Something was wrong when Brett woke up in the middle of the night.
The coldness of his bed spoke absence. The room was silent. Too silent for his liking.
"Eddy...?" Brett called out, hearing no reply.
Brett slowly walked to the open window. There was a red light flickering from the curtain and a sound of commotion outside. He heard there was a village party near the school today. Was it a firework?
Brett gasped when he looked outside. The village outside the school was on fire. There were people running away, running away from...
"Oh shit," Brett whispered as he recognized a small figure in the distance.
Eddy? Why?
Brett grabbed his broken staff from the side of the bed and ran outside. The air was stuffy and hot from smoke. Why did Eddy run out of bed and randomly decided to torch the whole village down? Hunger? He fed him well today - too well, to be honest. What the hell was his problem?
Eddy was dazed as he squinted through the smoke. He felt like his brain was dislocated from his body as he blew yet another stream of fire to the building.
Hunger. It dominated him, eating him alive from the inside.
He remembered waking up in the night, feeling terribly hungry. He has never felt this hungry in his entire life. His body twitched as he hovered over Brett, yearning to eat.
He doesn't remember much of what happened after that. Maybe he ate Brett? He didn't quite recall. He just tried to remove himself from the situation as best as possible, running out of the window. And he landed here, too hungry to think straight.
Eddy saw a child tripping, falling to the ground next to him. The child's cry was pitiful, ringing in Eddy's ear. Eddy picked the child up with his one hand, strangling him.
Oh yes, a little mavis. He could feel it.
The question was...did he want rare or medium-rare?
Eddy licked his lips. Eddy should have known that as a familiar contract, he could only receive mavis from Brett but he was not in a right state of mind to think through that. He just felt the pulsing blood of the child, the burning hunger, a plump juicy meat in front of him, just begging to be eaten.
"Eddy, no!!"
He heard a voice he recognized from the back. Eddy turned, facing a horror-stricken Brett, running to him.
Oh, it was Brett.
Eddy sighed in relief.
Just wait for a minute, Brett.
Eddy smiled at Brett, gesturing to the child in his hand.
Don't worry.
After I eat the child,
I will eat you too.
"It's the beast!"
Brett heard people screaming as police teams arrived
"Stop right there, monster!" The polices aimed their guns at Eddy, threatening him.
Eddy turned his attention to the polices. He put down the child, who scrambled back, crying. Eddy growled to the untasty mass in front of him, noticing their weapons.
Eddy stepped closer to the police team as if he wanted to kill every one of them.
Bang!
There was a sound of bullet wheezing through the air.
Eddy stopped, grabbing his shoulder, leaking blood. The red streamed to his arms and fell into droplets to the ground. Eddy snarled more fiercely, roaring as he charged to the police who shot him. The police were ready to fire another bullet.
"No!"
Brett ran forward, shielding Eddy from the rest.
"Move, child!" The police shouted.
"Ignis Incendium!"
Brett shouted the only spell that has worked for him for the past weeks. The staff, unresponsive to any other spell, worked only with fire manipulation spells. The wall of fire surrounded them, blocking them from others.
"This is between you and me, Eddy."
Brett turned to Eddy, staring at his beastly eyes. Eddy was licking his lips as his nails dug into Brett's skin, drawing blood. Flame danced around them hauntingly.
"What kind of a life is that...as a dragon?" Brett whispered as Eddy sniffed him, making sure that it was what he wants.
"You can't keep hurting people you love, Eddy," Brett choked back his tears.
"And I can't keep seeing you lose yourself like that."
Eddy opened his mouth wide, ready to bite.
Brett wasn't sure if he had enough mavis left to command Eddy after the fire manipulation spell. Not only any commands but he needed to command Eddy in the most powerful order he has ever spoken. But he was desperate. He needed to try.
"I command you, Eddy, return to your true form and fly us to safety!"
Please.
Brett heard something crack in his ears.
Suddenly, a flame around them roared powerfully and the wind blew from the runes taking its effect. Eddy flew out of the golden light of the runes. It was the first time Brett saw Eddy's true form.
A dragon.
The beast towered over the houses as he screeched, sending birds flying from the forest. His crimson wings stretched, flapping as they destroyed everything in its path. His scaly talons grabbed Brett as it flew to the sky and over the cloud.
The moon shone as the dragon took them far away.
.
.
Brett's mind was blank as he looked down at the cloud below him. What just happened? Was this a dream?
He couldn't figure out how long they have been flying. A minute? An hour? He came to his full senses as Eddy abruptly crashed into a mountain, crushing the trees underneath him.
"Eddy!" Brett shouted as he landed on a soft bush.
Brett looked around and saw Eddy a few feet away, laying on the ground, panting. Eddy was back in his human form. He was hurt and he was bleeding.
