Zagoroth the Shadow Dragon

 Zagoroth the Shadow Dragon


Ella stirred slightly in her sleep, feeling incredibly groggy, and a little nauseous. She tried to remember what happened to her as she blinked her eyes open, only to see darkness surrounding her. There was this strange taste in her mouth, and when she tried to move her hands, they seemed to be trapped behind her back somehow, and her feet seemed to be similarly stuck. She was wondering if maybe she'd wrapped herself up too tightly in her blankets or something, but this didn't feel anything like her soft bed, as she struggled to wake up a bit more. That's when she heard it, a loud set of drums beating evenly together, like the calculated ticks of a gigantic clock.

“ZAGOROTH! ZAGOROTH! ZAGOROTH!”

Her eyes went wide as she looked up to see she was in some sort of large cave complex, where the only light was from torches far above her head, surrounding the drummers who were beating in rhythm with the chant. It was coming back to her now... she had sneaked out of the palace to go to the lake, but when she'd finally gotten out of the water, she'd been jumped by someone... or something. She hadn't gotten so good a look at them because they'd knocked her out, but now she looked up and saw that the drummers were indeed... goblins. But... How!? How did they get so far into elven territory?!

She was quickly brought out of her thoughts when she heard the sound of heavy thumps coming from the darkness in front of her. Something was coming, and soon the ground beneath her feet began to tremble and shake. Just as she began to try and work up her courage, she heard a roar that made her freeze in terror, she couldn't run even if she were not already tied to a pole and unable to move. A glowing set of golden eyes shined brightly in the shadows looking directly at her, and she shivered only barely able to imagine what horrible things were going to happen to her next. Those strangely reptilian eyes came closer and the beast came out of the shadows to reveal his form. Its scales darker than blackest night, its wings seeming to be formed of shadow itself, and its eyes glowing like a waxing moon, she gasped at what could only be... a shadow dragon.

"ZAGOROTH! ZAGOROTH!" The chanting of the goblins continued as their dragon master roared in triumph before them. Then with a low growl, he breathed a sound that was barely more than a whisper to Ella. "Good evening princess, it is so good to see that you'll be honoring me with your presence for dinner."

Her eyes widened as she realized that she was the dinner he was referring to, and she wanted to scream in terror, but no sound would leave her throat. A dark laugh came from the dragon as he watched Ella squirm in her binds as she realized her fate. With another roar that resounded throughout the entire chamber, Zagaroth breathed a line of pure darkness into the air. The goblins scurried out of the chamber when they saw this, knowing that this meant the sacrifice had been accepted, and he wished to be left alone with his prize. What a prize she was indeed to the hungry dragon lord, for she was exceptionally beautiful as one might hope from an elven princess. Her golden hair was still damp from her earlier swim, and her milky white skin was so fair it was almost translucent. Her figure was quite lithe like most elves, but toned as well, as she seemed to keep herself relatively fit for a princess. It made Zagoroth wonder if perhaps she'd been trained to fight like so many other elven warriors... although little good it had done her so it would seem.

He circled around her carefully examining every inch of her with his glowing eye, and Ella couldn't help but feel like the tension that was building in the air, could be cut with a knife. It was so thick in the air, almost as if the dragon were feeding off of her fear, and she couldn't take it anymore. "Wh-What do you want?!" She wailed slumping against her binds, feeling almost at the breaking point. She suspected he knew what it wanted, but she couldn't take the suspense as he idly examined her bared form. If she could, she would almost have killed herself right then and there, to avoid the horrible fate of being eaten alive, or worse.

Then she heard it again, that laughter, that dark sinister chuckle that came deep from within his throat. "You foolish little girl. Do you not already see? What I want... is you!" He flapped his wings blowing her hair straight back behind her, as he pushed him back a bit, so that she could view his full form. He was massive, incredible, and almost beautiful in his own respect, yet she could feel the vileness of him, like the black midnight the enveloped him wherever he went. He blew a small puff of darkness towards her, barely even a wisp of anything, and when it came in contact with her, she gasped in terror. An incomprehensible fear washed over her, and she felt as if her life was fading away from her, the world going dark. Yet just as quickly and powerfully as the emotion had swept over her, it was gone again, and she was left gasping and trembling.

