KotLC: Eclipse (KotLC X Magnus Chase)

Chapter 16

Sophie's POV

The dragon let out an earth-shaking roar, revealing large yellow-brown teeth that were about the size of Hope.

"Yes!" Magnus told Jack, "Kill it!"

I looked into the dragon's massive, yellow, lamplike eyes. It was almost as if it was trying to tell me something.

"Wait!" I shouted to Jack before he could kill the reptile. "Let me try something."

"What‽" Everyone around me shouted in unison.

"Let me try something." I repeated as I extended my consciousness towards the beast in front of me.

When I connected with its thoughts, I immediately sensed a deep loneliness akin to what Silveny was feeling when I first met her.

The dragon roared again, obviously sensing that I was in its mind. I shared memories of me caring for dragons and other creatures in Havenfield, showing that I meant no harm. Inflicting some happiness and contention with it further helped me gain its trust. I walked closer to it, in front of Magnus and Jack, who had positioned themselves in front of me at some point.

The dragon was no longer constantly growling and had settled itself on the ground in a defensive position. "What's your name?" I asked both mentally and verbally, to not reveal my telepathy.
It answered with a small growl as a word floated to the front of its thoughts, carrying an ancient weight, as if it hadn't been used for decades.

"Emberclaw?" I said, "Is that your name?"
It growled in acknowledgement, lowering its head. I decided that I should take this a step further.

I sent memories of me petting animals at Havenfield, trying to tell it what I was about to do. Growling so softly that it was like purring, Emberclaw slowly crawled towards me.
Immediately, I sensed Alex, Mallory, Jack, and Magnus moving towards us, thinking that Emberclaw was about to attack me.

"Stop!" I firmly told them without turning. "She won't hurt me."

"She?" I heard Mallory's voice ask.

"Won't hurt you?" Jack added.

"Yes, now stop anyone from sneaking up on us." I said.

I heard the others muttering in disagreement and disbelief but ignored them, my eyes never leaving Emberclaw's. She slowly continued moving towards me in careful, wary steps until she was right in front of me. Slowly, so that she would know what I was doing, I reached forward and placed my hand softly on her rough, scaly, and scarred snout.

"Can I call you Ember?" I asked, "It's a lot easier to say than 'Emberclaw' over and over again."
Emberclaw responded by nudging me playfully, causing me to stumble backwards and fall on my butt. She bounded the step towards me and licked my face with her rough, slightly painful-yet-tickly tongue. I started giggling, and she leapt off me.

I got up slowly to see Magnus staring at me with wide eyes.
"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Tame the dragon!" He said incredulously.

"Oh. I didn't tame Ember. I just befriended her."

"Ember?"

"That's her name."

"The dragon?"

"Yes."

He shook his head, "I've never seen someone stop one of the dragons from ripping them apart without killing them."

I placed my hands on my hips. "Has anyone ever tried?"

He shrugged, "Not that I know of."

"Exactly."

"Sophie befriended a dragon?" I heard someone say to my left. "Can't say that I'm surprised." I turned and saw Alex sauntering towards us.

I glanced at Ember, who was looking at me expectantly. When she saw me looking, she bent her forelegs like Silveny always did when I rode her. "You want me to ride you?"

She nodded, making it clear that she could understand us. "Sure then." I walked over to her and jumped onto Ember's back.

Before Ember could launch into the air, Alex's voice stopped us.
"I'm coming to!" She said and jumped onto Ember's back, just avoiding the spiked ridges.

The dragon immediately turned defensive, so I quickly sent her some memories that showed Alex as a friend and inflicted some calm into Ember so that she wouldn't kill us.

Ember's wings started flapping, slowly beating harder and faster to take off. She bounded towards the top of the hill before launching herself into the sky, leaving Magnus slack-jawed and Jack's runes pulsating various shades of green and yellow.

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721 words

Hope you enjoyed this (early) chapter!

This is more of a filler between the previous and next chapter because I wanted Sophie to befriend one of the dragons for the battle. I also didn't want it to be just a few lines in a longer chapter. This means that this was too long to be part of a longer chapter and too short to be a proper chapter.

As always, if you see any SPaG errors, please comment on them so I can fix them.

See you next time 👋
-ManicMohawk