Spirits of the Earth

Godfrey was sitting on the beach, looking into the ocean...this is the farthest he had ever been. He smiled as he glanced over to the pot of stew he was boiling. He had just enough money from his recent pest problem of dealing with rats a bit too large (barrels and sharpened sticks work wonders).

He took a whiff, sighing with a grin, wild onion, rabbit, potatoes, some seasonings (totally didn't take them from the inn as part of his payment), with a nice steam above it, he even caught some fish to put into it. His first tries with fish were...painful, but he was getting the hang of it, different than the fresh water scamps, but still tasty if cooked right.

he felt the wind blow against his hair, smiling to the smell of salt and sea. He had an old wooden spoon he used too stir the pot hanging above the camp fire, a sack next too him that had everything he owned...he hoped to have enough money for a backpack eventually. His sword right beside that, freshly polished (not EVER going to let that thing rust). His hair had gotten longer since he left, down too his shoulders and lightened in color thanks to the sun.

His clothes a bit more frayed, but more patched up, thank the gods for his mum's sewing techniques. He pulled a wooden bowl out with a whittled wooden spoon, pouring himself a bowl before turning towards the sea raising the bowl "Here's to havin an adventure!" he says in toast, before beginning to eat happily.

He had heard rumors of something strange in the water, but he was armed, what's the worst that could happen, not like there was a Kraken or something worse lurking in the waters below.

Waves crashed on the beach rhythmically, the tide ebbing and flowing with each splash. The sea seemed relatively calm, in spite of the tides-- calm enough that ocean-fairing avians felt safe enough to nest and rest near the beachside. A peaceful day indeed... until it wasn't.

The birds noticed it first; Without much in the way of rhyme, reason or warning, they quickly scattered, taking to the skies and flying inland as quickly as they could. Birds were known to possess a sort of seismic 'sixth sense'; One they alerted them to dangers from either the land or the fauna that roamed it, in some cases. Some mammals were also theorized to be blessed with this 'talent', which allowed them to otherwise survive catastrophic events that no ordinary creature would or even should live through. Humans, unfortunately, gave it up in exchange for... something. Opposable thumbs, maybe. Heightened fashion sense, perhaps.

'Food!'

It was a shame, too, because humanity could definitely benefit from the wherewithal to know when a great danger was approaching. Some prey animals had heightened hearing or unique vision that allowed them to keep a watchful gaze or exercise great otological prowess to seek out threats. Truly, truly a shame.

'Food!!!'

A few moments after the departure of the birds, the peaceful waves of the sea... stopped. The ambient sounds of the tide sliding across the sands faded away into... nothing, really. Quite unnerving, were one truly paying attention to it, but it wasn't until the sea itself began to tremble, as if something just beyond the shoreline was moving through the waters with speed enough to disturb the stilled surface above... THAT was probably when things became undeniably concerning.

'FOOD!!!'

The sands themselves trembled next, as if the land itself was attempting to give warning to all who inhabited it to seek shelter, or at least a good hiding spot. And finally, at the pinnacle of it all... It stopped. The trembling stopped. The waters shifted. The tension in the air itself seemed to ease. The beach breathed a sigh of relief, metaphorically speaking. For a second there, it almost seemed as if something was going to--

"A FEAST!!!" A loud, booming splash ripped through the air, alongside a distorted, yet relatively feminine voice, as from the waters burst forth a creature of myth. A dragon, but one unlike any the Adellan riders or slayers may have ever seen; It's body seemed almost translucent, it's scales smooth and practically indistinguishable from it's seemingly supple, cycloid-esque skin. It's massive horns adorned the sides of it's head like an crown; And from those horns, to the length of the long, barbel-like tendrils which extended from it's jaw, to the very coating of the creature's scaly body, a bioluminescence was emitted; from it, the creature's body portrayed a rainbow of colors, bright blues to piercing, deadly reds. It's true color-- it's true nature-- was practically impossible to tell. Not that it gave much time in the way of being studied... it had more pressing matters to attend to.

Where was it... where... THERE! The boy! The draconic creature's eyes individually searched the perimeter for a few moments time, before at last locking onto the young man and his pot, not far from the shore. It's eyes then narrowed; It's shark-like, toothy mouth salivating as it flapped it's shadowy wings once, twice, gaining considerable height before piercing the air with a murderous roar and descending on the young man's position with a predatory diving pounce packing enough force to topple a building. As it neared the boy, it's mouth opened, revealing a horrifically endless series of teeth and spines, threatening to consume him whole, dragging him deeper and further down into the back abyss of the creature's stomach...


And then it splashed down, right into the cooking pot. Just, just flat out disappeared into that thing. Giant dragon, massive terror, gone in an instant. Just the boy and his pot again. However, within moments, that statement became true in a far more literal sense than not, as even the contents of the pot, somehow, began to drain away, quickly and steadily... until all that remained inside of it was a 'young lady'... by some definition. She shared many of the characteristics of that nightmarish creature from the depth that'd just moments ago... except she was much smaller. And not a nightmarish creature of the depths. Debatably. She squirmed about, uncomfortably stuffed inside the pot as she'd made herself, before tipping the entire thing over from the inside, before crawling out with a somewhat frustrated look on her face. Probably. With as many teeth as she had, expressions tended to be difficult to figure out. Her silvery, aquatic eyes locked on the boy once more before she stood and waltzed over to him, covered in the remainder of his own meal (and, weirdly enough, dripping with fresh water) and asked, "Where is it?? Where's the rest!?" As if in some justifiable form of disbelief.

Took the first bite of his stew, smiling slowly with a nod, oh yeah. He may not be the best at using a sword yet, but he sure can out cook the rest of his fellow adventures...hopefully. He chuckled before noticing a flock of birds...not just a flock, but ALL of them suddenly heading out. He raised a brow looking about, that's a bit scary, no birds means something is about, should finish up and head out.

He then started looking about as he heard the distant shout of food, food? He has food, someone want food? He stands to look about tossing some sand before he heard it closer....was that a feminine voice? A woman in need of food? A maiden in need of help that isn't being stabbed by a giant? He could do that.

A big grin on his face at an opportunity, that quickly turned into a furrow brow at the sea, then raise as the sea began to tremble as he took a few steps backward, going to pick his sack and sword up watching the sea carefully, he had a bad feeling.

He winced and jolted and the much louder shout of food, than tipped over as the earth began to tremble. He started to crawl away, it was time to go. He than froze as everything stopped. His breath was ragged and fast, a sweat he hadn't noticed breaking out  as he semi layed there, sack in one hand, sword in the other. Thats when he noticed the water tremble, maybe this was an average thing that happened at the coa-

Thats when he heard the shout, scrambling to his feet, eyes wide with fear as a literal dragon came out of the sea...and was DIVING STRAIGHT FOR HIM! He let out a girlish scream as he leapt as far as he could away from the pot. A small voice was telling him how un-manly it was to run away, an good death for an adventurer was fighting a dragon, the rest however, did not take for that opinion and decided by common sense, he should not be fighting the toothy monster...so many teeth.


Once he landed away from the dragon, not taking a good look after seeing teeth, and, ya know, a dragon. He went to run after his leap, but stopped after there was no sound. He turned slowly...and the dragon was...gone? He blinked, looking about, wiping away the sweat stuck too his forehead, panting at the sudden exertion of fear and desperate escape. He slowly headed back looking back, was it an illusion? Did it make its-self invisible to eat him? Thats when he noticed the pot, it was emptying rapidly, his entire cauldron of stew.


His eyes went wide in panic, that was too be his breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a day or two! He only had a spoonful! he looked about in panic for his stew bowl...sadly spilled across the sand, he went too his knees, not his stew! He sat there, struck in mourning for the loss of his stew, what a devious spell, he knew dragons to eat people, not pranks such as taking their stew! Thats when he jumped back when the cauldron suddenly lurched forward and something rolled out.

A...a girl? His eyes went wide at the teeth, the same teeth the dragon had, it was the dragon! He went a shade or two paler as it spotted him and started to make its way forward. Was she going to eat him after eating his stew? What a cruel person, he had to do something. He glanced at his sword, could he defend himself before he was eaten. He went to take a stance, looking scared before it spoke. He blinked as it spoke, where was what? He glanced at the pot, then back, doing the motion again before swallowing as he sheathed his sword....did it just want his stew?

"M-Miss Dwagon, uh, that thar pot, it be empty, ya drained it of stew." he said, his voice thick with a country drawl and accent as he pointed at the pot with the hand still holding his bag, the hands still trembling as he swallowed and turned back, looking her up and down in disbelief and awe, he was unaware dragons could do this. He looked back from her to the cauldron before swallowing and speaking again.


"Are y-y-ya still hungry miss?" he asked nervously, he had a feeling based off the question...but perhaps she  was searching for food? A starving dragon! A STARVING DRAGON! Now that would be a tale, a hero sating a dragon. It gave him a smile of relief to quench his fear...at least until she tried to eat him, he ignored that though.

Lusca was like unto an enigma-- her translucent eyes, porcelain skin, and bioluminescent figure almost as disorienting as it was fascinating to view. So close to the young man as she was, however, many of those features may well have gone unnoticed. Either due to her lack of understanding of personal space, or because she'd noticed something unnoticeable to the normal eye, Lusca was practically a hair's breadth from the poor lad, paying little regard to his very perceivable fear. No, something else had her attention... something she couldn't quite put her finger on, and so she, oddly enough, sniffed him. Why, or to what end, seemed rather hard to answer until she rather suddenly reached her hand up to the scruff of his shirt's neckline and pulled rather fiercely on it-- her aim to bring him (or his head, anyway) down to her level.

