Chapter 76: Chapter Sixty-Nine – Acquiring Coffee Again

“I think there was a rather large border city not far from here,” I noted after Neige had us land for the day. “We could get your presents for Lucetta tomorrow if you like.” 

“Let’s grab presents on the way back,” Neige replied as she set up a simple tent. “I don’t want to burden Gloria for longer than she has to be.” 

“That’s smart,” I smiled. “I didn’t even think about Gloria being burdened, she looks so powerful.” 

“It’s half muscle and half magic that allows her to fly like she does. It’s a natural instinct to use magic for flight, but it’s set. If we overburden her physically, she cannot call upon more magic to compensate.” 

“That makes sense. Hey is there anything I can help with?” 

“No, I’m nearly done. Besides you’ve done a lot for me, now I want to be of service to you. So let me take care of everything.” 

“I don’t feel like I’ve done a lot, Lucetta was pretty easy to convince.” 

“I didn’t know she existed before I met you. I would’ve never had the chance to convince her without you. So no more of this, let me treat you.” 

“Treat me eh?” I giggled. “Is that why we only have one tent? So that you can treat me?” 

“What?” Neige gazed at me in confusion for a second before her cheeks began to turn pink. “That’s not… I didn’t want the extra weight of two tents.” 

“You weren’t looking forward to sleeping by my side?” 

“As amazing as you are,” Neige’s face flushed bright red, “I’ve not known you long enough to look forward to such things.” 

“But you said earlier today that you felt like kissing me.”

“I said I was getting there! If I wanted to kiss you, I could’ve already done it.”

“So you don’t want to kiss me?” 

“Wha… stop twisting my words, you know what I meant.” 

“Do I?” 

“Yes, you do, pervert.” 

“Pervert? You’re getting awfully defensive Neige. Perhaps you’ve never been kissed?” 

“I have too been kissed.” 

“Yeah, family doesn’t count.” 

“Still…”

“I’m listening Neige, tell me all about your first time.” 

“I’m… I don’t have to! Now, be quiet, I have to concentrate. You don’t want me to burn your dinner do you?” 

“Seeing how you haven’t even started cooking, I don’t see how burning our food is much of a concern right now.” 

“Please… just stop.” 

“As you wish,” I giggled and patted Neige on the back as she worked to prepare a small campfire. “Out of curiosity, how’d you meet Gloria?” 

“She was raised in my village. Capturing wyverns in the wild is difficult, and full-fledged adults are almost impossible to tame. Our ancestors probably stole wyvern chicks, but by the time I was a child Gloria was just one of many eggs other tamed wyverns had laid.” 

“For a people capable of taking to the skies as they pleased, it is hard to imagine any event that could have resulted in you being the last of your kind.” 

“Having children was seen as a bother in our culture. It was something you only did once you’d tidied up everything else you wanted to do. We live such long lives, everyone always thought of having a child as something to do in the next decade, or century. There was just not enough of us left to react I guess.” 

“That’s unfortunate.” 

“Yeah, but it’s all in the past now. I have no intention of attempting to instill snow elf value in Lucetta. I want to see my people thrive, and it is obvious to me that following the old ways is counterintuitive to that desire.” 

“What kind of culture are you going for then?” 

“I don’t know,” Neige frowned as she filled a pot with various foodstuff. “Maybe when our numbers are in the hundreds I can think about it.” 

“It shouldn’t be long, there has to be tons of people looking for a second lease on life. If we can offer them that in exchange for becoming snow elves, I’m certain they’d agree.” 

“They may agree, but will Lady Ladnier? Won’t it become bothersome for her?” 

“Maybe. But we could teach my younger sister Eskame the spells required as she grows older, and maybe even enlist a second Otrea.” 

“A second Otrea?” 

“Did I forget to tell you about that?” 

“Yes?! How can we enlist two of the same person?! Also, how are you so certain your sister can recreate Otrea’s magic?” 

“It’s a really long story.” 

“We have all night.” 

For the rest of the night, until we went to bed, I regaled Neige with the story of what’d happened in my life since originally leaving Earth. The already long story becoming exponentially longer as Neige would frequently stop me to ask questions. By the time I was done, Neige looked as if she was about to pass out from information overload, and the two of us went straight to bed. 

Over the next two days Neige and I travelled swiftly through the air, finally arriving in the shadow of the volcano where coffee could be found. “There it is,” I called out excitedly, “we want the fruit from that tree.” 

“Okay, I’ll have Gloria land next to the grove.” 

Neige had Gloria descend to the earth in a downward spiral right above the coffee trees. We were hovering above the branches when a massive shadow appeared overhead. 

“Hold on tight!” Neige shouted as Gloria took off, zigzagging between the taller surrounding trees as she tried to gain altitude. Behind us, a massive red dragon gave chase. Fire coiled in its maw only to extinguish without escaping its throat, forcing the dragon to knock trees away with its claws. Being smaller and more agile, Gloria was able to keep her distance, until we rose above the treetops. 

“Wait go back down!” 

“We can’t, Gloria can’t keep flying like that.” 

“But–“ Swiping its claws at Gloria, the dragon knocked us out of the sky. Wrapping my arms around Neige I hopped from Gloria’s saddle, creating a small disk of compressed air to stand upon. Before I could hop a second time, the dragon rammed its head into me, hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. 

Neige and I fell to the ground, impacting the earth hard enough to send us both flying in separate directions. I heard a sickening snap in my shoulder as pain flooded my body. As I rolled and tumbled I couldn’t help but scream in pain. Finally my body came to a rest after slamming into the side of a large tree with enough force to indent the wood. 

