"It's SO cute!" Exclaimed Claudia as she flew towards the cute dragonling.
Emery had to agree with Claudia as he stared at the dragon, but there was no way he'd admit it or touch the little monster.
As he stared at the dragonling, Rayla stood between Claudia and the dragon prince.
"Woah, what happened to 'it's not an egg, it's a powerful weapon'?" Asked Rayla disapprovingly.
"Still true. One day, it could rain death and destruction on all of us." Said Claudia acting dignified before trying to pet the dragon. "But right now, he's so little."
Rayla quickly slapped her hand away, keeping her away from the dragonling.
"Hey, Emery. You always said you were fascinated by dragons, right?" Asked Ezran as he approached the artificer.
Emery flinched as Ezran held the small dragon in front of him. He always hated touching animals, even before he died the first time, and this dragon was no exception.
"Thanks, but no thanks." Said Emery with an awkward frown. "I only enjoy dragons when they're on paper."
"Aww." Ezran's shoulders dropped dejectedly.
"Huh? You too?" Added Rayla crossing her arms. "And here I thought you were the smart guy."
"I'm guessing someone told you who I am." Said Emery calmly.
"Yeah." Replied Rayla calmly. "Finding out it was a kid who invented artificial magic sure was a surprise."
"So you know that this guy's mother sent assassins after me, right." Said Emery pointing at the dragon prince and Rayla went silent. "Aside from Nefeli, I don't really wish to befriend elves or dragons. I just don't want a war to happen. So let's both keep our distance, okay?"
Emery and Rayla glared at each other as awkward silence descended upon the area.
A few seconds later, the two went their separate ways.
Nefeli, who had stopped bickering with Soren to watch the scene, approached Emery quietly.
"Hey, about what just happened." She whispered. Emery expected her to say something that would annoy him, but the outcome was much different. "Have you fallen in love with me?"
He was...very confused.
"Most people want me to stay away not single me out as the one they want near. So? Have you fallen in love with me or something?"
"No, just-" Replied Emery with a smile before Soren butted in.
"Of course he's not!" He exclaimed standing between Emery and Nefeli. "That would falling for the enemy! And Emery is smarter than that."
"But we're not enemies, are we?" Replied Nefeli before the two glared at each other.
Not wanting to be part of their bickering, Emery swiftly got out of the way and found an open spot with no one around in one of the moon buildings. Perfect for some fresh air and silence.
He sat down somewhere and began thinking about the whole situation. He really has gone far from the norm, hasn't he?
Magic, Elves, Dragons, an epic quest to return a baby dragon to its parents in an attempt to stop a war between the two sides of the continent. It felt like something straight out of a tv show.
"How am I accepting this so easily?" He asked himself tiredly.
As Emery continued to have an existential crisis, three people reached the same location he was at. A moonshadow elf he hadn't seen before as well as Callum and Claudia.
Callum introduced the elf to Claudia. Her name was Luujane, a moonshadow elf mage. An illusionist to be more specific.
"Woah, are you an illusion yourself?" Asked Claudia cheerfully.
"No, I'm-" Luujane couldn't properly reply before Claudia started stretching her face to see if she's an illusion. "I am real."
"That's exactly what an illusion would say." Replied Claudia cheerfully.
Emery snorted at Claudia's logic as Luujane quickly got away from the weird face stretching girl.
"And just like that, she disappears." Commented Claudia before noticing Emery near them. "Hey, Em, what are you doing here?"
"Just thinking." Shrugged Emery.
"Well, do you want to come with us?" Asked Claudia cheerfully as she pointed towards the nearby building.
Emery shrugged before joining them. However, he didn't notice Callum's shoulders drop dejectedly the moment he accepted the invite.
The three quickly got inside and stared in awe at the beautiful scene of moonshadow elf architecture mixed with the butterflies and greenery making it look even more elegant.
"This place is amazing." Said Claudia before running off to check out a wall filled with runes.
"Yeah," agreed Callum. "I wonder what all these runes do."
"They're probably incredible spells." Replied Claudia cheerfully.
"Or just words that are meant to tell something." Added Emery staring at the same wall.
"That is not nearly as exciting." Replied Claudia with a pout as she crossed her arms.
"Shame humans can't learn magic and check without a primal stone." Callum said dejectedly.
Silence descended upon the room as Emery and Claudia turned to Callum.
"What?" Asked Claudia in confusion. "*Chuckle* yeah we can."
"Did you hit your head on the way to this mountain?" Asked Emery raising a brow and agreeing with Claudia.
"I mean, primal magic. Not, y'know, your kind of magic."
