When the dawn broke through the dark clouds of night I was still by the fire. Abernathy had left to find something during the night. I suppose it was a meal considering we didn't have much to offer him at the moment. I heard a groan from Sam as the light hit her eyes. I looked down at where she had fallen asleep on my leg. And lighty brushed away a stray hair that was tickling her nose. A wing stretched slightly forward to block the light from reaching her.
I wanted to let her rest a while longer. The ordeals she passed through these many months were finally coming to a close.
I let out a long sigh as new worries and questions filled my mind. Who and what was beholder? Why were the gods so afraid of it? And what did it have to do with the king and his annihilation of the continent? All these questions were storming through my mind. The king had sacrificed hundreds of thousands of people for the sake of what? The fun of torturing them all? Why did that Spider appear and where had it come from?
I was suddenly disturbed from my thoughts as a rustle came from a bush close by. My eyes locked onto it and I readied my magic. A buck came from the between the leaves. It's antlers were made of white ivory and twirled about in intricate patterns that spanned 4 feet wide by 3 feet above it's head. It's eyes showed no fear as it began to graze on the field before it. Soon another showed up. Then another and another. After a half hour or so I saw 30 deer enter the plains and eat grass. The first buck had the largest set of antlers so I thought he was the Alpha.
Turns out I was wrong. I felt large thumping footsteps through the ground which woke Sam and her family. Sam sat up blearily wiping sleep from her eyes. Then she sat dead still at what we saw before us. A titanic Deer the size of a mountain. A thousand feet tall I would wager. It's antlers were enormous. Stretching across the sky a hundreds of miles wide and probably that far in height. The clouds obscured the latter in their haze. It was enormous. But oddly enough all I felt was a sense of peace as it approached.
It had no aura. No offensive thing to drive away any being. It was a beautiful reminder that even a titan can be a peace keeper without being violent. The beast looked down at me. I nodded at it and it bowed slightly back. The herd soon finished grazing and moved on. The giant moved with them. Moving with elegant yet ground shaking steps to the west where there was more grasslands and forest to graze through.
"Akmaga. I never thought he was still alive." Lord Carnac said in a hoarse voice. His eyes were wide and filled with wonder.
"Akmaga?" I asked in confusion. Sam looked at me with a knowing look. "He's considered a forest god around here. One of Golems minions is the thought. Since Golem is the very ground we walk on he has a few trusted allies making sure everything is ok." Sam said as her eyes wandered to stare at the massive buck that was walking away.
I nodded and suddenly heard yelling coming toward us. Abernathy burst from the tree line screaming like a mad man. "Help!" He roared. I almost laughed till I saw why he was running. It was a pack of wolves. About 40 in all. They weren't normal either. Each was coated in spines like a hedgehog. When they burst through the tree line I saw the spines break off bark and marred the trees.
I raised an eyebrow and raised dragons cry to my shoulder. "Duck!" I shouted and he hit the deck. A bang rocked the ground sending me tumbling and Sam and her family were blasted backwards. The poor wolves never saw it coming. The ground exploded with black flames which whipped around grabbing wolf after wolf.
It devoured them before flying back to me. In moments I was already back on my feet and grabbing Abernathy when everybody else was barely managing to peel themselves off the ground.
Sam's hair was still stuck backwards like a wind sock while everybody elses was standing on end. "What happened!" Gerald shouted despite there being no noise in the air. He was wobbling all over the place before leaning against a stump for support. Sam had her hands clapped to her ears with confused eyes. Abernathy meanwhile was looking at me funny.
"What?" I said.
"You really are something else. You built something that roars like an exploding volcano and hits like a falling star." He said in shock as I patted him on the back. "It's the dwarves you get to thank for my skill." I said as I went to check on the rest of them. Their ears were still ringing and obviously discombobulated was a thing. Loud noises generally aren't handled well by most humans until they get used to it.
The pack of wolves had dispersed as soon as they heard the bang. I got 10 of them before they got away but it was still alot to do just to scare the pack. "Maybe next time I'll just roar at them." I grunted.
Sam looked at me. "What did you say?!" She shouted. She wasn't able to hear normally for almost an hour afterward. I laughed about it later that night when we returned to the Carnac estate. I had expanded and given them all a ride back (Though Gerald insisted on riding his gryphon). I didn't mind. Not much weight difference to me anyway.
The land passed by quickly and we found our way home soon enough. The ground had been coated in Crystal's. Rubies, Diamonds, Sapphires, emeralds, etc. It was an assortment of religiously shiny objects. All from my summoning Atlas. It was a benefit of summoning at times.
It was then that Lord Carnac did something ludicrous. He turned to me and looked between Sam and I. "It is not a normal thing for a parent or a man such as I to find myself so fully in debt to another..." He paused for a time. "My daughter is my pride and joy. For the first years I have held her back from achieving a greatness I couldn't see till it was forced upon us." He looked at me with teary but proud eyes.
"Lord Carnac?" I said slightly confused by this sudden change in his mood.
"I must apologize first and foremost. I called you a monster. A familiar even. But you are something far greater. You fear no man, beast, monster, or god. And I have seen such as you defended my daughter so boldly in the face of danger. I cannot ask for anyone who would be better suited for her." He said as he bowed deeply to me. I really didn't understand. My mind couldn't comprehend it.
