Twilight of a Hybrid
answer Flavius. The hybrid spared a monstrous creature that is known for ruthlessly turning people to stone. “Ah, yes, the Gorgon, well… she, er…” he nervously laughed.“She what? She got the better of you? Was she too fast for you to handle on your own? What happened?” Flavius blurt out endlessly questions as Vaeludar was gulping heavily. Then Flavius stopped his questioning, curious to hear what happen.
“I let the creature go free,” signed Vaeludar.
“WHAT!” gasped Flavius. “You let the monster live? How could you do that? That’s a Gorgon! Those creatures turn humans to stone, and you let one live? That is a monster!”
“So were the Sirens and looked at what happen to them,” stated Vaeludar. “Marina is a Siren and she isn’t that dangerous.”
“Until she greeted those witches with her teeth.”
“Enough talking about monstrous women! We came here trying to find the next armor artifact. We can either stay here or blubber about dangerous women or we can proceed to the next checkpoint and start asking questions about my parents: Ralenskrit and Belverda. Believe me; I want to continue my search for the next armor artifact, since we have managed to come this far from Geraldus’ village. And we can—”
Suddenly laughter roared and water splashes spurred. The laughter of laughing ladies and splashing of water was coming from a position very close to them. Drawn by the strange noises, Vaeludar and Flavius crept slowly, moving away branches and bushes from their view. Vaeludar waved his hands and one of his wings and several bushes were magically moved away without being touched.
After peeling away lots of leaves, an open area of several shining trees and a large sparkling stream revealed three women playing and laughing. They weren’t human; brown tree bark clung to a woman’s body with leaves as hair, another was blue as the stream and had seaweed as hair, and the third was green as grass and had grassy hair.
“Great! Nymphs! Why did we have to run into forest beauties?” whispered Vaeludar.
Flavius chuckled.
“What?”
“You said let’s find out about Ralenskrit and Belverda. You can ask them about your father and mother,” suggested Flavius.
“Oh, no. No way. I already dealt with enough female power from the creatures, and I’m already having a Siren. No way am I getting tangled with three more female creatures, especially Nymphs. They hate Dragons, due to a reputation of Dragons destroying trees with fire. I’m not going to talk to them.”
“You’re half dragon.”
“Still doesn’t make a difference,” Vaeludar argued. The hybrid scratched his ears, which were growing to be humanoid dragon ears, with his small dragon claws on his fingertips. His hair was curled around his ears and a single touch of his hair felt rough and itchy. Then he shook his head. “Nope, I’m not going in there.”
Flavius chuckled again and moved behind Vaeludar. Then Flavius heavily shoved the hybrid from the bushes and into the view of the three Nymphs.
“Hey,” shouted Vaeludar. Vaeludar was pushed hard his wings pulled out an entire bush from its roots. The claws of his feet sunk into the ground and caught his balance from falling. His wings let of the bush and whipped his tail around a low branch of a tree. “Well, that’s really mature, brother!”
The Nymphs gasped loudly.
Vaeludar looked at the forests nervously and waved. “Hmm, hi. Didn’t mean to drop in like this.”
The trio stared at him in awe.
Why am I having a feeling they want to get somewhere below my belly now, thought Vaeludar. He slowly walked step-by-step so he doesn’t humiliate himself in front of these forest spirits. His wings had folded around his shoulders, and his tail was released from the branch and slightly curved near his legs. If Marina saw me doing this, it would be the end of me, but I’ll make sure to take Flavius with me.
“So,” said Vaeludar, “do you Nymphs know a woman named Belverda or a Dragon named Ralenskrit?”
The Nymphs only stood up and slurred with their mouths. They walked in a funny way and very inhumanly. They walked round and round and their mouths spoke voices in a charming yet tempting way.
Vaeludar found himself being surrounded by the Nymph trio circling around him. They seemed to have seductive like Sirens. Being half dragon, he was resistant to their beauty and their music singing voices. They were like Sirens but Sirens that lived in a forest and not the sea. He was staring straight forward, softly muttering a dragon grunt.
“Why I can’t my questions be answered already? I’m in hurry.”
The Nymphs were hearing him, but they weren’t listening to him.
Vaeludar shook his head and widen his wings. His wings flapped repeatedly, sending out heavy winds and soared into the air. Vaeludar was flying in the air and away from the three female forest spirits annoying his dragon nerves. “Where is the Dragon Ralenskrit and the human Belverda? My patience is running low!”
“Your patience?” hummed cricket voice.
Suddenly, Vaeludar slapped his ear if a fly was buzzing close to him. There was another buzzing sound near swarming near his legs. Vaeludar soon heard buzzing around him.
“How about your body running low?” said the cricket voice.
Vaeludar felt his wings becoming numb, but his dragon muscles remained strong. A cold wind brewed on his human chest. His eyes were tearing from a coldness shivering up his back. Dozens of sparks bright as the sun and small as fairies shown up from the leaves of the trees. Small flapping of small wings Vaeludar heard in his ears and guessed he was looking at fairies.
The lot of them spun around the hybrid as Vaeludar drifted to the ground. Lots of zaps were shot at Vaeludar, but he didn’t seem to be getting harmed by the little magic of these strange fairies. Suddenly, a branch of a tree slapped his head.
Vaeludar growled and he went landing down, with his legs smashing into the ground and impacting a great big hole. He lifted his head at the Fairies and shouted “Who did that?”
“Who