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The time traveler Chapter 2: Escaping by MTT3

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Unlike the last time Matt woke up, he could remember everything. The encounter with Syrren, the blue dragon, how Matt found out that Syrren was a sentient being, a person that had helped Matt to survive the cold night in this big cave, all these memories were intact.

Then Matt realized that he couldn't feel the warm dragon in his back any more, unlike yesterday when he fell asleep. When he opened his eyes, there was nothing but darkness and in no time the fear he felt when the batteries in his torch died was there again.

"Syrren?"

There was no answer, only the dark, quiet atmosphere. Matt had been too quiet, so Matt tried a second time, a bit louder this time.

"Syrren, are you awake?"

This time he could hear the dragon yawning and shifting his wings.

"Hgnnh." Syrren sounded like he was stretching his limps to drive out his fatigue. "Good morning Matt, how..." He stopped talking instantly, realizing that the torches went out, leaving the cave in total darkness.

"Okay, this is a bit uncomfortable." Matt realized that Syrren's voice has lost his persuasion, now filled with fear and concern.

"I agree with that. So could you please light up a torch I would feel much better with a bit of light." Matt said somewhere into the darkness, without knowing where Syrren actually was.

"And how should I do that?"

Matt was really surprised by that statement. "How did you lit up all the torches yesterday?"

"I used the torch you brought with you to light up the other ones"

"But I always thought that a dragon could.....okay, seems like this is just another myth, with dragons breathing fire and stuff like that."

Matt heard some kind of pained grunt. Matt didn't knew what that should mean. The situation was very strange, even funny in some way. A dragon and a young man in total darkness, both talking just to distract them from the darkness.

"So what, can you breath fire now ?" It sounded harsher than Matt wanted it to but the situation didn't help him.

"An adult dragon normally can breath fire, but I am...." The dragon did not finish the sentence.

"You are too young, are you?"

"It's a bit more complicated, but yes. I can't breath fire yet."

"Okay then, just let me have a look, I mean.... you know what I mean."

In fact Syrren had no idea what he meant. He did not get the pun that Matt could not have a look because he couldn't see anything at all. Nevertheless he let the human proceed.

Matt carefully searched in all his pockets for his lighter. He was so glad that he found it in the same pocket like the first time. He ignited the lighter but let it fall when he winced because of the big dragon head in front of him, only one meter away.

"Whoa." Matt nearly lost his balance but he was able to catch himself.

"Sorry." That was the only thing the dragon said, not able to see the shock in Matt's face.

"It's okay, really. I was just surprised. Just take one step back, would you, please?"

Matt knelt down, his hands slowly wandering over the stone floor from the left to the right.

"I wish you would have night vision. I feel like loosing my mind any moment." Matt said, trying not to sound like he was panicking.

"Even a dragon needs a little bit of light. Without light I can see as much as you do." Syrren said, sounding a bit miffed.

"Sorry, I did not meant to...." Just then Matt felt the plastic object under his right hand. "I got it." He ignited the lighter again and a big sigh of relief escaped both of them. For Syrren the lighter was all he needed to see again but for Matt it was nothing more that a match, so Syrren wrapped his long tail around the torch next to him and offered it to Matt.

He took the wooden stick with gratitude. The pitch on the top burned instantly like the other torch did the day before.

"Yes, this is much better now."

Syrren did not reply. Just then Matt realized that Syrren was changing again. Now he could see for the first time how it looked like. He even could hear faint sounds of bones shifting and even cracking a bit. Matt was really surprised to see that even in his feral form Syrren possessed some sort of thump, becoming more distinct while changing into his anthro form. Matt did not believe in magic or something similar. He was a man of facts. If you get all the facts you can explain everything, was his motto. But here he had no clue how this changing could work.

While Syrren's last parts of his body were changing, Matt took a look at his cellphone to look for the time. It was nearly 8 am. Just the right time to do some shopping. He would need a lot of supply for what he was planning.

"Seems like it's just the right time to get up. It will take some time to work all the things out I planned but a guess I will be back in less than two hours."

"You...you will return?", the dragon said in disbelieve, getting up slowly.

That statement surprised Matt.

"Did you really think I would let you die in this cave after all we have been thru? It did not start as good as I would have preferred it but I guess we handled it pretty good. Heck, you did so good in handling all these weird experiences, better than I would have done ever if I would have been in your position. You even saved my live by warming me that night. And now I should just leave without helping you? I could never look into the mirror again. Did you really thought I could do something like that?"

"To be honest...I did not really think that far and....you were awake yesterday?"

The dragon's ear-fins changed their color to a deep pink again, hanging down. Syrren felt somehow ashamed. He slept next to the human although Matt was too scared to approach him in his big form. But Syrren couldn't help it, when he heard Matt's teeth clattering and limbs shaking he just had to help him. He looked down on the stone floor, his clawed hands playing nervously with each other, his tail wrapped tightly around his right leg.

The young man couldn't help but to smirk a bit, patting his right hand on Syrren's shoulder. "Syrren, relax. There is nothing wrong with what you did. You saw that I was in trouble and you reacted really good. I guess I wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for you warming me. You are really a good friend."

That statement made Syrren blush so hard that even his cheeks were reddening a bit. Then Matt took both of Syrren's hands, what made Syrren blush even more.

"I will get you out of this cave Syrren. This is a promise. I will do everything I can to free you and help you to deal with your situation. The world has changed so much since you fell asleep after the earthquake, it would be cruel not to help you. And of course I will not tell anyone about your existence."

Matt held his left hand up, showing his palm to Syrren to strengthen his vow. But then Matt realized that Syrren was much colder than yesterday.

"Syrren, are you alright? You feel colder than yesterday?"

"It's nothing, really. I'm fine." Syrren withdrew his hands quickly.

"Don't try to play the strong man. You are really colder than yesterday. I can feel it."

"It's nothing I can't survive. I'm a dragon after all."

"At the moment you look like a hybrid of human and dragon. Did maybe the changing wear you out that much?"

"I must admit.....it was more difficult than usually. But I can handle it."

"No Syrren, you can't. Your hands are much colder than they should be. Look. You are even shaking."

This startled the dragon. His looked at his hands, they were really shaking and he hadn't notice it.

"You better should lie down and rest. You have to conserve your warmth. I fear that you might die if you try to change back now."

The dragon followed Matt's orders without questioning them. He somehow felt suddenly dizzy, unable to think straight and to disobey the pleading.

Matt bedded the freezing reptile on his black Carbon-blanket, trying somehow to cover his big body, but he was not very successful. Now Matt felt that Syrren's entire body trembling. For Matt the dragon seemed to be still warm, as Matt assumed he was at least partial reptilian, he needed more warmth than a mammal.

