Because of the threat from Loth and Elaine, John left Myune alone this morning. He only could glare at her grudgingly. He was annoyed because he couldn’t bully her anymore. If only Loth didn’t bring his dragon, John would have bullied her like he usually did.
Ah yes, a dragon. It had been a long time since Myune didn’t find out about these creatures. Today, she spent her time in her garden while reading dragon encyclopedia. The white dragon Lizzy from yesterday bore the power of the white moon like her. Her size was only as big as a cart, the size of a dragon cub, maybe around seven to nine year old.
Dragons were still around in this world. They were strong creatures, and they were even harder to tame than other creatures. The dragons lived at the North of Erda, but the strongest dragon resided in the deepest ocean and the mysterious dragon island in the sky. That place was far from the village. Besides, the places where giant dragons lived were bad for humans. Then, how could Loth tame Lizzy? Did he have dragon-taming talent?
“Seems like you are curious about dragons,” said Elaine as she suddenly appeared behind her. Myune was shocked, and she threw a drink bottle at her head. Elaine moaned in pain. “Aw! That hurts!”
“Why do you always stalk me?” Myune asked.
“Can’t I do that?”
“I have told you to stay away from me!”
“That was only an advice. If that was an order, I would obey it.”
“Then you should consider it as an order now.”
“Too late,” replied Elaine. The fairy sat on the carpet and grabbed a slice of bread from Myune’s basket. “Hmm, delicious. Who made this bread?”
“The servant at home,” Myune answered annoyingly. She ignored her and read the book. She really wanted to clog her ears with something, so she couldn’t her babbling.
“I guessed so. There must be a servant at your house. Your brother must be paying for it,” Elaine commented while looking at Myune’s house from afar. “But why didn’t they attack me when I followed you?” Myune didn’t reply and was still busy reading the book. “Hello, I am trying to be nice with you, Myu.”
“I don’t care about your effort.”
“Why are you always on the edge? People won’t be willing to be friends with you!”
“I have friends. They are books, my strawberry field, and my doll.”
“I am serious! You need to be educated about the importance of friendship by me.” Myune cringed and stared at her grudgingly. “You need to get along with other people. They need to understand you. At least, someone needs to know your favorite color, the music you like or hate, or the place you want to visit the most.”
“Harry knows my favorite book.”
“Oh lord! Harry is an old man! This world is vast, Myu! There are so many places you can visit at the mainland.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t visit the mainland. You know why.”
Elaine threw her body to the ground, feeling frustrated by her uncaring attitude. “I am hungry.” She searched around the basket and didn’t find even a single slice of bread. “Ah, I have eaten a lot.”
Suddenly a branch appeared on her side. Elaine was shocked to see it, especially when she saw three red apple dangling under it.
“You can take it. You must be hungry,” Myune said while still reading her book. She waved her hand around to control the apple tree.”
Elaine took two apples. “Very nice. If only you can use your power for daily use, the farmers don’t have to wait for the harvest season.”
“And then the whole villagers will become lazy,” Myune replied.
Suddenly they heard the sound of a falling branch from the orange field behind them. Something big just crashed against the top of the tree. A few oranges fell to the ground alongside Loth’s figure.
“Loth! What are you doing?” Elaine asked as she approached Loth who seemed to be panicking.
“We must go!” Loth shouted.
“Why?” Elaine asked.
“I fell asleep in the tavern port, and then a loud sound woke me up. Dozens of people visited the port, and they wore the palace uniform and bracelet with Queency symbol,” Loth said, panting. He was tired after flying from the North to the South in high speed.
“Queency?” Myune repeated. Even though nobody in this place ever heard the name, but she knew it. It was the name of a very influential group second only to the moon knight order. They called the members of Queency as geniuses. They were a group of researchers and scientists.
“A noble must have ordered them to target you,” Loth exclaimed.
“Are you sure about that?” Myune asked.
“They are Queency, and your brother is a moon knight. Both of them don’t have good relationship. The nobles who target you are members of Queency. Is that reason enough for you?”
Elaine packed everything and pushed Myune to the road. “You must go home!”
“NO! Don’t! Don’t go to your house! I heard they are going to raid every house in this island,” Loth refued.
“They never saw her face, right?” Elaine asked.
“God, they are the palace’s Queency! They already know every royal family’s face. Some of them can recognize her. We need to find a shelter!”
