A Song of Askaldenfirsts and Dragons. Part seven: Gaaldalksirin
Chapter 10: Gaal

Gaal flew up to see what was going on and saw the incomprehensible slug devouring Ilzeth. The portal was flickering, on the other side of the portal the dragons and the ermirians wanted to go back and help Ilzeth, but suddenly the portal closed. Gaal flew up to Ilzeth, and poured fire on the slug, seeing that Ilzeth could no longer be saved. Slug and Ilzeth turned to ashes.

“A cursed world, a cursed fate, to kill and see death all the time, and this is the meaning of my life?” Gaal’s voice boomed.

He was alone. He had always been alone, because he is miralfaran, majestic and powerful! Who among the brothers would treat him as an equal instead of bowing their heads in respectful deference?

How many lives has he ruined? How many dragons has he killed? He did not know the answers to these questions. Plenty, was one answer he wasn’t comfortable with. If he wasn’t fiery, he would want to carve the names on his body of all those he killed, and not just dragons. If it had been a question of his kind’s survival, and there had been war, he would have understood, and even if sympathetically, he could have killed entire peoples or populations of any creatures, justifying the genocide with an important mission to save dragons and askaldenfirsts. But now... How can you not tear yourself apart when you replace yourself so weak, controlled dragon that you have allowed yourself to kill your own brothers?

“Somewhere to the north there are a couple of greyskuggies who can kill everyone except Gaal in a few minutes.” Ilzeth’s words wouldn’t leave his mind.

He thought, “Everyone but me. Now I can not only avenge my mother, my brothers, and all the other creatures that these voracious beasts devour, but I can save at least someone from certain death.”

And Gaal flew north. He flapped his flaming wings quickly, flying across snow-covered fields, half-destroyed villages, trampled or burnt pieces of forest.

He was flying not far from the Warm Forest, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed a lone traveler, so he decided to fly up to her, and came down beside her. The young woman with the dark hair was somehow coolly dressed, as it seemed to the fire dragon. He sat down on the snow and melted it. She came closer with a sword in her hand.

“My name is Gaaldalksirin, snunorf.”

“I’m not a snunorf,” the woman said.

“Who are you?”

“Is it important? Are you here to kill me?” and she threw her sword at his fiery feet, the sword falling into the puddle formed due to the melted snow, which was already beginning to evaporate and steam enveloped the outline of the fiery dragon.

“I see… You want to die. I want to die, too,” Gaal said suddenly. “I’ve done terrible things, I’ve killed when I was controlled–”

“You, dragons, have ruined my life! How I hate you! And I want you all to die! But I don’t have the strength to fight. Not anymore,” she knelt down in the wet snow. “Death surrounds me,” she touched the cold snow with her hand, and realized that it was melting too fast.

The ground next to Gaal began to dry. And a puddle began to form beside the woman.

“Come closer, child of Ermir, warm yourself with my fire. You are as broken as I am. But if we surrender–”

“Yes, yes, you can’t give up, everyone on every corner says so,” the woman interrupted him. “If you, dragon, are to blame for your inability to resist those who would control you, then I am to blame for my inability to save the ones I need to protect... and why are you here? If you didn’t come here to kill me, what do you want?”

“To help. To fix something. I’m going to replace those creepy smokes, and I’m going to destroy every one of them!”

“The smokes?” young woman stood up and moved closer to the dragon. “Are you talking about the kind of smoke that plummets into the flesh and consuming it?”

“Yes, it’s greyskuggies!” Gaal said. “Only I can kill them. And the sooner I do, the sooner I can save Ermir. Where did you see them, ermirian?”

“They were in the Warm Forest, and they killed my... friends.”

“So hold on to that vengeance. I would have carried you, but I am, as you see, the very essence of fire!”

“They couldn’t kill me either,” the woman said. “They tried but failed to pierce my flesh. And I keep asking myself the same question, ‘why?’ Maybe there is some kind of curse imposed on my family? I should have died with Barnis under fire from one of your brothers, right there in my castle in the Larmar Islands!”

