In this story, Moderator of the Universe Indus sets out to (begrudgingly) attend his next therapy appointment with his therapist, Damir. This time, however, Damir has more in mind for the moderator than expected.

Characters and prompt by my good friend Bibbidy Badds. Go check out their awesome art: https://twitter.com/BibbidyBadds

Story by me. If you like what you read, please check out my journal on short stories here: https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/9462535/ and hit me up with some ideas. Hopefully we can work something out :3

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Dragon’s Breath


The lights of stars flashed and pulsed, speeding on past as Indus travelled through outer space, flowing through it with a mastery never before seen before. He deftly flew, almost swimming through it, with an unwavering focus to reach his destination. Seemingly with no effort, he ripped asunder the pocket dimension, exiting the portal into the lower atmosphere of green spherical planet.

The stars twinkled dimly in the backdrop, an otherwise dark void filling the sky. Indus, floating gently down in the air above the lone, solitary, planet, stopped, and sat in place. He was relaxed. Yet, looking deep enough, there was still some hesitation in his action. His purpose coming to this planet was not exactly his favorite. In fact, he honestly stand it. Yet, in spite of that, he carried on, resuming his slow descent onto the surface.

He landed softly on the surface, the moss reminiscent of felt on his feet. He scanned around his immediate area. The surface was verdant as ever: relatively flat, greenery was flowing outwards in all directions. The same lush moss that cushioned his fall carpeted the entire ground as far as he could see. The fuzzy, emerald green carpet complimented the tall, imposing trees that dotted the surrounding land. A mish-mash of species, it all came together to make the world’s weirdest forest, but Indus never paid it much thought. As small an increase as it was, his interests more so lied with the fauna.

As he looked around, he spotted a couple unique animals. Some looked benign, others downright bizarre. Some creatures had the body’s of a lion, but the head of a parrot, and wings of a bat, while others had the body of a snake, and the head of a crocodile. Others still almost seemed unchanged from what he’d seen on other planets. Some insects hovered about, such as some butterflies who’s only differences were little bits of a proboscis, or little antennae. His job as a moderator for the universe certainly offered him a chance to meet all kinds of weird creatures of all shapes and sizes. He’d watch over various sections of space, waiting for anomolies to crop up, so that he could correct them. It took him all over the universe. Still, remarkable creatures.

Indus began his dredge on towards his destination, closing his eyes, letting his extrasensory powers guide him. Naturally, he could have appeared much closer to his destination, but he figured that might be inefficient. “Why not at least practice that while I’m here? At least that way this won’t be a waste of time”, he thought to himself, effortlessly navigating around every tree that might try to impede his stroll. As an Administrator to the universe, he did have to stay on top of his powers. He certainly couldn’t afford the time to slack. In addition to that, he was hoping to find some kind of inner peace before his fated meeting. He still couldn’t help from shuddering just ever so slightly at the thought.

He was going into his next therapy session.

Indus made his way to the house where his therapist resided, isolated and away from everyone. “He always was the eccentric one. Isolating himself out here. Certainly doesn’t help on my commute” he snarked. He continued his foray into the forest, eventually settling upon a house in a clearing. ‘House’ was kind of an understatement, however. It appeared more like a small palace. Indus reckoned he must be one hell of a therapist to be getting paid this much.

Indus approached the door serving as an entrance to this pseudo-palace, and went to knock on it. As soon as his fist rapped the door for the first time, he noticed something off. Something peculiar: the door was unlocked. He felt the door give virtually no resistance, and peered at it for a half-second, noticing a slight crack visible, with a faint, ethereal glow coming from inside.

“Odd,” he muttered under his breath, wondering if this was all some sort of weird game that the old guy was playing on him. “Hmph, wouldn’t put it past the old coot” he finished, reaching out a hand to push open the door. But before he could, he felt an odd breeze materialize out of thin air.
“But I could sense the atmosphere! There was no major change in press-” but before he could finish his thought, the breeze had whipped up into a small gale, rustling the thick fur on his neck, strands billowing about. He drew his arms close, closing his stance and lowering himself a bit, lowering his center of gravity in the event that the winds whipped up too much stronger.

All at once, the wind that had picked up flew forward, towards the door, knocking it clear open. When he lowered his guard, Indus peered inside, light from the outside now flooding into the otherwise dim room. It illuminated the hallway: a long rectangular room with a ceiling just a tad bit low for Indus’s taste, with some light fixtures lining the ceiling. All turned off. A red robe with solid white accents fitted the floor, which itself was made of a cool blue blended marble. Wind chimes hanged close by the walls, all of them moving calmly, emitting a harmonious tune. The walls themselves were of a more solid color of blue, dark and saturated. Small little rectangular ponds lined the walls between the doors. All along the sides, newly extinguished candles sat on little alcoves on the walls, the smoke flowing towards a door in the back on the left.

