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From the writings of Edwin, emperor of all magical creatures and lord of the Dragon Empire

Lady Camilla’s bloodstained earrings lay on the table in front of me. The large diamonds glittered dimly under the blood that had not yet set. It was strange how two exquisite pieces of jewelry that had once been so admired could now provoke horror. No one wished to keep them. They were brought to me. I remembered perfectly the day I had seen them still in the ears of their rightful owner. She was a charming woman: delicate and graceful. Expensive jewelry suited her very well. And she was justifiably proud of it. Especially she was proud of those earrings. Not only because of their beauty and cost, but also because of some long history associated with them. Rumor had it that they were made for her by an unearthly jeweler at the request of a lover… It was a very romantic story with a touch of magic.

And now a dragon’s claws have ripped those earrings from her ears. Not my claws!

I sat and stared at the shimmering jewels for a long time. Somehow the blood on them seemed to me even more tempting than the diamonds themselves. I vividly pictured the sharp claws, each larger than a large mace, reaching up to Camilla’s horrified face, scratching her cheeks and greedily tearing the gold pendants right out of her flesh. I’ve always marveled at the custom of women piercing their ears to insert the hooks of earrings directly into living flesh. Why was the torture? The shiny pendants were begging for someone to rip them right out of their earlobes along with the blood and flesh. And someone did. Only this time, it wasn’t me. But hadn’t I done the same thing myself in the past?

The jewels that glittered enticingly on the necks and ears of ladies often attracted me. Perhaps even more than women’s beauty can attract me. Sometimes, I seduced only to turn into a dragon, snatch the jewelry and fly away, leaving the victim only a lot of scars in the places where rubies or sapphires were shining before. Not that I was greedy, but the glitter of gems suddenly captivated me and I acted on instinct.

And then someone else began to repeat my actions.

Another dragon!

How long it had been since the others had been seen or heard of. Even the rumors of them had lost their relevance. And then a half-crazed woman with a burnt face swore before she died that a dragon breathed on her face.

Rumors immediately spread through the neighborhood. Those who knew me knew perfectly well it wasn’t me. First of all, I didn’t care about Lady Camilla and her meager wealth. Secondly, I hadn’t been out of the castle for days. I had a country to run. And now I had a rival. It was a creature as strong as I was, but out of my control. It struck a direct blow – made known. I had to do something about it.

When my subjects brought me the bloody earrings, they were only warning me against inaction. It wasn’t the earrings themselves; the problem was the creature that had begun to act in the same ways I had. And, apparently, it possessed the same powers I did. Recently, it had begun to raid without separating human settlements from the habitats of the super beings. In addition to the dead, there were many disgruntled and injured. Everyone expected me to do something about it.

But for some reason, I was strangely indifferent. I looked at the fresh blood scarlet on my earrings and felt a bit hypnotized. Perhaps the dragon, unknown to me, had done the right thing. It was high time to instill fear in both humans and non-humans. It had been so long since I had committed any atrocities.

The earrings torn from the dead woman’s ears seemed like an act of justice to me, too. She had no right to wear them. They were indeed made by an unearthly master. Now that the blood had begun to soak into the surface of the stones, I noticed it too, as others had noticed and gossiped before. No reason to spread unnecessary gossip about us across the land. There are plenty of curious ones already.

In fact, I needed to think about how to capture and subdue another dragon. But I was in no hurry to set spells and snares. A girl I’d never seen before persisted in my mind. Half of her face was covered vertically by a patterned mask. Her eyes were like gems implanted in flesh. Her appearance superseded all other thoughts.

Like a ghost, she flickered beside me every time I was alone in the darkness, alone with the sparks of the fire dying out in the fireplace. She seemed as capable as I was of breathing fire and lighting a sorcerer’s flame right on the coals.

She would have loved the trophy that now lay before me. And the sight of blood on the jewelry would captivate her, not frighten her. On a sudden impulse, I leaned over the tabletop and licked the blood off the earrings. After all this time, it hadn’t clotted yet, but it wasn’t warm anymore. It wasn’t much, but the familiar taste made the beast in me wake up again.