D-033: Lost Paradise

It was an accident, stumbling onto the paradise Levi had found. He had been chasing after Speedy when he found it, the bipedal dragon screeching happily as she clutched a poor chicken in her claws, one she had stolen, one Levi was determined to return or at least get away from her. He knew the smallest of his dragons had a stash and he knew living things did not belong in that stash. Knowing Speedy however there was probably living things in there anyway, Levi wouldn’t know for sure seeing as he had never actually seen Speedy’s stash and he was starting to get worried if the dragon was stealing chickens, what else did she have in her stash? The thought made Levi worry more than before, ‘Speedy, Speedy please, put the chicken down.’ It was easier to speak to Speedy through their bond then it was normally, where most dragons might have spoken back Speedy screeched through the bond, this was normal, he wasn’t even sure if Speedy could talk through the bond or not.  

Levi kept following her, knowing now that the Speedy wasn’t going her full speed not in the slightest, in fact she seemed to be teasing him, going slow enough to stay in Levi’s vision but far enough so that Levi couldn’t catch up, she let out a low chutter-like purr and seemed to finally slow. Levi got close enough to just about grab her before she took off again and Levi let out something between a sigh and a whine and took off after her again. He had been chasing Speedy everywhere and when he took a second to stop, breathe and look at his surroundings he noticed he was a long way from where he had started; in fact he didn’t even know where he was at this point, they were high, in a lonely mountainous area. Green eyes met blue and he watched as Speedy watched him right back, chicken still gripped in her hands? Claws? She didn’t appear to be hurting the chicken but it did seem rather distressed. Speedy tilted her head at Levi’s panting and heavy breathing, as relaxed as she seemed her body was prepped and ready to take off in a heartbeat and Levi knew that. ‘Speedy…’ The dragon tilted her head, listening but Levi knew she wasn’t going to comply, she never really did and it wasn’t exactly like Levi could catch her and make her, not on land. 

It wasn’t surprising when the chasing started up again but it ended quickly with an undignified squawk and when Speedy stopped to turn, her rider was nowhere to be seen, she backtracked until she sniffed out where her rider had gone, she tilted her head as she stared down the hole her rider had disappeared into.

Levi pretty much screeched like a banshee the entire journey down the hole he had fallen into, he wasn’t sure how deep it was but after a while he crashed into a large pool of water. He sputtered as he quickly swam to the surface, swimming to the closest out of water surface and scrambling onto it, he looked around. Where was he? He wasn’t above ground he knew that, he was in a cave of sorts, he looked up at where he had come from and worriedly called out his dragons name, he opted not to talk over the bond in case someone besides his dragon happened to be around, if they heard him hopefully they’d come to help. “Speedy?” He received no such luck, no reply from Speedy if she had heard him and not even a screech or chutter over the bond. If Levi was being quite honest with himself he was scared, when was he not scared? The cave had natural light from who knows where and there were passage ways, one where the pool led into a river but which one would take him where he wanted to go? He didn’t know where any of these tunnels and led and even though following the river was the smart choice he remained stationary. He was on the brink of tears when he heard the squawk of a chicken and turned, fearing the worse as he heard the padding of footsteps and almost sobbed in relief when it was only Speedy making her way through one of the tunnels. ‘Speedy.’ Her name was said with so much relief and joy it would have 100% disgusted Nebula and probably would have earned him a tidal wave of water more than likely meant to preferably drown him had she heard it, luckily Nessy wasn’t there.  

Speedy stood at the entrance of the passage where the pool led into a river and she stood there, chicken in hand until Levi started head towards her and then she turned walking back out. It occurred to Levi that Speedy knew where he was, knew how to get to him…Speedy knew where she was. He pondered his discovery as he followed the dragon, who was kindly not moving too quickly, Levi could easily keep up, thankfully.

They walked for a bit before the caves natural light grew into outside light, light at the end of the tunnel. He sped up and Speedy sped up as well to keep herself in front of him, pulling the chicken a little tighter to herself but Levi wasn’t interested in the chicken, he was interested in getting the hell out of the cave, underground passage whatever, he wanted out. He slowed down almost to a stop as he stared at what awaited him at the edge of the cave, the most beautiful place Levi had ever seen. It was a natural paradise, untouched by man or anything that might have ruined its natural beauty. He stumbled the rest of the way out of the cave, his mouth dropping open slightly as he once again took in his surroundings. He was in a huge, for lack of better words, Bowl, a natural bowl, surrounded on all sides by tall walls of rock. He was sure he couldn’t explore the whole area in one day, especially if he included the entrances to caves and more tunnels.

This, this was perfect, stunning, beyond words and beyond comparison. It was a place he would kill to call home and perhaps he could call it home, he looked around to catch Speedy slinking off and he called to her, she froze instantly and turned. Levi almost forgot the dragon had a stolen chicken when it clucked as she flexed her grip; it had long since stopped trying to escape.

“This place is amazing…” He didn’t bother talking through the bond, sure no one was around for miles, Speedy chuttered seemingly in agreement, “Do you know this place?” She chuttered again, another agreement, Levi was expecting that answer so he proceeded with his questions. “Are there Ocean entrances? Can ocean dragons get in here?” Another agreement and the bipedal dragon turned walking off, following the river they had followed before before turning back and looking at Levi expectantly. Levi was quick to follow her and she led him to a lake, a huge lake, smaller than the bowl but the lake just seemed amplified just how big the bowl really was. The lake might as well have been a mini-ocean and a river even larger than the one before led into a tunnel he was sure Nebula could fit through, he was sure Nebula could fit in the lake as well, have enough room to swim around and jump if it suited her fancy, it was like the parts of the bowl he had seen so far, breath-taking.

It wasn’t a hard decision, while he didn’t know where he would sleep, he decided this would be home.