by TurtleMe
“She was hit a lot harder by Lucas’ spell and her body wasn’t willed with mana like yours. I had a medical kit on me so I treated the external burn on her belly but I suspect the burn to have caused some internal damage.” Elijah shakes his head while straightening his glasses.
I could see he wasn’t in a great shape himself. His tidy black hair was all over the place, like he just woke up and he had multiple bruises and cuts on his face.
I feel my face burn when I think about that traitorous twerp, Lucas.
“Use my glove on Jasmine. Crack another one of the gems on it and press it against her wounds.” I mutter out as the strength on my neck gives out and I’m stuck looking at the dark roof of wherever we were.
“Got it.” Elijah shuffles over to where Jasmine was and I hear a faint hum from the light that surrounded Jasmine.
Jasmine’s ragged breathing is noticeably steadier now and using my limited strength to look at her again, I see that her strained face was now calm.
“I think she’ll be fine with a couple hours of rest.” A rare smile escapes from Elijah’s stern face.
‘Papa! You’re awake now! Are you okay? I’m almost there!’ Sylvie’s voice chirps in my head.
‘I’m fine for now. I thought you said you had to finish up something… are you done with that?’ I quiz my infant dragon.
‘…No. I’m almost done though! I’ll find you after I’m done! I miss you Papa…’ The disappointed voice of Sylvie almost tempts me to just tell her to come here, but I hold it in. I could feel the changes in Sylvie’s body somehow and I knew she was going through something important.
“I didn’t think that the legendary masked swordsman, aka Note, would be someone around my age.” My bespectacled companion’s voice stirs my train of thought.
“My mask!” My voice turns a little frantic as I notice for the first time that I wasn’t wearing the mask Vincent got me.
“S-sorry. It got blown off while you were falling. I couldn’t help looking while I was moving you two to safety.” I see him scratch his cheek, embarrassed.
“What about my sword? Did you see the black stick that I carried around?” My eyes dart around through the dim lighting.
My eyes catch the outline of my sword as Elijah points a bit to the right of the sleeping Jasmine. “Yeah, it’s besides Jasmine. I didn’t know if it was valuable or not but I kept it just in case.”
“Sigh…Thank you…for everything. For saving Jasmine and me and retrieving my sword when you could’ve easily escaped by yourself. Thank you.” I just let out a deep breath, as if a weight has been lifted.
“Haha… If I left you, that would’ve put me on the same level as that traitor Lucas then, wouldn’t it.” He shoots me a grin
“Heh… you’re right.” I let out a pained laugh too.
Elijah inches closer, sitting down next to me now. “Why did you stay anyways? I saw Jasmine pulling you to escape. I feel like you two could’ve escaped at that time.”
I can’t help but pause at his question. “A King never betrays the people who trust him!” I smile which makes him scoff. “I promised someone very important to become a better person and to cherish the people around me.” I simply say.
“Pfft. You sound like an old man. We’re pretty young…I wonder what kind of life you had until now to have someone promise you that.” Elijah’s serious face was a lot more natural now, his stone face full of life.
“I sometimes wonder myself haha. How long have I been out for anyways?” I change the subject.
“It’s hard to tell but definitely more than a day. Jasmine woke up a couple of times in between but just barely so I could feed her.” He just answers, leaning back on the wall.
I inch myself painfully to sit up against the wall as well, Elijah helping me, when I notice that the wall was made of metal.
“This doesn’t seem to be naturally made. Where are we?” I feel the cold surface of the wall, tracing it back to the ground.
“I conjured it. I think the Elderwood Guardian’s body was supporting the whole level of the cave we were in. After you defeated it, the ground crumbled and once you landed on the ground, I built a small shelter to keep the rocks from burying us alive.” He lets out a sigh. Until now, he didn’t let out a single trace that he was a deviant, and a rather particular one at that.
Instead of being surprised though, my mind somehow felt at ease, as if the doubts that I had of him have been somewhat revealed to me. “I thought only Dwarves were only able to manipulate metal… and even then, I was taught that Dwarves could only manipulate existing metal, not create and conjure it.”
“So much for keeping secrets eh?” Elijah chuckles, sinking further down, a tired look on his face.
“Haha, tell me about it.” I laugh too, holding in the pain as my body protests to even the slightest movements.
“All right… but you have to tell me what the hell you did back there as well. Your hair turned white! A-and your eyes…they were glowing purple. There were these glowing runes that appeared on your body too!” He quivers at the scene that unfolded before him.
I just nod in agreement and let him continue.
“I am from the Darv Kingdom, but I’m not really sure where I came from. The elder that took care of me since I was little always avoided the subject of my parents so I never got a clear answer. About a year ago when I awakened, I created such a big implosion that my whole room just vanished. After getting trained for a little, I found out I was abnormally better in earth attribute spells than any other elements… like, to the point where I wouldn’t be able to cast anything but the most elementary spells in water, fire, or wind…even now.” Elijah is staring blankly at the palm of his hands.
