“How many times have I told you that you need to find a way to deal with those spores if you want to sleep with me, hmm? Didn't I say it’s only a matter of time before it’ll happen one day? Guess what? It happened!”
“Wha- No, me snoring occasionally isn’t the same thing as this! You need-”
“I know it’ll be uncomfortable, and I’m not asking you to plug your nose! There are plenty of other ways for you to deal with this issue!”
“That’s not going to solve the problem! What if those spores got into our food next time, hmm? Our supplies? Even if it isn’t hazardous, it’s going to cause a mess that’ll only slow us down, especially when it’s so easy to avoid! I can take the cold! I don't need to sleep with you-”
“Oh my god, why are you being so stubborn?! No, you don’t get to blame me for not punishing you earlier because you didn't come with with a solution! You- Are you listening to yourself right now? You're telling me that it’s uncomfortable for plant dragons to not do that, and then you turn around to blame me for not forcing you to stop doing it earlier??”
“This isn’t my responsibility! You will figure out the solution by yourself, and until you do, you’re not eating any store-bought vegetables or fruits, especially salads! End of discussion!”
Ryder strode forward in a huff while Green continued to grumble in a low volume.
“Someone’s affinity is going to drop.” Purple’s mouth curved upward.
“Don’t think you’re better than him! You need to stop your midnight flying and wake us up every time!” The rider pointed as he walked by Brown.
“Or what? You’re going to take away my meat? Don’t count on my help if-”
“I WILL! And I am more than certain I can last far longer without your help than you not having your meat prepared by me!!” He then stepped away even further from his dragons.
A bolt of electricity danced between the purple dragon’s horn. Instead of expressing anger like he often did, his eyes narrowed as he leaned toward Brown. “It’s a rare sight to see him so worked up.”
The brown dragon gave him a side eye. “Are you not aware that Ryder barely got any sleep while we trekked through that jungle?”
“Really? I thought it was a pretty great to sleep, despite the unusually eerie atmosphere. The air was refreshing, and the moss there made for great beds. The chirping was soothing too.”
“Most mortals don’t sleep on moss, including Ryder. He also doesn't have tough bodies like us, so the insects there had been interrupting his rest.”
“The insects interrupted his rest? Tsk tsk tsk. And he calls himself a dragon rider?”
“He mentioned before that the insects in his world are far smaller than the ones in this world. It’s only natural that, even with magic, he found it difficult to sleep in their presence.”
“Ah, so that’s why he was so desperate to avoid that jungle and even had the audacity to ask me fly us through instead. I would’ve given it more consideration if he had voiced his concern.”
Brown gave another side glance at Purple.
“What?”
“I’ll be accompanying Ryder until we arrive in the next city. Keep an eye out on Green.” She then trotted toward her rider.
Purple clicked his tongue and reluctantly slowed his pace until the lower dragon caught up to him. Both of them strolled side-by-side without speaking a word to each other. It was the same for the other two too, for the initial few moments.
“Feel free to lie down.” A patch of clean and dry mound the length of the human appeared and followed behind him.
Ryder glanced at the mound, sat, and let out a weary sigh. “I miss my home. I miss my bed. I miss clean clothes that I can change whenever I want, and get a shower whenever I feel like it. I always thought it’ll be fun to travel in a fantastical world, but I’m starting to feel it’s not worth losing the comfort of my home.”
“Imagine the horror if you have to live in this world for your entire life.” Her lips curved upward.
“That is awf-” He cut his sentence short as shades of red colored his cheeks. His head hung low with an embarrassed smile.
“Would you have rather not come to this world at all?”
“No.” The rider lifted his head. “I mean, I would if I can’t ever go back. But since I can once Moros is taken out, I will never regret experiencing this adventure, as painful as it can and has been. Our world might be safe and very comfortable, but it’s… suffocating. It’s boring. It’s not as freeing as this world.”
“It’s not as freeing as you think had you been born in this world instead of visiting it like a tourist.” Brown gazed into the distance. “I would say a boring but safe world is always better than an exciting but perilous one.” Her gaze shifted back to Ryder. “But then I’d be a hypocrite.”
“Every world has its own pros and cons, I guess. Who knows, maybe this world will evolve into something in between, considering how much world-voyagers have influenced this realm. A mostly safe, but still exciting world would be fun to live in.” Ryder stretched his arms and yawned.
Right as he was about to lie down, both he and his dragon were ticked off by a presence not too far away from them. The duo looked at each other before the rider gestured to the two other dragons at the back to catch up with them. Green saw and looked away with a pout. Purple rolled his eyes and pulled the plant dragon’s vine, forcing him to head forward.
The gang was still strolling forward at a casual pace while heightening their guard. Eventually, they saw diminished ruins of buildings on both sides of the street ahead. There was an odd path of long grasses that branched off from the road and toward one of the ruined houses. Along the way, they saw skeletons. Some of their clothes were older than the others. When they arrived at that ruined house, they could feel an ominous aura emitting from behind the tall grasses.
“Green.” The dragon rider lowered his fingers, and his partner nodded.
When all the grasses were lowered at the same time, they saw skeletons and decomposing corpses scattered everywhere. However, there was a space a couple of meters away from them that was devoid of any bodies. At the center of that space was the onyx knight. It was staring at the object in front it as the greatsword was planted between its feet. An ordinary person would’ve thought the knight was a weird statue, but to those versed in magic, they could see a sickly black aura around the knight. The object, as seen by the dragons, was a strange one. There were a bunch of white, slim rectangular cuboids with black variants attached at the vertical center of the object. There were also pedals at the bottom, though it was partially obscured by a chair.
Ryder’s eyes widened. “A piano?”
“What’s that?” Purple inquired.
“An instrument from my world…” The human stepped forward. “I can’t believe someone managed to build this. They must’ve been an awesome musician- wait, no, musicians don’t build instruments. What am I saying?”
“It will be unwise to approach it any further, Ryder,” Brown advised.
“I’m only going to take a closer look-” The moment he stepped past the ruined house, the knight’s helmet snapped in his direction and ambled toward him. The human stopped, turned at an angle, and stepped away while observing the entity. Seeing that he wasn’t walking toward the piano anymore, the knight returned to its original position. When Ryder tried to go closer to the instrument again, the knight faced him once more.
The rider returned to his dragons with a solemn expression. “Seems like that thing’s protecting the piano. Why?”
“The city will likely have the answers to your questions. Perhaps they may even have a request to eliminate it."
“Those mortals better pay us handsomely if they do.” Purple scoffed.
The dragon rider gang carried on with their journey as fields of crops began to enter their sight. As the city walls grew higher, the degree of destruction decreased until there were living homes.
