Drake looked at the lone cottage. It was far away from civilization which certainly makes this a whole lot easier. That cart had come to this small cottage. The cart itself was pretty large and heavy due to the number of objects it was carrying. The axolotl had pushed the cart himself which slowed him down to the point Drake could probably run faster than him.
He was lucky the cottage wasn't that far from where the Bizarre Bazaar had been set up otherwise Drake would have to follow him the whole night. However, Drake wanted one last confirmation that he followed the correct cart. He sat on a tree branch overlooking the area with his telescope. The axolotl was unpacking his goods that were brought with him, inside one of the cages was Nyx.
Drake continued to case the cottage. He certainly never expected to be on this side of that kind of circumstance. The cottage didn't have any defenses or walls to worry about. It was mostly open land, no crops, no space for animals.
Although Drake could only see whatever was at the windows, he did notice movement indicating other people were in the house. That would complicate things. Still, now that he knew where Nyx was, he could afford to take his time and prepare himself. He was sure this place was far enough away so he wouldn't be discovered. Drake closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Little did he know, he was being watched from below in the darkness.
The night had a strange mixture of peacefulness and restlessness. Although Drake was able to sleep soundly, a part of his mind always reminded him that Nyx was still trapped there and needed his help. That fact was slowly eating away at him, and his dream made sure he never forgot it.
Drake opened his eyes to see a cloudy day. It looked like it was going to rain soon. He climbed down the tree and started walking towards the cottage. He wasn't sure what to expect when he got there but he was going in no matter what. Nyx was counting on him; if there was ever a time, he truly needed to be strong and brave, this was that time.
He grabbed the front door and surprisingly, it was unlocked. He slowly opened it, trying to be as quiet as possible. Peering in, he could see there was no one in the living room. Drake walked in hoping to find Nyx somewhere in the cottage. He went into the basement first, that was likely where the axolotl would store his items. He ended up being right when he saw the various objects the axolotl had back in the Bizarre Bazaar. They were organized into different seemingly random piles. At the other end of the basement was Nyx, laying down in a cage with her head close to the ground. She heard Drake's footsteps and perked up, excited to see him.
"I'm going to get you out of there." Drake whispered. Then he heard someone coming down the stairs. He drew his sword and ran into a corner to hide.
It was that axolotl from the stand in the Bizarre Bazaar. He walked up to Nyx's cage. "Hello there, how are you doing? Are you hungry?" he said softly while holding a small bag.
Drake slowly walked out of his hiding place, sword at the ready. He was going to kill him right here, right now. As he raised his sword, he heard another set of footsteps coming down the stairs. Drake turned around to meet the new threat but felt a fist connect with his face, knocking him down and causing him to drop his sword.
"Well, what do we have here?" a woman asked. She was also an axolotl, presumably his wife. She was larger than anyone else in the room.
"I remember you. You were that guy who attacked me at the Bizarre Bazaar." the man said. He kicked the sword away.
Drake spat a bit of blood. "Yeah, and did you think I wasn't going to go after my friend?"
The axolotl man pulled back Drake's hood. "Hmm... never seen anything like you before..."
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Drake replied.
"You broke the one rule in the Bizarre Bazaar. Whatever happens in the Bizarre Bazaar stays in the Bizarre Bazaar. I'm afraid the snapdragon is mine now." the axolotl man said.
"What do you think we should do with him?" the woman asked.
"Kill him and store the body of course. I still have more research to do. I can dissect him later." the axolotl man answered.
Upon hearing this, Drake quickly got up and threw a punch at the man. Unfortunately, he missed, and his wife kicked Drake back down. The two axolotls started kicking Drake while he was laying on the ground. They continued to kick him in the stomach and in the face and all Drake could do was try to weather the blows.
"You hear that?" the two stopped. "Sounds like someone else is here. I'll take care of it." the axolotl woman said. She started walking up the stairs.
Drake just laid on the ground, holding his stomach, groaning in pain.
The axolotl man leaned down, intrigued. "Where are you from anyway? I've been studying a variety of otherworldly things, but I've never seen anything like you before."
