Dragon's Curse

“You’re an idiot" I wake up to my brother Kurt saying this to me. His dark brown eyes were filled with annoyance at my foolishness. I look around and see that I am in my room, in our small German home.
“I know" I say slowly. My head hurts so much that I can't think. "He was strong"
"You think?" my father says. "Bernard what happened out there? You should have seen that kick coming" he crosses his arms and glowers down at me. His blue eyes revealing his disappointment.
“I did" I say. "But not the strength. It caught me off guard, Father. He was too strong to be normal!" I hold my head in pain. The room is spinning and I can still feel the dried blood from the attacks stuck on my cheek. "I’m sorry"
My sister shakes her head. "Bernard. You need to know when to quit.
"Quit, huh?" I chuckle. "That's not me"
"Get some rest idiot" Kurt says. They leave me in my room and I lay my head back. "He’s a juggernaut" I say.
"How do you know?" Anastasia asks. My sister stays by my side for a while.
"Every punch I threw, every attack; it never fazed him" I say. "He some sort of juggernaut. His strength never faded him."
"He tried to kill you Bernard" she says. "Where he hit you; it was a kill blow." Her long black hair drapes her face, just like our mother’s.
“It was an illegal move and he’ll probably get cut off.” I say. I try to sleep but my head is throbbing. "Sing to me Ana. Please?"
My sister smiles. She sings the Old Russian lullaby that our mother used to sing. It eases my mind and I drift off into sleep. I think about my mother as I dream. A Russian maiden before she married my father, a German soldier, who was drafter for WW2.
The next few weeks go by slowly. It seems like my wounds will never heal. I am dropped by our sponsors and given up on. My father is furious at me for following his mistakes. He used to be the top MMA fighter; the Dragon. When he went into a fight that he thought would be easy, the opponent made an illegal knee shot. It put my father out of fighting for ever and in the hospital for a month. They both were dropped and my father was never allowed to fight again. My brother and I only went in because I insisted. Thanks to a car accident, my brother was also dropped and banned from fighting. He bears the scar from as a reminder.
Now I am in the same hole my father was in. Except this time Knockout wasn't dropped. I was, because of the kick he gave me to my chest. I can't breathe right anymore. Sometimes I lose my breath just by training and have to sit it out for hours to try and breathe again. Knockout did just what is name sake said. He messed me up.
I hear my sister, Anastasia walk in. She hugs me and gives me some water. "Please don't kill yourself ok?"
I give her a look. "Are you insane?" I ask.
I meant by training you dork" she smiles. "Don’t wear yourself out ok?"
"Oh" I say. I thought you meant the actual thing." I sigh. "I’m not stupid Ana. I will never go there"
I know you won't, Dragon" she says.
I look up at her when she uses my MMA nickname. I chose the dragon after my father. He chose it because of his size. He has to be close to 7 feet tall. Plus he is huge; muscular and overall has a big build. Just his sheer size is a bit intimidating.
"I’m not the Dragon anymore" I say.
"Yes you are" she shoots back. "Don’t give up Bernard" she has our mom's appeal. The gift of making the person she is talking too... Obey her.
I nod. "Ok" I get up and we go to upstairs to the living portion of our gym. My father is sitting in his office talking on the phone. He looks upset. This is all my fault. If I hadn't made that deal, I would have won in the 1st round.
That night as I lay my head on my pillow, I hear a knock at my window. I jump back as I see who it is. The same men who I made the deal with. There were 2 this time instead of 3. I open my window up and go out onto the balcony. "Why are you here? I lost the fight, like you wanted."
"Come on down" one of them says. I follow them down the stairs and see the 3rd man from before.
He steps forward. "Good job kid." he says. “You put up the longest fight with him that I’ve ever seen”
"What was he?" I ask. "He’s too strong to be human!"
"Oh he's human" the leader says. "He’s just… advanced."
"It wasn't a fair fight!" I say and hit the wall beside his head"
the leader smiles. "Our deal was that we'd leave your little sister out of this if you lost." he glares at me. "Maybe I should break my end since you are so violent with me".
"If you hadn't threatened them in the first placed I could have taken him down in the first round!" I exclaim
the 2 other men grab my arms to hold me from beating the leader to a bloody pulp. I made the deal to protect my family and now the leader was going back out on his end of it. “I want that!" I say. “I want his strength"
The leader smiles and waves his hand for his guys to release me. "You’re asking to be changed" he said.
"So" I say. “I want what he has. To be a juggernaut"
"A juggernaut?" he asks. "Is that what you German’s call him?"
"It’s the same thing in Russia you dirt worm!" I say. "An unstoppable bean that cannot be hurt!"
He smiles. "We’ll come again tomorrow. We'll have your answer by then."
I nod and go back to my room. I sleep till 9:00 the next morning. I was tired from being woken up in the middle of the night. My sister looks worried and I soon find out why. A call had been made at 5:00am. It was from the men last night. My father played the recording on speaker.
"If you want it, come and get it. You're in. If you don't come. They won't be breathing for long" as it ends I go into a fit of anger.
"No one threatens us without getting hurt!" I call. “I have to go!" I sit down and my father walks up to me. "Let’s talk" he turns to my siblings. "Leave us"
I know what's coming but I don't care.