Rescue - 1

Nevaeh was going south east as precisely as she could, turning along the entwining pathway, cherishing solitude. There were such less moments when she had been completely alone. Nothing eventful happened, making her a tad worried. Evening had passed, the sun had disappeared, but she kept walking, hoping that she was headed on the correct course. A distant roaring sound compelled her to quicken her pace.

After walking a short distance, she came across a bunch of hunters. Six men in raggedy, greyish cotton-like clothes were prodding and beating what seemed like a baby Dragon stuck in a trap. The Dragon was about 9 feet tall and was a piercing blue. The men had a thick metal net thrown over the dragon which was unable to get out of the same. It was weakly attempting to flap its wings, but for some reason wasn't being able to succeed.

'Whoa!' gaped Nevaeh, internally cursing a stupid Loki who let her storm off all alone into a forest which inhabits such deadly creatures.

This was her first encounter with a real dragon and she froze. One of the hunters drew some sort of iron rod and prodded its stomach, making it roar in agony.

Nevaeh approached them with caution. 'Hey, what is going on here? Nevaeh asked casually, halting next to them, 'Are you relocating her?'

'Him, and no,' one of them replied. He carried a quizzical frown as if wondering which kind of relocation involves torture.

'This baby is dinner. How would you like to join us, beaut?' asked another, grinning widely, although she had completely diverted her attention towards the dragon.

'Dinner, you say?' Nevaeh asked, still looking at the dragon. His huge eyes were going in and out of focus, like it was about to pass out. He had shiny silvery scales all over his body. 'Isn't dragon blood or meat supposed to be poisonous?'

'Only if the dragon is an embodiment of evil. These dragons – well, let's just say his meat will be incredibly tender.'

'Scum,' Nevaeh spat.

She turned around sharply, suddenly facing the six of them with one hand above her head which was holding a brownish-black stick and the next thing they knew was nothing, because they all were unconscious.

Nevaeh quickly went near the dragon. It was a high possibility that the dragon might eat her as soon as she let him out, but that was a risk she was willing to take. He had a rough blue hide. His wings were curled up at his sides as he lay on the ground. His breaths were turning sharp and hefty. The silvery scales all over his hide were reflecting a bluish tint.

She broke him free from the trap, only to realize that one of his wings and lower stomach were wildly slashed which was the only reason he couldn't move. He had a few red burns on his sides looking like spread-out blotches of red ink on blue paper, which Nevaeh was guessing were inflicted by those fancy metallic rods. A few of his scales were spread across the ground. Nevaeh picked two of them up. She approached him in order to take a look at his wounds.

The dragon growled threateningly. He was staring at her through unblinking eyes of two different colours. His right eye was a solid blue and the left one was brown with a fleck of green inside it.

'Sweetie, I understand you are in a lot of pain, embarrassment and anger right now, and judging by your size, you look like a teenage-dragon. So, why don't we skip all the "hating and taunting part" and just focus straight on making everything better for you?' Nevaeh asked politely, although she was pretty sure after her squirrel-encounter, that he couldn't understand her and would eventually eat her.

She moved closer and touched his belly. The dragon moaned in pain, but didn't growl. Nevaeh sighed in relief.

The wound on his belly was deep and greyish-blue blood was slowly spilling out of it, dripping on the ground. Nevaeh knelt next to his stomach, glancing around once, and pointed the stick at his injured body.

Blue ice-like layers began emerging on his wounds, spreading all over the slashes. The dragon made a purring sound. The layer filled the dragon's wound, giving a sparkly texture to his already blue hide.

Soon, she healed all his wounds. Nevaeh hastily backed away and straightened herself as the dragon stood up to spread his huge wings. He roared so loudly that the hairs on the back of Nevaeh's neck stood up in terror. She looked at him with wide eyes, muttering, you are so pretty, with a voice that was barely audible.

The dragon began approaching her slowly in a wolf-like manner.

Nevaeh was just waiting to see when he would pounce on her. She was still clutching the wooden stick tightly in her hand, its hilt piercing her palm. The dragon was so close now that she felt his hot breath all over her. She couldn't take her eyes off him, whether due to fear or due to amazement, she couldn't figure out at this moment.

The dragon bent his head downwards and nudged her in the stomach softly by his snout. It settled near her feet, before rolling on its back in a playful manner, just like her dog did at times, and licking her feet with his huge, slimy and weirdly warm tongue.

'Eww!' laughed Nevaeh, with a hint of satisfaction about not being swallowed by the dragon in one-bite like finger-food. She settled next to him.

Nevaeh touched the dragon's scales. Now, this is an adventure! She thought. Who needs an annoyingly-charming, bi-polar lunatic, when you can have a lovely dragon instead?

'What is your name?' she asked, but quickly continued, 'Yeah, my bad. I don't know why I expect an answer every time. I will call you Crystal. You know, because you are blue and glittering.' Nevaeh said. 'You know, I want to reach the bi-frost, do you know where that is? Could you show me the way?'

Crystal blinked at her in silence.

Nevaeh sighed and stood up, only to watch the dragon imitating the same. She patted him on the back. They started walking into the woods. Nevaeh made sure that they kept moving south-east, just like the "aquatic protector" had told her.

It had been about two hours, and Nevaeh was enjoying her new company. Crystal was a great listener, and frequently tilted his head to watch her talk, as if he were understanding everything she was saying, which he was not.

During a long journey of non-stop talking, and zero understandable responses, Nevaeh told Crystal many stories; some were random, while others incredibly personal.

