Chapter 109 - Chapter 111

A few miles away from Connor's peaceful little village, a girl was walking with her head hung low. She was staring intensely at the ground and not paying any attention as to where she was walking. Her mind was too occupied with replaying the horrifying scene she was apart of earlier that day.

'Stupid, stupid, moron, dumbass, stupid! How are you ever going to talk to him again after doing something that embarrassing.' Cassie felt like shoving a cold piece of ice right through her heart. Because that was the current mood she was in after her conversation with Dragon.

"Who runs away crying like that? Of course, he was gonna leave, he doesn't even live here. I know that! AAAH! Why did I have to open my stupid mouth."

Cassie was walking on a massive frozen lake that she and her dad usually used water bending to skate on. It was this place where she perpetually went to vent and scream her issues out into the world.

"I should go back, I want to at least say goodbye first. BUT IT'S SO EMBARRASSING!" She fell down on her knees and screamed as loud as she could towards the sky. Her voice echoed around the lake and brought life to this dead wasteland. But silence quickly returned and she was left sitting out in the middle of the lake with tears stuck in her throat.

"It's so unfair!" Cassie felt the cold evening winds hit her in the face. And much like the cold winds, the reality hit her hard and the first teardrops escaped her eyes. And much like a broken dam failing to keep the water at bay. Her tears started falling like a waterfall down her face.

The snow that was covering the ground beneath her started to melt away thanks to the warmth of her tears. Her beautiful ocean blue hair was stuck to her face and her green coloured eyes were shivering from the sorrow and pain filling her up from head to toe.

Cassie was sitting there on her knees crying her eyes out, failing to notice multiple shadows approaching her from all directions. As the darkness was slowly taking over the world, Cassie had almost buried her head in the snow. She was crying so much that it was starting to physically hurt her.

Her happiness that had been building every time Dragon visited the village. Or every time she laid eyes on Orlando's majestic form. It all came crumbling down with one poor timed word from Dragon. And she wasn't prepared to handle the reality that came as a punch to the stomach.

As Dragon put it, she was too caught up in whatever was going on with her that the fact about Dragon not staying around was something she never even considered. In her mind, Dragon was a gentle teacher, a knowledgable elder. And everything she could ever think about nowadays.

As Cassie sat there in her sorrow, the shadows had all surrounded her. She had many hungry eyes inspecting her, observing whether she was prey or a threat. The red eyes lighting up the dark night sky seemed to have made a decision and twenty or so howls sounded out at the same time around the crying girl.

'Shit!' Cassie knew immediately what was happening. Still, with tears running down her face, she stood up just in time to see a big mouth with razor-sharp teeth open up in front of her face. "I'm sorry." Was the last words she could think about.

"KAAAA!" An eagle's scream so loud that it put a crack in the ground came from above, and a massive talon appeared and crushed the beast preparing to bite into Cassie. A shockwave from the sheer force of the eagle blew Cassie and all the other beasts aside.

Cassie rolled on the ground and lucky for her the ground had a lot of snow, meaning she didn't hurt herself that badly when she got knocked away by the giant talon. "O-Orlando?" It had become very dark, but Cassie could still see that massive shadow of Orlando standing where she had stood.

"KAA!" Orlando screamed towards the other beasts and glared at them with his piercing gaze. It looked like he was daring them all to attack. An apex predator looking down on simple prey.

The unidentified beasts stood there growling and staring at Cassie and Orlando with bloodlust in their eyes. But they eventually left the place without attacking again. With Orlando here, getting to Cassie just became impossible. Orlando would have killed them all the second they moved towards her.

"KAA!" Orlando screamed in victory as he made his way over to Cassie. And she was in awe at the sheer power and aura Orlando gave off. It was only because Dragon was always there that she didn't notice until now. But if you take Dragon out of the equation. Orlando was a real top apex predator. Very few beings in this world could even manage to put a scratch on him without dying for it.

"Thanks for that, Orlando," Cassie said and dried her tears with her sleeve. "What are you doing here?" She asked the eagle and tried to stay strong and not cry anymore.

Orlando just turned his head and looked at the pathetic looking carcass of the beast he had killed. Well, it was mostly a pile of flesh and bones now, because when Orlando crushes something, they get crushed for real. He holds immense power and not many beings can withstand it in this world.