Indus approached the door, and, like last time, noticed it was just slightly ajar, and nudged it open, leading into a wide open room, filled with sunlight. The first thing that caught his eye was the giant fountain that sat in the middle. Water shot out of the spout in the middle of it, arcing, falling gently into the pool, sending out hypnotic little ripples as the droplets hit the surface. The aquatic ambience put out by the centerpiece was contrasted greatly by the giant raised gardens the flanked every wall inside. Large, exotic flora sprouted out of every container, soaking in the sunlight as it flitted down into the room from the sizeable sunroof. An impressive octagonal pane sat in the center of the otherwise unremarkable roof, providing the light passage inside. All around, various small creatures made their way around and about. Insects of various sizes, and small little avian-like lifeforms darted about from branch to branch, plant to plant, giving off occasional chirps, whirs, and squawks. White-gold tiles lined the floor, smooth and polished. The light reflected off of them with ease, giving the entire room a delicate incandescence.

But the most interesting thing in the room lies at the opposite side. Across the fountain, sat a stone bench. On top of it reclined a short, rotund dragon, lazing about, staring complacently at the wildlife that buzzed about. Damir, Indus’s therapist. He seemed not to notice Indus enter the room, nor take heed as Indus approached him. Without warning, however, not even moving an inch as Indus came up on him, he began speaking to him.

“Ah, young one, you’ve finally made it. I was starting to think you’d not show up. I always figured you might flake on me eventually” he chuckled softly in his gentle voice.
Indus stared at the dragon, unamused. “Come now, Damir. You know very well that my job would never allow for such a thing, much to my disappointment. ”

“Relax, relax!” he gently goaded. “I never quite understood why you hated coming to these ‘therapy sessions’ as you like to call them. Is it me?”

“The only reason I come to these ‘therapy sessions’”, Indus threw up air quotes, “is because I was ordered to. You talk to me, give me advice, and I stop with some ‘outbursts’ I’m not even having. How is that not classified as therapy?”

“Do you mean that you have such little faith in me to help? Why, I feel insulted” Damir said with fake disgust.
Indus was quick with his rebuttal: “Of course not. I just see this as a waste of time. I have no issues whatsoever with my emotions. I’m in control. Why else would I have the position. So what if I make some rash decisions? They need to be made, and I’m the one who’s been chosen to make them.” Indus, at this point, was beginning to show visible signs of frustration.

“Rash decisions? That’s an interesting way of putting it. That’s not what I’ve heard your superiors call th-”

“Is this going anywhere!? You’re hellbent on wasting my time as usual, aren’t you, Damir!?” Indus cut him off, now seething. His face no longer showed his usual indifference, but rather showed another side of him. His disdain was now showing through a snarl. “How dare he sit there and insult me, the fat oa!f” he thought. “He has no idea the stress I go through on a daily basis!” He looked away quickly in hopes that the dragon couldn’t read anything more from his face that his mouth didn’t already gave away.

“Hmm? No issues you say? Very well, then,” he said calmly, as he glanced over at his student, visibly affected by his words. Damir began to get up from his seat, standing up slowly, planting his little feet on the smooth ground, his heft orienting itself as gravity took its effect, his tail slinking off of the stone, its end coming to rest on the ground. His plumes of silky, shiny hair hung off it. “Come now, young one. Follow me. I wish not to waste anymore of your precious time.”

“Very well then! About time!” Indus turned his body to face Damir, still refusing to look directly at him. “What are we doing today?

“Well, I can certainly tell that you’re excited to see me. So excited , in fact, that you just want to reach out and just hug me. With your fists, of course” the dragon bubbled as he trudged on ahead, leading Indus through a couple of rooms. After a couple of unremarkable rooms, he at last stopped at a door. It, much like the rooms prior, was unremarkable to say the least.

“Through here, young one” Damir said as he opened the door, gesturing for Indus to enter. And enter, he did, into what looked like a completely blank room, save for a colorless, dull contraption over off into a corner. Indus was certainly none too impressed.

“And what exactly is this place? The most boring room in the universe? Well congrats, you’ve been declared the unanimous winner” Indus clapped disparagingly, still stung by Damir’s comment from earlier, trying to save some pride.

“Ah, thank you, thank you” he bowed, “Finally an accomplishment of merit!” He entered behind him. “Welcome to today’s lesson, young one.”

“Session”, Indus interjected.

