Grim Fenris had woken up from his nap, it was already early morning.
He was jolted up by his paranoia about the townspeople sending search parties or the King himself ordering his guards to scout out the cave from where the dragon was sighted from.
"What's wrong?"
Dart asked the young elven boy.
"We have got to get out of this place…"
Grim answered back.
"But…it is cozy and warm here…"
Dart was getting used to living in this cave, after all, he had been here ever since he came out from his shell.
"Look, I will find a better place where we can stay, alright? This cave just isn't good in the long run, Dart. Anyone can walk in. I am sure you have not forgotten about the ghoul yesterday."
Grim scratched the back of his head.
"And yeah, we still have chimeras roaming around once again. There's that."
Dart was still not on board with Grim moving someplace else.
"I'll go out and find a way for me to carry you across without the people noticing, okay?"
The baby dragon nodded its head.
Grim ventured out into the forest, careful as to not be seen by anyone else.
He came across a supply wagon on the road.
Grim approached it and noticed that it was destroyed to the point of being unusable.
But the fruits and other food were still there, untouched by the hundreds of animals roaming this forest in search of sustenance.
Grim quickly picked up the backpack and stuffed as many of the fruits as he could possibly fit in.
"This will be enough for today."
He said as he finally walked back towards the cave once again.
Grim Fenris was in luck.
Not only did he manage to find some food, but he also picked up the backpack which would be the perfect size to carry Dart around on his back into Midgard without turning some heads.
"Hey! I'm back."
Grim signaled to the baby dragon, to avoid him getting startled.
"Yo. What do you have there?"
Dart waved at him and noticed that Grim was carrying something on his back.
"This, my friend is your ride towards Midgard."
Grim proudly pointed to his backpack as he turned around and showed it to Dart.
Dart's brows were furrowed.
The baby dragon was confused.
"I meant that you are going to be riding on my back while I cover you up with something just enough to let you breathe…"
"Oh."
"You do not seem too enamored by that."
Grim pointed out.
"Why don't you just fight anyone else that has a problem with you having a dragon walk alongside you?"
Dart's proposition was even worse than Grim had anticipated.
"You do realize that chimeras should not even be roaming around Vanheim, right?" Grim Fenris exhaled deeply. "This entire world is going to turn even worse, Dart. I do not know how your mother got into this cave without anyone else seeing her, but the fact that chimeras such as goblins are roaming around the forest outside freely is alarming. For all we know, this could be the start of a new war."
Grim's dark tone scared Dart.
"Hey, don't worry, you've got me! Besides, since our souls are already merged as one, if I die, then you will die as well. I sort of forgot to mention that to you yesterday. Looking back on it, I definitely should have told you much earlier."
Grim said with confidence at first, but fizzled out nervously at the end portion of his words.
He saw that he in fact scared Dart too much.
This baby dragon was not meant to be instilled the fear of war and conflict.
Its black beady eyes began swelling up with tears.
"N-No! Don't cry! Look." Grim pulled out a single apple from the backpack which he took from the wagon.
"Do you know what this is?"
Dart approached Grim and began smelling the fruit inside out.
The dragon immediately chomped on the apple with no second thoughts whatsoever.
"That was dangerously close to my fingers, Dart. You could have bitten one of them off…"
Grim contemplated life as a person with all of his right hand's fingers missing.
He shuddered at the thought of it.
Dart chuckled playfully.
"Sorry about that. I am just far too hungry to hold back."
He said.
After they finished stuffing their faces with the fruits that Grim brought back, it was finally time for them to bid the cave adieu.
"Hop on back."
Grim said as he pointed to his backpack.
Dart attempted to reason out that it would be better for Grim to carry him like a baby and just cover him in blankets.
Grim was not fond of his suggestions.
Ultimately deciding on the backpack idea to be the most viable course of action, they were finally all set.
With three holes cut out from a blanket in order to make room for Dart's eyes and nose, the baby dragon now sat comfortably as Grim groaned each stride.
Even though Dart was still a baby dragon, he was still pretty heavy for a thirteen year old elven boy to carry around.
But Grim powered through and got used to it.
They followed the dirt road towards Midgard.
"Do you know where you are going?"
Dart asked the elf boy.
"Once we have finally arrived at Midgard, we will go straight to the tavern named…" Grim took out the letter that his grandfather left him. He conveniently placed it on his pocket in case he forgot about the address. "We're going straight to a tavern named 'Six Symphonies' or something."
Grim replied.
"Oh boy! I wonder what kind of food I will get to eat there?"
"Just promise me you will not choose the expensive ones? I am going to have to find whatever available work there is in Midgard, you know?"
Dart grinned underneath the holed blanket.
"Heh. I can't guarantee that…"
"Wait, what? What does that even mean?"
Dart's response worked, he wanted to annoy Grim.
Grim, in return, jogged on the road, making the backpack shake up and down.
"Alright! Stop it!"
Dart was feeling nauseous.