“Dad?”

“Yes, son?”

“I had a dream about a dragon.”

“A dragon, huh!”

“Yeah.”

“Was it a good dream or a scary dream?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Was the dragon mean or friendly?”

“It was inside my head.”

“Was it flying?”

“No.”

“What was it doing inside your head?”

“Talking.”

“What was it saying?”

“My name.”

“And what else?”

“It wants me to go to where it is.”

“Did it say why?”

“It wants to fly and eat and have babies.”

“Wow! That was a weird dream. Before you went to sleep, did you turn on the TV and watch a movie about dragons and knights and kings and such?”

“No.”

“Oh, I think you did. It’s okay if you did. I won’t punish you for that, but I will have to do something about you not telling me the truth. We spoke about that before. Remember?”

“I am telling you the truth, dad.”

“Okay. I believe you. I’m sorry I made you cry. Come here. Let me hug you. If you said you had a dream about a dragon, I believe you. If you tell me that you didn’t turn on the TV, I believe you. I trust you. I love you.”

“I love you too, daddy.”

***

Alexander. Did you know that your name means protector? I need you to protect me. In this new world, I am too different. People will be afraid of me if I come out without your help. I do not understand this strange new world, but you, you are of this world and can help me to understand it. Please come to me. I have been searching for someone like you for millennia. I have had to wait and sleep and search for such a long time. Please come.

But I am only eleven years old. You are more than three thousand years old. How can I help you?

You can help me to understand. Please help me to understand.

As Alex turned in bed, his eyes opened. Yellow, cat-like eyes stared back at him from his mirror. He sat up in bed and realized that they were his own eyes. Then they were gone. His eyes became his own again.

The room was dark, full of shadows. Alex got up and crossed the room to the window. He felt a tugging at his heart, heard the beating of his own, but also, in the background, just below his own sound was the sound of another heart, slowly synchronizing, until both beat as one.

***

“Dad?”

“Eat your pancakes or they’ll get cold.”

“The dragon needs my help.”

“You dreamed about the dragon again?”

“It wants me to go to where it sleeps.”

“Wow, buddy! That’s some dream.”

“It’s not a dream.”

“What?”

“It talks to me. In my head. I don’t know—“

“How long have you been hearing his voice in your head, buddy?” Michael had always been a loving, caring dad. Since Eva, his wife, died while giving birth to Alex, Michael had become everything that Alexander needed. Michael sensed that they were entering new territory. He had never worried about Alex’ mental well-being until this moment.

“It’s not always a voice. I don’t know. Sometimes I feel it here.” He pointed to his chest.

“What do you feel?” Michael’s own heart began to pound on his chest. He would research child psychologists, just for an evaluation. He remembered his own childhood. His wild imagination. How he got himself into trouble for wanting to fly off the roof of his home and his own father stopping him just before it was too late. Kids get into trouble. It’s the way of things. Hearing voices, though, was new territory, better explored than ignored.

“My heart beating like the dragon’s.”

“Like the dragon’s? Wow! Does that mean that you have a big heart? That’s a whole lot of love!”

Laughter filled the kitchen.

***

“Does the dragon tell you to hurt people?”

“No.”

“What does he tell you?”

“It needs my help.”

“Why your help and not your dad’s?”

“I don’t know.”

“Has he spoken to you before?”

“It wants my help.”

“What does he want?”

“To be free.”

***

“An overactive imagination. Does he have friends in school?”

“He does. There are two other boys that he hangs out with in the school yard.”

“You should continue to monitor him, but also, let him stay over his friends’ homes from time to time. It will eventually distract him and the dragon should ‘disappear.’”

“Thank you so very much doctor. And thank you for your information. Should things remain the same, I’ll reschedule another appointment.”

***

Michael arranged a sleep-over for Alex and the boys. It was a three day weekend because of the holiday, so the men were going to camp-out in the back yard in Michael’s ten person tent. All the comforts of home just a quick stroll across the yard. The hope was that Alex would have so much fun that he would forget the dragon altogether. Games of horseshoes, relay race, bean-bag tic-tac-toe, water balloon fights and the like kept them busy all day and into the evening. Michael grilled hot-dogs, hamburgers, corn-on-the-cob, bought three kinds of pie and six kinds of ice creams. By the end of the weekend, the boys were so exhausted that they longed for their own beds and a quiet night in front of the TV.

Michael quietly walked into the living-room and turned off the Television. The boys were unconscious. As he crossed the room to turn off the lights, he noticed that Alex’ eyes were still open.

“Hey, buddy.” He whispered, but to Michael’s surprise it wasn’t Alex that looked back. Yellow cat-like eyes, immobile, stared at the ceiling. They had not shifted. Michael was at a loss as to what to do. Then Alex blinked.

“Dad?”

“Alex!” Michael grabbed him and hugged him.

“What’s wrong?” Alex yawned his question.

“Nothing, buddy. I’m sorry. Go back to sleep. I love you, son.”

“I love you too.” He whispered, just before passing out again.

***

“Everybody ready? All seat-belts fastened, right, Alex?”

“Oh, sorry, dad!” Michael was distracted as well and he wondered if he would kill them all on the road before getting everyone to school. He had no one to turn to for what he saw last night.

After dropping off the boys, he called one of the other moms to take care of Alex while he did his research. He would spend the day at the library trying to get background information on dragons and demons and possessions. He never believed in any of the supernatural and then he saw Alex’ eyes and knew that it was not his son that he saw last night.

After several hours of reading, he visited the nearest cathedral to speak to a priest about what he had seen. The priest was full of the usual information that you see in any typical Hollywood film. Michael felt that he had wasted his time with him. He went to a local Pentecostal church and spoke to the pastor there. More of the same information. He may as well had been talking to the priest.

He decided on a new angle. There was no way that he was going to traumatize his little boy with rituals. He wanted his boy back and whole. He decided on a road trip with Alex. They would find this dragon or whatever it was, find its weakness and Michael would kill it.

He had been given holy water by the priest. The pastor handed him a vile of anointed oil. Until he looked into his boys eyes and saw something else, someone else, he had not believed in the other-worldy. Now, he feared. That fear made him angry. He fed the anger, he believed that it would help him to protect his boy.

***

“Dad, are you a wizard?”

“What makes you ask that?” He feigned laughter, but worried that Alex saw right through him. He never had any reason to be anything less than completely truthful with his son, now, all he wanted to do was protect his boy; whatever it took.

“I can’t believe that my teacher is okay with me taking a road trip with you.”

“Not so fast, son. She gave me copies of the assignments that you are supposed to be working on while we are away.”

“Oh.” The disappointment made Michael laugh.

Haya though he knew everything about the dragons of old--how magnificent beings they were, with shining scales stronger than diamond, and wings that spanned villages. But nothing prepared him for this... being that stood before him.

It was a dragon. Yet...

Its eyes were red, with blood dropping from them. As it moved, its skin would go brittle and break, wounding it. It folded its wings, which were nothing more than bones, around its body protectively, as if afraid that a mere touch would shatter it.

This dragon was decaying.

Questions flooded through Haya but only one came out of his mouth. "Who are you?"

The dragon took a step but as soon as its front leg held its weight, the bones underneath it broke, and the dragon fell on the ground. Yet it continued to move forward, even if it was crawling.

Haya stood paralyzed as the dragon laid down its fragile head in front of him, exposing its neck. He, then, realized what the dragon wanted.

With a final look to the downed being, Haya raised his sword and brought it down to the dragon.

He was Haya, the dragonslayer, but for the first time, he shed a tear for his victim.