HEY GUYS, GUESS WHO'S BACK FROM THE DEAD.

Now I do have a reason for why I haven't uploaded since *checks watch* April; but I do have reasoning. So along with real life stuff, I basically had like, a month-long writer's block which was so much fun but I managed to get over it eventually.

But now I am back with more chapters.

There are some things I wanna explain but I'll explain them at the end since I don't wanna write too much up here

Anyway, enjoy the chapter : D

Chapter 10 – The Forest Guardian

Dear Diary…

Life may have its hard times, but it also has its good times as well; the times where you are just allowed to breath and live; the times you're allowed to have a bit of peace…

The late November air swirled around the leafless forest as Crystie strolled through it. It was late morning, the sun was hanging high in the sky, barely a cloud in the sky.

The young viking was and the young dragon fledglings, plus a certain dramatic feline, were strolling around the island, trying to explore parts they hadn't really been to yet.

Crystie had suggested taking the kids out for an explore when she saw Storm and the other dragons looking exhausted after they had been looking after the twins and Amber. Crystie had tried to help out where she could, but she mainly left it up to the dragons; Taking them out was a way that she felt she could help out and help lighten a bit of the load.

Everyone was growing fast. Redwing had grown to be a few inches shorter than Crystie's shoulders and was looking more mature; Cypress seemed to be somewhat full grown as well, coming up to Crystie's knees; she didn't know what type of cat Cypress was, but he seemed to be on the bigger side, a fairly built breed and was quite fluffy as well, having a thick smooth coat.

Blue and Red were a few inches below Crystie's knees, a similar height to Cypress, their eyes were now fully open, the two pairs of eyes shining with wonder. On the other side of things, their big sister Amber, was now a few inches short of Crystie's stomach; the young dragon's more prominent features starting to become more mature.

Amber was helping her sisters navigate through the forest, making sure to stay close to their side; Blue and Red have their eyes now fully open but they were still clumsy and had tripped over a few stray pebbles and roots.

Redwing was hovering over the group, staying close. Crystie was carrying Cypress on her back, basically giving him a piggyback ride as he apparently didn't want to walk while Snowflake was sitting nestles happily on the young viking's head.

Crystie huffed as the group continued walking; carrying a large cat on her back was not easy.

"Are you sure you don't want to walk? You could be stretching those long lazy legs of yours" Crystie asked, adjusting Cypress so he was more comfortable to carry.

A dismissive meow came from behind her, suggesting he was more than happy with how he was now.

"Alright then. Have it your way your majesty" Crystie muttered under her breath.

Crystie loved Cypress, she really did, but he could be such a dramatic being sometimes. Snowflake chuckled from her place upon Crystie's head. The brown cat let out a loud yawn, stretching himself out and pressing more into Crystie's back, making the young viking hunch over more. She let out an annoyed sigh but kept her spirits up and kept moving.

"This is probably going to be a long day" Crystie murmured to herself, pressing forward.

Crystie huffed out a breath as the giant lake came into view. The lake stretched far and wide; Crystie guessed that the lake took up a good portion of the island, like at least one third of it.

The group stopped on the lake's shore, composed of sand, dirt, and gravel. The trio of young dragons began playing along the shoreline, chasing each other, and wrestling with each other; Redwing perched himself on one of the small boulders, keeping an eye on his young nieces and Snowflake glided down to the ground, landing gracefully on it.

Crystie let out another huff as she came to a stop at the edge of the lake.

"Come on Cypress, time to get off" Crystie chimed, turning her head slightly so she could try and look at the brown cat on her back.

Said cat had his eyes closed and was sleeping away on the young viking's back, his mouth agape. An annoyed sigh escaped Crystie, and she turned her head towards the lake.

A mischievous idea popped into the young viking's mind.

Crystie walked closer to the shore until the water was lapping against her boots, stopping at that point. She looked around and saw Redwing giving her a questioning look; Crystie put a finger to her lips, signaling for him to stay silent. She then carefully grabbed Cypress from underneath, making sure not to wake him. She then spun around fast then threw him full force into the lake.

The resounding splash caught everyone's attention as Cypress began flailing in the water, very awake. Redwing went into panic mode, flying over to where his friend was desperately trying to swim to the shore. The red winged dragon picked up his soggy friend and flew him back over to where everyone was, carefully dropping him on the shore.

Cypress stood up, slightly shaking from the cold before he fully shook out his pelt, dousing everyone in a light spray of water. When he was done, the brown cat looked up at Crystie and glared at her. Crystie sent an amused smile back.

"Well, you're the one that didn't want to walk so I thought a good swim would help wake you up" Crystie commented.

Cypress just flicked his tail in annoyance. Blue, Red and Amber began snickering and the brown feline sent them a glare. He began running at them, yowling; The young trio began running as well but they had amusement in their eyes and were just pretending to be chased. Crystie, Redwing and Snowflake all let out chuckles as the small creatures chased each other up and down the shoreline.

