A towering beast loomed before them—its presence alone sent chills down the spine. It wasn't just any creature. It was a dragon.
The moment Lucas laid eyes on it, terror gripped him like never before. His voice trembled as he stammered,
"Th-th-that's a... dragon! What's it doing here?"
Dragons belonged to the high, unreachable peaks of ancient mountains—not the heart of this dense, shadowy jungle.
Everything around him was frozen in place. Then, without warning, the dragon let out a deafening roar that shattered the silence and shook the forest to its roots. Lucas heard it so close, so powerfully, it felt as if his heart had stopped. But then... something strange caught his attention.
This roar—it wasn't a roar of fury.
It was a cry of pain.
Lucas's thoughts raced. He remembered the countless books he'd read in his grandfather's library. One, in particular, flashed through his mind: "The Legendary Creature Who Can Live a Thousand Years." It was all about dragons.
He recalled something crucial—dragons, when they roar, always unfurl their mighty wings and storm through the skies. But this dragon... its wings remained still. And each roar echoed not with rage—but with agony.
Lucas stared, breath caught in his throat.
Suddenly, the dragon raised one of its colossal claws.
Lucas's eyes widened in disbelief as the dragon merely waved it in his direction—and yet, the sheer force of that gesture was enough to rip trees from their roots, sending them crashing to the ground like toothpicks.
Still, somehow, Lucas kept his footing. Climbing a nearby slope, he emerged face-to-face with the beast.
And what a sight it was.
Its shimmering scales caught the dim light like polished obsidian, its size dwarfing everything around it. Lucas stood frozen, mind racing. "I hid my mana... and yet it still sensed me. How?"
Then it hit him—dragons are creatures bound not just by strength, but by deep, ancient magic. They feel mana like a second heartbeat. They can use it, bend it, read it.
But even knowing this... Lucas reminded himself: "A dragon is no plaything."
The fear tried to take over. His legs wanted to buckle, his instincts screamed at him to run.
But he didn't.
He clenched his fists, heart pounding, and stepped forward. He was ready to fight.
And so was the dragon.
It opened its jaws wide, revealing rows of gleaming, sword-like teeth. Lucas could feel the energy around him twist and surge. "It's coming," he thought, "this is it... it's going to attack."
But then—
Just as the beast reared back to strike, a sudden, agonized shriek tore through the air.
The dragon's head snapped back, its roar not of rage this time, but of unbearable suffering. The sound echoed like thunder across the jungle.
And in that moment... everything changed.
Lucas stumbled backward, eyes wide, as the dragon let out a deafening roar of pain and collapsed with a thunderous crash. The ground shook. Dust swirled around the enormous body now lying motionless before him.
"It… fainted?" Lucas whispered in disbelief. "Is it… dead?"
His instincts screamed at him to run. This is your chance—go! Escape before it wakes up again! But something held him back. Something wasn't right.
As he inched closer, heart pounding, Lucas noticed it—just by the dragon's leg, a deep, gaping wound. Blood was streaming out, soaking the earth beneath. It wasn't just hurt. It was dying.
Lucas froze. It's bleeding out… if this keeps going, it won't survive.
He wanted to help, yet fear clawed at his chest. If the dragon woke while he was near, he wouldn't stand a chance. Still… he wasn't someone who could just walk away.
Then, a memory stirred—his grandfather's voice, long ago.
"In this world, there are ancient beasts... and the dragons are the most mysterious of them all. They don't just live for thousands of years—they understand mana like no other. They don't eat like us. They absorb the world's mana to survive. To heal. To live."
Lucas's eyes lit up with realization. "Maybe… maybe I can save it. Maybe if I give it my mana…"
Step by hesitant step, Lucas approached the mighty creature. It was still breathing, but only barely. He raised his hands, channeling his mana into his palms, and touched the dragon's scaly hide.
The dragon stirred.
Its eye cracked open—barely. It saw the boy, felt the weak mana flowing into its body, and scoffed inwardly. "This foolish child… does he really think his tiny spark of mana can heal a wound like this? Still… if I can leech a bit more life from him, perhaps I can last a little longer."
Lucas gritted his teeth and continued, pouring all he had into the dragon. Minutes passed. Then an hour.
He was running dry.
"If I keep going… I'll die. But if I stop now, it will die too," he thought. "What do I do?"
His knees buckled. His vision blurred. Still, he didn't stop. He closed his eyes, determined to give just a little more.
And then—it happened.
A spark ignited within him. A surge of crimson energy erupted through his veins. It wasn't ordinary mana—it was pure, raw, untamed.
The dragon jolted. "What… what is this? This mana—it's not just powerful. It's… absolute. Pure."
It turned its massive head toward Lucas, stunned.
"This child… this human… where is this power coming from? This isn't possible."
The flow of red energy grew stronger. Lucas, barely conscious, let it pour from his core into the dragon's wound. The gash began to close—slowly at first, then faster. Scales regrew. The bleeding stopped.
The dragon rose.
For the first time in centuries, it felt whole again.
And Lucas collapsed.
The boy lay motionless at the dragon's feet, his body trembling, breath shallow. The dragon loomed over him, its eyes glowing. One bite. One snap of its jaws—and the child would be gone.
It lowered its head.
But it didn't bite.
The dragon stared, conflicted.
"He saved my life. A mere child. He should've run, and yet… he stayed."
"What would I gain by killing him now? What would that make me?"
With a long, rumbling sigh, the dragon turned away.
And for the first time in his long, lonely life… it owed a human a debt.