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"Eli! Get your head out of the clouds and come help me!"
The sharp retort pulled Eli out of his stupor from the large menacing clouds that loomed before them, filling the sky and hiding it's once bluish color only moments before, before his emerald gaze turned to the farmer. "Do you think a tornado will fall?" He asked as if he were merely asking what they should have for dinner. "I thought I saw a funnel cloud up there."
"Only more reason for you to move your arse over here and help me!" The farmer Reek replied. "Andy knowing your imagination you likely saw nothing. Just like always." The old farmer grumbled as he struggled with the rope, trying to tie down the blanket over the crops. "If a tornado did fall down, however, I would toss you right into it as a sacrifice to the gods to save my crops. 'Bout the only good use I get out of you."
If Eli felt any offense to the old man's comment, he revealed none of it, only shrugging as he moved himself to the other side of the crops they were currently tending. It was a smaller field, holding relishes and carrots mostly, along with similar vegetables. Anything larger was out in the bigger field, but there was nothing they could do for it. It would take too much time, and they wouldn't save much anyway, on the account they had nothing big or strong enough to cover an entire field. Eli had suggested an idea to Reek once of building an underground field, and when Reek asked(well more demeaned him)about what they were to do about sunlight, Eli suggested making smaller holes in the dirty ceiling to allow rays of sunlight, and they could somehow provide coverings that they could open and close whenever they needed to. Reek proceeding by calling him an assortments of names that followed along the lines of, 'imbecile' and 'idiocy' before dropping the idea all together. Eli thought it had been a great idea. Thinking back on it now, right now it definitely seemed like a good idea, since then they wouldn't have to be kneeling down trying to nail down make-shift tarps to cover at least their smaller crops. This way they wouldn't lose everything.
The wind had began to pick up again, whipping through Eli's short red hair and causing his bangs to get in the way of his eyes, making it a little difficult to see the ropes in his hands. He fumbled with it for a second before getting a tighter grip, then managed to tie it around the wooden stake he had previously hammered into the ground moments before. Not far from him, Reek was grumbling low to himself as he proceeded to do the same, both working fast before the storm could hit. As they worked the sky began to darken more and more, the clouds blocking what little traces of sunlight they had as they moved ahead, and it was as if the wind was laughing at them. Laughing more and more the darker it became. It had been dark enough as it was, near evening with the sister suns setting. It would be night soon.
Then the rain hit.
It didn't start out as a soft drizzle, or even as a single drop of rain that felt enough courtesy to let it's victims know, 'Hey, we're about to be pouring down on the two of you in just a second, thought I would let you know personally before my brothers and sisters came.' It was nothing like that. It all came down at once, and before Eli knew it, he was being pelted by little wet fists that fell in big drops upon his head and back. In seconds he was already drenched, the wind nearly knocking him onto his side , which caused the rope to slip from his hand. He lurched forward to grab it, but the wind had caught a hollow space beneath the blanket that covered the crops, and in that moment it lifted the whole thing into the air. The blanket raved like a thing from a nightmare, the storm taking that precise moment to let out a sharp streak of lightning through the sky above, lighting the ground below them for just an instant to give the blanket an even more menacing look, it's ropes flying with it.
"You lose nailed pig head!" Reek shouted above the wind and rain, but Eli ignored him. He jumped up, grabbing hold of the blanket and tried pulling it down, his fingers gripping tightly as he tried pulling one corner of the blanket towards him to get to his rope. "Leave it! It's already too late! We need to get inside!"
"No!" Eli called back, instead forcing his knees back down into the now soaked mud, caking his pants in it as his hands went back to work on tying down the rope. Reek released a series of curses before he managed to gain hold of the other rope and began tying down the other end.
It took longer than normal thanks to the storm, but the tarp was finally in place and the two farmers had risen back on their feet, bodies bent against the wind as the rain continued to beat down on them. Eli had lifted a hand over his eyes, doing his best to block out most of the rain as he squinted through the darkness, though he couldn't even see their home. A flash of lightning helped to determine it's location, a small cabin not far out in the field from where they were, before it vanished into the darkness once more.