Shifting from the nearby bushes caught Crystie's attention and she turned her head to see what the source of the noise was. When she turned her head, she saw a full-grown stag stepped out and walked towards the water; it stopped at the edge and looked out across the water. Crystie would admit, it was quite a majestic sight to behold. A few moments later, a single raccoon scurried out of the bushes and stood next to the stag, also looking out at the water.

Crystie was curious, what was a lone stag and raccoon doing out in the open like this, in the beginning of winter, by the water?

The young viking looked over to see Cypress, in his pursuit of Blue, who was laying atop her sister, accidently missing his intended target, jumping far over the two dragons, and crashing into the raccoon instead.

The raccoon shook itself then glared at Cypress with a hiss; the brown feline hissed right back, arching his back. Cypress pounced upon the trash panda and the two creatures began wrestling each other.

Everyone turned to watch Cypress and the raccoon fight; Amber even started cheering. Cypress kept swiping his claws while the racoon kept scratching the feline's side. They kept tussling and the raccoon kicked out its legs, knocking Cypress into the lake.

Crystie began stepping forward, not wanting Cypress to drown but stopped when she saw something move in the water.

A cool-gray sharp sail with black accents and white splotches was sticking out the water and heading towards them. It swam up to where Cypress had disappeared then dipped under the water and for a few moments, there was no movement from the water.

Suddenly, the surface of the water broke, and a long necked, long faced dragon rose out of the water, carrying Cypress by his scruff. It took Crystie a few moments but then she remembered which dragon this was. Remembering it from the book of dragons, she recognized it as a male Raincutter.

Crystie could only see the dragon's head, neck, and part of its back. The dragon's scales were a cool-gray colour; like she'd described before, the dragon had a long neck and a long face; it had a small black curved horn on the end of its snout; its eyes were at the far end of its snout near the horn and were a pale yellow; it had several teeth poking out of it's lower jaw and a single tooth poking out from it's upper jaw; the dragon had several small black scales around the edge of its eyes making it look like it had wrinkles; it had a large fin donning from the top of it's head and stretching down its neck, ending about half way down; on the underside of it's chin were a few beard-like tendrils that had white-grey splotches on them and it had a large fin on its cool-grey back.

The Raincutter swam to the shore and place Cypress down, who immediately scampered over to Crystie and clung to her legs. Crystie gently stroked the soggy cat's head before turning her head back towards the Raincutter. The dragon in question swam over to a rocky platform that stretched slightly into the water, allowing the dragon to swim directly up beside it. The stag stepped into the dragons back and knelt down on the left side of the dragon's fin, the raccoon following suit. The Raincutter began to turn away from the platform.

"WAIT" Crystie called out, running over to the stone platform with Cypress still attached to her leg.

The Raincutter stopped moving, turning it's head around to look directly at Crystie.

"Mr Raincutter, wait, can I call you Rag?" Crystie asked.

The Raincutter seemed to ponder it for a few seconds before nodding.

"Right, so anyway, me and my crew are exploring the island and I thought you'd be an interesting dragon to hang out with, so can we maybe, I don't know, come with you?" Crystie questioned, trying to put on her best smile.

Rag had a thinking look in his eyes, like he was thinking about it really hard. He looked between Crystie, the creatures on his back and out into the distance of the lake.

Eventually, Rag turned back to the young viking and nodded his head.

"Thank you" Crystie replied.

Rag turned his body around, so his right side was against the platform, and he gestured towards it.

"Got it" Crystie replied.

Crystie walked over to the dragon and carefully stepped onto it's back, holding onto it's sail firmly but gently.

"Come on guys" Crystie called out, gesturing for her group to come over.

Blue and Red came bounding over, standing on Rag's back like Crystie was

Redwing, Snowflake and Amber were hovering above, ready to go.

"Alright, let's go" Crystie cheered, pumping her fist into the air.

Rag let out a soft chuckle and began swimming towards the center of the lake.

Crystie kept herself balanced upon Rag's back, as the sharp class dragon skimmed through the cool November water. She gazed across the crystal waters and marveled at its beauty. Breathing in the cool air, she let out a relaxed breath. She turned her head to look behind her.

Amber flew into view, fluttering near the back end of the dragon raft, trying to keep close. Red kept trying to stand on her back legs to reach Amber, but she kept falling back on all fours and accidently touching the water, making her recoil back. Crystie turned her head back around to the front. Blue was standing at the top of Rag's back, head raised high, her tongue hanging out, enjoying the lake breeze.

Crystie felt Cypress squeeze her leg more; he was still clinging to her leg, not wanting to go anywhere near the water he had been previously thrown into, twice. She saw Redwing flying over the water's surface, skimming the water's edge with his wings before soaring into the sky above the group. Snowflake was flying far ahead of the group, a white blob in the distance.

