Chapter Fifteen- Parenting?
Mark and Lilliana sat frozen in place. They stared at their tiny, adorable, bear killing dragon friend with eyes wide. “Mama,” he tried again. “Papa!” Yes, Mark thought, there’s no mistaking that. He looked at Lilliana. “He thinks we’re his parents!” he said, and Lilliana nodded. “How do we parent a dragon, Lilliana?” he asked. She gave him a look and asked, “How should I know? I was the youngest of my siblings! I’ve never even held a baby!” “I was an only child,” he responded, before posing another question: “We are so fucked, aren’t we?” “Shh! Not in front of him!” Lilliana scolded. “Ok!” he responded. “But we need to do something!” There was a long pause.“Alright,” she said finally. “Do you have a name?” she sent to the dragon. “Mama!” She sighed. “First,” she said to Mark, “He needs a name.”
Mark gulped down almost an entire waterskin, grabbed a root from their stockpile, and together, they put together a list of names that they thought might fit their… son? Mark wasn’t really sure how to describe the relationship he and Lilliana had with each other, and now they were the proud parents of a dragon? He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. They had narrowed the list down to a few names they both liked, and there was one that Lilliana had proposed that they continued to come back to. “I still like Azure,” he said, for probably the fifth time. He had been surprised that the word bore a similar meaning in both their languages, and it had been Lilliana’s grandfather’s name. “I have to say, it is quite fitting,” she replied, and yawned. “Ok.” She poked the scaly blue ball that was curled up in her lap, and a little head popped up. “Are you an Azure?” she asked the dragon, who promptly licked her finger “Mama.” Lilliana turned back to Mark. “I’m going to take that as a yes,” she said. And with that, their son had a name.
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Parenting, as the two found out, was a big commitment. A great deal of time and effort went into it, and so, over the course of the next few days, the pair developed a routine. In the mornings, they would work together or alone, practicing their casting. The two didn’t try their pit trap again just yet, and didn’t try the man’s familiar skill. Instead, they worked on making quality of life changes- planting some ami roots outside the cabin; making the dragon, who tended to wiggle in its sleep, his own bed. Staring deep into the monitor, Novi sighed disappointedly at the lack of real progression. Some teams were reaching upwards of level 15 by this point, but this team, the one he was most interested in keeping an eye on, who had the most potential, seemed to be stagnating; maintaining a slow, steady pace of leveling. Which could be good for them in the long run, he reminded himself. All the teams who level too quickly seem to start underestimating their opponents. But the niggling idea remained. What if I… What if it’s just a little nudge. Novi sighed. I shouldn’t.
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Azure watched his Mama and Papa quietly. Every night before they went to bed, and every morning when they woke up, they would do that weird thing where they put their mouths together. He couldn’t understand why they would want to, but this morning was no different. Papa put his mouth to Mama’s, briefly, before exiting their den and coming into the room where Azure slept. “Azure!” Papa called. The little dragon snapped his head up to find his papa looking at him. The corners of his mouth raised slightly as Azure looked up at him. “Let's go! Practice! Up and at ‘em!” He might have had no idea what his papa was saying, but he knew he was being called. He uncoiled himself from within the cozy fur he had curled up in, and together they left the den and walked to the pond. His papa sat on the slightly elevated tree stump that he always did whenever they practiced water magic. Within a moment, water swirled around them in much greater volumes than Azure could manipulate.
Azure reached for his mana, pulling on it and activated water generation and manipulation. He could feel his skills better now that he had bonded with his Papa; he saw their names, what they were meant to do. It made them much easier to use, and Azure struggled much less than he had when he and papa started these daily practice sessions. He focused, and streams of water appeared before him- Not quite so large or stable as his Papa’s, but significantly improved since his first, much weaker attempts. Azure felt his control over the water ease away as Papa took over, and the water began to crystalize. This process confused the dragon to no end. When Papa used one of his skills, Azure could usually feel it happening, feel what his papa did to make the skill happen. This spell, however, that Papa started showing using a few days ago refused to make itself known to him. The flow of water around them began to crackle and pop as it froze from the inside out, before it fell apart, pieces of ice shooting off in random directions.
