The Kiss of Immortal Love

~ I ~

Hido the Beloved

Their blades had clashed in the middle, contentiously onto the other, their steels burning orange upon flaring sparks. At the cross of their blades, the two heads butted in the space between, blue scales against purple, green eyes locked with those of gold.

"Cute to see you trying so hard, little brother!"

Hido pulled his head back and slammed it forward, just as the other pulled himself away, who set his foot on the coming legs, his claw smacking into the blue neck. He tripped forward, and the force pushed him onto the ground, his claws recovering as it sliced through the smooth rock—blade already lifted to deflect the strike of the other coming down.

He grinned. "Starting to play dirty, huh? Now you're learning! Dragons like us don't have what it takes to play fair!'

Hido pushed the blades to the lift, twirling on the spot, inflicting momentum in the sweep of his leg. Feeling the focus of the dragon upon it, he chuckled, joining his sword into the twirl. "You lack training! Absorb everything into a single focus!"

The dragon readied his blade for the twirl of the sword, but the veracity of the sweep plucked his legs left. Lost in a sideways fall, the dragon blinked at the coming swing of steel. He tensed, flicking his sword before his face—the weak hold, posture, and form rattling the force of the crashing metals to violently shake throughout his style.

Hido tensed his muscle seconds before the blow. Wind crashed backed from the strike blastingthe otter backward, who collapsed and tumbled and rolled across rock, all erupting volcanoes composed their score. Red sky and grey clouds and the rolling body of a dragon striking like a bowling ball into a pile of bones cleaned of meat.

"Now, tell me something." Hido recovered to his feet with ease, not a mark, no soot of ash on his polished scales. "Is there a better day to train?! The rage of the lands vibrating beneath our feet. Sky bloodied from the thirst of our fangs? How long will you continue to disappoint father?"

From the hill of skeletons emerged a blast forward, bones clattering from the sides as purple blurred forward. Hido didn't even bother with the display as his expression entered dismay. In seeing the force of the strike down upon him, he yawned, tilting his blade upward. Force pressed upon it, strong he must admit—nothing to a typical dragon.

He guided the force right, feeling the younger sibling into its direction and, with a turn of his own, delivered four knuckles into poor dragon's face. Nothing had to be done about it. Spike forced himself into the attack and the strike. The fist was merely there—he made it into a punch.

Hido watched the dragon fly back from his own attack, his own force and momentum used against him, such a shame. Spike slid on his back, his sword rolling and clattering beside him—grabbed before the ride was done. Just as he rose, however, Hido sheathed his sword.

"We are not like other dragons, brother," Hido said as he strolled toward the fallen dragon, offering his claw. "Everything comes to a balance when you think about it. We are a fraction of a full dragon's strength... but still easily stronger than most in these lands."

Spike cocked his head to the side but, in sensing the end of the session, slid the sword back into its slot. He took the claw as it hoisted him up, a pained expression as Hido dusted him off. "In the speed of our wit and agility is what makes us unique to all in these lands. Few are like us. Father bred us like this for a reason."

After being dusted off, Spike found an arm draped over his shoulder, the pair starting to walk. "He's changing. Too many years alive. He wants a change for our kind before he expires. You and I are supposed to be the jump start."

Hido withdrew his arms and crossed them over the back of his head. "We fight and we breed. We kill and we feed. Such simplicity is what keeps us alive. Bare functions of life and no wondering as to why."

Spike looked away.

"You need to rest and meditate on what you learn, Spike." Hido began again, this time, speaking to the sky instead. In being direct, it helped to do in a indirect way. "We're hybrids like no other. None else know this kind of existence but us. You need to figure things out for yourself, act on them."

Spike lowered his head as they passed over a cliff as a full scale of land spread beneath them. Dragons utterly enormous resting as pooling lava lazily washed over the area. Claws settled on his shoulders as he was then turned.

"Devour the scene to a single focus instead of jumping from item to item—you must take a fight into its whole, as it occurs, or you'll be distracted from a different part throughout." Hido nodded his head twice. It wasn't like him to do that. "Father made us like this a reason. We're the next generation of strength and wit joined together. Becoming the apex of this form to put father out misery and lead the throne into the next generation. In killing him, we prove new better than old, sparking the changed he craved while sane."

But then Hido's eyes narrowed. "And he made both of us to learn from the faults of the other. Only idealizations can lead for it beckons its subjects to become like it. We will kill our father together. But the battle after that will be for the throne."

Both of Spike's arms hung at his side, his left curling into a fist, covered in a sheen of red.

"That fight will be at the heights of what our beliefs allowed us to become." Hido gripped his brother's fist. "And I won't hesitate to cut this off if you fail in this duty. Rest and meditate on what you've learned."

Hido let go and turned around, strolling, casually waving the back of his claw—as if that conversation hadn't been that important. "And come fight me at dawn again! Wit and speed aided by great strength. Those are your keys. Chow-chow!"

Spike cast his gaze down and to the side, coming to focus on his claw, seeing it unfurl. He came to the cliff to the massive gathering of dragons, titans fighting and couples mating, a cesspool of tremendous power wasted on indulgence.

What did his duty mean? What did it mean to be a dragon? The sweeping field of beasts and monsters arched to the horizon, engaged in various activities, bore no self-awareness. Not a drop of thought on their minds. Hido said it was why they lived so long. Doing what must be done.

And that, to them, was fighting, fucking, and sleeping.

Something pained in Spike of that being what he must do.

Sitting down and crossing his legs, he took his brother's advice, meditating, allowing the focus on a single question.

What was duty?