She didn't seem angry, or even frustrated anymore despite her actions-- no, the look on her face was more of a quizzical one that knew no boundaries for answers. Once she'd come face to face with the object of her confusion, she did the (presumably) unthinkable; Opening her mouth and quite literally licking, forcefully, through the lips and mouth of the poor farmer boy-- her tongue far longer than any human's, and coated with a constantly producing 'saliva' almost indistinguishable from fresh water. Why? Simple-- at least, to her. Lusca had come in search of food-- she could smell it several miles off, so arrogant was the guy before her to brazenly cook it just beyond the ocean's reach. She smelled it in the pot, and so it only made sense that she'd come and have a taste (that he made so little was really just folly on his part-- surely even he wouldn't have been sated with that much food). She smelled it on the human as well-- Around his face and lips-- So it only made sense that she'd make sure there wasn't any left. Sadly, only slivers of an aftertaste remained; She supposed, in hindsight, that she shouldn't have expected much there.

What a disappointment. Lusca pulled back her tongue into her mouth, her curiosity sated but her hunger very much alive as she released his collar. "And you spilled the rest... but I think I've had enough to figure out the idea behind this food. You boil meats and vegetables together with fresh water, and..." Lusca paused for a moment, inquisitively thinking through her recent experience while licking her own lips absentmindedly, "...Some kind of herbs...? And salt. But... hmm." Lusca furrowed her brow for a few moments more, before shrugging. There were too many things in that food that she had never experienced before. She could taste herbs, but did not see any... Were they very thinly chopped up? Maybe ground into a powder? She turned her gaze back to the human before her, before smiling-- as if for the past 3 minutes she hadn't been essentially emotionally terrorizing him. "You made this, yes? You know how to make more of it? What steps must be taken to make more of this? I require these steps. I will add them to my treasures!" She explained with an almost childlike innocence, holding out her hand... as if he were meant to hand over his knowledge. Or his brain.

Either was arguably fine.

Godfrey blinked, was she getting closer. His eyes went up more, oh god, she was getting closer. He took a step back as he let out a nervous chuckle, trying to hide his obvious terror that he was less than an inch away from a fucking dragon.

"W-w-woah thar, I swear I'm not tasty." he fumbled out, at this point though, she might as well been glass, he had a hard time finding her features with how clear she was...people called it trans...trans...whatever, big word, doesn't matter.

His eyes went even wider as he was grabbed and pulled down by the strength of what he thought must of been super natural. He blinked away stars at the sudden change in height as he went too a knee, his neck sore. Woah, human dragon form thing STRONG. As he recovered, he noticed he was face to face. He blinked surprise, what was she-

Then the tongue hit him, he went to yell, but it made his way into his mouth, and any sound would of been bubbly from the fluid. He went to push away, but she was far too strong. He felt lips against his, What. The. FUCK.

He was stuck there, it felt like years as he was assaulted by some...perverted tongue kissing drag-THE DRAGON KISSED HIM! Thats when the dragon let go, he coughed out fresh water, and fell back, twitching, exhausted, hurt, and drained.

Fucking, Dragon, BITCH! Not only did she steal his food for the next couple of days, NOT ONLY, she took his first kiss, HIS FIRST! He was saving that for a plump, curvaceous, well rounded, kind, smart (the list goes on) princess! Not some glass clear, skinny, tiny, thieving, dragon!

A single tear fell from his twitching form, hurt, in numerous ways, he wanted to die, why, why did the gods hate him, he wanted to become a hero...not a joke. Another tear fell before he realized she was speaking, THE AUDACITY!

He looked up, trying to be angry, but he was in fact terrified, who knew what she would do next. He got up, looking incredibly upset as he wiped his eyes, getting sand into it as he winced, going to wipe his eye with sand covered hands, which did NOT help. He winced some more as he cleaned his hand and tried again, his other eye attempting glares through fear/trauma.

He only caught the last part of her ramblings, a single eye wide (the other was still getting cleaned). She wants to learn how to cook it? She attacked and did terrible...TERRIBLE! Things to him for this! For some survival recipe he made on the spot cause he didn't have money!? REVENGE! REEEEVVEEEENGE!

He opened his mouth to speak foul profanities before stopping, wait, wait...what if she did this too other people, what if she did the same thing she did too him to others. By, the, gods! She's a monster! He could never let that happen. He blinked slowly, realization dawning on him that it was time to be a man, he was going to go down a hero, a sacrifice against a terrible foe against man-NO! The entire world! And she was going to get him some fresh, juicy, steaks if he was dying (not physically, just mentally) for it or by the gods, he was going to tussle with some gods for this injustice.

He opened his mouth, stopped, waited. Then began to speak, with a smile forming slowly as his sand eye actually opened to look around, red from the sand attack that was accidently self-inflicted.


"Aye, I can give ya the recipe...but I think ya may want something betta eh? Hows about this, a deal of sorts, I give a treasure, and other treasures, in exchange, you, uh." he stopped to think in a moment of panic, shit! Does he say don't talk to other people about this? No, no, there needs to be a-oh no, a sacrifice, just like he thought.

He looked back "Be my friend and don't eat people?" he finishes with a raised brow, his hand extending, waiting for her to take it in agreement, he was totally going down in legend for this.

Lusca, admittedly, wasn't particularly familiar with human nuances. She spent the majority of her very short life in Yoreiq-- The Yoreiqi people had a very straightforward way of dealing with one another, as well as their problems. There were rarely visitors-- sometimes the occassional wanderer would wash up on-shore, which was how Lusca learned the majority of her basic common tongue, but for the most part the Yoreiqi people lived in their own little world. It was nice, honestly-- and all that the dragonette was used to, in truth. They hid nothing from one another, and were generally fairly honest in their dealings and discussions-- And so, too, was Lusca by default.

Thus when the human before her finished sprawling around and stood once more before her, offering his hand in turn for hers, Lusca raised a quizzical eyebrow, the smile fading from her face, replaced with a look of relative perplexment once more. Was... was this to be a trade, then? His terms were rather odd, if so. Or perhaps she misinterpreted his words... But she was fairly certain that, just now, in response to her asking for the steps to create the food she just tasted, he was offering his hand... Was he, then, to be the steps needed to make the food? Was his body required? Maybe his hand... No, definitely him. Yes, Lusca thought to herself, it was most certainly him that was to be offered as the steps-- She could tell from the context of the common tongue. In this case, he stated that he would give her the, 'recipe'-- which she was pretty certain referred to the steps to create food, in this case-- and then he said 'I give treasure'... which she was pretty sure meant that he was giving himself to her as a treasure. Yes, of course-- Lusca mentally praised her mastery of the common tongue in such a short period of time. He even asked, 'be my friend', which was great! She was considered a friend already! She would have to tell Nora when she returned to Yoreiq later, most certainly!

Though, he did also say 'don't eat people', which was odd-- 'people' meant humans, didn't it? Humans were very bland-- at least, Yoreiqi were-- so she wasn't sure why she would eat one... But if those were the terms of the trade, she could indeed honor them! Thusly, having mentally mapped out this conversation quite well, the smile returned to Lusca's face as she nodded excitedly in agreement, taking the human's extended hand into her own, the feel of her fingers strangely soft and moisturized. "Very well! We have made a deal! You are my friend!" The dragonette replied before turning to walk away.

With Godfrey's hand still clasped in hers.

Honestly, whatever pleasant feeling holding such a fair hand as Lusca's may have provided was likely overshadowed by her outrageous, monstrous grip which simply didn't match her body in any conceivable way. She didn't seem to notice-- or at least, was fairly certain that she hadn't broken any of the bones in his hand, or torn any skin, and thusly was pretty sure she was being gentle. Where was she... er, they, headed? Oh, back to the ocean, of course. Lusca casually began her retreat into the waters of the beach, quite happy with herself for successfully making a friend as well as gaining a new treasure in the form of knowledge-- her favorite kind of treasure. She'd always enjoyed coveting knowledge, now that she thought about it as the waters reached her head and she began to submerge-- And was quite fond of keeping that knowledge someplace safe. There weren't lots of places one could do that, though-- but the sea floor held all sorts of caves and crevices, perfect for hiding away your favorite things!

Godfrey was tense, it felt like a long moment of staring and watching her think until she accepted. He let out a sigh of relief, her hand felt supple and soft ,then his eyes popped open, his poor hand! Then he was yanked with a yell as he started to be dragged across the beach...into the water.

At this point, he started to panic. Sure, he went skinny dipping once and twice and caught some fish...but come on, this was the ocean, he wasn't going to swim from where ever the dragon was going to- SHE WAS GOING TO PERSERVE HIM UNDERWATER AND EAT HIM! OR MOLEST HIM WITH HER TONGUE AGAIN!?

He pawed at the shore, which was useless against the titanic strength of the tiny dragon...person...thing? He began to shout and thrash for his life

"Wait! WAITTHISWASN"TPARTOFTHEDEAL!HOLDUPBEFOREYAKI-" then a wave hit his screaming mouth and out came angry gurgling, he was once again crying, this was how he died. From a flat, tiny, dragon that stole his food and his kiss.

HE CAN'T DIE LIKE THIS! He started to useless thrash harder  to survive as he began to be dragged deeper into the sea.

Indeed, she was pretty sure there was no safer place than the ocean to hide things. In fact, around the isles of Yoreiq there were several old stone tablets, written in common tongue-- Lusca had always presumed that they were left there by some travelers of old that attempted to depart from Le'Raana and drowned at sea. She'd found several of those old tome stones, and collected them in an underwater cave not far from the island she'd grown up on. Never found bones, though, and as such couldn't help but wonder if maybe they (the humans... assuming they were humans) had somehow escaped their deaths, or if some sea creature had already made short meals out of their bodies. Who could say, truly!

