Young Abigail sat the young Alex down by the small table and pushed the small bowl of soup towards him.
Young Alex took the spoon without a word and started to drink the soup. The room was silent and the only thing that could be heard was the young man’s spoon hitting the bowl as he scooped up the soup. Abigail looked pleased at the young man as she sat across him with her face in her palm just watching him. “How is it? Does it taste good?” she eventually asked when he was halfway done, breaking the silence.
“It’s not bad,” the young man replied as he peered at her. “My name is Alexander,” he introduced himself casually.
“Alexander… what a nice name,” she uttered, still staring at him as she tilted her head slightly. “Wait. Alexander… are you a prince?!” her eyes became round. “When I was a kid, I went to the city of Ashteria with my mother. And while we were there, I heard that one of the vampire princes is named Alexander!” she exclaimed.
“You went to Ashteria?” Young Alex seemed surprised.
“Yes. I went there. So, is it really you? You’re a prince, right?”
The young man dropped his gaze and stared at the bowl as he replied. “Yes.” His brief reply was emotionless, as if he hated admitting it, but his expression immediately changed as he diverted the topic back to her.
“So does that mean you didn’t grow up in this place?” he asked her.
The girl shook her head. “My family decided to leave me here three years ago,” she explained. There was nothing in her tone to indicate that she felt like she had been abandoned.
His gaze at her deepened. He knew about her, or at least about her family. It was common knowledge that there was a noble human family with the title of ‘guardians’ and ‘keepers’ of the dragon. They were mere humans but they were the only ones who had the ability to control and command dragons. It was said that someone in that noble family bloodline would be born to become the master of dragons and when that master died, another one would be born from that family to take their place.
For years, the young prince had heard stories about how each ruler of vampires and humans and witches plotted and tried to abduct the dragon keeper. Each one of them wanted to take control of these dragons, the most powerful creatures in existence, to dominate the world. Young Alex had heard that humans were the first to try their luck. They tried to control the old master and used him to gain the upper hand against the other races. This move created so much chaos and for the first time since their existence, the vampires felt threatened by these inferior humans.
They too started to plot their schemes on how to catch the dragon keeper. The three forces collided, resulting in the death of the old master. When the new dragon keeper was born, the noble family kept their identity hidden, learning from the past.
A few years ago, young Alex had heard about another attack targeting the noble family because the guardian seemed to always choose to ally themselves with humans. The humans used the dragon to fight against the vampires and the vampires were no match for it. The humans started to gain the upper hand, suppressing the vampire race and this didn’t sit well with them at all.
Three years ago, the vampire king had planned to annihilate the members of this noble family until there was nobody left, saying that it was better for the dragon to be left without a master. Without a master, the dragon couldn’t then be controlled to go against them anymore and the balance of power would switch back to them again. They plotted against this noble family and unfortunately, the king couldn’t be stopped. The result was the massacre of everyone from that noble family line.
From that day forward, everyone thought that the line of the dragon keepers was finally eradicated. Everyone made sure to keep away from this place because without a master to control the dragon, who knew what it would do if it was woken from its slumber. It wouldn’t just be chaos they would have to deal with but most likely the end of all their races!
As Alex peeked at the girl before him, he immediately thought of one question. Did she not know about what had happened to her family? That she was the only one left?
He studied her face and he thought that she might not have known, and the young Alex didn’t know what to say.
“You… what you’re doing right now, picking up people and bringing them home like this… don’t you think you are being too careless? What if they actually had ulterior motives and ended up… hurting you?” he asked her, his voice filled with concern. This girl was too kind and he was afraid her kindness would be the thing that would bring about her demise one day. He couldn’t help but think that way because this world was a cruel one and the weak and kind people were always the first to get trampled on.
“Don’t worry. I am not that naive. I don’t take home every person I see in the forest. You and Zeres are just kind of… different. I don’t know why I couldn’t make myself leave you out there. I am usually able to turn others away. Maybe I just knew that you wouldn’t hurt me,” she admitted. “But, if it was an animal, any animal, I always take them home.” She grinned.
“Could it be that you’re feeding them to your companion?”
The young girl chuckled.
“Don’t worry. Lexus doesn’t eat such things,” she told him.
“Lexus…” he echoed.
“Yes. Do you want to see him?” she was excited while the young man was once again stunned by her offer. He truly thought this not so weak little rabbit was way too trusting of strangers!
“Are you sure you want me to see him?”
“Of course!” she stood and grabbed his hand. “Come, Alexander, let’s go and say hello to Lexus.”
.
[Dear hellbounders,
I am better now but I am trying to give myself a break. I think its impossible for me to keep updating 3 chapters daily for months. so I decided to slow down and will only release two chapters daily from now on. Im sorry guys. I’ve been losing sleep for months and I think my body finally reached its limit. But I will give bunos chapters during weekends and holidays.
Thank u for understanding.
~Kazzen]
