Flashback: Fheldin and Arla (3/4)

When Lord Fheldin returned to his palace in Arra, all of his servants were quite shocked when they saw him clutching a beautiful young woman in his hands.

Of course, when people asked who she was, Fheldin announced quite proudly, "She's my… personal alchemist. Give her whatever she asks for, and obey her as you would obey me."

Hearing that this woman ISN'T some first addition to a royal family, all of the servants had their minds put at ease.

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Fheldin, fearing that his prized treasure would suddenly try to fly away one day, insisted on her quarters be deep underground. He can't have her leaving, now can he?

And so, Arla stayed underground for many years – only reaching out and reminding everyone that she's still alive when she wants more materials delivered to her chambers.

Frankly, with the way the guards keep a close watch on her, and with how deep and secluded her chambers are, she was beginning to feel like a prisoner.

Still, no matter how confined or unhappy she began to feel, she continued to work – ignoring her feelings. 'I'm the one who threw myself into a dragon's arms,' she thought to herself. 'Living my dream is worth being locked up.'

And so, Arla felt that she had no choice but to put up with the stuffy feeling in her heart.

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Fortunately, Arla wasn't bluffing when she bragged about her great potential as an alchemist.

Within a few short decades, she delivered the great news to her employer. "I've finally succeeded in brewing pups with my test subjects." She had large pens full of wolves that she was experimenting on.

"So, your ready to make the children I was asking for?" Fheldin said as he leaned forward with interest.

Arla nodded confidently.

"Good!" Fheldin beamed with joy. "How soon can you start?"

"Tomorrow," Arla replied. "Are there any specific parameters on the female doner for your children?"

"Hmm…," Fheldin mumbled softly. "How about yours?"

"…What?"

"You can't blame me for asking," Fheldin replied carefully. "I'd like my children to be smart and beautiful. Obviously, the children have to be yours as well."

Frankly… Arla felt a little uncomfortable suddenly being asked for this. Even though the man wouldn't be touching her in the process, she still felt… a little violated at the idea – especially when she wasn't even married to this man.

"No!" Arla refused bluntly. "Pick someone else."

"Fine then!" Fheldin crossed his arms and hissed angrily. "I won't have any kids then!"

'It's strange that he didn't try to built me into getting his way...,' she thought quizzically.

As if eager to change the subject, Fheldin suddenly asked, "Are there any other projects you want to work on? Just let me know, and I'll get you the things you need."

Arla looked down and sighed. "Uh… I don't know right now. I'm going back to my room."

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Over the next several days, Arla lay in her chambers – alone with her thoughts.

'Why are my chambers so large? Lord Fheldin gave me an entire wing of his palace. That's the kind of treatment royalty get. Plus, he wanted his children to be mine alone.'

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Arla, and her heart skipped a beat.

'F-fine. I'll tell him in the morning that I changed my mind.' She turned her head to the side and looked at her brewing cauldron, as well as the pile of squeaking wolf pups she'd just made. 'I'll make his child.'

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Frankly, it felt surreal to Arla, as she attended her cauldron every day to check on the child growing inside.

'That's my child in there…,' she'd wonder wistfully. 'What's going to happen after he's born?'

'That temperamental dragon DID say that he hated the idea of having a wife. So… will Lord Fheldin take my son away as soon as he's born? Am I not going to be allowed to be his mother?'

As the child inside started to look more and more like a grown baby, Arla's heart became more chaotic and confused.

The slightest disturbance in her environment would startle her, and a mere knock on her door sent her into a fit of panic.

Every day, in the lonely, dark silence of her 'dungeon', she became more and more convinced that something terrible was going to happen to herself and the little one as soon as he finished growing.

So, in a blind fit of panic, Arla took the child out of his cauldron a week early, and she fled the palace.

Of course, she had to dig a short way through the earth to a ventilation shaft to do it.

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This whole time, Fheldin had avoided visiting Arla during the incubation process. She warned him that she couldn't be distracted.

