Chapter 74: Chapter 073

Henry didn’t fly far away from where he caused the fire that turned wild. Not that he couldn’t, just that he didn’t need to. He was looking for shelter and he found one quite nearby. There was a high cliff with natural arch-shaped boulders that overlooked a vast portion of this exotic and novel forest of a whole other world.

Compared to the other places that Henry was able to appraise from afar, the cliff was untouched by the exotic plants of this strange world where spires of islands floated in the skies and fishes swam in the air like it was the sea. This was what made him decide to take shelter here instead of anywhere else. And as far as he could tell, there was no other presence in the vicinity but he couldn’t be too sure about that, so he remained vigilant.

“We can take shelter here,” Henry said.

“Is it safe here?” Iluna asked. The unease in her voice was apparent.

“Safer than most other places at least but we must remain vigilant. There’s no telling what kind of threat lurks outside our notice. So don’t let your guard down ever.”

“I understand, Lord Henry. Just… Just take us to the ground already.”

As soon as Henry landed on the cliff, Iluna hopped off of him and ran to the nearest shade where she slumped to the ground and leaned against the pillar of a small arch. Her hands were clasped together close to her chest and she was breathing rapidly as if she was asthmatic. Henry was dumbfounded at first but upon hearing her heartbeat and smelling her fear, he knew she was in shock.

Henry sighed and assumed his human form, which was now the appearance of a boy in his latter adolescent years. He approached Iluna in this form. He wasn’t naked, of course. Nadea had taken that into consideration when she rewarded Henry with this ability. He was dressed in plain garments that wouldn’t look out of place in terms of Ulrum’s fashion.

Henry knelt beside Iluna and threw an arm around her shoulders. Feeling an arm slung over her, she jumped in fright and clambered away from Henry.

“W-what the—!” Iluna squealed. “Who are you!?” she screamed. “W-where’s Lord Henry!? What have you done with him!?” She was none the wiser about Henry’s transformation. She was too engrossed in calming herself down that she didn’t notice Henry’s transformation.

Henry smiled wryly. “I am Henry, Iluna. This is my… human form, shall we say?”

“H-human f-form?” she stammered but his words got through to her. She slowly reached her hand out and touched his face gently with her soft and delicate fingers. “L-Lord Henry… it’s you…”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Were you always able to turn into a human?”

“Not always. It’s an ability I acquired recently, you can say.”

“I see…”

“So, how are you feeling?” Henry asked as his hand grabbed Iluna’s hand that was still caressing his face.

“Oh, apologies. I didn’t mean to.” Iluna realised she was still touching Henry’s face and she tried to retract her hand.

“It’s alright, Iluna.” But Henry did not let her retract her hand.

“P-please let go of my hand, Lord Henry.”

“Why? Do you hate it?”

“N-no… It’s not because I hate it. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, Lord Henry.”

Henry chuckled. “Well, I quite like your touch, Iluna. You're warm… soft… and… you smell nice.”

“T-thank you, Lord Henry, but I would like to have my hand back.”

“Of course.” Henry let go of Iluna’s hand with a sad smile. He wasn’t normally this shameless but since Iluna had the scent of a mate, he just couldn’t help but be audacious and bold with his advances. Granted, the time and place weren’t exactly right but he was going nuts just from being beside her.

It was taking a lot of Henry’s willpower to not just pounce on her right here and now. His lust had become greater now that he was in his human form. But he didn’t wish to return to his Dragon form just yet. The main reason was that this human form of his brought Iluna some comfort and his other reason was that he quite liked the struggle he was facing. Feeling lust was a good thing. The only thing bad about it was the time and place.

“Are you not afraid, Lord Henry?”

“Afraid?”

“What if we never get to return?”

“Why do you think we can’t return?”

“Because I couldn’t sense my link with the moon. I am the chosen of the moon. No matter where I am, I can always sense the moon’s presence, even during the day. But now, I couldn’t sense anything at all, not even a faint trace of the moon.”

Henry placed his hand on top of Iluna’s lap with a sanguine smile. “We will find a way to return, Iluna. I promise you.”

Iluna nodded. “I believe you, Lord Henry.”

Henry could tell Iluna didn’t exactly believe his words but she was at her wit’s end. She merely decided to take solace in the sweet hopeful promise rather than accepting the cold barren despair encroaching around her heart.

The winds picked up then. Iluna shivered, her hands wrapping around herself. “I’m cold,” she said with a voice that was shivering as much as her body was.

The sun was still out, hanging at the zenith, but the weather was unusually cold in comparison to Ulrum and Earth.

As Henry stood up from the ground, Iluna lurched forward and grabbed Henry tightly by the hem of his tunic. “W-where are you going?” she asked with unease.

Henry just smiled and stroked her hand and head. “You’re cold, right? I’m going to go look for wood to make a fire.”

“Will you be long?”

“I won’t know. That will depend on my luck, or our luck, shall we say?”

“Can’t you just make a fire with your Fire Breath or something?”

“Silly girl. For a fire to burn continuously, it needs something to burn. The grass will do just fine but what if it spreads?”

“Like that?” Iluna pointed behind him.

He followed her finger and found her pointing at the giant blaze he caused in the not-so-far off distance.

“Yeah, like that. Imagine us in the middle of that inferno. Would you want to be in that situation?”

Iluna shook her head.

Henry tittered and tousled her hair. “Well, there you have it.”

“I’m not a child, Lord Henry,” Iluna said and gently shoved his hand away. “I would appreciate it if you don’t treat me like one.”

