Chapter 414: Regret of the Wood Dragon - Part 1 (1/2)
Miaomiao had a long dream.
In his dream, he found himself as a little lizard inside a large cave. Several of his lizard siblings had just been born from several eggs, and they started making noise.
Miaomiao looked around in confusion. He forgot everything that he had done before he became a lizard. Moreover, the memory of when he was living in the modern world vanished.
He thought of himself as one of the newborn lizards.
”SQUEAK!”
Like other siblings, Miaomiao started crying, trying to get the attention of someone.
A minute later, a massive lizard with green scales approached them.
Miaomiao looked back at his mother. It was a massive dragon with two luster brown antlers. Silver maple leaves grew from the dragon's horns.
The dragon carried a dead human body to the small lizards with her mouth. She tossed it to them.
”Eat.”
SQUEAK!
Six lizards rushed to the corpse and began tearing the limbs apart, fighting for the best juicy meat. Even Miaomiao instinctively joined the fray and snatched the dead human's head.
Strangely, the human's head was smaller than his jaws. Miaomiao easily crushed the skull with soft teeth.
The brain, blood, and meat on the skull were oily and soft. Though the hair pricked his throat and its foul smell annoyed him.
Seeing how her children managed to fight for the food, the dragon nodded in satisfaction. She looked at the weak ones, who failed to get the meat.
The weak lizards wailed and tried their best to scavenge for some leftover. However, the three siblings, except for Miaomiao, had monopolized the treasure trove.
SQUEAK!
After eating the dead human's brain, Miaomiao's conscience and memory slowly came back. He started to remember who he was, but everything was still hazy.
Again, his body moved by itself. He turned to the weak siblings, who only got a small chunk of flesh.
”…”
Miaomiao pushed the strong siblings and pulled out the long intestines of the dead human. Then, he dragged them to the other three weak lizards.
SQUEAK!
He didn't know why, but his instinct told him to share some of the food with the guys.
The three weak siblings gazed at Miaomiao with their bright eyes before they began chowing on the precious food.
The mother stared at Miaomiao with a deep frown.
”Compassion will get you killed, Cernun. Don't give away your food or help your siblings. Let them fight for it. Otherwise, they will grow weak, and they will eventually be hunted down by those vile immortals.”
”…”
Miaomiao looked at his mother and tilted his head to the side. Then, he shook his head and squeal as if he disagreed.
”You're too kind, way too kind to be a respectable dragon, Cernun. I wonder if you get that from your father, or someone's soul has reincarnated as my child.”
Squeak?
Although Miaomiao partly remembered who he was, he couldn't control his body. He lowered his head and his sight, sulking from getting scold.
”Remember, your siblings will eventually turn against you when you all grow up. You all will compete for territory, mates, and food. Don't be afraid of killing your future competitors now and get stronger by eating their flesh and blood. We, Wood Dragons, must always strive for greater strength and make use of nature's Life Essence. We are gifted for having the highest affinity with Heaven and Earth Qi, so our potential surpasses other dragon races. We must get stronger and rule over other dragons! Remember that, children.”
…
Miaomiao lost count of how long he had been stuck inside the baby wood dragon's body. Many years passed by while Miaomiao and other siblings slowly grew up.
At first, there were seven siblings, including Miaomiao.
He didn't know when it started, but the eldest brother kept bullying other siblings, such as stealing food, kicking them out of the nest, hoarding treasures to himself, and physically beating. Even Miaomiao was attacked in his sleep sometimes.
One day, the bully dragon bit Miaomiao's antler horns and tried to break them for fun. However, Miaomiao's body automatically fought back by seizing the bully's neck.
During the bullying period, Miaomiao regained all his conscience and his memory. By the time that he realized that everything was a dream, Cernun, the owner of the dragon's body, snapped the bully's neck with his powerful front legs.
Just like that, the first sibling died by Cernun's hands.
Cernun gazed at the dead sibling with sad eyes. Then, he cried.
”Cernun, are you crying again?”
The mother returned and found the corpse of her child. Instead of getting angry, she smiled as if she was proud of Cernun.
”He tried to break my horns.”
”He did what he has to do. You are stronger, so you are the victor.”
”But I didn't want to kill him.”
”The weak die, and the strong lives on. That's how nature works.”
”But that's wrong…”
BOOM
The mother dragon stomped on Miaomiao's back.
”Listen here, Cernun. If you keep whining, I'll kick you out of the cave. If you think you can survive the harsh world with your so-called ”Kindness”, how about you go out there and live alone for 1,000 years?”
”… I'm sorry, mother.”
”Hmm!”
...
After that fateful day, Cernun no longer showed mercy to his siblings. The next day, he killed every remaining sibling in the cave when they were sleeping.
After taking down the last sibling, he turned to his mother, staring at her with bloodshot eyes.
The mother simply smiled at Cernun and gave him the approval nod. Then, she flew from the cave and never returned.
After the mother left him forever, Cernun just sat there in the middle of the cave alone, wailing.
He didn't want to do this.
He felt bad.
He regretted being born!
…
'This is too depressing.'
Miaomiao observed the event from the perspective of the dragon. Now, he realized that he had been experiencing someone's past in his dream.
It was a weird experience. He could feel the overwhelming sadness in Cernun's heart, and he instinctively shed tears as the dragon's emotion affected him as well.
While Miaomiao was observing the dragon child, he started hearing the deep voice of someone.
[At that time, I thought that the world was too harsh for me. I also wanted to commit suicide right away.]
”!!!”
Miaomiao wanted to look around to find the source of the voice, but his dragon body refused to move. After all, he was experiencing the memory of someone else.
[But I was a coward back then. I didn't even have the courage to smash my head against the wall. I simply abandon all hope and lived my life as a coward dragon.]
”…”
The voice ceased. However, Miaomiao could tell that it might be the voice of the dragon, who had been watching his old memory.
…
The memory dream went on for 10,000 years.