"Maga!"
The night was quiet with only the rustling of leaves and footsteps of the small animals heard, making the shout break the peaceful atmosphere. The shout was followed by scurrying footsteps coming from somewhere inside the dark cave.
When it saw that there were two humans instead of one entering its teritory, the running figure suddenly stopped then crouched back to growl at the two. The smell of the food made it excited so it was unable to distinguish the other foreign smell.
Its muscles on its legs were bunched, ready to pounce forward if there was any sign of danger. The low hum was the only noise inside the cave.
"Grrrrrr... Yelp!" The bonk in its head surprised it.
Seeing the dragon's attitude, Ling reprimanded, "Maga, why are you being rude to my friend. You're both my friends so you have to be friends with each other too."
The other two in the room were speechless. However, their reactions seemed to be ignored by the boy and he continued talking.
"Alright, I'll introduce you to each other. Rin, this is Maga. Maga, this is Rin."
After that short introduction, as if accepting the previous explanation, the dragon circled around the other child while sniffing.
"I found Maga when I got lost last time. I woke up in another cave with a mama bear and several baby bears. But when I tried to look for an exit, I fell on another hole and bumped my head on Maga's egg. I thought it was a rock. Then it started cracking so I was slightly scared. Then Maga came out."
When the dragon was satisfied that the quiet child did not smell dangerous, it proceeded to smell around Ling, looking for its food.
"Ok, ok, Let's all sit down first. Then we can share all the food I brought." The dragon snorted, looking like it did not want to share its food, but still sat down beside the others.
While the dragon was eating, the boy kept talking, "He can't walk at first so it was gunny. But he can breath fire so it wasn't too dark when we were walking in the cave."
He tapped the eating dragon excitedly, "Maga, show him, show him."
The dragon looked at the boy with the sparkling eyes then breathe out fire, resigned to its fate.
Ling clapped then continued speaking, "And I think Maga is a dragon like what I've read from my sisters' books. Oh, and he can also maintain a fire ball like what we were taught in the village. I only showed him what I can do to maintain our light then he also did it, just like that."
He snapped his fingers then turned to the dragon again, "Maga, show him too."
Since it was also listening in the monologue while eating, it knew what the boy wanted it to do so it raised its head again and breathe out fire then controlled its 'mist' to have it surround the fire to make a fireball.
However, it extinguished immediately once the dragon got back to eating.
"Isn't it cool!" Waiting until the other child reluctantly nodded, Ling continued speaking... again, "Maga was also just around my waist when I met him but he grew up a few inches to my chest when we got out. Then, that time when we were still down inside the cave, we saw a lot of lava, then Maga actualy drank some of it! Then Maga also went under a lava waterfall and he still wasn't burned!"
As if he just thought about some great idea, the talkative boy suddenly stood up and looked at the other two, "Let's go!"
Disturbed again from its dinner, the dragon snorted and glared at the boy this time, his expression showing what he was currently feeling.
Seeing that the two remained unmoving, he pulled the hand of the human with his right hand and tried to drag the dragon up by its neck with the other, "Come on, stand up!"
When he managed to pull the two for several steps, he suddenly stopped as if he remembered something, "Oh, yeah."
Then he ran back to the place they were sitting at before, leaving the two confused, "I forgot. I need food. That walk was reaaallly long."
Hearing this, the dragon also walked back, not wanting to be left out of the eating.
"Ling!"
The almost inaudible call stopped the boy's actions and the dragon's footsteps. The boy turned to the person who called him with a surprised expression, "This is the first time you called my name. I thought you didn't know."
Exasperated, Rin sighed, "It's already almost midnight. When do you plan to come back after going deep in this cave? Won't your family be worried and look for you again?"
"Oh, I never thought of that." This saddened the boy but he knew the other was right. "Let's do this next time, Maga. We have to go back home now. Sorry."