Chapter 15

: A child

"ASHYYYY ~ DON'T LEEAVVEEEE MEEE" I was slapped on the forehead. I just want to call Gray!

Alistair"s acting like a child! He"s not his usual self. I haven"t seen him getting sick before, this is the first time. Even in my previous life he did not get sick.

"What"s with the noise? What are you two doing? " Gray asked when he opened the door, Alistair was clinging to me and I wanted to leave. Basically he"s on the floor clinging to my legs.

"He"s really really really sick! Help me! " Gray helped me get away with Alistair.

Alistair was tied with a blanket on, if I prefer him getting drunk or him getting sick. I prefer none! Those two personalities of him are annoying.

"AAAHHH Ashyyy noooo ~ please don't leaveee meee" I sighed while gasping after tying him. Good thing the rope is made of magic.

"I didn't know he has this kind of side." –Gray said.

"Yeah me neither. And here I thought his drunk self is worst. " –Me

"We will not tell him he became like this. He might kill us. " I agree.

I haven"t seen him sick in my whole life. In my previous life, I heard he got sick but the King won"t let me in because he seems to infect me. So everytime when he got sick, the King would let me go somewhere far from the empire. I didn"t really care that time.

"YO WAZZUPP ~ I saw some cute animals near the forest. The bunnies have wings and I saw some bird with glowing eyes- what are you guys doing with the prince? " Art suddenly entered the room. He saw us standing in front of the prince who was currently tied with magic.

"NOOOO ~ stay away from Ashyyyy. I will kill you all, she"s mineee ~ ASHYYYY "Art seemed to understand what we did.

"Oh. Should we talk about this or should we not talk about this? " –Art

"Not." Me and Gray answered in unison.

"Just help us take care of him, don't tell him what you saw." –Gray

"Yeah yeah, I don't want to die." Art said while waving his hands.

I let Art and Gray out because Alistair is so noisy, he sounds like a total child now.

"ASHYYYY !!! Cuddleee meeee pleaseeee. " Alistair groaned.

"Al, stop crying. If you don"t I will leave you here in the room. " I threatened her, she cried even harder when I said that.

"Whyyyy, you don"t love me anymoreee? Ashyyyy, I will do everything * sniff * just don"t leave me. *Cries*"I sighed.

*****
I am here next to Alistair who is sleeping soundly, of course he is still wrapped in a blanket and he is still tied. He was crying the whole day, he fell asleep after that. His fever went down a little while ago.

Probably because of some medicine that Jasper got from the village, people often get sick on the island because of the temperature. The medicine works just fine and fast.

"Hey its time for dinner." Jayden went inside while bringing some trays while Gray followed her.

"We are going to start tomorrow." Gray said. Jayden glared at him, wow that"s new.

"The Prince's still sick." Jayden replied as he dropped the tray on the table.

I felt Alistair move. I guess he"s awake.

"What happened?" he asked weakly. "Why am I tied up?"

Gray immediately released the rope by flicking his fingers upwards. He also bowed to Alistair as a sign of apology.

Gray looked at me, I immediately shook. Its better not to tell him what happened earlier.

"Nothing, uhm… you were asleep the whole day." I said.

"Why am I tied then?" I just scratched my head so hard. "What happened to your neck? Why is it red? "

I immediately covered my neck, he accidentally bit me earlier when he tried to hug me. It didn"t really hurt tho.

"No, the insect bit me earlier. You should eat. " Change my topic. He wasn"t really convinced though but he just followed that.

"Alistair, shall we start tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"This is my life now. I have climbed this mountain and now I will die upon it. "

"Shut up, Art. We"ve only been hiking for like 30 minutes now. " Jayden scolded Art.

He's been blabbering on like crazy before.

Gray was the first to walk. Jasper carried a few bags, Jayden is busy scolding Art. While me and Alistair is just listening to them.

"Are you sure we aren"t lost? I've seen that tree before. " Art points to a tree.

"All of the trees look the same, Art. Plus they are huge… "I agree with Gray.

The trees here are super huge than an average size of a normal tree. When I looked into the distance, I already knew its tall but I didn"t expect it to be this tall and so huge. So it's not too hot when we're walking, also the carrier is not allowed here because it's interfering with other creatures.