With his wings and his tail Syrren was just too big to lie on the blanket being covered at the same time. So Matt even took off his thick coat and his sweater to cover the dragon. But the dragon was still shivering because of the cold. Matt tried to figure out how to help the dragon, if he could just make a fire...The torches!! It struck Matt like a lightning. He could make a fire with the torches. He got all the other torches in the cave he could reach and started some kind of small campfire in front of the dragon. It did not even take a single minute for the other torches to catch fire, the flames reflecting in Syrren's scales and horns.

"Can you hear me Syrren?" Matt asked, now really concerned. "Are felling a bit better?"

The dragon blinked several times before he could answer him. "Yeah,...I think so. I don't understand, from just one moment to the other I felt so...cold and dizzy. I can't really describe it."

"You don't have to, Syrren. The only thing that is counting now that you won't freeze to death. Do you think you will make it until I am back? I'll try to be as fast as possible. But I can stay for a little longer if you want."

"No, really that's not necessary. With the fire here I guess I will just sleep a little bit until you return. I am just so tired,..so tired,...so...." He did not finish the sentence, from one second to the other the dragon was asleep. Worried that Syrren could fall asleep and die right here and now, Matt felt his pulse and checked his breath. For human scale both pulse and breath rate seemed normal, even stronger. So Matt guessed he could be back again with enough food and firewood to help the dragon. But to make sure that Syrren won't die in just the minute he leaves the cave, Matt stayed with the dragon for another ten minutes. But he did not cool out any further nor did his breathing and pulse became irregular.

It was hard for Matt to leave Syrren in this state, with no possibilities to watch his conditions. But he had no other choice. It was the only way to help the dragon. The only thing he could do now was to shorten the time he was not by his side as much as possible. So he took a small piece of burning wood so he could reach the gap. When he was outside the cave again, he started running and and did not stop until he reached his car. In just a few seconds he had opened the door, inserted the key in the key hole, selected the D-slot with the gear lever and pressed the gas pedal so hard that the tires were spinning for a second before they found their grip, sending the car towards the street, leaving only a cloud of dust on the parking lot.

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Matt spent twenty-five minutes trying to call his working place before he gave up trying to call them. So he just left a message and asked if he could have three days off, so he would be able to help Syrren the entire time. He knew they could not refuse his request, because he had no days off for nearly a year. He even did not spent his holidays, instead he was working nearly all the time. Then he asked his neighbors to look after his dog Toby for the three following days.

The shopping did not take that much time, he only bought a pickaxe and a shovel to enlarge the entry. He also spent nearly all his meat-stamps for the next three months to buy ten kilograms of various meat sorts and also other foods and drinks.

Now supplied with enough food and other stuff from his home like two sleeping bags, some woolen blankets, several two liter vacuum flasks with hot drinks, four electrical LED-lanterns that could each burn for ten hours and of course forty kilograms of wooden briquettes for a proper campfire, he drove back to the side valley, totally ignoring the risk for a traffic ticket for high speeding.

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When he reached the parking lot again, Matt realized that he could't carry all the stuff at once, it was simply too much. So he decided to carry half of the food in his backpack, together with the shovel, the woolen blankets, one sleeping bag and two lanterns first. He now felt like a soldier with a gigantic field pack. But with all the heavy stuff it took Matt nearly thirty minutes to reach the cave, normally he would have done the route in just fifteen minutes.

He finally reached the gap and squeezed through it, which wasn't easy with his big backpack and the tools. He was totally exhausted from carrying so much, sweating like he was in hell, even in the cold cave. Then he turned on one of the LED lanterns, holding it in front of him. Its lights was much brighter than the torches or the little flashlight, but it was a cold light, like the one you know from the big lamp above your face when you are at the dentist. Matt hoped that Syrren would not freak out because of the unfamiliar light. But why should he? Matt thought. When he saw his cell-phone his mood was more curious than freaked out.

With all his stuff he finally reached the main cavern, seeing that the campfire he made with the torches was still burning, although there was barely any wood left, most of it turned to ember, and Syrren was still asleep. He was even more relieved when he heard that Syrren was still breathing, it was a unique noise you can't overhear. When he was asleep he made a sound that was somewhere between purring and growling.

"Honey, I'm home!" Matt tried to be sound funny to warm up the cold atmosphere a bit, although the sentence was just too cliche-like to be funny.

First Matt didn't notice that Syrren did not react to his arrival, he was too occupied with taking off his gear. But then Matt realized that the dragon did not wake up, although he had been louder than before, when he woke up the dragon with just a quiet whisper.

"Syrren, are you alright?" But it was a silly question, Matt could see that nothing was alright. He hurried to the dragon, who was lying on the side, grabbing his shoulder, shaking it.

"Syrren come on, wake up." But he did not respond.

"Jesus Christ, no." Matt whispered. The dragon was still breathing and his heart was still pounding, but it seemed he had cooled down that much that he was now in some kind of coma.

Matt cursed himself that he did not bring the briquettes first, he would need them for a fire right now. And he could not use the wood from the forest because it rained during the night, so all the trees were soaking wet. But he could not run to the car and get them, Syrren was cooling down more and more every minute. Matt had to warm him up right now, but how? He got ten liters of hot drinks but the dragon would simply suffocate if Matt would try to make him drink them now. He had to warm him up that much that Syrren could wake up and drink the hot tea.

Then Matt remembered that he had a small first aid kit his backpack. When he was preparing his stuff at home it had been just a hunch, he did not really know why he took it with him. But he did not have the time now to think about the how. Matt was just glad that he had it here. The sticking plasters and dressings were useless in that situation but the kit contained something that could now save Syrren's life, two heating pads that contain a phase-change-material. Matt found the kit instantaneously. He opened it, finding the two plastic bags lying atop, just waiting for him.

He pressed the little metal plate inside the bags and the liquid turned solid and opaque in only a second and got really hot. Then he put both of them in Syrren's armpits, so the blood in his veins could heat up.

After that Matt hurried to his stuff, taking the woolen blankets and one sleeping bag and rushed back to the comatose dragon. He opened the bag at the top and stuffed Syrren's long tail into it. Then Matt used two of the four wool blankets to cover his two wings. They were the most problematic part, because of their big skin surface Syrren was loosing much heat. Matt used the other blankets to cover Syrren's long legs, but still there were many parts left that were not covered like his arms and lower legs and much of his chest and abdomen.

Matt had to stimulate Syrren's circulation somehow and a gentle massage would not help that much now. So he had only one choice: to hit the dragon. At first Matt did it only with hesitation. But after three slams he did it without thinking about it any more. But after just ten smacks on Syrren's chest, cheeks and the bridge of his muzzle, Matt had to stop. First because he could not handle it any more. Although he knew it had to be done to save Syrren's life, tears of shame were running down his cheeks. And second because the smacking on Syrren's scaly skin was too painful, the strong blue scales functioning like a tight chain mail. After one minute to recover Matt was already preparing himself to continue the smacking with his other hand, when suddenly Syrren's ear-sails twitched. His eye-lids fluttered too.