“Sure, sure.” Damir made his way over to the contraption, sitting down at it and then proceeding to type on it. It whirred and clicked, coming to life with color that began to fill its shape. And before long, that same color began to seep into the colorless room around it. The blank walls began to shimmer, the solid white beginning to give way to an empty darkness illuminated by… studio lights? The floor began to shift beneath their feet, color swirling from the machine into the ground, filling in every square inch of it. It went from a swirling mass into a more orderly form, until eventually they settled into red distinct rings of solid color: blue on the outermost layer, with a thinner red circle, finished off with a yellow center.

“What.. what is this?” Indus asked, his amazement evident.
Damir looked back and at him, smiling coyly. “Why, the most boring room in the world.”
Indus reeled himself in, trying to downplay his shock. “Well, the judges called. A last minute entry took first. You’ve got runner up now.”
Damir beamed. “Well, since you asked so nicely, I’ll explain. This is my ‘therapy room’” Damir threw up his arms, staring at Indus, giving him exaggerated air quotes. “I use this room as a way to work out scenarios with people seeking my assistance. It works by projecting light in such a way th-”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. This is awfully high-tech for, well, you. I wasn’t expecting someone like you to have something so advanced. Certainly beats the couch I normally sit on.

“Brash as ever, Indus. You know, impatience is great sign of lack of control. Perhaps those reports were right, after all…”

“I told you! Those reports are bullshit!” Indus yelled at him. Damir had re-stoked the fire, just like he was hoping to. He quickly ran over to the center of the virtual ring, staring at Indus with a cunning look on his face. Indus stared back with indignation. Damir gestured for Indus to approach him. Indus followed with great haste, flustered with the dragon.

“Well well, did I strike another nerve? Get you mad? Upset? What are you going to do about it?”
Indus was close to seeing red, enraged that this dragon had the gall to insult his job, his honor, himself. How easy it would be to just quickly reach over and…

“Take me out? Hurt me? Kill me? I dunno, Indus. Sounds to me like another rash decision of yours that your superiors are just so fond of”.

Indus lost it. Completely. He let go of what little self-control he had, putting his all into a blinding swipe at the dragon with his left arm. “Serves you right, you old bastard!” he thought. “I hope what’s left of you will remember not to insult m-”

“There we go, nice speed! Very impressive! Too bad it missed its target, I take it” chimed Damir.

“How? How is he still alive? He should be dead!” Indus thought to himself. “A fluke. Pure luck. There are very few that could dodge me, even fewer that could survive an attack. I’ll get him this time!” Indus said as he readied up a follow-up attack. He let loose a follow-up sweep with his leg poised to take out the feet beneath that pesky dragon. “Ha!” he thought! “Better to cripple him and let him live with the consequences of his words than kill him outright, anyways.”
But before Indus could even regain his posture, he noticed lights around him dim a bit, as if a shadow were cast over him. A Damir-shaped one, in fact. He looked up, spotting the dragon hovering there!

“H-how!?”

“Never you mind that, young one. Just keep at it. Eventually, if you actually try, you might be able to strike me!” As he spoke, it was very faint, especially against the dark backdrop, but a hazy purple mist was exiting Damir’s mouth as he spoke. Indus, in his blind rage, paid it no mind.

“Grrr.. I’ll end you! Just you wait!” And at that moment, he let rational thought leave his mind, instead acting on pure anger. He felt at this point that by any means necessary, he needed to end this dragon! “I’ll show you why they chose me!”
Indus steadied himself, closing his eyes, trying to steady his breathing, though not quite able to bring himself down to level. He assumed a fighting stance, right arm raised close to his face, his left arm closer to his torso. The stance was sloppy, clearly marred by his emotional state. It was tight, but his arms wavered a bit, trembling with excitement, his feet not quite flush to the ground, raised up a bit like a wolf pup eager to pounce. Yet the same anger that clearly gave his form an amateurish appearance also gave him a much more threatening aura. It was primal, fueled by a wounded ego. It wouldn’t stop until it was satisfied, wanting only to inflict pain.

“Ah, so you’ve decided to heed my advice, huh?” said Damir clapping his hands, smiling gleefully.
Indus didn’t say anything back, but the taunt landed squarely. His eyebrows twitched. But he wouldn’t let insults like that stop him now. He was as focused as his mind could let him be. He tensed up, appearing as though he were a statue for a half second, before springing to life, ripping his hand forward in an arcing swing, his his palm flat, as if his hand were a blade! But he didn’t just cut through the air: the very space itself seemed to give way. A weird fissure appeared, suspended in the air. Indus’s other arm shot forward into this gap. Damir sat idly for a second, watching the display, before ducking quickly. Above his head, another gap appeared, Indus’s arm sticking out in an ill-fated jab at the dragon. It quickly slipped back into the gap, which promptly closed, leaving behind no trace of it’s existence. Damir went to speak, but was quickly interrupted by a similar attack from Indus. He slinked backwards, lifting up his right leg, rotating his hips, followed by his whole body, pivoting on his left foot as he brought his raised leg down with a crushing intensity. At this point, Indus was much too far away for this to land, yet that didn’t seem to stop him. Instead of just landing on the ground in front of him, his right leg began to warp, before seeming to disappear, slipping away from this world. Damir could only watch this for another second before taking action, quickly jumping off to the side, as Indus’s leg came crashing down, obliterating the ground that it landed on. The entire room flickered or a second before regaining its form.

