The Endless Forest

Felix and Zira sat in silence. Aluin had decided to not ask any questions and found something else to interest him. Meanwhile, Eri and Uzreg were still going through eggs.

Felix’s excitement for the whole thing had been seriously dampened, his only focus now was on the, rightfully, mad dragon sitting next to him. An apology, no matter how heartfelt, wasn’t going to be enough, and he knew that.

In truth this was Zira showing just how much she cared for him, even as angry as she was. She didn’t want him to go off on his own. That cut to his core.

Here was a young dragon, acting more responsible than him. Honestly, the roles had felt reversed. He was the child and she was the parent, and with her intelligence perhaps there was some truth to that.

No more though… My problems are your problems, and your problems are my problems. He tried, hoping to get some response from her.

They always had. Zira responded, there was less anger in her tone.

Encouraged, he continued. After Eri finds an egg and tries to hatch it, we can train together. We can work on getting you stronger– I mean, we can test out your ability to eat mana. That is, if you want to…

Zira remained silent for several long seconds, making Felix sweat. He was having trouble feeling her emotions through their bond, as if a barrier had been erected.

I like that. We train together. We fight together. She finally said.

Of course! We are one! Felix wanted nothing more than to appease her. However, she wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily.

Humph! You will be pillow forever!

As you wish… As he said that, he could feel the barrier separating them begin to dissipate. He could only let out a sigh.

“Master!” It was Uzreg. “Master, Elf lady pick egg!” The gray kobold was shouting from the other side of the hatchery.

Felix cleared his throat, quickly wiping away the rest of his tears. “That’s great! Give me a moment!” He brought his attention back to Zira. Shall we go…?

I no miss this. She said, getting to her feet. He could feel her anger slowly receding, only to be replaced by curiosity.

He got up and they both started to make their way over, Aluin quickly joining them.

“Is everything alright?” The elf asked in a whisper, concern in his voice.

“Yeah…” Felix whispered back, dejected. “I just screwed up…again.”

Aluin patted his shoulder but said nothing more as they caught up to Eri and Uzreg. Putting on a fake smile Felix looked over to Eri.

“So, you’ve made your decision?”

Eri jumped, apparently lost in thought and not noticing them. “Yeah,” she responded after regaining her composure.

Okay, I need to be confident in this or else this could go very wrong… “Wonderful! So then,” he leaned over and practically whispered, “which one?”

Eri blushed and hesitantly gestured to the nearest den. “That one…”

Felix forced his fake smile and excitement to the extreme. Perhaps a bit too much… “Well then! Let’s go see who the lucky egg is? Eri, come. I have an idea about how this might work!” He didn’t wait and started rushing over to the den, Zira close behind.

Unbeknownst to him, Aluin quickly whispered to Eri. “He and Zira had a fight… Though it looks like they made up, just pretend to not notice.”

She gulped and nodded. That wasn’t exactly encouraging…

Felix entered into the den, quickly making his way over to the egg. He briefly wondered about what type of dragon egg laid within, before realizing something important. He had left his notes back in the library.

Damn it… He sighed and came to a stop. Before him laid an ember and black-colored egg, the patterns made it look like it was bathed in flames.

Its overall size was a little smaller compared to what Zira’s had been, but it was still quite large. He guessed that the dragon inside would be similar in size and weight to Zira.

“Wow…” He said, with genuine surprise.

Zira was sharing the same emotion. It pretty…

“That it is…” He had to force himself to not get any closer, fearing he might mess this next part up.

Eri came up behind him.

“It’s a beautiful egg,” He said, making room for her.

“T-thanks…” There was more than just hesitation in her voice.

He shook his head. “Right, so I’m not entirely sure if this next part is necessary. But it worked for me…I think. We’ll give it a try, and hopefully it works how I think it does.”

There was shuffling behind him, it was Aluin.

“Anyways, what you’ll need to do is go up to the egg and try to use your magic. Try to feel for a heartbeat, that’s what I did.”

Eri nodded along, though it was still apparent she was nervous. She stood there, not moving. Aluin coughed, getting her attention.

“Go on,” The elf said, gesturing to the egg. “You’ll do fine,” he added.

Felix grimaced, he was pretty close to calling this off. However before he could voice his suggestion, the elven woman took a single step…

Then another…

She continued this slow procession until she was standing right in front of the egg. Felix watched as she sucked in a lungful of air and kneeled down.

