Chapter 12
Krieus lunged towards Areon with the wind rushing past him, causing the ground beneath him to crumble and the sky to whistle as a result of his swift movements despite his size.
Areon didn't want to wait for the dark dragon to make a move so he decided to remain on the offensive as much as he could. He quickly picked up mister Puff Puff and used his free hand to blast himself high into the air evading the incoming dragon, though he kept his gaze on Krieus.
The corners of the dark dragon's mouth crept up as they couldn't help but form a smile.
"A wise choice to not sit around and wait to be hit by your opponent…"
As Areon continued to propel him and mister Puff Puff in the air, his head was racing with thoughts.
"If I take my eyes off of him for a second this is over! I can only zip around for so long before he finally catches me. My best bet is to put him in a defensive position so that I can buy time for a plan to use later!"
He finally landed on a stray pile of dirt before putting mister Puff Puff down and readying his hand to aim at Krieus, all while not averting his gaze.
Before taking the shot, Areon instinctually in this moment, felt the sudden urge to blink.
As the flickers of a flame began to form around the palm of his hand his eyelids began to briefly begin closing for no more than a fraction of a second.
And in that time, the battle was over.
Once the boy's eyes were sealed shut, he heard a loud bang, then he heard a thud and then he heard the whimpering of his beloved wolf companion.
Shooting his eyes open again, Areon spun his head around only to see mister Puff Puff had been blasted across the valley and was currently laid out, no longer directly behind Areon.
Before he could do anything to react a hard, scaly surface knocked against the back of Areon's head and sent him to the ground.
As he laid there, his eyes returned to Krieus, who's tail was now returning to his side, he realized what had happened. The dragon looked at Areon with a knowing smile as he knew the boy was putting the pieces together.
"Did he-? Wait for me to blink so that he could take out mister Puff Puff?"
The dragon chuckled in response, grinning all the while.
"You can't take your eyes off of your opponent. Wouldn't that place you in a defenseless position? Let's try this again. Try to last longer this time."
The boy's jaw dropped with his mouth agape.
"You're kidding me. I'm supposed to fight without even blinking? How do I win against that?"
Krieus laughed.
"Come now, I didn't hit you two that hard, did I? We might not have all day, this cage could disappear any minute now."
Krieus took great pleasure from watching the look of realization dawn upon the boy's face. This was what he meant by showing his resolve. Areon lightly groaned while Krieus held onto his wide grin. In the midst of the silence in the valley, without any words having to be exchanged, the two of them knew exactly what the other was thinking.
This is going to take way longer than sixty seconds.
Meanwhile, within the top chambers of the tree-like structure of a watch tower, was where the chief elder of the elves, Lucious was currently residing.
There were eyebags under his face, his patience was whittling and he struggled to remain attentive during the current meeting, he was sleep deprived. All of the energy that he was consuming to keep the cage in it's current state was draining him.
The inside of the room was faintly dim and very much a reflection of the struggles the elves were going through. The original green coloured walls that resembled life and well-kept vegetation had now been riddled with dark spots of brown everywhere.
Whilst sitting in his withering chair that had also been showing signs of deterioration, his elbows were firmly pressed against the table as his hands each clasped one another, resting just above the bridge of his nose. Sweat rolled down from his forehead as he listened to another elf, thin in stature, currently voicing their complaints about the state of their village.
"Sir Lucious, we can't go much longer like this! The mother tree has only been losing energy everyday and is likely to fall soon. The Maimo is nowhere near close to slowing down it's absorption. And the elves in our village have resorted to robbing each other just in order to feed themselves."
Lucious continued to watch him complete the complaints, he was well aware of the situation in the elf village. With so few of them left after the Ogres, how could he not be? The territory war left them with approximately one hundred and fifty elves inside of the village. Even though they had taken a hefty loss, they still would have been able to handle that. They would have been fine, if it weren't for that damn parasite.
If it wasn't for the Maimo, the mother tree would be more than enough for the elves to plant and harvest to their heart's desires. But overtime the amount of energy that the mother tree was producing has been less and less nutrients. It only makes sense that people would begin to steal from one another. It simply got to the point where there was not enough to go around.
The elf still had more to report.
"Did you know that all the other houses in our village are not as lucky as your's to still be standing right now?"
The eyebrows on the chief's forehead began to furrow. Something was amiss.
"As lucky as mine? Can't he see that this place is on it's last legs right now?"
