Black Dragon Brother

[nijibug]

There lived a boy who had done so many unforgivable things that his heart grew dark and cold and eventually lifeless. As he lay breathing his last alone beneath the starry sky, he heard voices above him.

"Look at him. He is so young."

"It can't be helped; they don't live long anyways."

Someone reached down straight into his chest and he felt a great weight lifting. For a moment he saw a coal-black stone. There was a noise and a puff of dust.

"What have you done? Why, you've completely destroyed it!"

"Without a heart, he has no chance to live!"

Wordlessly, the one who had crushed his heart to powder plucked a star out of the night. It was a yellow star of medium size. As it pulsed and glowed above his empty chest, the boy felt heavier than anything on earth yet lighter than anything in heaven.

The star was placed with utter and deliberate gentleness into the space that his heart had vacated.

"Now you will live forever."



"A duck hears but cannot understand the thunder."

Eirendi cocked her head, perplexed. "I'm no duck, but I can't understand the thunder either!"