So wrapped up in this train of thought was Lusca that she had begun to tunnel-vision a bit; The world around her beginning to fade out as her eyes and ears adapted to the waters below. So out of it was she that she completely missed the call of a couple birds that'd come flocking back towards the sandy beach to see to the wasted remains of the human's meal, or the distant sound of a tree falling in the middle of the costal Serendipity forest. Or... no, yeah, surely that was all that was said. Her grip as tight underwater as it was on land, Lusca kicked off of the sandy seabed once she'd made enough egress into the watery depths, and despite the human's kicks and (drowned) screams, began to swim off into the ocean at a casual pace-- a little faster than a human might've been capable of, but not too strenuously. She had treasure, after all; She didn't want to accidentally harm the treasure she'd just acquired so easily. After somewhere near a minute's time of swimming about, she stopped, now quite firmly in the Tuor ocean by depth and distance from shore. There was, to the human eye, only the slightest hint of light from above; the oppressively, disorienting, cold and all-consuming darkness of the ocean surrounded them otherwise. Here, she began to, quite randomly, look around for a bit; As if searching for something in particular. Or, honestly, perhaps just taking in the beauty and silence of the sea. It was quite calming, really... as if she could spend hours just floating about in the endless unknown.

He was not going to die in the sea cause of a thick eared dragon. He went to draw his sword, then she started to swim, and he forgot to hold his breath, so his body was not exactly responding and actively rebelling with him trying to breath like a fish. His arm was not working, he tried to shake her, but between the panic and swallowing water, he was already losing consciousness, by the time she stopped moving, he was floating motionlessly, like a dead fish, his vision fading.

Fuck, guess this is how he dies, drowned and stolen by a little dragon...he was so haunting her if he didn't make it through this. Then everything went black

A few moments more, Lusca would spend searching about in the endless expanse... before her silver eyes locked on to something in the unfathomable distance, and her toothy grin returned. "There it is!" She proclaimed happily, her voice echoing out into the ocean's waters unnaturally-- liquid shouldn't have carried it so far, unless it was truly so loud that above the sea one's eardrums might've been in danger. And so, with the object (whatever it was) in sight, the dragon-woman once more shifted her posture into that of a diver preparing to kick off of land and into the waters... but what could she possibly push off of? There wasn't anything around but water, water, and more--

Boom.

The force of the sudden movement left a shockwave; As if a tear in the very laws of the nature of water had been formed, it rippled through the Tuor, unnerving and scaring off all manner of marine life in it's path, or near it. The space where the dragonette had been swimming was empty-- vacant of both herself and the treasure she held tightly to by a wide margin. Mere echoes, the last few bubbles of oxygen in the human's body, were left to give even the slightest clue they were there.

They'd only been a mile or so tops off the shore of Serendipity then; Now, as Lusca practically flew through the water at speeds that'd put even the most savvy of underwater denizens to shame, they'd crossed some hundreds of thousands of meters in mere moments to reach a new destination. A series of jutting rock formations, deep into the Tuor ocean, which extended high enough from the sea floor to practically form an underwater mountain range; Alas, trapped air pockets and changing currents had eroded and hollowed the interior of the rock formation, creating a sort of natural, yet undeniably massive underwater cave, one of many that Lusca had found. At the speeds she'd been moving, her treasure would've normally been torn apart-- she'd learned this the hard way in a prior year. Thus had she learned to control her unique and innate magic of water to create a stabilized pocket of water around herself and any prizes she dragged to the depths, a sort of 'water bubble', within which the pressure of her arrow-like speeds through the ocean's currents wouldn't affect the pristine quality of her treasures. Genius, honestly-- pinnacle of Lusca engineering (trademark pending), really!

The cave's 'entrance' lay in the floor of the sea-- one of many tunnels which only half-filled with water due to the trapped air pockets within the cave system. Lusca entered one of them like a dart-- quickly navigating the hole she'd entered so many times before, before finally emerging from the waters within the confines of her cave. At last, she was able to take a very normal, very human breath of air-- the gills on her body needing not protrude any longer. "My cave! At last. My treasures!" She proclaimed happily, to whom she wasn't sure. After all, it wasn't like there was anyone else here-- Oh, wait, there was now! Her newest treasure was alive, after all-- A living human being!

"Behold, human-- my teasures!" She proclaimed, looking back over her shoulder in interest of his reaction to her belongings. After all, she'd gathered a lot of treasures (in her mind); Books and tomes of eld, documents of historical intrigue from times long past, even a statue of a great ruler from beyond Le'Raana! Weird looking human, for sure. She was most proud of the ghostly, eternally-burning candles she'd found aboard a wreckage of a ship that must've come from (or was headed to) Serendipity-- They illuminated the entirety of the cave, and never seemed to burn through the wicks they were set to. And, yes, a couple piles of gold that spanned a hundred or so meters in diameter, but that was just the small stuff.

A shame, then, that at a sight so wondrous, her human treasure didn't seem at all interested-- or even conscious. She raised an eyebrow once more, confused yet again by why now, of all times, the human had decided to sleep. Was there no end to the nuances of their kind? After such a short trip from the beach to her cave, had she truly bored him so quickly? A bit off-put by his actions (or lack thereof), Lusca turned to his fallen form and gently nudged him in the chest with her foot-- she had to hold back, else she might brutally injure the human, as she'd accidentally done in the past. No, this light, friendly kick to the chest might've only been enough to lightly bruise at worst-- empty his lungs of any matter within them, at best. "What are you doing? Awaken, human-treasure; We have arrived!"

He awoke with a sudden pain, suddenly shooting water from his mouth, eyes opening  as he turned over, and threw up a mix of sea water and stomach contents, gasping for air, standing up to yell before he glanced at the cave, leading his jaw slack as he simply stared, coughing up some more water. In fact he was dripping with it as he looked about the cave with child like wonder.

"Woah." is the only thing he said, eyes wide, he didn't care he was soaking, or that he almost drowned. This was a place that barely anyone, no, any human has ever seen with their naked eyes. This was out of a story book, HE was in a story book. He giggled like a little kid before he shook his head, the recovery from the lack of air recovering his senses as he walked back, clothes and shoes sloshing with water. He wiped some away from his forehead and soaked hair.

"So, human's can't breath underwater....we drown, two I'm a friend, friend, tell me please before ya go to drag me into the depths so I can at least hold me breath. Errr, three is next right? Yar treasure cave is...like a fairy tale." he said with an excited grin as he went too look about the place, still awe struck as he looked at the candles with their creepy light. The documents and books. His mouth dropping as he saw some that were literal texts of magic, and the gold, SO much gold! A dragon hoard for sure. He giggled some more, he had his end of the deal to fulfill as he ran back.

"Right, now, yar probably wanting some food of some sorts, I can cook us up something for food, show ya how to do it." he says nodding as he looked her up and down, he thought sea dragons were supposed to be big, this one was tiny...maybe the form it took was based off its size? So maybe a baby or a-gasp STARVING Dragon! No wonder she jumped shore! The poor thing, his country senses taking hold of him as he looked worried.

"Bring lots of what ever it is, look thin as a rail! Ya and city folk, so tiny for a dwagon." he says with worry before clapping his hands and rubbing them together "No worries friend, get ya some grub to fill yar belly, teach ya how to do it, now, wot we cooking!" he said, still excited, tired, but ultimely awe struck and excited as a kid, he was in a story book! HE WAS A HERO IN A BOOK! THE ADVENTURE! He couldn't help but smile, almost bouncing at the spot in excitement as he spun too look around, he wondered if he could look at the books and the documents, c-could he even learn magic?! He spun back around, eyes still wide and dripping with water, letting out a laugh.

Lusca was quite pleased to see her newest collection return to his senses, nodding in approval as he sputtered and shuffled about on the ground. She was even more pleased to watch as, after he returned to his senses, her treasure-friend bore proper witness to her collection of stuff, grand as it was. After all, what was a collection if one could not brag about it? Humans did this-- 'lying', they called it-- where they would make claims and statements that were untrue, often of themselves or their achievements. Seemed very odd to Lusca, who could and thus far had done just about everything she'd said she could/would do, but Nora often chided her on her still-growing knowledge of the human race, in all of it's different shapes and sizes. She only barely knew much about herself to begin with-- aside from what came instinctively to her.

For instance, her ability to breathe underwater-- something so innate that she never even considered how or why she was able to do it. So unused to this distinction was she that she'd completely forgotten that Kailann often warned her that it was unique to her-- that humans, even the Yoreiqi people, couldn't so easily stay submerged for nearly as long as she could. Well-- there was that one man, who was able to fashion a bubble of air around his head with magic... but really, could one count that as breathing water? Lusca failed to see it as anywhere near as natural. In either case, she was somewhat humbled by the reminder which... she would probably forget one or two more times, but where was it written down that humans can't breathe underwater!? Where?? EXACTLY.

She was less humbled, however, by the implication that she was 'tiny'. The smile on the dragonette's face suddenly faded at the words-- The light of joy in her eyes, gone. Lusca's body was a unique one-- besides the ghostly candles that scattered the cave, bringing dim illumination to it's points of interest, her bioluminescence was the only other source of light within the darkness. Far enough away from other candles, only the luminance of her body could be seen of her-- pulses of green, blue and yellow coming to the surface of her translucent skin like firefly signals-- bright and brilliant one moment, gone the next. It was almost calming to watch as her body let off such soothing glows in the darkness-- bioelectricity causing the whisker-like antennae flowing from her head to generate wave after wave of luminance of it's own as well.

"...Huh?"

So it's completely understandable that one might be a liiiiiiiiiiittle bit concerned when the 'tiny dwagon' suddenly stopped producing all manner of luminescence. Her little corner of the room, not illuminated by any ghostly candle, instead went completely dark for a moment... but only for a moment. For only seconds later did the light of her body begin to return... but it was different now. No glows of green. No bright blues. No sparks of yellow. now, her body produced only one color... red. Blood red. The luminescence of her antennae, the outline of her now slowly expanding wings, the glow behind her otherwise typically silver, colorless eyes... crimson red. She wore not a frown, her brow didn't crinkle in the slightest. But despite her lack of facial expression, one thing was terribly, unnervingly clear. The human had done something very, very wrong. And it would not happen again.

