Lilura doesn't have much of her childhood memory. Her memories only began when she was ten years old.
Her adopted mother, Elowen, had found her unconscious in the in the woods while she was gathering herbs. She'd take her back home with her and healed her.
Back then Elowen had told her the first thing she noticed in the green of the woods from the distance was her blue hair and after she regained consciousness a week later, Elowen noticed she had blue eyes too. The combination was rare and unusual most especially for dragons but it only added to her already beautiful features.
Elowen had asked who her parents were but the girl had been unable to answer. Then she asked if she really was a dragon since she couldn't sense her beast but the girl had been unable to answer that as well.
Elowen had her doubts and she could see the girl looks like she had just escaped from something horrible. So she'd think long and hard about it. She knew keeping her would be trouble. But she also couldn't send the poor girl away on her own. That'll be too cruel since it's obvious she had nowhere to go.
So, Elowen decided to adopt her but before that she did something first. She casted a very powerful spell on her. One that will hide her appearance and mask her scent, and also change the the color of her eyes and hair.
But the spell, even though powerful, had only worked on her scent and hair. It changed the colour of her hair to black but It did nothing to diminish her beauty or change the color of her eyes. Her eyes remained blue. That was when Elowen finally believed she wasn't ordinary. So since the spell didn't work for her hair, she tried to make a potion that will cover her eyes for few hours if put into her eyes like a eye drop.
Ever since then Elowen took care of her like she was her own. She never let her stray far away from home and whenever they go out together, she always made sure to disguise her a little before going out.
Elowen noticed she was a very intelligent girl, so she had began teaching her about healing. By the time Lilura was Fifteen she was already good with the herbs just like her adopted mother even though she had no healing power.
Thinking back now, those were the happiest times of her life. She would still be with her adopted mother now if she'd listen to her and hadn't wandered far away from home alone without her disguise out of a stupid curiosity. She wouldn't have met those the traffickers that kidnapped her and sold her to her first mistress who ran a brothel and plan to sell her body to her customers when she reached Eighteen years old like the other girls in the brothel but had changed her mind to keep Lilura to herself after knowing her secret.
She really had badluck. Because, how could she finally escape from that horrible woman who wants milked her dry only to get kidnapped again the second time?
She could still remember clearly the day she made the mistake of revealing her secret, that was when her life had turned for the worse again. But more than worse this time. It was hell. Her tears was a curse. It seems she has already been destined to live in misery because of it forever.
******
Levi was shocked to see her condition this time. She looked listless and was as pale as a sheet.
He saw he lying on the cold hard floor of whatever the room she was locked in was. Her Blue eyes were red and bloodshot. Her blue hair was dull and lifeless. She was thin and malnourished and her skin was full of scars and bruises.
But it was the pain that shocked him the most. Her pain.
She was in so much pain he could feel it as if it was his own. And the sheer depth of it was frightening, suffocating, so much so that he found it difficult to breath.
His chest heaving, he took a step towards her and woke up in his bed covered in sweat.
He sat up and threw back the covers. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his heart that was still ponding in his chest.
He doesn't normally sleep during the day but he'd worked through out the night the other day sorting through some scrolls and had only finished at the early light of dawn.
He'd decided to try to sleep a little after the morning court. But he hadn't expected to found himself in the same dream again.
" Your Majesty? "
Levi looked up to find Jasper, his general and right hand man walked into the room.
" Are you alright, your majesty? " Jasper had been on his way to the king's chamber to wake him up before the time for his meeting with some of the ministers began. But he hadn't expected the sight that met his eyes.
The king looked like he'd been in a marathon race with his clothes stuck to his body even though the weather was a chilly.
And his eyes, jasper had never seen his eyes like that before. They were red and bloodshot. It looked as if he'd been crying. Jasper was terrified. The king had never cried.
" Are you alright, your majesty? " Jasper asked again. " I was here to remind you of the meeting with the ministers but do you need me to call the healer first? " Jasper look at the king with concern on his face.
" No, jasper. I'm fine. You can go back. I'll be coming down in few minutes " the king waved him off.
After observing the king for sometime, jasper had no choice but to resigned from the room, closing the door behind him.
Levi stood up and pour himself a glass of water. He gulped it down to calm his nerves.
He was conflicted. His dreams were getting worse. He doesn't understand why he could still have the same kind of dream in the middle of the day. That has never happened before.
And who the hell was that girl anyway? She'd done nothing but plague his dreams almost every damn now for almost two years now. This was driving him crazy! He couldn't even sleep properly in the middle of the day again. What the hell was going on?
Sometimes in the past, he'd consult the royal Archmage and had been told the girl must have something to do with him and he had to find her and save her from whoever was inflicting on her.
But how could someone he doesn't know have anything to do with him?
Most of the time he saw her crying. There was a time he saw her tears became diamonds. When he woke up he couldn't understand the dream. How could someone cry tears of diamond? It doesn't make any sense unless they're one of the mysterious Finfolk. Was she a Finfolk that was caught and was being tortured because of her tears? But that's ridiculous too.
The Finfolks don't interact much the dragons. They stay on their floating island, called Hildaland during summer and an undersea kingdom during winter. How could one of them be here suffering in Midgard? Wait, was she even in Midgard? Levi jammed his fingers in his hair in frustration.
What he was most frustrated about was the there's someone somewhere in the realm that can inflict that level of pain on another. He or she must be a monster and he swore If he ever found the girl and the person tormenting her, he'd make sure that person dies a slow, painful death.
But the problem was that they'd been searching everywhere since the first time he dreamed about her but haven't found her. Nowadays, his thoughts seems to centers around her.
How was he supposed to focus on finding his mate now when his thoughts was always being plagued by the angelic face of dream girl? But for the past few weeks now, that angelic face was becoming more and more listless. Like life is getting sucked out of her everyday.
Levi knew if he wants to find her, he had to do so quickly before it's too late. Or else, he was afraid he'd just go to bed one night and dream about her death instead.
His heart thudded at the thought. Somehow, the thought of dreaming about her death terrified him.
He shook his head at the thought. He doesn't even know whether she was real or not. If she was, why hadn't he find her after all this years? Looking for her was as difficult as looking for his mate! Heavens!
Levi shook himself out of his reverie. How could he even be making that kind of comparison?
He changed his clothes in a hurry and walked out of the room. He had to see the royal mage again.