The men are watching in silence the hard, stiff body of the only woman in their group. The dragon rider, the one with legs, takes a step closer and feels her pulse.
"She is waking up", Leon says while his red eyes are shining with hope.
The woman does wake up, indeed, and takes a look around her, checking each person's face. Her irises stop and focus themselves on the man still touching her wrist. She lifts her hands and slowly puts them around his face, staring at his vertical, cat-like pupils. Unsure of what to do, the man looks back at her, waving his long eyelashes , which embrace his light blue eyes. The woman looks up and moves her hands accordingly, brushing her fingers against the man's dark-blue hair.
"You're like a dragon", she whispers to him.
"You smell like a dragon", he whispers back. "I am Asher, unsure if it's that nice to meet you yet."
Leon sits next to them, pulling her hands away from his hair. Like it is expected, she says nothing, but continues to speak with the new man.
"I am Otilia. I am a fairy", she softly says, feeling her lips hard as rocks. "Where are we?"
"We are in Crasus", another voice is heard. Sitting on a chair, with a blanket covering his lower body, the other dragon rider is looking at the strange woman whose smell burns his nostrils. "You can say this is my home. And only I can unlock it", he tells her smiling.
"How about your legs?", she asks staring at the empty space that should have been his lower limbs.
"They are regenerating", he answers. "It seems like all of us have been some sort of experiment, we had to live through having our limbs pulled apart over and over again. Over and over again, they grew back. I can only assume they thought they needed my real flesh to find this place. How wrong they were..."
"What do they need then?", Xayan speaks for the first time.
"That's not something you should know, old companion. Not until I can remember you fully. I almost forgot, I am Elijah. I was once a king, but now? I might be nothing", he chuckles, presenting herself to the woman.
"I got shot for you so you'd better not be nothing", Otilia mumbles while trying to get up. "How long have I been unconscious and why were you all watching me?"
"Three days. We were watching you because we were worried about you, of course", Xayan says.
"Liars", she speaks as she goes out. What is she for them? Why would they worry?
As she exits the room, she steps outside the building and realizes how tall it actually is. She turns back and stares at it in disbelief. Wide and with fourteen floors in total, it seems massive. All the trees are tiny compared to it, but somehow, Otilia does not like it. Too pompous.
"You probably do not feel too safe here", Asher says after sneaking behind her. "I didn't mean to startle you", he continues after noticing her reaction. "You are a dragon killer. This is a place where dragons were hatched."
"What do you mean?", she asks.
"If we go past the trees in front of us, there is a lake. We should chat in there, after all, Elijah cannot follow us and listen to our conversation", he informs her and he winks.
They both walk with easy steps, Otilia wondering what the three other men were doing now and feeling odd about just waking up and already ignoring them. Soon enough, they reach the shore of a small lake, but the woman notices how nothing that seems real is actually around. The whole place seems artificially made, there is no insect, no wild animals, nothing. Just carefully added trees, flowers and luscious green grass. She sits down and urges her companion, with her eyes, to do the same.
"So what did you mean?", she asks again, looking at him sitting very close to her.
"This place is special to Elijah because the royal dragons came out of their eggs here", he starts to speak his story. "One upon a time, dragon riders would live around the mountains. And those dragon riders had a king, Elijah, as he tried to present himself. Wild dragons would only bow to royal dragons and royal dragons would only bow to royal dragon riders, Elijah's family. But the special type of dragons was weaker, so our leaders magically created this place, a safe space where the dragon eggs were kept away from the dangers of the outside."
"How are you trusting me enough to tell me this?", she wonders and gives him a worried look.
"I am not a man of secrets, Otilia. And, to be fair, there is nothing you can do even if you know all this. Elijah, on the other hand, he is more sensitive, since he once sat on the Dragon Throne."
"And what happened afterwards?"
"He abdicated for his brother and I followed him. The dragon riders either perished or moved away... I don't think time has been kind to them."
The man seems to be thinking about his distant past, looking at the horizon. He smiles for a second and then his expression becomes stern.
"Do you miss them?", the woman asks.
"No. The customs of the dragon riders were cruel, long years I have been captive and had my legs amputated, my hands and skin cut in pieces, and yet I felt more liberated than I ever felt living with my own kind. Do you miss your own kind, Otilia?"
"I don't know. The Empire enslaved the fairies when I was only four years old. But I suppose I wouldn't like them that much", she says and pauses for a moment. "I am going to go talk to Leon, if you don't mind."
"Please do, I shall be here for a while."
Otilia nods and starts running back. Her wounds have completely closed, but some faint bursts of pain sometimes appear. She brushes them off, like she often does with physical pain and runs inside the palace she was in. She misses the main entrance on purpose and chooses the door of the room she came from instead. Almost empty now, only Xayan stands still, glued to the wall.
"Did you enjoy your chat?", he asks her with a cold tone.
"What's wrong?", she asks him in return.
"I guess I got a little jealous", he says. "You appear in my life, only to disappear. First, you almost die and then, you go on a romantic walk with a man you just met."
"Who are you to say such things to me?", she barks at him.
"I am nobody. We do not even know each other. If you're looking for Leon, he's at the first floor, on the terrace, discussing with Elijah."
Xayan takes the woman upstairs, where Leon was talking with the fallen king.
"Otilia, finally, you came back", the man with golden hair says jumping off his chair. "Are you hungry? Xayan teleported and got some food for you. "
"Thank you, Leon. But I was hoping of a more private talk", she answers with a frustrated tone.
"Eat first", Elijah talks from somewhere in the background. "We all need to have a talk after you are done."
"About the other two immortals?", she asks knowing the answer already.
"Indeed. Time is passing by and I am afraid it's also not on our side."
Otilia chews a piece of bread Leon added on the table next to them, and somehow, feeling like she wants to be smaller. It is pretty clear now that the presence of so many new people is overwhelming to her.