"Father! What are you saying!? You can't possibly mean..... that! Can you?" She said as her face reddened.
I looked between the two of them in confusion. I honestly had never been so confused and nervous in my life. It was then that Lord Carnac produced a ring which he held out to me. It was gold with silver twisted though it. A symbol of a salamander was emblazoned on the ring with a deep crimson colored ruby set in it's mouth.
"Ignatious Soulsmith! Friend of the Dwarven Kingdom! Great Dragon Guardian of the Fire God Aed! Please take my daughter to wife!" He shouted out with his head still bowed low before me.
My eyes widened with realization at what he had been saying all along. He wanted Sam to be with a worthy partner.
"You can't have her marry me! I'm a dragon for Pete's sake!" I said quickly hoping to deter his choice. He got onto his knees in a pleading manner. "Please. My daughter has no home to come back to anymore. And the dragon part has no hold on me. It was often in the history of this world that a beautiful princess was given as a bride to a dragon. So I am pleading with you as her father. Take her! And keep her safe from harm." He said.
From his eyes tears flowed like rivers and his voice shook with emotion of a broken man. "I cannot bear to have my daughter separated from me without due reason. And she cannot remain in this barren land. There is noone to love her as we do anywhere else. Or cherish her as we do anywhere else. So please. Heed the humble words of this old fool." He said as he pressed the ring into my clawed hand. "Take care of her for us. We will find our way from here onward." He said with his lips sucked in slightly like he was restraining himself.
He then backed off and gestured to Sam. "My daughter... We missed you so much. But you must go. Far from this wretched land. With someone who I can trust whole heartedly to give you a worthwhile life. So please don't make this any harder than it has to be. I have already discussed this with your mother. And we do see the way you look at him. No other has held your heart so tightly. Not in all the suitors we sought for you. Now go. Be happy. And live a life that makes the world seem like it should strive to a higher standard." He said as he wept.
Sam's face had small tear streaks running down her cheeks as she embraced her father once more. Her remaining family gathered around her and gave their last good byes. I still hadn't given my consent when Sam grabbed my shoulder and hauled me down to whisper in my ear. "We are not letting them down. And are you really that unhappy with me?" She said. I grinned a bit. "No. Glad to have you back." I said as she mounted my shoulder where an arm acted like a seat belt to hold her in place.
I bowed to her family and spread my wings wide. "I promise you. I will care for her with all my strength!" I proclaimed as I flapped my wings and rocketed into the air leaving a cloud of dust in my wake. When we arrived above the clouds I felt Sam trembling and patted her leg. She slowly slipped down in her black gown till she rested in my arms. I held her close and she began to bawl like a girl who just lost her family all over again.
We flew for a time till we reached a sandy beach where I lightly set us down. I slowly placed Sam with her feet in the warm sand. She was wiping her eyes with the cuff of her gowns sleeve trying to make herself somewhat presentable.
I slowly turned and sat in the sands. The warmth of the sun emanated from above heating my skin and scales. I inspected myself a bit as I wondered what had truly gone through Carnac's mind to marry his daughter off to a monster such as I.
"You're not a monster." Sam said with a little sniff as she approached me. She sat down in the sand and came close. "What convinces you of that?" I said with a glance her direction.
It was then that she pulled out something I hadn't expected. It was a tiny book connected to her wrist by a chain. In a puff of grey smoke it enlarged to textbook size. It was a tamers journal. The cover was a black scale covered material with an emblazoned monsters head.
The head was that of a dragon with a blade being broken by its beak. I looked at it nonchalantly. "So I'm your familiar again?" I said with a chuckle. "No." She said shortly as she pulled the cover off to reveal something more. The front cover was a fake. The real cover was a pink and red flower covered book. I realized then what it was. A Diarie. And a bloody thick one to boot. She blushed a deep red that obviously meant embarrassment.
"I have written in this every day since you hatched. Every day with exception to my broken days in Belmac. And every day that I was with you was heavenly. Like I had a friend when there seemed to be only darkness. Megan helped little to ease the burden when you were gone. I searched for hundreds of ways to find you. None worked except for one."
"I looked through my father's journals to find you that day in the forest. He wrote how he sent you away. I never actually thought he would write it down. But he did." She placed the book on her lap and it opened to the day she found me.
The words began to move and weave themselves into an image of me in my large lizard glory standing between her and a pack of wolves. "You were my hero that day. And every day ever since. You helped the weak. Strengthened the weary. And gave a young woman some hope that all wasn't lost." The books pages turned one by one till we reached the page where I saw my dragon man transformation. My face and horns in an uncertain body with borrowed clothes.
"A monster is a person who loses all hope and seeks to take and destroy the hope's of others. You are not that. You are a hero. And I couldn't ask for a better husband candidate. Well. Maybe a little more human. But..." She said with a light grin as she glanced away. When she looked back I had morphed my face into my dragon man face from before. "Better?" I said as I raised a cocky eyebrow.
She rolled her eyes. "You are such an idiot." She said as she leaned in close and kissed me.