Shadows Reborn (2nd Book)

Chapter 20: Her Champion in White Armor

"How long until dawn?" A man in white armor asked, his red eyes roaming the grove they were enconscned in. He turned his head, revealing a straight face, a short stubble, and medium-length brown hair, and his eyes were now fixated on a blue dragon lounging beside him.

"Not until a few more hours," The dragon spoke, her voice like stones grating against each other. A sigh escaped the man's red lips, looking away as he shook his head, the hair silently bouncing with his movements. "Why?"

Before he can respond, the dragon spoke again, concern rolling over her voice,"You can sleep, you know? I can keep watch until the crack of dawn."

"No, no. I was just curious," The man, Althalos was his name, insisted, but was otherwise betrayed by a yawn emanating out of his throat. His eyes too, betrayed him, for they drooped slightly, falling low, almost closing.

"Really?" Seraith, the blue dragon, asked, raising one brow. A scaly one yes, but a brow nonetheless. "So I suppose yawning means you're terribly curious about the matter?"

"Never took you for a dragon that loves to answer sarcastically," Althalos, in a moment of extreme irony, commented sarcastically. Rolling his eyes, he faced the dragon, who gave him a mere toothy grin. "And a dragon who likes to grin also? Astounding."

That ended in only one way, and that was the young brown-haired Champion of the Shadowy Death trapped in the claws of a certain blue dragon, the Blue Wanderer herself, Seraith.

"Let me go!" Althalos squirmed and writhed, but was otherwise futile in freeing himself, much to the dragon's amusement.

"I'd take back my words if I were you," Seraith suggested, her tone as innocent as a wolf masquerading as a sheep, if that was even possible in this lifetime. "It would be extremely messy if you didn't."

"What'd I say?" He asked, almost making it a scream of astonishment, or in Seraith's case, of ignorance. "Let me go, you stup.."

"Watch your tongue!" Seraith hissed out the words, this time angry. She expected the words about to slip past his lips, and.."I will not stand to be insulted by a lowly mortal!"

"Then let go of me," Althalos whispered, whatever sliver of energy he had left spent trying to free himself. "I apologize for my recklessly harsh words, but having to be in a position like this, how would you react?"

"I won't squirm like a little worm, and I'd burn their face off," Seraith answered, growling in content and snapping her jaws shut with finality. "We're two sides of a coin, Althalos Fendrelsson. I am a dragon, and you are a mortal human. It's completely different."

"But, you are mortal, my friend," Althalos pointed out, looking as if he forgot that he was trapped inside one of Seraith's large claws. "You have lived a century, and you live for centuries to come, that is true, but in the end, you are as mortal as I am."

"That is true," Seraith replied, her voice showing her stunned reaction to Althalos's sudden wise words. She lifted her right foreclaw, the one Althalos was trapped in, and the young man eagerly crawled away, though he ended up leaning on her side once more, looking up at the stars, somewhat obstructed slightly by Seraith's huge wings.

Althalos sat up when he heard a groan, and looked around his companions, trying to discern who let out the sound, even looking at Seraith, who busied herself gazing at the stars in the night skies, gleaming in the shadows that enclosed the world within its undeniable power.

Althalos shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and rubbed his eyes. He looked to see a person with long hair sit up, rubbing his eyes as he had done, only to arch his back as he let out another groan, possibly of pain.