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“I’m really glad the fishmen offered to take us here. It’s a really nice party,” Breeze said as he patted Gale’s shoulder with his left hand. In his right hand, he was holding onto a tankard of frothing liquid. The two were sitting on a bench with a plaza in front of them. “You’ve gotten a lot happier since we’ve had that meal with them. It’s almost like you became a different person.”
“Is that so?” Gale asked, his head turning to his right like a doll’s. He grinned. “After months at sea, anyone would be happy on land.” He tilted his head up as a bright light shone down from above. “Fireworks?”
Breeze removed his hand from Gale’s shoulder and looked up. “No,” he said. “The sky’s on fire.” He brought his tankard to his shadowy lips and took a swig. “The last time I saw something like this was eight centuries ago. I remember they’re usually accompanied a lot by dragon roars.”
A pillar of white light flew up into the sky followed by a deafening roar. The ground shook, and a few tiles fell off the roofs. Some of the partygoers screamed, but Breeze just took another sip, unfazed. “That’s more like it,” he said. “I wonder who’s going to win.” Breeze turned his head and furrowed his brow. “You’re not scared? Under normal circumstances, you’d be crying and begging for your life.”
Gale shrugged. “If it’s a dragon and a phoenix duking it out, then what can I do? Panicking won’t help.”
Breeze nodded. The two watched partygoers run and trample each other as they fled opposite the direction of the pillars of light. “Right, panicking is meaningless,” Breeze said and patted Gale’s shoulder again. “This is how my brother should act. We’re fearless!”
Gale scratched his nose and grunted.
“But really, this is a little boring,” Breeze said and sighed as he watched the flames diminish as more and more beams of light pierced the sky. “In the olden days, when the phoenixes first invaded, there were dozens of dragons and phoenixes fighting it out. Dragons and phoenixes died so often, you’d hear about a new death every day. But this fight, they’re both too weak to kill each other. Well, I’ll go possess one of them after they’re weakened. I never got to possess one before since their corpses kept disappearing.” He kicked a rock that was in front of him, causing it to disintegrate. “It was probably that witch’s doing. Ugh, just thinking about her gives me the heebie-jeebies.” Shivers ran down his spine.
“The mistress?” Gale asked.
“Huh? Yeah, she’s called that sometimes by her followers,” Breeze said and brought his tankard to his lips. He froze mid-swallow, liquid flowing out of the mug and down his chin. His head turned towards Gale as he completed his swallow. “Gale…?”
Gale grinned. “Yes?”
“Are, are you feeling alright?” Breeze asked as he slowly placed the tankard onto the bench.
“Never been better,” Gale said. “Why?”
“Uh, no reason,” Breeze said as he stood up and backed away, keeping his gaze locked onto Gale. “I’m going to step out for a bit to, uh, get some fresh air and maybe possess a holy dragon. Cool? Cool.” He turned around and dashed away without waiting for a response.
***
“Grimmy, go that way,” Lindyss said, patting Grimmy’s head and pointing off to the side. The four dragons’ heads followed her finger. “I see Vur.”
“Vur? Why the heck—, oh, whaddya know? It’s Vur,” Grimmy said as he changed his course. “Vur! What the heck are you doing over here? I thought you were hosting a party.” He glanced at Vur’s half-naked body. “I was told you had grown scales and a pair of wings. But I see neither of those.”
“Uncle Grimmy!” Vur said as he alighted onto the black dragon’s head. He pouted. “I don’t have enough mana regeneration to always have my wings and scales out.” He sighed and sat beside Lindyss. “Hi, Auntie.” He looked off to the side and waved at Leila who was accompanied by her two brothers. “Hi, Aunt Leila.”
“Here,” Lindyss said and took out the necklace with the screaming faces. She clasped it around Vur’s neck and patted his head. “This should help with maintaining your dragon form a lot.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Erin said as she popped out of Lindyss’ hair. “Why is the treatment between me and him so different!? You give him a necklace, but all I get from you are a few smacks! This isn’t fair.”
“Hey!” Stella said as she appeared next to Vur. She flew into the air and tackled Erin. “What are you doing in my spot on her head!?”
“Your spot?” Erin asked as she grappled with Stella on Lindyss’ head. “I earned this spot!”
“It’s my spot!” Stella said and flailed her arms, but Erin had a firm grip on her. Instead, Stella raised her neck and bit Erin’s shoulder while growling.
“You crazy witch!” Erin shouted and pressed her palm against Stella’s forehead, struggling to peel her off. Stella used that chance to claw at Erin’s face. “That hurts! You were born three months ago; Vur’s your spot, not Lindyss!”
“Ah?” Stella asked as she relaxed her jaws. “You’re right.” Her brow furrowed. “Then why did I get so angry?”
“If you two midgets are going to wrestle, can you not do it on my head?” Lindyss asked, brushing the two fairies off with the back of her hand.
“It’s her fault!” Stella and Erin said at the same time, pointing at each other. They blinked and exchanged glances before wrestling again, this time on Grimmy’s head.
“Hey, Leila,” Leo whispered and nudged his sister. “This human who feels suspiciously like a dragon is…?”
“Nova’s grandson,” Leila said. She smiled at Vur. “Have you been well?”
“Yup! Lulu’s your sister, right?” Vur asked. “She’s really nice. She helped me a lot.”
“Oh?” Luke asked, raising an eyebrow. “With what?”
“She helped me beat up the phoenix matriarch,” Vur said. “And she helped fix my hangover after getting me drunk. She helped me strip the penguins too. She also makes lots of drinks for me to try. Oh, and she let me ride her.”
The three holy dragons stared at Vur with dark expressions. Leo winced. “Did you say you stripped the penguins?”
Vur nodded, but Lindyss flicked his forehead. “Don’t say you stripped the penguins,” she said. “Say defeathered. It sounds more appropriate.”
“Okay,” Vur said. “Lulu helped me defeather the penguins.”
Luke sighed. “It’s a good thing Mom’s too busy beating up Dad back at home.”
“Right?” Leo asked. “We should get him a souvenir from the party for his valiant sacrifice.”