An Eternal Flame | Druig Fanfic ( UPDATES on Fridays )

Family by the Sea

Druig had travelled for months, and he only stopped when his feet tired or ached. He met many groups of people across the hemisphere. Some were welcoming, while others weren't too keen on accepting outsiders. It didn't bother him, because he would use his powers to keep him safe.

He stopped for a time on the Iberian Peninsula, admiring the people who welcomed him so warmly, especially those who called the coastal lands their home. A family took him in, a mother, a father, and their young child — a boy. They taught him how they fished and their way of life. Everything they had, they had fished for or built themselves. Occasionally, the father would take Druig with him into a merchant's town where they could gather supplies that could not be foraged from the cliffs or hills. The man was always baffled at how the vendors would lower their prices when Druig haggled despite only knowing small fragments of the language. He was thankful, and Druig was happy to assist.

Druig became close with them and remained there for three moons. He grew to know the local villagers, and they treated him like their own, so in return, he resolved conflicts between warring communities as the Romans maintained control over a majority of the peninsula. Druig wouldn't interfere with any major conflicts. Eventually, Ajak would find out, and he'd be called back to stay with the Eternals where he would be kept in check, barred from using his abilities to unless called upon like a dog.

Ajak knew nothing of his interfering with human conflict, and Druig wasn't intent on ever letting her know. He disagreed time after time about what the Eternals should be allowed to intervene with on Earth. As far as Ajak was aware, Druig was only assessing Deviant activity in his travels. The world was growing, and Druig's fondness of the humans grew with it. Only Makkari ever seemed to understand Druig and with so few words.

"Druig!"

A young child ran towards the Eternal, stumbling carelessly over the rocks along the coastline. Druig let himself smile widely before picking the child up in his arms and walking him back to his family. "My little friend, how goes your day? You've fished for the morning yet?"

"The children in the village told me of an island! I come to tell you!"

The child raised his arms, moving them around excitedly and rambled on about this island and the stories he had heard. The family knew Druig wished to travel further, but he had met the vastness of the Sea of Atlas stopping him in his tracks. His feet ached to go further, but he didn't have a ship to sail in. He was stuck. However, he didn't think it was so unfortunate a thing, after all, he had found a family here by the sea.

"Is that right?" Druig asked. The child giggled brightly at the way Druig spoke. His words came out sounding strange to the boy. The boy continued on, "Father has a friend with a boat who is sailing there on the morning after morrow!"

Druig stopped walking as he approached the family. The child's mother scorned the boy in her native tongue, telling him to get down and to not bother their friend with such unbecoming behavior and manners. She turned to Druig, "It is true, our friend. They will set sail the day after tomorrow for the Emerald Isle. It is an island North where people have been travelling to for years, and now, you have a chance to go as well if that's what you wish."

The child clung tightly to Druig's hand, "But you won't go, will you? You'll stay, and we'll take care of you forever until forever ends."

Druig bent down onto one knee, brushing the child's curled locks out of his hazel eyes, "And what if I do? Life won't stop, will it? No, it'll go on, and you'll grow up like your pa. Plus, who's to say I won't ever come back?"

The child frowned and looked away. He sank into himself knowing his defiance would be met by his parents' sternness. He knew life would continue on the way it had before Druig wandered to their little home. The boy spoke quietly, and the Eternal leaned in to listen, "But you can't leave us." The boy turned around to glance at his parents before whispering to Druig, "Who will keep mother and father from arguing about making another one of me? I can't do that."

Druig laughed, lines surrounding the corners of his lips as he smiled. He was careful to whisper back, "That'll be your job then, yea? It wasn't meant for me to do forever. Another one of you would make this place even more fun. Even better than having me around here, yea? Imagine a little brother or sister to tease."

The child's eyes became damp with tears. Druig hugged him tightly, "Oh, you hush now and dry them tears. We'll have a party tonight, and I'll even let you draw me, so you'll never forget this beautiful face. How's that sound, little friend?"

"A party?" the child's eyes began to shimmer at the promise of food and friends and dancing. Druig stood up, his eyes blue like the sea he had spent the summer by, "How about that then? A party to say goodbye and hello."

The boy yipped loudly, and his parents watched lovingly as Druig danced with the boy on the beach. The two kicked at the sand and ran screaming into the rising tide, splashing each other and whooping loudly as if they wanted their screams to travel across the sea to someone on another shore. The boy's parents held each other and smiled. They would miss their friend, but they knew his place was not with them. The woman drew a hand to her belly gently and smiled at her husband. Druig looked back to them as the boy dipped his head under the water, laughing uncontrollably. He turned to the sea and felt his heart racing. Soon, he would be on his way once again.

Druig's mind was filled with curiosity at what lie beyond the sea. What waited for him in this new land? He needed to keep going, to keep travelling. It wasn't time to stop. Not yet.