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Annette had never known what it meant to stare death in the face until today.
As a traveling sorceress, she knew she would have to face danger. Many beasts and bandits roamed the land, and protecting the weak from them was one of her chief duties. In fact, that very duty is what led her to her current predicament.
During her travels, she'd caught wind of a tiny mountain village in peril. Several moons ago, a ferocious dragon claimed a nearby cavern as its home, and it would routinely ransack the village and devour the villagers whole. Many brave warriors set out to slay the dragon, but none returned. Things were getting so bad that the villagers were beginning to consider permanently leaving the place they had called home for generations.
Annette was not about to let this travesty go ignored. She vowed to stop the dragon and its reign of terror, no matter what. So she boldly headed to the cave where the dragon resided, hoping to put an end to this before more people died.
Now that she was here, though, the magnitude of her task was dreadfully apparent. The dragon was enormous. Although its black scales made it hard to see in the dim light of the cave, she could see its form curled up in the center of the chamber, fast asleep. It was easily several times larger than any horse or wild beast she'd seen, and she had no doubt that its massive jaws could snap her up in a single bite.
She swallowed and refocused on what she needed to do. She hadn't come all this way just to get cold feet at the moment of truth. The villagers were counting on her to succeed. She took a deep breath, reached for her magic, and unleashed an Excalibur at the sleeping dragon's head.
The spell hit its mark, and the dragon roared in pain and fury. It got to its feet and head whipped around violently. It took only seconds for its eerie yellow eyes to focus on Annette. It snarled at her and lunged, but she was ready for it. She leapt out of the way and launched another Excalibur as its jaws closed on the spot she'd just been standing.
The dragon roared again and lashed out with its tail. Using her control of wind to help her, Annette leapt over the tail before continuing her assault. She continued to run and blast it with wind magic even as it unleashed a torrent of flames at her. She couldn't afford to stop moving—the dragon was faster than it looked, and even an instant of complacency would spell her end.
Their vicious dance continued for what felt like hours. Annette leapt, flew, and dove out of the way of vicious talons, snapping jaws, fierce flames, and a whiplike tail. Her one solace was that the cavern was not large enough for the dragon to take flight. An airborne dragon was infinitely more dangerous.
At long last, the dragon began to tire. Blood dripped out from the many cuts and gashes Annette had inflicted with her Wind magic, and its breathing was labored. Annette was at her limits, too. Her stores of magic had nearly run dry, and all of her running and jumping had left her exhausted. Her fatigue had rendered her sloppy—part of her left arm was singed from the dragon's flames, and her right thigh sported a gash from when she was an instant too slow in dodging a razor-sharp talon. This had to end now.
Annette dipped into the last dredges of her magic and poured it all into one final Excalibur. The dragon tried to twist out of the way, but its injuries slowed its movements, and the spell struck it over its heart. It let out one last pained roar before it collapsed and lay still.
Annette caught her breath and watched the dragon for several seconds, but it did not move. She relaxed her stance and a huge smile spread across her face.
"I did it," she murmured. "I did it!"
She leapt into the air and whooped with joy. The village was safe now, the tale of her exploits would surely spread far and wide. Maybe the news would even reach her father’s ears—
A low growl cut through her celebration like a sharp blade. Annette froze as the dragon she'd thought was dead opened its eyes and tried to push itself off the ground. Its great limbs struggled with the exertion, and it was clear it was in a lot of pain, but its yellow eyes burned with determination.
"No," Annette whispered. She was completely spent—she didn't have the power to summon the simplest of Wind spells anymore. If the dragon hadn't perished after enduring every spell she had in her, then what was she going to do?
The dragon's legs gave way under it and it collapsed once again. Undeterred, it tried once again to get up. As grievously wounded as it was, it refused to admit defeat. Annette almost felt sorry for it. She took a cautious step towards it and earned a snarl for her trouble.
"Stop that," Annette snapped. "I couldn't do anything more to you if I tried. We're both spent, so why don't you just give up already?"
Unsurprisingly, the dragon only continued to growl at her. Annette huffed in frustration and crossed her arms.
"Fine, be that way. But I'm not moving from here until you keel over or until I regain enough strength to finish you off."
She knew talking to the dragon like it could understand her was silly, but it made her feel better. And it wasn't like she had anything better to do while she waited for it to succumb to its wounds. She couldn't call this a successful job until she was certain the dragon was dead.
The dragon proved incredibly stubborn. It could barely move, but it continued to glare at Annette even as its life force slowly bled away. It was taking so long to die that Annette started to get bored watching it. She began to quietly sing some of her own compositions to pass the time. Maybe it was her imagination, but as she sang, she could have sworn something changed in the dragon's eyes. It almost looked interested, somehow. That didn't make any sense, though. A feral beast shouldn't understand or be interested in her singing.
