Chapter Text
During my conversation with Lucifer, I kept looking at Markus; even when we went silent, I kept glancing over. He got the tavern excited with his high-sprung energy. He danced with a few other people until he ended up just watching the band.

He had brought them water I hadn't noticed him come over for. The band seemed thankful for Markus, and they all began conversation once the bard and the half-dragon had finished up for the night. I noticed that Markus tucked a bracelet into his cloak while talking, and I realized the half-dragon was now missing some jewelry on his wrist. Markus must have stolen it from him.

Markus finishes his conversation with them, wishing them a farewell while heading towards me; I quickly avert my gaze to make it look like I wasn't fully staring at him. Once Markus is in front of me, I turn to face him again.

"If you wanted to talk to me badly, you could have just asked." He says with a chuckle. I feel my face get slightly hot as I purposefully kick his ankle. He falls over in pain and the jewelry he had taken falls right onto the floor. They spot the gold, and the half-dragon looks incredibly angry.

"Now would be the perfect time for me to bring you to my spot." He whispers to me while he quickly pulls himself to his feet. He is now grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the tavern in a rush. The dragon born had planned on running out after us, but I watched the bard tell him it wasn't worth the effort as the door slammed behind us.

Cold rushes into my face with the brisk night wind; I shiver as I continue holding his hand. My heart rushes with anticipation and nervousness. I'm often blunt and harsh, so where is this shy half-orc coming from? I keep myself silent and squeeze his hand to see if I can take his excitement and blend it with my feelings through each other's hands.

"Are you up for some climbing?" He asks but doesn't wait for me to respond. He releases my hand and takes that hand to grab onto a ladder that I never noticed. He is now using the metal ladder attached to the tavern to start climbing to the top of the building. The metal looks incredibly rusty, and the black paint put upon the rust just seemed to be fully peeled up.

I trudge myself up the ladder; Markus has already reached the top. He must have used some form of magic to get himself moving so quickly. I ignore that idea and pull myself up until I'm on the tiled roof.

He looks accomplished as I stand next to him. "I put that ladder there thinking it would be cool to climb on the roof." He jokingly kicks at it but ends up hitting the ladder. Before the poorly attached ladder could fall, I grabbed it in a rush. I just about threw myself off the roof. I quickly glare at Markus as he nervously chuckles.

"Well, I never said I had done a good job." He grabs the ladder from me and pushes it against the building again. The ladder loudly rattles against the side of the tavern.

"I thought that was attached to the wall," I say with a slightly shaky tone. "It used to be attached, not anymore," Markus comments, and now I feel somewhat nervous.

I used to be deathly afraid of heights when younger, and I have been able to repress that fear for the longest time, especially if there is a way to get down. With an unstable ladder, I feel the need to panic.

"Nashi, is something wrong?" He asks me with a worried look, and I shake my head no as I look down. Something clicks in his head as he sits me down on the roof. I practically have frozen up in nervousness. What if I fall off the top? I don't understand what freaks me out the most about the distance, but I'm still freezing up as he sits beside me.

"Look up; the stars look so good from here." He says to me, and I listen as I glance up. I thought he could have been lying to distract me, but looking at the stars above, I am awed.

These craters within the sky have never left me so memorized before, but from where I sit, they just seem to shine so brightly. I feel as if I'm so close that I could just reach out and touch them. I look back to Markus with less panic to see him staring at me. Once he has been caught, he flushes and looks away from me.

"So, I need to talk to you about something." He mentions, which has me slightly nervous. Did I do something wrong? I stop and think about that thought. Why did I even care if I had done something wrong? I shouldn't care if I hurt his feelings or if he doesn't like me, but I just want him to stick by my side.

"It's not a bad thing!" He says reassuringly, "Unless you take it that way, I recommend forgetting what I mention to you." Markus seems nervous; he fiddles with his cloak, and I don't say anything. I wait for his response and hope I don't take it badly.

"It has been great sticking with you. I could tell you were hiding so much at first with how much bluntness and anger you kept showing me, and I could tell I was getting on your nerves." His face is still red, and I hope he isn't looking for an appropriate point to yell at me.

"You warmed up to me, and I appreciate that. I like that I get to know this side of you that isn't always so angry and alone." He smiles, and I can't help but give him a smile back. It's such a genuine smile on my face that I'm worried my cheeks might hurt afterward.

"You don't want to admit it, Nashi, but you are incredibly great." He hesitates before waiting for me to say something. He must think he pushed it too far, but I gesture for him to continue. "I can't stop thinking about you all the time, so this is me trying to confess something to you, but it's tough."

He is about to continue, and my heart is racing in anticipation of what he will ask me. I keep focusing on him, and my heart is thumping; I can even feel it in my throat. I want to press myself closer, and he wants to move closer as he doesn't finish his sentence. He moves towards me, and we face each other so that I can just about feel his breath. I cup his face, about to move in, until we hear an ear-splitting screech.

That has the both of us reeling back, and we are so far away from each other. That scream wasn't human. That was a full-blown dragon making that sound. The ground is shaking because it must have landed. In a panic, I grab Markus' hand and drag him down the ladder.

"Nashi, hold up! What is that?" He questions in a panic as we make it to the ground, and I don't have time to respond as I pull out my sword and let go of him to grip my sword tightly with both hands. Lucifer comes running out of the tavern as the others within the tavern join him outside.

"Was that a dragon?" Lucifer questions, which has Markus' eyes widening to enormous size. I nod, and Markus decides to speak up as I search for where the dragon has come from.

"Why would a dragon even be around here? That shouldn't be possible!" He shouts, and I can't answer his question. Surely it must be a baby dragon, perhaps? Landed in the wrong area while practicing with its wings. Those things, even though it is uncommon, do happen. I keep looking around, and soon enough, my questions get answered as something moves towards me.

It's a massive adult dragon. Something is entirely wrong with the thing. It looks so forcefully put together that someone must have cast magic onto an innocent dragon, and I feel the need to vomit. The dragon is covered in patches of magical hair. The hair shines brightly, and it practically blinds my eyesight.

The dragon has three eyes instead of two as the usual type of dragon has; this eye slightly bugs out as it looks over me. It has standard scales, though, but they don't match the hair. What has been created is entirely unnatural, which has me terrified.

"If you cannot fight, get back inside the tavern now!" I shout, hoping Markus is also listening. He isn't a fighter; he is a healer. I need him to protect others if this thing starts injuring innocent civilians. Markus stands proudly next to me, and I feel the urge to drag him by the back of his cloak into the tavern.

"I can handle this." He tells me sternly, and I want to tell him he cannot handle this battle, but he is incredibly determined that I cannot just stop him. I give him a nod as I look towards Lucifer to see he already has his dagger out in preparation. I watch the dragon slowly lower its head so we can completely see the back.

As the dragon lowers, we can see the person that had given us the quest, and my stomach drops. We are the cause of this; these ingredients are what we had collected. The guy rips off the hood of his cloak to reveal an older human face. His head of hair and beard are entirely grey with specks of black hair. He wears a crown resembling the one from the kingdom ruled here. History classes from childhood benefit this as I realized this was the old king. We had just helped the evil that once controlled us. He cackles and grins at me with a toothy grin, making chills run down my back.

"Hello, Nashi; a pleasure to make your acquaintance again."