121 Catching Up

Unable to relate to the rest of the group, Greyson did not feel as anxious. His time in the Dragon Tribe was brief, and he did not quite comprehend the scale of this occurrence or the consequences. Needless to say, his apathy could also be due to the fact that his impression of Irumen was extremely poor and he did not care if the guy lived or died. In the midst of the hurry, Greyson took this time to communicate with Lucius instead.

"So, Lu, what happened in the end? I thought I asked you to take care of my body! Not throw it to the dragons whom I did not know at that point."

"You can't blame that on me. It was out of my control. It was an accident; I'm sure the Elder did not mean to."

"Elder?"

"..."

"Come on, you can't be expecting to hold out on me now. A little hard to betray someone whose life is connected to yours, don't you think?"

"I don't doubt you. It's just problematic because it is not only my safety at risk but also the rest of my tribesmen. Nonetheless, I was only hesitating a little. Just give me second, okay? I was summoned back to my tribe. It was that spell that sent you to the Dragon Tribe and Halcrem most likely back to the Sun Lion Tribe. I was worried about you, too, but the Elder assured me that nothing would happen to you. Plus, I was alive which was a clear indicator that you were as well. I'm sorry if it freaked you out when you woke up."

"Okay, well, apology accepted. Ultimately, I'm not that angry about what happened since it allowed me to reunite with more of my family. More good came from the split than bad. But, since you were summoned back to that secret location, how did you end up getting caught by the Cidian Bears? Theo did not put it nicely, but it's true you are usually diligent and skilled at avoiding notice."

"Ugh, don't even get me started with this." Lucius' expression dropped looking exasperated.

"What?"

"The timing of my arrival was unlucky. Every now and then, the secret location becomes exposed. There are other talented space element magic beasts and magicians other than the Destiny Cats. The Elder can keep these other forces at bay for a while, but eventually he has to move the location. Part of the reason we are so hard to find is that fact that he keeps moving the tribe around. There is no set location. This time, the tribe suffered a surprise attack. The attackers kept their faces and bodies concealed, so I am not sure which enemy it was. Most of the tribe was quickly transported away by the Elder, while some of the more powerful members had to stay and help fight the enemy to buy enough time. I wanted to volunteer, but I'm still a child in the eyes of the tribe. During the mass teleportation, someone sent a large attack. One of the cats blocked the spell, and it only hit the outer edges of the teleportation array, yet it was exactly at the fringes that I was waiting. It was then I suffered a life-threatening wound and teleported to another location. Confused and bleeding out, I tried to use my bloodline to send me back. However, I was too severely injured. Reflecting on this now, it was just plain stupid and thoughtless. I should have looked around for help or maybe called for rescue. At least, I could have checked my surroundings before using my abilities. Sadly, a Cidian Bear tribe member was in the surrounding area and witnessed my third eye. Although the eye did not open in the end, that bear could recognize what it was. Contrary to what you might expect, he was kind and wanted to help me heal. At that time, he was not plotting to sell me or keep me locked in the tribe. This bear brought me back to his tribe where they worked tirelessly to keep me alive. What they were not aware of, is that there was a Hargrave in that area as well. He went back to inform the tribe who then approached the Cidian Bears. Feigning ignorance did not work, so the bears had no choice but to declare war. And so on and so forth..."

"Did they do anything while you were held captive?"

"No, I told you, they were not evil beasts. Though it may seem strange, I feel bad they were forced into such an awkward situation. Unable to back down, but not fully willing to jump into the fight. I could tell they wished I would just magically disappear from their hands."

"Heh, wish granted I guess." Greyson chuckled. "What kind of awful luck is that, though? What happened to the good fortune you brag always follows you?"

"I'm not sure, either." Frustrated, Lucius really was clueless. This experience was a first for him. "Maybe there is such thing as bad luck within the tribe and I just happen to be the one with relatively weaker fortune compared to the rest of the Destiny Cats."

"Hahaha, maybe. Or it could be this was a form of good luck since I was able to find you faster. I doubt you would have been able to invite me to the Destiny Cat haven, otherwise."

"Well, that is true. I was supposed to stay with the tribe until I reached adulthood to reduce the danger. There would have been no way I could contact you during that time. No one would trust you enough to not expose the position secretly. Now that I think about it, the Elder might end up summoning me back once more after the chaotic period of the move is over."

"What? Like randomly?"

"I'm not certain. Just be prepared if I disappear again, okay? Don't freak out."

"Don't freak out? DON'T FREAK OUT?! After all this trouble I went through. I swear if you get summoned back, I am not going to go out and save you again. You can die for all I care, then. What if you leave tomorrow, wouldn't all my struggles be a waste of time? I'm annoyed just thinking about it."

"But if I die, don't you die?" Lucius teased.

"I want to void this ridiculous contract, what was I even thinking back then? You merely took advantage of a young, ingenuous boy to swindle me into signing my life away." Vexed to no end, Greyson stomped his foot down hard.

"Hey, hey, Grey. Take it easy on my back okay? My scales may be hard, but I can nevertheless feel it if you kick that hard!" Cerul cried out indignantly. The shout snapped Greyson back to reality. The rest of the group shot him weird looks after his unwarranted outburst. Embarrassed, he remembered that his conversation with Lucius was all mental so he looked rather foolish.

Glaring over at the cat, he noticed Lucius rolling around while laughing. Fuming, Greyson went over and kicked him off Cerul before plopping back down to meditate.

"Hey!" Lucius floated back up using the wind element. Greyson just proceeded to ignore him and focused on his meditation.