The dragon, who was black in color, was currently poking an overturned plane with one claw.
Penguin chirped and immediately ran up to him—to say hi, I imagined, but that just gave me a heart attack.
…What the hell.
Before I could rush forward to grab him, Llewellyn held me back.
The dragon raised his head and looked at us. His eyes were huge, gold, and very bright.
Then he said—
"…Is this one dead?" and tapped the side of the plane again. It rocked slightly.
"…"
Llewellyn and I stared.
Well, at least he didn't seem interested in killing us?
"That's… not alive," Llewellyn said. "It's a plane."
The dragon looked worried. "It's not talking."
"Because it's a machine."
The dragon sat on his paws, looking disappointed.
-
[System Notification: Entity outside recorded time detected!
Designation assigned: Out-of-Time Dragon.
Classification pending.]
-
Wait— What?
"What do you mean Out-of-Time?"
[System Notification: Temporal reference unavailable. Subject's existence cannot be place within linear time.]
What was going on?
The dragon was watching Penguin.
"He's very small," the dragon observed. "Does he always burn people?"
I was speechless.
Penguin chirped in reply and tried to climb onto the dragon's paw.
The dragon seemed bemused for a moment, then lay his head down to look at Penguin. His eyes alone were at least five times bigger than Penguin.
I don't know why, but something in his demeanor reminded me of Llewellyn.
"You know this is going to fuel the theories about you being a dragon prince, right?" I told Llewellyn.
Llewellyn looked at me. "Is that a new one?"
It wasn't a new one.
I sighed.
"We can't leave him here," I said. "That would bring some… governments, I assume. Where did the System say we are? France? System, what do we do?"
The last thing I wanted was to create some sort of international incident between Innishae and the French government, and if both the dragon and us were found here that was definitely what was going to happen.
We'd already been here too long. Someone was bound to show up soon.
-
[System Notification: Innishean Magic in the creature detected!
Prolonged exposure to current environment is unsafe.
Relocation to Innishae required.
Relocation in 3... 2... 1...]
-
"Wait, wait!"
Where were we going?! Did teleportation always have to be so sudden?!
The System ignored me entirely.
The dragon made a startled noise too and a second later we were all whisked away.
***
We landed hard on wet grass.
"Ow," I said, losing my balance and bumping against a tree trunk.
The dragon landed with much more grace, which wasn't fair considering he was the size of a small bungalow. His wings spread for balance before folding neatly against his back.
Llewellyn had managed to stay upright and was holding Penguin protectively. He turned to look at me.
-
[System Notification: Current Location — Mount Dalrin, Northern Innishae.
Temple of St. Caerwyn 0.9km NorthEast.]
-
Huh?
The dragon was turning in circles, sniffing the air.
"This is better," he announced. "It smells right."
Well. Maybe he really did have Innishean Magic, after all.
Despite the fact that I was wearing my Seashell Trench Coat with thermal regulation, I was starting to shiver due to the altitude.
I took Penguin back from Llewellyn and tucked him into my pocket. He chirped, pleased.
"Do you think you could live here?" I asked the dragon. "For now, at least?"
The dragon looked around. "This seems fine," he said. "But there's no one here."
Ah, damn it. Did dragons get lonely?
"You might like exploring the temple?" I suggested, thinking of the notification.
Was this temple big enough for him to get inside?
And… actually, wait. Should we explore it too, maybe? I'd never heard of any St. Caerwyn before—or any temple on Mount Dalrin, for what matters.
"It might even need a guardian," I added after a moment.
The dragon seemed intrigued. "Is there any gold inside?"
Oh, good point. I forgot dragons are supposed to like treasures.
Well, fictional ones usually did, right? Until a few minutes ago, I had no idea real dragons were even a thing!
Penguin started chittering at me. It took me a few moments to realize that I knew what he meant.
Huh.
How hadn't I ever noticed this before?! I always thought I just understood him based on context, but there was no way this was the case here.
Was it maybe the bond?
"You want me to give him the shard?" I said, frowning.
Penguin chirped enthusiastically. Clearly a yes.
I took the shard out of my inventory, looking at it dubiously.
The dragon perked up immediately, staring at it with round eyes.
I tried to sense whether the shard was okay with this. If it'd come to me for protection, was it okay for me to just hand it over? That didn't seem right.
However, it'd probably be safer with a dragon on a remote mountain top than with me fighting Distorted Realms and Dungeons. Even if it stayed in my inventory.
"What do you think?" I asked the shard. "Want to go with him?"
The shard lifted up from my palm, swaying a bit, looking uncertain. Then it floated gently toward the dragon, who looked awed.
"It needs protection and company," I explained. "It was very afraid when I found it. Think you can take care of it?"
Was this a good idea? The shard looked tiny next to the dragon, but it didn't feel afraid. After a few moments, it started emitting a brighter light that made it look bigger.
When I looked up, Llewellyn was staring at me with an undecipherable look.
"What?" I said.
Maybe he thought I shouldn't give it away?
Llewellyn shook his head, refocusing on the dragon.
"Its Magic smells like mine," the dragon said, intrigued. Oh. Was that why Penguin had suggested it? "What's its name?"
Name?
"It's a Shard of Living Magic or Shard of Sleeping Magic," I explained. "I don't know if there are others or if it needs a name. It's not an actual creature with its own life, but more like pure Magic taking form."
"There are others?" the dragon said, looking excited.
Uh. Were dragons supposed to be like this? He was huge but… well. Frankly adorable.
That made me realize something.
"What's your name?" I asked after a moment, remembering that we hadn't asked.
The dragon looked at me, then sat down on his paws, deflating a bit.
"I don't remember," he said. "I'm not sure I had one. Can you give me a name?"
Ah, that—
I scratched my head and looked at Llewellyn.
"I'm not really good with names," I said. "Do you have any ideas?"