"Syrren? Come on wake up. You can do it." Matt tried to encourage the dragon in his fight against the cold, hoping it would work.

Finally Syrren opened his eyes, but they were unfocused. He was just staring into the nowhere.

"Syrren, concentrate on me. Look at me." Matt's voice nearly cracked. He was so happy that Syrren made it back, out of the coma, but at the same time he was so worried that everything could be too much for Syrren.

"Syrren please listen to my now carefully. I fear you don't have much time left." Matt fingered in his backpack behind him, taking one if the vacuum flasks. "We need to warm you up." Matt opened the flask, showing it to Syrren, whose eyes were focusing now. "This bottle here contains a hot drink that is called fruit tea. I don't know if you like the taste but please drink it. It's your only chance to survive now"

It was difficult for Syrren to follow Matt's words. His thoughts were so slow, like tree resin running down a broken branch. But somehow he understood that Matt wanted him to drink something. He simply nodded, unable to form a single word.

Matt was glad to see Syrren nodding. Before Matt began his action he turned the Lantern's luminosity to the maximum, to light the cave up as much as possible. Then he wrapped one arm around Syrren's shoulder and wool-covered-wing, turning him on his back. He would worry about the heat pads later. Then he lifted Syrren up just that much that he could drink without spilling everything. It was hard work, his heavy wings pulling him back down, but Matt somehow handled it to keep the dragon up. With his maw slightly pointing upwards Matt carried the bottle to Syrren's maw and the dragon thankfully opened it, rolling his tongue, forming a small channel with it. Matt had already feared he might spill most of the tea, so he was happy that Syrren knew how to react.

Now Matt lifted the flask a little bit, pouring small amounts of the hot, sweetened tea into the dragon's maw. It was different to everything Syrren had ever tasted. The dominant taste was sweet and heavy with a light bitter note. It was unlike any fruit he had ever eaten. There were also other different tastes but he could not define it.

Each time he swallowed this 'tea', the taste tingled a little bit in the back of his throat. It was a nice feeling, helping him to concentrate just on swallowing the hot liquid. The tea was really hot, even for Syrren but he ignored the pain, focusing only on the tea. He felt the warmth in his stomach, like a fast growing plant it began spreading through his entire body.

Now he could feel his belly and chest again, just a moment ago all his muscles there were just a numb mass. He wanted, no, needed more of this stuff. Syrren quickly lifted his maw to make the tea flow faster. But that action caught Matt totally off guard, a big amount of the tea flowing into the throat of the dragon, spilling more on Syrren's chest. He tried to swallow all of the hot liquid but he failed, it was too much to handle. Some of it got into his windpipe, causing him to cough up the tea .

Matt took the bottle back immediately, so the dragon could not hurt himself by hitting his snout on the metal flask. Somehow Matt was glad that Syrren was coughing now. The nearly-suffocating would activate his body-survival functions, causing his body to produce adrenalin and other hormones that would keep him awake even longer.

After a few seconds Syrren calmed down, his breathing now at a normal pace again, he looked first at Matt and then at the bottle. Matt wanted to take the bottle back to Syrren's maw but then he realized that it was empty. The dragon did drink the two liters of hot tea in less than two minutes.

"Do you think you can sit on your own now without falling over? I can't get another bottle of tea while I'm still holding you up."

Syrren nodded slowly, trying to shift himself into a sitting position. He arms were still cold but at least he could move them again. When Matt released the dragon, he turned around and took another flask with hot tea. He unscrewed the cap and handled the bottle to Syrren, whose hands were shaking, but he did not spill a single drop of the tea. He wanted to savor every little bit of the hot liquid. Now being a bit stronger and able to move all his limbs again, Syrren was able the empty the flask in less than twelve big gulps. It was the same tea like in the first bottle and he enjoyed every drop of it.

When he was done he handed the empty bottle to Matt, his look saying just one word: 'More'. Matt smirked, taking another flask, this time with a herbal tea, but also with a lot of sugar in it. Syrren emptied the bottle with the same speed as the one before. When he gulped down the last drops of the tea he felt so content, so relieved,so...he was simply happy. He slowly turned his head looking into Matt's deep brown eyes. Then he noticed the tear trails on Matt's cheeks. The human had cried because he feared he could die? Syrren's ear-sails reddened again, nobody ever had cared that much for him.

"Thank you, thank you so much." he said silently. He wanted to say more, how grateful he was and that he owed him his life and many similar thanks. But the big amount of hot tea had made him sleepy again. Suddenly he began swaying back and forth, nearly loosing his balance. But Matt managed it to take hold of Syrren's shoulder, stabilizing him.

"Feeling better?"

"Much better,...just so sleepy again."

Matt touched Syrren's forehead, feeling that his temperature had risen nearly back to normal, or what he thought that would be normal for a dragon. *How funny*, Matt thought. Not even twelve hours ago he feared for his life, thinking he might get killed by a gigantic, mighty blue dragon and now he was sitting next to the very same dragon, touching him without any hesitation to feel his temperature.

Syrren blushed again, he was not used being touched so often and especially not at his head. But he did not pull back. The felling of the skinny palm on his head was somehow soothing the dragon' stressed nerves. He felt so secure now. He was together with another person that was caring for him. This was something he hadn't experienced very often in his life.

Finally Syrren leaned back, Matt helping him to lie down on the side. Carefully Matt covered the dragon's body with the blankets, having now the opportunity to cover more of his body, with Syrren being awake. He only left his chest, abdomen and head uncovered so the fire he would light up soon could warm him perfectly.

When the blankets together with the heating pads were back in their places again Matt had a look at Syrren. With his eyes closed and the big smile on his muzzle he looked just like a happy child, having a wonderful dream. But still he was not out of danger. The tea contained hardly any nutrients. He needed the meat Matt brought with to regain his strength, but to fry the meat, Matt would need the wooden briquettes and they were inside his car more than five kilometers away.

"Hey Syrren, I have to go back to my car to get the rest of my stuff. Don't worry, I will be back very soon, you don't have to..." He was interrupted when suddenly Syrren's left hand shot towards his arm, locking it in an iron grip. It was not painful, bit still so tight that Matt could not escape the grip.

"Syrren, what the..." Matt saw the jade-colored eyes, they were opened wide, his pupils big dark orbs, he nearly looked like a little puppy. But these eyes were filled with pure fear.

"Don't leave. Please, stay here." Syrren didn't want Matt to leave. Only mentioning that the young man would leave, brought back all the fears and emotions he experienced, when he was lying in the cave, unable to move a single finger because of the cold. It was a horrible experience, and he was grateful when he finally passed out. He didn't want to live through that again. Only thinking about it made his heart pounding faster.

"Syrren, you need something warm to eat, and the only dry wood to make a fire is in my car. The warming effect of the hot teas won't last very long. You need also something nutritious, but all I got here is too cold for you to eat. So please, Syrren, let go off me."

