Chapter 302: Chapter 317: Take Over

After I somehow managed to get a hold of myself I walked back out of the tint and sat down across from Kal and ate half the fish he caught just as promised, neither one of us daring to say a word for a long time. ‘It almost seems like he’s more embarrassed than me… I’m kinda proud myself, but… I don’t know how I feel about this… Well, If it bothered me so much I had a dream about it I should settle this first.’ “You said my legs were burned all the way up above my knees…”

He looked over at me but didn’t say a word.

“A-and… You know about the stab wound on my stomach…”

Again he waited, staring at me patiently.

His eyes and lack of response somehow started to make me feel shy, though ultimately it was impossible not to… Talking about my body. “You aren’t the one that changed my clothes, are you? Or… The one treated said burns…”

He sighed, looking back towards the campfire. “Of course not, that would be ridiculous. You’re friend Isy helped change your clothes with one of the female knights, and they applied the ointment to your burns. They then reported to me on the state your body was in. I have an official rank of a guild leader within the military, so I’m highest in command here.”

“Oh… Well, that’s good…”

“That’s not what’s been keeping you up is it? If it is then I’m sorry. I should have explained things more thoroughly.”

I let out a heavy breath of air, stretching my legs out and tilting my head up to the stars. “No… Not directly anyway. Let’s just say… I had a dream… Where things happened… And… Then I couldn’t sleep.”

“Ah. A nightmare. Makes sense, after fighting that demon.”

“Haha… Not exactly…”

“Oh then, was it the kind of dream that makes you sad, because you know the things in it will never happen?”

“Hm… Well… I mean… It’s not like it’s impossible…” ‘Although, it’s highly unlikely… And also not sad if it never happens… Actually, I never put much thought into it. It’s not like getting married is required for kings since it’s not a hereditary role… But if I found a guy I liked then wouldn’t I want to…’ Closing my eyes I imagined someone holding me in their arms not for any particular reason, but just because they loved me, and I felt my whole body fill with a dull warmth entirely different from blushing.

“Maybe it was the kind of–”

“The kind of dream doesn’t matter!” I shouted as quietly as I could, opening my eyes and staring at him with my brow furrowed a little bit extra to try and show I was mad.

He just chuckled though, turning his eyes away from me.

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‘Wh-why is looking away now? Does he know? There's no way he knows…’

“How about now? Do you think you can go back to sleep?”

I sighed. ‘Maybe… Although…’ “Honestly it might even be harder to sleep now…” ‘Imagining a guy applying medicine to my legs is a lot less dangerous than one being on top of me pressing me into the ground…’ I brought my feet inside me and leaned forward, rubbing my head ‘Though he was unconscious… So even though I could feel his heartbeat… I should probably just stop thinking about it…’

“Well… You should probably try anyway. Even if you have another one of these dreams, you’re body will thank you…”

Slowly closing my eyes, I pinched my hands together to fully cover my face. “Why would you say it like that…”

He stood up with a sigh. “Your body needs rest, and it will take every bit of sleep, no matter the kind of dream. You need to heal.”

‘Oh… Right. Of course… I’m kinda glad he’s so dense…’ I sighed, relaxing again. “I just want to take a bath in the river to cool off…” I whined.

“I’d advise against that… Knowing you, that could only end badly…”

“Oh, whatever…”

He brushed himself off and went to his tent to get some rest, leaving me alone, staring at the campfire. ‘Seriously… How am I supposed to sleep after all that…’ After a while, the fire became almost hypnotizing, so much so that I didn’t even realize at first that my eyes had turned orange again and my teeth started to ache down to the roots. I started feeling an intense desire to breathe fire again, but instead of my stomach hurting, it was more like an itch I had to scratch, making it almost harder to hold back in a way.

‘Just calm down already… What’s going on with me right now…’ Using magic I covered my whole body with a thin layer of ice, and as it melted the soft wind blew through and cooled me off, all the symptoms easing, although not disappearing entirely. ‘I stretched my soul pretty thin to cover the tree and use it as a weapon… If I’m going to keep fighting like this I need to figure out how to make peace with the dragon… Or maybe asimilate it? Hm… Honestly if I could go find a friendly dragon to give me advice that would be nice.’

I lay down on my back, sprawling out in the grass and staring up at the starry sky. ‘Would it be awfully horrible of me to go find one of this dragon's kids and convince them to help me so their father's soul can live on?’ I sighed. ‘Tracking them down would be a pain anyway…’

I closed my eyes and focused inwardly until I began to feel weightless and brought my consciousness inside my soul. It had grown tremendously, and…Changed in unexpected ways. ‘What’s with all these flowers all of a sudden? What are these Orchids? And why are they pink? Although… I guess it’s not a bad color for flowers at least. I looked around and all the sand had been replaced with flowering fields as if my soul had repaired itself, aside from the ominous chasm that split through it with bubbling lava… The strangest part though was that the lava wasn’t hot, and the flowers only grew more dense around it.

Quickly glancing at the black void and seeing nothing I grimaced. ‘Just as I thought, the dragon’s gone…’ I walked closer to the pit of lava and did the only logical thing… Which of course was to go for a swim. As it turned out, it led me to an entire cavernous complex, most notable though was the giant circular platform surrounded by the lave that ran like a river. Everything was sandy with red roots running here and there sprouting glowing red flowers with golden orange vines. ‘I have a bad feeling about this…’

I poofed myself on the platform and looked around again. It was all very impressive… But I still couldn’t find the dragon. ‘When I helped Rune, it must have burrowed down and carved out this place for itself… Or at the very least when I used that tree as a weapon…’

The lava started to rapidly rise, pouring into the cavern like a rushing current until it all began to flood large canals that ran in intricate spirals before exiting out the back of the cave-like waterfalls. ‘Changes like this shouldn’t be happening while I’m unconscious… right? A change to the soul only comes from the active choice to act in a certain way…’ My furrowed brow slowly relaxed. ‘I have a bad feeling…’

Chills covered my whole body. ‘I think I might know where the dragon is…’ After I shuddered at the thought I quickly sat down and closed my eyes, focusing my consciousness back into my body with some effort.

It felt like my head was splitting in two as my eyes lost sync and my whole body felt hot numb and tingly all at once. I could hear a deafening roar inside my head only splitting it even more as I finally regained control of my body. ‘Ok… How many people did I eat while I was unconscious…’

I shook my head, blinking rapidly as my vision started to finally clear, everything taking on a bright red tint. ‘Oh no… There’s something in my mouth!’ as I finally came too I found myself straddled on top of Kal and biting into the meaty part of his hand, his shirt having ripped to shreds. Neither of us was moving, just staring intently into each other's eyes as the red tint began to fade. I could feel a sharp drop in blood pressure in my eyes, my body starting to grow cold as my skin tightened to goosbumps.

“Are you… Back to normal now?” My jaw relaxed and he slowly took his hand away, still not breaking eye contact.

‘Well, despite all the teeth marks he doesn’t seem to be bleeding much… So on the bright side… I don’t think I ate anyone…’