“Now, now! This is some pretty expensive stuff! Kill me, sure. But if I had to try and fix this machine, I might as well be better off dead!”
Indus rushed forward, reaching out another hand to swipe at him. Damir rolled his head back, Indus’s arm flying over him, before reorienting himself. Indus remained standing next to him, his arm still jutting out.

“I’m not done yet, old man!” Indus yelled, taking his arm that was sticking out, mere inches from Damir’s head, and formed an ‘o’ with his hand, appearing to grasp on invisible handle. He shifted the grip on the “handle”, so that his knuckles were facing opposite of Damir, and ripped his hand towards the dragon. Instead of just his hand, however, something else would soon threaten the dragon. As he moved his arm across, a blinding orange light began to emerge from the empty space in front his hand, long and curving, inch by inch as Indus’s arm grew closer to the dragon’s head.
It glided at his head, moments away from severing it clear off. “Got you now, old man!” Indus thought triumphantly, closing his eyes as he followed through with the swing. But there was no resistance. No blood splattering on him. No sound of flesh being rended. His swing went through, but not through Damir’s head like he had hoped. Instead, the dragon was laying on the ground: not dead, but reclining like he was earlier on the stone bench. The swing cleared straight over him. Indus stared at him in disbelief. Damir leaned over on his side briefly before springing back up onto his feet.

“Young one, no matter how flashy your moves might be, you’ll never have the power to conquer your fights if they’re coming from a place of hate or sadness. You have to be in control of them. Let them flow-”

“I’ll show you flow, you fat oaf!”
Indus, wielding his new weapon, a curved thin blade made seemingly entirely of light, rushed at his therapist. Again and again, he missed. There were flashes of light with each swipe of his blade, tears in the fabric of space with each attack, limbs flying out of nowhere where each portal opened, and movement impossibly smooth by a dragon so large. It was a sight to behold. The portly dragon, despite his appearance, deftly dodged each punch, swipe, and kick, commenting and berating, egging on the young Administrator as he attacked him in a futile temper tantrum of murderous magnitude. Each word out of Damir’s mouth spreading out the purple haze, at first dispersing in the air, being pushed around by the wind coming off of each strike. But eventually, there was no more room for it to move, now saturating the air, creating a noticeable haze. As the fight lingered on, Indus took notice of this, as it was becoming too hard to ignore.

“I don’t know what trick your playing on me, dragon, but rest assured, I’ll not be fooled by it. I’ve been trained to combat… any.. trick.. in…” but Indus couldn’t finish. He felt his body become.. relaxed. His mind couldn’t… Focus? Was that the right word? He couldn’t really tell. Time seemed to be slowing down as Damir began moving in slow motion. He released his tense combat stance, lowering his hands, instead now just trying to stare as intently at the dragon as he possibly could.

“Wha..what is.. this?” he let out.

“So it seems like my sedative’s finally kicking in.. wondered how long it would take for someone like you.” Damir spoke, before, in a single smooth action, pounced at Indus, pinning him underneath himself. Damir exhaled a bit more of his purple sedative to ensure that Indus wouldn’t struggle given his trapped nature. The kid was prideful, that’s for sure.

“B..but how?” Indus let out meekly, looking up with earnest shock at the dragon. “How were you able to dodge my attacks? What are you?”
Damir looked back at Indus, adopting a serious, stern expression.“I’m your teacher, Indus. It’s my job to show you how to control yourself. Your lack of control led to another outburst. One that would have carried severe consequences should you have succeeded, and I’m trying everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen, OK?”
Indus, after some thought, shook his head.

“I’m able to avoid such attacks because I’m in control. I don’t let my emotions control me, I control them. I’m able to flow with everything, much like the water and air that I control. It’s through that flow that I’m able to function.”
Indus looked to his sides, wondering what to do, what to say, and how to proceed with the situation. After what felt like an eternity, yet was only a matter of seconds, he spoke: “Teach me.”
Damir, able to fully hear him, asked: “What was that? What did you say?” hoping the repetition of the phrase would cause it to sink in more.

“Teach me, Damir. Please teach me how to flow like you do. I don’t know what it’s like, but I want to learn how. Please.”
The young one’s genuine plea was exactly what Damir was waiting to hear. Keeping him pinned beneath his belly, he looked at him.

“Certainly. I am your teacher, after all.”