Even if you ride something from above, the trees will still cover the way.

Also the animals here are kind of magical. They look beautiful, we saw a few reptiles too but with colorful scales and all. It is said that it is forbidden to touch or take, lest the owner of the island be disturbed.

"Awee look at these bunnies, so magicalll ~" I don't know if Art is mood swings right now. "By the way how will we get out of here? it's like we're really lost. "

"Didn't you listen before when we were meeting?" Jasper answered.

"Nah he was busy chasing magical butterflies." Jayden replied.

"So how is that?" –Art

"We will set camp, we aren't going back in the village without the girl." -Gray

"DID YOU JUST BRING US HERE TO DIE ?!" –Art

"Obviously." –Gray

"Are you being sarcastic right now? I can"t tell if you"re being sarcastic or not because we are in the middle of the forest with weird looking species that may look cute but can hurt or kill you alive! I can"t believe this! " –Art

"Art you"re over reacting. As long as you don't move those, we have no problem. " -Gray

"Oh my god, if we die. I"m going to spend the rest of our afterlife reminding you that this is all your fault. " –Art

"That's cool, I wouldn't mind having company while being a ghost." Gray refuted.

"Sh-

"Don't be an artist, you can go home alone." Jayden intruded. "You were still yesterday, we can really be punched again."

Art just kept quiet, it looks like he really doesn't want to be punched. I sighed and looked at Alistair, he was looking at the papers that Gray had yesterday.

"Is there a picture of the woman?" he looked at me and nodded, he looks fine now unlike yesterday. "Whats here name?"

He handed me the paper. Is this the paper that Gray has been reading?
Her name is Breatrice Alphonse, a princess from another kingdom. She was adopted when her family died in a fire accident. She has long curly hair, green eyes and has freckles, her eyes looks sad or something.

She came to the island last year to research something, her family lets her do whatever she wants since she"s an only child. But she never came back home.

Finn"s grandson was her friend in the island, they were both adventurous and wants to explore the island because of some unknown species that hasn"t been discovered. They always go to the forest and also return immediately in the afternoon, in case one day they never return to the village.

About a month ago, the school got a report that someone saw Breatrice in the forest. So, Breatrice"s parents asked the school to find her.

While I was reading we heard a shout, it was Jasper"s voice.

"A DRAGON!"

We rushed over when Jasper screamed.

"Uh yeah of course it's a dragon!" Art exclaimed when Jasper screamed. "We are in an island owned by a freaking dragon! Of course there is a dragon here! "

We saw a small dragon, it has grayish color and small horns. It"s a size of a cat or dog or a pet. Whoa it"s my first time seeing a dragon, they look amazing. It doesn"t have any wings though.

"Duh ?! Do I know that? It's my first time here, isn't it? " Jasper argued.

"Goodness. Did you not read the books here? There are dragons that lived here. " slapped response by Art. "Especially when we are in the heart of the forest. These creatures are everywhere. "

"Why are they so small?" I asked while staring at the small dragon, the dragon was just staring at some kind of tree. It doesn"t look harmful though.

"They have limit in growing, Dragon sizes can only go for a horse size or a little more." –Art explained "Unless it"s the owner, she is the largest dragon here."

"Whoaa it also doesn't have any wings." Jayden went to it and observed it.

"It"s a land type of dragon" Art said.

"Wait there are types of dragons living in this island?" I chirped in excitement.

"Yeah there are basically 3 types of dragons." Alistair started.

"The Earth type Dragons also called as Earthagons, those dragons can crawl fast. They aren"t very dangerous, but some types may bite. "

"Next is the Water type Dragons also called as Aquagons. They lived in some lake or sea, anything that has water on it. They won"t hurt you if you won"t hurt them. "

"The last is the Arial type Dragons also called as Ariagons, they are the types of dragons who have wings and prefer flying. They are kind of dangerous because they have large claws and all. "

I was amazed by Alistair's explanation, where did she get all this information?

"If your asking where I got it I read it in a book." He figured me out because I was gazing at him.

"Oh you forgot about the owner of the island!" Art inserted "Her name is Penyvia, she"s the largest and has all types of dragons."

"Wait she can fly and swim? How large is she? " Jayden questioned.