"Oh no," Brett ran to Eddy, tears streaming down his cheek. He pressed on Eddy's wound to make it stop bleeding. There was too much blood. He knew the bullets must have had some magical spells enchanted on them to keep the wound bleeding. Eddy's eyes were closed. His face was pale as his breath descended to a rapid short rhythm.
"Eddy, you'll be alright. You'll be alright, please," Brett hugged Eddy, whispering in his ears. It was more for his sake when he kissed Eddy, wishing that it would somehow help Eddy regain his strength. But Eddy's closed eyes didn't open as he turned limp, shivering.
Brett's stomach was filled with fear as he felt Eddy's body turn colder in his arms. He was there holding Eddy for hours until he heard the sound of a bell coming from the forest. A soft green light shimmered as it came closer to them. Brett hugged Eddy more tightly, wishing it was a being that would not hurt them further.
As the lights came closer, Brett recognized that they were elves, guarding the mountain. They were in their territory and Eddy has probably made a lot of destruction already.
"This is a sacred forest. How dare beings with a decaying body set forth into this land," one of the elves with sword stated coldly as they arrived in front of them.
Brett looked up to the elves, tears filling his eyes once more.
"I'm sorry. But my familiar...he's not waking up. Please."
The elves looked at the bleeding body in Brett's arm in disgust. Their expression turned to a surprise as they noticed the face though.
"It's the beast."
There was a hush among the elves as they looked at each other. Finally, one of the elves spoke up.
"Take him to our land. We can't let the last dragon of Asnadel die like this."
.
.
The elves took them to their land, where everything seemed to glow with green translucent light. Water was sparkling clean and the greens were much more delicate as they softly brushed against Brett's body. He knew no mortals are allowed to enter the land of the fairies as he heard time flows differently here. One day here could be a month outside or vice versa.
They arrived at a small house in a tree trunk where an old woman with horns greeted them.
"It's the beast," the elves gently laid Eddy on the bed.
"What happened?" The woman exclaimed as she examined the wound.
Brett hiccuped, explaining everything as the woman rummaged through her medicine box. She slipped some medicine in Eddy's lips as she bandaged his wound.
Brett sat in the corner of the room, sniffling.
The other elves retreated back to their homes after that. The horned fairy handed Brett some tea when she was done treating Eddy. Brett gratefully took the warmth, sipping a lavender brew.
"The beast has helped us fairies for a long time. He was the messenger, a teacher, helped young fairies when they were lost." The horned woman smiled as she sat next to Brett, drinking her own mug of tea.
Brett nodded silently. He knew Eddy was a kind soul. Why he decided to do something so despicable tonight was still a mystery. He would have to wait until Eddy woke up though.
After a few hours, Brett was dozing off in his chair. His eyes fluttered open as he heard Eddy groaning, waking up.
"Eddy, are you alright?" Brett ran to the bed.
Eddy looked up at the ceiling, feeling terrible. He was still a little hungry but it wasn't so bad. He didn't know himself why he suddenly went out of control. Nothing was wrong with him when he went to bed last night. Eddy realized where they were as he looked at the horned fairy next to him.
"He's fine. I would be more worried about you, to be honest, magician," the old fairy glanced at Brett, sitting next to the bed.
"What about me?" Brett asked, perplexed. He was fine. Few scratches when they collided to the trees but that was all.
"Your protection, it has cracked."
Protection?
The woman pointed to a little crack in Brett's silver earring.
"There's no going back if it cracks completely, you know."
Brett felt his earring dangling from his ears. This was the earring that his grandfather gave to him a long time ago. His grandpa made him promise to have it always with him, for it had spells to bring good luck to him. And yes, he needed those good luck so he kept it with him.
But was it a protection? An actual rune?
"What do you mean?" Eddy asked, confused as well.
"Surely, you should know, dragon. The boy reeks of fire. You might have failed to notice because you breathe fire in your lungs but I could smell him from miles," the woman snorted.
"He has the curse of the fire elves."
Eddy's eyes widened at the woman's answer.
"And you know what that means, beast. A curse only follows one soul. Making the same mistake twice here, aren't we?"
"...Reia," Eddy whispered the name under his breath.
Brett looked back and forth, trying to understand the conversation. He couldn't at all. But the familiar name brought his attention back. The name Eddy even spoke in his sleep.
"Tell me, Eddy. Who is Reia?" Brett asked, holding Eddy's hand.
Eddy hesitated, not knowing how to explain.
The fairy shrugged her shoulder as she walked out of the room, leaving Eddy alone to explain the horrible mess he has gotten himself into.
How could he have made the same mistake twice? Why?
Eddy sighed, searching for the best words.
"She was... my last summoner. I despised her."
There was a long silence after that.
Eddy looked up to meet Brett's eyes as he confessed the truth.
"...and I loved her very much," Eddy whispered.