"Come on!" Eli called out, grabbing hold of Reek's arm and began pulling him towards the direction of the cabin he had last seen it. The farmer said nothing, or at least Eli didn't hear him if he did, and the two began to struggle against the wind as they made their way towards the cabin. They had to move slow on the account it was dark, and the rain made it even more difficult to see, but they were farmers. They knew these fields. They allowed the memory of their feet to guide them, and soon the soft packed earth became more firm as they stepped upon the wooden steps that led to their home.
They pulled themselves onto the porch, Eli still leading the older farmer along as his hand reached out for the doorknob, his fingers clasping around it before turning it quickly and pulled the door open. However it was thrown out of his grip, the wind pushing hard against the door and causing it to slam outwards, forcing Eli and Reek to back away from it. Eli didn't hesitate. He pulled Reek before pushing him gently but urgently inside, then grabbed hold of the doorknob once more and began to try to pull it towards him as he wrestled with the wind. The door had nearly escaped him once, but Eli managed to gain control and win the struggle as he gave one final pull, and finally managed to slam the door firmly shut.
Now within the safety of the cabin's inner walls, the storm outside had become startling muffled compared to the loud noise Eli had just experienced seconds before, yet the storm still loudly raged outside. Beating against the walls as the windows rattled. For a moment Eli feared that they might break. He and Reek began to move around the house, putting out pots for leaks that began in their ceiling and boarding up the windows incase Eli's fear became true, and anything else they could do to save most what they could during the storm.
And then they waited, and as the night dragged on and the storm raged, Eli found himself drifting on and off till at last he slept. As he slept, the strangest dream came to him, a dream that seemed to break away the storm so that all he heard was a woman's voice....
Eli woke that morning with a strange feeling. He thought he could still hear a woman's voice from somewhere in the distance, an echo in his ears that vibrated through his mind then his entire being, but then just like that it was gone. Why did he suddenly have such a strange dream? He had had strange dreams before and often though of strange things, but this... This had felt too real. He shook his head and ran his hands over his face then through his hair, ridding himself of the drowsiness that sleep had brought him. Glancing at the window, his internal clock had woke him at the same time as it had every day, early morning before even the sun was awake. He and Reek had a lot of work to do, thanks to the storm lastnight.
Swinging his legs off the bed, he got himself up and went to prepare for the day.
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Eli stood before the wreckage of their field, seeing twigs thrown here and there while dirt had been thrown up from the pounding of the rain, which was now filled with small puddles of water. What plants had grown were now wilted and fell upon the wet muddy ground, useless. They would still be able to save some of them, and things such as the watermelon and corn were perfectly fine. They could still sell them if they needed to and eat what they had, plus they had their animals, so not all was lost. Still, Reek was obviously not happy, grumbling to himself as he moved his way through the field and kicked away whatever plants they couldn't save. Eli was leaning against his shovel, the metal end of it partly in the ground with the palms of his hands resting on the very handle, while his chin rested upon them.
"It could've been worse." Eli offered. "We could of had that tornado after all."
"Idiot!" Reek snapped, tossing a rotten tomato over his shoulder as he turned to glare at Eli. "Tornados wouldn't be able to land here, and even if one did, it would be gone in a second!" He waved his arm to gesture around them. "We're in the mountains! The ground is too uneven for a tornado. I though you would figure that out by now!" He spat off to the side before turning his back on Eli, moving through the fields. "Why don't you make yourself useful and..."
The old farmer had began giving him a list of many things he could do, but Eli's mind had began to wander off, the farmer's words fading out as his eyes drifted towards the forest. He only nodded and muttered short answers to pretend that he was listening, though he had already grown bored and was not looking forward to the long list of work he would have to do today, still leaning against his shovel. His eyes had rested in a certain direction in the forest as his mind still began to wander, though it was towards a particular feeling within his chest, a very strange and unnatural thing that he had not felt before. No... It wasn't even that. It didn't come from his chest. It went much...deeper. Very deep. Like something inside him was trying to every so slightly to pull away. And he just couldn't move his eyes away from the forest.