"No one really saw her but they said Malaki raw because they heard it roar ones. It was heard all over the island. But that was years ago, I don"t know if she still exists now. " Art shrugged.

"With all the large trees and large mountains? She probably exists. " Jasper

We all agreed on what Jasper said. I bet she exist, I mean people didn"t get out of here alive. We went back on our trail, I don"t really know where we"re going to be honest. We just let Gray lead the way.

"We should set camp." Gray suggested. "It's getting dark."

"In the middle of the forest ?! Seriously? There will be large beasts lurking somewhere. " Art complained.

We ignored Art and set up camp. It was easy since Gray is there to set the camp, we"re halfway finish.

"What are you doing?" Art asked Jasper.

Jasper was staring at something, it was a dragon. But a little smaller than the dragon we saw before. It was at a top in a large rock.

"Do you hear what he said?" Jasper asked.

"Hear what now?" Art

"He knows where the girl is."

"Uhm excuse me? That dragon spoke to you? " Art was surprised when Jasper said that. "But I didn't hear anything."

We all went to him.

"You didn't hear him say anything?" Jasper was also confused. "Do dragons talk?"

"Uh no, not that I know of." Gray answered

"Well I saw him just staring at us. So I went to him and ask for directions-

"Dude! We are not asking the dragon for directions! " Art exclaimed. "You do realize that was pretty stupid right?"

"Ah yeah, I already finished unpacking my work and I got bored so I went to talk to him. He answered back though. " –Jasper "I swear I"m not crazy, I don"t know if you can hear it too but he said‘ Follow me "or something"

"I didn't hear anything." Jayden said while turning arms cross. "Following that dragon seems absolutely stupid but let's do it anyway and see what happens."

"I agree, there"s nothing wrong in trying right?" I agree.

"It is wrong when it will lead you to death! Duh? Are you ready to die? " Art cried.

We all agree with the idea of ​​following the dragon, only Art is not. I don"t really know but there is this gut feeling that I should follow that dragon.

"Ok let"s pack again" Alistair said, it"s not really hard to pack again because we"re halfway done anyway so its just easier.

When we"re finished the dragon will stand up correctly, the color of the dragon is red. He"s an earthagon since it doesn"t have any wings. It went down and slowly walked towards where.

The dragon stopped in front of a ravine. Huh? The size of the gorge.

"Follow the dragon he said- this damn thing lead us straight to a pit!" Art said while rolling his eyes.

The dragon just stayed there and then looked at Jasper. He was staring at him…

"Let's look around." Jayden suggested.

"He said there"s a cabin nearbry." Jasper said once looking at us, a cabin?

"Nobody lives here-

"Yeah found it." Gray shouted to one side, so we immediately followed.

We saw an old cabin, it has fence and anything. It looks abandoned though. Gray went there first, since he has a light with him. He went to a short lamppost first

"Its still hot, someone lives here." Gray said while touching the small lamppost.

We just looked at the cabin, if this isn"t old then this would look beautiful here.

"Its charming" I said softly

"Uh no it looks haunted." Art commented

"Let's go inside." I added while smiling at Art who was making a face at me when I said that.

************
"Ahhh look at them- so young and willing to get themselves killed." She said while looking from afar. She slowly went down from the tree then caress the red dragon around her neck. "Good job Fiera."

: Breatrice the lost descendant

"Remind me again why we went inside? This looks haunted as fuck "

We are already inside, on the outside it's very small to look at but in the loo it's big. There aren"t any stuffs except some abandoned shelves and chairs. This looks like a restaurant before, there"s a counter and some tables too.

"Oh wow it has a basement and an attic." Jayden said while looking at a room near the counter.

"Everything looks haunted, we're all gonna die and its Jasper's fault." Art cried, he just stayed in the entrance door. "I ain"t walking away from this door, what if it closes by itself? THEN WE"RE ALL TRAP! "

"Why are you being a scaredy cat nowadays? I thought you wanted a thrill in your life? " I said to him.

"Uh yes this isn't the thrill that I'm looking for." He nodded and stared at me.

There are 2 rooms here, don near the counter and the other one is on the side.

"Hey look at this." We approached the counter Jasper said, Jayden also approached.

"Woowww ang ganda, those nice are decoratives" Jayden said when she saw it.

