The Promise Path

~ Chapter Twelve ~

Authors' Note: We hope you like our story! Feel free to voice your opinion, ask any questions and point out any mistakes we make.

As Avery furiously stomps over to Cassius, Agni suddenly lands in front of her, stopping her from moving closer to the Water Warlock. She snarls in irritation at the thought of him controlling her dragon, as well as the other three dragons. It's just not fair. Avery lets out an animalistic growl and turns away, stomping into the forest with her hands clenched into fire-covered fists. Once she feels that's he has put a good amount of forest between her and Cassius, she screams out her frustrations and launches two constant streams of fire into the air in an attempt to release her anger.

Lucy stares after Avery, confused and concerned for her friend. She has never heard Avery growl like that before, and it didn't sound human at all. In fact, it sounded more like a wolf to Lucy. She goes to follow Avery but Agni moves to block her, since he can feel Avery's rage. He knows that she would never intentionally hurt Lucy, but accidents can happen. Lucy huffs in frustration and continues to try and get past the dragon, but he doesn't let her. She tries even harder when she sees the fire shooting up into the sky. Knowing she won't stop trying to get past him, Agni gently wraps his tail around Lucy and runs through the forest to where Avery is.

Once Avery has released her anger through fire and screaming, she feels exhausted. She sighs and practically collapses on the floor, now sitting in the forest with a large circle of charred ground surrounding her. She can feel heat slightly radiating off of it. Suddenly, Avery hears a large object moving through the forest and senses it is Agni. When her scaly friend finally arrived and stops near her, Avery swears she can somehow smell and hear Lucy. Then, Agni moves his tail so what he is holding with it is in view, and he finally lets go of Lucy.

"Avery!" Lucy exclaims, running towards her tall friend.

"Lucy?" Avery says, surprised but happy to see her. Avery stands up just in time for Lucy to practically leap at her. Avery expertly catches Lucy, used to Lucy jumping at her. She is about to put Lucy down but then she remembers the hot, charred earth around her and Avery doesn't want to risk Lucy somehow getting hurt or burned, even though she is wearing boots.

"I was so worried about you." Lucy murmurs, her head tucked into Avery's neck with her arms around Avery's chest and her legs around her waist. She asks, "Avery, what's going on? All morning you've been acting strangely, your eyes sometimes go red, you seem to have a connection with the dragons, and what was that with Cassius? Why did Agni of all of the dragons stop you?"

"Agni, please warn me if anyone comes into hearing range. I'm going to tell Lucy about our bond and the jewels." Avery speaks mentally to Agni, and he can't help but ask,

"Are you certain that you can trust her?"

"Of course." Avery answers immediately without hesitation.

"Okay, if you trust the Earth Witch then I will as well." He replies.

"Thank you, Agni." Avery says. Agni then slips back into the recesses of her mind, listening out for any other Witches or Warlocks while Avery tells Lucy what's going on:

"Well, Lucy, a lot has happened in the short time that we've spent with the dragons so far. For one, when Agni saw me, he somehow immediately knew that I was trustworthy and like him or something along those lines so he bonded with me, meaning that our minds have some sort of link between them. We can talk to each other, feel each other's emotions, and just kinda sense where we each other are. It's really cool. But to talk to each other, we kind of go into each other's heads so the rest of the world just disappears and I can't hear, feel, smell or see anything around me while talking to him, and it's the same for Agni. He told me how to kind of communicate with the other dragons, which is done by putting your hand on their snout and sending thoughts to them. I don't really know how it works, but that's how I knew what to call the dragons and that Terra likes her nickname. Also, Agni jumped in front of me and essentially protected Cassius because Axel gave him four jewels. Each jewel is part of one of dragons, and gives the holder the power to control that dragon. Since Cassius has all four, he can control the dragons and make them do whatever he wants, whenever he wants."