"Uh huh..." Eli muttered as he began to move before even realizing it. "Yeah... Sure... Whatever you say..." He said to Reek, though he had no idea what the guy had said, his only focus being on that on particular spot in the forest. It was the strangest thing. It was as if his body was moving on autopilot, leading him even as he didn't know where to go, the feeling within growing stronger with every step he took. It was like he knew. But he didn't. It was like being caught in a trance that he couldn't withdraw his mind from, caught in a spell that threatened to take him over, yet he made no attempt to pull away.
"Then go check on the cows and see if any rain got into their stables." Reek continued. "If their hay is wet then give them some fresh loads. I would let the pigs out as well, they'll certainly appreciate all this mud." He spat again before shaking his head at the ground at his feet. Yet there was no answer. "Eli?" Reek said as he began to turn around. "Did you hear anything I just-"
Yet the boy was gone, being no where in sight as the farmer turned his body completely around to try to find him. "Eli? Eli!" Again there was no answer. Reek let out another series of curses as he grabbed his hat from the top of his shaggy brown hair and threw it to the ground. "Confound that boy and his constant disappearance! When I find him he'll wish he was never born!"
Eli had already found himself deep in the forest, following that small tug deep inside him that had grown steadily stronger as he moved, driven by pure curiosity and anxiety. What was this? It was almost like a silent call that demanded his attention, and no matter how deep within the forest he went, he knew exactly where to go. The feeling only grew, and Eli found his pace quickening, almost to the point of desperation. Why did he suddenly feel like this? What was the point? What demanded his attention? He often got excited over pie, yes, but this was something entirely different. Nothing had ever stirred inside him so strongly such as this.
He had soon reached the river. It's waters were moving fast down it's bank due to the rain that happened over night, whereas it would have normally been pretty calm. But now it moved at a dangerous torrent down the river, and one slip would have him dragged down and pulled under in no time, carrying him further and further away from his home. Yet the feeling inside had stopped him here. He looked around, a look of confusion on his face as he examined the trees and the water below him, careful to no step on to the steep slope that led to the water's bank. But there was nothing.
Shaking his head he dropped down onto his bum with his knees pulled up, pulling out a piece of grass before resting his arms over his knees, his fingers absentmindedly twiddling with the blade between his fingers. How strange... Why lead him here? The feeling was still there, tugging him, but he didn't see anything. He knew this river, knew this area, and so knew there was nothing special about it. He would know if something had changed, yet all looked well and normal, so why have the sudden urge to come all the way here?
He sighed. "Looks like my imagination only ran wild again." He muttered to himself. His eyes had drifted to the piece of bladed grass in his hands, causing his face to turned downward towards the river, and it was then that he noticed it.
His eyes had been looking between his fingers that held the blade of grass, right down the slope and at the river's bank. There was a small mound there. A mound of what appeared to be mud. But something was...off about it. He blinked once, slowly lowering his hands as he squinted his eyes, trying to get a closer look, but he couldn't quite place what it was that bothered him about it. Deciding to get an even closer look, he let the blade of grass drop from his fingers and began to carefully slide down the slope, careful not to allow himself to slip and fall into the rushing river. He slid right up close to the bank, now kneeling before the strange mound of mud that had caught his attention, and his hands carefully hover above it. Then he slowly placed just two of his fingers upon the mound, and he blinked once when he found that it was really solid, having assumed that perhaps his eyes had been deceiving him.
