to fly together, every day. As Natharal's wings grew stronger and stronger, together they made longer and longer journeys. While on the dragoness's back, Malak felt like a god, able to observe the world from heights that no one, not even the mightiest mages, could reach; he could feel the white touch of the clouds as they passed through them, he could see a sky cleaner than any other and see stars invisible from the ground, he could peer farther than any eye could. The two of them flew above storms, where the strong winds and rain could not reach them, and from there they admired the fury of the furiously whirling cyclones, the fleeing light of the lightning, the immense roar of the thunder. Malak understood that the sky that he used to see from the ground was nothing more than a small part of the real sky, a miserable unrealistic copy, and that only by flying at heights that only dragons could reach it was possible to truly savor the beauty of the celestial vault. But when they flew close to cities, Natharal would duck slightly and watch it with her extraordinary sight, and she could finally see all the things Malak had always told her about. She could see the cobbled stone streets, the houses and buildings the tigerman had described to her, the joy and sadness of countless numbers of people. She could see an infinite amount of wonders that until now she had only dreamed of, and she asked Malak for explanations and he was happy to give them to her. Sometimes Natharal, too interested in what she was seeing, would stoop too low and people would see her and get scared, and Malak would try to get the dragoness to come down so she could explain the misunderstanding to everyone and show them she wasn't dangerous; but every time she refused because she was too afraid of the newcomers. She was fascinated by their world and wanted to be a part of it, but she didn't have the courage to take the plunge and truly immerse herself in that world. And so Natharal never approached a city and continued to admire that world that she longed so much only from afar"
Keita felt sad for that dragoness; she could easily see herself in her. Natharal had been what her siblings had been for a long time: terrified of everything and everyone, limiting themselves to meeting a few newcomers and only for benefits, and even if intrigued by their world, they had never approached it. For them, newcomers just meant death. Only after they had discovered how to use their avatars had they been able to immerse themselves more among them and discover that perhaps it was possible to build something together. But Natharal had never figured out how to use avatars because she'd never fought a hydra, and on top of that she was probably far more traumatized than Keita and her siblings already were since she'd had to watch her own siblings die or even get killed, and so it was only natural that she was so afraid to open up to someone else. Indeed, it had already been a miracle that she had managed to make friends with Malak, further demonstrating that that tigerman must have been truly sincere with her, enough to overcome the distrust in all living beings that she had certainly matured.
"Continuous sightings of Natharal didn't go unnoticed; very soon it was evident that a dragon was lurking in the vicinity of the tigermen's territory" Simus continued. "The common people couldn't do much, of course, but many great warriors started talking about slaying the dragon. But Malak, to everyone's surprise, stepped forward and revealed to everyone that Natharal was her friend and that if only they would try to know her, they would have realized that she was not a bad person. The other warriors laughed at him and went hunting for the dragon all the same; Malak anticipated them, however, and proposed to Natharal to flee with him. The other warriors, however, joined him and ordered him to attack her. Instead, Malak stepped between them and Natharal and declared that he would challenge to a duel anyone who would face the dragoness, and that none of them could do anything to her as long as he was alive. He was ready to throw away his status, his reputation, and even his life to protect Natharal. And so he did: even after they attacked him, he did not allow them to advance. He never moved his feet, he didn't retreat even a centimeter, even in the face of warriors much stronger and more powerful than him. Taking advantage of that moment of stalemate, Natharal flew up and grabbed him, and carried him away with her. The two of them disappeared together in the sky and Natharal reached the top of a mountain, and there she nursed Malak and helped him heal his wounds. Then, as soon as he was fully recovered, Natharal gave him a gift, allowing him to drink her blood, telling him that he would become strong enough to take revenge on his enemies. Malak told her that she shouldn't be so generous to him, but Natharal knew that even though the tigerman tried not to show it, in reality his heart burned with desire for revenge, and she assured him that together they would take back what was his. Malak was already a very strong warrior, but after drinking her blood he achieved extraordinary power; now, fighting together, he and Natharal could have crushed any opponent. So together they returned to the tigerman territory and Malak's home city-state, and there they landed in the middle of the road and declared that they would defeat those in power at the moment, and so they did, killing them one after another. Having done this, Malak proclaimed himself king and declared Natharal a friend of the tigermen, and announced that anyone who tried to hurt her would be punished as if they had hurt another tigerman. After that, Malak and Natharal gathered a great army and with it conquered all the city-states of the tigermen, uniting the entire territory into one great kingdom. Natharal thus became free to travel wherever she pleased; while Malak became the first true king of the tigermen, she was finally able to immerse herself in that world that she had admired so much from afar and observe it up close. The dragoness continued to live far from inhabited centers, in her favorite cave, but every day she went to a different place to be able to see him, and then she went to see Malak, who despite being a king by now was always ready to spend time with her. Thanks to Natharal's help and Malak's sharp political skills, the kingdom of the tigermen prospered and its people received an abundance like never before, so much that soon everyone was convinced that the dragoness was indeed as good as their king said and indeed they became happy to see her in the sky. But then..."