“Larmar Islands?” Gaal wondered. “In our group there was one old isters, his name was Jamashar.”

“Jamashar?” the woman was surprised.

“Yes, he talked about two people, his friend Ishkmet and the Queen Nulara. And judging by who’s in front of me, you are one of the mentioned persons,” Gaal pretended to smile.

“Yes, I am Nulara Tossed,” the woman admitted. “But you said there was a Jamashar in your group. Was? He died?”

“I don’t think so. The Firsts showed up and told us... As far as I know, you’re aware of the Firsts from... Ingerbert and Arngalda, I think.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Nulara said. “They told me about the Firsts and their plan, which they were told by the ikhagatbers, who, in turn, wanted to destroy you by uniting with all the creatures.”

“One of the Firsts was not who we thought he was. He was great at pretending to be an ally and really helping, but ended up being a “lousy bastards” as the one of the Firsts herself called him. Unfortunately, she died…So you can’t trust anyone–”

“So where is Jamashar now?” Nulara interrupted him.

“He’s on another planet, Malderfir.”

“I hope he’s all right,” Nulara said.

“You know, Nulara Tossed, Your Majesty,” Gaal suddenly said, “I propose that we unite. We share the same goals, Your Majesty wants to replace Jamashar and kill the greyskuggies, just as, in fact, I, Gaaldalksirin, want to do. Where Jamashar is, there are my brothers.”

“No!” said Nulara, ” I’ll do it myself somehow.”

“Then you will die this winter without revenge!” Gaal tried to persuade her. “Maybe the greyskuggies can’t kill you, but someone else can. At least think of this, I’m almost invincible, I can protect anyone very well, as long as I have the backing of those who can handle the foreign tukhtaash invaders. They can control my mind. And I–”

“So I should take them as allies!” Nulara interrupted him. “They will control you, and you will kill both the smoke creatures and your nasty dragon brothers!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, child… Your Majesty,” Gaal said. “The outlanders will bring chaos to the continent. They will enslave all the ermirians, and torture, kill, rape. And on the Larmar Islands, there will be no stone left unturned–”

“There’s not a stone left unturned! It was my home!” Nulara burst into tears. “You and your dragon spawn have destroyed my world, and I’ll destroy yours!”

“And how are you any different from the voracious greyskuggies?” Gaal flew up and hovered over her, showering her with heat, then began to fly and growl loudly. “You feed on hatred, and are ready to turn into those you hate! I willingly destroyed an entire star, guided by a false prophesy!” He continued to fly relatively low over her that Nulara ducked from the heat, the snow around her had already melted, and the water was rapidly evaporating. “All the others, except the greyskuggies, I killed under the power of magic, and if I were conscious, I would protect the innocent. All the innocents. Do you think, Nulara Tossed, that I want to destroy life, to destroy the buildings built by your ancestors or to burn the trees, burn crops and incinerate the ermirians? What nonsense! We were created by alien beings and were inspired by the idea that if we do not destroy Ermir, then our whole race will be destroyed! But how many dragons have you talked to about what they think and what they want to do? Of course, the one who opens his mouth and spews fire, even if he does not want to do this, is no less guilty than those who wished. But despite their pride and power, every dragon, or almost every dragon, can repent of the crimes they have committed and work for the good of our planet! Our common planet!” Gaal’s voice boomed. He stopped circling Nulara and landed nearby. “Let me guess,” he lowered his voice, “what Jamashar tells me is that he and Carlfrig went north and you went southeast, which means you’re going back to Frostgarstrad. And you know what, Nulara Tossed, Queen of Norvinoria and the Larmar Islands, you don’t have to answer now, I’ll fly over there and replace out what’s going on. I’ll save you some time,” Gaal said and flew off in the direction of the northern capital.

“No, don’t you dare, stop!” Nulara shouted after him, but Gaal was determined at least to see what was happening in Frostgarstrad.