by Logan Jacobs
The next thing I knew, it was morning, and I woke up alone in my bed.
I could still feel the remnants of my night with Asta, and I smiled at the memory before I hopped up, threw on a tunic, and headed outside.
I stepped into the warm morning air and waited for my eyes to adjust
to the brightness, then I scanned the area quickly to make sure everyone was
accounted for. Blar and Inger were in the grass playing and working on
flying, Uffe sat near the fire at Kas’ feet, and Asta sat across from the blonde.
“What in the name of Odin?” I muttered as I did a double take.
I rubbed my eyes and looked again at the elf woman, but it seemed I
hadn’t been imagining things. Just above her head was a small storm cloud,
and rain drops beat down on her skin as she held up her hands and tilted her
head toward the sky.
Kas clapped and giggled with excitement, and Uffe hopped up and
down at her feet.
“That’s incredible,” I said as I walked up to the girls. “I didn’t know
you could do that.”
“I couldn’t,” Asta said with a shake of her head. “Not until today.”
Her long, white hair was wet from the rain, but then she closed her
eyes, and a second later the cloud disappeared.
“It’s the bond,” Kas explained. “Asta’s powers were so subtle before
that they weren’t really noticeable to the untrained eye, but now… ”
The blonde trailed off with a gesture to the soaked elf girl, who giggled in response.
“This feels incredible,” Asta breathed, and her yellow eyes were round
with excitement. “I feel so powerful.”
“I wasn’t sure your powers would improve this much,” Kas admitted.
“I draw my power from dragon energy, so I knew mine would improve after
being bonded with Rath, but I wasn’t sure about yours.”
“I’m glad they did improve,” the elf girl said with a happy smile. “This
is wonderful. I’ll be so much more helpful on missions now.”
“It’s incredible to see your powers grow so much overnight,” I mused
as I took a seat by the fire.
“I’m very excited,” Asta giggled, then she poured something into a cup
and handed it to me. “I made tea again this morning.”
“Thank you.” I smiled. “I might forego cooking this morning if that’s
alright.”
“Of course,” Kas snickered. “I heard you had quite the tiring night.”
“I did, but I was thinking about training the dragons more,” I said as I
watched Blar and Inger. The girl glided easily, but Blar had to constantly
push off with his feet to stay in the air.
“Blar has been practicing all morning,” Kas remarked, which made me
feel a little swell of pride in my chest.
“He’s getting better,” I noted, “but there are some things that are just
difficult for me to teach them.”
“Maybe it would be better if they could see some larger dragons?”
Asta suggested.
“That’s a great idea,” I agreed.
“We can make a trip to my home world,” Asta said with a wide smile.
“Okay.” I nodded. “We can see if there are any portals open today.”
“Let’s see,” Kas hummed, and she pulled the map from her satchel on
the ground next to her. “There are four portals open today.”
“That’s more than there’s been before,” I said as I blinked in surprise.
“One of them is bound to lead to my home world,” Asta said.
“We’ll go check after I drink this tea,” I chuckled. “We can grab some
fruit from the trees to eat for breakfast.”
“I can get us some,” Kas offered, and she stood up and headed over to
the tree with Uffe at her feet.
The little boy twin was so unlike Blar and Inger that it was strange but
also interesting to see what he would do next. He didn’t like to be rowdy and
expressive, he had a very calm demeanor and preferred to watch and
understand before he tried anything new.
He was by far the most timid of the dragon crew, but it wasn’t out of fear, it was because he was calculating in his approach, and I had a feeling
that would help him when it came to our training. He’d already proven he
could do whatever he set his mind to. In one evening, he’d learned to call up
large pieces of dirt, set them on fire, and fling them with his tail. His skill set
may be different from Blar and his sister’s, but it didn’t slow him down one
bit.
I finished my tea quickly before I went inside and put on a sleeveless
tunic, my chest plate, and forearm guards, and then I grabbed my war axe. I
wanted to be ready in case we had any sort of issues in Asta’s home world. I
didn’t think there would be any problems with the dragons, but she’d been
being attacked by a draugr when we first met, so I couldn’t be sure what
other dangers we might find.
After I finished getting ready, I went out and gathered the little dragons
for a small practice session while Kas and Asta got dressed.
I had them line up, and each of them demonstrated their abilities.
Inger leapt off the ground seamlessly and flew up to my shoulder, then
she dove to the ground in a speedy drop, rolled, and landed on her feet, ready
to fight. I congratulated the little girl, and she raised her chin at the boys and
looked away as if she were Freya herself.
