Feeling suddenly sick, Layton buckled at the knees, clutching his stomach area in pain. The storm outside rang louder in his ears, beginning to feel the shaking underneath his feet at a greater intensity. The caretaker then walked in, holding out a glowing egg propped up against a silk pillow. Eying the moving creature inside of the throbbing shell, Layton knew what this meant. Sweat glimmered from his brow as he was assisted into bed, both coat and hat removed from him. Breathing becoming more labored for Layton, the egg was placed on a nearby bench, the creature inside also moving around in its small vicinity as if it too was in pain. Gritting his teeth, the professor fought the urge to yell in pain, balling up on the bed, trembling. The pattering rain sounded as if pelting sheets of glass tumbled against the stone ground, shattering in noisy pieces.
The caretaker watched from a chair, calmly marking down the procedure's steps mentally as he tried his best to comfort the connecting pair. Layton's pain ebbed back from something cold and dark being clawed into his skull, sliding down his back in a cool wave that made him shudder. The chill began to surround him, blanketing him in something sticky and wet to his clothes. The sensation pressed inwards on his body, and upon reaching his heart area, turned back from a dark cold, to an instant sting of heated steam as it coursed through his nerves, overloading his senses until they rang too with his frantic heartbeat. The surroundings around him slowly died out, along with the picture of the egg next to his right.
A thunder crack eventually woke Layton up, the light from the flickering fireplace helping to heal his eyes from the pain of being slammed shut against throbbing eyelids. He found himself sitting in a different location, a more comfortable chair lined with wool, outlooking the blazing fireplace. The lightning outside still dashed shadows of blue into the room via the rain-streaked windows, and the occasional boom shook about the loose items in the room. Too weak to do more than blink, Layton refused the touch of the caretaker as he attempted to lift his chin to a steaming cup's rim. The voice of the caretaker drifted in and out of focus, sounding vacant and calm, yet soothing on his ears. A few more hours ensued of drifting in and out of waking minutes before something resting on his torso moved.
Looking down, he saw a black-scaled creature's head resting on his chest, tongue flicking out occasionally with some hisses of steam. Its tail wrapped itself around his calves, securely keeping his legs from moving. Strong limbs of leg and arm squeezed against his arms, firmly stuck to their sides. Pieces of still throbbing shell could be found poking out of some scales, slime from birth glowing from the reflected light of the hearth. Something about this creature seemed familiar, flashes of different memories seeing his own face behind a semi-translucent lens of yellow. His chin barely touched the flaring nostrils of the dragon before two slitted eyes of a deep orange opened up to meet his gaze. Surprised, Layton blinked back at the creature securing him to the chair, but no hostile intent was on the dragon's face. Opening previously hidden wings, very small flaps of skin folded out, barely bigger than one of his hands. A warm, heated breath escaped from the dragon's mouth, smelling very faintly of his own briefcase parchment, sent him back into a deep sleep.
A gentle nip of hot air onto his neck reawakened Layton's senses, no longer in the chair, but rather back in his bed, sheet and blanket folded up to his chin. Another lump in the fabric indicated a second occupant in the bed, the dragon's black-scaled snout sticking out, pushing out gentle steam clouds up out of the nostrils. The pain was now at a dull throb, Layton feeling stiff, but not pained in the same way. The caretaker's hooded robe was folded back to reveal the same bald head and placid face. Looking down at the dragon, the head nodded slowly, "Congratulations. You have survived your connection."
"Connection? I thought this was to be my companion only temporarily," Layton questioned, sitting up against the back of the bed.
"Ah, but my friend, as I have stated before, the dragon chooses how long they wish to stay with you, and this dragon hasn't chosen a mere temporary companionship. This dragon is a very hard dragon to please with an owner. This ancient breed was used with historians and knowledgeable men of the like. You must be a very smart man to have pleased this dragon. Also, this breed requires a stable personality, with relatively low surprises. Like I have noticed, this connection was flawless in comparison."
Layton considered this, then sighed, "Indeed...all you say makes sense to me, but…"
"You doubt yourself, am I right?"
The professor's dark eyes turned to the slumbering creature's rising and falling lump, narrowing disappointedly, "I can't allow this creature to be a part of me...I..I am not strong enough…"
"You can only be as strong as your limit. That is all I can say. Goodnight."
Layton watched the gentle posture of the man's fame slip noiselessly out of the door, shutting it with a delicate hand. Lying back down, he felt the creature's tail wrap around his leg gently, squeezing it slightly in an assuring way. Petting the sleek nose with one of his fingers, Layton's efforts were returned with a gentle snort of steam, along with bright orange eyes lighting up the room with a gentle glow. Gazing at each other with a silent reverie, both minds began to step into one another's, beginning to grasp and get a feel for one another. Layton, his head aching with the effort, grunted as the dragon's curious questions buried deeper, sliding around in different parts of the head, poking and prodding into each individual memory.
Upon reaching to its mind's contentment, it slipped away, leaving Layton to have a go at its own, encouraging him to try with a gentle nudge to Layton's shoulder. Clearing his mind, Layton took a leap of faith, asking his first mental question, why me?. An instant image was shown of his first visit to the magical medley shop, the caretaker's dreamy look as he appeared to look right at him, nodding slowly. Will you help me? A gentle love swept his mind, eagerly accepting. How do I get there? Upon reaching a recent memory, Layton recalled his own voice saying, "This is how this is going to work…"