He glared down at her, his eyes piercing into her very heart and soul, as she felt almost ready to cry right then and there. "I would advise you do not speak out of turn again. Otherwise you shall learn why mortals should fear the darkness." Ella was quite sure she knew why at this point, and it terrified her that that she was almost absolutely drowned in darkness right now. If life is light, and the sun is the source of all light and life, then the absence of light is death, and this dragon was showing her how close she was to it now. She nodded a tear absently running down her cheek, and he grinned a toothy grin showing his rows of razor sharp teeth as he did so.

"Good, good. Now little elven princess, I'm going to tell you a little story. You would do well to heed it as it might keep you alive if I'm feeling particularly generous... Although that is still unlikely." He leaned back, resting his head on one of his scaly claws as he recounted the tale. "That lake that you've been so casually swimming naked in like a nymph, is the water supply for my lair. While this may not seem like a big deal to you, it does make a phenomenal difference to that of a dragon. There is an ancient magic in this world, crafted by a cult of dragon worshipers eons before even the oldest of dragons can recall. This cult wished to offer themselves up to the dragons, in exchange for their guidance, benevolence, and power. Their history is a long and complicated one but suffice to say, a magic found its way into the very essence of dragon spirits. This magic makes dragons such as I crave the flesh of young maidens such as yourself, the purpose for this being to produce half dragon children."

Her eyes widened in shock once more, as if she couldn't have been shocked enough today as it was. Did that mean he... no... "NO! " She screamed looking at him her knees trying to clench together despite her bonds. He roared again this time the vibrations of just the sound causing the whole chamber to shake with its force. "WHAT DID I SAY GIRL?!"

"N-N-No speaking... I'm sorry master Zagoroth... please forgive me..." She shuddered feeling as if her world had almost ended right then and there. He grinned evilly at her, pleased to see her compliance, and he leaned his head down, licking up her lithe form. She whimpered at the touch of his hot moist tongue sliding over her flesh, as she felt strangely aroused by the action. The tongue felt good in a way, and the way he stroked her bare body exited her in a way she didn't want to feel. She shook her head trying to deny the feelings she felt at that tongue's caress, and he merely chuckled as he withdrew his tongue.

"It is good that you are learning your place, but the next time I may do a bit more than just take a taste of you. As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, it was ingrained in us in order to produce half dragon children. Not all of our species liked this idea though, in fact much of them hated it, and as such the more clever and sinister of dragons twisted the magic. It made us crave the flesh of young maidens still... but for consumption instead, as few wished to defile themselves with a lesser species. So some of us feel the ancient magic in different ways, although it is there in all of us, even if it can sometimes be warped in different ways. For instance, I've heard tales that female dragons oftentimes feed on young men, but that does not bring us to our issue which brought you here. You are here because that same magic that I was referring to, has tainted my water with your fair flesh. Every time I drank from it, I could taste you, and the taste grew stronger each time you came to swim, and my need for you became stronger. Had we failed to capture you this evening, I would have laid siege to your pathetic kingdom until they delivered you to me." He looked down at her and grinned once more.

"I'm a bit different than my other kin, in that both hunger and sexual desire course through me for your flesh. Consider it being because I am enlightened to the possibilities, so I have more control over how I choose to manifest my desires. So the question is my dear little princess Ella, would you rather give birth to the first half shadow dragon baby in eons? Or would you rather end your fate right here and now in the belly of the darkest of all dragons? The choice is yours, and you have but five minutes before I lose my patience with this game and decide for you." The options he'd given her were both fates worse than death for some, and both prospects terrified her.

"P-Please... please can't you just let me go? I'll do anything but those things... I just... I didn't know!" The sharp glare he gave her showed that he was not about to bargain with her on this, so she decided to try to change tactics. "May I at least ask you some questions lord Zagoroth? Your wisdom is beyond anything even the greatest scholars in the world have ever dreamed of. The knowledge you possess is astounding, and I wish to bask in the magnificence of you for just a little longer." She'd heard tales that dragons were susceptible to flattery when she was a young girl... she only prayed that those tales were right.