"No. Please don't leave me here. I don't want to be alone." His eyes began watering, a single tear running down his cheek and falling on the blanket, leaving a dark spot. His grip tightened even more. "Please."

Matt thought about how he could calm down the dragon, when suddenly he felt something in the back of his head, like someone had touched his brain and attached a hair-thin string to it and was now gently pulling at it. Before Matt could realize what was happening he felt something else: It was...fear. Naked fear of being left alone in this cave here deep below the surface. First Matt did not know how to react, he did not understand why he was suddenly so scared. But then he realized it. It was not his fear, it was the one of Syrren. Somehow the dragon had connected their minds again, letting him know how he was feeling.

It was weird for Matt to feel the emotions of somebody else. Matt had gained access to an additional sense, like hearing or seeing. But as Syrren told him he did not hear his thoughts or really feel what Syrren is feeling. It was more like watching someone else and you can tell from his facial expressions and body language how he is feeling. It was hard for Matt to handle the new impressions. After a few seconds Matt could feel that the fear he felt it was not a single emotion, there were other ones too. The dominating emotion was still fear, similar to the feeling you have in your guts, after waking up from nightmare, or you experience when you are suffering from acrophobia and you have to stand on a high building. But there was another emotions too that Matt recognized without any problems. It was.....gratitude. Although Syrren was trapped in his cage of fear he could not hide how grateful he was for everything Matt had down for him.

"Syrren, I'm sorry. I....I didn't understand. I will stay a little bit longer."

The dragon loosened his grip on Matt's wrist a bit, but he was still holding him too tight to escape the grip. Matt patted Syrren's hand, which caused to dragon to relax a bit more and Matt could feel how the fear began to diminish with each second. This new sense was still awkward but he somehow managed to send the dragon some kind of message or show him or tell him or whatever you can call it, that he really cared for the dragon and that he didn't want him to get hurt. But all these emotions Matt showed him didn't make Syrren let him go. So he was still stuck with the fire problem.

He needed something that would distract him from his fears. Syrren's fear of being trapped in here without no chance to escape made it hard for Matt. All he got here were just a lot of meat and other food in his backpack, two more vacuum flasks, a shovel,.....his cell-phone!

He remembered that his brand-new IPhone7 had a special feature that surely could distract the dragon. He bent himself backwards barely reaching his backpack. Although Syrren's tight grip was holding him in place he was able to reach his backpack he had left here in the cave. The cell phone was still inside the pocket attached to the strap. He took it and opened it, choosing the menu 'Long-Range-Projector'. When he he touched the menu two small aluminum legs unfolded themselves on the top on each side of the smart-phone's two separated parts. He turned it around, the bottom with its two micro projectors now pointing towards the ceiling, the monitor adjusting automatically to the turn-around. Matt chose the background 'Night Sky'. Then he darkened the lantern a bit so Syrren would be able to see the projection, but the first reaction of Syrren was to tighten his grip and fear began to fill his mind again.

A little bit distracted by the psychic bonding Matt pushed the 'Execute' button, starting the program. The projectors came to life, creating a circle with a width of several meters, painting the ceiling with a dark blue sky, sailing clouds, sparkling stars and a full moon. It looked like someone had cut a circular hole into the ceiling.

Syrren's hand clinched Matt's arm even tighter, one claw puncturing his skin a little bit, several small drops of blood running down the human's wrist. Matt ignored the pain, it was less painful than a bee sting, so he could handle it.

For Syrren it must have been like the ceiling had suddenly opened up, showing the open sky to him. His gaze wandered to Mat, looking like he would fear that next the entire cave could disappear.

"It's ok, Syrren. There is nothing wrong with the cave."

He looked for a moment at the working projector, the dragon following his look. He had seen the metal object the day before but only as a thing that emitted a faint blue light, somehow telling him the daytime and not as a thing that resembled a four legged insect with two glowing points at the top that can create an artificial reality.

"It is not dangerous Syrren, really. This thing can reproduce everything it has seen before, so you can see it over and over again." It was not exactly the truth, the only thing that was a real picture was the sky, everything else was CGI. But Matt knew that Syrren wouldn't understand a single word of this high-tech product, so he tried to explain it as plain as possible.

Syrren needed several more minutes to relax but finally his heart rate decreased to a normal level and Matt was really relieved when he could feel that Syrren's fear began to disappear. Seeing the fictitious stars and open sky his fears of being trapped in the cave vanished nearly totally.

Both watched the animation for several minutes, really impressed how realistic it was. Matt hadn't used this feature before because he didn't need it. He would rather watch the real sky than this fake one. Nevertheless it was an impressing sight, with all the glittering stars and even some shooting stars now and then. Now he was glad that his Smart-phone was equipped with the projectors.

Finally Syrren released Matt's wrist. The human rubbed it to regain the feeling in his hand. Then he looked at the little wound. Most of his palm was covered in blood, but it looked worse than it was It had already stopped bleeding.

When Syrren saw the blood crust in Matt's palm and the blood on his claw, he couldn't help but turn away. He felt so ashamed, his eyes began to water again and he started to sob silently. He had injured the person that wanted to help him and just because he could not handle his fears. He felt really like crap.

When Matt touched Syrren's shoulder, the dragon did not respond, he didn't want to look into Matt's face now.

"Syrren, it's okay. I don't feel any grudge against you. Your reactions are understandable. You...."

"I hurt you. That's inexcusable. I would understand if you want to leave now."

"What are you talking about? Syrren, it's just a little wound. You don't have to worry about that. You were scared and it's understandable that you didn't want me to go."

"But...but I..."

"No 'but' Syrren..., just stop it, okay? Everything is fine now. I won't die because of this wound."

The dragon wanted to contradict but then he could feel that Matt was really still willing to help him.

"So... you still want to help me?"

"Of course I will. I will even stay here for a little longer." Matt took a tissue out of his pocket wiping off the blood on his palm.

The dragon turned around again. "No, you....don't have to. You can go and get the rest of your supplies. I guess I will manage it. I behaved like a frightened little hatchling and not like a nearly-adult dragon."

"You don't need to justify yourself Syrren. I guess everybody in your situation would have reacted the same way." He paused for a moment.

He took Syrren's left hand with his both hands, gently squeezing. "Okay then. I will be back in no time Syrren."

Syrren nodded, looking at the fake-sky. Now that he had calmed down again and having processed the initial shock, he was even somehow eager to see if Matt would bring something else that fascinating.

"Good, I will just watch this...'sky' and wait right here."

"Okay, I don't expect you to run around anyway."

The dragon gave him a confused look. He didn't know how to respond. Didn't he just say he won't go away?

Seeing/feeling the Syrren's confusion Matt realized that when he had gained the ability to speak he had not learned what irony is. So he just said "Never mind."