“A shelter?” Myune asked.
“Yes. I know one. A treehouse. It is far from here. I made it with Lizzy to escape from Elaine,” Loth said, making his cousin glare at him. “What? You are so noisy and annoying. I will never find a peace if I live near you.”
“Yep, agreed,” Myune replied, making Elaine disappointed. The fairy puffed her cheeks.
“Come on! We must go!” Loth invited. Each of the fairy hooked their arms around Myune’s. They were flying toward Loth’s treehouse.
~”~”~”~
That night, Myune couldn’t sleep. She was on her guard while being accompanied by her thick book. Elaine was sleeping peacefully on a pile of cotton. Even Loth—who had promised to protect her all night—was asleep. Elaine was right, she couldn’t depend on him about staying awake all night. Fortunately Lizzy was awake.
“Hai, Lizzy,” Myune greeted. The dragon looked at her and tilted its head. “Can’t sleep?” Lizzy nodded. “Then you can accompany me tonight.” Even though Myune wasn’t its master, Lizzy was tame to her.
Myune brought her small lantern from the room so she could read outside. Usually, she enjoyed word after word that she read, but tonight, the restless feeling haunted her. She decided to turn off the flame to evade something unexpected, but she grew out a few glowing mushrooms to light the way. Myune didn’t like the absolute darkness.
Under the stillness of the cold night, Myune started at the starrish sky with Lizzy. Countless stars and nebula adorned the night. They moved slowly and gradually, the new nebula replaced them. This nation was silent. The moving sky surrounded it.
“I wonder if my brother is staring at the same sky,” she muttered, making Lizzy turn at her. Myune stared at the dragon, and she could see that the dragon was curious about her brother. She smiled and said, “My brother likes books and magic. He especially likes history, folklore, and science. He has a really private library to contain all his books collection. Oh, he has alchemy tools too. In the past, he liked to experimented with bizarre potions, but he ended up making them explode. I saw him once, and I cried in fear because my brother was scorched black because of the explosion.”
Lizzy laughed. It was weird to see a dragon laughing this close to her. Its laugh sounded like it was chocked on something. “Are you okay?” Lizzy nodded and put its head on Myune’s thighs. “Um, should I continue?” Lizzy coughed. “I will take that as yes.”
Myune looked back at the sky and recalled her past with her brother. “My brother liked to lock himself in the library. I never know what he did, but it looked like he was working hard every day, especially after the sad news. I didn’t know my parents were gone until I was six. My brother was always there for me. He took me to play and taught me many things as if nothing bad ever happened to our family. Until one day, my classmates told me that my parents were gone. I fell into despair and cried for several days until my brother apologized.”
There was no response from Lizzy. The dragon seemed to fall asleep. Myune felt sad to be left alone. In the end, she could only enjoy skygazing alone. It was a peaceful night, and the cool wind fluttered her hair.
Suddenly, the sound of broken branch from afar caught her attention. Lizzy heard it too and woke up. The dragon jumped to a tree and look around warily. It showed its sharp claws as if it was ready to attack whoever moving behind the shadow. Its horns shone in white light, preparing its magic.
“What’s wrong?” Loth suddenly appeared, but Myune signed him to be quiet.
“Someone is here,” Myune whispered.
Suddenly an arrow flashed from the dark and hit the tree near at their side. The arrow emanated red light toward Lizzy, and the dragon suddenly fell to the ground.
“Hei! That’s cheating! You can’t—” Before Loth finished his line, an invisible thing hit his face, and he fell beside Lizzy.
Elaine just came out of the treehouse, and she was surprised when she saw a man in black who suddenly appeared in front of Myune. She didn’t see him coming. He was too fast.
“Myune, watch out!” Elaine shouted as she was about to attack the mysterious man, but the cloaked man threw a small arrow at her, and Elaine collapsed.
Myune growled in annoyance. It was obvious that the man was targeting her. She had to use her power to fight the intruder, but the man evaded all the attacks eaily.
As Myune was about to control the vine on the treehouse, the man suddenly grabbed her hand. “The more you use your power, the easier they can find you,” he whispered. He was a boy. From the voice, he sounded young.
“Who are you? You are not with the Queency?” Myune asked.
“I am sorry, your highness,” he replied. A chop landed on her back, and she collapsed to the ground.
