"Cannibal, do you still refuse to acknowledge me?"
Rhaegar lay weakly across the dragon's back, trying to communicate with the giant beneath him.
He had thought he wouldn't get a response.
Cannibal turned around, uncharacteristically calm. The madness had vanished from its green, slit-pupiled eyes, replaced by a strangely human scrutiny.
He had to admit, the little bug on its back had moved it with his resolve.
Cannibal snorted at Rhaegar, then arrogantly turned its head away and continued flying.
In that instant,
Rhaegar stared at Cannibal.
Rhaegar's reflection appeared in Cannibal's slit-pupiled eyes.
A brief, tenuous connection formed between them.
Through this vague connection, Rhaegar sensed Cannibal's inner nature.
Fierce, proud, indifferent...
That was the heart of this pitch-black dragon, a giant that had never been tamed.
It looked down on everything and had no need for a rider to disturb its solitary life.
Now, Cannibal had sensed Rhaegar's determination.
It was willing to give him a chance to make it yield.
Understanding its will, Rhaegar grinned. "Come on! The harder the trial, the more it's worth risking my life!"
"Siga..."
Cannibal threw its head back and roared, then suddenly beat its wings and climbed into the sky.
Moving fast enough to break through the air, Cannibal shot upward, passing through layer after layer of water-laden storm clouds.
At the highest altitude it could reach, Cannibal steadied itself.
It glanced back at the little bug sprawled across its back and grinned cruelly.
Whoosh—
Cannibal arched its thick neck backward and performed a backflip in midair.
Once, twice...
After three consecutive flips, Cannibal used the momentum to right itself, then beat its wings and plunged downward.
Rhaegar clung desperately to anything he could grab.
He endured the three flips, but dizziness surged through his head, and his body went numb