Chapter 324: The Dracolthar Who Was Definitely Not a Pet (And Had Four Eyes)
Chapter 324: The Dracolthar Who Was Definitely Not a Pet (And Had Four Eyes)
Elyn’s POV
I should have known. I really should have known that this pet that Zorathys claimed was a pet would be anything unlike what I normally attributed or knew pets to be.
In my past life, pets were small and fluffy. They were cats that curled up on your lap, dogs that wagged their tails when you came home, maybe a hamster in a cage or a fish in a bowl. Pets were creatures you could hold, that you could feed from your hand, that you could scratch behind the ears while they purred or panted contentedly.
This was none of those things.
I turned to Zorathys, then to the said pet that now stood—or rather flew—in front of us, its wings sending my hair flying in all directions. The wind was fierce, whipping strands across my face and making it difficult to keep my eyes open. I had to squint just to see the creature clearly.
"Is this some joke?" I asked him.
He frowned, his ruby eyes narrowing slightly. "I don’t understand. Why would I joke about this?"
Really?
"This is your pet?" I asked him, my voice rising with disbelief. "This..."
I turned to the creature in front of me, then back at Zorathys. "This... is your pet?"
"Yes," Zorathys replied to me, his tone calm and matter-of-fact.
This was... I shook my head, unsure of what I was even looking at. My mind was struggling to process the sheer scale of the creature before me. It was not small. It was not fluffy. It was not anything I could hold in my lap or feed from my hand.
The pet looked less like a pet and more like an evolved version of a dragon. I had read about dragons in books, had also seen illustrations of them in the stories from my past life, amd even when Zorathys had turned a ball into one but this was something else entirely. This was a creature that belonged in legends, in myths, in the kind of stories that people whispered about around campfires.
One thing I noticed immediately was that it had the same colour of eyes as Zorathys—that deep, ruby red that seemed to glow from within. But there were multiple.
It had four eyes.
Four fucking eyes that were now blinking at me, its head tilted like it was trying to get a better understanding of who I was and what I was doing here. Each eye moved independently, scanning me from different angles, and I felt like I was being studied by something far more intelligent than I had initially assumed.
That wasn’t all.
It had four huge wings too. Perhaps that explained why the sound it made when it was on its journey to me and Zorathys was extremely loud—the sheer force of those wings cutting through the air must have been tremendous. They were massive, each one larger than the entire length of my body, and they moved with a grace that seemed impossible for something so large.
Oh, did I also mention it had two huge tails that moved like they had a mind of their own? They swayed and curled behind it, almost like they were separate creatures attached to its body. One tail would rise while the other lowered, as if they were communicating with each other.
And it was black. Extremely black, almost like it was a shadow given form and substance. It absorbed the moonlight rather than reflecting it, making it look like a void in the shape of a creature. It had two black horns too, and they curled elegantly, but I noticed there were faint tendrils—perhaps shadows—on them, shifting and moving like they were alive.
Well, it looked like a dragon from the fairy tales I had grown up with, but a hybrid version? Something more ancient and powerful. Hence why I found it hard to believe that anyone would even try to steal this... pet in the first place. It made absolutely no sense to me.
Who in their right mind would look at this creature and think, ’Yes, I’ll steal that’?
"Zorathys," I called out.
"Yes, Firefly?"
"Do you take me for a fool?"
"No."
"Really? Could’ve fooled me." I paused and eyed him slowly. "Explain to me exactly how this pet, which is twice my size by the way and looks extremely dangerous, was almost stolen by other demons."
Zorathys sighed and shook his head.
"I did not say he was almost stolen," he said. "I said they attempted to steal him."
I blinked at him.
"What’s the difference?" I asked.
"One is an attempt. One signifies that they almost stole him."
"Almost meaning they attempted to do so but did not succeed."
"They only attempted. They did not almost steal him."
I sighed. This argument could go on for hours and I knew who would lose. Me. So instead I turned my attention to the supposed Dracolthar that was still flying, then I turned back to Zorathys because I was not done.
"So... explain why they attempted to steal such a... pet."
"Because he’s rare," Zorathys told me.
"Really?" I asked him. "That’s what you’re going with?"
"I’m not lying. He is rare. He’s the only one of his kind still alive. And centuries ago there was a war in the demon realm to claim him. An oath with him makes one unmeasurably strong."
"So... though the war is over, demons still want to steal him, is that it?"
"Yes. And since he and I are bound, I had to go. See, Firefly, you can ask him directly."
"He can talk?" I asked in shock.
"Of course I can." A voice answered me.
I jumped and turned to the Dracolthar.
I could not explain it, but I was almost certain it smiled at me. It bowed deeply to me, and I heard the voice in my head again.
"It’s nice to officially meet you, Your Majesty."
Oh... he can talk.
"Um... you may rise," I said, still processing the fact that this enormous creature was speaking directly into my mind. "What is your name?"
"Dracolthar."
I blinked. "I know you are a Dracolthar. I’m asking what your name is, not what type of demon you are."
"My name is Dracolthar, Your Majesty."
"You are a Dracolthar demon, right?" I asked him.
"I am."
"And your name is Dracolthar?" I asked again because surely this was some sort of prank.
"Yes."
"Who in Zorathys’s pajamas named you?" I asked in shock.
Dracolthar was silent, and then he turned in Zorathys’s direction.
Zorathys just blinked, his lids half closed.
"It’s a good name, Firefly," he said.