Matt went to the tunnel, but turned around to have a last look at Syrren. He watched the projection silently, breathing normal. Matt was glad that the dragon could rest now without freaking out.

"Bye Syrren. See you" He waved a goodbye, unsure if the dragon could interpret the gesture. He was surprised to see that Syrren waved back, smiling. "Bye Matt."

With the other lantern in his hand Matt ran along the tunnel. When he reached the gap, he stopped instantaneously. The bonding, the feeling of the little string was suddenly cut. He shuddered. It somehow felt like a taut guitar string that, suddenly gave in and teared. Strange, he thought although it was his first telepathic experience, he was already missing the feeling of having someone near you.

He shook off the feeling, concentrating on what matters now. To get the rest of his stuff and save Syrren.

---

Matt wondered how he managed it to get to his car, gather all the other stuff and return to the cave in just twenty minutes. With the briquettes strapped to his back, the pickaxe and some bags with camping gear and clothing and the rest of the food in his hands he was nearly as fast as without all the additional weight. He did not feel the struggle or the stitches in his abdomen. He only concentrated on making one fast step after the other.

Finally he reached the main cave with Syrren already waiting for him. When he stepped towards the lying dragon he stumbled, falling on his knees, then he laid himself on the side.

The dragon sat up instantaneously, his gaze filled with concern."Matt, what..."

"It's alright Syrren. I just overdid it a little bit with the running." His breath now going fast and heavy, the pain in his sides now overwhelming strong. Streams of sweat were running over his forehead into his eyes, making him squint to see clear again. It took him several minutes before he could move again. He undid the straps, the wooden briquettes falling to the stone floor.

When he was able to get up, seeing the dragon he had to smirk inwardly. With the two woolen blankets that covered his wings and him sitting straight, it looked somehow like he was carrying a tent on his back.

"Okay then. Let's warm you up a bit more." Matt took two of the briquettes and broke them into smaller pieces, forming some kind of small stake. Then he poured a small amount of lighter fluid over the wood and ignited it. Syrren was really surprised, that the water-like-liquid could make the wood burn that fast.

"Lie down Syrren. You have to rest until the fire is big enough to roast the meat."

The dragon lay down again, watching with curiosity as Matt took several pieces of meat (which were wrapped in several layers of paper instead of plastic) out of his backpack and prepared them in a silver colored dish. But he had to wait for another twenty-five minutes before he could put the grill-bowl into the glowing ember. After just a few seconds he could already hear the fat of the meat crackling and splashing around. Just then he heard a sound that echoed through the cave, sounding like mix of a stone avalanche and a growling bear. But it was only Syrren's stomach that had finally noticed the scent of the roasted meat.

"I guess you have to wait a little bit longer if you don't want to eat it raw." Matt thought about what he just said, then he simply commented "But I think you eat meat raw anyway. It' s your choice, Syrren. I would just a little longer until everything is heated up a bit."

Syrren did wait another two minutes, but just until the outside of the meat was grilled. When Matt saw that Syrren was already drooling a little bit, because of the anticipation, he took the aluminum bowl with a grilling tongs and placed two slices of meat on a paper plate, handing it to the hungry dragon. He grabbed it and bit off a big chunk of the biggest piece as well as a great part of the paper plate. He hesitated for a moment noticing the strange taste and texture of the paper, his face showing a grimace. It was disgusting, unlike the meat which was really good.

"Sorry, Syrren you couldn't know. The white thing is called a paper plate and it's just used to serve the food, it's not made to be eaten. Sorry."

Syrren opened his maw a bit, trying to catch the awful tasting object with his claws. When he finally succeeded, he threw the paper into the fire and continued with the meat, ripping the steaks into several smaller pieces. Matt continued with grilling meat and also putting some potatoes for himself into the bowl. Then he put the bowl into the ember again.

When Syrren was finished with the first two pieces of meat, he noticed the tubers in the bowl. He was curious what kind of food they were and asked Matt if he could have one of them too.

"I don't know if you can digest them. I mean...I guess you are a carnivore. That means that nearly everything you eat is meat. So I don't know if you are able to.....show me your teeth."

"Wha...what? My teeth? Why?"

"Well, to say it simple: You are what you eat. If someone can eat only meat you would have only sharp fangs and a herbivore, a creature that only eats plants, would have molars to grind them. So if you would have molars too I guess you can digest these potatoes. "

"I don't know if I understand what you mean, but....okay." He opened his maw, showing a single row of long sharp teeth and a long, deep red tongue between them. It was not a snake like-tongue with a forked end, it was similar like the one of a human, only that it tapered to the tip. And at the back of both sides of each jaw there were two small molar teeth.

"Okay, although your molars are kind small I guess you can eat the potatoes with no problems. But let's do it slow." Matt said.

After some more time Matt handed one of the potatoes to Syrren.

First the dragon smelled at the brown vegetable, then he bit of a small piece to get a taste of it. It was a strange taste, but not a bad one and the consistency was odd too, not like the fruits he had tasted before. Nevertheless he ate it and went on with the next pieces of meat. Matt was really glad that the dragon's appetite and live spirit was so great now that there was no danger that he would fall into a coma again.

When Matt took one slice of pork meat together with several potatoes on a plate and some slices of white bread for himself and began eating, Syrren slowed down his eating until he stopped. He did not know why, but the look of Matt eating his meal with some metal sticks made him feel uncomfortable.

Matt noticed that Syrren had just taken one bite of the steak. "Don't you like beef? I don't know what kind of meat you ate back then in the middle ages. If you don't like it I got three other sorts of meat as well."

"No, no, it's not like that. It tastes good, really, although I ate the meat raw most times. I somehow feel...uncomfortable now. I can't really describe it. But seeing you how you eat your meal so...so...I don't know the word. What I mean, you eat with these...metal things and I...well you see how I eat, with my claws and ripping the meat apart with my fangs....I don't know why I feel it that way. I've never felt so...ashamed, like it's wrong."

Matt was really surprised how fast the dragon adapted himself to the way humans live. It seems that Syrren was worried that Matt would still see him as some kind of wild animal.

"Syrren, really it's not necessary that you worry about something so trivial. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the way how you eat. You have your way, the way a dragon would eat, and I got the human way. There are only....different ways. There are only very few things were you can say that it's wrong, and this..." he pointed at the plate "...this doesn't count as 'wrong'."

It really relieved Syrren that Matt saw it that way. Still he slowed his pace a bit down, eating now with the same speed as Matt, his maw closed while chewing. He just felt he had to do some things humans do.

"Syrren, may I ask you something?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

"You said that you ate most of your meals raw. That means that you have eaten grilled meat before. But you said you can't breath fire. So...how did you do it?"

"When I was younger and I was still the group of other dragons that lived here, I had the chance to taste grilled meat, because some of our group preferred to eat their prey roasted"

Matt stopped eating. "There were other dragons here too?" He couldn't believe it, that there should have been an entire group of dragons and nobody should have noticed them. "How many dragons did live here with you?"

