Another chapter update is up! I think I can try to update a tiny bit faster now that I have some other ideas waiting to be written... Anyways, enjoy!
Wishes, Dreams, and Memories
Chapter 17 – Alternate Universe
-Frey's POV-
Everything is set according to what I want. Living in the castle is great, but I still need people's trust so I can renovate my own room to keep more items. One of the most important things that I can finally have and keep is my very own kitchen. I can come and eat at the restaurant before, but I need some extra money to buy more seeds. That's the very reason I bought the kitchen from Porcoline, though I never considered the fact that I can't even cook.
I let out a long sigh as I look at the newly installed kitchen, finally realizing that I'm still struggling to make a single loaf of bread. Yes, I can't even make a loaf of bread even after following the recipe that Porcoline has given me. I approach the kitchen table and take the frying pan with me, along with the ingredients that I can't even recognize. I'm moving around the kitchen and start cooking something, as if I've already been cooking all the time.
A plate of pancakes. It's the dish that turns out from my inexperienced hands in the kitchen. I'm thinking of trying it out myself, but I feel that I'm taking the plate away from the kitchen. I enter a big and bright room next to mine in the castle, where a big green dragon is waiting. The dragon looks at me as if I'm being expected and I stand in front of the dragon.
"Venti," I call out to the dragon. The dragon's name is Venti? That name sounds familiar.
"Ah, you're back," I can see that her eyes are staring straight at me as she lowered her head slightly, "So… what were you doing in your room? I smell something good, but…" Venti seems to notice that I've caught her staring as she raised her head once more while looking elsewhere, "No, never mind about it. It's not like I'm curious about human food or anything…"
I look up at her for a moment with a smile before setting down the plate in front of her, "Here, have some pancakes," Venti turns to look at the plate of pancakes, but her expression remains the same, "Come on, I know that you like them."
"Nonsense," Venti replies shortly, "I'm a dragon god, so it doesn't make sense that I like things like human food."
"No, I know you do. You literally said that every night in your sleep," The dragon freezes in her place as I laugh at her behavior, "Don't worry, I can try and keep your little secret."
"You can try?" Venti scoffs, "I'll be having you as my next meal if anyone else finds out," Venti lowers her head and sniffs the pancakes, "These pancakes smell quite good to be honest. Are they as good as they smell now?"
I watch as Venti eats the whole pancakes in a single bite, "So was it, Venti? Are they good?"
Venti swallows the pancakes and nods, "For human food, they suit my taste," Venti looks at me with a smile, "I don't mind if you can bring me more next time, but in a much bigger portion. That tiny portion isn't enough to fill my belly."
"Geez," I let out a sigh and laugh, "Just say that you love it already!"
Our laughs echo in empty space as everything around me goes white before I reappear on top of a floating mossy rock, with Venti by side. She doesn't look as good as when I see her with the pancakes, but her voice is still loud as she roars at a bearded man with blue cloak. The man laughs evilly before he throws a ball of light at me, but Venti's wings block it before it hit me. The rock shakes for a few moments before Venti ducks down into the small space created by her wings and turns to me.
"Frey, are you okay?" She asks in a worried tone.
"I'm fine," I reach for the dual blades on my sides before Venti opens up her cover, "Let's finish this, Venti. Let's finish the battle and go home, together."
Venti pauses for a moment before nodding, "Yes…"
The man is about to send another ball of light at us, but the wind from Venti's wings creates enough force for the man to miss his aim, allowing me to charge in for a few slashes at him. I kick myself a few meters back and Venti continues by hitting him with her tail. The man hits himself against the wall of rocks at the edge of the floating rock, but his evil smile never leaves his face.
I swing one of my blades at him, but it bounces off him. An invisible barrier seems to have protected him from harm as my slashes do nothing to him. I turn to ask for Venti's help, but she is no longer able to help me. She has her wings down on the mossy rock as she is being pulled towards the man. The battle is ending soon, but it's most likely to end not in our favor.
Venti loses her grip on the rock and straight towards the man before both of them are engulfed in a blinding bright light. Strong wind starts blowing and I find myself looking straight at the sky and the clouds. I'm moving through the sky as if I'm flying, but I'm not sure how. When I look down, I see that familiar green color again.
I'm riding on Venti, flying through the sky. I don't know what happen after Venti is pulled towards the man, but I feel relieved somehow. It feels like something is over in a good way and we're finally going home. I feel like I know this scene, but I can't point out from where I know it. I haven't felt like this before, but somehow I feel like I know what has happened.
