Chapter 68: Few weeks old
Everyone watched as the blood dripped into the chest of Gerald. They all knew this was a genuinely risky move and he could die because of it, but he was already dying.
A few seconds passed and nothing happened, only for a spasm to follow immediately after, which then turned into a full-blown seizure.
"What’s happening to him?" Leon asked, his face heavy with worry.
"The blood is doing what it can," Aris stated.
"Even if it was diluted, it would take a lot to handle dragon blood, especially for a human."
The seizures continued for a full minute, and then finally they stopped. His face went pale for a while, and then suddenly he drew a deep breath, coming back to life for only a moment before slipping back into a semi-conscious state.
"Luna, what’s happening?" Ren asked.
She scanned through him as fast as she could.
"Luna thinks it worked," she said as she leaned back from the body.
"It worked, then healing should work now," Ren stated.
Mira nodded and moved closer. She raised her hands over the body, and a soft green glow formed from her hands as she started healing the body as fast as she could.
The wounds began sealing up right before their eyes. She managed to stop the internal bleeding as well as heal a huge chunk of the wounds outside before her magic no longer worked.
"This is the best I can do for now. I have managed to stabilize him," she said and fell back onto her butt, sweat trickling down her forehead.
"Riker, find a good place and set him down. Find someone to clean and watch over him there," Ren gave the instruction. Riker nodded, picked up Gerald in a princess carry, and left.
Immediately after Riker was gone, Leon and his party bowed their heads to the ground.
"Thank you, thank you so much for saving his life."
Tempest looked at them on the ground and scoffed. "Why do you mix with such humans?" he asked, the detest in his voice. He had been quiet all through to ensure that he did not obstruct the procedure, but now he let his discontent show.
"Leon, lift your heads. You all are welcome to stay a bit. I actually want to have a talk with you about the knight. Ezra will take you to where you can rest," he gave the instructions, and while they were leaving, he turned to face Tempest.
"To be honest, there is no reason why I do it. I simply do it," he replied and started walking. The two followed behind. Their talk had yet to finish.
"You are a very weird dragon," Aris stated.
"That would be the right assessment," Ren said. Then suddenly he stopped and turned.
"Listen, I just want to do my own thing here, and that involves living my life and protecting those that are important.
I could do without any issues and any troubles, so if you have plans to be an issue for me, can you please not do that? I’ll not hold back when it comes to what I want to protect.
But if you want to help me protect my peace and ensure that everything goes well, then we can have that alliance. I may not accept all the things you stand for, but I can still work with you."
He finished expressing what he felt and then stretched a hand out for a shake, looking at the two of them to see who would take it.
"That will not work," Tempest replied. "You are asking for full autonomy over what you do in the forest. There is no way to allow that.
Rules exist to stop someone from doing what they want," Tempest stated clearly.
’This dude is a prick, and I really dislike him. Tch. Honestly, what is his deal?’
"Humor me. What are these rules that I have to follow?" Ren asked, not that he cared, but because he wanted to hear.
"There are powers bigger than us that lurk in this forest, beings that control what happens in truth, hidden, watching.
We cannot do what we want because it may anger them, and if it does, they’ll come for us and all that we have, and we cannot allow that.
We are the representatives of authority in this place, but that does not mean we are the strongest beings to exist in the forest," Tempest explained.
"Tempest is right. We have to ensure that you are controlled before you tick someone off, and from the way that you have gone about things, that’s only a matter of time," Aris added.
’Hmm, so that’s it, a monster-made government, and the forest lords are the representatives who do not want to lose their seats.
This is information I’m allowed to have now because I am a forest lord, hmm. So they simply want me to be their law-abiding little pawn.
As if being a pawn on Earth was not enough, now you want to find a finger to place me under?’
Ren looked at the both of them and then smiled. "Thank you for informing me about this. It’s good to know what you are going against when you embark on something.
That being said, I refuse. I’ll stay in my lane and do what is best for me and my subordinates. I’ll try my best to stay clear of whatever you have going on, but I’ll not bend over for anyone.
So that’s that. You can choose to stay here and have some food with us. It’s getting late, and we plan to make some good food. Aside from that, I have nothing else to say to you. I have more pressing issues to handle, like the kingdom evidently sending someone against me and the orcs moving over here."
After he was done talking, he walked past them and left the two of them there. Then suddenly he stopped and looked back at the two of them.
"Hey," he called out. They both turned and looked at him.
"I’m only a few weeks old," he said with a smile and then walked off, as if telling them that was some sort of important information.