Syrren didn't know the word for the number so he took the rest of his paper plate and used his claw to make a certain number of holes into the paper, then handing it over to Matt. The plate had twelve holes in it.

"Twelve...so that makes thirteen with you. But...you said you lived alone here. Where did they go?"

Syrren waited for nearly a minute before he answered. "They...they left me behind."

"What? They did.... But...why?"

"I really don't know." he said, shaking his head. "Maybe I didn't fulfill the expectations of my father. He was the leader of our group so the expectations were pretty tough. It seems that I didn't fulfill them because one day when I woke up...they were...they were all gone and I was alone." His voice was now barely audible, shaking.

Matt couldn't believe it. He got up and and sat beside the dragon on a small stone, so both of their shoulders were at the same height, putting his left arm between the dragon's wings and neck to comfort the sad dragon.

"I'm so sorry, Syrren. I didn't know, I...feel so sorry for you."

"How should you know. And maybe it was justified. I don't know, I was just..." He stopped for a moment, then he showed Matt three fingers. "...so many winters old. Maybe I did something wrong."

"But that's still no excuse to simply leave you all on your own. I mean three years.... I don't know how long a dragon's childhood lasts, but this seems very short."

"It is young. A dragon counts as an adult when you can breath fire. This happens when you have lived..." use his both hands, showing six fingers " so many winters and you have the done the fire-ritual."

"You have to undertake yourself a ritual to gain the ability to breath fire?"

"Yeah. The adult dragons don't tell you what the ritual is until you reached the right age. But I bothered my big brother to tell me what the ritual was. He is...was a dark green dragon and he had done it..." shows two fingers "...so many winters before me. I already had to do several tough tasks, to hunt in a certain time frame or fly complicate maneuvers and I feared I could not do this important ritual, so I wanted to be prepared. Maybe that was what I've done wrong. "

"And...did he tell you what to do?"

" Yes and no. He only showed me a mental picture of him eating rocks. That was all. No wait...there was something else. He showed me he was flying towards the morning sun."

"Eating rocks?" Matt couldn't figure out how rocks should help to breath fire. But he did not ask any further questions, feeling that Syrren was not able to say anything more, so he simply sat beside the dragon, trying to comfort him as good as he could. Matt was even more surprised when Syrren leaned his head onto Matt's shoulder and started crying silently with his eyes closed. Matt couldn't help but put his other arm around the dragon, hugging him gently and gently rocking from one side to the other.

Matt felt like he was back nearly ten years ago, when his younger brother was beaten up by some thugs on his way back home. Their parents were both on a three-day business trip and so he was the only one to look for his younger brother. He was really shocked to find Jake coming home with bleeding lips and a blue eye. Tending his physical wounds was easy, but he had more difficulties with his psychological wounds. The only thing Matt could do back then was holding his brother tight, hugging him and comforting him and telling him how sorry he was that he was not by his side when he was beaten up and that he would protect him from now on. He did this until Jake finally cried himself into sleep.

It was a bit strange for Matt to find himself in a very similar situation again, with the only difference that he was now helping a dragon, whose parents and everyone he knew left him behind.

But for Syrren it was an even stranger situation. The only other dragon that had done something similar was his big brother. When Syrren would have failed at one of the hard tasks their father demanded, his brother Rassmac would lie by his side and gently nibble and lick at Syrren's neck and cheeks and comfort him with pleasant thoughts when nobody would see them.

But although Syrren really enjoyed the times with his brother, the situation now, with Matt holding him tight, the mental connection between them,...it all was so pleasant. He felt somehow... warm inside, and not because of the fire in front of him or the delicious meat. He was so glad that Matt was by his side.

When Syrren finally stopped crying he looked up directly into Matt's maroon colored, understanding eyes. Matt took another tissue and started drying the tear trails on Syrren's cheeks.

"You okay?" Matt simply asked.

"Yeah, thanks to you. Thank you so much for being here."

"Hey, that what friends are for, to stay at one's side in times of trouble."

With that Matt leaned forward, his forehead touching the one of Syrren, his nose touching the top of Syrren's muzzle. When he withdrew his head they both were kinda surprised because of that action.

"Matt, what...why did you do that?"

"I don't know. I just felt like....I had to do it, like it was the right thing to do. Is this something dragons do?"

"Yeah, it is something you do to show somebody, your friend or your mate, that you really like him. But how can you know about this?"

"It seems that when you learned how to talk, it was not a one-way connection." Matt said, grinning.

Before Syrren could say any words, Matt interrupted him.

"And I don't want to hear anything about how sorry you are or that you did not want it to happen. I don't hold any grudge against you because of that. To tell you the truth I'm kinda happy with it. I mean it would be pretty unfair that it is only you to use a 'foreign language'."

Syrren did not respond to that, not knowing what to say.

Suddenly both noticed the smoke that emitted from the aluminum bowl with the steak and several potatoes in it. Both of them were too occupied with holding each other, so they did not notice that the food did catch fire. Matt released the dragon only reluctantly, hurrying to the fire and grabbed the bowl with the tongs. But the only leftovers were some black pieces of the steak.

Syrren couldn't help but to form a single laughter. "'I didn't know you liked your steak that 'well done', Matt." That comment came as such an surprise that Matt started laughing from the bottom of his heart and Syrren could not do anything else than join him. It took a while for both to calm down again, but they could not stop snickering each time they looked at the aluminum bowl.

Syrren's depressive mood was forgotten and both of them ate from the steaks and drank water from the spring until they were sated. When Syrren finished his last steak, a heartful yawn escaped his maw. He couldn't understand why he was so sleepy again.

"Hey Syrren, don't suppress your urge to sleep. It's better if you sleep whenever you feel like it. Your natural sleeping rhythm is totally mixed up and I think even when you feel sated now, you have to recover from your nearly seven-century sleep. Just let's do it slow. You will have enough time to walk around when you are fit again, okay"?

"Okay, although I don't feel like taking a nap right now."

"Trust me, you will get sleepy faster than you think."

Syrren laid himself on the black Nano-blanket again and Matt covered the dragon with the wool blankets. Matt looked the still running IPhone7 and saw that it was already 3 pm and so he decided to take a little nap too, before he would start to enlarge the entry gap.

"Okay, Syrren I guess I have to take some sleep too. All this, "he waved his hand from the left to the right "has worn me out pretty much. But you don't have to be afraid that you can't wake me up if you got any problems. I'm sort of a light sleeper." Syrren simply nodded, yawned one more time (hell, these fangs are really impressive) and then closed his eyes.

Matt took the other sleeping bag, preparing it on one side of the fire so the human and the dragon were lying in a ninety degree angel to each other. Matt did not crawl into the sleeping bag, but lay himself on the plastic bag, feeling still warm from running and of course because of the fire. But before Matt would prepare himself for sleep he just deactivated the projectors of his IPhone7 to save energy, and dimmed the LED lantern to a pleasurable level.

