Indigo Elf

Ch. 36

As promised, here's your update guys! I hope you enjoy it!

Ch. 36

Arlen

I couldn't sleep. No matter how hard I tried to forget what happened today, it stuck with me. All I could think was who could be so cruel to kill so many innocent people, and why? What warranted the complete annihilation of these people? I sat up and climbed out of my bed cloud, shaking a sleeping Seth off me in the process. Grabbing a blanket from my storage, I carefully tip toed outside. Everyone was sleeping peacefully, the last thing I wanted to do was wake them. I made my way outside and wrapped the blanket around myself. The demon hour had passed, so I wasn't worried about being captured or possessed by any demons.

It was dreadfully dark and the village looked extremely creepy. I was more than sure what we discovered to day had something to do with that. Luckily, the moon provided me with some light and comfort. I suddenly heard a whimper and laughed softly. Shiro hadn't even hatched yet and she was already telling me what to do. I grabbed her from my storage and held her under the blanket. I had no idea when she would hatch, but I would prefer it to be after we got to the bottom of this whole mess.

I turned my attention back to the house as I suddenly heard the door open. Landon stood out on the small porch in only his pajamas with his arms wrapped around himself. I quickly tossed him a blanket from my storage. Usually, I would have had an attitude, but I didn't want to act like an asshole after burying over a hundred people today.

"So you can't sleep either," he stated as he came and stood beside me. I shook my head no.

"I can't stop thinking about what happened today. My mind won't allow me to sleep."

"Same here," Landon replied. We both fell silent for a moment, admiring the moon.

"So, you and Sphinx..." he trailed off.

I rolled my eyes. I knew he was going to bring that up.

"It was just a sex. There's nothing going on between us. After that whole confession and you kissing me like that, I..." I stopped, not wanting to reveal anymore.

Landon chuckled, "So, I turned you on?"

"I will douse you in cold water!" I threatened as I raised my staff. Landon quickly apologized while laughing. I turned away from him, not wanting him to see how red my face had gotten. I can't believe I revealed that! He continued to laugh and I sprayed him with a small stream of water.

"Sorry! Ok, I'll stop!"

Suddenly, Landon came to stand in front of me and dropped to his knees. I watched him with curious eyes as he stared at the ground.

"Arlen, I know this is the last thing you want to hear and I know you can't stand to look at me now, but please give me a second chance. I'm not asking for a romantic relationship, just a casual friendship. I want to show you that I'm really not that guy who said those horrible things to you back at the beach. Please give me a chance to change your mind, and if after that you still don't want to be around me, I promise I'll leave you alone. I'll stay out of your sight; I'll disappear from your life."

My heart skipped a beat as he stared up at me with his glistening green eyes. For some reason, he looked absolutely beautiful underneath the moonlight. I went to tell him no, but for some reason, I couldn't. I thought I had already made up my mind about him, but as it would seem, I had not. I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. Was I really about to do this? If I did this, I was inviting him back into my heart knowing that he could very well break it all over again.

Closing my eyes, I sighed deeply and made up my mind.

"Ok, fine, I'll give you a second chance, but I swear to God Landon, if you make me regret this, prince or not, I'll kill you. I swear it."

I met his gaze, shaking my head when I saw him crying. Jumping up from the ground, he grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. My heart dropped as I suddenly heard a crack. Wrestling myself away from Landon, I threw off the blanket and stared down at Shiro's egg, a rage like no other rising up inside of me when I saw a small crack.

I practically roared in anger as I whipped out my staff. Landon stumbled back in shock, staring at Shiro's egg in horror.

"GIVE ME BACK THAT CHANCE I GAVE YOU!" I screeched as I launched a massive fireball at him. Landon narrowly evaded my attack and a huge explosion went off behind him. I suddenly heard the cutest little chirp in the world. I immediately calmed down and ran back inside the house. Everyone was now wide awake and staring at me in complete and utter confusion. I fell onto my knees and held Shiro's egg, awing when I heard her sweet chirping once more. I could feel everyone surrounding me, but I ignored them, the only one that had my attention was little Shiro.

The shell continued to crack and little pieces of the shell broke as she struggled to free herself. I immediately went to help her, but Gabriel grabbed my hand.

"She has to do it by herself."

I pouted as Shiro continued to whimper and struggle inside of the cramped shell. A loud crack suddenly pierced the air and a white paw emerged from a hole. I softly rubbed her paw, offering silent encouragement.

I turned to Gabriel, "What am I going to feed her? She's bound to be hungry, right?"

"For now, you can feed her soft fruits for now. When we get back to Nox, we can start giving her meat."

Nodding, I grew a small watermelon. Watermelon was soft. I also grew some peaches. Shiro continued to struggle until finally, her little head popped out. Large, gray eyes immediately locked into my own. Shiro was covered in pure white scales and was smaller than I thought she would be. Smiling softly, I rubbed her head. Closing her eyes, she snuggled into my hand, purring contently.

"She won't get any bigger than she is now," a voice suddenly said. I turned and met with two pairs of red eyes. Link and Sphinx were carefully examining Shiro.

"Why not?" I asked, "Is there something wrong?"

I suddenly became worried.

Link shook his head, "She's healthy, but because of how long she spent out on the cold, she is permanently deformed. The most critical time in a dragon's life is when they're inside of their eggs. They're extremely vulnerable to just about everything and have to be carefully taken care of. Heat is absolutely vital and she was without it for a while. The fact that she's even alive is a miracle, but sadly, she won't ever grow into a full grown dragon. If left here on her own in that state, she'd immediately be killed off by wild animals."

I swallowed down the anger that rose in my throat; I didn't want to scare Shiro. The little dragon climbed out of her destroyed egg and into my lap. She curled up into a ball, immediately falling asleep. I rubbed her back softly. Despite how her scales looked, they were soft and very thin. Because she wouldn't grow, they wouldn't get hard enough to protect her, meaning that she'll be relying on me to protect her.

"Well," I whispered, "As sad as that is, it doesn't change things. I'll protect her and take care of her."

I softly rubbed her head with my index finger. Not only had this son of a bitch mage killed a bunch of innocent people, they also hurt Shiro. I was going to kill them, forgiving them isn't an option now.

_Gieo_