In the darkness, the dark red glows began to multiply, as the sound of flesh shifting and molding unnaturally filled the otherwise silent chasm. Something was changing-- No, someONE was changing. The walls, already slick with moisture, began to practically drip heavily with freshwater. The air itself became unnaturally humid and thick; As if it were slowly transforming from gas to liquid on it's own accord. In the shadows, the dark red set of eyes shifted unnaturally away from each other-- growing larger and becoming wider-set, and rising higher, and higher still, until they peered down upon the human from at least a foot and a half above him. A flicker of one of the nearest ghostly flames washed over the corner of the room-- giving but a momentary glimpse of the traumatic figure that hearkened to the human on the beach some time ago-- but only a glimpse, before the shadows cloaked it's body once more, leaving much to the imagination... or horror. "You are treasure, human 'friend'. It is very unwise to speak down upon your owner. You will not make this mistake again." Her words-- in a far less innocent, far more draconic, equally as feminine yet infinitely less appealing tone, echoed through the chamber, clear enough to etch themselves into the walls, if words could do so. For a moment afterward, there was silence. And after that moment... The colors returned. And from the shadow of the corner the 'thing' had stood in, came forth the same innocent young dragonette that had brought the human here, taking him by the arm gently (At least, she didn't hear any 'crunch'-- so she was fairly certain no bone was broken) and pulling him towards an opposing corner of her cave.

"Now come, treasure-friend! You shall be acquainted with the treasures I have gathered for learning the art of cooking, and I shall retrieve suitable creatures for them to be utilized upon!" She cheerfully stated, as if the prior few moments didn't happen... Or as if to confirm that they did, and there was no further need to dwell on them.

Godfrey kept smiling until the lights went out, then he simply looked about, then back, his smile quickly going away, eyes widening, oh no, it thought that 'he' was the treasure? What the heck, he offered friendship, not himself. He mearly blinked, as he quickly squashed the panic that panicking/running from his previous meetings with apex predators. He was calm...ish, not perfectly calm, but more, he was in sudden danger. He thought about it, did he mis-understand his deal? No, he offered his knowledge, and they shook hands...where did she get the idea he offered himself?

He let his mind blank from whatever was happening to think about where exactly he messed up, maybe he could explain. He thought long and hard...where could he mess up in offering himself?!. There was no way, not even in the coldest of hells, he could mess that up, and he messes things up all the time. There was only one solution, the dragon misunderstood, and there was no way, NO WAY, he was going to tell the magical thing that she was wrong, not until he was far enough away to not be eaten.


He blinked as things went back to normal and he was grabbed and dragged. He was clamy with fear, pale, and sweating underneath his soaked form, which was once again soaked from the sudden freshwater. He shakily nodded, not trusting his own voice, nor his bubbling emotions, like defiance that he should totally NOT show to the dragon lest he be killed. He looked about the room, there has to be a way to escape, has to be a way.

He found none on his quick search as he squelched his panic, swallowed his anger, and searched again before stopping, glancing at the books, documents, and other treasures. If there was any chance of escape, it was either he grew gills after dueling a dragon...which sounded cool, but despite his delusions, he was not a swordsmen. Or, or, somehow finding some artifact or suddenly learning magic to get him out of here....preferably alive.

After the quick glances he scratched his face, going to speak slowly lest he offend his dragon 'friend'

"Errr, friend, not only animals are needed for cooking, but also 'erbs and other ingredients that add taste." he says slowly, and politely as he could, like he was speaking too a tyrannical lord. His own was fair and not tyrannical, but he heard stories, and read them, best to act this way, play it safe, and give more time. He needed time, this was not right, this was wrong.

He kept his head low, eyes downcast like a servant, keeping all he has in check, he has to fight against his worst enemy, not the dragon, himself.

A quizzical look washed over Lusca's face once more as she released the human from her grasp. "Hm... Herbs... and taste? Hm. Yes-- I did taste herbs in the food earlier... I see." She'd crossed her arms for a moment, mulling over the plan she'd set in her mind. So it wasn't enough to bring animals, but also herbs. There weren't many herbs underwater... She supposed she'd have to return to land for a time to search for some. Other 'ingredients'... Ingredients. That was the common word for additional items added to meals, she was certain. Like... salt. Humans were fond of salt-- perhaps he meant salt? Yes, that must be it. Salt, herbs and animals. She could gather such things with little to no problem-- She just needed a little time. Time to decide on what she would like to make a meal of. Fish could be so very... bland? There were certain fowl that humans raised for food... maybe one of those?

After a moment's time of thinking, Lusca nooded her head in confirmation. "Yes, very well! I will return with great abundance of, 'ingredient', was it? Then, I shall learn from you the ways of your cooking!" She seemed quite happy about this; Excited, even, as her long, blackened tail swayed slowly across the cold stone floor beneath them. "In the meantime, behold-- My cooking treasures!" Stepping a few paces ahead of the human treasure, Lusca waved for a singular arm, gesturing to a near corner of her underwater cave, whereupon lie quite the... unusual sight. Sat atop a marble table in the nearing distance, illuminated by it's own ghostly candle, was a series a large and small knives, spoons, pots, pans, and forks. Just beyond the spread, a large, cauldron-like pot-- perhaps as tall as the human himself. Strange enough that kitchenware of all things had been counted as part of her collection, but... they moved.

It wasn't by much. It might've even been possible for a scientist of great renown and wisdom to write it off as some odd effect of the shifting plates of the ocean floor, or seismic activity... But the knives, idle as they were, slid around the table, as if being moved by some unseen hand. Individually, and with seemingly no notable input, the knives would move about one by one in an undiscernible direction or to an undiscernible spot, as if they were restless. Lusca smiled at the sight, unsettling as it was. "I found them while exploring the seafloor nearby-- They must have belonged to a magic user of some sort! Don't worry, they will not kill you; They will not damage any of my treasures." Lusca spoke matter of factly, almost in a proud tone, not even bothering to elaborate on WHY KNIVES WERE JUST DOING THEIR OWN THING IN THE FIRST PLACE. Though, knowing her, it was just as possible that she simply didn't elaborate because she herself didn't think it particularly odd-- Treasure was treasure, after all.

And with that, she turned on her heels, and made for one of the tunnels that lead out of the cave; Fire in her eyes as she psyched herself up for the hunt to come. Animals, herbs, salt-- she could do this. "I shall return, and then we shall make food! Rejoice upon my arrival, dearest treasure-friend!" She proclaimed loudly, turning back only once to wave goodbye as she reached the tunnel, before turning back and, with an audible 'splash', disappearing into it, not to be seen or heard from for some time. At last, the human was alone... In a room filled with possibility.

Godfrey watched her think, eyes cast aside, until he was lead to her cooking treasures. His eyes marveled at them, his jaw dropping once again. A smile of glee temporary over riding his better sense, he went to speak until he saw the silver ware moved and he jumped back, eyes wide.

He still marveled though, skittering poorly as he was still dripping with water away from the table...then he noticed that EVERYTHING was moving, he took a slow breath in then glanced back at her as she began to speak then forward too the table, nodding slowly, not kill him? Lovely. He nodded, staying quite as he went to poke at the silver ware curiously. He didn't wonder why she didn't think this was crazy. On the other, almost everything here was fantastical, like extremely fantastical.

After poking the silver ware he glanced back ,nodding not saying much as he waves her good bye. Soon as she leaves, he takes a deep breath then yells after a minute passes in utter rage. He then looked about  as he tried to dry  himself by taking off his shirt  and ringing it out, looking for magical texts. Panting for fear as he let all of his issues out. He slapped himself, wiggled his hands, and ran over to start reading books. He grabbed a few,  being very careful to not get them wet despite his haste, his hands shaking. Having to stop multiple times to calm down or not make general haste/mess. The dragon would probably know.

After finding a comfortable spot, he sat down, choose a book, and began to read, an eye twitching with anger, in fact, his learning was. Not by fantastical need for cool abilities, but for a way to combat this situation. He didn't like this fear, this, rage, he wasn't going to be a prisoner, not again, he had a lady to help, he had things to do! And he was damn well going to do it...one page at a time.

He flipped a page, holding it in his hands, basically naked as he let his clothes dry, not wanting to sit in wet clothes, looking incredibly angry at his predicament.

There were many books and tomes within the confines of Lusca's cave expanse; Tomes that hummed with great magical prowess, and documents that detailed the rise and fall of nations long past. Of the tomes that the desperate yet determined Godfrey had grasped in earnest, the first, which seemed the most ancient, most arcane and occult of the lot, read as follows...

Chapter One: The Dragon Princess and the Lowly Prince, An Analysis

'Once upon a time, there lived a free-spirited boy who loved to play in the forest with his pet dog. But the forests were fraught with peril, and one day, a band of bandits ambushed the boy, spiriting him away to the harsh mountains of the Thunderblack.

Yet there be dragons there, and as they rode up the mountain path, one of those majestic beasts came swooping down from the heavens. The boy's dog barked and thrashed about in fright, startling the bandits and sending the cage-and-horse containing the child tumbling down the mountainside to his nigh-certain demise.

And yet the gods saw fit to spare his life, if only meagerly so. As he lay there, battered and broken, all manner of foul beasts drew near, threatening to rip him limb from limb. Just as the boy was making his peace with his end, another dragon appeared. A smaller creature, yes, but even a small dragon is a fearsome opponent indeed.

