Zephyr stood quietly for a mont, watching dderath’s expression remain stubbornly unreadable. He watched as dderath backed up the wall, her hands shaking uncontrollably.
He had spoken little since Elena was brought there and just let her do her work.
"Elyria." Zephyr turned to her at last when dderath refused to respond further. His voice was firm but gentle as he walked to where she stood with Lio.
He held out an object made of shimring blue tal: a compass. The object looked old and ancient with a rusted golden bottom. "Take this compass. Go to the human world now. There is a man I befriended years ago. He owes a favor for helping him and his brother escape an evil lord. Locate him and ask him for a handful of Golden Millet grass."
Elyria accepted the compass with both hands. She stared at it in awe. It was the first ti she had ever been given sothing so ancient and important. Her eyes hardened with determination before confusion set in.
"But Elder. A compass can’t help located the house where this your friend stays."
Zephyr smiled softly petting her head fondly. "This one will."
Elyris bit her lip. If there was anyone on this earth she’d gladly bet her life on, it was Elder Zephyr.
"On it," she replied without hesitation.
Elyria took two steps away from the elder and Lio.
With a single powerful flap, she rose into the air. Another beat of her wings sent swirls of air scattering across the place. Then she shot upward and out of the high window in a silver streak, disappearing into the sky in the next heartbeat.
Silence settled once more when Elyria left. Zephyr turned back to dderath. "Elder..."
dderath closed her eyes. "I need to rest, Zephyr."
"Of course, Elder," Zephyr said softly.
He moved to dderath’s side and helped her rise from the chair. The elder’s weight felt heavier than usual, but Zephyr carried her without comnt. He guided dderath out of the chamber and into another room where warm steam flowed from a mineral pool. It was the room dderath preferred to use when her energy was low.
The room had a long, large open window that showed the waterfall and beautiful landscape that wasn’t normally seen from the outside.
Only the elders and dragons could see what lied beyond the ancient mansion.
Zephyr helped her settle onto a canopy bed before leaving quietly.
Once the door closed behind him, Zephyr returned back to the compound where Elena still laid still with Damien by her side.
Damien inhaled sharply through his nose, then exhaled like a man holding back a storm of emotions. His fists clenched at his sides as he looked at her.
Damien hated this feeling more than anything. That nagging feeling of being useless in whatever situation he found himself.
His jaw tightened. He looked at the pillar next to him with dead eyes.
He groaned in frustration. "Dear..." he whispered harshly but in an endearing tone.
"You’re half-dead and I can’t even do anything about it. I’m so sorry."
His voice was raw, almost animalistic to the point of deep sorrow.
In the blink of an eye, Damien got up swiftly to where the pillar stood.
Then his fist swung forward.
The impact was so violent that the pillar split open around his knuckles. A hole wider than his fist broke through the stone, the cracks running all the way to the back. Stone fragnts crumbled to the floor but Damien didn’t pull back. He kept on punching the pillar, each punch heavier and laced with the pain of hopelessness.
Lio, who had been leaning against the opposite wall watching him, moved toward him slowly. Although he had never truly experienced love or its pains, he still felt for him.
Despite his all powerful nature, he couldn’t use it to save the one person he loved more than himself.
Lioren approached Damien with slow steps and placed a hand on his broad, tensed shoulder. Damien halted the second Lio’s hand rested on his shoulder. Lio squeezed his shoulder gently as if offering silent reassurance.
"This won’t help anything, Damien. Why don’t we move her from the floor instead? Her temperature should have cooled down," Lio murmured softly in his hard voice. His eyes held no emotions whatsoever but his tone was laced with understanding even though he had never felt that way before.
Damien bit his lower lip hard, the muscle in his cheek twitching. Why?! Why now when everything was finally looking up?!
Pain struck his cold heart multiple tis like lightening.
"I’d gladly take her pain. Let suffer instead of her." Damien murmured with his head hung low in front of the pillar.
Lio clenched his jaw but said nothing. It was probably best for him to let his emotions out but knowing this man, he knew it was an impossible feat.
Damien eventually nodded once but did not speak. His shoulders rose and fell with deep breaths. After a brief mont, he turned away from the destroyed pillar and walked back to the center of the chamber where Elena’s small body lay on the cold floor. Her skin had grown pale, but her breathing had steadied.
That alone was a relief, but it was not enough. At least she wasn’t writhing in unimaginable agony.
Damien crouched down, his face tightening with pain as he looked at her lifeless lips. Without a word, he slipped his arms under her and lifted her easily.
Her body was light... too light for his liking. She felt fragile in his hold, more fragile than she ever should.
