The air was dark, the arc of the moon shining in the sky. A breeze drifted through the trees, whispering across the Forbidden Forest. Inside it, two people sat facing each other beside a fire.
One was grilling meat. The other was eating.
"I didn't think… dragon meat would be this… delicious."
"Eat slowly. Don't choke."
Soma and his wife, Astra, were still in the Forbidden Forest, eating the dragon they had hunted.
"You followed the cooking instructions, right?"
"Yeah. After eating it, its power should activate."
"Last time you didn't cook that desert rat properly. We had to hunt another one."
Astra lowered her eyebrows and said angrily, "If you know how, then you cook it yourself!"
With widened eyes and meat still in his mouth, Soma shook his head. "Sorry, ma'am."
"Then stop talking and eat your food, big idiot!"
The meat was fully cooked. Their stomachs were full. But no matter how long they waited… nothing happened.
Soma suddenly rose to his feet, his eyes blazing with fury. His breaths were heavy and sharp, as if each inhale lit a fire in his chest. The veins in his neck bulged, and his fists clenched so tightly the sound of cracking knuckles echoed.
His gaze locked onto a massive boulder a few steps away. Without hesitation, he stepped forward and, with all the force boiling from the depths of his being, slammed his foot into it.
The impact was like an explosion.
The ground trembled beneath him.
The stone tore free with a savage roar and shot into the air like a cannonball. In its path, it split the first tree in half. The second shattered like dry wood. The third, the fourth… trunks splintered with deafening crashes.
By the time it tore through ten trees, nothing remained but broken trunks and scattered leaves swirling in the air.
Dust rose, and a heavy silence swallowed the forest.
Soma still stood there, chest rising and falling, the lightning of rage in his eyes not yet extinguished.
Astra approached slowly. The sound of her footsteps over dry leaves echoed in the thick silence. Carefully, she placed her hand on Soma's trembling shoulder.
With a voice that tried to stay firm but carried sorrow within it, she said,
"We made a mistake… We should've identified and confirmed the dragon first. It seems… it wasn't even a dragon."
Soma was still breathing hard. His chest moved like a stormy sea. His fists opened and closed, his jaw clenched so tightly the vein near his temple throbbed. Anger and regret tangled in his eyes.
Astra stepped closer. She lifted her hand, took his chin, and turned his face toward hers. Their gazes locked. Soma's eyes still burned, but behind that fire was a deep wound.
Without saying a word, Astra closed the distance and pressed her lips against his.
A short kiss—yet full of emotion, as if she wanted to tame the storm inside him.
Soma's hands hovered in the air for a moment, then gently settled around Astra's neck. His fingers no longer trembled. He closed his eyes.
His breathing slowed…
His heartbeat drifted away from that mad chaos.
His anger, like a fire meeting rain, gradually faded.
For the first time since the boulder exploded, Soma was calm.
When Astra slowly pulled her lips away, she paused… and her eyes widened slightly.
Soma had become calm and harmless—like a little boy who had just finished his milk and let out a satisfied burp. His breathing was steady. His shoulders were relaxed. Even his frown had disappeared. The furious beast from minutes ago was now just a boy with half-closed eyes and a peaceful face.
Soma blinked. When he fully opened his eyes, Astra—still a little stunned—unconsciously stepped forward, a smile forming on her lips.
Soma looked around in confusion, his pupils shifting slightly.
"What happened, love?"
Astra let out a short laugh and tilted her head.
"It seems that dragon had just lost its mate…"
A gentle breeze passed through the broken trees, carrying a few burnt leaves into the air. A heavy silence fell between them.
Soma raised his eyebrows.
"How?"
Astra looked into the distance, where scorch marks were still visible on the ground.
"The claw marks… they were smaller than we thought. Its attacks weren't aimless, but they weren't savage either. It felt more like… pain than anger. When a male dragon loses his mate, he doesn't go mad—he burns. He doesn't leave his territory, but he attacks anything that comes close… not to hunt, but to empty that void."
Her eyes returned to Soma.
"We thought we were facing an invading monster… but maybe it was just a creature in mourning."
Soma remained silent. His gaze softened.
Far away, the smell of scorched earth still lingered in the air… but now, its meaning was different.
Soma fell quiet for a moment. Astra's words sank into his heart like a stone. His eyes trembled… and without warning, he stepped forward and pulled her into his arms.
Tightly.
Very tightly.
Astra was startled. Her hands lingered in the air.
"What's wrong, love? Why are you trembling?"
Soma truly was trembling. Not from anger… but from fear. A fear he had only just understood himself. He wrapped his arms around her even tighter, as if he feared that if he let go, the world would collapse again.
In a low, strained voice, he said,
"I'm so happy you're here with me…"
The sentence was simple, yet it carried the weight of all his unspoken fears.
Astra smiled. Now she understood. Gently, she wrapped her arms around Soma's broad shoulders and held him firmly.
This time, not to calm his anger… but to hold a heart that had just realized how deeply it depended on her.
Soma pulled back slightly—just enough to see her face. Their eyes intertwined. Neither of them spoke.
Then Soma leaned in again. A short kiss…
And another.
And another.
Astra laughed between kisses, but she closed her eyes.
Soma closed his too.
The forest was still wounded. The trees were broken.
But amid all that destruction, the two of them stood there—eyes closed, breaths intertwined, immersed in a love that even anger and battle had failed to extinguish.
With kiss after kiss, in the glow of the firelight, they fell—and slowly faded from sight…