"Look sis, just because they're pretty doesn't mean they're not knives and swords." Jasper said once snapping at them. It really looks beautiful though, the knives are wavy and the swords looks sharp.

"This doesn"t look old. Someone really lives here. " Jasper observed once looking at me, he then gave me the knife. Yeah this looks treasured.

"The basement is empty." Alistair announced.

"There is nothing in the attic but there are leaves and trees there. It was formed as a nest too. " Gray added when he wanted down from the attic.

"Guysssss… are you done looking around? Can we go now? " Art was still beside the door, "This really looks haunted."

"Are you scares?" Alistair asked.

"No… no, not at all. I mean, what"s there to be scared of? " Art gave us a laugh that sounded a little too nervous.

"Good, because there's a really scary looking something standing right behind you." Alistair joked, which I didn"t expect. Since he looks serious and that joke was pretty convincing that Art fell for it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed to the top of his lungs and went running to Jasper then hid behind him.

"You scream like a girl. "Jayden said as he crossed his arms.

"I don't scream like a girl." Art replied annoyed and we settled down.

"Well you sure did a high pitched scream." Gray joined forces with Jayden just to make fun of Art.

"Ehem… I did n-not scream." Art denied his scream but we heard it loud and clear.

"Oh yes, so what did you do?" Jasper has joined as well.

"That was merely me trying not to have a heart attack with a little dignity." Art explains while fixing his hair. "Now if you"ll excuse me I will guard that doo-

* BLAG* the door suddenly closed and the surroundings suddenly became dark. Shit.

"TOLD YA THIS HOUSE IS HAUNTED!"

This is dark magic.

"Gray!" I shouted and ran towards the door. He immediately understood that, so he went to blast the door.

"Ash, sword!" Alistair handed me a sword and I immediately catch it. We ran towards the blasted door and immediately got outside.

We saw someone outside the cabin, the person was wearing a white outfit and dragon skull mask. She knelt down and put her hand on the road, even if its dark I can see that black magic coming out from her hands. The body looks feminine because of the white outfit she"s wearing

"There!" I shouted, Damn I don"t hv any knife along with me. I could have just thrown-

"Aaack-" We heard the person scream a little when Jasper threw some knife to her. It landed on the person"s legs, nice. I guess Jasper got that knife from the cabin.

The person immediately stopped releasing the magic and jumped backwards, then it ran away.

"I'm pretty sure it was a ghost." Art commented.

"I'm pretty sure it's not." I said again. "Catch that person!"

We started running to chase that person.

"Oh reallYYY?" Art is getting stupid day by day when we keep staying in this island.

"Ghosts don't bleed Art." Jasper responded and went in full speed. He was the first with us…

But we felt a loud rumble in the surface so we stopped, but Jasper was still running. We saw the red dragon again running beside Jasper.

Then the earthquake also disappeared immediately, so we ran again to where Jasper ran. They were there near the cliff we had seen earlier.

We saw a large black something there, Jasper and the person earlier were also there. Jasper was protecting that person from behind because of that thing- what the heck is that ?!

"Hey can you get up ?!" Jasper asked loudly.

"HELP THEM, ART! JAYDEN! " I shouted. "Jasper! Get him out of here! That person can"t run because of the wound. "

Jayden and Art attacked the giant thing and Gray helped them as a support attack. I was also running towards that thing and hit it with a sword. It"s slimy and soft, it looks like a glob.
It went on a rampage and is about to spit something, Jayden and Art quickly backed out.

"June! Leave!" Art shouted at me

I was near that thing I cant-

"You ok?" Alistair immediately snatched me and went away. "It's spitting acid."

Far away we were, Gray blasted something that the black slimy glob fell in the pit. But the acid made the ground crumble. Shit, Jasper and the person are nearby.

We ran closer and saw Jasper near the cliff.

"Shut up and take my hand! The ground you"re standing on is falling! " Jasper shouted loudly.

"NO!" we heard the person screamed, sounds like a female.

"Don't step on where Jasper is staying." Alsitair said weakly, the ground that the girl is standing on is falling. "Both of them might fall."

"Let Jasper handle this." Gray added. "I can support them."

"IM AM SO NOT TAKING A GUY"S HAND!" we heard the person screwamed again.