With a shaky hand, she slowly reached out and touched it with her palm. Felix activated his mana sight at the same time, watching the colors of mana swirling around it and her.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then Eri’s expression hardened and he watched mana begin to flow out of her and onto the egg. It began to glow a brilliant red, almost matching the ember coloring of its shell.

Yet nothing happened.

For several agonizing minutes, he watched on as Eri continued trying to pour her mana into it. Just as they all were thinking of giving up, Eri yelped in surprise.

“I think I felt something!”

Felix renewed his focus on the egg, ignoring the small headache that was forming. “Good, keep it up! I think I see something happening.”

He wasn’t sure, but he thought he could see just past the glow of the egg. It looked like a trickle of mana was piercing the shell.

“Something is indeed happening.” Aluin quickly added, confirming he wasn’t just seeing things.

I smell it! Zira said only adding to their confirmation, sniffing the air in the process.

With renewed vigor, Eri pumped more of her mana into the egg. However, the trickle of mana started to fade–

“I feel its heartbeat!” She called out, in nervous excitement.

Okay… Shoot, what next? He was starting to panic a little himself. Uh, uh… Heartbeat… Then– “The runes!”

He whipped around, nearly taking Aluin out in the process. “Everyone out! I’m going to activate the runes!”

He didn’t wait for the elf to move, instead he started to push Aluin out. Zira was right behind him, and Eri was quickly hopping onto her feet.

In all the excitement, they nearly plowed over Uzreg who had apparently been watching from the outside. The kobold quickly leapt out of the way, and Felix waited until everyone was clear.

“Now last time– Never mind, just keep your distance!” He ran to the side where the runes were and did a quick check to make sure everyone else was out of the way.

Please work! He shouted more to himself than anything, and slapped the runes.

Instantly, the entire den began to fill with mana. The temperature rose and became almost unbearable, causing him to stumble back.

Out of the heat, Felix took a deep breath and sighed.

“Felix! Come here and look!” It was Aluin, and he sounded stunned.

Coming over to the elf, Felix could just peer in and see the egg. His mana sense was still activated, and what he saw was mystical.

The egg’s red glow became almost like fire, emblazing it with Eri’s mana. But just as it appeared to burn, it started to get sucked up into the egg. In an instant, the fiery glow vanished. In its place was a much more tame orange glow as the ambient mana fused to it.

It hatch soon! Zira shouted, her mind was almost vibrating with excitement.

You can tell?! Felix asked, his jaw almost hitting the floor.

It mana tastes ready!

“What?” Eri asked.

“Zira said… She said the egg will hatch soon!”

There was a loud crack that echoed from within the den, stunning everyone to silence.

“Is it–” The elven woman started to say.

“Yes,” Felix answered her unfinished question.

The mana within the den began to stabilize…

Eri found herself pacing back and forth in front of the den that housed the hatching egg. She was beyond a nervous wreck, and felt as though she had gotten way in over her head.

In fairness, the way Felix and Zira interacted towards each other had been heartwarming and had made her secretly jealous. At least until Master Aluin had told her about their little fight…

Now she was on pins and needles, worrying if she had made the right decision. Oh Eri… What have you done? It was too late to back out now, the egg would hatch soon enough.

However, despite her current mood, deep down she was excited. Besides Master Aluin, she had been rather lonely and a companion might be just the thing she needed. But a dragon was a bit much…

She had toyed with the idea of taking on a pet, plenty of other elves had, but she had always backed out in the end. The truth was, she was scared of the responsibility. Eri had little self-confidence that she could take care of someone else, let alone herself.

Things had changed, however, since she demanded to become Aluin’s student. In fact, her whole life could be summed up with one word, change.

As a little girl, she had always been of the quiet type. Preferring to stick to the indoors and read what little books her tribe had held. In fact, it had been because of that, that she survived…

Her family and her tribe had been wiped out by humans. They had somehow managed to cross the barrier and sneak onto the island. Whereupon they stumbled onto her little community.

She could still hear the screams of the other children…

A shiver ran down her spine. From that point on, she had grown to be angry and vengeful. She spent a little time living within another tribe, but even there she had not quite fit in. Though, this time it had been because of her aggressiveness.

For a while she had trained on her own, seeking to become powerful in the vain attempt to never let that happen again. In hindsight, it had been pure foolishness.

