The Dragon King

Chapter Twenty Nine

Meadowpeak

    Levi's eyes slowly opened. He glanced around trying to piece together where he was through his blurred vision. He found himself in a lying position, and tried to push himself upward. Pain shot through his entire body causing him to grimace and moan.

    "He's awake!" A familiar female voice spoke out in the distance.

    Once again he tired pushing himself up, ignoring the pain that coursed through his body. Two hands wrapped around his bicep and gently pulled up allowing him to easily sit up. Whoever it was that had grabbed him, helped him lean against something. Something hard.

    He squinted his eyes as his vision began to clear to see a smiling young girl staring back at him, her sun golden hair glistening. "Elyssa?" His voice sounded hoarse and weak as he tried to speak. "Where am—"

    All of a sudden, he remembered what had happened. He remember Aurora. He remembered her torments, and the attack on the castle. And he remembered how she had tried many times to twist his mind using images of his friend against him.

    Levi squinted his eyes shut, and thrust a hand forward knocking this fake imagery back as he tried scooting away. "No! Leave me be! I've told you before. I won't fall for your tricks!"

    "Levi, calm down! It's me!" A soft hand touched his face pulling his attention back toward Elyssa. She gave another smile. "It's Elyssa. Your best friend." Her smile disappeared into a frown. "I don't know what Queen Aurora did to you back there, but you're safe now. You have to believe me." She paused, and gripped his hand tightly causing him to tense. "You'll always have me."

    Levi's face relaxed. Had she said what he thought she did? Was he hearing her right? That was the phrase that they both had used ever since they had grown close as kids. How would Aurora had known that? Could she have dug into his mind to find the few words that he thought no one could ever steal? Or was this really his friend?

    He pushed himself up straight with his free hand as he stared blankly at his friend, the fuzziness in his vision vanishing. "Elyssa? Is it really you?" 

    Elyssa unexpectedly threw herself around him hugging him tight in an embrace. "Oh, Levi, I'm so sorry! I never should've left you out here alone."

    After what felt like a very long time, a smile crept back onto his face as he gently returned her hug around her waist. "It wasn't your fault. I'm the one who told you to go away." He sighed. "I'm just so thankful you are okay."

    When Elyssa pulled away, another familiar face knelt down beside him. Lancelot smiled as he gently patted Levi on his right shoulder. "Glad to see your okay."    

    Levi smirked. "Well, I do feel a little banged up, but nothing I can't recover from." Lancelot chuckled. Levi glanced between the two. "How long was I gone?"

    Lancelot lowered his head. "Two days."

    Levi furrowed his brow. "It felt longer then that." He looked up to find they were at the place where Maleficent had been training him to unleash his dragon, the waves from the ocean sparkled as the descending sun painted its waters. "What happened while I was gone?"

    Lancelot sighed, and rose to his feet. "Too much I'm afraid." He took a couple steps toward the sea. "They came at night. They were fast, and we were unprepared." He turned back around to face Levi. "I can't tell if Aurora was dumb enough, or brave enough, but she attacked our castle the other night." He lowered his head kicking at dirt and sand that mingled together. "We lost some good dragons in that fight. Aurora burned the castle to the ground. She must've found some way to counter the protection spell over this place because she came in through our secret tunnel." He pointed toward the mountain where the tunnel was once at, but now only rocks stood in that place. "We had lost the fight before we knew it had even begun."