Kellian felt a drop of something cold touch her arm. She struggled to wake up. But when she finally did, the first thing she saw was a wall of fire evaporating something.
Tyson was scolding the guys, "Can you guys not kill those things in M'lady's direction. What if their disgusting insides touch her?"
Kellian looked at her arm. It was blue and looked sticky. She touched it, and it was more slimly than she thought it would be.
"You're doing a great job of protecting her, so it's fine," Ryder replied.
"Are you talking back to me right now, alpha pup?" Tyson questioned.
"No," Answered Ryder.
Kellian asked as she rubbed her eyes, "When did you two get so close?"
"M'lady!" Tyson exclaimed, then corrected, "I am not close to that overgrown puppy."
Ryder looked angry but didn't say anything.
"If you were talking about this slime, then it is too late." Kellian pointed at the goo on her arm.
"Don't touch that, M'lady. It's dirty," Tyson cleaned it off her. "Ryder. Did I not warn you about killing those slimes near her?" Tyson scolded.
"Slimes?" Questioned Kellian.
"Yes, there are one of the many creatures that live in the fairy forest or, as the faires like to call it, the enchanted forest. It has been around forty-eight hours since you were awake. We should take a break so you can stretch your legs." Tyson stated as he made everyone stop.
"Ryder, catch one of those slimes." Tyson ordered Ryder, then said farewell to Kellian, "I'm going to take a nap. Have fun while I'm gone, M'lady."
Ryder grumbled as he went in search of a slime, "Annoying fire headed..." The rest was inaudible.
Kellian followed him because she wanted to use her legs.
"Why'd you follow me?" Ryder asked after realizing she was definitely following him.
"Why not?" She skipped behind him.
They were in an open field, and small, round, translucent creatures were bouncing up and down. Kellian counted ten of them.
"Sigh." He began trying to catch a slime.
"Get it, Ryder!"
"Don't cheer me on for this!" Ryder complained as he caught the slime.
Kellian giggled.
Ryder handed her the slime he had caught.
"It's not slimy!" Kellian exclaimed as she held the creature. It was cute. Its eyes looked like dots, it had no mouth, and it moved up and down slightly as if breathing.
"I can cut it open if you want it to be slimy," He replied with an eerie smile.
"No! It's so cute! How could you kill these cuties?" Kellian complained as she hugged the creature.
"I... I'm evil." Ryder admitted, then bowed his head.
"Why are you so tame? What happened to my tsundere puppy?" Kellian pouted.
"Your what!?" He asked loudly.
"There he is!" She smiled.
"Huh?"
"I don't know what's wrong, but be yourself and don't bottle up your feelings. You'll explode." She warned.
He ruffled her hair, "Blueberry, who do you think I am?"
"My friend!" She replied honestly.
"Yeah, and your friend isn't as weak as you."
Kellian frowned, "That's not what I meant. You can be grumpy if you want to. Honestly, no one cares. You don't have to hide your true feelings. Just be you, and if it gets too much, let your feelings out."
Ryder stared at her. He had never heard those words said to him before. Of course, Ryder knew the reason why. He is an ultima and the future heir of the werewolf kingdom. Emotions would either drive him mad or be a distraction. So no one told him to let his feeling out. He understood why he never heard those words perfectly, but they were nice to hear.
"Whatever you want, Blueberry." He smiled.
Kellian was satisfied he finally understood her.
Ryder stared at the smile comfortably staying him her arms. It was impossible to tell what it was feeling, but Ryder felt like he knew exactly how it felt. And he did not like how happy he thought it was. "You shouldn't hold those for too long. Slimes drain your energy, then absorb you when you are too weak to fight back. Their 'cute' appearance is a trap."
Kellian dropped the slime, and Ryder instantly killed it.
"That was a lie, by the way. These guys are harmless; the bigger ones are the ones that cause problems." He told the truth.
"Then why did you do that, you jerk!" Kellian complained as she hit him.
"Come with me. I'll show you something interesting." Ryder said, then walked off at great speed.
Kellian ran after him. Once she caught up, he matched her pace. It was evening, and the night was going to fall soon. Kellian wondered where Ryder was taking her but followed anyway. They walked for around ten minutes. It was getting colder the more they walked. Then Ryder suddenly stopped.
"Here," He said, then pointed in front of him.
Kellian walked in the direction he pointed. She soon realized they were standing on a cliff. The sea was below them, but Kellian could see blue specs of light in the water as it splashed against the shore. And further out in the water on a small island; grew a large tree with purple leaves. There were spots of colourful light moving over there. It was too far away to see what, but they seemed like fireflies.
