Just as the cave collapsed behind them, the creature was lucky to retreat before being trapped under stone swimming away quickly from the scene. Farrah had no time to hold her breath or prepare as the chilling water soaked her from head to toe she shut her eyes tightly no longer daring to scream and allow water to choke her. Although she knew she should be afraid after being held by an Awoken. Farrah could only shiver and tightly hug the sharp claw surrounding her body with grievances in her heart. Opal eyes focused intently on leaving the tunnel before it entirely collapsed around them leaving them with no other option but to wait for death like the Awoken behind them. But even as the creature swam quickly it still protected Farrah to the best of its ability blocking the water pressure and whiplash of their fast escape from harming her further.
Not caring for the dangers of surfacing quickly the creature hurriedly brought the weak Aniala towards the nearest island. Limping slightly, with a deep growl the creature looks back towards the open blue waters with a profound expression. His opal eyes held a hint of wariness as he slowly but steadily carried the child wrapped within his claws despite the various injuries he carried. Only when he looked around the tiny beach and saw no sign of human life did he carefully place the child in his claws down. When he opened his palm, he was stunned to see the child hugging one of his sharp claws with no fear unlike in the past. Her eyes were still tightly shut and she was soaked like an abused little bunny that fell into the water endlessly pitiful and helpless.
The spiritual energy in the child was no longer spilling out of distress but was tightly held within her tiny frame fluctuating between the sky blue and white as before. The opal-eyed creature found her appearance rather distressing. So he gently nudged the child with a free claw speaking carefully out of fear the child would do something foolish. 'Do not open your eyes yet, after being in the dark for so long it may be painful.' At first unprepared for the creature to speak Farrah froze again but then relaxed with trembling lips. The creature clearly meant that she could let go, however, Farrah who was usually mature and intelligent enough to understand unspoken words hugs the claw tighter hiding her face from him in his own palm.
'....' Unable to coax the stubborn child, the creature could only awkwardly lay down while holding in its groan of pain. In the daylight, the beautiful but intimidating beast seemingly coming out of ancient paintings when emperors ruled the lands was bleeding silver blood from many open wounds. The arrogance of its painted snout, the ferocious row of teeth, and its sharp wise eyes were at the moment mellowed out because of the child holding onto his claw with tenacity he was used to by now. Beautiful horns the color of eggshells sprouted handsomely from his forehead to far behind his ear tufts. His body was long and powerful as attested to his victory against the Awoken from before carried by four legs holding his large body up. An aquatic beast, his tail resembled a water snake, and his opal eyes matched his charming scales making the dragon appear all that much more majestic.
Steel blue fur ran richly all along his spine, but at this moment they were dripping with silver blood slightly ruining his lavish appearance. However, this intimidating creature no matter how handsome he was, at this point in time he's still looked worse for wear. His body missing scales, his sides leaked silver, his fur was uncomely, and his claws carried many wounds as well like paper cuts upon the human hand. It was equally painful. But he could not complain, for he knew the child in his hands must be in more pain and endlessly terrified. As a human child raised within the tall walls of a fortress, what did she know of true war?
What did she know of struggling between life and death? She was courageous and tenacious, but in the end, she was still a child. She was just an unlucky child caught in the middle of a war between dominating beasts of old and the tiny but strong-willed creatures who took over the land during their long slumber. He patiently waited with the child till the high sun which burned his open wounds slowly expressed its intentions to set. Only when she started feeling uncomfortable and sticky because of allowing herself to dry in seawater did Farrah cautiously open her eyes. Blinking thrice in quick succession, she was embarrassed when as she went to let go of the claw reluctantly she almost fell over.
The creature which she didn't dare look up at yet attentively supported her upper body setting her down onto the warm sand gently. As he did so, Farrah who finally got over her fear due to the unforgettable scene in her head of the creature unhesitatingly rushing to her rescue. Peeks at him as he retracts his claws, her eyes were full of curiosity which he noticed so the dragon stayed still calmly looking down at her without a trance of impatience. He watches her red face with a resting mark on her face due to her laying on his claw for so long quickly becoming full of awe of admiration. His heart finally felt comforted by the tension and unease from the thought of her cowering away from him fearfully again after seeing him in his entirety. She wasn't afraid of him.
He didn't know if this was a good thing or not though as a child who cried when she first saw him now stared at him unbashful full of wonder. In the cave, she didn't get to see him in his full glory under sunlight. But now that she could she wondered how she could be so blind as to not recognize the creature's serene and immortal appearance. He reminded her of the shooting stars across the milky blue and purple night sky that she stared up at every night before she went to bed. Seeing as she appeared fascinated by his appearance, the creature shook his mane out lightly and stood up paying close attention to her mood. He made sure she wasn't afraid of his movements before silently making to return to the sea to clean up his appearance.
As even if the child liked his appearance now he knew better than to be complacent, as sooner or later she would see something was wrong with him. Human blood and beast blood were different, but blood is still blood and it wasn't appropriate for children. Seeing the beast turning around and walking with a limp Farrah snaps out of her daze and her face flashed with panic about being abandoned. Don't tell me they want to leave me here alone?! "Wa-Wait-!" Croaking the word Farrah despite the weakness in her knees hurried to catch up and hug the dragon's tail.
A bit surprised to have been caught with a little tail on his tail, the dragon looks behind him and spotted her fears at a glance. Seeming to have caused a misunderstanding, he tried to explain to her calmly. 'I will be back after cleaning up a bit.' And he still needed to rob a few things from the human port nearby for the child as her clothes were completely unwearable now. At first, there were just a few dirty spots he could care for when she was asleep, but after being tossed about her pants and shirt were torn in random places. She also had nothing to sleep on, nothing to cover herself with when it was nighttime and cold.
Nothing to eat, nothing to wear, it was unbearable for not only her but for him to see. But when she raised her head from his tail and stared up at him stubbornly and tearfully, the creature could only tense up due to her sorrowful appearance speechlessly. '....' Being stared at so sadly...Fine, it wasn't like he couldn't understand her fears due to her past trauma. He just had to be more careful when traveling and avoid certain territories along the way. He wasn't annoyed but worried that she would get sick because of how fast he would be moving.
So instead of leaving her on this island where it was relatively safe, he could only gently lift the child onto his back where she was buried in his steel blue fur. Farrah curiously pets the creature's mane, it wasn't incredibly soft but smooth and silky feeling more like smooth hair stunning her as the appearance was really deceiving. Unable to help the childish urge within after losing all fear of the creature who risked his life for her and carried her so gently. Farrah buries her face in his fur stunning the creature who stiffened because of her familiar actions that carried no sense of danger or fear. As he enters the water, instead of diving below he stayed above the surface just enough for Farrah's upper body to stay afloat. Farrah was still nervous and held tightly onto the dragon's mane, looking behind them as the island was surprisingly getting further and further away at a relatively fast rate.
But just as the fear within her of entering open waters was about to make her sick due to nerves she heard the once-feared voice speak to her again. 'Nothing dares to attack us on the route we are traveling.' Soothed by the creature Farrah forced herself to believe the creature and instead faced forward with a brave face amusing the dragon a bit. Looking at him with complicated eyes, the girl burrows herself into his silky mane with nothing but the wind and water whispering in their ears. Before whispering so softly he almost didn't hear it "Thank you..."