He held her close to his chest and walked out of the chamber, down the hallway. Lio followed quietly behind him.
When they stepped outside, the night breeze touched them gently, carrying the scent of pine leaves and other exotic plants.
Fireflies drifted in lazy patterns above the grass as they turned a corner. The entered the backyard where a patio was, overlooking a beautiful garden. A wooden swing suspended by chains from the ceiling beams. It rocked softly in the wind, almost as if inviting them.
Damien approached it and carefully laid Elena down on the cushions. He adjusted her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. The coolness of her skin still disturbed him, but at least it was no longer burning the way it had been earlier. That small improvent alone felt like a thread of hope.
He sat beside her on the swing, letting the gentle sway soothe his nerves. He leaned forward slightly, his elbows resting on his knees, his fingers laced together and his eyes stayed on Elena.
Her eyelashes fluttered faintly from her dream while her lips parted every now and then but no sound ca out.
After watching her do that for soti, Damien exhaled shakily.
"She is stable," he whispered to himself. "Stable is good. Stable ans she is still here."
He lifted his hand and slowly stroked her hair with his fingers. The strands slid between his fingertips like silk, rich and velvety. He forced a small smile, one filled with quiet sorrow.
When it was life’s turn to bend to my wishes, it had to play dirty.
"It is ok, love," he murmured, kissing her hair tangled in his fingers. "The dragons will find a way to help you. Till then..." His voice cracked for a mont before he swallowed hard. He stopped speaking, swallowed and tried again. "Please stay with ."
He leaned down and touched his lips gently to hers. The kiss was tender, soft and filled with a fear that he refused to voice. This wasn’t a ti to revel in his disappointnt. Whatever was happening to her had to stop.
Afterward, he lifted his hand again and patted her head with a soft touch.
Lio eventually stepped into the backyard. He had given Damien space, but he knew the man well enough to understand that Damien could not stay here all night. There were other responsibilities waiting.
Damien stood the instant he saw Lio.
"I have to go check on my kids. Watch over her for ?"
"Of course. You should go now," Lio said calmly.
Damien nodded. "Mm."
He brushed Elena’s cheek one more ti before walking away. When he reached the open front space of the house, he stopped for a second, inhaled deeply and then unfolded his wings. He flew upward sharply, soaring into the orange sky.
Lio stayed behind at the entrance of the patio silently watching Elena sleep.
After a while, he walked slowly to the garden swing with his arms folded. The sharp lines of his jaw twitched and his eyes hardened.
He crouched beside Elena.
His usually cheerful face was blank, expressionless, haunted even. The warm light in his eyes had dimd, leaving behind a coldness that did not match the friendly personality he always showed.
Sothing was bothering him.
For a long mont, he simply looked at her.
Looked and said nothing...did nothing.
His gaze traveled over her face as if he were searching for sothing he had lost. Then he leaned a little closer, elbows resting on his knees, and spoke in a voice that hardly seed like his own.
"You still ca back..."
The words fell softly out of his mouth and his entire body stiffened.
He reached forward and gently touched a strand of hair that had fallen across her face. He tucked it behind her ear, mimicking the gesture Damien had made earlier, yet with a different aning entirely.
He sat on the ground beside her, resting his back against the edge of the patio swing. Lio listened attentively to Elena’s breathing that had steadied into a quiet rhythm.
It was so intoxicating.
So compelling in its own right. Lio leaned in closer, allowing his head to fall back on her lap.
Mmmr...he groaned.
Lio tilted his head back again, staring at the sky.
His face dulled as he looked at the dull, orange sky. Kesath wasn’t always so deserted. It was a beautiful greenland with so many wonders to appreciate. The ear with the humans which led to the one among their kind had turned that wonderful scenic place to a wasteland.
To preserve even a little of Kesath’s glory during the war, dderath had used a quarter of her lifeti to sustain it. But she only succeeded in restricting its beauty to the oldest house in Kesath.
She believed that even with just a glimr of their once beautiful world left, a ti would co when they would be able to reverse the consequences of their actions.
The orange sun above him was dark and gloomy in the starless sky. A dragon passed across the distant horizon follows by two more.
He smirked to himself. "Well, at least we’re free now." Lio murmured dryly, heaving a sigh.
He rolled his eyes back to look at Elena.
In the dim light, mories flickered across his mind.
"You should not have returned," he whispered. "Not to all of this."
He pulled his knees up and rested his arms on them. His expression was grim, devoid of its usual cheerful appearance. Lio reached out to her neck and touched the mark that pulsed on it gently.
The touch made Elena groan softly.
"Just what are you dreaming of?"
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