His hands came carefully around the mound, slowly lifting it from the mud so that the object now lay in his hands, and even though cool mud surrounded it, Eli felt a very strange warmth radiate from it. He frowned ever so slightly, and one of his hands came up to wipe away some of the mud from the surface...and nearly dropped it. He was taken aback from the sudden sharp glow that touched his eyes, a very grand comparison to the dull muddy color that now covered it, and his mouth was left slightly a gaped. It was....red. Far more than red. It was a shiny sort of red, the redest reds, as if if someone were to ask him what red looked like, he would tell them it looked just like this. It was pure, rich, spoke to his very soul. The very element of compassion and love like there ever was, sparking his mind with inspiration and thrill, while at the same time telling of woes and touching his very core. Not only that but the surface was like a gem. Obviously it was not, and the more he wiped the mud away, the more he came to realize that it's surface was smooth and round. Almost like stone. But that could not be... The surface sparked like a gem, like a....like a ruby!
He looked around till he realized he was standing just inches away from water. Ever so carefully he scooted himself to the very edge of the river, and careful still, he dipped the object into the water and began to wash away the rest of the mud. The water was calmer closer to shore, so he managed to clean it without much trouble, and so when he lifted it back out of the water he held a rich hue ruby stone. How had he never noticed anything like this before? But of course it was most likely never here before. Looking at the river, he realized that the water could have very well carried this marvelous stone all the way here, and it had washed up onto shore. Where had it come from? From the mountains? The river traveled through them, connected itself with many other rivers, so it was possible....
A crack suddenly drew Eli's attention once again, and his eyes landed on the stone, only to realize that it wasn't a stone at all. A crack had appeared right at it's center, and with a sudden burst the shells had broken way, and an angular head appeared. It's long slender neck emerged from the depths of what Eli now realized to be an egg, his jaw dropping nearly to the ground as he stared at the thing before him, which stared right back at him. The creature appeared reptilish in nature, and it had the strangest things projecting from the sides of it's angular head, something of what appeared to be black small mounds with some sort of thin membrane between them. But they were all so small and thin... The thing had ruby colored scales, and it's head had so many angles and things that could have been sharp, but right now only appeared roundish and dull. Very small black spines ran down the creatures neck, which were also covered in a strange membrane, coming to a stop at the head just between lumps of black that rested on either side of the creature's skull. The spines were currently lowered on the creature as it stared up at Eli, and he realized that he was looking pure black obsidian eyes. With no pupil.
"Wha-" Eli began to say before the creature's head popped back within it's shell, then a split second later more cracks began to appear on the egg, before the creature had used what Eli could now a tail and wings to break the rest of the shell.
Both the egg and the creature nearly fell out of Eli's grasp, and he quickly caught hold of the creature in his hands before it could fall back into the mud, and Eli stared in absolute shock now that he could see the creature fully. More spines ran down the creature's back, but these ones had no membrane, and they stayed settled on the creature's back. The wings were overly large, falling limp over the outer edges of Eli's hands even as he held the creature, and he could see more spines going down the creature's tail which were also small. Seeing the small creature's full form, his mind began to register what he was seeing, yet he could not comprehend it. He was in absolute shock. He had been holding what he thought had been a stone mere moments before, but now suddenly he was holding....holding....this.
The creature's eyes found his once more, then suddenly, it was like something clicked. Eli was gone. Yet he was there. Nothing made sense. Then everything made sense. He was spiraling freely, the world seeming to spin around him as his mind fell into near chaotic madness, all sense and reason seeming to escape him. One moment he was himself, knowing everything about himself, but then suddenly he knew what he was holding. Thoughts and feelings raced through him, and suddenly he was small, wet and hungry, but full of curiosity
and wonder, as well as a great immense of love for the human before him. He could feel another presence inside himself as well, something else there that hadn't been there before, yet it had somehow felt right. This lasted for what felt like eons, his mind feeling like it was split in two and he had no idea who he was anymore, whether he was meant to have wings or skin, and yet somehow had both. He could feel it all. He could feel the creature's every breath, knew it's every thought, almost like he had become it. No. That was wrong. He. And this was no mere creature.
He was a dragon.