Blar just rolled his eyes, though, and stepped forward for his turn. He hopped off the ground and hovered there for a second before he flew over to
me, around my back, and landed on my shoulder. I was quite impressed, but
then he pushed off from my shoulder and dove right toward Inger.
The little girl had been looking off into the trees, and she turned her
head back just in time to see Blar coming straight for her. She let out a little
screech right as the blue dragon collided with her, and they tumbled a few
times before they landed in a heap of blue and red.
Inger stood up, shook off, and glared at Blar before she turned her back
to him defiantly, but Blar just looked at me with a little proud smile on his
face, so I shook my head and moved on.
Uffe was last, and he readied himself to demonstrate what we’d
practiced last night, but I stopped him beforehand and told him not to hit it
too far since it could cause a fire. The little red dragon nodded and reared up
to stomp on the ground. A large dirt ball about the size of my fist popped up,
and he quickly used his fire breath to light it, but unlike the night before
when we’d practiced hitting the ball with the side of his tail, this time he hit it
straight upward so the ball went flying up high into the sky above us.
He’d managed to demonstrate his full abilities while still following my
directions, so I congratulated him and gave him a pat on the head.
Blar glared at me then, but I just shrugged and cocked my head at him.
“Maybe you’d get head scratches too if you didn’t play around during
training,” I told him, and the little blue reptile huffed and sat down to pout.
“Ready,” Kas called out, and I looked up to see her and Asta headed
my way.
They both wore the white tunics from the day before, plus their chest
plates over so their bosoms weren’t visible, and it l
ooked like Asta had cut up
her old green dress and fashioned skirts of sorts for the two of them so they
had more coverage. Each of them wore their full gear, the new leather boots
I’d bought them, and their weapons.
The front of Kas’ hair was pulled back into tight braids that sat against
her head, but the back of her hair was still a huge mane of honey blonde curls
that hung down her back and made her appear both ferocious and soft. Her
violet eyes were bright with the sunshine, and the small, devious smile on her
red lips told me she was ready for anything.
Asta’s long white hair was pulled back into a high ponytail that still
managed to land just above her hips. Her skin looked bronze from our day
out in the sun, and her yellow eyes sparkled beneath her white eyebrows. I
stared at her pouty pink lips for a minute and remembered our night together
and how eager she’d been, and just the thought of it made my pants grow
tight.
“You both look beautiful,” I complimented with a smile, and each of
them blushed and looked down.
“Thank you,” Kas said, and she kissed me on the cheek. “Now, let’s
go! I’m ready to see some dragons.”
Blar cleared his throat then, and Kas looked down at him and turned
bright red.
“I didn’t mean…” she started. “I… you know what I meant.”
Blar just shook his head and walked away.
“You angered him,” Asta whispered, and Kas turned to glare at her
white-haired companion.
“I know,” the blonde said with an eye roll before she looked at me with
pleading eyes. “You know what I meant, right?”
“I can’t say I do,” I teased, and Inger, Uffe, and I followed after Blar
while Kas’ jaw dropped with disbelief.
“You’re so mean,” she laughed, and she ran up and gave me a small
shove on the back.
I chuckled, and we all headed out to the main road. We ate fruit for
breakfast as we walked, and the dragons sat on our shoulders so they could
eat theirs as well. It was well into the morning once we made it to the
countryside, and Kas pulled out her map again so she could lead us to the closest portal, which still wound up being a half an hour walk or so.
“What do you think?” I asked Blar when we arrived. “Does it lead to
Asta’s home world?”
Blar took a few steps toward the portal then turned back to me and
shook his head.
It wasn’t until the third portal that the little blue reptile agreed it led to
the world of the light elves. I realized then the twins had come from that
world, and I wondered if they might instinctively remember it. They were
still eggs when we’d taken them away from their empty nest, but the thought
of their mother slain on the ground pained my heart.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to explain that to them, but I knew I’d need to
one day, I just hoped it wasn’t today. They may be little, but they were smart,
and if they saw the large mother dragons they may be curious as to where
their own mother was.
I couldn’t worry about this at the moment, though, so I’d figure that
out later if need be. Instead, I called Blar up onto my shoulders, though now
he was so large he put his front feet on one shoulder and clung to my
opposite hip with his back feet. Inger climbed onto Asta’s shoulder, while
Uffe clambered onto Kas, and then we all stepped through the portal hand in
hand.
I opened my eyes a few moments later and saw yet another side to the
world of light elves. This area looked completely different from the previous
two times we’d been there, but somehow I knew it was still the same place. I
wasn’t sure if it was because of my connection to Asta or not, but I felt a sort
of familiarity with this world.