She eventually left her surrogate family and went on to search for the one person who could properly train her. Master Aluin.

The Sage was not a hard person to find, but convincing him had been the most difficult thing she could have done…

It had taken months of her shadowing him, forcing herself into his presence. In a roundabout way, it had taught her patience… Still, she did not give up and eventually Master Aluin relented.

She became his first ever apprentice…

Under his tutelage, her anger and resentment had faded, at least she thought it had. Unfortunately what she found hiding underneath was a scared little girl, lonely and longing for companionship.

It was that companionship that she was afraid of. At least until she met the Queen, Fea…

Master Aluin spent a great deal of time with the Queen, but it had only been the last few years that Eri had been allowed to meet her. They had instantly become friends…

Eri let out a sigh, feeling the gaping hole that was left with the Queen’s passing. Master Aluin cared for her, but it wasn’t the same. Fea and her had connected on many levels, even held many of the same interests.

It was no wonder they had become fast friends. And now, she’s gone…

She paused her pacing, looking over to where Felix and Zira sat. It had been several hours since the egg started hatching, but no one had been in the mood to leave. Those two had decided to go off a little ways and do some light training, though she was not entirely sure what Felix had meant by that.

Whatever they were doing, the tension between the two seemed to have died down. That calmed her own fears ever so slightly. She still felt butterflies in her stomach, and her mind kept telling her how stupid this all was…

In an attempt to distract herself, she turned her attention to Aluin. He was sitting even further back still, meditating. Uzreg had left some time ago, though he was supposed to be coming back before nightfall with some mats for them to sleep on.

She decided that she would go and join her Master. If nothing else, meditation would definitely help to calm her beating heart. Going over to him, she sat down letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

Aluin cracked open an eye. “Feeling nervous?” There was a hint of sarcasm, but she ignored it.

“I’m just…worried.” She said, getting into her meditative stance.

“Well of course. I’m worried too, you know? This was not in my cards, when me and Fea started this. I’m afraid I might be at my limit.”

Eri looked up at him, shocked he would admit that so casually. I knew he was struggling but…

“What’s with that look? Did you think I am perfect or something? Why do you think I had to stoop to bringing her here?”

“I don’t know.” She looked down, ashamed.

“I meant it when I said I needed help. Between Felix and Zira, and you, it has been stressful. Even with Ithea doing what she did, I still need her help. That's why I haven’t banished her.”

“I’m…sorry I haven’t been able–”

“Stop that,” Aluin interrupted her. “It is my fault. I knew my limits, yet I ignored them. Besides, you worked yourself ragged trying to heal Zira. You even tried to do it for Felix. You aren’t as useless as you think.”

She didn’t respond.

“Honestly? I’m proud of how far you’ve come. When you first met Felix, I thought you were about to attack him right there on the steps. But you quickly changed, I don’t know why, nor will I ask, but your growth has been exceptional.

“Personally, I think this was the right decision for you. I know how lonely you’ve felt, especially after the Queen’s…passing. You and that dragon, will become something great. I don’t even care if you continue working on becoming a Sage. The path you’re on is the correct one, and I will continue to support you.”

“Thank…you.” Eri whispered, barely audible. She began to tear up, letting them flow freely down her cheeks.

Aluin closed his eyes. “Now, let us meditate…”

***

“Eri!” someone shouted, startling her awake. She was sleeping on a mat that Uzreg had brought, it wasn’t comfortable but it was better than the hard stone floor of the hatchery.

Disoriented, she sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. If she had to guess, it was late into the night. That could only mean one thing…

“Is it almost done hatching?! Already?!” She blurted out, her mind now fully working.

“It is! Come! Quickly!” It was Felix.

She didn’t waste another moment and hopped onto her feet. The others were already awake and standing just outside the den, she quickly joined them.

“Zira said its mana has changed,” Felix continued, no longer shouting. “And by the looks of it, it's ready.”

“Really?” She asked nervously, peeking down into the den. There, she could see the egg, feeling the heat and dryness of the air from within.

The egg itself hadn’t looked like much had changed, but the expression on Felix’s face was one of awe. Unsure what she was missing, she used her own mana sense.

Suddenly things became much clearer to her, whereas Felix could ‘see’ mana flowing she could visualize it. From what she gathered, it wasn’t quite the same. Her ability, and that of pretty much everyone she knew, could interpret the currents as a vague wind of sorts. Feeling the currents and the direction of its flow.