"Whoa," Kellian was mesmerized.
Ryder sat down and made her sit next to him.
"I'm glad you like it. I used to come here to calm down whenever I got upset as a child." Ryder reminisced as his hair flowed freely in the wind.
"How did you get here?" Kellian asked.
"I ran," He replied matter-of-factly.
"What?" Kellian stared at him.
"You can travel pretty fast when you run in your wolf form. In fact, I never knew it took this long to travel to the Fairy Kingdom on horseback."
"But you ran all the way here. I am sure this is far away if I have been asleep for 48 hours."
Ryder laughed, "This isn't the only area you can see the sea from, Blueberry. I like it from here because of rainbow firefly island, though."
"I see."
"You named it, you know." He informed.
"I did?"
"Yes, I told you about it when we were younger. I described the place and asked you to name it. That is the name you gave me." He explained.
"Oh, Do you remember when we were friends as kids?"
"I do. This sea is the one that belongs to the beach in the picture father gave you. The beach is further away from here, though,"
"I see."
After a moment of silence Ryder called out to Kellian, "Blueberry."
"Yes?"
"You're not allowed to disappear again. Next time I won't forgive you." He declared.
This confused Kellian, "I disappeared?"
"When we were kids, I went away for five years. Father could not find you after your father died, which happened while I was away. When I returned, I could not see you anymore. You disappeared, and no one could find you. Then like the idiot you are, you got close to me again. So now, it's too late to run away. You're stuck with me. Forever." Ryder explained as he stared into the distance.
"Hehe, I guess I'll have to take responsibility and be your friend forever."
"Yeah, I... appreciate our friendship," Ryder muttered.
"Me too." Kellian smiled brilliantly.
He glanced at her, then said, "We should go."
Ryder hid his face and got up, then helped Kellian up, still hiding his face. He led the way back, making sure to stay a couple of steps ahead of Kellian so she couldn't see his face.
'Aw, is he embarrassed after admitting he likes our friendship? How cute.' Kellian thought as she followed behind him.
When they returned, they ate with everyone then slept.
The next day they began their journey once more. Before they knew it, they were approaching the gate of the Fairy Kingdom. Tyson went back to the ring, and Kellian joined Leo on his horse while Ryder led Kellian's horse.
When they got to the gate, two bulky werewolf guards were in front of the entrance.
"Line up, boys. The lady can talk to sir Brad."
They began interrogating everyone. The boys' interrogation went smoothly.
However, Kellian was not as lucky.
"Name?"
"Kellian."
"Age?"
"Seventeen."
"Purpose for visitation?"
"I don't know. You can ask the guys."
"You must know why you're here." He said in a mocking tone with an unwelcoming face.
Kellian replied, "I guess visitation?"
"You don't sound so sure."
"We are here to see the princess," Kellian explained.
"The princess?" He looked annoyed, "What's your race?"
Kellian shrugged then replied, "Human."
"Seize her." Kellian heard a woman's voice order.
The man immediately seized Kellian. She was smaller than him, so he grabbed her from behind and lifted her off the ground. Kellian let it happen as she was curious about the person who told him to seize her. Unexpectedly, something then came speeding towards them. Kellian kicked it away, and it landed some ways away. It was a spear.
The girl from before finally revealed herself. She was in flying in the air. Seeing that her spear missed, she started to charge up a magic attack.
Kellian had no idea what the girl was doing, but she no longer needed the guy holding her. She grabbed onto his arms and kicked him. He dropped her from the pain, and she knocked him out.
Kellian's attention was on the flying girl. She had pink hair, and her wings resembled that of a butterfly. They were translucent pink with green ends and dark pink details. She was currently glowing, and Kellian found the scene beautiful.
Ryder knew that the fairy in the air planned to use a spell to kill Kellian. However, the fairy was weak, so it would not harm Kellian much. Under normal circumstances, Ryder would let it happen so the fairy could learn that Kellian was not her match. Then have the fairy heal and apologize to Kellian. Sure, Kellian would get hurt, but it was better than having to deal with the fairy.
However, Ryder remembered what Tyson said and how he glared at him while Kellian was sleeping.
"You're the bastard who is bringing her there, so if I can't, you better protect her, you useless overgrown puppy."
Ryder then realized that he had no idea how her magic would actually affect Kellian. Just because it didn't hurt him much doesn't mean it won't hurt Kellian. After much consideration, Ryder decided to put Kellian and his safety first.