So, Fheldin only realized that his alchemist had fled with his child a week later, when he went to go pick up his son on the promised due date.

Finding her room empty and her equipment abandoned, Fheldin's eyes shone red with fury, and the entire world quaked in his anger.

Due to Drakavar's drop of blood in his veins, all of the Elementals felt his anger, and they responded to his call.

"Find Arla! NOW! Bring her back unharmed!"

This was his only command.

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Precisely a week after Arla left, she was still making her way towards the nearest world gate.

Still, despite flying hard for a week now, she felt the air tremor and the earth quake. She looked behind her and saw the mountain range behind her burning red and melting.

Then, in horror, she saw a large, looming head rise up from behind the mountains. The beast was green and blue scaled, and he had a rack of 6 Horns atop his head. His wings stretched so far to the sides that they disappeared over the horizon.

Huge clouds of black smoke were billowing out of the dragons mouth and nostrils, like a great furnace containing all the forests of the world.

His smokey breath collected high in the sky and spread out across the landscape – blotting out the sun and enshrouding the landscape in an ominous twilight.

Worse yet…

The dragon had's eyes were blazing red, and he was looking right at her.

"AARRRRRLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Fheldin's roar echoed across the landscape like a thundercrack. The force of his breath alone created tornadoes so violent that they tore apart the forests they drifted through.

"Eeek!" Arla squeaked in terror. Not once has she ever seen Fheldin take on a dragon form. If she'd have known the man was this terrifying, she'd never have dared enter his palace!

In all honesty, she thought he was just a 5 horned dragon! Isn't that what everyone said?!

Suddenly, Arla feels like a complete, naïve fool. She should've listened to her elders when they warned her against getting close to dragons! They're far too powerful to be trifled with!

Crying in fear, Arla clutched the young baby tighter to her chest, and she beat her wings even harder.

Yet… no matter how quickly she flew, she'd looked behind and saw the dragon only coming closer. With a single step, he already crossed a plane that took Arla an entire day to fly over.

Realizing that she couldn't outrun the beast, she dove to the ground and attempted to hide.

However, the moment her feet set foot on the earth, the ground upheaved on itself, and her feet were pulled in – locking her in place. The nearest Elemental had heeded its master's orders, and it safely captured the mistress.

For the next several seconds, Arla closed her eyes and felt the earth quaking so violently that her bones were threatening to break. The baby in her arms started to wail in terror, and silent tears streaked down the phoenix's cheeks.

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Within mere moments, the already dark sky went completely black. The only illumination came from the great dragon's glowing eyes, which illuminated the ground around Arla in a dim, red glow.

Arla closed her eyes, clutched the baby tight to her chest, bent her head down, and awaited her fate.

Quite honestly, she expected the dragon to crush her flat… yet she remained there for several seconds – hearing and feeling nothing.

Suddenly, she heard huge splashing sounds.

In a moment of genuine confusion, Arla opened her eyes and looked up.

There, she saw the slitted eye in the sky… and it had large tear drops welling up around the edges.

Drip drop. Every tear that fell to the ground was akin to a lake being emptied on the floor.

Just when Arla was getting afraid that a teardrop would land on her child – drowning him, the dragon above suddenly glowed with powerful, red energy, and the humanoid form of Lord Fheldin appeared before her – standing with his arms crossed, and staring at her.

"Arra…," Fheldin commanded the Elemental for this world. "Release her."

Immediately, the ground grippingArla's feet unbound, and she stumbled to her knees.

"Tell me…," Fheldin said in a low hush, "what have I done wrong? Tell me now, and I won't do it again. Did the servants treat you harshly behind my back?"

His own mother was bullied behind his father's back, so he can't help but be afraid of this issue.

His heart suddenly relaxed a little when Arla shook her head. "No…"

"What is it, then?"

"I…" Arla wasn't sure if she should answer. However, seeing the lord's stone still face, she suddenly feels that hiding the truth would be futile.

So, she reluctantly spoke up: