Chapter 3- A new home

The young Shera that initially addressed him cautiously walked toward Casey and squatted in front of him.

"Hello Casey, my name is Mac, do you have a preference in where you want to stay? We currently don't have any available homes. But you are welcome to stay wherever you please".

Casey lifted his head and surveyed the village in front of him.

The village is very quaint, with around 50 small to medium-sized cottages. The whole scene itself looked very cozy.

Upon hearing Mac's words he felt conflicted, he didn't wish to kick anyone out of their home but he also knew no one and didn't wish to impose on their peaceful lives.

Casey's head slowly lowered as he felt conflicted and ashamed to burden these kind people.

Presumably noticing his internal struggle Mac gave a light cough. As Casey raised his head he heard Mac say

"I recently reached adulthood and moved into my own home, it has a couple of spare rooms. You're more than welcome to move in and stay with me".

He continued " I'm normally busy assisting the people of the tribe and have little time to up-keep the house. It'd be extremely helpful if you moved in and helped take care of my home".

Casey's examined the person in front of him, he seemed honest, kind, and straightforward, leaving a very good first impression of him. Casey's eyes turned bright and he exclaimed while patting his chest "you can rely on me to help you out!".

Mac's lips curled into a small smile; he raised his fist to hide it from the small dragon.

"That's perfect then, come on and I'll take you home".

When Casey heard the word "home" he felt warm In his heart and happily followed closely behind Mac's broad back. Upon entering the house Casey started curiously looking around. It was a very simple wooden cottage.

It had warm yellow accents and look particularly cozy, even though it was small and humble Casey felt welcomed at a glance.

"This is what a real home should look and feel like," he thought.

"Please have a seat on the sofa while I go clean up a room for you" leaving those words and a slight smile Mac left Casey to sit alone on the couch.

As Casey sat his constantly tense nerves finally found a place to settle down. He opened his bag of treasure and was drawn to a large ruby. He grabbed it out and held it tightly in his claws.

After a few minutes all that could be heard in the room was his even and shallow breaths as he fell into a deep sleep. When Mac came out of the room he looked and saw a small silver dragon tightly curled up into a little ball, coiled around a beautiful gem.

The corners of his mouth curled up to a sweet smile as he watched the dragon.

After looking for a couple of minutes he grabbed a blanket and gently placed it over the sleeping creature and crept away.

For the first time in a long time, Casey had a sweet dream. In his dream, he was standing outside a beautiful and ornately decorated home.

This house had lavish gold decorations accenting the outside. The yard was big and had beautiful blossoming trees and a small pond with fish swimming inside.

The front door was wide open and Casey couldn't help but feel drawn to going inside. The house had gems, pottery, and beautiful artwork coating its walls.

It looked luxurious but unlike his home in his past life, this one still had a feeling of warmth and coziness.

As he walked forward he could hear noise coming from somewhere inside. He followed the sound then found himself standing outside a huge kitchen.

He couldn't help peeking his head in and he saw two people inside. He watched as the two people inside worked together to prepare a hot meal.

He watched their backs as they moved around; they appeared to be a loving couple in his eyes. They would sneak in a hug, kiss, or grasp each other's hands while cooking.

Their voices were soft and warm, Casey was in a daze as he watched. He couldn't help wanting to be closer and unknowingly he leaned a bit more on the door,

The door creaked as it was further pushed open. The couple in the kitchen heard to noise and turned to look over at the same time.

Casey saw shock displayed on their faces and he took the moment to take in how the two looked. The two men were extremely attractive in appearance.

One looked to be around 30 years old, seeming imposing with short and neat silver hair and dark red eyes. The man looked over six feet tall and had deep and sharp facial features.

This man had a strong jaw and his aura felt like a sharp knife, very intimidating and a bit frightening to Casey. Casey looked toward the other man and fell into a daze again.

"So beautiful" Casey couldn't help saying out loud. After snapping out of the shock the beautiful man gave a small smile hearing his words.

Casey blushed after seeing his smile.

This man had silky long aqua blue hair and matching blue phoenix eyes, there was a small mole just under his right eye adding a touch of elegance to his youthful air.

He looked very young around 20 years old, matching his pale smooth skin his facial features were very androgynous, he looked delicate and almost too beautiful to be a man.

His aura made him seem soft and warm and Casey wished he could fly right into the young man's arms.

"Hello". Casey greeted them first in a soft voice and shy voice then looked down at the ground, his wings tightly pressed to his body, showing his nervousness.

"Hello". It was the blue-haired man that responded to Casey.

When he raised his head to look up he saw the blue-haired man looking at him with a slight smile and tears gathering in his eyes.

Casey panicked and looked at the other man; who also happened to be staring at him with a hard-to-describe expression.

"Are you okay?" Casey softly asked.

"Hahaha I've never been better". The man wiped his eyes.

"Can I ask, what's your name?".

"Casey".

"My name is Sitka, and this is my husband Aki. Would you like to join us for a meal?".

Casey's wings started to flutter as he excitedly yelled "Yes!".