"Oh, OUR kind of magic?" Asked Claudia with a frown and Emery glared at Callum.
Seeing their displeasure, Callum leaned in to whisper. "Dark and Artificial magics."
Not a moment later, Emery held the prince by the collar.
"What did that elf girl tell you about artificial magic?!" Emery asked threateningly, believing the the elf girl said something about it.
Emery was too physically weal to actually do any harm with his hands alone, Callum knew that. But he answered nonetheless.
"Nothing! Nothing!...It just has all this math and weird concepts. Also, you have to build these super complicated machines for the magic to work." Callum said dejectedly. "I can't do any of that."
Emery quickly let him go as he understood where he was coming from. Most people from these medieval like times were limited to only basic concepts they needed in their everyday lives.
"Alright, I get that. The calculus math stuff scarred me and dad for LIFE. But why are you all judgy with dark magic?" Asked Claudia crossing her arms.
Callum paused for a few seconds before replying dejectedly.
"I...want to learn primal magic, but you have to be born with that magic inside you."
"But that's the great thing about dark magic. You just take creatures that ARE born with magic and... squeeze it out them." Claudia replied cheerfully as a butterfly landed on her shoulder before seeing the disturbed look on the prince's face. "You're doing it again, prince judgy face. Look, here's how I think about it. Humans weren't born with magic, we were born with nothing. But we still found ways to do amazing things! That's what dark AND artificial magics are really all about. Don't you think so too?"
Claudia turned to Emery expecting an answer. Emery nodded before turning to Callum.
"I'm with her on this one. It's better than wasting your time trying to do the impossible and my magic is still on the table."
Callum frowned and stared at the ground for a few seconds before speaking.
"I'm sorry. They're just not for me."
xxXxx
The next day.
"Uhh, why do you look like that?" Asked Nefeli cheerfully.
Inside Emery's room at the nexus, Emery was holding his bag as if ready for a journey.
"I'm going back to Katolis. We made sure the dragon and the princes were safe, there's no reason for me to stay." Said Emery calmly.
"Oh." Replied Nefeli cheerfully before her brain started processing what she had just heard. "Wait! Does that mean you're leaving me too?"
"You can come visi-" Shrugged Emery before Nefeli unleashed her puppy eyes on Emery, pleading to take her with him. "Or you can come with me DISGUISED."
"Yes!" Nefeli cheered as she punched the air excitedly.
Emery smiled at her reaction before leaving the room, ready to tell Soren and Claudia he was coming back with them.
It didn't take long for him to find them standing together near some stairs and he approached them.
The two quickly noticed him and Claudia spoke.
"Em, there you are." She said cheerfully. "We were just talking about you. There's something we need to talk to you about."
"Actually, Me too." Replied Emery with a smile.
Claudia went silent, prompting Soren to speak for her in a very awkward tone.
"And that is?"
"I'm coming back to Katolis." Said Emery surprising the siblings. "Now that I know the princes and the elf are okay and will stop the war, i wanna go home."
The siblings could only stare at Emery in shock, unable to speak. It was only when Soren recovered that the silence was broken.
"That was easy."
"I'm coming too!" The three heard a voice say right before Nefeli landed right in front of them
""Absolutely not!!!""" Exclaimed both Soren and Claudia in union
"Uhh...she'll be there in disguise to protect me." Said Emery with a shrug, making up something on the spot.
"We can protect you just fine!" Replied Claudia with a frown feeling offended.
"And with her, you can do it even better." Replied Emery with a smile.
"But we can't trust her!" Exclaimed Soren. "Who knows when she'll stab us in the back?!"
"Uhh, weren't you the one who made your prince play on that thing that goes over a giant chasm that, now that I look at it, would've been a good way to kill him and disguise it as an accident?" Nefeli trailed off. "What was I trying to say again?"
Everyone went awkwardly silent, especially Soren, causing Nefeli to panic.
"Oh, uh, not saying that you were trying to kill the prince, of course. It just would've been a very goo-" Soren quickly covered Nefeli's mouth and smiled awkwardly.
"We'll take her."
Nefeli raised a brow as she studied Soren's strange behavior before removing his hand off of her mouth.
"That's a suspicious smile." She said in confusion. "NOT saying that you're suspicious at all, of course."
Thankfully for Soren, Callum and Rayla both arrived at the scene just in time to save him.
Callum declared that he will be going to Xadia to return the egg as this task was too important.
That was all Emery needed to hear before he walked away with Nefeli, completely writing off Soren's suspiciousness as embarrassment or something similar.
Little did they know of what was to happen during the departure.
xxXxx
Tell me how I did. Leave a review.
Toodles.