Dragon

After the Curse
In Hong Kong, the Dragon runs a small clinic to help patients with particular illnesses or diseases, and uses special means to treat them. He meets a patient by the name of Tamara, who claims to be ill with cancer. As payment for his services, he must receive from her an object that is precious to her. Tamara forfeits a cherished photo of herself and her grandmother in order to be cured. The next patient comes in, and immediately he can tell who it is. The man, August Booth, shows the Dragon his wooden leg, and he responds by revealing knowledge in the man's identity as Pinocchio. Again, the Dragon asks for payment by sacrificing an item that has meaning to him. The Dragon gestures toward the necklace with a small whale shaped ornament August wears, and speaks of the importance in the string of the necklace. The string of the necklace is one of the marionette strings August's father made him from. August parts with it as payment. The second part of the payment is in the form of money, which the Dragon requests ten-thousand US dollars. August is flabbergasted at the expensive amount, but the Dragon heeds for him to come back tonight with the money, and he will never have to be wooden again.

August returns later with all the money owed in cash. The Dragon holds up a bottle with glowing reddish pink liquid inside. August spots the photo of Tamara and her grandmother on the Dragon's table, and has another burst of pain shooting from his leg. The Dragon notices, and covers the photo with a hand while remarking how strange it is the body can send a person signals but it is up to the person to figure out what it means. In fact, August's leg pain in this moment is triggered by his guilt in stealing Tamara's money[1].He asks the Dragon if what he gets will help him. The Dragon responds that, yes, what is inside the bottle will prevent him from turning into wood, but that is just a symptom, and only August can truly cure himself. August leaves the Dragon's clinic with the bottle tucked in a cloth pouch.

Shortly after, the Dragon is visited again by Tamara. He expected her to show up, and states her photograph is on the table, and to not forget to take it on her way out. Tamara comes out of the shadows and refuses to leave until she has the truth. The Dragon laughs at her choice of words as she herself lied about being sick. She admits to the deception, and speaks of having searched for a long time for someone like him who has magic. She knows magic is rare, and the world is full of swindlers and frauds, but not him. Tamara takes out of her jacket the same bottle August had, and says she had the contents of the bottle tested, but there was absolutely no known substance of this world found to be in it. She asks him to explain how that is possible. He replies nothing is found because what he creates is not of this world as the people he treats suffer from afflictions science cannot heal. The Dragon accuses her of stealing the bottle from the man he gave it to, but he remains unaware the money August used to pay for the bottle was money stolen from Tamara.

Now that Tamara has the bottle, she does not want anyone else finding him. She pulls out a taser to kill him, but the Dragon fights back. Red smoke begins coming out of his nostrils, and he levitates off the ground over her. Before he can do anything else, Tamara tases him; with the prolonged electric shocks eventually killing the Dragon.

A few days later, August comes back to ask the Dragon to cure him again, but is puzzled to find the man collapsed and dead on the floor.