The Devil's Cursed Witch

Music - Dandelions by RuthB

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Draven and Ember appeared at a place far away from the palace.

When Ember regained her composure, she found herself in a location she had never seen before---a vast meadow covered with dandelions, the pleasant lush scenery extending to cover even the surrounding hills.

Seemingly kissed by the sunlight, the softly swaying colors of green, yellow and white lay in a spread before her eyes.

'Beautiful...'

It was a different kind of beauty from the flower valley where Morpheus had taken her the previous day.  That place was beautiful in a fancy way, looking more like a land of rainbows, a heavenly place that descended on earth, causing one to gasp in admiration the moment they lay their eyes on it.

Meanwhile, though this meadow only had a single flower-bearing plant, it was equally breathtaking but in a more lowkey manner. It gave off the feeling that one would enjoy spending a lazy afternoon napping in this field.

"What is this place?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Where I like to spend my time alone."

She walked ahead and observed that land as far as her sight allowed her. As she weaved through the plants that reached her knees, the pleasant breeze continued to play with her long brown locks.

"What are these called?" she asked as she plucked one yellow flower.

"Dandelions."

She observed it closely. "So delicate."

"Like you."

She raised a brow at him, not feeling angry for being called delicate but she smiled playfully. "Am I?"

He nodded and she then looked at a white flower. "They look more delicate than this one."

Draven plucked one of them and handed it over to her. "You can try blowing on it."

Ember accepted that delicate-looking dandelion puffball and blew on it gently, sending the small white puffs into the air. She could not help but be awed as she watched them fly higher with the passing breeze.

"Yellow dandelion flowers turns white after some time. These are the seeds of these flowers."

"It's beautiful," she said and plucked another puffball and blew on it, giggling as she played like a little girl. "I can't get enough doing this."

"You can wish for something while blowing on it," he commented.

"Wish?"

"Hmm," he nodded, "They say your wish comes true if you make it while blowing on this white white flower."

"Really?" her eyes widened at it.

"Hmm."

"Then I have so many wishes to ask for. I might end up plucking out all these white flowers."

"Go ahead. You can do it for as long as you want. There are countless flowers in this meadow.""

Ember happily continued to pluck white flower, close her eyes to ask for a wish and blew on it. She continued to do it again and again while wishing for something and Draven continued to follow her, observing his naive mate.

As if he got the chance to see Ember's realself, busy in her own world, Draven didn't wish to miss any of this moment. She was like an excited little girl who asked for nothing but just little happiness.

After a while she felt tired and stopped. "These many wishes should be enough for today," she said and  blew that last dandelion towards him thinking, 'he is the most important than all the wishes I can ever make.'

It caused some white puffs to stick to the front of his black coat. She stepped towards him and tried to remove thsoe white puffs and asked, "Why do you like to come here? Because you like these flowers or you like the scenery?"

"The Dragon inside me likes it. Whenever he's restless, this field can help him calm down. He loves to blow on these dandelions just like what you are doing now."

'The Dragon inside him? He always speaks as if the Dragon part of him is another person.'

As she continued to leisurely stroll among the flowers, a part of her mind was fixated on the image of a Dragon playing on this vast meadow.

Draven was said to be a Black Dragon.

What was a dragon like?

In the books she read in the past, there was one with an illustration of the Dragon Race, and the image looked like winged lizards the size of a house. It seemed odd to imagine Draven as anything aside from his human form.

Would he look scary? Since he's so handsome as a man, then he should also be handsome as a dragon...but how can one tell if a dragon is handsome in its beast form?

It made her incredibly curious.

If she asked him to show her his beast form, would he agree?

Should she try?

"So how often do you visit this place?" she asked, pretending nonchalance, aware that he was following behind her. "In the future, will I get the chance to see a Black Dragon playing with dandelions? Well, it must be uncomfortable to be seen blowing on flowers by others when you're here to relax so I don't mind if--"

But the rest of her words were struck on her throat when she heard a familiar rustling sound of fabric. The sound of clothes being removed...?

She found a black coat being tossed on the ground next to her feet, and before she could react, her surroundings darkened, as if the sunlight was suddenly covered by the clouds.

It wasn't clouds.

A large shadow appeared on the meadow, looming over her body from behind.

The gigantic shadow took the shape of what she was talking about a while ago, and she felt her heart skip a beat.

'Did he...did he just transform into...?'

Her breathing quickened with the realization, but she dared not say out loud what was in her mind.

Several seconds later, she heard the light grunting of a beast, and a warm wind blew her way, which she was sure was the breathing of the creature looming behind her. She gulped, her mind a mess.

Even without turning around, her instincts were screaming at her that there was a large predatory beast behind her.

The legendary creature she once thought only existed in stories...a Dragon.