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It was their sixth attempt that morning, and for a moment, rings of ice hung in the air around Mark and Azure, as he struggled to keep both the temperature and manipulation spells active. For a minute, Mark thought he might finally have it, but something distracted him momentarily: A scream rang out from a copse of trees on the other side of the cabin. Lilliana, he realized. Rings of ice shattered on contact with the ground as he erupted to his feet and ran for the source of the screams. As he approached, he could sense two energy sources. A second scream resounded, and then a worryingly familiar roar. Mark burst from the brush to find Lilliana on the ground, clutching her ankle, and a bear creature, much like the one they had hunted before stumbling towards her.
Lilliana glanced over to him with fear in her pretty blue eyes, and something within him snapped. Suddenly, he was back in the little town that was destroyed by the nightcrawler. Every single thing was the same, but for one thing. The bodies were all Lilliana. Fury coursed through his veins. Mark’s whole body spiked with the needling feeling of mana flowing through him. A solid spear of ice appeared within his grasp, and he sprinted straight at the staggering creature. It must’ve been under the effects of a debilitating curse, as it put forth no effective attempt to stop him as he thrusted his arms forward and drove the ice spear into the beast’s side. It roared, and Mark felt a warm trickle of blood begin to flow from his ears.
The pain seemed to clear its mind somewhat, and Mark felt the spear slot between the ribs of the creature as it threw itself vaguely in his direction. The bear’s massive teeth snapped at him, as its thick neck strained. Mark dodged away, just as a little blue blur shot out from the bushes and bit down hard on the bear’s exposed throat. Little claws scrabbled and tore furiously into thick skin, and soon, the bear was bleeding profusely from two wounds. Mark was breathing heavily, struggling to form another spear with his near empty mana. The Bear shook like a wet dog, tossing Azure to the side with ease, but the damage was done. As it turned in his direction, the bear faltered in its step. Blood flowed freely from its ruptured throat, and it made horrendous gurgling noises as it gasped for air. The sounds grew more and more haggard until they stopped completely. A loud thump resounded throughout the clearing as the body fell to one side, dead.
Mark turned, surveying the aftermath. The clearing was a mess. Azure was fine, and had already picked himself up from where he had been flung off to, his diamond hard scales giving him a considerable defense. Lilliana… seemed fine. She wasn’t bleeding, at the very least, but her foot twisted at an awkward angle. He got close and crouched down beside her. “What happened?” he asked, tentatively. “It caught me off guard,” Lilliana said after a moment. “This is where I’ve been practicing my curses this whole time. For some reason, I just didn’t think about the possibility of there being anything dangerous here.” she covered her face, but continued quickly. “I wasn’t really paying attention, and although I noticed it with my energy sense before it got too close, I panicked and twisted my ankle.” With that final admission, she flushed a deep scarlet, and a wave of residual fear washed over him through their bond.
I’ll have to carry her, Mark thought, before examining his own condition. He himself was not hurt, but he was coated thoroughly in blood. His clothes, too, had not been spared. “Give me one second,” he said, and he moved a few feet away before removing his shirt, and dousing himself with water. He had to do it twice, because the first time the water still ran off a ruddy red-brown color. When he was done, he asked her a question. “I’m going to carry you, ok?” she nodded, and he scooped her up in both arms. It had been a rhetorical question, of course. He would have carried her anyway; there was zero chance he was going to let her force herself to walk back with a sprained ankle. Despite the circumstances, he reveled in the fact that he was holding her like this. Even after they returned to the cabin, he sat them down in their nest of furs with her in his lap, and relished in their closeness.
It was stupid, and possessive, and Mark knew it, but he needed to feel that she was still with him. That she was still alive. The vision of her body lying still in the cold mud had not left his mind, and feeling her warm, soft body pressed against his assured him she was ok. Lilliana didn’t complain, either. Neither of them said anything for a long while.