Once Maylin let go of me, she began to walk back to her chair to grab something beside it. Grabbing her cane, she began to slowly walk toward the front door of the house, and with a sweet smile she gestured for me to follow her.
Following right behind her, she slowly opened the door, and with a soft creak it revealed the old house I cleaned so long ago.
It barely had any changes done to it, but despite that it looked practically brand new, and to my amazement there were multiple imp children running around the house.
They were what I assumed playing tag, but when they turned to look at Maylin, they immediately noticed me looming over her.
"Ahhh! Monster!" the imp children yelled, running away toward where the kitchen was located.
"Oh, those little whippersnappers, they don't know how to greet anymore," she said, walking towards the kitchen.
"Well, I am quite intimidating. Remember when we first met?" I told my old friend.
"Oh, don't remind me. I remember it like it was yesterday."
As we walked further down the hallway and entered the kitchen, two imps were making food and two others were consoling the children.
"Now, now, Millie, you know the only monster in this house is Grandmama Lin," the older imp spoke.
"What was that now?" Maylin spoke from behind the imp.
"Momma! I didn't know you were here! Well, I was just telling the kids that there weren't any—" She looked past her mother and saw me looming behind her.
"Oh—your majesty!" she said, going on her knees to give me a bow.
This caused the rest to stop what they were doing and look at the scene before them. They quickly noticed that one of their own was bowing, so looking around, they quickly took notice of me and bowed as well.
The kids, however, didn't really know who I was and simply hid behind Lin, still terrified of me.
"Please stand, there's no need for you all to bow."
Even though I told them it was okay, they were so scared of me they either couldn't hear me or refused to do so.
I tried to tell them again, but Maylin finally decided to speak up.
"Get your asses up or I'll be smacking them like you were babies!" she ordered, and almost immediately they followed her orders.
"Right! Sorry!" one of the imps spoke.
"Sorry ain't gonna be putting food on the table, so ya better start cooking, ya hear!"
"Yes, Grandmama!" And almost immediately the imps cooking started once more.
"Lin, I told you to make sure Millie and Sally are ready by tonight. Didn't I tell you we have a special guest coming! And Joe, why the hell are you still here! I told you to get the bull for the feast!" she ordered, and a drop of sweat began to form on all of them.
Man, she really took charge just like she promised her dad.
Once she ordered them all, they began to scatter and do their respective tasks. With all of them working, Maylin wanted to show me something at her backyard.
Following her to the back, she revealed a small cemetery where her parents and other relatives were buried.
"Hey, Momma. Hey, Poppa. Look who's here—he came for tonight's harvest moon," Maylin spoke softly as she looked down on her parents' graves.
And as she looked down on the graves of her deceased parents, I was reminded of how I lost my own parents. The scene that played out in front of me was all too familiar.
As Maylin spoke, tears began to form in her eyes. Wiping them from her face, she turned to me and spoke.
"If it's not too much of a bother, would you like to see how much the farm has changed?" she said, looking at me.
"I would like that," I replied to her.
Smiling, Maylin gently grabbed my hand and began to slowly walk toward the different pastures, fields, and even the shop they made.
"How is it? I made sure our farm's the largest and most efficient farm in all of Hell. Thanks to your help and Lord Satan giving us his blessing, we've been lucky enough to produce enough food for all of Hell."
She wasn't lying either. With me and Satan bestowing blessings on her farmland, the food had been growing alarmingly fast and didn't require much to grow.
"Well, it's the least I could do for an old friend," I replied to her.
She simply smiled before we continued walking. Once we reached one of the stalls for tonight's event, she ordered two skewers for us to enjoy.
"Are you sure you can eat that? Your teeth might accidentally break, you know," I said jokingly but also a bit worried.
"Oh, don't be such a baby. These old nibblers are still as sharp as ever," she said, taking a bite.
I smiled a bit at that before taking a bite of my own. The meat was rather soft and had a similar taste to when I first tasted meat.
When we finally finished our meal, Maylin and I looked for someplace to rest and wait until it was noon. That's when we found a bench to sit and talk.
And Maylin, not wasting any time, started telling me stories of her life—how she met her husband, the life she lives, the hardships she faces when taking care of her daughter—but most of all, how much she wanted to live just a bit longer to see her grandchildren grow up.
And as I listened to her story more, I realized something. She was dying. She was getting old, and whether I liked it or not, she was leaving this world.
How did I feel about this? Was I sad my very first friend was leaving me? But more importantly, how did she feel knowing her time was up soon?
I thought for a moment before an idea came to me. Looking toward my chest and feeling my heartbeat, I remembered the dragon heart beating within me.
Sure, if I did this now I may lose all emotions, but to save a long friend of mine—that was worth it.
So without hesitation, I moved my clothes out of the way, and lifting my hand, I pierced my own chest and ripped out my heart. I felt weak, I felt dizzy for a moment, before everything suddenly felt clear.
My actions, my thoughts—everything seemed so simple, and my choice… wasn't so bad.
But as I looked down at my friend, her face was filled with horror as she got up and tried to push my hand back to my chest.
"What are you doing, you idiot! Put that back inside!" she screamed at me, wanting me to return the dragon's heart back inside.
Why did she want me to return it? Did she not want to live?
"Please, take it. With this you'll live forever and see your future generations live and—" Before I could finish speaking, she slapped me.
"You idiot! I don't want to live forever! I just want to see my grandbabies grow up! And besides, I ain't dying yet!" she yelled at me, her eyes slowly filling with tears.
"So please, put the heart back, okay?" she pleaded with me.
…
"Alright." Slowly, I placed the heart back inside me, and my emotions once again returned.
And when they did, I realized what I had just done.
"Well… sorry about that," I said sheepishly at Maylin.
That's when she began hitting me with her cane.
"Never do that again, you hear!" she said, hitting me.
Though it didn't really hurt, I pretended to be hurt just to make her feel better.
"Alright, alright—ow—could you please stop hitting me?" I said, covering myself with my arm.
When she finally stopped, she took a deep breath before slowly walking away from me.
"Hey, where are you going!" I asked her.
"Away from your crazy ass, that's what!" she yelled, slowly waddling away from me.
Chuckling a bit, I got up from the bench and walked behind her with a small smile on my face.