The pain was so severe; I just had to!

     Quickly, I grabbed the useless dragon egg and carried it from one side of the room to the other, setting it on top of the furnace. Instantly, I felt the sudden pain crawling up my legs subside. But then...how did that happen?! I was just sitting around when suddenly the pain in my feet grew, quickly growing up my legs. Then, it was just a thought, but I suddenly thought that maybe I needed to put the egg somewhere warmer... So I did. And for the first time in months, I felt the pain decrease rather than increase.

     "So then. ...This is all your doing, aye?" I growled at the dark object, slowly backing away. I quickly picked up my supper before one of the chicks could get to it. Thankfully, I had more now. Enough to cover even lunch for tomorrow. I shoved a bite of meat into my mouth, then waited until I was done before speaking again. "Guess that can only mean one thing..."

---------

     "Yeah that's right!" With the dragon egg nestled under one arm, I carried it out the front door into the cool night. I felt the pain in my feet increase by a smidge, but it would be all over soon.

     In my other hand I held my supportive cane. On my back: my now chipped-up pickaxe. As if the egg knew my motives, the pain suddenly increased ten fold. Suddenly, every step felt like I was walking on both fire and shattered glass. I could visibly see the purple crawl up my legs since my pants were rolled up. That only prompted me to speed up. I hissed through my teeth wildly as I marched through the pain. I closed the door behind me so my curious month old chicks wouldn't have to see this...

     "I'm TIRED of this! You hear me?! Haven't I suffered enough!?.. -Yhaa!" Shouting, I threw the egg onto the grassy earth. The heavy object barely bounced. Its shell was too tough to crack so easily. "Why did I even keep you for so long, hu?! And because of you, I can't even go anywhere!!" I shouted some more as I approached it. The anger, the frustration from the last month- no, YEAR was all building up to this moment. This was my moment. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!" Clasping the handle of my pic in both hands, I -- hard as I physically could -- slashed down onto the egg's shell.

Vwoop!

     My eyes widened as purple erupted from the black shell, and suddenly...it was gone?.. My pic dug a good distance into the soil. So deep, in fact, I couldn't quite pull it out.

     "Ugh!" Unbelievable! My eyes followed the quickly fading trail of particles until they landed on a black lump in the distance. The egg can teleport?! My eyes widened slightly, but that surprise quickly returned to my anger. I stomped back into my house and pulled out my ax. Then I approached the egg again, each step strong but painful. "So you're just gunna be like ALL my other problems then, eh?! Unbeatable and determined to ruin me?!" When I was close enough, I slammed my foot down on the egg to hold it in place.

     When I swung my ax down on it, the object vanished. I fell forward, but this time I was prepared enough to just roll over my shoulder and get to tracking it right away. It appeared under the moon-made shadow of the treeline a distance away. Annoying, but I was too determined now to care about the pain.

     "I've met you before in the form of SO many others!! Born without a name! Cast away where no one would care to look for me! Ostracized from the only friends I could ever make in these blasted TWO-HUNDRED SIXTEEN years of my LIFE!!... You know how long it takes to make a friend when you can barely understand each other!? And I had to burry THREE OF THEM!" Another slash down at the egg, this time shooting for speed over strength. I could barely feel my blade chip the shell before it vanished out of sight again.

     That was the the encouragement needed to excite me. My mouth widened into a twisted kind of smile. Perhaps I could destroy that thing! I followed the trail of particles again until I saw that it had teleported directly in front of my front door as if begging to be let back in. Tightening my grip around the ax with both hands, my cane long discarded. "Noo... You're not getting away from me... Not this time at least!"

<-<-<-<-<-

Thup! Thup!.... Thup!

     My ax dug deep into the wood with each swing. Sweating profusely under the direct sunlight, I worked hard in front of my house, cutting the tree I had chopped down into little pieces.

     Kao laid lazily out on his back under the shade of some tree, Butter practicing his crowing on top of the villager's head. The sight was entertaining for sure, especially when Kao would occasionally raise his hand and try to shoo Butter off. But the now teen rooster was far too trusting for that. I smiled contently, watching the hens graze around me.

     Occasionally, Stamps would walk over so close to see what I was doing, I would have to push her away for fear of chopping her head off! Patthew was scratching around under the mass pile of fallen branches in search for any scrambling bugs. Pewd had just recently joined her under there. Patthew and pewd had become the unlikely pairing. Both weren't afraid of much and both enjoyed a good treat. So I often saw those two foraging together.

     "Eh- no, Stamps!" I scolded the soon to be hen, carefully pushing her away again. "Go join Patthew and Pewd, why don't'cha?" I pointed to them. As expected, she didn't understand my body language and so just squawked in confusion. I rubbed my forehead in mild annoyance. No matter what I was doing these days, I always had to do it with caution.

     After I had worked for some time, all of the pieces of wood had been successfully chopped up and placed into a couple large bags for Kao to carry.

