Tales of the Forgotten: Eternity

Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve Everybody!

December 25th, 2020 5:00 P.M.

Red Mountain, Dragon Lands

I sat on the ledge of the cave we had just set up camp in for the night, looking out over the lands as Celestias sun set on the horizon. The sky was a beautiful gradient from a deep blue to a yellow-orange that was quickly cut off by the light brown of the Gray Mountains that were dotted with fresh snow. Behind me a fire blazed in the middle of the cave with a young dragoness lying down next to it with her head on her right arm. She is only 10 years old and yet she still knows pain I couldn’t bear to have known at that age.

It wasn’t more than a month ago when I had come here to the Dragon Lands to do research on the Dragons all other races were far too scared to do. At first it was strictly business, to learn everything I could about them from their culture to their own language which was nearly impossible for me to wrap my head around, albeit I was never very good at learning languages. I came during the Great Dragon Migration and followed them to the Gemstone Peaks to follow the migration and do some research from afar. It was during that time that I met the dragoness behind me.

Her name was Faelan, a dragoness left all alone by her late family. Her mother, father, sister and brother had all died a few years ago in a terrible accident when Mount Ashstorm erupted and wiped out the small settlement of Wimborne. Of the twenty living there, only two survived with one of them being Faelan. The other dragon left her all alone, calling her weak and useless, that her father should have survived instead of her. From what I have learned, her father sacrificed his life to save Faelans.

After that Faelan traveled wherever her tiny body would take her, surviving with what little skill she had against all odds. Eventually she found a large migration of dragons flying ‘cross the sky as if something had bidden them away from where they once were and she chose to follow them. She found me hiding behind a tree as I looked on towards the sky in awe.

I looked back at her when I felt her staring at my back and looked at her with wondrous eyes as her scales shimmered in the sunlight and her eyes analyzed me cautiously. The rest after that is history as we became close within the next few days. After the migration ended we headed towards the capital of the Dragon Lands, Dragontail. Oddly she had called me Daddy at one point and I felt a pang of guilt as my heart dropped as I knew one day I would leave and she wouldn’t be able to follow me. I decided that I wouldn’t do that to her, that I wouldn’t allow her to live here all alone anymore.

I asked her if she would like to come with me and naturally she asked where, I could give her no straight answer but even so she wanted to go with me. I remember her exact words to this day, “It doesn’t matter where you go or what you do, you will always be my daddy and I want to be with you forever!”

Shortly thereafter I gathered the bits to formally adopt her and did the paperwork I needed to do. A month later and here we are in a cave near the peak of the Red Mountain. My next- I mean our next destination is the Igneous Plains to gather some rock samples for the researchers back in Awrada.

I was thrust back from my thoughts as I felt Faelan wrap her hands around my eyes, “Guess who Daddy!?” she exclaimed joyfully as I laughed at her joke. I brought my hands up and over my shoulders and grabbed onto her sides as she giggled before I hefted her up over my shoulders and onto my lap.

“I think I can guess who it is Faelan my dear.” I giggled as I rested my chin on her head as I tickled her sides for a bit before we finally settled down and she leaned into my chest. She yawned loudly as the sun finally faded over the horizon and left the land in the dim glow of the waxing moon above. “Are you still tired honey?” I asked as I felt her nod her head. I put her arms over my shoulders and stood up with her hanging there as she rested on my forearms.

The memory of me carrying my younger cousin Ashelynn quickly rushed to my mind and back out as I looked down at her and felt tears start to well up in my eyes. She looked up at me tiredly and asked, “What’s wrong Daddy? Why are you crying?” I shook my head as I looked up at the moon and smiled.

“It’s nothing, you just reminded me of someone who I deeply cared about just now.” I replied as I looked back down at her and smiled. “Sorry that I don’t have anything for you today honey, but I promi-” she put her hand over my mouth and shook her head.

“It’s okay daddy, as long as I have you I don’t need presents.” she said softly as she snuggled into my chest and dozed off. I smiled as a single tear fell down my face before I walked over to the fire and laid her down next to it before pulling a blanket over her.

“Happy Hearths Warming Eve my daughter.” I whispered as I leaned over and kissed her forehead before pulling my own covers over myself and drifting off to sleep next to her.