'—and then, he said,' Nevaeh paused to wipe tears from her eyes, and taking in a deep breath to calm herself down. 'He said, 'I HATE YOU!' and then, Kenobi said, 'You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you!'' Nevaeh finished, bursting into tears. 'Beautiful. Painful yet beautiful,' she said smiling through her tears and placing her hand on Crystal's back as they walked.

'I will show you all the Star Wars movies when you come home with me! And I promise you wouldn't be bored on Earth, because I have a dog who is just like you!' she told crystal patting him on his back again, and looking at him proudly as though he were her little brother.

Nevaeh started making detailed plans along the way while repeatedly stating that her parents would love his company. 'And I always wanted another pet, or a brother, so they will not disagree. I can feel it, you are the chosen one!' she said happily.

A thundering roar echoed throughout the forest, shaking the trees and the ground.

'Whoa! What was that?' she hushed, looking around through wide eyes. She glanced at Crystal, but he was already alert. He was scratching the forest ground with his right claw and making what felt like a whimpering sound. He was visibly restless.

'Crystal are you okay?' she asked approaching him.

He moved away from her, still staring at the direction of the sound through bulging and unblinking eyes. There was another loud roar, this time followed by several other roars echoing at a far-away place. Crystal suddenly growled a similar roar, but a much smaller one. He quickly approached Nevaeh. He was clawing on the ground again, looking at her straight in the eyes.

'What? What is it? What do you need?' asked Nevaeh.

Crystal hastily sat beside her and again clawed the ground, making weird noises through his nostrils. He turned his head to look at his own back.

'Umm, are you asking me to – sit on you? I am not used to flying on a dragon!' Nevaeh said wildly.

Crystal was growing impatient. He stood up, again clawing the forest floor, his wild nails rooting the grass from the ground. Crystal slapped her shoulder with his huge tail and growled boomingly.

'Okay! Okay! But you need to promise me – right now – that you would fly slowly – and that my safety would be your highest priori—'Nevaeh was saying, but she was wildly interrupted by the wild creature. Crystal's huge tail grabbed Nevaeh's waist, placing her directly atop his back. She staggered, but hastily clutched his back-scales for support.

Crystal immediately took off, soaring into the air with his wings flapping behind him.

Nevaeh's anger at being interrupted was gone within seconds. She laughingly cheered Crystal as he flew through the night sky.

'You are huge! I didn't realise you were this big when you were crouching like a Bengal tiger!' awed Nevaeh, watching his enormous wings swoosh at her sides.

She held Crystal tightly around his neck, his scales made her balance perfectly in whichever position she may want. Crystal's speed was pleasantly fast. Nevaeh wondered why she did not think about this speedy mode of transportation a bit earlier.

She tried enacting Harry Potter on Buck-beak scene atop Crystal, although Crystal absolutely refused to fly low on the river and to dip one of his front claws in the water, so it wasn't as legitimate as Nevaeh had wanted it to be. She spread her arms wide nevertheless and embraced the cold breeze.

Crystal was soaring a few feet above the forest cover and Nevaeh finally had the opportunity to gaze into the night. When she glanced up at the sky for the first time, she gasped loudly.

There were little twinkles of green, red and blue, amidst the darkness of the night. The colours one could never dream of finding on Earth were dazzling right above her. Here, tonight's sky was looking as if thousands of fireworks had exploded high above, about centuries ago, but their shimmer had stayed there forever, refusing to leave the blackness of the night surrounding them. Her eyes were twinkling underneath the millions of glowing stars scattered in Asgard's heavenly constellation. She had never been more at peace.

Crystal was maintaining an average speed, flying just above the forest cover, and Nevaeh was having the time of her life. There were several more roars, followed by a sudden fire which erupted at a considerable distance. These new events clearly had an impact on Crystal, and he doubled his speed, swooshing through the wind.

Nevaeh was staring at the distant fire through slightly narrowed eyes, when Crystal snatched what seemed like a bird from a nearby tree for good measure while flying and started chewing it, totally multi-tasking.

Nevaeh watched in horror as blood spattered behind in her direction, soon followed by a bird's eyeball. The background music of breaking bones mixed disgustingly well with the gut-wrenching sight.

'NOOOOOOO!' Nevaeh screamed. She hastily shifted in her seat to dodge the eyeball plummeting her way, her upper body covered in speckles of blood. Nevaeh realised a bit too late that Crystal's flying speed, and her shifting-in-her-comfy-seat speed did not go well with each other.

She tumbled from Crystal's back, and right into a tree beneath. Nevaeh gasped for breath as she fell, the tree's branches slashing her body. She landed with heavily on her back.

'That son of a dragon!' she grunted in pain. If the tree hadn't slowed her down, she would've definitely broken a bone.

Nevaeh stood up and blinked; Crystal was gone! He hadn't swooped down from the air to take her with him! She waited there for a few moments and lit a cigarette. Nevaeh was glancing about anxiously into the trees as though hoping for Crystal to jump out of them any second.

He is going to come back, she thought. He can't just leave me here! We are friends, and I rescued him! And he thinks I am adorable!' Nevaeh had a hint of uncertainty over her last assumption.

A thundering roar followed by the shaking of forest floor pulled Nevaeh out of her thoughts. It was bad enough to be abandoned by a dragon she rescued, but now she had no idea where she was standing. She was completely lost.

She looked at her arms, the tree had slashed her shoulder and she could feel several cuts on her face. She sighed and started walking, alone, once again.