Chapter 12: A Little Friend

"Haah.." Mother let out a sigh seeing me poke fun at Krystallo "You should be nicer to your sister Vasilias.."

"Awe, I can't poke fun at her once in a while?" I continued in a low voice so Krystallo couldn't hear. "She's obviously competitive so poking fun at her will just keep her motivated to grow stronger."

"What am I going to do with you.. well Vasilias won. Krystallo, it may have sounded like a joke, but you do need to remember the lessons you learned today.. okay?"

"Haah.. fine mom.."

I looked at Krystallo with a warm smile when I remembered a question I had been holding for over a year. -Oh right, I'm finally 3- "Hey mom!" I hopped over to her with a pep in my step "Can I go hunting with you now that I'm big enough?"

Mother looked away trying to avoid the question. "No, you're only 3 Vasilias."

"But I'm nearly half your height now!"

"Size isn't the problem anymore, you can't even use magic yet since you're still in your child phase."

-Ah right.. forgot about that..- A dragon can't use magic until they enter their adolescent phase (after child phase) because their attribute nodes and reserve have not grown in yet. [1]

"Krystallo still has around 10 years till her next sleep, but you're an oddball so who knows. Dragon's your age should only be around 3 meters tall.. and that's on the larger side.." She looked up and down the 9 meter tall 3 year old in front of her, seemingly at a loss of words.

"So once I reach adolescence I'll be able to hunt?" Excitement washed over my face as I waited for her answer.

"Haah fine.. but until then, no hunting!"

"Woohoo!" A childish joy filled my soul as I looked forward to the day I had my next dragon sleep.. -I'll also hopefully get to figure out if that dream world was real as well... I'm not looking forward to that part though..-

"Brother, next time, don't take so long to wake up from your sleep.. you worried mom.." Krystallo was clearly worried about me too, but she didn't want to show it for some reason.

"He doesn't have control over that sweetie.. although I hope you don't take too long either... In the meantime, you should start looking for a place to lay down for your next sleep since it might be early again." Mother was worried, but she still gave a good suggestion.

As I glanced around, I remembered a spot I noticed earlier. "How about up the mountain some, it looks like there is a flat spot just a little ways above the cave."

"That's not a bad idea but I need to clear the mountain of monsters first before we go check it out."

"Can we go now?!" I was full of enthusiasm to explore some instead of just playing around in the small field in front of the cave.

Mother's face was riddled with worry. "Haah. Okay.. let me clear it out then, just wait a second for me. Remember, if you see ANYTHING on the tree line, go back into the cave immediately!" She was very serious, but it was something she has told us several times over the years.

"Of course.. we've spent all this time outside and nothing has even come close, don't worry mother."

Before she flew up the mountain she said something under her breath. "Just keep Krystallo safe." She shot me a glance of worry before disappearing behind a huge gust of wind.

Seeing she already left, I got up and walked over to Krystallo who was still sitting in the pile of snow. "Your safety is now my responsibility." I quickly sat down next to her and placed a wing onto the mound of snow on top of her.

"Hmph, I don't need you to protect me.." Although she didn't want to sit there, all embarrassed like that, she also didn't want to tell me that she was stuck and couldn't get out of the snow either.

Not even 5 minutes later though, something actually appeared at the edge of the forest.

It was.. -a puppy?- There was a small, pure white puppy at the edge of the forest walking towards us.

Once it got moderately close, Krystallo saw it and started to panic. "BROTHER, why aren't you doing anything?! It's getting closer!" In total panic she burst out of the snow pile and darted into the cave.

Once inside she stuck her head back out and glared at me. "Brother hurry up, mother said to run in if anything came out of the woods."

The white wolf was barely big enough for its head to be above the snow, it was no threat.. but if its parents were around that might be a different story. -The edge of the forest is empty though..-

"Brother!! Hurry up!" Krystallo was still yelling at me to come back inside but I had other plans.

"I'll stay here and make sure you're safe, just stay inside." -It really is freakishly cute.- As it got a little closer, I laid down to give myself a low profile in an attempt to not scare the puppy.

It had pure white fur with golden irises. A truly beautiful creature that blended in perfectly with the snow.

As it got closer, it looked into my eyes but unlike what I expected, it kept moving towards me at a steady pace.

"Brother if you get eaten I'm not gonna forgive you!" Krystallo still insisted that I came back into the cave, but I just ignored her.

After only a second longer, the puppy got right in front of my face. It was so small that its whole body was smaller than my head but it wasn't the slightest bit scared.

Once he got close, he smelled me a little and simply sat down. -What does this little guy want.. I'll give up anything to have it as a pet..-

While I was unsure of what it wanted, I just assumed it was food.

Slowly standing up, so as to not scare it away, I carefully walked over to the field bison corpse Krystallo was eating just outside the cave entrance.

"Brother, that's my food, don't feed it to that creature!" Krystallos face was a mix of fear, panic and jealousy.

"Shush, I'm thinking of a name for it." Wanting to make it my pet, I was trying to think of a name for it while ignoring her complaints.

Gently biting down into the bison, I clearly cut off a leg before creeping back to the puppy, setting the bloody leg in front of it.

As I got close, it stood up and walked to the leg, letting out a cheerful bark as it chomped down.

I laid my head down next to it to watch it eat while I thought of a name.

-It seems to be a boy..- "How about Ilios?" [2]

As I said that, it stopped eating and looked at me with its tail wagging. "Huff!" It made an adorable attempt at a bark after hearing his new name.

A proud smile quickly appeared on my face seeing he liked it. "Hehe, you like it?"

As I was drowning in the adorableness that was Ilios for a moment, he ran over to me and hopped onto the top of my head before laying down.

A pure and childish happiness filled my soul seeing him get comfortable. -Hehe, he is so cute..-

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[1] - They technically 'can' but its not worth the effort for a dragon to learn. This will all be explained along with the magic system in a future chapter.

[2] - Ilios means "Sun" in dragon tongue (aka greek for those who haven't noticed)