As if having been possessed, Aldrich slowly came closer to the dragon. Suddenly, he was overtaken by a whirlwind of desperation, pain and misery. As he was waiting for his trembling knees to steady, he realised that all those emotions had been coming from the dragon itself. Having sensed something within Aldrich, the dragon stepped aside. His gigantic light blue body let out a dramatic gust of ice-cold wind. Though he was beside himself with fear, Aldrich did not falter as what he saw behind the dragon shocked him more. A pitch-black orb was seeping out a weird black goo, smaller than him by no more than a head, hovering above the ground by only a few inches. The dark matter seemed to pulse from within. It was a heart! It was the dragon’s heart! Aldrich couldn’t keep his amazement from showing. A deep growl almost knocked his knees out. “Go on,” the dragon seemed to say, “free me from this misery.” Overtaken by some serenity and knowledge, the Prince dropped his sword and reached into the dragon's heart, the dark pulsing matter clinging like thick mud to his hands. Aldrich could faintly hear his rational mind. Still, he was digging deeper. After what seemed the whole eternity, Aldrich had felt something concrete. It felt like a bundle of ropes and knots, a slimy matter confusing his senses. Feeling uncharacteristically calm, Aldrich started untying the knots one by one. With every single one, the dark matter started feeling warmer,
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