He paused considering her request carefully. It had been some time since he'd had anyone with whom he could hold a decent conversation, and she was charming in her own right. Then again, that could be part of this damnable magic making her more attracted to her, so he was careful to keep his feeling guarded. "You may ask, although you still are limited in time before I decide for you, and take you one way or the other." His fanged grin showed that he thought himself to be quite clever, to see through her ruse if she was indeed trying to buy herself time.

Ella's mind was racing, as this meant she only had a limited amount of time to ask the questions that she wanted to know most. "How do you know my name, or that I am a princess? Where are we if the lake is your water supply? We can't be on elven lands, otherwise you would have been discovered long ago." In her rush she'd forgotten to add in the flattery, but she wasn't sure if it was really having much of an effect at this point. He rolled his eyes as if her ignorance was overwhelming to him.

"You can't even figure out how I learned your name, or where we are? You're really much less clever than I had given you credit for. A shame really, since before I had been leaning towards making you the mother of my child rather than just dinner." She shuddered realizing that she indeed should have kept up the flattery, as he seemed much less friendly with his answers now than even before. "But very well, as to your name, you should really learn to not talk to yourself so much while bathing. I think many of my underlings took amusement in you singing about that boy you like, and the things the two of you would do under the stars. Why even I was humming the tune once or twice." She was blushing furiously at this point, which she didn't even think was possible given that she was stark naked, and he'd been talking about making her bear his child. It was just too embarrassing to think that of anyone to have heard her singing that intimately private song, it was him and his cronies.

"My you are quite cute when you're blush like that, aren't you? Hmm... perhaps I'm leaning back towards the other way again. As to where we are, we are in the depths of the Underdark beneath your kingdom. That lake of yours feeds into an underwater current that runs through my chambers, and that is my water supply. The rock formations filter the water for me... but your taste still remains thanks to the ancient magic. As to how I know you're a princess? It is the strength of the spell that tells me that much, because in order for it to have grown this strong, you would have to be of royal blood, nude, and..." He tastes the air as if to confirm his suspicions. "A virgin. It is a very specific magic at this point, and the original cultists wanted us to mate with the royal bloodline. Because of the age of the spell it is not terribly strong, unless all three of those terms are met, and you were unfortunate enough to qualify for all of them. As such, you are lucky that more predatory dragon hadn't snatched you up from out of the sky a while ago. A bathing virgin princess is a tempting sight for even the most holy or honorable of dragons."

"You're time is nearly up princess... ask your next question wisely." He growled low in his throat, a sound that definitely said that he was growing restless and impatient. He'd already reached his five minute mark, but he felt like indulging her but a little longer, curious to see if she had anything of worth to say.

She sighed as she resigned herself to fate a little now, knowing that she had very little bargaining chips left to play. "Lord Zagoroth... if I agree to bear your child... what will happen to me and that child?" This actually gave him pause and he backed down for a moment as he was about to wrap his tongue around her, yanking her free of her binds. That was actually a question he could respect, as it meant she at least was accepting her fate now.

"I do not know. Society has changed since I have last seen the surface, and almost assuredly even for the elves that you belong to. I foresee three or four potential outcomes that seem like the most likely to occur, depending on if I've gauged the nature of the world properly. The most unlikely to happen would be that as the bearer of a half dragon child, you will receive the blessings of all who know you. Such a thing was rare even in the time of the dragon cultists, although it's not completely unheard of in royal circles. A much more distinct possibility is that you will become a pariah to your people, the bearer of an ill omen, and you shall be cast out even by your family. You will be an exiled noble, wandering the world with a half dragon growing inside of you, and you will likely fall into despair. Another possibility is that the royal family you belong to will try to cover it up somehow, and from then on they shall keep you on a MUCH tighter leash. Of course... there's still the most likely possibility of them all, which could still coincide with any of the possibilities I've already mentioned."

None of these option seemed to be very good for her, as her life would almost certainly irrevocably change. Yet she still had to know... "What is the most likely possibility?"

He let out a viciously dark laugh at that, as he knew she would ask that, and with the way his dark twisted mind worked, he was only too happy to tell her and gauge her reaction. "I'll tell you princess, but you aren't going to like it. The most likely thing to happen to you is that you will die in child birth, the dragon hatching tearing from inside of you, as if you were an egg to hatch from. It will likely be the most excruciating pain you will ever experience, and the half dragons born this way will often consume the flesh of their mothers for nourishment. Yet trying to stop such a pregnancy by killing the half dragon child inside of you, would result in a fate even worse than that, for then you shall birth a monster even I would fear."