Then in the next moment, Casey woke up from his dream he awoke in a daze. He knew the dream he just had was nice but strangely he couldn't recall a single detail, and he felt even more tired than before he had slept.

Meanwhile back on Dalhi star, a young dragon couple froze at his departure. Sitka grabbed Aki and cried silently in his arms. The Cub they lost had come to visit them.

Aki gently patted his lover's back and whispered words of comfort to him repeatedly.

"He's alive. Our Cub is actually alive, somewhere without us. He's alive". Sitka kept speaking out hysterically.

The two fathers comforted each other as they started to discuss and think of what they should do next.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Casey's blank face Mac was a bit worried

" I feel like I just dreamed something really nice but I can't recall what now". Casey couldn't help feeling a sense of loss.

"Hmm, maybe the dream will continue the next time you sleep. Don't stress over such a small thing".

"Yeah, you're right". He nodded to himself.

The room is all cleaned up for you, you can go put your things away, I'll make us dinner while you get sorted".

Casey nodded and went into what is the master bedroom of the house. He jumped up onto the soft and warm bed.

Reaching for his leather bag he dumped all its contents straight onto the bed. He grabbed the jade knife and carefully put it away in his bedside drawer.

Then he looked at the small pile of gold and gems and nodded in satisfaction. He picked through the pile and sorted them to his liking while waiting for dinner.

When he opened the door Mac saw a small silver dragon tightly gripping various precious stones.

Many more shiny things were surrounding his body, the wings behind his back slowly fluttering.

"So cute" Mac grinned and thought to himself. "Casey dinner is done, come and eat".

Casey raised his head and nodded, looked reluctantly at his jewels, and slowly stood from his pile.

To Casey, the past started to seem far away, and with every minute he feels like he's becoming more in tune with a dragon's senses and desires.

It was a weird feeling for Casey but he welcomed it very much. The two sat down at the table. A small cozy house, a home-cooked meal, and someone sitting across to eat with him.

The things Casey wished for from his family before, were now being completed with a stranger.

But this fact didn't make Casey uncomfortable, rather he felt happy. Raising his eyes to Mac's face he thought that this was his first friend. Eyes shining a big grin came on his face.

Mac opened his mouth to speak first "I originally was going to take you to meet the rest of the tribe today, but you seem tired so I'll take you around tomorrow".

"Okay, that sounds good to me. Hey Mac, can you tell me about yourself?".

"Well, what do you want to know?".

"Umm, well were you born here? How old are you? What kinds of things do you like? I want to know more about you".

"Hahaha" Letting out a chuckle and smile Mac raised his beautiful silver eyes to meet Casey's.

"Let's see, I was born here; the clan leader who spoke to you today is my grandfather. I'm 22 years old this year, and I like cute little dragons".

Mac squinted his eyes and leaned his head against his hand looking at Casey with a smirk.

Casey felt a bit embarrassed by the teasing words, he lowered his head and stopped talking. Seeing the little dragon's head droop Mac laughed loudly this time.

" I was just teasing you hahaha. I don't have many likes or interests. I do like to read and I like to build and construct things when I can get materials. I still have a slight hope maybe I can build a machine and can transport our tribe off this planet.

It's not fair that there are many innocent people left on this planet. I hope to see more of the stars and technology that exists in this vast universe".

Casey could feel the sadness hidden under his words. He reached his paw out and tapped on Mac's shoulder.

"After I grow up and leave here, I'll be sure to come back to take you and your tribe away. I'll make sure to pay you all back and show you the stars outside this planet".

Mac stared at the silver dragon in front of him and thought "maybe with you by our side my dreams will really come true". While he didn't say it out loud Mac believed this dragon would definitely be the key to leaving this planet.

"You should just focus on growing up, worry about your own predicament before you worry about someone else's. Now I have a couple of things I'd like to ask you, Casey, you don't have to answer if you don't want to though. Why are you here? do you have any family, and how old are you?".

Hearing Mac's questions Casey froze not too sure how he should answer. After pondering for a moment Casey spoke slow and clear.

"To be honest I don't know why I'm here, or if I have a family. All I had by my egg was the bag of gems, I found a symbol on one of the items, but I can't understand it so I wanted to go to the dragon's Homestar to look for more information.

And well technically I guess I'm only a couple of days old, I hatched from my egg a couple of days ago and then found your tribe".

Mac smiled warmly and cautiously spoke "Goodness I didn't expect you are so young, you might be here for quite a while before you reach your growth phase. From now on this will be your home and I'll be like your big brother, does that sound alright to you?".

After hearing the first half of what Mac said Casey felt discouraged for a moment, upon hearing the latter half it took Casey several seconds to realize Mac was asking if he wanted to be a family with him.

The thought of having a caring and warm big brother made him feel excited and also nervous. He flapped his wings hard and crashed against Mac's chest falling into his arms.

"Alright". Casey nudged and rubbed against Mac and stayed in his arms lazily until he dozed back off to sleep.

Standing up from the table Mac took his silver dragon to his room and laid him gently on the bed. He surrounded him with his gems and gold and quietly said goodnight before closing the bedroom door.