Glory

Blue blood dripped from his sword as the great dragon fell to the ground with a thunderous crash. The aged hero staggered toward the fallen beast, its once brilliant black eyes watching as he collapsed against its massive side. Letting out a few pained breaths, he let his sword splash into the gore which pooled around him. He tentatively removed his gloved hand from his stomach and looked at it. The leather was already stained a sanguine color. He sighed and leaned back against the fallen creature. With a single glance at its dead eyes he made a decision.

He paused only a moment to examine the red attempting to fill in the creases before he cast his worn gloves to the side. He let his fingertips trail along the entity beside him, marveling at the lustrous rainbows he coaxed from the silver scales. Brushing the back of his hand against a particularly sleek patch, he felt a sudden sticky warmth cling to his knuckles. The indigotic fluid shimmered alluringly against the tan backdrop of his hand. He watched with interest as the bronze sheen shifted with even the slightest curl of his fingers. The coruscation seemed to spell out an approaching madness, delayed for only the shortest of moments.

Closing his eyes briefly, he dropped his hand to his side. It fell in the dirty pool beside him. The knight glanced at it, noting the spreading swirls of red and blue merging around it with an almost hypnotic intention. He marked the liquids’ progress as it struggled to reach the crimson sunset, making use of every vein in the current landscape. He looked back at his hand and scooped up a handful. With a single tremor of the wrist droplets began to fall, splashing to the ground in meaningless patterns. He watched as the last of the dripping delirium fell to the ground before he threw his head back against the great beast and howled out a mixture of rage and hysteria. As the sun rested between the hilltops and the stars prepared themselves for a night out, a man lay dying, his thoughts consumed by the revelation which only death could bring.