He blinked once, letting his eyes adjust to the dim cavern beyond.
"...A cave?"
Behind him, Aren could barely hear Daniel’s voice calling out to him over the rushing waterfall.
"Aren! Aren, where the hell did you go?!"
Not wanting to scream and alert whatever might be in this cave, Aren picked up a small stone and threw it through the curtain of water. Hopefully, the Senior’d be smart enough to deduce what he was trying to say.
Aren turned his attention forward again. The cave stretched deeper than he expected, almost like it was carved here on purpose instead of naturally occurring.
The sound of the waterfall faded quickly the deeper he looked, replaced by an eerie quiet broken only by the occasional drip of water from the stalagmites above.
But sothing about the air felt...strange.
Aren slowly took a step forward. The mont he did, sothing prickled at his skin imdiately. Raising his hand up to inspect it, Aren realized what it was imdiately.
Lightning ether...crackling around his fingers, almost like they were drawn toward him by instinct.
No way...is there a Lightning treasure in here?! Finally! Sothing good happened!
His eyes lit up almost imdiately. After days of wandering through the Wildlands, with various near-death experiences, the idea of finally stumbling upon sothing valuable felt almost unreal.
No no...calm down, Aren. Nothing in this world is free.
Carefully, Aren stepped deeper into the cavern.
The cave widened gradually the further he walked, the stone floor sloping slightly downward toward a shallow pool of water at the center. The closer he got to the pool, the denser the lightning energy beca.
His hand twitched slightly as more sparks danced around his fingers before dissipating again.
Weird...treasures usually radiate ether outward. Was this not a treasure but instead—?
Aren didn’t manage to finish his thought before sothing shifted beside the pool. He crouched down low instantly, getting into a battle-ready stance.
His eyes narrowed. What he had mistaken for a pile of dark stone slowly revealed itself.
A slender body stretched lazily beside the pool, scales radiating the only light within the cavern that he could see. Each plate shimred with streaks of pale blue lightning running between them like live sparks.
The creature yawned as it tilted its head back. Aren noticed two small stubs on top of its head.
Horn stubs...?
The mont their eyes locked on each other, a large pressure bood as the entire cave shuddered. Then, to Aren’s complete shock, its mouth moved.
"Who are...?"
Aren blinked, and for a mont, all he could do was stare. Eventually, he managed to catch himself before responding.
"You...can talk?"
The small drake tilted its head slightly, the thin stubs on its head swirling with static electricity.
"Talk..." it repeated slowly, like testing the sound of the word to see if it liked it. "Yes. I...talk."
Another pause followed as it continued to study Aren, curiosity all over its eyes. Then its gaze drifted briefly to Aren’s hand, where strands of lightning still danced softly around his fingers.
The drake’s eyes widened slightly. "You...storm?"
Aren frowned.
"Storm?"
"You sll...like storm," it said after a mont, the words still slightly clumsy but clearer now. "Like water from sky...before kaboom!"
Aren looked down at his hands before replying. "Yeah, I guess you can call it that."
The small drake leaned forward a little before stepping out of the pool, wagging its tail.
"...You...dragon?"
Of all the questions he expected, that was not one of them.
How the hell does this beast know about Dragons?
For a brief mont, he considered denying it out of habit. The Wildlands was not exactly the kind of place for tea parties and self-introductions...
But as he looked at the small creature standing only a few steps away now, the thought quickly faded.
This little guy...seems excited?
There’s no obvious bloodlust or killing intent. It should be okay...
"...Yeah," he admitted. "Sothing like that."
Its eyes lit up instantly. "Oh! Oh!’
"Mama say Papa co later," it said quickly, the words tumbling out. "Mama say Papa big strong dragon."
It paused, clearly trying to piece the thought together before tilting its head slightly.
"...That an..."
Oh no...here it cos.
The small drake got even closer, now sniffing at his feet before straightening.
"You Papa!"
The creature seed very pleased with its conclusion. Its tail wagged even faster now—so fast that sparks started to dance everywhere along the cave. Aren flinched as he barely managed to dodge one flying right past his face.
"Yes! Yes!" it said enthusiastically, nodding its head. "Papa dragon!"
"...What? No, that’s not—"
"...No?"
"No," Aren repeated firmly. "Definitely no."
The creature stared at him for a few seconds, clearly trying to process this new information. The stubs on its head started glowing a soft purple, almost like an indicator that it was thinking hard.
Then its eyes suddenly brightened again.
"Oh!"
Aren imdiately had a bad feeling about this.
"Big brother?"
He opened his mouth to protest before pausing and thinking about it.
Actually...that’s a lot better. I think I could go with that—Wait! That’s not the point!
Aren cleared his throat before crouching slightly so he was closer to the drake’s eye level.
"Hold on," he said slowly. "Let’s back up for a second."
The small drake blinked at him. "...Back?"
"You said your mama told you a dragon would co later," Aren continued, gesturing lightly with his hand. "What exactly did she say?"
The creature’s horns flickered faintly as it thought about the question. The soft purple glow returned to the small stubs on its head as it tried to recall the mory.
"Mama say..." it muttered slowly. "Hide here."
"Hide?"
"Yes. Hide in water cave. Mama say only co out if..." it paused, searching for the right word before pointing its snout toward Aren. "...If dragon co."
"...Your mother told you to wait here for a dragon?"
"Yes!" the drake said brightly, clearly pleased he understood. "Mama say dragon strong. Dragon help."
Aren leaned back slightly, his thoughts already racing. That didn’t really sound like the instructions of a creature that simply left its child behind.
"...Why hide?" he asked carefully.
The drake’s tail stopped wagging as it looked down toward the cold stone floor.
"Bad people," it said quietly.
Aren’s eyes narrowed. "...Bad people?"
"Bad people catch mama’s friends."
"...Your mother’s friends?"
The small drake looked toward the mouth of the cave for a mont before speaking again.
"Mama friend watch over this big place," it explained in its broken but determined voice. "Uncle turtle, aunt birdie, and brother cat..."
"Bad people catch them."
Aren frowned. He had no idea what the little guy was talking about. Those could an anything in the Wildlands.
"...Right," he muttered slowly.
"But now brother dragon here..." it said hopefully.
"Brother dragon help find mama friends?"
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