18 Elder Oden

"Okay I'm ready." Mel then dived down and flew up into the sky. Yuki's heart was racing she had never been so scared and exited at the same time. She kept her eyes closed until her face adjusted to the wind against it. "Don't close your eyes or you'll miss everything." Seth said tightening his grip on her. She opened her eyes and was amazed by how beautiful the view all around her was. There were miles and miles of green forest and mountains as far as the eye could see. She also spotted a couple of lakes and rivers here and there. "This is so beautiful! I never would of imagined how big and beautiful the world is." Seth rested his chin on her shoulder. "From now on I'll make sure you experience as many things as possible. Anything you want I'll do and provide for you." He whispered in her ear sending chills down her spine. "I don't really want much honestly, I am not needy at all so you don't have to worry about anything like that." He smiled knowing that she was truly a humble person but he wanted to lavish her in any way possible. Make her see and feel just how much she truly meant to him. "How far is the place we are going?" "Just beyond that mountain up ahead." He pointed and she looked over, she now understood why he said the trip would wear her out if they had decided to go by foot.

"My lord, we will be there in about 2 minutes please prepare to land." Mel said and Seth nodded. Yuki was grateful that Mel gave a heads up, it made her mentally prepare to brace herself. Mel began to descend and in just seconds she smoothly touched down at the top of a big tree. "We are here my lord." Seth got off and landed on a branch, then held his arms out for Yuki to fall into. They were still pretty high up on a tree so she was hesitant, but she trusted Seth. She climbed off and Seth placed her down. "Thanks for the help Mel, you are dismissed, but stick around I'll call you when it's time to go back." "Yes my lord, if you'd excuse me. My lord, my lady." Then she bowed again an took off to the sky. "I don't know how to feel about the my lady remarks, it makes me feel old." Seth chuckled, "You can tell them to address you any way you want." "No thank you, I don't really feel comfortable giving demons orders." She laughed nervously because she knew how inferior she was to demons. She was no one to command them in their natural world. "Anyway where is this place you were taking me?" "Down there." He pointed to a cave entrance on a mountain. He picked Yuki up bridal style and hopped down to the cave's entrance. "You ready?" He asked placing her down. "You keep asking me if I'm ready, it only makes me more nervous... but yes I am." "Okay then let's go."

They walked inside for about 5 minutes and then came across a large wooden door. Seth knocked twice very loud. After a second the door swung open. They walked inside and they were greeted by an older man. "Welcome back my lord, I've been expecting you." He looked at Yuki and smiled. "So you must be Miss Yuki, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please take care of my lord." Seth and Yuki both went red. "Ahem! Elder Oden please could you lead the way." "Oh, yes yes forgive me, this way please." They followed the man for what seemed a labyrinth of halls and rooms filled with very big eggs, all shapes and colors. Yuki kept lagging behind due to her curiosity as to what this place was. "Here we are." Oden stopped in a room that seemed a lot like an incubation room due to the heat and darkness. There were a bunch of eggs being analyzed. "What is this place?" Yuki asked. "This miss Yuki is where you will choose your guardian." said Oden. "I will chose? Won't there just be one assigned?" "Miss Yuki, this is where all demons are born. With the exception of the Royals and high ranking demons like young Neil for example." Yuki understood what he was talking about, she never thought all demons came from eggs, she always thought they reproduced kind of like mammals. "So.. I need to choose an egg?" "Hmm I guess that's one way to put it, but it's more complicated than that... You see you can't just pick up an egg and take it. It has to be a kind of mutual agreement. The egg has to choose you too."

Yuki was now having a slight panic attack. How was she supposed to know which was the right egg, or when the egg accepted her too. "Umm.. I am not sure how to do this." "Its okay, if the egg accepts you you'll feel it." Seth tried to calm her nerves. "Okay.." She walked forward not knowing where to begin, there were so many eggs. She glanced back at Seth and Oden and they both looked at her with reassuring smile. "She smiled awkwardly and turned to face the egg in front of her. She held the egg, it was about the size of a one year old child. She was surprised, it didn't weight anything at all. She began to inspect it, the color, the pattern. She was turning it when all of a sudden she felt the egg getting hotter and hotter, so hot she had to put it down, it was burning her hands. She looked back at the men. "That one seems to have rejected you, try the next one miss Yuki." Seth said nothing but his face had become unreadable. He was finding himself becoming a bit mad at the fact that one of the eggs rejected her, even more burned her. It was taking some degree of control for him to not smash the egg and extinguish the unborn life inside of it. Yuki turned and picked up the next egg. This one had some weight to it compared to the last, but just like the other this one also burned her. Seth turned around, seeing her get hurt, even if just a little, was something he couldn't stand watching. "All of these unborn demons, even though not hatched yet, know who I am to them correct?" Seth asked Oden low enough for Yuki to not hear. "That's right my lord, even though they are just eggs they can feel who you are and what you mean to them." "So why would they reject her?"