Then it all stopped and Eli suddenly found himself on the ground, sprawled on his hands and knees, left gasping and clinging on the ground as if his life depended on it. What...what had just happened?! His head lifted to see the dragon not far off, crouched low as he stared at Eli with what appeared to be concern, a small croon seeming to emanate from the tiny creature. Eli could only blink before he tore his gaze away from it to get his bearings, and noticed right away that he was no longer near the river or even in the forest for that matter. He was in....a temple? He wasn't quite sure. All he ever knew were the fields and his own little farm. He scrambled quickly to his feet, backing away as he began to circle around, his head cranked nearly all the way back as he stared above and around him. Turning in a full circle about three times and almost falling into the fountain. This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening.
His head snapped back into place when he heard voices. Women had appeared out of nowhere and began to talk to him. This wasn't happening. All he could do was stare with his mouth gaping open, yet no sound would come out, no matter how many questions he had. What was going on? Why was he there? Why did he suddenly get a freakin dragon?! None of it made sense. None of this did. How did he even get here?! But they were already walking, and he was left standing there, staring dumbly after them. All he could do was follow, his body seeming to move into autopilot, his eyes following the retreating figures as he tried to catch up. However there was a sharp cry behind him, and he stopped to turn his head to see the dragon try to catch up to him, but he had kept tripping over his overly large wings.
Eli hesitated, but he couldn't very well leave the creature there like that, and he was obviously still a baby. So he quickly went over to the scaly creature and knelt down, picking him up and cradled the dragon hatchling to his chest, which the dragon seemed incredibly pleased about and made himself comfortable. Like he had belonged there and had folded his wings close around himself. Eli turned and began to quickly follow after the women. He was lead to his own room, once again only staring dumbly when the women explained to him that soon his questions would be answered and he would meet others. Others? Others what? Others like him? Did...did they have dragons too?
Then suddenly he was alone. There was furniture, but he stood in the midst of the room, stuck in absolute shock. What was going on... In mere seconds his life had suddenly turned upside down. What...what could be happening?! He was on the verge of a mental break down. He had to get a grip. He set his dragon down on a nearby bed, his hands shaking as he ran them through his hair and closed his eyes, taking deep calming breath.
{Ok.} He thought to himself. {This isn't so bad. I'm dreaming. Yes. That has to be it. I'm dreaming. This is just one of my crazy day dreams I always have and this time it just ran a little too far. I'm back on the field, with Reek, tending to the wilted vegetables and cleaning up the mess. When I open my eyes all of this will be gone and I'll be back home.}
He opened his eyes. The hatchling was staring up at him from the bed, and a look of concern seemed to have crossed it's sharp features, as if he wasn't sure what to do. Eli could feel the creature's feelings, know that the hatchling was uncertain and worried for him. Then, ever so gently, the creature slowly stood up and lowered his head. As if afraid he might get in trouble, and cocked his head to the side as he looked up at Eli.
{Hungry....?} The dragon said, though phrased it in a way that made it sound like a question, as if he were asking for permission to be hungry. But Eli could only stare at the dragon. His body had gone completely still, his eyes growing wide, and his face went pale. He just heard the dragon speak, but not outloud... It had been in it's head.
That did it.
Eli screamed and backed away from the dragon, startling the poor creature, and he slammed his back against the door. His hand was searching behind him desperately for the doorknob, trying to get the door to open so that he could get out of the room, but apparently his mind couldn't function the proper way to open a door at that moment.
The creature had reared up on his hind legs, spreading his wings out and made a sharp call towards his Bonded. Obviously alarmed. The creature jumped off the bed and flapped his wings to try to fly, but he only managed to flap one wing before the other and his body turned one way, flipping it until his back suddenly hit and slid on the floor. The dragon squirmed and struggled on the ground, trying to right himself while flapping his wings, which only terrified Eli more. He moved quickly away from the dragon, trying to get around him, but only managed to trip over something and landed flat on his back. Before he could get up, the dragon was suddenly on him, staring down at him with his claws on his chest.
{Friend! Friend!} The dragon spoke in his mind again, flapping his wings once or twice, but Eli only screamed again and tried to throw the dragon off of him, but the Ruby wasn't having it, digging in with his claws and only holding on.
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