It was then that the strangest thing happened. With a mighty roar, the dragon turned upon the circling beasts and spit forth a burst of flames that reduced them to so much ash, saving the poor boy's life. With what half seemed a smile, the dragon approached the wounded child and gently raised him up to sit upon his back, and the two flew off to the gods know where.'

Many scholars of Connlaoth have studied this children's tale, and discourse surrounding it's origins have been debated near and far. It is widely agreed upon that the origin of the story dates back 1200 years-- during an age wherein Dragonkin took a more prominent space in the realm of Le'Raana; The earliest known iterations that can be traced back to the tale held several differences-- The inclusion of bandits as antagonists, and the removal of references to the ancient ritual of drinking dragon's blood (which can induce Draconis Teneretium-- More commonly known as the disease that produces Wyrm Thralls) and served as a warning to young travelers--

~~~

"Sisters-- Behold... prey."

Deep within the Draconi forests, a band of naga-- serpent-kin sisters, armed with spears and bows, silently encircled a clearing wherein a nesting cockatrice rested, guarding several younglings beneath it's wings. The naga were renowned hunters of the forests, the vanguard of sisters forming an elite hunter-gatherer unit for their home encampment, wherein waited the rest of their clan. Tidings had been slim in the past months; the clan had grown, yet the presence of travelers through the forests had caused fauna to become more scarce. The naga did their best to steer clear of humans-- They were not an outwardly hostile people, and thus maintained an uneasy understanding-- The humans would not bother them, if they did not bother the humans. Trade was therefore rare... and the clan's best hunters struggled for the opportunity to find a successful hunt, as they had at last come upon today. Yes, a cockatrice properly prepared would feed their people for some time... at least, it would've, had a certain ominous shadow of blackened wings not fallen upon the clearing.

Grinning, the first step to learning magic, fueled by rage, he opened the book, he read, waiting to unravel vast secrets and....and...what the fuck? Wait, wait, surely, SURELY, there was something in here. His eye twitched in frustration before taking a deep breath and staring at the book.

Ok, so, apparently dragon blood has power? Interesting, however, the book mentions a disease that makes one a 'wyrm thrall' so probably not the safest. He rubbed his chin, he would need to be careful if the dragon actually puts blood in his food, he does not wish to be a servant, in fact, he'll have to be very careful with that. Perhaps the books is not a lost oppurtinity, despite the hard to understand words, like this Draconis Teneretium, he had no idea what that meant, but disease and warning he did, so very bad thing indeed.

He kept reading the book, skimming it carefully. Maybe there would be something, anything at all. After his skimming, or reading if he found anything, he set it down and went straight to the next book, reminding himself that patient is necessary. Despite being angry enough to throw the book right then and there, he stopped himself, took a breath, and got back to reading. Time was required, TIME, and he had all the time in the world, he just had to read, even if he had a hard to figuring out what exactly he was reading. He glanced at the silver ware, then back, an idea sparking.

"Oy, ya can move right? Do ya perhaps know a way out of the cave? Or something in here that would help me? Assuming ya understand? Maybe?" he asked with only slight desperation, glancing from the book he was reading back to the magical cutlery, was he going crazy? Maybe, but it was worth a try.

Indeed, t'was true that patience was the key to all progress; As Godfrey set aside the first book and began to open the next, his search for a key to freedom in any form-- knowledge, magical or otherwise-- nearing growing more and more desperate with every passing second, he delved into the pages of the next tome and began to read... only for the words listed in the book to begin to shift on the very paper itself. Who could truly say what story or knowledge the words initially told; But now, the forbidden knowledge within read as such...

'Venus in Scales, Act 3, Scene 14-- John Grandergirth, having felled the great sphinx which guarded the entrance of the Dragon's Nest, now stands before his greatest challenge yet; The firey embrace of the Velvet Dragon. No normal man might stand a chance against such a wily and experienced beast-- But John stands ready, rock-firm, red-hot blood pumping through his veins as he wielded the mighty weapon he inherited at birth, Excalibur!

Velvet Dragon:
"My goodness! How mighty that weapon of yours you wield is! I've never seen one so long..."

John Grandergirth:
"Behold! I was born with this weapon-- Born to be the one to slay you, great Dragon!"

Velvet Dragon:
"Such a big, heavy weapon as your might be grand enough to pierce me to my core, great warrior-- But how will you pierce me? No warrior's weapon has ever pierced my body, that has left this room to tell the tale!"

John Grandergirth:
"Perhaps, great Dragon-- but behold! Your body glistens before the sight of my weapon. Your scales, like the petals of flowers-- normally so harsh and dry, are slick and wet before me! A moist dragon's body can be pierced by my great weapon!"

Velvet Dragon:
"Oh no-- whatever shall I do? Will you thrust your weapon within me? But a single thrust of even the mightiest of weapons will surely not slay me."

John Grandergirth:
"Then I shall thrust, and thrust again-- As many times as it takes, until you fall, Dragon!"

John proceeds towards the Velvet Dragon, his mighty weapon poised to--

In response to Godfrey's inquiry, the knives and spoons in particular stopped-- as if addressed in particular. They did not turn to face Godfrey, nor did they seem to hover in some sense of debate or deliberation-- they simply stopped, as if frozen in time, while the rest of the cutlery and cookware continued about it's own ways. After a few moment's time, however, all but one knife and spoon went back to their business, moving randomly about on the table. Those two utensils, however, slowly turned to point in two different directions-- One pointed to the tunnel that Lusca herself had exited out of, and the other? To a nearby ghostly candle-- it flickered in the vast darkness of the cave, but otherwise made no inclination or gave no acknowledgement of being pointed out. What could it have meant?

He cracked open the next book, for sure this time, this was surely some sort of knowledge? He began to read, and then tilted his head, a hero story he hasn't read! What an amazing find!


His mood lightened, he had enough time to spare a quick read, and opened it from the first page, after a couple of pages he turned bright red, and slapped the book shut. He had made a fatal error in judgement, that was NOT a book about a hero at all. He quickly tossed the book to the side to hide his hands in his face, that was the most embarrassing thing he had ever done. He had only heard tales of such books, but besides for it describing...uh, things best left in errr, not here. It barely had any plot, the supposed 'hero' was not heroic, but lustful and did absolutely zero saving, the woman were all described thin. What is it with people like bony woman with impressive chests? Should be the opposite...but keep the chest, nor will he admit that he read such a scandalous  book, EVER, in fact, he was quite sure people only read it for such...desirous activities.


After his mental rant he looked back to the silverware, tilting his head at their reactions. Watching curiously...two points? He looked to where the dragon left...he could go that way, but he would most likely drown, and if he didn't something would get him. He frowned and remembered the other point and went to trace where that went, a...a candle? He tilted his head, but shrugged, staring at the space for a minute before scrambling too his feet, taking an unread book or two under an arm, tripping and rolling in the dragons treasures towards his shirt, slipping that on, running over to grab some gold coins and the books, adjusting his sword and now damp pants.

Once he got the things he needed, gotta take some treasures, he ran towards the candle, what was there? He would never know until he got there, burdened with some gold and unread books, which might actually have something. He did stop half way to turn towards the table "Thank ya." he said with a nod of his head and made his way over  to the candle as quickly as he could.

At least he wasn't soaking anymore.

The two utensils, in response to Godfrey's words of thanks, seemed to turn to face each other, as if sharing a common thought of some sort... before both tilting sideways slightly (almost akin to the shrug of a human being), before turning back to the marbled table and joining their brethren in randomly shuffling about from one spot to the next, indiscriminate and unconcerned with one another, yet never coming into contact.

Things seemed to be, if only slightly, on the up-and-up for Godfrey; A clue to his escape close on the horizon in the form of the candle, and clothes that weren't soaked! Yet as the young man approached the ghostly flame that the enchanted utensils had guided him to, an unfamiliar sound breached the silence of the cave-- One of a living creature.

"Urk-- Ugh... P-please..."

It wasn't a difficult sound to figure out even without looking; It was the sound of an object-- particularly, a body-- breaching the waters beneath the cave, soaring through the air for a solid second, and then smacking down against the cold stone floor of the sea dragon's lair. The pained grunt of a broken, strained female voice echoed out in despair, the unfamiliar lick of a serpent's tongue to it's intonations. And following the weakened, half-hearted pleas, a familiar 'plop, plop, plop' of girlish footsteps echoed out, each step more silent as the footsteps moved further out of the water, until they were fully on land.

Lusca had returned; and quite a haul she had returned with. She held in one hand, a large, hemp bag; It was filled, so it seemed, with aromatic and savory-smelling herbs that she'd managed to find in the short time she was gone. And, as promised, she'd returned with an 'animal'; In this case, the beaten, weakened body of a naga. She was relatively well-built, this serpent-woman, and yet it seemed she'd suffered crushing injuries to her abdoment and arms; she seemed barely capable of speech, let alone movement. Her caramel skin only held scales along her back and tail, yet the structure of her face was clearly snake-like in an unsettling way. Still... she very much had a face, one capable of emotion; And right now, though drenched from the sudden hurdle she'd taken through the ocean, that faced showed very clear emotion; fear.

"I return, treasure friend, and I am eager to learn the beginnings of food preparation! Behold! Meat for carving, yes? You will show me now how you carve meat-- and then we can practice together!" She seemed so bright-eyed, so optimistic in this endeavor; The implications of her words reaching the naga below her's ears and causing her eyes to widen in frenzied despair, tears streaming down her cheeks-- a sight rarely seen by the naga people. "...N-no... pl... please..." Lusca either didn't notice it or didn't pay any mind.

"You may use my treasures to carve, of course-- or your sword, if you are inclined. Now, show me how to carve meat!" She requested once more, childlike excitement in her eyes and voice as she waited, wide-eyed as to not miss a single moment.