Eventually, the dragon became too weak to hold itself upright. It slumped over, and its huge yellow eyes slowly drifted shut. Annette cautiously stepped closer to it and listened as its breathing slowed. As she did so, she began to detect something else. There was sharp, bitter tang in the air, and it instantly put Annette on edge. Why was the dragon's breath tainted with the stench of dark magic?
Throwing caution to the wind, Annette got close to the dragon's head and touched its snout. She quickly confirmed what she had begun to suspect: the dragon's body was covered with dark magic. There was a curse at work here.
Unfortunately, given that her magic was drained and the dragon's rapidly dwindling life force, she didn't think there was anything she could do. Then, she remembered that she had one last resort. After assisting another village in the past, the village elder had given her a small hand mirror. The elder claimed the mirror had the power to reveal one's true form, and that since Annette was a sorceress, it may prove useful to her.
Annette had been skeptical at first, but when she took hold of the mirror, she could sense the magic sealed inside. Now it was time to put that magic to the test. She pulled the mirror out of her satchel and held it in front of the dragon.
Nothing happened.
Annette growled in frustration. Was she missing something? Or was it already too late? She quickly checked on the dragon, and it was still breathing, but she could tell time was running out. She wracked her brain for what she could be doing wrong. If the mirror showed the truth, why wasn't it working?
Perhaps… The truth laid within.
Getting a sudden idea, Annette gathered every ounce of her strength and forced the dragon's jaws open. This was incredibly stupid, but she was running out time and options. Once she created an opening large enough to fit her arm into, she tossed the mirror down the dragon's throat and leapt back.
For several long seconds, the dragon was still. Then, a brilliant golden light began to envelop its form. It grew so intense that Annette had to cover her eyes. When the light faded, the dragon was gone. Instead, the magic mirror lay on the ground before the prone body of a young man.
Annette's heart froze as she rushed up to the man. Saints, the dragon had been a human all along!
"Hey! Are you alright?" she cried as she knelt by his side.
The young man groaned softly, and Annette breathed a sigh of relief. Good, he was still alive. She looked over him and was surprised to see that he was unharmed despite the terrible wounds his dragon form had endured. The curse must have been very powerful.
The man pushed himself off the ground, allowing Annette to get a better look at him. He was lean yet muscular, with long dark hair and sharp facial features. Annette felt her heart stutter. Not only was the dragon a man, he was an attractive man.
Now she was really glad she didn't kill him.
The man looked down at his hands in surprise. "I… I'm back?"
"Mm-hm," said Annette. "That was one nasty curse. I never would have guessed that you were really a human. I almost killed you back there!"
The man looked over at her and frowned. "It's a good thing you didn't, or you would have become the curse's next victim."
"Huh?!" Annette exclaimed.
"I came here to slay the dragon that had been tormenting a nearby village," the man said. "I managed to lay the dragon low, but the moment it took its last breath, a black fog spewed from its body and surrounded me. My body became wracked with unimaginable pain, and before my eyes, it began to change. I became the very thing I'd just slain. And… I don't think I was the only victim, either."
Annette gasped and shuddered in horror. She'd heard of curses that take hold upon death, but never one this diabolical. If she hadn't run out of magic or didn't use the mirror in time, she would have turned into a dragon as well! How many others had suffered the curse before she brought the cycle to an end?
"I don't know how you managed to break the curse, but… thank you," the man continued.
"It's no problem at all!" Annette said. "I love helping others! It's why I came here in the first place."
The man raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought you loved steaks and cakes."
Annette choked and sputtered uncontrollably. "Y-You HEARD that?!"
"You did sing right in front of me, you know."
"But I thought— I didn't know— You— You VILLAIN!"
"So I'm a villain now that I'm not trying to eat you?" the man asked.
Annette growled at him. "You're still a villain; just a different kind! How much did you hear, anyway?"
"I don't remember too much from when I was a dragon," the man confessed. "But I vaguely remember fighting, and I definitely remember hearing you sing. Maybe the curse had weakened because I was so close to death."
"Maybe I should have let you die after all," Annette grumbled, cheeks flaming. "This is so embarrassing…"
"You'd rather be a dragon?" the man asked. "Although I think a swamp beastie would be more interesting."
"STOP!" Annette cried. "Do you get a kick out of making fun of complete strangers or something?"
The man gave her a befuddled expression. "I'm not making fun of—"
"Liar!" Annette snapped. "You're enjoying tormenting me, aren't you? Well fine, be that way! You can get down this sorry mountain by yourself! See if I ever do anything for you again!"
With that, Annette snatched the mirror off the ground and stormed out of the cave. The man watched her go, completely bewildered.
"What a weird girl," he remarked. He got to his feet, brushed himself off, and followed her outside. Now that he was free of the curse, there were many things he needed to do, but tracking that girl down was at the top of the list.
He still hadn't learned what a swamp beastie was, after all.