"Judging by the look on your face you must not be aware. There are currently homes that are literally falling apart right now sir Lucious. And while you've been sitting here in this tower trying to play 'capture the dragon' for a beast that we have never seen before. Our people have been suffering to even keep shelter!"
Lucious was not alone with this elf in the room. Behind him were the same two tall and fat elves from before who sat at the round table.
The tall elder elf spoke first.
"I won't allow you to talk to master Lucious like that."
He stood up from his seat and proceeded to move towards the elf, his killing intent was almost palpable inside of the room. He got within an arm's reach of the elf before Lucious issued a command.
"Stop, Cornelius. There's no need."
"But- if there's no respect for authority, then our village will become nothing but a circus act. He needs to pay the price for arrogance."
Lucious' voice had bellowed louder.
"I said there's no need, Cornelius."
He then gestured towards the complaining elf.
"As for you, I know that things are looking tough for us after the ogres attacked. But I can assure you that things will begin looking different, once we finally take the dragon's blood. Once we do that. I will finally be able to destroy the Maimo that has been terrorizing us for so long. You need to trust me that this is the best course of action."
The elf scoffed before he quipped back.
"Our village is already a circus act! What part of any of this seems civilized to you. No one even knows if the rumors behind the dragon's blood are true! If Gera were here he wouldn't have relied on something like that to save us all. Using these underhanded tactics to keep foreigners prisoners and corrupt our land. He would be strong enough to take down the Maimo himself! You're not even a quarter of the elf he was. It should have been you who died instead of Gera, you scumba-"
A quick, small and focused, pressurized force of wind flew across the room and landed in the side of the elf's torso. Sending him falling to the floor and coughing, wheezing for air. Drool leaving his mouth as he tried to grip the ground out of pain. His head became dizzy as he struggled to remain conscious.
Winstes began to voice his concerns last.
"Master Lucious, we can't be using your energy on him if we have any hope of maintaining the cage for longer. Please refrain from overexerting yourself."
"You're right about that. Cornelius, take him down to the first floor. He won't die, he should still be able to see his family."
"Understood master Lucious."
The barely hanging on elf was slung over Cornelius' shoulder as they began to exit the room, he managed to mutter something under his breath.
"This won't be the last time you see house Freyean."
The door was shut and Winstes shook his head, clearly disappointed.
"Everyone wants to talk about their family name when they're mad instead of doing something about it. The least they could do is be appreciative of us trying to solve the problem."
"Speaking of… have you any luck in finding the dragon, Winstes."
Lucious shot a weary look in the direction of his subordinate. His eyes were tired also, most likely from all of the searching that they've been doing, no elf has been getting much sleep.
"We've been sending search parties almost every where we can think of but we have not been getting any luck. Me and Cornelius have actually come to report to you that our elves have been loosing motivation. Since this dragon seems to be tricky to find."
"How can something so big be so concealed. This isn't making any sense! Did he leave the cage? No I would have felt it if he had done that and the boy he was protecting would have surely died. What's going on?"
Lucious refused to loose hope and his resolve remained undeterred.
"We… only have at the most, a couple more days before I can't hold this barrier anymore. I would go out searching with you but-"
"You need to conserve your energy for when we fight the dragon. If you use too much now than we may not be able to find him in time."
"... Exactly. Hopefully one day, the people will understand that I have been looking out for them."
The door clicked opened again as Cornelius entered, having returned from his task. He wore a troubled look on his face before speaking.
"Master Lucious, everyone speaks of Gera so ignorantly. When will you let the elves know about the truth of him?"
"My son must remain a hero in the eyes of the elves. His legacy must go untainted. And if I did something like that it would come across as me trying to artificially change their perception of me. If the people are going to love me, it must be based off of my merit, and not because I am a compensatory prize."
As Lucious was talking, his words came to an abrupt halt when the jiggling of the door handle began to sound.
"Hi grandpa!"
As the door soon eventually opened, Keeva walked into his office with a stack of books in both hands. She placed them on his table without making eye contact with either Cornelius or Winstes.
"I completed studying and documenting my findings on the Euleon plants and their healing properties, just like you asked."
The corners of Lucious' lips curled upwards as a genuine smile began to form.
"Great job Keeva, you will make for an excellent apothecary one day."
"Thanks grandpa."
She made her way back towards the door before a brief pause.
"Is something... troubling you, Keeva?"
"Actually, I wanted to ask you something."
Lucious' eyebrow began to raise.
"Speak."
There was a brief silence in the room before she responded.
"Grandpa, I have a request."