24 Friends (1/2)

”Maga!”

The night was quiet with only the rustling of leaves and footsteps of the small animals heard, making the shout break the peaceful atmosphere. The shout was followed by scurrying footsteps coming from somewhere inside the dark cave.

When it saw that there were two humans instead of one entering its teritory, the running figure suddenly stopped then crouched back to growl at the two. The smell of the food made it excited so it was unable to distinguish the other foreign smell.

Its muscles on its legs were bunched, ready to pounce forward if there was any sign of danger. The low hum was the only noise inside the cave.

”Grrrrrr... Yelp!” The bonk in its head surprised it.

Seeing the dragon's attitude, Ling reprimanded, ”Maga, why are you being rude to my friend. You're both my friends so you have to be friends with each other too.”

The other two in the room were speechless. However, their reactions seemed to be ignored by the boy and he continued talking.

”Alright, I'll introduce you to each other. Rin, this is Maga. Maga, this is Rin.”

After that short introduction, as if accepting the previous explanation, the dragon circled around the other child while sniffing.

”I found Maga when I got lost last time. I woke up in another cave with a mama bear and several baby bears. But when I tried to look for an exit, I fell on another hole and bumped my head on Maga's egg. I thought it was a rock. Then it started cracking so I was slightly scared. Then Maga came out.”

When the dragon was satisfied that the quiet child did not smell dangerous, it proceeded to smell around Ling, looking for its food.

”Ok, ok, Let's all sit down first. Then we can share all the food I brought.” The dragon snorted, looking like it did not want to share its food, but still sat down beside the others.

While the dragon was eating, the boy kept talking, ”He can't walk at first so it was gunny. But he can breath fire so it wasn't too dark when we were walking in the cave.”

He tapped the eating dragon excitedly, ”Maga, show him, show him.”

The dragon looked at the boy with the sparkling eyes then breathe out fire, resigned to its fate.