looking lighter and as the last knot was undone, it had all turned into a pool which was emitting sparkles right at his feet.
“Thank you!” was all he had heard before a loud thump of a body hit the floor. Aldrich sprinted to the mysterious man. He looked unfamiliar, somehow both exotic and plain at once. The prince lightly shook the man in a feeble attempt to wake him but recoiled in horror as the body began to rot all at once. The skin was shrinking up, the body tissue was breaking down right before his eyes. It was a terrifyingly fascinating sight and in a couple of minutes, the teeth started to fall out hitting the floor with light thumps. The eyelids were drooping in without the support of the eyeballs. In another minute the bones began surfing up, and yet that wasn't the end either. The body, or what was left of it, didn't stop decaying until it was nothing but a pile of dust. Feeling helpless in the face of what must have been an awful curse, Aldrich began scooping up the dust, but it dispersed quickly, too, leaving him with nothing but dirty hands.
As he looked up with horror in his eyes, his worries were dispelled and he quickly started weeping out of joy as Jerrick, his best friend, started to materialise right in front of him. He had forgotten about the ashes that were lying on the ground, covering his knees and hands. He had forgotten all the horrific views as he finally saw his dearest companion in flesh and blood.
Time has passed, and here we are 10 years after everything has happened. It turned out that Jerrick was also a part of a curse. Unwilling to let go, his mother’s pain gave birth to a monster, made from suffering and agony. Yet, as Aldrich treated the dragon with compassion, the curse was lifted and Jerrick’s magic, which had brought death upon him, dispersed into the universe. But even after all those years, no one could understand who was the man that Aldrich had seen. Some said it was a human, who the dragon ate at some point, while the others said that there had never been a man.
But who can ever know…?
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