“Who are you?” Libelle hissed. She was in her human form now, though she’d kept her wings and tail materialized. My vision was blurred to the point I could just barely make out her outline, but I felt certain it was her. 

Spitting out blood I attempted to speak only to fail.

“I asked you a question,” Libelle growled grabbing me by the collar and forcing me to my feet. The action jostled something broken and caused a whimpering scream of agony to escape my throat. 

“Ber-berr-nii.” 

I blacked out. The unimaginable pain I felt was beyond anything I could handle, and my mind gave up on trying. The last thought to go through my mind was a quiet wish that Neige and Gloria would be able to escape. If one of us had to die, I’d rather it be me, it was my plan after all.

“Wake her up,” Libelle’s voice echoed in the darkness of my mind. 

“Miss Dragon… she was very badly injured, you should allow the poor girl time to rest.” 

“No. Wake her up.” 

“A-As you wish.” 

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A bright golden light flashed, dragging my consciousness up to the surface of my mind. Opening my eyes I found myself in a cavern full of priceless treasures. Libelle standing to one side of me, glaring angrily, while an elderly priest stood on the other. 

“Say something,” Libelle commanded me, her eyes narrowing in rage. 

“Hi Libelle.” 

“Take all the treasure your hands can hold and get out of my sight,” Libelle growled at the priest. “Do not tell anyone about this place. I’ll kill anyone who comes near uninvited.” 

“Yes, ma’am,” the priest bowed to Libelle before scooping up piles of gold coins and running for the exit. 

“Now answer my question, who are you?” 

“I am Bernice Edelberg.” 

“Not your name. You smell like a god and… you smell like me. When I watched you dying in the forest, I felt as if my own life-force was being drained away, why? What are you to me?” 

“Well… a future alternate reality version of you swore an oath to me, maybe that’s it?” 

“A future… alternate?” Libelle’s face scrunched up in confusion before she finally shook away the thought. “You’re my master then, is that it?” 

“Yes.” 

“And you named me Libelle?” 

“A different version of you, yes. Looks like it transferred over, somehow.” 

“How? You’re… so weak.” 

“The one who defeated you, wasn’t me. She wanted to kill you, I begged for leniency. She ordered you to become oath-bound to me in exchange for your life.”

Libelle hummed and thought for a moment before holding out her hand. “I don’t quite understand it, but this means you’ve saved my life once, and I’ve saved yours. We’re even.” 

“You saved mine from injuries you caused though…” 

“We’re even.” 

“Fine. So you want to break the oath or something?” 

“No. I simply wish for you to remember that we are even, so you do not make demeaning requests of me. Serving you until you die is a lot simpler than trying to break an oath.” 

“I thought when I died, you died. Even if it’s old age that claims me.” 

“Is that how it works?” Libelle gazed at me in concern. “Perhaps this… alternate future me, learned something about it that I do not know. Maybe we should break the oath.” 

“I’m… willing, as long as you promise not to kill me the moment it is broken.” 

“I will not kill you,” Libelle huffed. “As long as you don’t steal anything from me. But we cannot break the oath today,” Libelle narrowed her eyes at me. “You are not strong enough for it.” 

“Why does that matter?” 

“You have bound me, therefore you must cast the spell that frees me, you’re not strong enough to learn the spell.”

“How strong do I have to be?” 

“Level one-hundred probably. How long do bunnies like you live?” 

“Ten thousand years.” 

Libelle’s eyebrow twitched. “Answer me honestly.” 

“That is the honest truth, I’m going to live for ten thousand years.” 

“Then… by serving you, I could extend my own lifespan significantly.”

“How?” 

“We dragons also have a ten thousand year lifespan, though many of us die before we reach the end of it. The oath however, alters how we age. I will not continue to grow older normally, instead my body will forcefully preserve itself to move at your pace, allowing me to serve you until the natural end of your life. If I can protect you, my remaining lifespan will increase from less than four thousand years, to over nine thousand years. It makes you worth keeping around, assuming you’re not lying to me.” 

“You have my permission to cast a truth spell on me, or whatever else you need to do to believe what I’m saying is truth.” 

“I am willing to attempt trusting you, Master.” 

“Thanks,” I breathed a sigh of relief before frowning. “Libelle… did Neige and Gloria make it?” 

“Your companion and her mount? They were both able to flee this place. I decided not to pursue them as healing you was more important.” 

“Ah… wonderful. Thank you Libelle, I’m glad to know they’re safe.” 

“Why did you bring them here Master? If you’ve already bound me once, you knew I’d be waiting here.” 

“Last time we were at the coffee trees for some time before you showed up. I thought if we hurried and collected all the fruit then flew off, you wouldn’t care to give chase.” 

“You were wrong.” 

“Yeah I was.”

“All you came here for was the fruit off the trees?” 

“Yes.”

“Even though you were so close to my horde? You see all these priceless treasures around you, you didn’t come for any of them?” 

“I’m… rather wealthy, I don’t really need any of this stuff.” 

“You… really only came here for fruit?” 

“Yeah.” 

Libelle sighed, “Come on then. Collect your fruit and I’ll fly you home.” 

“Really?!” 

“You are my master, this much should be expected.” 

“The other version of you was much harder to tame, so I’m surprised.” 

“She fought and lost, I never got the chance to fight,” Libelle groaned. “It is different. I felt the specter of death even though I didn’t suffer a single wound. It’s all so… frustrating. Even my fire betrayed me.” 

“I’m… sorry?” 

“Don’t be. I would’ve ate you alive if not for this… You outplayed me Master, even if you didn’t intend to.” 

“Well then,” I smiled and gave Libelle a tight hug. “Haha I win.” 

“You’re… confusing.” 

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