She turned away from him, shaking her head in denial. "Y-You're lying! That can't possibly be true!"

"Am I? Tell me then princess, why is it that you haven't heard of any half-dragon births in the last millennium? As the bloodline thins from the half dragon's mate onwards, the survival rate of the mothers increase dramatically, until one day, it is at a point where the bloodline of the dragon doesn't even effect it anymore, yet the decedents still receive some of the power of their first dragon ancestor. Many of the most powerful sorcerers in your world have a bit of dragon lineage in them, although some do not even realize it." Yet there was indeed a piece of information he was not telling her, and that was that it was possible for the mother to easily survive. That is of course, if the dragon is in human form when they mate with them. Many of the 'good' dragons did just that, but he was a shadow dragon, and as such was not usually known for such kindness. Yet a fact he was unaware of was the monster he'd been referring to, could only spawn under very unique circumstances.

"The time has come Ella, make your choice now or I shall make it for you. Bear in mind that if you choose to bear my child there's still always the chance that the pregnancy would occur at all, as were aren't exactly the most compatible species. You'll also live nine months longer than you would have should you choose to end it now. Although if you do choose to end it now, I shall make it more enjoyable for you than you could imagine, and give you as painless a death as I can. Then again, I could be lying through my teeth simply because I love playing with my food." As he said this, he poked a scaly claw at her stomach, causing her to flinch. He then used the particularly sharp part to cut her binds, releasing her to the floor.

She was at first surprised that she was being unbound, but was quick to realize she had nowhere to run, and he just wanted the excuse to pounce if she tried. She sighed as she rubbed her sore arms and legs, where she'd been bound so tightly just a short time ago. She didn't even bother to cover up at this point, as modesty wasn't exactly a prime concern when she had to think about survival... or whether she even wanted survival. Living was a very nice option, even if it was only for 9 months if she did get pregnant... but unleashing that monster onto the world? Dying in the most unpleasant way imaginable? The other way was death, but at least it was a short one right? Besides... given that lick earlier, she had a pretty decent idea of what he meant by enjoyable. She wasn't really sure whether or not to be very thrilled at that prospect.

"I... I..." She didn't know what to do. Zagoroth didn't seem to have the patience for it any longer though, and his tongue shot out of his mouth, wrapping around her ankle, and pulling her off her feet. Ella cried out as she was dragged down, and steadily was reeled in by her ankle. "NO! NO PLEASE! You said I could choose! I want to live! Please! Don't eat me! I-OH!" Her pleas for help soon halted as his tongue snaked its way farther up her leg to reach between her thighs to the most intimate part of her body. "N-no... not... not there..."

She moaned softly as he rubbed his tongue up against her folds, while still slowly drawing her into his mouth. It wasn't until she could feel her foot sliding into his hot maw, while her other leg bumped into his jaw that she snapped back out of it. "NO! NO! NO! PLEASE! WAI-" He apparently had grown tired of her screams, as he yanked the rest of her into his mouth closing her in. It was quite dark, hot, and humid inside his mouth and she struggled to sit up, but she found herself, rolling flat on her stomach, as her body was raised to the roof of his mouth. She was being pressed into his sticky tongue, and she slid along it slightly, causing her to cry out once more. She could tell she was being tasted by him, and for some reason that thought seemed to get her feeling even more turned on.

She was incredibly scared at this point as she seemed to be confusing sexual desire with the fear she should be feeling from this. Instead she was rubbing her body against that tongue feeling herself becoming increasingly stimulated by it. "Nnnn..." She slid further down his tongue, and to her genuine horror she was reaching the near the entrance to his long dark throat now. She couldn't see anything, but she could feel the danger of it and the endless blackness of it. She scampered back towards the front of his mouth, but felt herself being flung back towards his throat by an idle slap from his tongue. She reeled from the force, falling face first onto the back of his lengthy tongue, her golden hair being matted to her in awkward ways thanks to the humid sticky air in there. She clung to his tongue with whatever force she could muster, not wanting to let go in fear that it would spell her doom.