He was about to escape, he could feel it, then stopped as he heard a voice. Freezing in his tracks, then falling backwards as the naga showed up. He stared, frightened, even more so after the dragon showed up, he scampered forward to see what was going on. His mind screamed in frustration, he would have more time later, she must of stole meat FROM the naga...why did she bring this one back?

He waited patiently, remembering stories of heros dealing with naga, however, he was also once told a story ABOUT a naga hero as well. A weird alien bunch. He looked in fascination, but also, horror, the poor creature was beaten half to death.

He bowed his head as the dragon bitch showed up, out of false respect, but also to hide his anger of entrapment, patience Godfrey, PATIENCE!

His head popped up in actual horror as she suggested that he 'carve' her. CARVE?! There was a limit and this was it, how was he-THE PROMISE!?


Naga count as people...right? Doesn't matter, they do now, and no way was he going to eat that. He swallowed before lowering his head again to speak, he had to do this carefully.

"Friend, this creature is a person, a promise was made to not eat them yes? I also don't know how to carve people. People don't eat people, we eat animals, animals generally don't know how to speak. Such as Cows, Chicken, Errr, Bears, Wolves and animals like that." he said respectfully before continuing

"I mean no disrespect when I say this, I'll gladly carve animals and know how to, however, I don't know how to carve a Naga nor would I know how to cook or eat one, so I can not be as much help. If you wish, while you go to fetch more food, I can string this one up for later or deal with her in how you wish." he says bowing his head and winking at the Naga, he'll get both of them out of here.

He held both of his hands as too not cause issues such as shaking, or balling of fists. He was livid, how could she? One could be a mis-understanding, but this? THIS?! This was blatant breaking, this was wrong, so very wrong. He hoped he wasn't going to be throw into the sea to drown...or eaten himself, but it was time to stand up, even if he dies, he has to do what is right.

He swallowed as he waited judgement, he just hope it went well. He stayed stock still like a respectful servant might, sweat beginning to drip down his face again, he was scared, but he had to stand...oh god, he had so many things to do, he hopes he will still be able too.

And, within moments, the smile and enthusiasm once more faded from Lusca's face. As the human began to explain the extenuating circumstances that prevented him from from complying with her request, a sense of sadness and exasperation washed over the dragonette-- realizing now that her lessons in cooking would not be so simple to obtain after all. With a frown on her face, she tossed the sack of herbs to the side and looked down at the naga woman at her feet; Only now getting a good look at her tear-streaked, horrified face. "This counts as a person? But I thought people looked like you... and Nora. And Kailann. Hm... I see. Then these are people. Okay." She seemed somewhat deflated over this discovery of sorts, but ultimately nodded in understanding; Her eyes shifting from her to the human once more.

"I don't understand this 'string her', treasure-friend; If it is a person, it is human, yes? Nora says that killing humans is something only beasts do; Do not be a beast, teasure-friend." Oh, how the tables turned; Now it was Lusca, amusingly, that was admonishing the human for such thoughts of harm to the naga that lay before them. Said serpentkin lay confused on the ground, her strength slowly returning after the tumultuous trip that brought her to this place, but only just.

"Then it is to be animals that cannot speak which can be meat? Very well, treasure-friend; I shall return once more with creatures for us to partake in the art of carving!" She nodded, the metaphorical wind back in her equally metaphorical sails as her smile returned, and with that, she turned on her heels and eagerly rushed back down into the tunnel from which she initially emerged; An audible splash foretelling of her departure. Thus, Godfrey was left alone-- this time, however, with further unfamiliar company.

"...She... Is... is she gone...?" The serpentine woman's voice broke the immediate silence, her frantic breathing beginning to slow to a normal pace at last.

He stayed stock still, waiting for her reaction. He breathed a sigh of relief, thank Yalthnea that the dragon agreed that his was a person. In truth, he had no idea if Naga even counted, but you don't eat intelligent beings...even though he's sure he's read stories that Naga eat people...Ehhhh, its his good deed for the day.

He mentally fist pumped as she took his string her bait. Operation, fool the dragon is a go! He nodded, waiting for her to leave before breathing a sigh of relief after waiting at least a minute or two.

"Hope ya aren't dying thar miss, we need to get going, now, do you need to be patched up?" he asks, looking her up and down for any serious injuries before going to pick up the naga. She was skinny, sadly, so he should have this easy peasy.

And like a sack of rice, he lifted her up, and breathed out in sudden exhalation, Naga were surprisingly heavy. He started to make his way, picking up some gold coins to stuff into his pockets as he made his way towards the candle. He was going slowly, but also quickly, who knew how fast she would be back, all he had to do was make it with the naga...He can do this, almost...there.

"I... will be okay. My body... this pain... I will endure." There was a renewed energy to the serpentkin's voice; Her shivering on the cobble and granite cave floor slowing to a stop, over the course of a few moments' time. Her body was used to punishment; She'd been trained for years to learn to suppress such pain in the face of adversity, or while on the hunt. Among her sisters, she was often compared to steel; with scales hardened by the fires of enemies and flesh tempered by countless strikes, no matter how supple and shapely she may have appeared. For she was Shaashara of Malaiik-- Forward spear and eldest of the Malaiik huntress trio.

Truth be told, she had long since numbed the many bruises and injuries she'd sustained during her 'capture' in her mind; She likely could have pushed herself from the floor at any time. Yet, she did not move; She did not even show implication of strength. She lay there, looking weakly up at the only other person in the cave; the boy. A human, to be sure, but how he could've possibly gotten down here was beyond Shaashara's wildest imagination. They were, after all, as far as she could tell, leagues beneath the surface. That she had practiced the art of depth diving with her sisters in pursuit of underwater prey for the clan was the only reason she'd hadn't lost consciousness on her way down. But a human? Here? Something wasn't right.

As the young man reached down to grab her, Shaashara's eyes narrowed for but a moment's time, before a split-second decision convinced her to, for the most part, relax in his grasp. She let herself be lifted over his shoulder, still quite limp in his grasp for a time as he shuffled about to hold her. She was, by all accounts, quite a bit longer than him; Her tail, pride of her uniquely physically gifted body, was nearly twice his body in height on it's own; But innocuously, as if to help the boy maintain his balance, she slowly pulled and coiled her tail towards her torso, wrapping slightly across his waist for support... then his arms... and then his neck.

'Now--!' So preoccupied with his own foolish greed was the boy that he'd made himself vulnerable-- and all too easy prey for Shaashara, who tightened the coils of her serpent-like lower body around him, enveloping him from torso to collarbone in a vice-like grip that likely made the dragonette's 'handholding' feel like the gentle tugging of a toddler. "Ha!" With the force of her superior full-body weight, Shaashara let out a decicive battle cry as she pushed herself off of the boy's shoulders and, with the full torque of her core body strength, swung him from his feet to the ground below. They'd both crash-- body the naga was built for this kind of close-quarter's combat, as she continued to maneuver the remainder of her tail down the length of the boy's body, careful to avoid his sword hand-- and the sharp blade at his waist. This might've been more than dire enough of a situation on it's own-- but as the entrapped Godfrey would no doubt notice, the monstrous coiled grasp of the naga was only growing tighter with every moment.

"I know not who you are-- nor how you come to be in this place. I care not. You will make a fine example for the dragon not to encroach on naga lands ever again." She spat, figurative and literal venom in her words as she debated simply squeezing the remainder of the life out of the fool and being done with it.

No... no. He needed to suffer-- The pride of her people demanded it.

Godfrey was beginning to feel chipper. He was going to escape with a lady...well, a naga, but still, it looked female, he was counting it, or at least pretending it was some plump princess, she was heavy enough for that. Also tall, very tall, probably cause she was mostly snake.

He grinned, almost escaped, full of gold, books, and a story and saving someone to boot. Talk about a good day..ish? Get too the candle an-

GAKH! He felt it tighten around his body all at once, he was also sure he heard something snap, multiple things, around his chest. His eyes bulging from pressure and shock, what the fuck is happening. He fell back, landing on the naga's tail, almost his head, thankfully, it was spared...his rib cage was not, it was very painful to breath, and he felt very compressed. H-he had to defend himself, he looked over at his arms...also wrapped in naga tail. He could barely move his hands.

He could barely breath at this point as his head fell back, he was confused, all he wanted to do was save people, have his name be sung, find a wife, no longer be trapped to the fate of many...to decide his own, and now he was dying...again.

He had to do something, anything. He exerted all of his strength, causing him to fart and his right leg kick before going limp. He was only a farm boy, barely able to use a sword, surprised and ambushed by a naga. Limbs wrapped and chest broken, there wasn't much he could do but remain strong until the darkness took him, and it was taking him fast.

A tear was being shed, mistakes were made, perhaps his last, and final mistake...and he never got a chance to tell his parents why.

Shaashara couldn't help but bring a cruel and vindictive smile to her lips as she watched the vain and appropriately humiliating attempts by the boy to free himself, tightening the coil of her grip upon him even further. "Look at you. You dared to pity me, and this is all you're capable of?" He looked so pathetic, struggling for freedom, practically begging for his life-- but this was his own fault! How dare he, or that dragon, look down upon her? She, who had defended the Naga claimforests from humans and monsters alike? She, who spent the entirety of her life devoting herself to becoming a weapon for the sake of her sisters; She, who'd fought beasts twice the size of that dragon! She needn't even use magic against him.

"Perhaps I'll leave a message here in your blood; Lure her back to our territory. She may have caught us by surprise earlier, with her dominion over water, but she is but a child; A child stands no chance of survival against me. Would you not agree, boy?" She ran through so many scenarios in her head of just how she might go about killing the dragonette; So many methods, so many ideas. For added emphasis, Shaashara lifed her coiled tail-- the human included within it-- And slammed it back onto the ground-- The human along with it. "Well?" She repeated herself, before her coils further tightened, almost a flesh-ripping snare at this point. She briefly wondered if she'd rupture his lungs and organs first, or if his head would simply pop like a balloon under too much pressure... But only briefly did she wonder this, for moments afterwards, she found herself preoccupied with other, more pressing concerns.