There was more to it than that, the more you trained your mana sense, the more you could interpret from it. Like what she was doing now.

The first thing she noticed was how unstable the currents she felt were. There was a mixture of different mana flowing in and out almost chaotically. The den itself was producing a constant and steady supply of pure fire mana, though low in intensity. However, there was another type of mana that was out-competing it.

Hers.

No wait. It's…different somehow. She stood there, letting it buffet her while trying to understand what was happening.

Feels like mine…but there is definitely a fire element to it.

Felix gasped, and even Master Aluin muttered something in excitement, but she couldn’t tell what for.

“What is it?” She asked, feeling her nervousness return.

“I can see them, cracks forming all along its surface… Mana is constantly being sucked in only to be immediately released– I think it's breathing!” Felix was practically shouting by the end of his statement.

She ended her mana sense as she watched the human rush over to the side of the den. “What are–”

He swiped his hands over a few runes and spoke, cutting her off. “Okay so, the next part is important! You’ll need to go in there and put your hand onto the egg, then, for good measure, release a little bit more mana into it…”

Felix went on explaining what she needed to do, barely stopping to take a breath. Eri could only stand there doing her best to listen as he went on. Meanwhile Aluin stood back with a smile on his face, and– Uzreg? The kobold had appeared from nowhere and was watching the egg from the den’s entrance.

“…So be ready when it shatters.” Felix heaved down a lungful of air. “Did you get all that,” he asked after a moment.

Eri flinched, realizing she had missed some key information… “What was that about when the egg shatters?”

The human took another breath, seemingly unbothered by her subtle admission of not listening. “Be ready to catch the dragon, Zira practically fell into my arms… Though at least this egg isn’t sitting on a tall altar, so maybe it’ll be okay?”

Felix went on rambling again, but this time Eri did her best to listen. It was clear he was almost more nervous and excited about this next part than she was.

Hah! Imagine that! She had to hold back a laugh. In fairness, she felt better seeing that Felix was taking this seriously and trying to help, not that he ever wouldn’t. It did little to quell the butterflies in her stomach though.

Her life was about to change forever…again.

Eventually Felix calmed down again, with Zira giving him an annoyed look. Eri watched as he rubbed the side of his neck awkwardly.

“Sorry…” He said. “I got carried away there…”

I wonder what that will be like? She chuckled, she was going to find out rather shortly. The human’s embarrassment gave way to a smile at seeing her laugh.

“So… Are you ready?” He asked, the question causing her nervousness to rush to the surface.

“I think,” her throat tightened, “so.” Her voice almost squeaked at the end.

“Then let’s go hatch a dragon.”

She blinked, and Felix was already at her side. He took her hand without hesitation and started pulling her inside the den.

A few moments later they were right in front of the egg. She felt Zira come up behind her and nuzzled the back of her leg, almost as if telling her to get closer.

Eri’s heart rate increased, once it finally dawned on her. But a hand on her shoulder distracted her momentarily.

“You’ll do fine.” Felix whispered into her ear. She briefly wondered if he could read her mind, but pushed the thought aside. She had a more important matter sitting right in front of her.

Slowly, Eri lowered herself down onto her knees. She was inches away from the fiery looking egg. She took a deep breath and made a silent prayer to the gods, before reaching out with an open hand.

She made contact with the egg, a shiver ran down her spine. Its originally smooth surface felt brittle and cracked, despite not looking any different than before.

Closing her eyes, she started to let her mana trickle out of her. And for a brief moment, her memory of Felix hatching Zira flashed into her mind.

Another moment passed, and soon she could feel the dragon’s heartbeat. Come on little guy, she somehow knew it was male, you can do it!

Yet another moment passed, with seemingly nothing happening. Eri did not give up.

“It’s okay... I-I will take good care of you.” She held little confidence in that statement.

“Have more faith in yourself, Eri.” Master Aluin said from somewhere behind her.

Listening to his advice, she took another breath and opened her eyes. “You can do this! I will take care of you! Together, we will become strong!” She felt her cheeks flush from embarrassment, however something within the egg stirred.

Feeling encouraged, she pressed on. “You’re almost there!”

Something stirred within her.

“You can do it–” Kyrith. “–Kyrith!”

The egg shattered.