The Promise Path

~ Chapter Eleven ~

"Hey!" She shouts, immediately getting the attention of the two magnificent beasts, "Stop fighting, we all have the same goal right now! We all have a common enemy as well, Cassius. So please, stop fighting each other and instead join together to just deal with this quest so I can try to get your jewels away from Cassius and back with you all where they belong." Avery can feel how happy and proud Agni is of her, and it fills her with joy. Then, the water dragon steps forward and lowers his head, indicating to Avery that he wishes to speak to her. She obliges and places her hand on top of his head.

"Hello Avery. You have a fiery spirit, befitting of a powerful Fire Witch such as yourself. You are also very kind, the kindest non-dragon I've ever met. I admire you for that. I also admire your dedication to talk to me. Not many would have stayed like you did, especially with your fear of water. I could sense it. Since you have impressed me, I will tolerate that idiotic, narcissistic, rude Water Warlock until you can return my jewel. You can refer to me as Arno." The dragon tells her, surprising Avery and making her even more pleased than before.

"Hello Arno, I am glad to be finally meeting you. Thank you for your kind words. I wish I could return words of equal quality about you, but I fear that I do not yet know you well enough to do so. Hopefully one day, I will be able to return the favor." Avery replies. She is now smiling, as are the dragons.

"Well, we should be going back to the others in the clearing now. Tessa is saying that your friends, especially Lucy, are getting antsy." Agni informs Avery, telling her, "Get on my back and I will fly you back to them."

"Thank you Agni." Avery says. She steps away from Arno, but smiles and nods at the mighty dragon before turning around and jogging over to Agni in order to climb onto his back. Once Avery is settled in her saddle, the dragons lift off and zoom back to the clearing that holds the centre building for the Quad.

Agni and Arno land at the edge of the clearing. Avery immediately hops off of Agni and then walks into the clearing with Agni by her side, Arno instead going around the clearing to appear behind Cassius. When Avery appears, Lucy immediately runs over to her friend.

"Oh my goodness Avery where the fuck did you go?" Lucy asks, hugging Avery tight. Avery smiles sweetly at Lucy and wraps her arms around her short friend before answering,

"I was out in the forest with Agni. We were bonding."

"Agni?" Lucy questions, but then it clicks in her head. She lets go of Avery to look at the dragon standing a bit behind her, and repeats the name, "Agni." Lucy slightly glares at the dragon.

"Yeah, Agni is my dragon's nickname. He also has a nickname for me actually." Avery tells Lucy, chuckling to herself lightly.

"Agni, you better take care of my girl Avery, you hear? If you hurt her or let her be hurt, we're going to have some problems." Lucy ignores Avery and threatens Agni, waggling her finger in his face.

"Tell your friend that I promise to protect you to the best of my ability." Agni says to Avery in her head and vanishes again. Avery repeats the message to Lucy and she spends a moment still staring at Agni before grinning widely and nodding at him. She then turns around and smiles at Avery, making her heart jump in excitement, especially due to Lucy referring to Avery as 'my girl'. Avery doesn't know if that can be used platonically or not, or whether or not it was intentionally said, but Avery will still hope that one day Lucy will love her back. Agni, who has realised that the two girls are hopelessly in love with each other, has decided to stay quiet and let them figure it out themselves.

Avery and Lucy walk deeper into the clearing with Agni following behind when they are spotted by Daniel. His face lights up at the sight of Avery and he immediately sprints over, leaving Anil near the edge of the clearing. As Daniel gets closer, he catches Agni's attention. Agni knows from his bond with Avery that she has quite severe social anxiety that his presence helps with, but it doesn't mean that she is ever fully comfortable around anyone other than Avery. So, to help keep Daniel at an acceptable distance for Avery's sake, once Agni seems him close enough, he swipes his tail around Avery and puts it in front of Daniel so he can't walk any farther forward. This makes Daniel's temper flare but he smiles through it.

"Hey Avery, I see you've returned with your dragon. What's her name?" Daniel says, eliciting a loud growl from Agni. He doesn't appreciate being referred to as a girl. Avery can't help but laugh at Daniel's question, and how annoyed it made Agni.

"He," She replies, patting Agni's tail twice to indicate that he should lower it, "is called Agni." Daniel's eyes widen in surprise at the word 'he' but is also happy that he was able to annoy the dragon as much as the dragon is annoying him with his stupid tail blocking him from getting closer to Avery. Agni keeps his tail up, now partially to annoy the Warlock that thought he was a female.

"Sorry for the mistake, I just assumed that your dragon would be female since the rest of us have dragons that are the same gender as us." Daniel states.

"He is not wrong, little fire. But what he doesn't know is that I match your true gender." Agni tells Avery. It makes her really confused, especially since Agni told her that she suits a male name better than her female name. She will have to think about this more.

"You know Agni, you don't have to protect Avery from Daniel. He's okay." Lucy says to the protective dragon. Agni huffs in response and lowers his head at Lucy's side, indicating that he wants to talk to her. Avery is surprised at the action, since usually Agni uses her as a messenger, but she adds it to her growing list of things to think about and nudges Lucy, telling her,

"Agni wants to tell you something. Put your hand on his snout." Lucy shrugs and does so. She wonders what he'll say and how this works. She gets a peaceful feeling and out of the corner of her eye, she notices Agni move his tail out of the way of Daniel. Daniel then steps forward, closer to Avery. Lucy gets a sense of anxiety that increases the closer Daniel gets to Lucy, and Lucy finally understands.

"I understand Agni, thank you." Lucy says and pats his snout lightly. Agni huffs happily in return and puts his tail between Daniel and Avery, pushing Daniel away to the safe distance yet again. That's when Avery understands what Agni is doing. She sends him feelings of gratitude and smiles over at him. He nods his large dragon head and she feels his happiness.

"What the hell is going on? Avery, will you tell your dragon to move his damn tail?" Daniel asks, getting frustrated. He tries walking around Agni's tail but Agni smacks Daniel with it. Avery giggles at the sight and tells Daniel,

"Sorry Daniel, I don't control Agni."

"But I do." Cassius says, surprising them all. Avery whips her head around to look at Cassius, who is standing to her left with his hands in his pockets. He stands there smirking with Arno behind him, looking furious. Agni growls as he is forced to move his tail and step away from Avery with his head down. He tries to move his body but isn't allowed. Suddenly, the other two dragons walk over, their mouths in grimaces showing their long, pointy teeth.

"He's controlling us, Avery. He figured out how to use the jewels." Agni tells her using their bond.

"That fucker's dead." She murmurs out loud and mentally to Agni. Avery then stalks forward towards Cassius, ready to attack.

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Author's Note:
Hey guys! Nia here, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! It was fun to write. I enjoy creating drama in my books, and I just love writing the story of these characters Sophia and I made. Also, if you follow me on Instagram, you saw that I accidentally wrote an... interesting line into the story 😂 it seems a lot dirtier out of context than it actually is. Did any of you notice it?

~Nia and Sophia