Simus' change in tone didn't go unnoticed by Keita. It was clear they were getting to the bad part of the story. "But then...?"
"Then came Natharal's tenth birthday, the one where the dragoness finally unlocked her domain and gain her true overpowering power" Simus continued. "She and Malak had talked a lot about that day, and they had big plans for the future. With Natharal's power, the kingdom of the tigermen would become even more prosperous, and together they could impose themselves on all the peoples of the region. Malak dreamed to create a great kingdom of beastmen so that Natharal could travel free not only in the territory of the tigermen, but also in that of the other races.Yet, on the very day that Natharal was supposed to unlock her domain, she disappeared. She didn't return all day after and the day after that. Worried, Malak went to her cave and found it empty, as if she had left in a hurry; there were no signs of a struggle or anything else that would could force the dragoness to flee. He went back to the city to gather his troops and go look for her, but when he arrived he witnessed a terrible scene. The city had been completely destroyed and engulfed in flames, and there were no longer any survivors; in the sky, a great red dragon watched all this and continued to spit flames from her throat. Looking at her well, Malak realized that the red dragon was none other than Natharal, who had unlocked her domain and had become a fire dragon. Desperate at the horror he was seeing, he screamed her name and asked her why she was doing this. She looked at him with blank eyes and replied with the same words he had told her many years before: 'I can't avoid it. That's my nature'. And having said that she flew away, leaving him alone in front of the rubble of what had been the capital of his kingdom, and she headed towards the other cities of the tigermen to burn them to the ground". Simus clenched his fists. "The rest of the story is known to everyone: Natharal destroyed everything in her path until the god Tharon forced her to leave. After what had happened, Malak gathered the surviving tigermen and with them began to rebuild the kingdom. Natharal was forgotten and even her name was erased from people's memories, for otherwise Malak might have become the target of their wrath and the kingdom would have shattered from within; therefore only he and the high nobility remembered and passed down the story in its entirety. The message we can get is very clear: never trust a dragon, because it is in their nature to be destroyers. Even if they are friendly and kind, as soon as they get the chance they will tear everything apart. And that's what will surely happen to Haku and all these dragons too, if we don't stop them first"
Keita was silent for a moment, then she murmured: "You've given me… a lot to think about. Thank you. Could you leave me alone now? I need… to focus"
Simus nodded. "Yeah, I guess that's a lot to take in one go. I'll be back tomorrow" he said as he stood up and headed for the door. "And don't forget... get better soon"
Keita didn't answer as Simus walked out of the house: her mind was focused on the story she had just heard. And she was sure of one thing: that ending made no sense. If Natharal had been willing to let Malak ride her, and Malak had risked his life to defend Natharal, why had the dragoness gone mad and destroyed everything? Why not live in peace with her friend? The excuse that dragons were destroyers didn't hold up: even if they made a lot of use of instinct, dragons were still thinking beings and they didn't devastate lands at random, or they would no longer have a territory to live in. Keita was sure that a piece of the story was still missing. "What really happened to you, Natharal?" she couldn't help but mumble, even though she knew no one would answer her.