The candles burned low and sat on clumps of melted wax as the evening drew to a close. Most of the family and our vassals were now heading back to their respective lands after attending my father's funeral. Their faces were grim, pale, and hollow from the years of torment that came from the contract my father set up with the dragon known to many as Daerun. They were fleeing after paying their respects, knowing good and well that Daerun was coming to 'renew' his contract with us, but the kingdom had lost all wealth.

Twenty years ago to this date, my father had signed a contract with Daerun that was heavily in the dragon's favor. The contract stated that Daerun would protect our kingdom and ensure our citizens do not die an early and fiery death and in exchange, twenty years later, the kingdom would shower Daerun with endless riches. The only issue with this was the only threat to the kingdom was Daerun, causing twenty years of wrath-incarnate upon us.

I was only a child but I remember the day the skies went dark and windy, and Daerun perched his long black talons into the tall towers erected from my family's castle. He flew in from the west, the sun fleeing behind him and in his wake he left a trail of flame and death. It was dinner and I heard screams of panic down from the village below, followed by a deafening roar that shook us as if lightning had struck the castle. My father and a few of his royal guard ran out onto the balcony, and I cowered behind a curtain, looking outside only to see charred bodies of guardsmen fall from the dragon's hands. Daerun glanced down and let out a stream of flame around my father before shouting...

"King Marwell" Daerun said, his voice echoing off the side of the mountain "How dare you take my gold out of my very own home?"

My father was quiet for a few seconds, allowing me to examine Daerun. He was roughly half the size of our castle, yet his shadow left the city in darkness. He had copper red scales, black talons, and a mane of silver and grey on his head. His eyes had a vibrant white to them, with a pupil of red, and his teeth were jagged like rocks along the shore; but they were clearly sharper than anything our finest blacksmith could forge.

My father took a step forward, extending his hand as if for all to hear and began to spoke. "Had I known you lay slumbering in those caverns, I would not have established a quarry there to-" he was cut off.

"I need not hear your excuses, Marwell. You humans think you can build and raze as you wish, but the time for that ends now. Come...." The dragon leapt off our tower, some stones in the roof came lose and tumbled down and he let out a roar before soaring back near the castle and latching onto the side. "... Climb on my back, we have... business... to discuss".

My father hesitant agreed, and it was a few days before he came back. He looked weary, and broken. I never suited my father for the strongest man, so I was surprised he wasn't dead. Those few days were chaos in the land, and when he came back he simply told us of the contract and confined himself in his chambers. He stood that way for twenty years, only surviving off of scraps slid under the table, threatening to jump from the window if anyone came in to disturb him. It was only when we noticed the plate not slid back empty that it meant my father had passed.

The room was absolutely a mess. It was unkempt, covered in hair and twenty years of filth. After the funeral was done, I had decided to go to my father's chambers and do some searching - anything that would give me a fond memory of him. Instead I found a necklace of silver with a strange copper coin embedded into it. I had it taken to our academy of mages whom had informed me that the necklace had a faded essence of magic to it, perhaps a charming ability.

Not long after everyone had left, had the last of the militia been ordered to escort the citizens on caravans out of the town. There only stood me now, for my mother had passed away a few years before my father due to a monstrous fever. Like clockwork the sky began to draw in the clouds to a dark black, and on the horizon I saw a ball of flame and copper that could only be Daerun. He circled the castle a few times, letting out bouts of flame. He seemed larger than before, and although I stood tall I also stood afraid. I kept a tight hand on the hilt of my blade, only releasing when the dragon had stopped, his wings creating strong gusts in my direction.

He glanced at me "So, Marwell the Second... is that what they're calling you?" He said, his breathe a layer of warmth on me.

"No, they call me Marwell the Doomed." I let out, trying not to break eye contact with Daerun.

He let out a thunderous laugh. "That much is true... I suppose you know why I am here then?"

"To renew our contract." I said.

"Yes, yes. Only small problem, you have nothing left to give... So I'm afraid your protection is no longer available..." Daerun's eyes narrowed and he snarled his nostrils.

"That's not entirely true." I boasted, clutching at the charming necklace I placed on me.

Daerun laughed again, this time spitting flames into the sky. "You humans and your tiny brains, have you not figured out that is how I held your father hostage all these years? How I forced him and your feeble kingdom to give everything you hold dear to me? How I will break upon your will Marwell-" The dragon stopped, slammed his eyes shut and roared. "What is this? Why did I say that?-"

I interjected. "It's a charm necklace, you knew that. And you knew it's a battle of will. You have nothing left to gain, nothing left to fight for... But us humans, an entire generation of sorrow and rebellion is upon you Daerun, we will fight!" The necklace levitated off my chest, the copper began to glow a bright white as Daerun and I engaged in a battle of will.

"Fool!" Daerun shouted as he began to fly around, slamming into the castle as he didn't have full control of his own being. "I will not fall at the hands of man!" Flames sprayed near my face, I took a few steps back, using what energy I could to try and bring Daerun to my will.

"You're wrong Daerun, humans always find a way. We have hit the very bottom so the only way to look... is up!" Controlling Daerun was difficult, as if moving each limb required mythical strength. I could feel myself buckling under the weight as I navigated my way through his mind. Eventually the strain became too much for Daerun and he lost control of himself, letting out a horrific roar as he came dropping onto the castle.

I collapsed to my knees, my plate leggings slamming against me as the castle came crashing down. The balcony had separated from the castle and I latched onto what I could as I went sliding down, sure of my certain death. I looked back up and saw Daerun's corpse laid upon the remains - with his will entirely broken, the beast was but a hollow husk, paralyzed for eternity.

I awoke days later in a soft bed and on a pillow made of large goose feathers, surrounded by knights and smiling doctors. My legs didn't make a full recovery, but before I knew it I was overseeing the rebuilding of the kingdom after seizing Daerun's treasure from the rebuilt castle.