I looked over to Asta and realized it definitely was our connection,
because the elf girl stared out at the scene in front of us with a small smile on
her face that told me she recognized it. I was experiencing what she was
feeling about her home world, and it was enjoyable.
We’d landed in a meadow of sorts with an expanse of bright green
grass in front of us. There were no trees in sight, but I saw plenty of flowers
and bushes as I looked around. Some of the flowers were as large as my head
and golden in color while others were smaller, but the brightest shade of red
I’d ever seen.
The bushes were a deep green hue, but some of them bloomed with
bright blue berries that I wondered if I could eat, since they looked so large
and juicy.
“Do you know where we are?” Kas asked Asta.
“Yes,” the white-haired elf answered. “Follow me, we’re nearby a
ridge that overlooks dragon valley.”
“Dragon valley?” I echoed. “Is that the real name of the place?”
“That’s what we always called it.” Asta shrugged. “We will be okay to
look on, but we shouldn’t try to go down there.”
“Has anyone ever been hurt by going down there?” Kas asked.
“Not that I know of,” Asta answered. “But here we try to give the
dragons their space. We don’t want to disturb them.”
“I understand,” I told her with a soft smile, then I gestured outward
with my arm. “Lead the way.”
Asta grinned back at me before she led us across the field. We walked
for a while until we made it to the familiar sight of the bright white trees with
yellow flowers. We walked through them, then came to a ledge where Asta
put her finger over her lips to quiet us before she laid down to look below.
I recognized this as the place Kas and I had first seen the dragons when
we came here, only this was a larger area of the valley. What we’d seen must
have been a smaller area further away from where we were since there had
only been a single mother and her babies. Here, there were at least ten
dragons close enough for us to see, and it looked like there were more in the
distance, but I couldn’t quite make them out.
Closest to us was a large yellow dragon with bright golden scales, and
around her flew three younglings each a varying shade of yellow or orange.
They were larger than Blar and the twins and had to be significantly older,
but we watched as they played with each other in the air. These were the
same kind of dragons as Inger and Uffe were, I could tell by their body shape,
but I thought it would help Blar to see them as well.
The babies glided around easily, obviously having mastered the art of
flying some time ago, and as they flew around, they seemed to play a game of
tag like children in Asgard did.
The deepest colored of them was “it” at the moment, and he or she was
a bright shade of orange with a little yellow belly. They darted around in an
attempt to catch the other two siblings, and just as the lightest yellow of the
three came around the side of their mother, the orange baby caught him with
a little push of his feet.
The yellow baby immediately saw their other sibling and flapped its
wings hard to give it a good push off. It folded its whole body inward so it
was more aerodynamic, and then it shot through the air t
oward its sibling.
“They’re so playful,” Kas chuckled quietly.
“They are,” I agreed with a smile, then I turned to look at Inger, Uffe,
and Blar, who were lined up at the edge next to me. “They’re playing, but
you see how they move?”
The little dragons nodded their heads in agreement and looked back
out to the valley in front of us.
It was magnificent to see so many dragons all in one place. They really
must live peacefully among each other to have so many nearby. Further away
I could see another mother dragon with her two babies, and I thought of the
careena birds and how territorial they were. The dragons exhibited no such
behavior, and part of me envied that in them.
We Aesir had many enemies long ago, though our only true enemy
now were the frost giants, but to see such huge and incredible creatures get
along so well, I had to wonder why we had wars at all. Dragons were just as
smart as we were, if not more intelligent since they’d figured out how to
coexist peacefully.
We watched for a while as the winged serpents played, and Blar, Inger,
and Uffe looked on in awe. It was sweet to see how enchanted they were by
the larger dragons, and I could feel the energy coming off them that said they
wanted nothing more than to run out there and play with the other little
dragons, though they were much smaller than the ones we were watching.
The girls and I got comfortable on our stomachs as we peered over the
edge and watched, and the sun moved slowly across the sky. It seemed the
baby dragons could play for hours without any interruption. After some time
had passed, though, I saw Kas adjust herself so she was more comfortable,
but as she did so she accidentally knocked a few rocks down the cliffside.
Time seemed to stand still for a second as the sound of the tumbling
rocks filled the air.
Kas looked at me with wide eyes, but I just gave her a small nod to tell
her everything would be alright. Then I turned back to see what the dragons
would do.
The babies didn’t seem to notice whatsoever, since they continued to
fly around their mother in their game of tag, but the mother dragon’s yellow
head whipped around immediately, and she glared at us with piercing red
eyes.
“She is not happy we’re here,” Asta whispered quickly, and I could