CHAPTER 39: A Trouble Maker

Ashen walked for a while longer, brandishing his wand like a sword as he carefully looked around for other small but horrible beasts that would be willing to attack him, so that he also might reply in kind.

Still, minutes went with him coming across nothing less than two beasts of the same kind as that of the cute squirrel he had passed by, as they all simply stared at him in the same harmless and cuddly manner.

"Maybe you and them are fated," Ashen suddenly heard a familiar voice belonging to Green, as he heard a popping sound, seeing him appear unexpectedly by the side of his face on the left,

"Or maybe it's me that they're attracted to," Green thought aloud, hiding a mischievous smile since he knew that he was just as cute, and way cuter than he found Ashen's appearance to be or that of humans in general.

"Then it's obvious that the dungeon is not the place for you to be," Ashen replied raising his wand higher to enable him to get a clearer look at Green, whom after scrutinizing from head to wing, he couldn't deny looked pretty good for a beast,

"Confess. You need me," Green said rolling his eyes as he did, already fond of making many facial expressions even if Ashen couldn't see them since his words always had the appropriate tone.

"Pftt…You are nothing but a distraction and you're most likely nothing but a baby" Turning to the side to look at the tiny creature right beside him even as he spoke, recalling how the egg had hatched less than three days ago,

But before Ashen could say anything else, he suddenly watched the air in front of his face burst into flames, as a straight line of flaming hot flames appeared in mid-air before, dying out quickly in the same manner they had appeared,

"…and let's not forget who healed you and saved your life. I might be small, but I'm obviously powerful," Green boasted in glee, flapping his wings rapidly in the air as he flew right beside Ashen who walked quickly, even as they both continued talking.

"How many more times can you do that?" Ashen asked, unable to hide his surprise at seeing what Green could do.

"As many times as I want," Green announced with a look of pride, in such a way that if he was human he would have had a smirk on his face.

"Well…it's nice to know that you're useful," Ashen said, muttering in a low voice to himself in a way that Green wouldn't hear only for Green to unexpectedly snap in a clearly annoyed voice,

"Yeap. It's you that's a burden," said Green, not surprised to see Ashen jerk his face over in surprise since he merely moved his lips, puffing out a little air as he spoke. "…and don't look so surprised, unlike you I'm a dragon," expressing confidence in his usual prideful tone, only for him to gradually watch Ashen who walked by his side burst into a fit of laughter, going as far as to stop, bending over to hold his stomach as he tried to control himself.

"Ah…ah…ah, dragon. Ahhhhh…Oh good one. With such a serious tone and such a good joke, you can venture out on your own, perform in bars and make some good money," Ashen joked as he continued laughing much to Green's annoyance who seemed like he wouldn't mind spewing fire directly on Ashen head as he continued listening to him speak.

"Dragons? Everyone knows they went extinct many years ago in a war that almost tore the earth apart. How did you even come to such a conclusion?" Ashen said the minute he calmed down enough to ask,

"Of course, I read it in a book…and I feel it in my bones," Green replied going ahead to say more the moment he noticed that Ashen was about to go on another laughing spree. "You do know that I can talk right. What other beasts have you heard of that can communicate using human language?" Green said tilting his head to the side as he looked at Ashen with an expression that made him feel like Green was asking him to use his head more.

All this while, they kept on walking farther into the left side of the cave on the first floor that Ashen chose and Ashen was just about to answer Green's question, lifting his wand as he spoke when they both suddenly came to a sudden standstill, with green going as far as to stop the flapping of his wings, and landing as quickly as he could on Ashen's shoulder.

"What is that?" Green spoke, echoing the question that ran through both their minds, seeing the monstrosity that laid sleep in front of them, facing both of them with closed eyes.

"I thought you've read a lot of books and moreover you seem to have a lot in common with it," Ashen said, doing his best to quieten the beating of his heart, his eyes roving over the green monster with wings that seemed to be sound asleep in front of them, as Ashen slowly began backing away going as far as to reduce the brightness of the light he was generating from his wand.

"Ah. For all you know, it might also be another dragon," Green retorted, regardless of how worried he was about the beast in front of them, since it actually looked like it was sound asleep.

Ashen knew that he could definitely get back safely up the stairs he used to enter as long as the beast did not wake up from its slumber, even as he couldn't help but wonder what such a monster was doing on the first floor in the first place.

Doing his best to make as little noise as he could by taking tiny steps, recalling how good the senses of beasts were, Ashen had barely taken two small steps backwards, trying his best not to dash away in fear and make a whole lot of noise when out of the corner of his eyes, near the tail of the beast they were facing, a small beast similar to the cute squirrels he had come across suddenly popped out beside it.

"Ohhhh…no," Green was the first to speak the moment he laid eyes on his standing at the other side of the tail of the monster they were trying to avoid, whose most outstanding feature was its huge and pointed jaws which gave anyone the ability to imagine the size of the teeth and month such a beast was hiding.

"It's fine." Ashen whispered with false confidence. "It's a small beast. I'm sure it can't be dumb enough to wake it up," Ashen continued, even as his heart began rapidly beating in his chest and sweat slowly began pooling around his armpits.

But he had just spoken when they watched the cute squirrel with big eyes look at them, right before lowering its head to look at the tail in its path.

Meanwhile, Green stared at the little beast with all the intensity he could, wondering if he had any hidden powers to also communicate or control lesser beasts as he watched it make a decision…