Drake thought about answering. It couldn't hurt to humor him, could it? Plus, it could help buy him some time to formulate a plan. "I'm from California if you must know." Drake answered.
"California? Never heard of a place like that. Is it in another world?"
"Yeah, it's called Earth."
"I've been trying to find out where all these things originate from. So, there are other worlds out there?"
Suddenly a high-pitched scream could be heard coming from up the stairs. There were even more stomping noises.
"Is everything alright?" the axolotl man started walking up the stairs.
Once his back was turned, Drake saw his opportunity. He grabbed the axolotl man's leg causing him to trip and land face first into the stairs. Drake climbed on top of him and started punching him in the face as hard as he could. He continued to punch him over and over, watching as he started coughing blood. Drake only stopped once his arms got too tired to throw another swing. By then the axolotl was unconscious. He grabbed a small key from the guy's belt and walked over to Nyx's cage.
Although the cage had limited space, Nyx was jumping around happily seeing Drake come out on top. When Drake opened the door, she jumped out at him.
"Yes, I love you too Nyx." Drake laughed still in some pain. "We gotta get out of here."
Drake hobbled towards the stairs. He grabbed his sword and plunged it into the unconscious axolotl just to make sure he was dead. Then the duo walked up the stairs. In the living room they came across the other axolotl. She looked like had been ripped apart. Drake ignored the body and started making his way toward the front door. That was when he heard a growl coming from somewhere else in the room. He could feel the presence of something right behind him and he knew it wasn't Nyx. Drake slowly turned around and he noticed another snapdragon looking right at him. It was larger than him and it frilled its fins at him. Then it spat a green liquid projectile hitting Drake's eyes.
Drake screamed and grabbed his face. His eyes began to burn like they had been lit on fire. Then he felt something behind him push his legs causing him to be knocked on his back. Now he was on the ground and blind. He felt something biting his arms and legs. There was a set of teeth for each of his limbs. He could hear hissing but couldn't tell what was going on. Then suddenly the biting stopped, and his assailants let go of his arms and legs.
"Nyx? Is that you? What's going on? I can't see." Drake said trying to reach out.
Drake wiped his eyes with his sleeves and was finally able to see. He looked around and noticed he was surrounded by snapdragons on all sides. In front of him was Nyx. She pounced at him again and licked his face like a pet showing affection.
"Alright, alright Nyx. What's going on? Who are they?" Drake asked briefly forgetting he couldn't understand Nyx's hisses. He quickly rephrased his question. "I mean, are they your family?"
Nyx nodded and jumped off Drake's stomach. The others started sniffing him. Drake remained motionless as they inspected him. He was still freaked out especially since they just attacked him. Once they were done, they backed away.
"So, I guess this means you're going home now right Nyx?" Drake asked he had a bit of sadness in his voice. "I'm going to miss you."
Nyx stared at Drake. Then she started to hiss at the two largest snapdragons. They nodded and grabbed Drake by the arms. This time they didn't sink their teeth into his flesh. They pulled him to his feet and one of them lowered itself while the other pushed Drake on top.
"What are you doing?" Drake asked as he was sitting on the largest snapdragon like he was riding a horse.
The snapdragons all started to run, and Drake quickly leaned forward, wrapping his arms around the snapdragon's neck in order not to fall off. He could see Nyx was running alongside the pack. Whatever they were planning, she was onboard with it.
"Nyx? Hello? Where are we going?" Drake still had no idea what was going on. All he understood was the fact that they were taking him somewhere and they were traveling much faster than when it was just Drake and Nyx. Drake didn't have any plans, but he trusted Nyx's judgement. So, he decided not to resist and to let them take him wherever they were planning to go.
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Author's Note
Hey everyone. This is me half a day after initially releasing this chapter.
This is a monumental step forward for Drake as a character. Seems he was able to overcome his fears and anxiety when Nyx was in danger. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I hope it was a great payoff to the cliffhanger that was the previous one.
I apologize if there are any issues with this chapter. I ended up releasing it just as I had to leave. I may come back to fix this up if there are any issues. Please let me know if there's any issues with the chapter I should address.