Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 9: Last Grandson of the Emperor (5)

Dragon Raja 3

“A fossil? No, when Rasputin arrived here, it was still alive!” The doctor pointed at the dragon’s back through the thick ice. “Look at the middle of its spine—that black object.”

Bondarev followed the doctor’s direction. It was easy to mistake the black spike for one of the bone spines along the dragon’s back, but upon closer inspection, Bondarev recognized it as an old military bayonet. Bayonets were often forged into sharp blades with complete hilts, allowing soldiers to remove and wield them like swords.

“Judging by the design, it’s an old British Lee-Enfield rifle bayonet, and its metal is rare—probably forged from meteoritic iron,” Bondarev said.

“The Lee-Enfield rifle is barely a century old. This dragon was killed with a bayonet, meaning it died less than a hundred years ago. And we have even more precise information—it died in 1909. The first people to discover it were a group of Romani. They reported to the Patriarch of Moscow that they had found a demon in the Arctic Ocean,” the doctor said. “In the winter of 1908, the Romanov dynasty still ruled Russia, and your great-grandmother was a Grand Duchess admired across Europe.

 During that harsh winter, a group of Romani ventured onto the Arctic Ocean to fish. Their method was primitive—they cut a hole in the ice and used a bucket to catch fish that came up for oxygen. It was an effective method in the frozen sea, but that day, no fish appeared—not a single one. An elder among them warned that the day wasn’t fit for fishing because if even the fish had disappeared, it meant a great predator was prowling the waters. It could burst through the ice and attack them. But some were too hungry to care; they thought that whatever predator was in the sea wouldn’t dare leave the water, so they decided to wait a little longer. Just as the sun was about to set, the water in the ice hole started to ripple. The sea surged upwards, and then a gigantic head emerged from the hole, roaring deafeningly.

Everyone around suffered fatal nerve damage, and those who survived went insane. The people farther away were spared, and according to their descriptions, the creature had a thick neck and massive head, its face resembling an iron mask, like Satan himself, with eyes that blazed like golden fire.”

Bondarev carefully examined the dragon’s face. Its bony, angular features were an iron-black color, indeed resembling a face covered by an iron mask.

“The Romani people fell to their knees in terror and prayed to God, and the enormous creature immediately disappeared. Looking back now, it probably meant no harm—it was merely coming up to breathe fresh air. But to the Romani, it was their devout faith that drove the demon away. They searched the ice and saw a huge shadow moving beneath, with red blood floating up as it swam. The blood was abnormally hot, melting even the hard ice. The dragon had sustained a fatal injury before it got there. Some people curiously touched the blood seeping through the cracks in the ice, and those who did underwent varying degrees of mutation. Some had deformed skulls, some grew scales on their skin, and the most terrifying of all, one person grew another head from their shoulder.”

Bondarev thought of the polar bear remains with double spines.

“The Romani became even more convinced it was a demon, and the demon’s blood had tainted their families. So they sent a young man all the way to Moscow to report to the Patriarch, hoping he could use his holy power to help them. But the Patriarch refused to acknowledge that what the Romani had seen was a demon. How could he claim that a demon had appeared in his parish? That was when Rasputin entered the scene. He volunteered to lead an expedition to investigate in northern Siberia, and the Patriarch approved his request. However, Rasputin’s intentions were not pure. We later found his expedition log. At first, he wanted to use this incident to make a name for himself. He intended to declare that he had found and subdued a demon in northern Siberia—he needed some achievement to prove himself as a hero, as a prophet bestowed by God. But in his heart, he thought it must be some kind of rare whale that the Romani, in their fear, had mistaken for something else.”

“He was trying to exploit religion?”

“Exactly,” the doctor said, “but there was one thing that couldn’t be explained by a whale—those who touched the blood mutated. To be cautious, Rasputin brought several priests and many animals. The priests were to deal with the demon, and the animals were for blood experiments. Their dog sled team arrived on this icy plain and found a massive opening along the shoreline. Most of the time, this opening lay below sea level, and only a small part became exposed at low tide. The entrance seemed freshly dug, as if a lizard had bored through the permafrost. Judging from the diameter of the tunnel, however, the ‘lizard’ was as large as a whale. The expedition members were terrified, but they realized this was their only chance. It was summer when they arrived, and in a few months, the seawater would flood the hole, freeze, and collapse it, leaving whatever had dug the tunnel permanently trapped in the permafrost. Of course, the creature itself had the strength to bore its way out. Rasputin decided that, no matter what, they needed to enter and take a look. The tunnels dug by the creature were extensive, and Rasputin used hunting dogs as guides until they finally reached the rock wall. At the base of this wall, they found the dragon. It had used the hollow within the rock as its lair. After boring in, it blocked the tunnel and entered a state of hibernation. However, it overlooked the crack in the rock wall. Rasputin and his team entered the dragon’s lair through that crack. This was humanity’s chance—by various coincidences, Rasputin’s expedition had stepped into the world of dragons. The expedition members were stunned, and everyone suggested sealing off the cave and leaving immediately. But Rasputin realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—he might be able to uncover the greatest mystery in human history. He told the Orthodox priests in the group that this was a miracle—a wounded fallen angel, a creation of God, which they should study and report to the Patriarch. To those who believed in science, he said it was an ancient species and that they must leave a valuable research report.”

“That libertine was really something else,” Bondarev said.

“One way or another, he convinced everyone to stay and study the dragon. Everyone who approached it was uneasy and could only endure by relying on their faith in God or scientific spirit. They dared not disturb it and instead collected the scattered scales and bone fragments. By then, the dragon’s lower half had already decayed. The portion above the bayonet embedded in its spine remained intact, while the part below had rotted away to the bone. That bayonet seemed to possess an extraordinary power. But Rasputin wasn’t satisfied with merely sketching and collecting scales. He also injected the dragon’s blood into animals for experimentation. Rasputin had some alchemical knowledge and suspected that dragon blood was a kind of elixir. Medieval alchemists had mentioned this—a red liquid with immense power. Some people who consumed it would turn into demons, while others might attain immortality.”

“The mutated remains must have been the results of those experiments,” Bondarev said.

“Yes, his pursuit of science led to disaster. The mutations were far worse than he imagined. The polar bear’s spine split, growing a second head. A snake sprouted dragonfly-like wings from its back, and after devouring the other animals, it grew to an enormous size. A cat grew leopard-like fangs, and its ribs grew uncontrollably, piercing its own chest. Worst of all was the cross-species mating. Can you imagine a snake mating with a polar bear?”

“Sounds horrifying and disgusting,” Bondarev said.

“It was bloody.” The doctor handed Bondarev a roll of paper. “Take a look at Rasputin’s expedition sketches.”

Bondarev took one glance and immediately felt his scalp tingle, a wave of nausea rising. The copies appeared to be from Rasputin’s expedition journal. Each sketch was accompanied by small explanatory notes. The first drawing depicted a giant snake mating with a bear. Though it was just a sketch, the strokes were sharp and masterful, capturing the blood-soaked scene with a frenzy of power. The two-headed polar bear howled in agony, wrapped in coils of the giant snake. The snake used its spiked tail to pierce the bear’s abdomen, while its massive mouth swallowed one of the bear’s heads. The other bear’s head viciously bit down on the snake’s neck.

“The male snake mates by tearing open the female bear’s womb,” the doctor explained.

“I’ve finally found something in this world that disgusts me enough to make me want to vomit,” Bondarev said.

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