He leaned his head back trying to get gravity to aid him in getting her down his throat, but it still failed to quite do the trick. She was clinging to his tongue for dear life, and even after shaking her a little she still stubbornly hung on. He chuckled a sound deep in his throat, as he lolled his tongue out of mouth again, to look down at her bare clinging form. "You're very stubborn you know, and I think I rather like your spirit my dear little Ella. But this can only end one way now, and that is with you in my stomach, even if I must use dirtier methods." She looked up from his tongue, just in time to see the black flames brewing in the back of his throat.

"NOOOO!" She cried out as the black flames enveloped her. Yet she was unscathed, the flames not even burning her in the slightest. She was going to touch her face with her hands to feel that she was alright... but she couldn't move... it was as if none of the muscles in her body would respond. Then she felt herself being drawn into his mouth, and pressed up against his mouth again, flattening her out. She realized what he'd done now, because she could no longer fight to hold on now being completely immobilized. She wanted to cry out and scream in protest, but she couldn't even open her mouth, so all that came out was, "MMMM!!!" As she pushed towards the back of his mouth.

"Goodbye princess Ella." And then he swallowed, pulling her down his long dragon throat and releasing the magical binding on her. She squirmed and writhed, trying to escape her cruel fate, but that was exactly what Zagaroth wanted to feel. Her soft supple body writhing in his throat was quite an enjoyable feeling, and he gulped again, sending her on her way down to his stomach as he chuckled some more. This was where she always was going to end up, as he'd never even been truly considering letting her live. He just loved the idea of filling his prey with false hope, a terrible false hope at that, and then snatching it away from them. It had been some time since he'd last been able to eat a virgin maiden, but the fact that she was an elven princess had just made her all the more delectable. He yawned leaning back, feeling quite content for while she wasn't really much in the way of meat, the ancient magic made her quite the feast for him. Yet he was also unique in that unlike many dragons, shadow dragons were a rare breed that could feed off of the life force and emotions of their victims. So he truly felt contented... except for sexually, but he merely shrugged it off.

Inside Zagaroth's stomach Ella kicked, screamed, and cried as she felt the stomach walls relentlessly toss her around. Worse yet she was not starting to feel the strong digestive acids of a dragon seeping in around her, and she knew she only had a matter of time. He had lied to her, for this fate was a worse death than what he'd promised, and she hadn't even gotten to make her choice. "Lord Zagoroth! Please! Can you hear me?! Please let me out! I'll do anything! Just don't let me die! I'll bear your child! I'll be your slave! I'll let you have your way with me whenever you want! Please... JUST LET ME OUT! I... I don't want to die..." The tears were free flowing down her cheeks now as she could feel her feet burning as the stomach acid touched them. It was a bit like heartburn, except that it only got worse as time went out. "You promised me... YOU PROMISED!! Please! My lord! PLEASE!" She banged on his stomach one more time with her fist, before curling up and crying, everything that happened being too much for her now.

Just when she thought this was the end, and things couldn't get any worse, she felt that black darkness he'd breathed on her earlier surrounding her, and she was filled with an uncontrollable dread. She could feel her energy draining from her, and she fell backwards against his stomach wall before... she was completely submerged in water. She weakly struggled trying to get out of the stomach acid, but then she realized... it was clear sparkling water. The golden eyes of Zagoroth looked down at her in narrow slits. "I've spared you Ella... for once I'm feeling... merciful. Yet you shall indeed be my slave and concubine, and will have to stay with me from this day forth."

Ella's eyes widened and she rushed over to his snout, wrapping her arms around him crying. "Thank you! Thank you my lord! I promise! I won't let you down! I'll stay with you forever! ... Just let me live with you and I shall be yours." She didn't really understand why, but in her eyes he seemed like the greatest savior and love she'd ever known in that moment. The truth of the matter was it was not her pleas to Zagoroth that had spared her. His curiosity was piqued now, for she should have died in his stomach, her spirit drained and her body becoming his sustenance. Yet when she was to die, she was brought to his water instead... he had to wonder if perhaps she had some form of untapped magic involving that lake. Regardless of which, it seemed he now had a new pet, and he gave her a playful lick, to clean her off.

"Oh I promise Ella, you and I have only just begun."