A small, silver dragon, Ramon, lay on his belly in a patch of moonlight. He let out a sigh through his nose. A few seconds passed before he sighed through his mouth. When no one responded despite there being three other dragons and a goat in the den, Ramon heaved out an even louder, more exaggerated sigh.
“What’s the matter?” Leila asked as she opened one eye to look at her son. “Do you miss Grandma Gren already?”
A shudder ran down Ramon’s spine, and he shook his head back and forth, the motion scattering the dust underneath his chin. “No,” he said.
“Really?” Leila asked, a faint smile appearing on her lips as she opened both her eyes. She turned her head to look at Ramon. “You seem bored. When we’re at Grandma Gren’s, you weren’t bored, right?”
With all the learning he had to do under his grandma’s guidance, when would Ramon have time to be bored? If it ever seemed like he wasn’t paying attention to Gren’s guidance, well, the old lady dragon wasn’t above corporal punishment. “I’m not bored,” Ramon said and grumbled. “I just want to eat something with flavor.”
The small black dragon lying off to the side opened her eyes. “Moonlight has flavor,” Gloria said, adjusting her wings to maximize the amount of light landing on her body.
“Blech.” Ramon made a face. “That’s like saying water has flavor.”
“Water does have flavor, stupid,” Gloria said and rolled her eyes.
Ramon turned his head to look at his mother. He pointed at his sister. “She called me stupid!”
“You know she didn’t mean it,” Leila said, resting her chin on her paws and closing her eyes.
Ramon pouted despite his mother being unable to see. Gloria made a face and stuck her tongue out at him, causing Ramon’s nostrils to flare as anger built up in his chest in the form of heat. He slapped his tail against the ground and climbed to his feet. “C’mon, Koza,” he said to the pink-eyed goat resting on the ground not too far away from him. “Let’s go play.”
Instead of verbally responding, the pink-eyed goat stood up and leapt on top of Ramon’s head with a single leap.
Ramon skipped out of the den and into the valley. He looked around before narrowing his eyes at a large boar, Snuffles. The boar seemed to have sensed his gaze, turning its head away from the truffle it was eating to look at Ramon. The holy dragon pounced forward with his front feet stretched out in front of him. Snuffles’ forehead lit up as a golden imprint shone, and frozen air shot out of the boar’s nostrils, creating a dense fog of icy crystals that collided against the approaching dragon.
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“I just wanted to play!” Ramon said as he hunched his shoulders and raised his paws over his head to shelter his face from the bombardment of fine hail. When his hindlegs touched the ground, he scrambled to the side, out of the fog. His face was split by a frown as he looked at the boar.
Snuffles snorted and turned his head back towards the truffle he was eating.
“It was your fault,” Kozabokget said. “He was eating. Every living creature is affected by hunger; some boars get snappy, some dragons become playful.”
“I’m not hungry,” Ramon said. “But I’m bored of moonlight!” He looked up at the moon and gestured with both his front legs. “Look at it. It’s shiny, but it’s still bland and boring. Why can’t it glow some color other than moon-colored?”
“Like red?” Kozabokget asked, looking up at the moon which was coincidentally turning red.
“Yeah,” Ramon said. He blinked and pointed at himself. “Did I do that by asking nicely? That was me, right?” The pink-eyed goat was teaching him how to speak to all things, and now, the student had surpassed the teacher! The moon turned red when he asked; who else in the world could accomplish such a feat?
A portal appeared in the sky, blocking out the moon. A tiny root extended from the portal, slowly elongating. Ramon’s eyes widened upon realizing the root wasn’t tiny. It was massive, and it only seemed small because the portal was extremely far away. As the root came closer, it looked like it could cover the entire sky. A second later, the root was sent tumbling violently to the side, and a massive tentacle replaced Ramon’s view.
***
Malvina stumbled to the side as the ground shook. “What’s the big idea?” she asked as she regained her balance, glaring at Vur. “Didn’t you say the merged was over? Why are we shaking again?”
Vur placed his hand on the wooden tablet in front of him and gave it a squeeze. A message appeared in his eyes, and he nodded. “The tower tried to connect to Erde, but it was intercepted by a giant tentacle.”
“Kim Hajun mentioned a cephalopod Oebu Sin,” Tafel said. “Should I bring him over?” She nodded to herself before anyone could reply. Her horns glowed silver, and a portal appeared in the air. “Deedee, grab him.”
“Why me?” Diamant asked in a tired voice as the brown runes on Vur’s forearm flashed. There was a short scream and a thump as Kim Hajun flew through the portal and landed on the ground, traces of dirt left behind on his clothes from the hastily made earthen hand that had thrown him.
“Thanks,” Tafel said, patting Vur’s forearm. She looked down at Kim Hajun, who looked as if he had just swallowed the pit of an avocado. “We think we found the last Oebu Sin. It’s not letting us open a portal to Erde.”
Then don’t go back? Kim Hajun thought. Of course, he didn’t say those words out loud; he didn’t want his near future to be filled with pain. “Alright,” he said, putting on his best business smile. It looked a bit crooked on his weary face. “How can I help?”