"You are not worthy."

A concentrated beam of pressurized water shot forth from one of the nearby tunnels leading out of the cave; Shaashara's senses were sharp enough to feel the threat coming and dodge it, at the cost of releasing the boy from her coiled grasp. The air within the cave grew damp once more with the tell-tale signs of water magic as, from the tunnel that the attack just came from, appeared a very, very angry dragon. She'd been holding onto a couple of wolves-- beasts she was able to very quickly and easily return to the surface and capture-- but at the sight of the Naga, she dropped them. Her silvery eyes narrowed, her body giving off the warning signs of inevitable danger, those red bioluminescent lights bubbling to the surface of her skin. If the Naga could sweat, she might've right now... and yet, she stood her ground all the same, having retreated some 10 or 15 feet closer to the dragon's hoard to avoid that last attack. "Back so soon? And I was thinking of preparing a present for you; How unfortunate." She quipped, looking to incite the creature further; After all, despite that 'human visage', it was still a dragon. A young untamed beast could be angered into making mistakes in battle; Her greatest chance of victory. Yet as Lusca took another step closer towards the serpentkin, it seemed that she'd yet managed to maintain her composure... at least, for now.

"None may touch my treasures, or my friends!" There was something distinctly more feral, more primal, to the tone of her angered voice as she practically screamed at the impudent Naga. Shaashara didn't seem to be the slightest bit intimidated. Instead, a daring smile crept up onto her face as she, slowly, began to reach down towards the ground, Lusca's eyes following her actions with barely-contained rage. "Oh... you mean... like this...?" She said with a condescending tone to her voice, before her hand found purchase on one of the many golden coins scattered across the cave. She then, to Lusca's great duress, launched the coin directly at the weakened human not so far away, with enough speed and force to fracture a bone if it had connected; Lusca was faster, however, and with a dash and swing of her arm, she deflected the gold from reaching it's mark. A hate-fueled gaze was set upon Shaashara, before Lusca reached the limit of her anger-- eyes going completely feral in a maddened rage as she let out a terrifying roar and rushed head-first at the naga, clawed-hands outstretched. The huntress grinned a cruel, war-maddened grin of her own; It was a fight!

Lusca leapt forth, closing the gap in distance between her and Shaashara in moments and swiping at the naga with the full strength of her claws; She missed, however, as her opponent had been expecting it, and dodged by slithering quickly just beyond her reach. Lusca didn't stop her momentum; she kicked off of the spot she'd landed on and leapt forth again, slashing at Shaashara who deftly avoided by ducking beneath her lunge and slithering below. Once more she attacked, and this time Shaashara, ever the quickstudy, was able to read her movements enough to not only barely dodge her strike, but take hold of her slashing arm following it's momentum and, with great martial prowess, toss the dragon girl with her own momentum into the nearby cave wall. This was what Shaashara wanted; sound of mind, a dragon was a terrible threat. But angered, a beast was a beast. Her grin widened as Lusca, instead of smacking straight into the wall, had the werewithal to flip her body and land with her feet hitting the wall, absorbing the impact of the throw before landing on the ground again. And within moments, the dragon once more rushed Shaashara, but this time the naga was much better prepared.

"Sssssshaashara han sssjilaanha!"

Lusca's clawed hand swiped down at the naga once more, but were met with repelling, magical steel; Her eyes widened in shock as she realized that her blow had been stopped by the shaft of a magical spear, which had materialized into the naga's hands moments before! "Ha!" Shaashara triumphantly cried out, repelling the dragon's body backward with sheer core strength to create some separation, before twisting the spear in her hands rapidly and following up with practically sound barrier-breaking thrusting strike to the exposed chest of the beast. It didn't pierce Lusca through, but it once more knocked her back with enough force to send her flying into the wall; This time, however, with the wind knocked out of her lungs, the dragonette did in fact slam back-first into the cave's end, the hollowed underwater mountain shaking slightly from the force of the collision. She didn't fall to the ground, nor did she show signs of pain; Indignantly, Lusca pushed herself off the the small indentation she'd made in the wall, looking back at the naga once more; and more importantly, that damned spear she now wielded.

Shaashara smiled with twisted pride, very much aware she was being appraised as a proper threat now, and pointed her spear back at Lusca. "This weapon is an extension of my own willpower; Bestowed upon me as First Spear of the huntresses of Sjilaanha, and imbued with the strength of my predecessors through our proud history-- And it has spilled far more powerful dragon blood than you!" She taunted, further enraging the dragoness who proceeded to let out a powerful roar in return, before flexing her wings for the first time since she'd begun fighting. Shaashara was fairly certain of what it meant, and with a grimace on her face, she shifted on the spot almost immediately as Lusca, wings now extended, took to the air with a powerful flap, and another. Was she trying to establish aerial dominance, or take away Shaashara's close-ranged advantage? The naga didn't have time to think about it, as only moments after she ascended, another beam of pressurized water fired her way; She dodged it deftly, only to be shocked at having to immediately afterwards dodge another one, and then another. Her eyes were finally able to focus in the semi-darkness of the cave on the airborne Lusca-- Whom she could now see had gathered 3 large, floating orbs of magicked freshwater to her sides-- from which she'd been firing these beams of water. The naga frowned, gritting her teeth as Lusca fired yet another salvo of water streams at her, each with enough pressurized force to slice through the ground they came into contact with as the naga dodged one way and then the next as quickly as she could, before looking back to Lusca's location and seeing that she'd vanished; She had mere moments afterwards-- split seconds, even-- to correctly bring her spear above her head with a powerful reverse-overhead swing to deflect the dragon's incoming aerial diving attack, only to take a close-range blast of water to her torso, knocking her off balance and bruising her abs but otherwise not wounding her. This was, however, not the best situation for her; she realized that she was on the defensive, and with the dragon being airborne, she had no real way of luring her down, or preventing her from using that water att-- wait. Yes she did.

Another stream of water surged directly at the naga, and she dodged it as best she could, though she had not yet had time to mentally numb the earlier blow the dragon dealt her which resulted in the slightest bit of hesitation in her dodges. Lusca continued to rain down beams of pressurized water on her, however, which she continued to manage to dodge with a hare's breadth-- Yet even she eventually would wear down, and one more beam managed to strike the Naga's side amidst a dodge, potentially fracturing a rib even through her armor-like scales. Shaashara audibly winced, tumbling backwards off of her balance; Lusca's eyes narrowed, and seeing the opportunity, she stopped in place to pool her orbs of water into one, massive beam that she was only moments away from firing-- when suddenly, she stopped; Her feral, enraged eyes snapping back to conflicted, yet relatively 'sane' ones. Shaashara hadn't just stumbled backwards; she'd stumbled directly over near the human's body, putting him in the direct path of her attack. Lusca frowned, she--

"There!"

A sharp pain erupted through dragonette's left wing as Shaashara, who'd naturally only been playing possum, gripped her spear and, as soon as she saw the hesitation in her opponent, flung it directly at her wing. The weapon flipped through the air like a spinning sawblade, as fast (if not faster) than the coin she'd tossed earlier; In the air, there was no possible way for Lusca to maneuver fast enough to avoid it, and as such it ripped straight through the dorsal meat of Lusca's wing, slicing her straight through and causing her to let out a cry of great pain as she fought to, and ultimately failed to stay airborne, before crashing to the cold ground beneath her-- darkened blood spilling from Lusca's wound and staining the gold and treasures she'd landed upon. Shaashara smiled with glee; Raising her hand to the air, she re-chanted the summoning spell of her spear, slithering towards the fallen dragon. "Sssssshaashara han sssjilaanha!" From it's fallen position beyond her and the dragon where it landed, Shaashara's spear dissipated into nothingness; Reappearing in her raised hand as she now loomed over the fallen sea dragon, who strained against the pain of her wound to get back up.

"Humans, beasts, dragons; All the same. Ruled by your baser instincts. So easy to hunt. So easy to prey upon." Without giving Lusca time enough to attempt standing, Shaashara plunged her spear's head down at the dragon's lower stomach, just above the waist. Lusca's eyes widened and she quickly brought her hands up to stop the blade from piercing her; She was successful, catching it an inch or so from her body, but the angle her hands were forced to catch it at made the hold awkward, and gave Shaashara plenty of leverage to play with as she pushed down even harder against the dragon's defense, closing the gap at an agonizingly slow rate and causing Lusca to cry out in strained pain as the naga's spearhead slowly but steadily pierced down into her abdomen, blood beginning to pool at her navel as the blade found purchase. Shaashara was thorough; Her serpentine tail had taken to intertwining itself with that of the dragon's, wrapping and coiling itself around her own tail and squeezing down on it to prevent Lusca from gathering any strength or attempting to run away with it. With a fierce thrust, Shaashara plunged deeper still into the dragon, who could only let out frustrated whimpers of agony knowing instinctively that if she let go of the serpent-woman's spear, she'd be dealt a wound she would never recover from. "So... very... weak!" She proudly proclaimed, putting further and further pressure onto the dragoness. She would return to her clan with another legend to her spear's name, this day!

Godfrey fell lack a sack of bricks, gasping for air, it hurt so bad to breath, he could only breath shallow like, his entire rib cage hurt. He began to crawl away, this was madness. Water bombs were going off everywhere as he slowly made his way to the candle stopping as he turned back, the dragon, the dragon that not only stole so much, but also saved his life was moments away from it...and here he was escaping like a coward. His hand moments away from the candle as he stopped, he looked back and forth, wheezing.

Was this what a hero was? Pathetically running away? Even though the dragon did kidnap him...she did save him from the naga, even though he may likely die if he tried to do anything...was this the right thing to do? Was it right to run? To let the dragon die so he may escape.