“Since I awakened, my mana core has been condensing all on its own at a rapid pace. I don’t even need to meditate for some reason. The elder that took care of me sent me to the Kingdom of Sapin as a representative and told me to make a name for myself and get along with the humans, but honestly, I don’t know why I’m doing this. After I broke into the dark orange stage, I had this weird feeling surge up in my body and before I knew it, a field of metal spikes conjured around me. I happened to be alone when it occurred so thankfully I didn’t kill anyone… but ever since then…I’ve been scared. Scared of what I am and scared of what I can do. I was excited at first about how strong I could be, but right now, I can barely control my powers. You know…I thought maybe I was a half dwarf at one point but I-I just don’t know what I am anymore.”
I look at Elijah, noticing that his hands were trembling as he quickly squeezed it into fists to control himself.
“…” I just lay back, silently. I’m not going to pretend like I understand him and any words I say now would just be empty words of comfort.
“Sometimes, I get this feeling…. Like what I can do right now isn’t even the limit. I know it may sound weird but I get this nagging feeling that there’s something more to me, and that once I can control that power, I’ll know what I really am.... I’m sorry haha… this ended up being a therapy session for me hasn’t it?” The bespectacled boy that tried so hard to keep a stern, cold façade turned out to be fragile on the inside.
I grit my teeth, as I will my screaming body to sit upright to face Elijah. Staring into Elijah’s eyes, I see a trace of desperation but also gentleness and a firm pride in himself that reassures my decision. Years of being a King, representing my country, meeting all different kinds of people, I got the hang of being able to see the type of person someone was, and my impression of Elijah was that he could be a very loyal friend.
“I’m a Quadra Elemental Augmenter with two deviances: Ice and Lightning.” I simply state without hiding anything.
Before he has the chance to even react to the landmine I set off, I continue. “I’m also a Beast Tamer. What you saw back there was me activating my beast will.”
The hand that was supporting Elijah up as he leaned back against the metal wall he conjured slipped and he
hit his head against the cold hard steel.
“Holy…*THUMP* Ouch!” He gets back up, rubbing his head.
“I thought I was a freak but I guess you win. W-wait… how old are you?” He asks.
“I turned 11 a couple of months ago.”
“No way! I’ll be 12 in a couple of months! I don’t know my exact birthdate but the Elder just made my birthday into the day he found me, January 10th. You know my name is Elijah, but I don’t know yours. What’s your name?” He sticks out his hand as a sign of friendship.
Grasping his hand with my own shaking hand, I respond with a smile. “Arthur. Arthur Leywin, but just call me Art.”
For the next several hours, we exchanged stories. Elijah’s childhood wasn’t that eventful before his awakening. He stayed with the elder since the dwarf children didn’t seem too fond of mingling with humans. Because of that, Elijah just spent most of his time reading various books. Listening to him talk and just hearing about his life, I could understand why he was a lot more mature for someone his age. He only talked with adults, mostly the elder that took care of him, and just living in a society where almost everyone would rather not have anything to do with you made him grow up a lot faster than he should have.
I broke the last gem of the glove to relieve the pain again when Jasmine woke up. As soon as her eyes open and she saw I was awake, she shot up and gave me a long hug. I could feel her tears as they fell on me.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you…” was all she could manage to say while she was holding back her sobs.
“It’s okay Jasmine. I was the one being stubborn. I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess with me.” I pat her back. Was she always this small?
This body was now a bit past 11 but I was considered tall for my age. I’m about the same height as the petite Jasmine, which I never noticed until now. Growing up with her made me think that she’d always be bigger than me.
“Let’s go home guys.” I announce as both Jasmine and Elijah support me from both sides.
Chapter 34: Rash Actions and Limits
With both Jasmine and Elijah supporting my powerless body, we managed to make our way back to the surface of the dungeon, where we fought the Elderwood Guardian. The once serene field of grass was in chaos as the floor had fissures and the trees were sunken.
“Let’s look for anyone who might’ve made it out. If not, at least a body to bury for their family.” I state, looking around at the mess around us.
Elijah shakes his head at this though. “Reginald and Brald were both frozen together with the mana beast from the last attack you used. I wasn’t close enough to save Samantha either, after she got knocked off of you and landed near the Elderwood Guardian. I conjured a metal shelter to keep her safe from the debris but I’m not sure if she made it.”
Amongst the pain of the recoil from using the second phase and worrying about Jasmine, I’m a bit ashamed to say that I didn’t really think about the rest of the party. I guess when I didn’t see anyone else in the shelter with us; I automatically assumed they didn’t make it.
“Earth’s Pulse. Scan!” Elijah kneels down and places both hands on the ground. After initiating the spell, a pulse ran throughout the whole cave and from Elijah’s facial expression, I knew he found something.
“Samantha is still alive!” Elijah muttered a spell and rectified Samantha, who was buried inside the metal shelter he set up to protect her from the debris.
A sleek metallic tent rose from the ground and opened up in front of us to reveal the sorry state that Samantha was in.