Crystie let out a hearty chuckle, this was going to be a good day.

After what seemed like a small while, a small island came into view. If Crystie had to guess, she'd guessed that this island was around the leftish middle of the lake. The island had a few small, jagged rocks surrounding the island; There were a few trees dotted around on the island whilst a large willow tree was in place in the middle.

Rag swam up to the sandy shore of the island and spread his wing out like a ramp; The stag walked onto the shore and began gracefully walking towards the middle of the island while the raccoon sped onto the island.

Rag then turned his body and put his other wing out, allowing everyone else to walk into the island. Crystie awkwardly walked into the shore, Cypress still attached to her leg. Amber landed on the sand and Blue and Red ran into the island and began chasing their sister. Redwing landed next to the young viking and lightly slapped Cypress on the nose. Cypress, looking shocked and astounded that someone would dare touch him, loosened his grip on Crystie and pounced upon his best friend and began chasing him around.

Crystie chuckled at her companions antics and began walking towards the middle of the island and towards the willow tree. Due to it being the winter season, the willow tree, which would've previously been filled with an abundance of bright vibrant leaves, was now bare. She'd have to come back here when it was either spring or summer so she could see this place in all its glory.

When she walked through the undergrowth, she saw the stag laying down at the base of the willow tree and the raccoon sitting on one of the tree's lower branches. There were also some other creatures there as well; There was a robin, two sparrows and a blue jay perched on the stag's antlers; There were a pair of squirrels sharing an acorn on one of the higher branches while a pair of foxes snuggling together under a root. Crystie's heart warmed at the sight, she was enjoying seeing all these forest creatures staying here and getting along.

The young viking heard rustling which made her turn her head. Rag walked out from the bushes, giving her a full view of the Raincutter. The dragon's body was round and big, with somewhat short arms with claws and long legs with wide three toed feet and claws; He had small spikes going down his neck and down his tail which was long and thinned out to a stumpy point and he had black and white spots doing his back.

Rag made his way past Crystie and lay down at the base of the tree, making sure to not get in the way of any of the other creatures; he let out a loud yawn and rested his head on an empty patch of grass.

Crystie made her way over to the willow tree and began climbing up it, grabbing into its branches and perching herself on one of the middle branches, making herself secure. Crystie heard a chirping sound and saw Snowflake fly over to her, landing on the young viking's lap and curling herself into a ball. Crystie smiled, stroking the dragon's head, and looked out across the lake, enjoying the moment.

A few hours later, or that's what Crystie guessed, Crystie found herself hanging down from the branch she was previously sitting on; Her legs were holding her up and her body was hanging down over the side. Snowflake was sitting on top of Crystie's legs. The young viking was messing around with a twindly twig in her hands, not sure what to do.

She saw Rag stand up and walked over to a clear patch of dirt. He scratched up the dirt a bit with his foot before taking a step back. The Raincutter took in a deep breath before shooting the ground with a small ball of water. He dug his face into the dirt and began digging around in the mud with his snout, clearly looking for something. He then pulled some small things out of the ground and ate them before going back to digging about. Crystie squinted, trying to see what Rag was digging for. From what see could see, it looked to be grubs and worms.

She remembered reading that Raincutters used their long necks to search and pick up grubs and worms they scavenge in dirt and mud to eat them. Rag finished digging around and lifted his head back up. He started walking towards the water, ducking his head under the branch Crystie was hanging from.

Crystie sat up straight and watched as Rag swam into the lake and dived under the water's surface. Snowflake got up and stretched before gliding down to where Redwing and Cypress were talking on a root. Crystie lifted her head back up to where Rag had disappeared. She saw Rag's fin swimming swiftly around the lake, occasionally dipping under the water before popping back up. Crystie wondered if he was chasing someone around. Then his fin went under the water and didn't appear for a while. She shrugged; he was probably looking for something at the bottom of the lake.

The young viking laid her back flat on the branch as much as she could and closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax and maybe get a bit of a nap.

An unknown amount of time later, Crystie was woken by a loud thud; this sudden and loud sound made Crystie lose her balance on the branch and fall to the ground with a thud. She pushed herself up with her arms before she just flopped onto her back as she did not have the energy; she didn't seem to injure herself or cut anything so the only thing she likely got was a bruise which was bearable.

After a few moments, the young viking sat herself up and rubbed her head. She looked over to see a small pile of fish sitting a few feet away from the base of the willow tree. Rag then came into view and deposited a branch that had a lot of berries on it.

The raccoon rushes from it's branch and grabbed a fish before scurrying back up to it's branch to eat the fish. The rest of the creatures, minus Crystie and her lot, walked over to the berries and began eating them, except the foxes who took a few fish from the pile before heading back to their spot.

