Will of a Prince

Jacob tossed and turned in his sleep. Everyone else had long healed from their injuries, but Jacob was stuck in the medical ward until his eye healed back to normal. To make matters worse, he couldn’t even sneak out. Maria was constantly guarding him to make sure his recovery was fully complete before he could go anywhere. There were a few times that he tried sneaking out and Maria would lift him by the back of his shirt like an animal and drag him back to bed. She would always say the same thing every time.

"Are you trying to make my job as hard as possible? Stop moving around and relax for crying out loud."

"I hate not doing anything! I think I’m going to die of boredom here!"

"Just sleep a little longer. It’s so late."

Maria yawned and stretched slightly. She had been awake for days. She was long overdue for some sleep.

"All I do is sleep. Please just let me go on a short walk."

"Nope. No way."

"Can we at least chat for a little while? I feel like we haven’t had a real conversation in a little bit."

Maria’s eyebrows perked up slightly hearing the suggestion.

"Oh? What would you like to talk about?"

Jacob didn’t expect the question to work so he tried to think of something as fast as he could. However, his attempt was embarrassingly horrible.

"So, uh... the weather out there is really clear, huh?"

Maria stared at him dubiously. But to Jacob’s utter surprise, he actually got a response.

"Speaking of weather, I actually need to talk to you about something."

"Sure, what is it about?"

"I have a new sister."

Jacob couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His mind immediately went to the most incorrect thing possible.

"You mean... LIDIA AND SLIMO HAD A BABY?!"

Maria blushed and raised her hands innocently.

"N-NO! And why did you scream that so loud?! Lidia found her out on a battlefield and took her in."

Jacob smiled and laughed to himself.

"That’s so like her. We should go say hi!"

Maria shoved Jacob’s face back into his pillow.

"Good attempt, I must say. You won’t be here much longer. Then, we can go and visit together."

Jacob gritted his teeth and reached for his mirror again. He slowly unraveled the bandages on his eye to study the wound. To his surprise, it looked much better than it normally was. There was very little inflammation, its ever-changing color could be seen clearly, and he could see clearly out of it.

’Just a little longer. I’m almost free.’

Suddenly, Maria yawned widely and rubbed her eyes.

"Everything okay?"

Maria looked down at Jacob sleepily. Then, she crawled in his bed and laid directly on top of him before hugging him tightly. Her breathing slowed down before she finally drifted into a deep, much needed sleep.

Jacob cursed under his breath.

’She completely outplayed me! Now I can’t move without waking her up! I’ve waited all this time for nothing!’

An obnoxious snore rang from her mouth as drool pooled out of it on to Jacob’s shirt. However, despite this scene, Jacob’s heart fluttered.

’Damn it. Why does she have to be so cute when she’s asleep?! This has to be witchcraft! She must have implanted a charm inside of me while I was out! Gah! Do I even want to move now?!’

Suddenly, Jacob heard a small scratching sound coming from across the room. He very gently propped some pillows under his neck so he could get a better view of the room. There wasn’t anything that caught his immediate attention.

’Hm. Must be rats or something.’

However, the scratching continued, and it sounded much higher pitch than what rats could make. Jacob looked around again. No one was there.

’What the hell is that noise? Is someone playing a prank on us?’

This time, the scratching sounded rough and much more eager than before. It wasn’t until his third skim of the room did Jacob finally see something. Behind two large panes of glass were two dark purple eyes staring right him. Jacob couldn’t mistake those eyes for anything. It was Maria and his baby dragon.

Jacob panicked and started tapping Maria on the back.

"Maria. Maria. Maria. Please wake up! Please!"

Maria groaned and clung on to him tighter, squeezing the air out of his lungs. Jacob coughed and tried speaking but hardly anything came out.

"Dragon. Maria! Baby Dragon!"

She mumbled to herself, as if she was responding to his call while she slept.

"Not going to work, Jacob. My baby is gone for good. My little Sheeby will never be seen again."

She whimpered slightly before going still again. Jacob had to process what she just said.

’Did she just call our baby dragon, Sheeby? When the hell did we agree on this name?’

However, there was no time to think about that. He had a dragon, his dragon clawing at the palace medical ward trying to get in.

’How the hell did it even get here without being spotted anyway?! How big has our baby grown?!’

Suddenly, the dragon’s expression seemed to change while it was clinging on to the side of the building. Its face looked much more relaxed and happier. Jacob’s heart dropped having an idea what it was trying to do. He covered his mouth to not gag.

’Don’t tell me... is it... relieving itself right now?’

Squabee and Enki were walking down the palace steps into town. It was a chilly night, so both of them were equipped with heavy layers of clothes. Squabee was arguing with Enki as they walked.

"So what? All I’m saying is the customers wouldn’t be able to tell anyway. You charmed their plates, so there shouldn’t be anything wrong with charging them extra with an illusion."

"I know I need more money, but that is absolutely awful! How can you even think like that?!"

"Uh, because it’s smart?"

"I think you’ve taken a dozen years off my life since I’ve known you, do you know that?"

"Quit whining, you old fart. Why don’t you just raise the prices of your meals?"

Enki stared off into the distance wistfully.

"I could never do such a thing to my customers. The area that I chose isn’t that wealthy, so many people rely on my food for meals. I need to keep it cheap to feed as many people as possible. I don’t have it in my heart to ever take advantage of those poor unfortunate souls."

"...you spiked their plates dude."

"Ah, but it is not the same, my dear Squabee. You see, people are the foundation of our lives. They are our future. They come to me in their time of need, in search of nourishment and I give them what they seek. They are lost piglings in search of their mom, and I am a humble beast who offers my bosom of nourishing milk. I let them suck me dry until there’s nothing left."

Enki made a strange gesture with his hands, mimicking himself patting the head of someone trying to feed from his body. He whispered to himself softly.

"There there lost pigling. You’re safe."

Squabee stepped on his fit causing him to jump in pain while holding it.

"Quit talking about breastfeeding your customers! You’re making me sick!"

"It was an expression you nut!"

"Well, your expressions suck ass!"

Suddenly, small pellets of a random liquid started splattering over Enki and Squabee. They looked at the sky, slightly confused. There were no clouds in the sky, just stars that expanded infinitely outward.

"Do you feel that too?"

"I do. Is this... rain?"

Enki let some of the liquid pool in his hand. It was a marvelous golden color that looked infinitely vast in his hands. He smelled it carefully, causing his eyes to widen.

"This... this is the answer I’ve been looking for!"

He dug around in his coat jacket before throwing a small device on the ground. He tapped it with his foot, causing the device to grow into a large round bucket.

"Help me collect this stuff! The heavens are blessing us, Squabee!"

Squabee stared up at the sky trying to see where it was coming from. It truly did look like the stars were crying this strange liquid, so she bent down and helped Enki.

"What is this stuff? It smells... delicious!"

"I don’t know, but I agree!"

Squabee let a large amount puddle in her hands. She slowly lifted it to her lips trying to drink some. However, Enki slapped her hands away from herself.

"Don’t drink any! We need to save every last drop!"

"But why?! There’s so much of it!"

Enki smiled devilishly.

"Exactly. I have a plan, and I need you to help me collect as much of this stuff as possible for it to work. Can you do that?"

Squabee nodded her head.

"Let’s do it! But only if you tell me what this plan is."

Enki chuckled and began to whistle a happy tune.

"Let’s just say, we’re about to make a lot of money!"