dragon rebirth

Chapter 15. new discoveries

"I'm starting to get hungry. Maybe this Dryden has some food lying around" the Symbiote said to me. 

"Yeah, I'm also curious what it eats" I replied. As I looked around the cave I found where she stashed the carcasses of animals. "Well take your pick," I said to it. 

"Just dig in I'm not picky" it replied.

I pulled some muscle off of a carcass before swallowing it whole. That's when I suddenly switched forms to my dragon form. The crystal coat covering my entire body. I then dug right into it with the meat satisfying the hunger of us both. "At least that'll make it easier for him to eat," one said to the other.

"These look similar to deer or elk," I said to Xavier. That's when I figured I'd show some mercy and repay the carcass that I ate. I flew out of the cave to look for 2 of the creature I found dead in the cave. After I found 2 I headed back to the cave and brought their corpses to her stash.
I then changed forms to help him up before leaving the cave with him and Xavier and freeing her from the crystal. As I look back she began to cry, my kindness must have stuck with her. "Ow, my leg! Careful I think it's broken," he said to me. 

"I figured that. Xol do you think we can take him back with us?" I asked him. He shook his head no. "Well the only thing I can do is find an Infested nest," I said to him.

"And I thought you weren't too fond of them," Xavier said to me.

As I looked around for a nest he kept trying to head to a certain cave. "Nathan maybe there's a nest where he's heading," Xavier said to me. I helped him over there and followed him inside. 

"Well then, it seems someone got hurt" I heard something say. That's when spores flew into him and flesh started to grow on where I patched him up. 

"Well thanks for what you did but you have a lot to learn about our world," he said to me before walking deeper into the cave.

"Why don't we head back," I said to them. 

"Yeah, I think they're wondering if you're ok and I don't need you drunk again from Dryden venom," one of them replied. I closed my eyes again before they brought us back to their temple. When I opened them she had me in her arms.

"Xavier are you here," I ask before realizing he was on top of me in his dragon form asleep. I then realized that I was in some brown soil next to her. She and her kids seemed tired and were asleep next to me

"Let her sleep. Sometimes their food makes us sleepy" the dragon said to me.

"Let me ask you this. What took you so long to take me. I felt like I couldn't be without you since I was 12," I asked her.

"You never told me nor showed me till the day before I took you, I was going to let you choose when," she replied.

"I was going to let you choose," I replied.

"Yeah, I just wish you could have stayed longer, I just didn't feel up to it," she replied.

She looked sad after saying that. Most of my summer break from May till now in June was eaten up by what was happening. I turned to my snake form and crawled out from in the soil before heading to her and turning to my dragon form. "Why don't I stay with you for a while a week or so from now," I said to her as I laid to the side of her. 

"Didn't you promise her that?" She asked me.

"she can always stay with us," I replied. She tried to smile as she licked my neck and back.

Without any light coming through the windows, I couldn't tell what time it was. Our sleeping was sporadic because of it. Though despite this we kept ourselves entertained for an hour before they had another idea for a trip. This time around her and the kids were coming with me.

"Why don't we head to a forested area this time." One of them said to us. 

"Yeah sure, might as well see what's there," I replied. Once there I saw some creatures that I've seen before and a few that I haven't. Though as we went something jumped on my back.

"Ok, that's a big spider!" I said to her. 

"Just stay calm, it isn't deadly," She replied. As it worked its way around my side to my front it left a trail of thick silk over me. 

"That's an unusually wide thread," I said to her.

That's when I noticed that the kids fell asleep. I thought it was due to the lack of sun originally, but it was the spiders' venom doing that. Then we fell asleep as well to the venom. 

When I woke up she was next to me and I felt like I was in a hammock. The top was covered with some layers of that silk from the spider. "Are you awake?" I asked her. But she didn't respond. All I saw was the spider doing something unexpected.

It was drinking some of the blood from our bite marks. It hurt quite a bit from the puncture wounds. "Nathan are you ok?" I heard her ask. 

"Yeah, I'm fine, Where are the kids?" I asked her.

"In a neighboring hammock, I'm sure they're fine though," she replied.

That's when we were cut loose and fell to the forest floor. The kids then landed on top of us. "I don't know about you, but I've got to patch up these bite marks," I said to them. 

"You'll be fine. You got a way to heal already," she said to me.

That's when I felt crystal grow on my shoulder and it was healing my wound. I then put some crystal on their wounds to heal them as well. "Are the kids ok?" I asked her. David seemed to be quite worn out from something.

"David, are you ok?" I asked him. That's when I realized whatever that spider did to drink his blood made him sick. 

"He's sick from something. I can't treat what I don't know," I said to her. 

"The Infested might be able to," she replied.

As we searched for a nest I saw something with Infested on its arm. "Do you need anything?  Oh, wait What happened to him?" She asked. 

"Something made him sick. From one of those spiders" I replied. She looked at his bite mark and realized it was something worse.

"It's an allergic reaction to the venom. Quick we need to get him to our hive," she said. We rushed to her nest, which I wasn't expecting to be on the surface and when we got there spores came rushing into me and David. "Hold him tight," she said to me. 

"I have been this entire time," I said in a diminishing tone as I felt like my energy being drained. They were probably using my immune system to counteract the reaction.

"Hang in there David. You can pull through" I said to him before starting to pass out. But before I did he started to wake up. It had worked, I just wondered if it would occur again or if it had happened before.

The voices were faint but I could hear something say things like 'son and 'move.'

after a few minutes, I smelled something tasty to me as I slowly opened my eyes. "Drink this, you'll need the energy," it said to me. I took a few sips before I was able to at least keep my eyes open. "Come on, drink the whole thing," it said to me. I drank the rest of it like it said. Then I was slowly regaining my strength.

"Who's there?" I said not completely coming to my senses. 

"Save your strength. What the Infested did can severely drain one's strength," it said to me. I looked around me with my burry vision for David but I kept getting distracted by a smell. "Come on, eat up," it said to me.

I felt around with my nose for the food. After I did I grabbed it out of its hand with my mouth and swallowed it whole. "Sleep well, you need the rest," it said to me.

"What did you give me?" I asked him. but I soon dozed off before hearing a response as the Infested grew into a sort of sleeping bag around me.