When he Matt made himself ready for sleep, he could not help but to take a more accurate look of the dragon. It was just an amazing sight. Here, in front of him, was a real dragon, a creature that was thought to be a myth. And now Matt could have a closer look at this 'myth'. With all the scales, especially the glittering ones along his spine, that were covering his muscular body in all sizes, it was just a marvelous sight. The dragon was not that muscular like a professional body-builder, but all his muscles were still defined, some more, some less, like his six-pack. It was defined just that far to notice it. Then his look wandered downwards to Syrren's groin, where he could see a nearly invisible slit. Matt knew that genitals of reptiles were internal.

Suddenly he realized that his pants were getting tighter, the simple sight of the muscular reptile made him aroused. He turned around quickly, now lying on the sleeping bag in a shocked stated. Why did the sight of Syrren arouse him? He knew he was gay since he was sixteen, but he never really thought about starting a relationship, not mentioning engaging a sexual relationship. He didn't want Syrren to be involved in this complicated situation, at least not now. Matt didn't know how Syrren would react to his sexual orientation, so he decided it would be better not to watch Syrren's groin, so he could prevent an embarrassing situation.

After some more time Matt fell into a snoozing state, just noticing the heat that radiated from the fire, the now and then cracking wooden briquettes, the purring sounds from Syrren breathing, all impressions that would help to fall asleep soon. He also noticed that the mental bonding between them diminished to a small shadow, just enough to notice that Syrren was by his side, but nothing more.

When Matt felt like he would fall asleep any moment he noticed the purring had stopped abruptly just to continue a few seconds later. This went on for several minutes. Matt somehow managed to heave himself onto his knees, and looked at the dragon, who just had stopped purring again, his eyes just opened

"Can't sleep?", Matt asked quietly. He knew it would be easier for the dragon to fall asleep again if he would stay in this half-awake-half-sleeping state.

"No. When I close my eyes I feel like I'm surrounded by the darkness again, and now I experience something I had never felt before. I don't know, it's like...I'm falling,...falling into a void darkness but I can't use my wings. And then I hit the ground, and...I wake up."

"Syrren, why didn't you tell me?"

"You already have done so much for, I did not want to ask for help again. I wanted to endure it by myself. I mean,...you can't stay by my side all the time. I will have to handle some things on my own."

Matt considered several ways how he could help the dragon to find some sleep without destroying the dragon's just rebuilding self-confidence. Then he remembered how he helped his little brother on the following days to find some sleep.

"You are right Syrren, but then is then, and now is now. Would it...would it help if I hold your hand, so you can feel physically that someone is by your side?" Matt crouched a bit nearer to the dragon, offering him his left hand.

Syrren looked at the hand, unsure if he should take the offer. He was somehow frightened to hurt Matt again. But finally his fears of living through the free-fall-dream again succeeded and made him take the offer. He took Matt's hand very carefully, trying not to hurt him in any way. He was really surprised that it was Matt who was tightening the grip on his scaled hand. Syrren looked at Matt who was just smiling. The dragon replied the smile, still a bit unsure about the physical bonding they shared, the touch to the fleshy skin of the human was so unfamiliar. Syrren only knew the scaled skin of other dragons or the fur of the animals he hunted. But when he closed his eyes and he began dozing again he was really relieved. This physical connection was far more intense than the mental bonding. The darkness was still around him, but he was holding someone's hand. He was not falling anymore, he was held, guarded, protected. He was...safe. With this thought he fell into a deep dreamless and relaxing sleep.

---

In the following two days Matt spent hour after hour at the entry gap, working with the tools he brought with, only interrupting himself to eat and sleep for some hours, while Syrren spent most of the time with sleeping, but also watching the 'fake sky'. It was a hard time for Syrren, to know Matt was up there and doing hard work and he was just lying here and doing nothing. But for Matt it was even more difficult.

When Syrren had to relieve himself Matt helped the dragon on his wobbly feet and half-carried, half-pulled him to the water-cave, where he could do his business. But Matt stayed outside the cave to leave Syrren his privacy, and of course he didn't want to experience another situation like yesterday. He concentrated to halt the mental bonding only on a small level, so Syrren would hopefully not feel his arousal. For Syrren it was also an awkward situation too. He didn't want Matt to watch him, so he was really glad when Matt simply walked out of the cave, so he was on his own. Luckily Syrren had only to do this for two times, so it spared other situations like this for both of them.

Now, on the third day, he decided that he could at least bring Matt a flask with water. He was still a bit shaky on his feet but he could now walk without felling over, like at his first trials.

When Syrren came closer to the gap, he could already hear the dull sound of metal hitting hard rock. After just a few more meters he could see the human, bathed in sweat, the flames of the torch Syrren was holding, reflecting on Matt's wet forehead. Syrren preferred the heat emitting burning wood above the cold lantern Matt used to light up the entry . It was not like he was fearing this thing, but somehow there was an uneasy feeling about it left, not knowing how it was glowing without an open flame.

"Hey, Matt" Syrren called out to interrupt Matt in his move to swing the pickaxe again "how are you doing?" Matt looked at the dragon with a wasted gaze, feeling like a wet tissue, both because of the sweat and the exhaustion.

"That should be my line, you are the sick one here." Matt joked.

Syrren offered Matt the flask with the water, grinning at the comment. "I'm doing better every day now and I owe that to you."

"Thanks Syrren." he said, drinking gratefully. "But I'm not done yet, I still have to get you out of this cave. But..." he looked at the gap "...I'm making hardly any progress."

Matt sat next to a small textile bag with some other tools in it, grunting. He did not thought he would be so slow with enlarging the gap.

"Damn it. I thought I would get you out here in no time. And now we have barely any food left. I'm sorry that I could not bring you more meat. But since the war nearly all foods are rationed. I'm sorry."

Syrren sat himself beside Matt carefully watching not to burn Matt with the torch. "What is a war? And what means rationed?" Matt had not used the words before, but for Syrren it was clear that they do not mean anything positive.

"A war is.....You have seen the nearby city, right? Now imagine that there are several more of such cities, more you can count and all these cities are ruled by a single leadership. This is what we humans call a nation. And now imagine that such a nation would gather a lot of warriors to fight another nation, for the one or the other reason. This explanation is very simple but I can't figure out how else I can tell you what it means. And rationing means that if there is only a limited amount of resources like food for example, the government decides how much each person or family is allowed to receive."

"Okay, so much I understand but what I don't understand where is the connection between these two words?"

"To say it simple: Fighting is so devastating nowadays that it does not only affect the people and their cities but also their environment, like the small villages that surround the cities and support them with food. That's why we're only able to produce a limited amount of food today."