Such cold thoughts sent him pale, what was he doing? He came to be a hero, what shame this story would bring him, how could he live with himself. He struggled too his feet, pulling his sword and began to limp forward, feet dragging on the floor, it was too much work to pick them up right now, the room seemed to dance with every step, drool dripping from his mouth, it hurt too much to swallow, barely breathing as he was.

He kept moving, he was going to do something, he would not let her die this way, he would help her, then escape. He made a mistake, and he as going to fix it, he should of never saved the naga, and now someone was going to die because of it. He...He wasn't sure if he could live with that, only a couple steps further.

And with that, he readied his sword and lunged forward, attempted to stab her in the side, one last effort, one last chance to do something right. He may not find his larger then life princess, but he had to at least set this thing right, other wise, what else would he be?

He probably wouldn't be the most quite, but certainly a little quite, the only coming would be the sound of knocking coins or scrapping shoes on rock, much like someone trying to crawl away, maybe forward, then a sudden lunge forward to her side. It may not do much, but it could be something, something to help the dragon before she perished to an evil blade, as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. At this time period, there was two enemies, and a hero always saved the girl...he didn't want to think about what not saving the girl would look like, ever, how could he, hero's didn't fail...right?

Bruises ran up and down him, marks from the naga's tail, like roads for which cars travel, ugly blots of yellow, purple, blue and black. He was like a walking corpse, but a valiant walking corpse that had just one last push, just one last step to give, just one last try before his naive mind broke in the reality that he would see his first intelligent creature die before him, knowing that he caused this, knowing that he would blame himself forever, knowing that he failed.

(Trigger warning: Death, Dismemberment)

Tink!

The unnatural sound of metal against 'metal' echoed out throughout the cave as Godfrey's sword came directly into contact with the naga's exposed side... only to bounce away little more than a scratch. Indeed, little of the serpentkin's body was unprotected-- the barest of her stomach, perhaps, being the least 'armored'. Yet even at this foolish slight, the naga didn't so much as flinch; She neither stopped to laugh or taunt the boy, nor did she so much as bother to dodge; In his weakened state of being, she was amused he was even able to stand. She merely continued to press downward into Lusca's lower abdomen, her spear penetrating further, the dragon's cries growing louder as it did.

"Hah. Did you think yourself to be a hero, just now?" She spoke, not bothering to so much as spare the human a glance as she began to twist the blade of her spear inside of her prey. "Perhaps you thought to save your 'friend', here... and prove your honor against me. An admirable delusion, given how you barely cling to your own life... But it is only a dream." She spoke, bitterness in her voice, before taking a sharp breath and, with a decisive thrust, forcing her spear with all of her might. "DIE!" Shaashara screamed, pushing beyond the waning strength of the dragon's grasp and plunging her spear straight through her body. Lusca's eyes widened, overcome with a fear and agony she'd never known, as draconic blood spilled forth from her mouth; the force of the blow sending a chain reaction of damage through her internal organs. Pinned to the floor of her own cave by the spear, the young dragon felt a cold numbness begin to spread through her body; the strength slowly, yet surely leaving her core, as her vision began to swim; an unnatural dizziness filling her body. Her breaths, labored prior from the stress of trying to hold the spear at bay, slowly began to calm... and weaken.

"...lp... H... help..." Tears welled up in the dragonette's eyes and spilled over down the sides of her face as she, perhaps instinctively, had finally fully acknowledged her circumstances. Blood drained from her lower abdomen and left wing; a sharp chill began to set in as she reached up at nothing in particular; Weakened, shaking hands slowly yet desperately trying to find someone-- something-- in the ever-blurring darkness that began to creep in on her. "...No...ra... K... Kai... I... I can't... so cold..." The naga smiled, quite proud of her handiwork as she pulled her spear free, a spurt of blood flowing from the hole that she'd made in the fallen dragon. A mere moment later, that self-same spear swung once more, ruthlessly severing the forearm of the dragon that'd reached up into the air. Blood spit forth from what was left of her arm; the remainder of the extremity rolling away from her body and towards the human's feet. Lusca barely felt it; So much of her strength, of her senses, had already bled away from her.

"...T-treasure... friend... please... safe..." She managed to speak, though her voice was barely a whisper. Shaashara couldn't help but grimmace at this pathetic display. "I see. You're both dreamers, then; Dreams of heroism, and dreams of companionship. Then allow me to give you both a parting gift, 'ere I leave this place. Allow me to show you... THIS IS REALITY!" She roared a combatant's roar, and with a final, decisive blow, the First-spear swung her spear's head down and, in one stroke, decapitated the dying dragonette; Her eyes, almost instantly, glazing over as the final lights on and throughout her head and body finally died out. Shaashara sighed, somewhat relieved that this hunt was easier than expected, before slithering a few feet forward to retrieve the severed head of the dragonette-- a trophy for the naga clan back home in the Draconi Forest. Her cold, dismissive eyes at long last took a moment to look over at the beaten and battered fool of a boy who thought himself a hero, before she began slithering away towards one of the tunnels that lead out into the waters of the ocean.

"This is reality. This is truth. You are no hero, no warrior; You are just a boy. Cry. Or steal some treasures, as your humans are wont to do, and run, with your tail between your legs. But I will not kill you. No... You will live, for the remainder of your days, in this nightmare I have created for you. That is your punishment, for looking down on the First-spear of the Sjilaanha." With that said, the naga cast a wordless spell upon herself; a small, yet impossible gale of wind surrounded her face for a moment's time, before dissipating... a spell of water breathing, perhaps? She offered no explanation, as she began to slither down into the tunnel below. A splash occurred, and then, silence; Once more, Godfrey was left alone. This time, however, there would be no one to return to him; No one to hold him there. As the darkened blood of the dragon pooled before and around him, even the flickering of the ghostly candle flames seemed silent.

The boy was free... and alone.

He laid there, unable to get up, only watch as the dragon was cruelly executed before him. Tears streaming down his face as he watched the dismemberment. He had failed, he was silent, almost catatonic as he watched. What had gone wrong? She was a small bastard of a dragon, but should could of become the largest, fattest, most successful dragon in the land...instead he killed her, he had ended a life from falsely trusting another, meaning, he didn't like the dragon, she did a lot to him...but she didn't deserve this.

He blinked, minutes passed like moments as he crawled on to the heavily mutilated corpse, and cried, he cried a long time, he wasn't sure how much time had passed, or if any time had. What if things played out differently? What if he was able to fight back? And many more what ifs were thought, his face tear stained before denial turned to acceptance, then into rage.

He slammed on too the corpse, a yell of anger and out rage, dreams? His life was not a dream, hero's made their realities a dream, HE, would make his reality a dream, how dare she butcher this, how dare she hurt him, how dare she commit such sins. He screamed until his voice was hoarse before resting his head to cry some more.

After a long time he lifted his head and cried out "Yalthnea, I swear too you and to this corpse, that I WILL be a hero, that I will be a noble, rule my own land and be so successful, that I'm called lord, that my wife or wives (man can dream right?) will rival even you in size or surpass ya will my lands be so vast! I swear that I'll bring this dragon back to life somehow a-and some way, and when I do, I'll do my best to make her the strongest, largest, fattest, most successful dragon...she deserves that...unless she reincarnates then uh, I'll do my best to find her and help her in the next life. This a swear upon dragon blood and stank air." he said before pounding the corpse, one day the naga will pay, where ever she may be.

He wiped his tears away, sniffling as he came to his feet, looking about, he went to grab the candle, he looked at it before going to walk away, dropping the books, this would be her tomb, and one day he would be back with something to make her whole...or find her in the next life to help her out. How dare that naga question him, question dreams, he would dream, and he would make them successful, or die trying, there would be dreams...he couldn't stand to live in a world where he couldn't dream.


he took the candle and plunged into the water after trying just about everything, thats when he noticed the bubble, which he put his head in, then began to swim. He would also make it back, even if it took him days.


It wouldn't affect him tonight, but he would dream, every night of his failure, every night of  what happened, every time there was an injustice, every time he didn't want to do anything that day, every time he thought he may give up, every, single time...maybe even for the rest of his days.

And so he swam, and swam, and swam away, still mourning the death of the little dragon who stole him away, dreaming harder then he dreamed before, just to spite the nightmare cast by a serpent who betrayed all he stood for and more.

Some time after Godfrey departed, the still air of the cave would be disrupted by a force-- unknown, foreign, yet all too familiar in both appearance and residual presence. A portal... a shadowy vortex of purple and black, which swallowed the entirety of an area near to the dragonette's mutilated corpse. From it's shadowy depths, a figure stepped forward. He was cloaked in a long, purple coat that obscured many of his physical features, but he appeared young; And from beneath the hood of his cloak, tufts of silver locks and caramel brown skin could be vaguely made out. Perhaps, however, what stood out most were the glowing, mystical red eyes which pierced the darkness of the cave even more effectively than the ghostly candles which donned it's walls.

The figure slowly, carefully, walked over to the dragon's corpse, before kneeling down for closer examination. "...A bit too late, I suppose. How tragic... But then again, I doubt the dreams I felt here were yours..." The figure spoke, a youthful, masculine voice echoing out into the silence of the cave. "Another... or two others? But only one with desires strong enough to summon me here... Ah, but it looks as though I missed my opportunity. Oh, well; There's always the next dream." With a sigh, he stood once more, and began to walk away from the corpse; A portal opening once more to envelop him in mysterious shadow.

"I wonder... what would someone with such fervent wishes be willing to give up to see them realized?"

And then, he was gone.

(Thread end)