Both her legs were broken in multiple places from where the Elderwood’s tendrils grabbed her and the rest of her body was cut up and bruised. Her legs had bones sticking out and from the color the wounds were turning, it was no doubt infected.
Jasmine rushes towards her and kneels down. “Samantha, can you hear me? Everything is over. We’ll get you home. Hold on.”
Throughout the dungeon journey, Samantha, being the only other girl besides Jasmine, made numerous attempts to hold conversations with her. Her peppy personality was the exact opposite of Jasmine, but Jasmine eventually started talking to her more, even smiling at times.
Samantha’s face was pale and she was sweating profusely. I was going through my head how everyone was going to get home. Both Samantha and I were a liability that would slow down everyone.
Just as I was about to suggest that Elijah and Jasmine go back up first with Samantha, a noise makes me jump.
“ROOAAAAARR!”
“What’s going on now?” Elijah jumps too and he’s aiming his wand at wherever the noise was coming from.
‘Papa! I’m here!’
“Wait! Hold on Elijah, it’s okay!” I calm down Elijah before he can shoot off his spells.
I know that I said it’s okay, but when Sylvie lands in front of us, I have a hard time keeping calm myself.
“S-Sylv…you sure grew…a lot.” I manage to stammer out.
Sylvie, the small cat-like dragon that always sat on top of my head was now almost the spitting image of the dragon I named her after.
Her body wasn’t as big as Sylvia’s, but it was still around 8 meters long. I could now say with full confidence that Sylvie was indeed a dragon. Her scales were obsidian black, reflecting the light from the dungeon in an almost divine way. The two horns that she has are sharper and even more menacing than the titan’s horns I saw years ago. She had wings very similar to Sylvia’s, with pitch-black bladed feathers. The red spikes that she had on her back and tail weren’t there for some reason, but the scales along the ridges of her spine protruded making her appear even fiercer. Sylvie’s limbs were strong, armored with spikes at the elbow and knees and with sharp claws jutting out of her paws. Sylvie’s once adorable face was now filled with elegance and poise, from her black sclera and yellow irises; her eyes remind me of yellow jewels amidst the night sky. She lands in front of us and she brings her snout close to my face.
*Lick*
The power of her tongue licking up my face lifts me from the ground and leaves me wet with her saliva.
“OW! Sylvie careful… I’m hurt!” I weakly say on the ground.
‘Hehe sorry Papa.’ “GROOOAAAAWR”
“D-d-d-dragon…It’s a dragon!” Elijah’s in a daze now and keeps rubbing his eyes to see if he’s hallucinating, while even Jasmine, who knew that Sylv was a dragon, was slack-jawed.
“Elijah, this is my bond, Sylvie.” I reach my hand out to rub my dragon’s snout when her hind leg starts thumping the ground she coos in pleasure.
Pfft… she’s still the same Sylvie.
I face him now, putting on a serious face. “Jasmine already knows about this, but I want you to promise me to keep this a secret. The fact that you know Sylvie is a dragon means you know yourself how rare she is and what it would mean if her existence came into light.”
Elijah just nods frantically, his glasses crooked and hanging loose on his nose.
“We need to hurry though. It worked out well that Sylvie came when she did. Let’s move Samantha on Sylvie’s back.” I can now barely stand up on my own now, but walking more than a few steps was out of the question.
I watched as Elijah and Jasmine carefully loaded the still unconscious Samantha onto Sylv’s back before they helped me do the same.
It was decided that only Samantha and I would ride Sylv to the beginning cave of the dungeon while Jasmine would carry Elijah and follow close behind.
The journey back up only took a couple of hours compared to the full day we needed when we travelled down.
‘Sylv… can you still transform?’ I couldn’t help but ask on the way back up. It would be a lot harder to have her be with me if she could only stay in this form. Thankfully, it seemed that she still had the ability to change into her miniature shape.
‘What did you do during this time anyway? How did you grow up so quickly?’ I sent Sylv while lying down against her long neck.
‘I hunted a lot of m
onsters and ate their mana cores! I missed you a lot Papa but I felt like I had to do this when we got here.’ Her wings created another gust of wind when she flapped down, speeding up towards our destination.
It seemed like her body wasn’t able to grow without the help of consuming mana cores, which reminded me of the mana core the Elderwood Guardian dropped.
I cursed at myself. Even if I didn’t use it for myself, that would’ve been an invaluable asset to hold onto just in case.
When we arrived to the cave where the batrunners were, I was preparing myself to fight a couple of them in this crippled state, but to my surprise, when the batrunners saw Sylvie, they were so scared, they just buried their heads in the ground off in the opposite corner of the cave.
When Jasmine arrived an hour later, Sylvie’s body glowed and she shrank into the size of a kitten. Her appearance changed from before; her red spikes were gone and she was pitch black aside from the yellow slits of her irises. Her wings weren’t visible in this form and after her transformation was over, she just reminded me of a demonic black kitten.