Venti and I go through some thick clouds and everything around us is completely clean white. The wind has stopped blowing and I feel like I'm back in an empty space. It's just then I hear a voice echoing in my head. A voice I've known so well in my life.
"So those were my unforgettable memories with her. She never knows about my past and neither do the other townspeople. She may be the dragon god many people praises her, but to me she's my best friend. The very first friend I have since I arrived in Selphia."
I know that voice. I remember those events!
-Third Person POV-
"Ugh…" The female Earthmate stirred in her bed before she slowly sat up on the bed. She rubbed her tired eyes and saw the mess on the bed she was using. Books and paper were all over her bed, with some of them falling on the floor. Ancient scrolls were left untied and strewn all over the floor and the bedside table.
Frey let out a tired sigh, "I can still have dreams, even in this condition…" Frey took one of the opened books on the bed and tried reading it, but her mind trailed off to the dream she just had, 'That was what Lest experienced… with Venti…?'
The events she saw in that dream was no other than Lest's experiences with Ventuswill, whom he considered as a best friend. Frey had heard stories about their memorable moments from Lest himself and those stories almost matched the events in her dream. One notable difference from that dream was the fact that it was Frey who experienced it herself, not Lest.
"That was just a dream. I wasn't meant to be there anyway," Frey let out a sigh before flipping through the book pages, "Those weren't meant to happen to me. I don't want that to happen to Lest."
Forgetting the whole dream about her and Ventuswill wasn't as easy as she thought it would. Frey could see the letters written on the book, but she wasn't actually reading them. Her mind went back to the native dragon that was referred as her brother's best friend. She had met her before, but she couldn't truly see the dragon's actual personality that Lest had told before.
Frey closed the book and put it back on the bed, completely ignoring the mess around her bed. She walked out of her room and walked through the empty hallways of the castle. As she was heading towards the main room, she could hear some voices coming from the next room. She walked quietly and peeked into the room where the voice came from, which was the place where Ventuswill was.
The dragon exhaled some air along with some audible voices, "Pancakes… want pancakes…"
Frey let out a laugh. Lest was telling the truth after all when he said that he heard Ventuswill asking for pancakes in her sleep. She stepped closer and into the room with the dragon's voice begging for pancakes still heard. She stopped by the order symbol when she saw some dark aura slowly became visible to her.
Ventuswill's pancake-begging voice turned into pained groans as she moved her head and wings, trying to shake off whatever force which was hurting her. Frey quickly ran to her side, though she had no idea what to do to make her feel better. She carefully put her hand on Ventuswill's head and rubbed her head to calm her down, but the dark aura had slightly spread to her hand as well.
She quickly pulled her hand back, holding it tightly as the dark aura around her hand slowly disappeared. Her hand was a bit numb, but she could still move it around as if nothing happened. Ventuswill, on the other hand, was suffering more from the dark aura. Her groans grew louder and louder, which made Frey even more uncomfortable as she watched her.
"V-Venti!" Frey suddenly blurted out, stopping Ventuswill from her movements before she slowly opened her eyes.
"Lest… Is that you?" Ventuswill blinked a few times and slightly raised her head, noticing that the person in front of her wasn't the one she thought it was, "Oh, it's… Frey, correct?"
Frey paused for a moment as she saw the dark aura disappearing from around Ventuswill's body, "Y-Yes that would be me…"
The dragon looked up at the still dark sky before turning back at the Earthmate, "It is still dark outside. Do you need something, Frey?"
"Oh, um… nothing, actually…" Frey looked at Ventuswill, who looked like she wasn't as in pain as she was when she was still asleep, "May I ask you one question?"
"Yes, what is it?" Ventuswill replied in her usual casual tone, despite how formally Frey had asked her.
"Are you… feeling any pain?" Frey asked, getting a confused look from the native dragon.
"That's… quite a strange question…" Ventuswill replied in confusion, "Yes, I'm fine."
"Oh, okay…" Frey nodded in understanding before lowering her head in a bow, "Forgive me for the intrusion. Have a good night, Lady Ventuswill."
Frey quickly ran away from the dragon room, heading straight towards her room in the castle. The wind dragon looked amused by the female Earthmate's formality as she had adjusted herself to being casual towards most, if not all of the townspeople. She laid back down with a sigh, but she had her suspicions that Frey knew something about her condition after returning from the forest.
Ventuswill, one of the native dragons, waking up every morning and felt sore all over? That was not a normal thing for her.