The young viking's companions all came over to her and looked at her with a pleading look. Crystie looked over at Rag and caught his eye; Rag smiled and nodded; Crystie smiled and turned back to her companions and nodded. Her companions let out excited yowls and rushed over to the fish pile, digging into it.

Crystie dragged herself to the trunk of the tree and leaned against it, watching her companions eat. A soft growl made Crystie turn her attention away from the pile. Rag was standing there, his head bent down and holding a cooked fish in his mouth. She raised an eyebrow at the gray dragon.

"Is that for me?" Crystie questioned, her eyebrow still raised.

Rag nodded, placing the fish in Crystie's lap.

Crystie smiled "Thank you"

Rag nodded and went over to the fish pile and began eating what was left of it. Crystie grabbed a fallen stick and stabbed it into the fish. After making sure the fish was clean, Crystie began digging into the fish.

An hour or two later, Crystie found herself sitting on one of the lower branches, watching the group below. Cypress was curled up in Crystie's lap, purring happily as she stroked his head. Down below, Rag was playing some sort of game with Crystie's young dragon companions.

From what she could gather, it was some sort of waiting game. Rag was sitting at one end of the clearing with his back turned while the fledglings were standing in a line at the other end of the clearing.

The game was simple.

The fledglings would have to make their way across the clearing to Rag; Every now and then, Rag would turn his head around and look at the young dragons; when this happens, they would need to stand still, not moving a muscle; Any dragon that was caught moving would have to go back to the start and try again; When one of the fledglings reached Rag and touched him, the game would be over and they would be declared the winner.

So far, Amber had won two games, Redwing won one and Red had one the other.

Everyone was ready to go. Rag let out a low roar, indicating the game had begun.

The four dragons began making their way across the clearing, slowly but surely. A few moments later, Rag suddenly turned his head around. Blue crouched to the ground and Amber and Red froze in their tracks. Redwing tried balancing on his foot, but he ended up falling over instead. The red-winged dragon sighed, stood up and walked back to the start. Rag turned his head back around and the game continued. As the game continued, the fledglings kept getting closer and closer, most of them being sent back a few times.

Soon, it seemed the game would soon be over as Blue was really close to reaching Rag; She'd not been sent back at all this game which was impressive given how the previous games had gone. Blue carefully kept forward, keeping her balance. She then got into a low crouch, positioning herself while wiggling her tail. The silver dragon then leaped onto the grey dragon's tail, lightly biting into it.

Rag chuckled as he lifted his tail, looking softly at Blue. The dragon in question wagged her tail excitedly. The Raincutter lowered his tail and Blue let go, going over to nuzzle against her sisters.

Crystie began clapping and cheered "Good Job Blue".

Blue looked up at Crystie and smiled, her tongue sticking out. Crystie chuckled at the young dragon's antics.

Several hours later, the sun was starting the set, making the sky a beautiful orange colour.

Rag had taken them back to where he had picked them up and everyone was in the process of stepping back onto the shore. Snowflake was curled up asleep on top of Crystie's head while the young viking was carrying a sleeping Red; Cypress was sleeping on Redwing's back; Blue was at Crystie's heels, ready to go home. The young viking turned to Rag.

"Thank you for today. We'll be sure to come back and visit you soon" she said to the grey dragon.

Rag nodded and then turned away and began swimming back towards the island.

"Bye" Crystie called out while waving with one arm.

Rag kept swimming until his sail dipped under the water, the water of the lake becoming calm and still.

Crystie let out a relaxed sigh and turned towards the forest.

"Come on guys, let's go home"

Aaand that's what happened.

I found this day quite enjoyable. It was nice to just take a small break and meet a new dragon that didn't result in something crazy happening. I also liked meeting Rag, he's nice and like a cool grandpa. I hope we have more days like this.

Anyway, that's all from me today.

I hope we talk soon.

This is Crystie, signing out.

Aaaaaand that was the chapter.

Did you guys enjoy it?

I honestly enjoyed writing this one and am surprised I managed to write it in just two days. Guess I was just really getting into it.

Now to explain the thing I said I was going to in the beginning.

I am here to announce I have a DeviantArt account.

I made this around June and have put up quite a lot of art of there, a lot of it ADTD related.

I will be posting all ADTD art there, art of scenes from chapters, character art, random drawings of story stuff and characters and maybe even art previews of upcoming chapters that may have some spoilers in them :)

I will also be posting updates there as it is quicker to get them out there than here.

My name on there is the same as my name on here, CrystieSong, so it shouldn't be too hard to find me.

I've made a post on my deviant art going into a bit of detail about this upcoming block of chapters so if you want to find out more, head over to my deviant art.

Anyway, that's all from me.

I hope you all have a nice day.

This is CrystieSong, signing out