Chapter 73 - Breakfast With A Dragon

Just as what was the previous morning for Zell, the sunlight pierced the windows of his bedroom and awoke him from his slumber. He opened his eyes, feeling the warmth of the sunlight on his face. He felt a weight next to him in the bed and turned his head to look. Obsi was laying down next to him snuggled tight. Her hands were holding on to the sheets covering him as tightly as they could.

"Obsi?" He asked, confused as to why she was in his bed. "What are you doing here?"

Obsi stirred from her sleep and looked up at Zell. "Morning." She said with a yawn.

"Don't just morning me!" Zell protested. "Why are you in my bed?!"

"Have a heart." Obsi said softly. "I was afraid you would vanish again, so I held you all night while you slept. I don't want to go through that again."

Zell felt like an ass. "I'm sorry." He replied. "I didn't think about how it must have felt when you thought I had died. It's fine, I am not mad. I just have one more question."

"You can ask it." Obsi said as she snuggled closer and smiled.

"Why are you naked?" Zell asked, not being able to not stare at her perfectly defined form.

"I always sleep in the nude." Obsi replied. "I don't understand how anyone could sleep while wearing such restrictive things. I want to be free when I sleep. But enough laying in bed, I could stay with you here all day, but the elders need to know you are still alive." Obsi got up from the bed giving Zell a full view of her ample assets. She noticed his attention and laughed to herself as she formed her scale dress back onto her body. "Lucille would have made breakfast by now. We should go eat before it gets cold."

"I will get up after you leave." Zell said. His young body reacted in a very predictable manner to Obsi's morning appearance, and he did not want the dragon to see his problem.

"Why because you have a boner?" Obsi teased.

Zell's face turned red from embarrassment. "No!" He replied swiftly. "I just think it best for you to leave before I get up."

"I am an ancient dragon." Obsi said plainly. "It's not my first experience with morning wood. But if it makes you feel better, I will go ahead to breakfast. I will see you there."

Zell quickly got out of bed and dressed as soon as Obsi left the room. He found his way to the kitchen where Lucille was serving Obsi the largest egg he had ever seen. "What kind of egg is that?" He said as he saw it.

"Good morning." Lucille said with a bow. "This is an egg from a cockatrice, a massive nasty bird to a human."

"No more than an oversized chicken to a dragon." Obsi butted in. "Would you care for an egg as well, Zell? Make him an egg Lucille."

"I will do as you command my mistress." Lucille said bowing and left the room.

"Where is she going?" Zell asked as he took his seat next to Obsi.

"To the stables out back." Obsi said, sipping her morning juice.

"You have a cockatrice back there?" Zell asked, puzzled.

"Well sure." Obsi explained. "We brought a few of them to the island with us. They are a reliable source of food for us dragons. Xalador actually runs a farm of them."

"I had no idea." Zell said.

Lucille reentered the room carrying another massive egg. "Master human, how would you like this egg to be prepared for you?"

"I have no idea how to answer that question." Zell said, looking at the massive size of the egg. It was the size of Lucille's torso.

"Perhaps I should just make you an omelet then." Lucille replied.

"I guess that sounds good." Zell answered back.

Lucille went into the kitchen to prepare Zell's meal.

"Dragon's sure do eat a lot." Zell said quietly.

"Yes, well of course." Obsi said, her mouth still full of egg. "We are rather large creatures after all. Sure, while we are in our human form, we are smaller, but our appetite and need for food is for our true form. Although we are able to live centuries between each meal, we prefer not to since it burns through a massive amount of magical energy."

"Kind of like the magical energy that kept me alive while I was in the astral plane." Zell said.

"Exactly." Obsi said. "Well maybe. I didn't know you then. Sounds similar though."

Lucille reentered the room carrying a large plate with folded egg on top. She placed the plate in front of Zell and smiled. "Here is your meal, please enjoy it."

"Thank you, it looks good." Zell said as he started to dig into his meal. Lucille had filled the omelet with assorted peppers, cheeses, and salty meats. Zell excitedly took his first bite. "This is delicious!" He said as he rushed for more.

"I am overjoyed that you find my food acceptable." Lucille said. "I have not cooked for humans often and was worried that I may have messed up somehow."

As Zell enjoyed his food his hand started hurting again. The searing pain that pierced him through to his soul was back. He felt like he had just punched the sun he burned so much. "Damn it!" He screamed out as the pain got too much to bear. He grabbed his hand with his other and held it tightly. The pain caused tears to start flowing from his eyes as he fought to bear it.

"Zell?!" Obsi said, concerned. "Are you alright?!"

"Oh no!" Lucille said. "I messed it up! I am so sorry mistress! I broke your pet human!"

"Zell speak to me what's wrong?!" Obsi asked, ignoring Lucille's panic attack.

"It's my hand! It burns so much!" Zell yelled out. He closed his eyes tightly due to the pain. When he opened them again Obsi immediately saw a difference.. Instead of his normal eyes, he had eyes akin to that of a fox.