dragon rebirth

Chapter 11. intertwined

"It's been a while since I've been in these lands," Xavier said to me. 

"Yeah, the air here is so fresh you'd probably miss it if you have asthma," I replied. When we went inside I saw her with her children in the kitchen. 

"Nathan, Xavier, over here I got breakfast ready," she said to me. 

"Watch it be a dead rodent or something you can swallow whole," Xavier said to me. 

Sure enough, it was some sort of rodent. I swallowed it up real quick along with the others, Xavier though was having to tear chunks off with his teeth. 

"Maybe I should have gotten a fish," she said to him. 

"Don't expect a response you can understand, Xavier's vocal cords can only do clicks and shrieks," I said to her. 

"Would that matter, you understand him," she replied.

After we ate, David got into my lap on the couch. "You can help Daniel, can you?" He said to me. 

"Help him with what?" I asked. 

"With his mental health, I'm not sure what happened in his past. but he's beginning to calm down after you showed up," she said to me. 

"Let me talk to him in private," I replied.

Once we were in their bedroom, just me and him, I asked him what happened. He seemed hesitant at first until he asked something of me. "Turn into your dragon form, then I'll tell you," he said to me. I quickly turned into my dragon form and laid down next to him, then he opened up. "My family used to be just fine until a brain tumor changed my mother. It got to where she severely injured my father. She later succumbed to it. My father would have succumbed to his injuries if I didn't bring him to an infested nest. They would have taken me in as well if I didn't come to her. I'm always scared, worried it'll happen again. I haven't seen my father in years and I'm not sure if it's a good idea to try to visit."

That was a shock to me, the brain tumor. His father probably missed him as much as he missed his father.

"You can switch back now," he said to me. 

When I turned back I told him: "I'll find him, do you know which nest?" 

"I can show you, but I don't know if they would try to take me from her or not," he replied.

That's when he handed me a picture he drew of the area where the nest was. When I walked out I showed her the picture. 

"And this is, what exactly?" She asked. 

"Where his father is, he brought him there to save him, but why would they keep him if his injuries would heal by now?" I replied. 

"Some were debilitating, he could barely get around on his own," Daniel said to me. After a few minutes, he started to break down in tears. "Nathan, I can't believe I'm saying this but, will you come with me to see him?" He asked. I guess opening up about it made him willing to take a chance. 

"Why don't we all go with you?" I replied. 

"Nathan you sure about this, I know you're not too fond of being around Infested," Xavier told me.

"Can't knock it till you try it I guess," I replied

"Whatever that means, but I guess we're going on a trip then," she said to us.

As we went over to their nest the first thing that ran through my mind was when I first encountered them. They seemed dangerous at first but I had little info on them. "We're here," Daniel said to me. 

"You want me to go in with you?" I asked him. 

"Yeah, if they try to take me, you get me out of there okay," he replied.

When we went in I saw bold red eyes in the shadows. "Who's there?" It asked us. Suddenly it seemed to recognize Daniel. "Daniel, is that you?" I heard it say. 

"Dad, is that you?" Daniel replied. When he came out of the shadows I saw that he was covered completely in infested. As he stumbled towards Daniel, he slithered over to him and broke down in tears. 

"It's been years since I've seen you," he said to Daniel.

"Aren't you supposed to be guarding? Is that your son? are we taking him in?" someone else asked. 

"Yes he's my son and I'm not sure. is he being cared for by you or someone else?" He asked me. 

"He's in my care," I heard her say as she came into the nest. He looked as if he took permanent damage to his tail, meaning it made it hard to move around.

While they were catching up for their lost time, I saw an odd creature, that looked to be comprised of infested, come out from the shadows. As I turned partly human I could see him talking to the creature. 

"Bring the dragon shifters," I heard him say. "Xavier, I have a bad feeling about this," I said to him. That's when spores flew into my face. 

"Nathan their not a threat, I've been with them before. My captor lived in a nest full of them," Xavier replied. He was breathing their spores in. "Xavier I was tasked with protecting you," I replied. But he ignored me instead, he pulled me deeper inside. "Keep Daniel safe," I shouted to them.

As he went deeper he seemed to of been having fond memories of the Infested. "I remember the Infested so fondly, probably one of my favorite creatures here next to the dragons and wyverns. I'm doing this for you Nathan you may very well end up here if you're injured in dimension X," he told me.

"I just fell a little uneasy around them, never had much contact," I replied. Once we got to the main room he laid down in the Infested.

"Hello old friend, I'm back," he said as it covered his back.

That's when I noticed the others coming down to me. "Daniel, why are you covered in infested?" I asked. 

"I figured since you're staying the night they'd feel more comfortable covered in it," his dad said to me. 

"Don't worry Nathan, it's just for the night," she said to me.

I then look behind her to see David rubbing against the walls of the cave, his scales beginning to shed off to show new ones. "David if you need help getting those scales off you tell me," I said to him. 

"I'm good, just need to get some off from my back then the tail comes off easily," he replied.

I soon started to feel tired, probably because she woke me up less than an hour after I went to bed. "You ok Nathan? your starting to doze off," she asked. 

"He's just tired also is it just me or is there a sleepy thing going on in here," He said as he fell asleep. I then turned into my serpent form and laid down next to him before falling asleep myself. The Infested covered me like a blanket.