shadowed side of the moon
this time, he dreams of a war, and this time, he knows how to fight in it.
a horror-stained boy, charcoal black eyes and hands and armor, he molds himself into a warrior this time, a darkened knight, something coughed up from the dredges of tartarus, something vomited back from the edge of space, the shadowed side of the moon, the forgotten places between stars. this time, he is the scourge and he deserves every condemnation, every ghost story muttered under hidden breaths as he walks on by, worthy of the tattooed brand of villainy his father burned into his forehead, worthy of the myths of his birth, the way the earth cracked wide enough to behold him.
this time when habaek awakes and pulls the dragon into the world with him, he’s ready for it, ready for the scales and mouths and claws, ready for its multitude of eyes and tails, for the sixteen wings and insatiable hunger, ready for its fearsome snap-attack, its jaws biting and gnawing on him. habaek’s stiffness lasts a thankfully short amount of time, but it’s still enough for the creature to bend the black armor into his legs, the metal scratching against him, before habaek regains control of himself and slashes upwards with the sword-- a broad-bladed weapon, damn near taller than habaek himself, glowing and heated and singing. the creature breaks contact and then breaks through his window, out into the spring midday sunlight, taking part of the wall out with it on its retreat before twisting midair and diving downwards.
habaek takes a running leap and catches the thing by its horns before it disappears, landing on its back and driving it towards the ground, into trees and bushes and grass and stones, meaning to guide it into the forest, away from the other kids in the academy, but he only gets a moment before it careens instead into the building once again, through another window and into one of the main cafeterias. it curls and flings him off, his sword flying away from him, his body crashing into a table, and he feels more than sees the streaks of fire it hisses out after him, hot and scorching him further but not damaging him. at this point he can only hope the scaly bastard doesn’t hurt anyone else before he can stab it to death.