Dragon Tide Chronicles: Dawn Rising

Chapter 69: The Battle Begins: The Alesia Ocean

Chapter 69: The Battle Begins: The Alesia Ocean

I sit down at a marble waterfall near the Feltatus Docks, listening to the slow gurgling water of the fountain, and the soothing sound of the rolling waves. I inhale the salty air, letting it all relax me, if but for a moment. Of course, my life has been anything from relaxing. I should really stop military work, retire while I still can.

After all, Daniel, you never know when someone’s going to try to blow your head off.

I’ve never really been successful at anything. School, relationships, it never worked out for me.

Your first and only girlfriend was just trying to impress her friends, as soon as she didn’t need you; she canned you straight away for some dumb jock. In middle school no less…

I eye the occasional passing fairy with great suspicion, it’ll be a thousand years before I…

“What are you doing behind me, girl?” I say with slight irritation.

She seems… fourteen? Maybe fifteen at best… and that’s just a guess from her lack of stealth, while TRYING to be stealthy. I guess it didn’t help I have military training…

“Seriously, what are you doing?” My tone indicated a lack of tolerance for people wasting my time. But then again, I’M wasting my time.

“Ha-ha-ha! You’re funny, Dragonling! I didn’t do anything to you, and you’re already grumpy as a wasp!” Her voice was rather sweet, almost innocent sounding, and rather pleasing to the ear. I would bet that she would be a great singer.

“Yes, yes, very amusing. Umm… so why are you behind me in the first place?” This is already getting uncomfortable… I hate social interaction; call me anti-social, I don’t really care.

“I’m sorry, sir! I was just watching you, ya know. You seemed rather deep in thought, so you kinda stuck out like a sore thumb. I never really understood the point of that saying. How does a sore thumb stick out more than a regular thumb anyway?”

Underneath my helmet, I smile weakly.

“No clue either.” This girl is a bit too open and trusting for her own good… Does she talk to EVERY brooding and pondering person on the street? Didn’t her parents tell her NOT to do that?

“Ha ha! No, I just came over to you because you looked a little sad and lonely. Which is hard to tell because of that big helmet of yours! Hmm… I wonder how you tell if someone is sad if you can’t see their face?”

Interesting… so young and yet she can actually pick up thoughts and emotions. Rather like that Danica Crown girl… only she has a harder time, but unless I’m guarding my thoughts, she can just read me like a book… incredible! For a fairy of her age, this is unusual. Is she normal? Or is it like the Crowns… hmm. No… she doesn’t have that certain… aura. Weird…

“Would you mind getting out from behind me? It’s unnerving.” Sadly, she doesn’t.

She laughs cheerfully. “If you take your helmet off, maybe I will.” It’s always that huh? Not like I’m hiding anything anyway… With a sigh, I take the helmet off, exposing my shaggy-spikey silver hair, stern brown eyes, and my scarred right cheek. As soon as I do, she walks out in front of me, and I blink in a bit of surprise.

The girl standing before me is a brunette with long curly hair and white shirt and blue jeans. Despite the simplicity at first glance, I quickly realize that this fabric is of extremely high quality, which meant it must be quite expensive. She has violet eyes, which are a bit unique of a sight, even for some dragonlings. But then again, Aladoria isn’t very predictable, so who knows. For a girl of her age, she seems to have a fairly decent build to her.