Chapter 109 - Chapter 111 (1/2)
A few miles away from Connor's peaceful little village, a girl was walking with her head hung low. She was staring intensely at the ground and not paying any attention as to where she was walking. Her mind was too occupied with replaying the horrifying scene she was apart of earlier that day.
'Stupid, stupid, moron, dumbass, stupid! How are you ever going to talk to him again after doing something that embarrassing.' Cassie felt like shoving a cold piece of ice right through her heart. Because that was the current mood she was in after her conversation with Dragon.
”Who runs away crying like that? Of course, he was gonna leave, he doesn't even live here. I know that! AAAH! Why did I have to open my stupid mouth.”
Cassie was walking on a massive frozen lake that she and her dad usually used water bending to skate on. It was this place where she perpetually went to vent and scream her issues out into the world.
”I should go back, I want to at least say goodbye first. BUT IT'S SO EMBARRASSING!” She fell down on her knees and screamed as loud as she could towards the sky. Her voice echoed around the lake and brought life to this dead wasteland. But silence quickly returned and she was left sitting out in the middle of the lake with tears stuck in her throat.
”It's so unfair!” Cassie felt the cold evening winds hit her in the face. And much like the cold winds, the reality hit her hard and the first teardrops escaped her eyes. And much like a broken dam failing to keep the water at bay. Her tears started falling like a waterfall down her face.
The snow that was covering the ground beneath her started to melt away thanks to the warmth of her tears. Her beautiful ocean blue hair was stuck to her face and her green coloured eyes were shivering from the sorrow and pain filling her up from head to toe.
Cassie was sitting there on her knees crying her eyes out, failing to notice multiple shadows approaching her from all directions. As the darkness was slowly taking over the world, Cassie had almost buried her head in the snow. She was crying so much that it was starting to physically hurt her.
Her happiness that had been building every time Dragon visited the village. Or every time she laid eyes on Orlando's majestic form. It all came crumbling down with one poor timed word from Dragon. And she wasn't prepared to handle the reality that came as a punch to the stomach.
As Dragon put it, she was too caught up in whatever was going on with her that the fact about Dragon not staying around was something she never even considered. In her mind, Dragon was a gentle teacher, a knowledgable elder. And everything she could ever think about nowadays.
As Cassie sat there in her sorrow, the shadows had all surrounded her. She had many hungry eyes inspecting her, observing whether she was prey or a threat. The red eyes lighting up the dark night sky seemed to have made a decision and twenty or so howls sounded out at the same time around the crying girl.
'Shit!' Cassie knew immediately what was happening. Still, with tears running down her face, she stood up just in time to see a big mouth with razor-sharp teeth open up in front of her face. ”I'm sorry.” Was the last words she could think about.
”KAAAA!” An eagle's scream so loud that it put a crack in the ground came from above, and a massive talon appeared and crushed the beast preparing to bite into Cassie. A shockwave from the sheer force of the eagle blew Cassie and all the other beasts aside.
Cassie rolled on the ground and lucky for her the ground had a lot of snow, meaning she didn't hurt herself that badly when she got knocked away by the giant talon. ”O-Orlando?” It had become very dark, but Cassie could still see that massive shadow of Orlando standing where she had stood.
”KAA!” Orlando screamed towards the other beasts and glared at them with his piercing gaze. It looked like he was daring them all to attack. An apex predator looking down on simple prey.
The unidentified beasts stood there growling and staring at Cassie and Orlando with bloodlust in their eyes. But they eventually left the place without attacking again. With Orlando here, getting to Cassie just became impossible. Orlando would have killed them all the second they moved towards her.
”KAA!” Orlando screamed in victory as he made his way over to Cassie. And she was in awe at the sheer power and aura Orlando gave off. It was only because Dragon was always there that she didn't notice until now. But if you take Dragon out of the equation. Orlando was a real top apex predator. Very few beings in this world could even manage to put a scratch on him without dying for it.
”Thanks for that, Orlando,” Cassie said and dried her tears with her sleeve. ”What are you doing here?” She asked the eagle and tried to stay strong and not cry anymore.
Orlando just turned his head and looked at the pathetic looking carcass of the beast he had killed. Well, it was mostly a pile of flesh and bones now, because when Orlando crushes something, they get crushed for real. He holds immense power and not many beings can withstand it in this world.
”A-Are you going to eat them?” She looked at the dead creature and then she turned to Orlando with a questionable gaze. ”Kaa!” Orlando flapped his wings and screamed out in anger at her question.
”What? What did I say?” Cassie said, now terrified she would be next on Orlando's crush list. At this moment, the sound of crushed snow was heard behind them, and Cassie for an unexplained reason got a chill that started at her toes and spread all the way through her body.
”No need to be afraid, Cassie. He is just a little annoyed that you thought he was gonna eat that. According to him, they are not worthy to be eaten by him.” A deep voice, Cassie was very familiar with was heard behind her. She quickly wiped away all the dried tears on her face and turned around.
”I-I'm sorry, Master Dragon. I didn't mean to run away like that before.” She said while staring at the ground. She wasn't able to look him in the eyes.