     "Hey.. actually done early for once." I mused at my work. "Kao!!" I called the villager. The green robed one quickly sat up, sending Butter flapping away, and jumped up to help me. "Get these to your buyer quickly." I ordered in the kindest but also still serious way I could. Like an older friend of mine, Kao had proven to at the very least be a fast learner; though I had to sometimes repeat myself or rephrase things, he seemed to catch on pretty well.

     Kao pouted when he saw such a heavy load, but he nodded and grabbed the two bags nevertheless, slowly dragging the two cloth bags behind him through the grass all pouty-like. By the time he had returned, I was sitting down eating my lunch. As if me doing so had set off some alarm in his head, Kao dashed towards me, pulled out his own sack of food, and literally slammed his back against the wall of my house to make such a hasteful stop. I watched him curiously as he reacted to the pain in his side and plopped down beside me. Musta been mighty eager to eat! I chomped a large bite into the apple I was eating at the time. Kao pulled out a loaf of bread to munch on. We ate in silence side by side.

     When I was done with the apple, I clicked my tongue, alerting my chickens. Once I had all of their attentions, I I displayed the remainders of the apple and tossed it across the yard. All four of them bolted for it. When one grabbed it in their beak, they ran as fast as they could, knowing the others were close behind. Eventually, that one would drop it or stop for a moment to actually peck at it. When that happened, another would snatch it from right in front of them! And then that chicken would be chased! I sat with a small smile, entertained by the game of tag raging before me. Kao would look up on occasion, but he was much more interested in his food. Eventually, though, Kao pulled out another sign and wrote on it.

     " 'Are you okay?' " He...asked?

     "It..'s complicated." I shrugged. "Do you mean my feet?" The villager nodded. "Yeah. Same answer. I just...don't really know what's wrong..." I shrugged. In my peripheral vision, Kao's demeanor sank a little. He stared for an uncomfortable amount of time at the pale purple slowly crawling up my legs now... Invisibly slow. Then I heard some scribbling and turned my head.

     " 'Should I get a doctor?' "

     "A Doc-? No.. I don't really know what that is, but if it has to do with potions, I have already tried all the ones I could think of..." My shoulders fell some. "If I had to guess, it was probably from fighting that dragon..." I felt two hands grasp my shoulder and shake me suddenly. "Wh-at?" I chuckled, turning my head to see the villager had wide eyes. "It's true!" Kao kicked his legs in excitement, bursting at the seams with questions he couldn't all ask at once. Chuckling, I started to tell him a brief version of the story from the moment I entered The End...

---------

     Since there was so much time in the day left, I wandered further into the forest to chop down my next tree. I studied each one briefly to see which one would be worth the effort. Rubbing my hand against the course bark of a medium sized oak one, I decided this would be it. I lifted my ax over my shoulder, expertly studied its surface for the perfect striking point, aand-

WHAP!

     "OW!" Though my blade dug deep, the typically normal level of shockwaves ticked off my hands for some reason. I felt a deep pinch. Almost like the thinnest of cuts entered them both. I left my ax in the tree for the moment being, taking the time to look over my hands.

     No...

     A bone chilling discovery left me pale. On both of my hands, in the very palms, rested two dark dots. They looked like innocent moles...but I knew better. I remembered all the way back to when I found the same thing on my feet.. before...

     "No..." I exhaled in disbelief. The realization set in slowly. It wasn't enough that I could barely walk now, was it?! I could already imagine the same pain coursing through my hands. But my hands were the only things keeping me ALIVE now!! I would have no more food! No more shelter! No nothing!!! "NO!!!" Yanking the ax back out of the tree, I began carelessly chopping through the wood again. "Anything but this!!" I shouted at nothing but the tree, which was now my primary target of anger. "NO- NO- NO- NOO!!" With each 'no' I swung my ax with the force I only reserved for life or death situations. The tree gave in with a whimper, me still heaving and huffing above it.

     One tree was all I needed for a day's work... I returned having chopped down and torn apart EIGHT. I had to use a leaf covered branch tied together as my sled to hold all the wood.

     I returned at sunset, still panting up a storm. Kao shot up to his feet, with worry wondering where I had been. Seemed he had already locked away the chickens in the house and was awaiting my arrival. When he saw me, his curious eyes scanned my body from my head downward, stopping abruptly at the sight of my bloodied hands. They were beyond blistered at this point. I stumbled forward, hazy in the eyes and weak in the ankles.

     "Hurrr!" Kao tried to warn me of my condition...but I was well aware of it already. I didn't care. Looked like even with my weakened physicality, I would need to fall back into old habits in order to sur-vi-

     I faltered, collapsing on the grass right before the villager. He screamed as I fell limp, seemingly dead. But my breathing was obvious, and like a determined ghoul, I refused to stay down for long. "It's okay..." I breathed. "I just.." pushing myself back up onto my knees, "need a little rest." Though the villager offered to help however he could, I pushed past him and simply crawled into my house.

     ...It was with that same determination that very night that I decided to finish off that egg once and for all.

->->->->->

     "Noo... You're not getting away from me... Not this time at least!"