"Look I'm not trying to ask you to marry me, I'm trying to save your life!" Jasper shouted.

I could hear Art whistling in the corner.

"Smooth-
"Shut up Art."

Jasper and the girl is already safe, Jasper was busy scolding the girl because of what happened.

"You almost died! I almost died! We could have both died! " Jasper was litteraly screaming right now.

"Well sorry mister for your untrusty face!" the girl answered back.

"Excuse me? My face looks fine I-

"Aren"t you Breatrice?" Alistair intruded, I immediately glanced at her when Alistair said that.

She was covered in paint? And her hair is a mess, she wears a white dress but has many holes. she was wearing a skull mask too.

"Brea- who?" he asked. Like she didn"t know someone named Breatrice. "I'm thankful that you all saved me but you all should leave the forest immediately."

Then he stood up, but sat down again. Fortunately, Jasper supported him.

"Aah ow-"

"Can you not stand carelessly? You have a wound on one of your legs. " Jasper said with a frustrated voice.

"Yes, and who"s fault is that?" sabat naman nung babae.

"Well uh… .me. I"m sorry, it"s because you ran like a criminal. " Hand head said Jasper.

"You chased me like a mad man-

"Well miss or whoever you are, you made the cabin covered dark magic. You scared the shit out of us so we need to know who did that. " Art said while shrugging.

I guess Jasper will take care of her. But who is she though?

Alistair was still staring at her, same as Gray and Jayden.

"What"s up?" I asked since they have been staring for a while.

"Even with the paint all over her face, she looks Breatrice." Jayden and Gray nodded.

"Breatrice doesn't have any scars, that girl has one around her neck." Jayden commented.

"True, but she might got it in the forest." Gray refuted.

"Should we ask her?" I asked them. "She didn't know someone named Breatrice… there is a possibility that she is lying."

"Yeaa or she lost her memories? I mean she might have hit her head or something. She has a scar in her head. " Art intruded our conversation

"She have?" Jayden asked…

"Yeah. I was looking at her forehead. " –Art "We should rest, the night is getting darker"

"Yeah let"s go back to the cabin-

"Fuck no, I'm not going back to that haunted cabin." –Art immediately said.

"Fine, we'll rest near the cabin." -Gray

"No-

"So you prefer sleeping in the cabin?" Art was gonna speak but closed his mouth when he thought about it.

"UGHH, fine."

**********
(Jayden"s POV)

We set the camp near the cabin because this scaredy assed Art kept complaining about it. The moon looks bright today too.

My twin brother was busy taking care of the girl. We didn"t know her name yet. Since she has a wound in her leg she can"t probably run but I will be in the look out.

The tents were huge thanks to Gray"s magic. I wonder why he doesn"t use magic that much, I have been observing him from afar. I talked to him at the party, in case I was wearing a non dress. I'm not comfortable.

I was just gonna give him back the book he left in the council room, but he stared at me and cornered me in a tree. I can"t fucking run in a dress, he was just silent the whole time so it was pretty awkward. It's as if he's going to say something like nothing, his expression is weird.

Since I"m good at observing or reading people"s eyes, his eyes were full of regret. What did he regret? Hmmm

"What are you doing staring at a tree?" I suddenly jumped in panic while covering my mouth so that I could not scream.

"A-aah… I-" I nodded, shit why am I so shy around him. It"s just an infatuation! "I'm just bored."

"Hmm… can I also stare at the tree with you?" he asked me with a cold voice. I just nodded. What a weird way to say that.

We were silent for minutes, but my heart keeps racing like I"m going to die. This didn"t happen before, is this normal? Is being like this normal?

I met him in the council room with my twin and June. When I saw him, it"s like I have known him for a long time. Since I can read eyes, his eyes looked sad and yearning for someone. Yet he was also looking back at me. Why?

"If only you didn't save me." Gray whispered and I heard. But I acted like I didn"t hear it at all. I was still staring at some trees. "You w ----------------" I almost flinched at the last words he said. I didn"t hear it clearly but it seems bothersome.

"Guys! Dinner"s ready! " June's cry, I turned first.

"Let's eat." He said and stood up.

"Sure." I saw him walking away from me, and I saw him gazed at June with those eyes.

His eyes were full of love.

To be continued...