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“Oh, I apologise, Iluna. But I can’t help it.”

She narrowed her gaze. “You can’t help it?”

“I find this… vulnerable side of you quite endearing. The stark contrast of your composed and dignified demeanour is just too adorable.”

“Why do I feel like you are relishing my anguish?”

Henry just laughed in response and went to find wood for the fire. He didn’t tread far from Iluna as he feared he might have overlooked a threat and it would pounce on Iluna in his absence. He devoted half of his focus on Iluna all the while trying to look for any wood dry enough to be burned. Everything and everywhere was damp. The air here seemed to be very humid.

There was a small grove just down the slope from where the arches were. The trees had leaves of various shapes and colours. There were even leaves that were shaped like clovers but blue and maple-like leaves but purple. It was simply a dazzling spectacle but knowing just how ruthless and vicious nature could be, Henry had his guard up as he began to harvest wood from these trees.

When he realised his human form was too small to carry all the wood, he returned to his true form.

Fortunately, nothing attacked him even after he finished gathering the wood he needed. He tasted the leaves, wood, and saps but he didn’t discern any poison. Though he had high resistance towards poison, that didn’t mean he couldn’t detect poison. In fact, it actually made him more sensitive to poison. Deeming it safe, he brought the wood back to the arches.

Iluna did not stray from where Henry last saw her. She was still huddling under the small arch with her arms wrapped around her knees. Her expression brightened when she saw Henry returning with wood in his paws.

“You’re finally back!” she exclaimed.

Henry raised an eyebrow. “I was barely gone for ten minutes.”

“But it felt longer than that.”

Henry smiled wryly and proceeded to make a campfire. First he collected the stones around them and arranged them into a ring where he piled the logs and branches within. He did not have any tinder but he didn’t need them. His Fire Breath was enough to start a fire on its own. In no time at all, the fire was easily made and Iluna immediately moved close to the fire and warmed herself up.

Iluna gasped in delight as the warmth of the flames became her veil. A smile adorned her face.

“Thank you, Lord Henry,” she said.

“You’re most welcome, Iluna.”

“You have saved my life once again.”

“Don’t be dramatic now. It’s just a fire. I’m sure you would have found some way to brave this yourself even if I wasn't around.”

“I wouldn’t have, Lord Henry. My duties and responsibilities as a High Priestess are all that I ever know. I don’t know the first thing about making a fire.”

“You live amongst forests, no?”

“Yes, but my daily needs are taken care of by my aid and assistants. I’m no different than a… child.” Iluna said the last part in a small voice. “I don’t even clean my own body. I think they would even gladly spoon-feed me my meals if I wished.”

“You’re like royalty,” Henry said and plopped down right beside Iluna in his human form.

“I’m essentially an emissary of a goddess. I think I’m even higher than royalty.”

“Hmm… maybe I should start calling you ‘Your Grace’ or ‘Your Excellency’.”

Iluna tittered. “Milady is enough, Lord Henry. Titles are the grandeur and obsession of humans. We do respect the titles are rightfully bestowed but we don’t place frivolous significance or forged importance in titles as humans do.”

“I heard the Lavans have a lot of associations with humans. Is that true?”

“It is.” Iluna nodded. “Do you perhaps dislike humans, Lord Henry?”

“I don’t hate them but I don’t particularly like them either. I’m just wary of their greed.”

“You share the same sentiment with the rest of Ulrum, Lord Henry. But yes, we have a lot of dealings with humans. We’re not fond of them either but it was a necessary association.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Rare stones. Precious materials. Exotic ingredients. Sometimes, they even ask for the creatures of Ulrum. In exchange, they gave us the same thing in return but to their taste. However, the crux of these dealings is to prevent humans from invading Ulrum. If we don’t trade with them, they will resort to violence and force.”

“How typical.”

“It appears Lord Henry understands humans well.”

Henry smiled sorrowfully.

“While Ulrum had the abundance of Murux in defence, humans have their terrifying war machines. I have seen a few of them firsthand. If their words can be believed, they have thousands of these war machines in their homelands. If they unleashed these mechanical beasts on us, Ulrum would be at a loss.”

Henry sighed. He felt like laughing as the backstory was so trite but one aspect that piqued his interest was the so-called war machines. He had thought Ulrum to be a setting of mediaeval fantasy but war machines didn’t sound like something out of a mediaeval period. Then, he remembered Nadea’s words. He vaguely recalled she mentioned something about his expectations being off the mark.

“War machines… I’m not familiar with these war machines of theirs but are they made of metal perhaps?”

“I’m not too clear on this matter, Lord Henry, but I distinctly remember the humans boasting about the materials used for their machines. It’s called Titanium Alloy if memory serves.”

Now, Henry was starting to get interested in seeing the humans of the world Ulrum resided in. “Interesting,” he muttered.

“It is fascinating. It would have been an excellent subject for the scholars of Lavans if these war machines weren’t also harbingers of death.”

Just then, there was a sound of an explosion, rousing the two’s attention. Henry leapt to his and returned to his true form. He followed the sound and found out it came from the forest fire he started, which was still spreading.

As he squinted his gaze into the distance, there was another explosion. More accurately, it was the after-effect of something or someone striking too hard and resulting in an explosion from the force of that strike.

“Lord Henry, what’s going on?” Iluna asked as she came up to his side and stared in the same direction. “A battle?”

“It would appear so.”

“Will we be alright?”

There was another explosion and it was closer to the cliff than before.

“That remains to be seen,” Henry answered gravely.

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