The Traitors

Plan B

"What?!?" Melvin yelled at the top of his voice, making some of the birds in nearby trees fly away like they did in cartoons. "You didn't kill him?!?"

Melvin seethed with anger, each breath he was drawing in calculating to his rapidly increasing anger. Griffins were one of his most trustworthy minions. But they had failed him in this crucial moment.

"He was too swift. He jumped over us and pulled a feather from us each. You know how much we hate losing our beautiful golden feathers." One of the younger Griffins screeched softly.

This could have been success... Melvin told himself. He had to come up with something else. If David kept plucking out their feathers, they would always come running back to him the second one of their feathers had been pulled out.

"I will send a small group of ten dragons to accompany you in finding David. This time, just lead the dragons to where David is and try to assist the dragons if they attack and help them to escape if it is necessary. Or else I will pull your feathers out myself!" Melvin instructed, ending off shouting at the top of his voice again. He looked at the grass beneath his feet.

The nature around Melvin seemed so calm. All filled with green, even flowers were blooming from the trees. The sun was not hot, yet the weather was also not cold, and the air around him seemed to be filled with a coming breeze every second, cooling you down. But he had to kill David. this was the day he needed to die. Soon the calm atmosphere around him will be stained with blood, he thought sadistically.

***

D had been quite helpful. He had helped me to differentiate to edible and inedible fruit on the wild trees of Mystica. He had also saved my life once, which probably accounted for a whole lot of things. D had been ever optimistic on my survival, helping me with all everyday tasks.

I had been in this forest for a day now, and D had helped me with a lot of things, from getting food to finding a good place to rest. I had helped with nothing. I felt that I had become useless in a million ways instantly.

D had been very good at jokes. D was not intimidating at all. He looked like someone that you could trust, but even he could be someone working for Melvin or Emily, trying to get me to believe in them so that they could just break the little trust that I had in anyone.

All they wanted to do was break my trust. Make me a cold-hearted person that could trust no one. I did not want to become that sort of person, but maybe I had to resolve to that soon. Very soon.

"Hello? Is David there?" D asked, smiling, waving a hand in front of my face, which made me jump. "Well, I'll take note not to do that when you are spacing out." He stifled his laugh. I scowled at him jokingly. He shrugged apologetically.

I stared into his eyes. If he was a clone of myself, then would he have all of my memories stored in his brain as well? I had to ask him something to prove that D was actually me.

"What is my favorite food?" I asked casually, sliding my hands into my pockets.

"Your favorite food is sushi. I know that. You loved to eat sushi with your father when you were young, and still go out to eat sushi before before you were sent to Mystica. You would eat sushi alone, and sometimes with a few friends." D answered, turning to look me.

Wow. I didn't think he would know THAT much. I was pleasantly surprised at this. D was me. He knew me. He had my memories at least, but this was finally someone I could trust.

D smiled at me casually and whistled a tune that was one of my favorite songs. I ended up singing with him.

"Your voice is good." D told me, a little surprised.

"Thanks." I awkwardly answered. No one had ever heard me sing before. I was happy that this first time turned out to be a good thing. Maybe I would join the choir when I came back to Earth. I wondered how long would it be until I would be back on Earth, with my father, and all my friends that I had. They would be wondering where I would be. Right now was the school season, and the teachers would almost instantly find out that I was
absent.

There would be a lot of trouble if I got back to Earth. Angry teachers, a disappointed father, bad grades.

Then a thought hit me. "D, do you know how to get back to Earth?"

"Yes, there is a way, but it is rather complicated. You have to find a Phoenix feather first, a burnish claw and lastly, a Darcius dragon's blood. All Darcius dragons live in caves, situated deep in various mountains. It is by far the hardest ingredient to get. Darcius dragons line their caves with various traps, sometimes with other dragons. You can negotiate with the Darcius dragon to simply extract its blood, not killing it. But if you want to kill a Darcius dragon, it will take immense effort. The preferable option is to negotiate with the dragon and kill it only as a last resort." D explained.

There was going to be a lot of things to do to get these ingredients. It was not just hard, it was impossible.