"She is a human my lord, and although she is your destined one she isn't you. Demons are loyal to you, they are born for you, to serve you and follow you not her." Seth looked at him, "So does that mean that no egg will accept her?" "Hmm I wonder..." Yuki was now on her 8th egg, she tried to pick it up but found it impossible this one was as heavy as a boulder, she couldn't pick it up. Rejected once again, she was beginning to lose hope. She looked at the room filled with eggs. She sighed knowing it was going to take a long time to go through all of them. Then a though occurred to her. She began to walk throughout the room. "You said I'd feel when I found the right one right?" she asked "Yes, that's right." She though she might look stupid for doing what she was about to do but she just had a feeling about this. She stood in the middle of the room and closed her eyes.

She was focusing on her surroundings on each and every egg in the room. Then she felt something. She made her way to a corner of the room. The feeling was getting stronger. She stood in front a red egg with what looked like swirly black stripes surrounding it. She picked it up, it wasn't heavy or light. She looked at it and could of sworn she saw something move inside. She looked harder trying to see it again. Suddenly the egg began to glow, she felt warm all over and her hear skipped a beat. She had never felt anything like that. She instinctively hugged the egg. "This is it. This is the one." She said looking back at Seth who turned back around. She smiled, the egg stopped glowing when she said that. "Very well, looks like you got yourself a guardian." She was very happy, she almost skipped her way back to Seth. He smiled, relieved that there was an egg that accepted her. "Alright miss Yuki this next part is probably the most important of all." Oden spoke to her and handed her a satchel big enough to fit the egg. "You must now care for this egg until it hatches. You must have it with you at all times, it will need of your warmth to survive. It will be almost like you were its mother. Unlike the Prince you don't have powers to help nurture it, so you'll have to be extra careful. Do you understand?" Yuki looked down at the egg on her arms and smiled "I understand." She then placed the egg in the satchel and then put the bag on.

"Very well, I congratulate you and wish you a long and happy partnership to you and your guardian." "Thank you Elder Oden." Then turned to Seth. "Good, are you ready to head back?" "Yes." "Thank you for being considerate enough to appear in a human for Oden." "Oh it was a pleasure my Lord." They bid Oden farewell and headed out the cave. Yuki was happy, having found her guardian made her feel she had a connection with it in a very unique way. Seth called for Mel, within minutes the demon landed on the tree. Seth picked Yuki up again and in one leap was on the branch next to Mel. He helped Yuki up. "You think you can ride back on your own?" Seth asked. "On my own? Why, where are you going?" "I have to meet up with Neil, think you can handle it?" Yuki looked down at Mel then smiled and nodded. "Yea I think I can manage, Mel is here. Right Mel?" Mel looked at the girl on her back, it kind of moved her to see Yuki trusted her enough to be alone with her. Mel felt honored, being in charge of Yuki, the future queen. "I will make sure nothing happens to you my lady." "Hehe umm, I'm sorry but could you please maybe just call me Yuki? I am not used to the lady part." She asked a bit nervously, hoping the demon bird wouldn't take offence. "As you wish, Yuki." Yuki smiled, and looked down at Seth. "See we will be okay. See you at the castle?" Seth nodded "I won't be late. Take care of her Mel." "Yes my lord." The bird took off into the sunset. Yuki felt a lot more confident and comfortable. There was this infinite feeling of freedom when she was up that high, like she could go anywhere, see anything. She placed a hand on her guardian egg to keep it warm and secure. She was going to take in every second of the ride back, and appreciate the view. "Thank you for showing me what you see through your eyes Mel." The demon understood what Yuki was saying. "It was my pleasure... if you ever want to fly again, I'd be honored to be the one you ride." Yuki was very happy to hear that. "I'll keep that in mind." Today was a good day she thought. She made new friends.