"A-Are you going to eat them?" She looked at the dead creature and then she turned to Orlando with a questionable gaze. "Kaa!" Orlando flapped his wings and screamed out in anger at her question.

"What? What did I say?" Cassie said, now terrified she would be next on Orlando's crush list. At this moment, the sound of crushed snow was heard behind them, and Cassie for an unexplained reason got a chill that started at her toes and spread all the way through her body.

"No need to be afraid, Cassie. He is just a little annoyed that you thought he was gonna eat that. According to him, they are not worthy to be eaten by him." A deep voice, Cassie was very familiar with was heard behind her. She quickly wiped away all the dried tears on her face and turned around.

"I-I'm sorry, Master Dragon. I didn't mean to run away like that before." She said while staring at the ground. She wasn't able to look him in the eyes.

"It's forgotten already. And I apologize for not telling you about me leaving sooner. But are you okay? That was pretty dangerous there." Dragon asked and sat down on his knees in front of her.

"Yeah, I'm okay. It was my fault, I knew that snow wolfs hunted here. I was just a little too focused on other things." She said and looked at the dead snow wolf. All the blood made it difficult for her to look at it for too long.

"Your mind was occupied. It's understandable. So how are you holding up now?" He said and waved for Orlando to come over, which he did. He jumped over with air bending and landed beside Dragon and Cassie.

"I'm okay, really. I just need some rest I think." Cassie delivered the line with sincerity, but her smile was so fake and strained that Dragon could be blind and still be able to tell the emotion displayed on her face.

"You know when I miss my family back home or I'm feeling down. I go to sleep on top of Orlando. His feathers make it feel like your sleeping on the softest clouds. Try it." Dragon nodded to Orlando and he put out his wing so Cassie would be able to just walk on to it.

"Is that okay?" She looked at Orlando. And he nodded like the kind and understanding king eagle he was.

Cassie got up with the help of Dragon and she climbed up on Orlando. She had done this before, but never just for the purpose of sleeping. And as she got on she immediately knew what Dragon was talking about. The feathers felt amazing to touch.

"Now lay down and relax." Dragon said as he stood on the ground beside the sitting eagle. Orlando was a giant creature so even when he was sitting down he was many times bigger than Dragon. His height was 27 meters.

Cassie closed her eyes and let the nice and cool night breeze in collaboration with Orlando's feathers guide her to the land of possibilities. The land is also known as the dreamland. And she got there quickly because of how tired she was.

"Orlando take us to the village." Dragon said and jumped upon his head. And Orlando took off in flight with the sleeping beauty sleeping peacefully on his back.

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Inside the chief's hut, a bed was set up with a blanket and a pillow. And on this bed, a blue-haired girl was sleeping. She was one of the chief's daughters and the only other water bender in the village.

She was sleeping soundly and she looked peaceful while laying there under the blanket with only her head showing.

"Are you not going to wait for her to wait up? She would appreciate it, you know." Connor and Dragon stood and overlooking the bed that Cassie was sleeping on. Dragon had already explained the situation to Connor and now that he had delivered her home, he would leave.

"Give her this when she wakes up. tell her that if she manages to get this back into my hands, I'll take her in as a student." Dragon gave Connor a small blue rock. It had a strange inscription on it.

"Very well. I'm sure that will be one hell of a motivator for her." Connor smiled and took the rock from Dragon's hand. He inspected the rock, but after a few seconds of nothingness, he just put it in his pocket.

"And are you sure you know where to go from here?" Connor asked Dragon about his next stop on his journey. In fact, the White Lotus was very familiar with this place for one specific reason, so explaining the direction wasn't difficult for Connor.

"I'm sure. And I have a flying eagle so how hard can it be to find an island of that size." Dragon gave Connor a laugh and put on his new cloak Connor had gifted him. Dragon was wearing a water tribe inspired attire and a full-body cloak that covered both his front and back from view.

"I sincerely hope we meet again before my time is up." Dragon said suddenly and earned a strange look from Connor.

"I'll have to agree there, my friend. So make sure you don't go and die on me." Connor held out his hand with a smile. "Come back anytime, my door will always be open to you." Connor and Dragon shook hands and shared a smile.

'Leaving this world behind might be a lot harder than I thought.' Dragon said to himself as he walked out of the hut leaving Connor and Cassie behind.

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End