Syrren thought about it for a moment. It was hard to believe that fighting could cause that much damage. But maybe the way of fighting has changed during the time he was sealed in the cave. And maybe humans fought in other ways than dragons do.

"Which nations did fight in this war?" His curiosity was awaken.

"That does not matter anymore. The war ended nearly three years ago, and they have peace now, sort of. But still, the aftereffects of the war are still there. Not mentioning that you don't know anything about these nations even if I tell you the names. And describing everything now would take too long. What I have to do now is to get you out of the cave. But as I said before it would take too long to enlarge the gap so you can fit through. So I guess I have to use some of these here." With these words he took the small fabric bag and took out a small brown cube with something at the top that resembled a small thin root or something like that.

"What is that?"

"That Syrren, is called a cubic canon shot, a firework. You light this fuse here at the top and so the whole thing explodes. I just wonder if..." Matt looked at the gap thinking were to place the fireworks.

"You mean to light up like this?" Syrren held the torch towards the fuse, wondering how it sparkled when the flames touched it.

Matt had only a few seconds to react. When he realized what was happening he threw the explosive deep down into the tunnel and grabbed Syrren's shoulder, pressing him to the ground and shouted: 'HIT THE DECK'. Just when both of them were lying flat at the ground the canon shot exploded, covering them with debris and stone-splitters, filling the tunnel with dust. The loud noise nearly left them deaf.

Both stayed at the ground for nearly a minute to regain their hearing and waiting for the dust to vanish. When both of them got up again, Matt looked into the shocked face of the dragon beside him, both still resting on their knees . "Why ? did ? you ? do ? that?" Matt emphasized each word to express his anger about what Syrren just did.

"But you said...that you have to...light this thing. I did not expect that something like that..."he pointed with a shacking hand down the tunnel "...would happen. I....I..."

He stopped speaking, his voice failed and his head hung down again, feeling so ashamed because he had done something wrong again..

Matt anger disappeared after a few seconds when he realized that Syrren couldn't know what an explosion was. It must have been his first encounter with an explosion at all. He wasn't even able to watch humans use gun-powder because it was introduced to Europe nearly one hundred years after he was trapped. So he could not know what would happen, even with Matt's explanation. He really had to watch his words and what he was doing with his modern day stuff.

"Sorry Syrren, my fault. I should have thought about it, that you don't know what explosion means. We just have to be more careful with such stuff."

Syrren just nodded. He looked down the tunnel, where small clouds of the explosion were floating through the tunnel, still totally stunned.

"Hey, Syrren." The dragon winced at the touch of Matt's hand on his shoulder. "Let's get back to the cave. You look like you could need something to eat." He patted the dragon's shoulder playfully, to make the dragon move. When they walked past the explosion center, Syrren couldn't believe it. This thing had created a crater with the width of nearly his arm length and a depth of nearly the length of his middle finger. All the debris that once covered the floor was gone and the blank granite was visible now.

A few minutes later they were sitting in the main cave, Syrren eating the last pieces of some chicken meat, while Matt ate some potatoes and baguettes. Syrren ate very slowly, still feeling somehow guilty about what he had done. Matt noticed the dragon's mood.

"Syrren, are still feeling bad about this 'incident'? You really don't have to. You did not know what your actions would cause."

"That doesn't excuse what I've done. I've always been so impatient. And although my brother helped me with building up my patience, it still happens sometimes that I act before I think."

"If you act only sometimes before you think then you are far ahead most humans. Many humans I know act very spontaneously all the time."

"If that would be true than your cities must be kinda messy."

Instead of laughing, Matt just looked down on his plate, murmuring "How true, how true."

"Sorry Matt, I didn't want to..."

"No problem, you couldn't know. But it's really true, many cities look really ruined now, mostly because humans did things they normally wouldn't do. But with all the stuff that happened in the last years, many humans did things just because they thought it would be the right thing to do in that very moment, without thinking about the long-term effects."

With that words Matt put the plate to his side, slapping his his left knee and got up.

"Whatever, I will now prepare the remaining canon shots. Do you want to assist me?"

"You really want me to help you to prepare these...things? Are you not afraid I would blow up the entire cave?" His face did not show the smallest hint of a grin, although he had to fight hard not to do so.

"Don't think I would give you the lighter or a torch. No really, I could need some help with placing them on the right places and I don't think I can reach every place."

"Okay, that sounds like a good idea."

"So , now there is no turning back." They both watched the burning fuse running around the edge. Matt had only six meters of additional fuse to extend the ones at the nine canon shots and some other fireworks he had found in his cellar. And now they were waiting for the final explosion, from the right distance of course.

Just a few seconds later, they heard the simultaneous explosion of the nine explosive cubes. And although they were pretty close to the explosion and there were now nine explosions at the same time, it was not that loud as Matt had expected. It seems that most of the detonation went to the outside. A few seconds later, small debris were raining towards them, a white-greyish cloud following.

They had to wait for nearly fifteen minutes for the dust to settle down. When they could finally go to the entry again, Matt was pleasantly surprised to find a gap of nearly two and a half meters high and nearly one meter wide. It would be no problem for Syrren to fit through it.

"It worked,...it really worked." Matt could not believe it, he thought he still would have to enlarge the gap, but it was now big enough.

They both walked outside, regarding the nocturnal sky, covered by several black clouds, only a few stars visible. Matt had decided to wait until 2 am before they would blow up the gap, to minimize the chance someone would notice the explosion. Especially Syrren was glad to be finally outside. Now seeing the real sky he felt really relieved.

He stretched his wings to their maximum width, waving them in pleasure, feeling the cold air stressing over the wing membranes. Matt could see and feel Syrren's desire to change into his feral form and fly around.

"Syrren, I know you really would like to fly around now. But as I said before the world has changed so much since you were captured back then. It would be pretty dangerous to release you now. I mean.... you know how I meant it. What I want to ask: Do you want to came to my home? I could tell you how you could live your life in our modern world without risking it."

"If you think it would be helpful to do so, then let's do it."

"Yeah, I really think we should do it like that. Let me just get my stuff and then let's go to my car. Just gimme a minute." Matt was glad that he could now finally manage his 'fascination' for Syrren. He could now watch him without getting a boner, at least not immediately. So it would be not a big problem if they would stay together for some days.

When Matt disappeared in the cave, Syrren wondered what a car is. Matt had used the word very often but Syrren never asked him what a car is. But he did not want to bother Matt with asking him, now when he would see the 'car' anyway. He was really curious. He had a whole new world to discover. With Matt reappearing at the gap they covered the cap with a young tree Syrren just pulled out of the ground. Matt was really impressed, just two days ago the dragon nearly died and now he was the thriving live.

They went through the forest until they reached the path to the parking lot. Matt knew it would be difficult for the dragon to adapt to the modern world, coming directly from a medieval age. He did not know if they could manage the situations to come. But that was for sure, they would go through it together.