A Pet for the Dragons

68.

ARIKA

Two days passed by, and none of the dragons visited me. However, someone always left food outside my bedroom door with a brief knock.

As much as I was angry and frustrated at them for ignoring me like this, I didn't want to worsen the situation, so I ate the food each time and waited for one of them to get the plates back, but that never happened.

The plates would magically disappear, and it was on the second day I noticed that the food also magically appeared outside my bedroom door. I used to think that one of them would always deliver the food to me because of the knock on the door. It felt like a real person, but realising that it was nothing but magic all these days made me feel even worse.

They didn't consider me worthy of even delivering me food in person. But again, I reminded myself that I made it this way. This was all the consequences of my actions.

Nonetheless, I waited for one of them to show up. Even that would've made my day, but by the third day, it seemed like they had forgotten about me. This made me feel even more terrible.

Was this how they treated their pets? Not that I had much clarity about the nature and dynamic of our relationship, but I was sure about one thing— I wasn't supposed to be left alone like this. Not for such extended periods.

This meant that something was up, and the dragons were away dealing with it. I wondered if it had something to do with them crossing the sea to look for me. They had violated an ancient treaty just to find me. It didn't make sense for them to leave me alone after all they went through to get me back.

On the third day, my curiosity won, and I decided to venture out into the castle alone. They had never given me a proper tour of this place. The castle seemed big enough to accommodate at least fifty mid-sized families, yet only three dragons lived there.

As I walked down the corridor of the floor on which my bedroom was located, I crossed at least twenty doors. I randomly stopped in front of one door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. I tried to do the same with the other doors, but none opened.

This made me more curious about what was behind those doors. I wondered this as I walked through various hallways, which all looked the same.

Soon, I realised that I was lost and hadn't marked my way back to my bedroom. This made me panic for a moment, but it didn't matter. I was inside the castle owned by the dragons. They'd find me anywhere if they wanted to. I was sure they were probably keeping an eye on me somehow, or else they wouldn't have left my bedroom door unlocked.

I kept wandering some more until it seemed like I was on the castle's first floor. I stopped by a giant window and stared outside at the ongoing storm. It wasn't as stormy as in the past few days. The weather seemed to have calmed down, but I was sure I'd be blown away if I stepped outside. It was an Arctic storm, after all. The Coriolis force was stronger here.

However, the visibility was better today, and I could make out a mountain range in the distance for the first time. Everything was covered with snow outside, and even though I hated snow, I stopped and admired the view outside for once. It was breathtaking.

It almost looked unrealistic. For someone who spent so much time at the sea, seeing anything other than water covering such a vast area made it all feel absolutely unreal. I couldn't help but admire the scenery. For once, I wished I could step outside and maybe explore, but the weather wouldn't be kind to me.

It'd kill me in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. I shuddered with the thought and was about to step away when I noticed something flicker in the sky. At first, I dismissed it as part of the storm, but when I noticed a strange movement in the sky, I stopped and stared hard.

It took me a few minutes before I finally spotted a dragon— a giant white dragon heading towards the castle.

I stared at the creature wide-eyed because it wasn't every day that I got to look at dragons, well, not in their actual form. And the dragon was white. It was tricky to spot in the snow. The only reason why I could spot it at all was because of its eyes and a strange dark mark under one of its wings.

I was frozen as I watched the dragon approach the castle, and when it was close enough, it disappeared from my sight altogether. I gasped and searched the snowy landscape for a dragon person. It took me a few seconds to spot a man dressed in odd robes heading toward the castle.

I continued to watch him and wondered who he was and why he was heading this way. Was he a friend or an associate of the dragons of this castle?

I soon got my answer when I noticed how the man pulled part of his cloak over his head and disappeared in thin air. Though he was right under the window, I could make out his footsteps in the snow.

Without thinking much, I ran towards the first floor and found one of the hidden entrances to the castle. I lurked around it, waiting for the man to enter. I had no weapon on me, but it didn't matter.

I had looted people with just my charm. This was just a meagre dragon... right?

I considered running away, finding one of the dragons, and informing them about the white dragon when the doors shivered.

He was trying to break in.

It was too late to find the dragons and inform them about this, and besides, I didn't know my way around the castle. I was already lost. I decided to wait in the shadows and see what this white dragon was up to.

The door shivered again before it creaked open gently, and a salt-pepper-haired man walked in. He had long hair and very hollow pitch-black eyes that made me shiver for a moment.

He stopped by the door for a second and swept his gaze all over the room. I sucked in a breath when his gaze lingered longer where I was hiding. I breathed in relief when he seemed convinced no one was watching him and finally moved towards the hallway. I watched him, unsure what to do, until I noticed a strange rod lying in the corner. I realised it was one of the rods that locked the old doors of the castle by lodging them in the hinges.

I grabbed it and went straight at the white dragon man. He heard my footsteps, but it didn't matter. I was fast. Before he could turn around, I hit him in the head with the rod.

~

Who do you think this white dragon is? And why he's sneaking around?

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