Re: Elf Prince—A Degenerate's Second Chance-Chapter 58. Failed Promise

58. Failed Promise

It was a few weeks after they had just met on one of the nights where he would talk about how his day had been to the owl beast whether it could understand him or not. He had been noticing it for a while now but took it to mean something different but that day he knew the gravity of what it truly was.

The weather that day had been less cold than it usually was and he was sitting by the small fire he had made from the wood he collected on a daily basis, strip of meats were hungs over the fire. His clothes he had managed to mend over time, since it was the only thing he had ti wear he took goid care if it. He had grown more proficient in wielding the ice fang, and had more confidence in his flame magic.

He trained longer that day than he usually did and had to hunt late that day. The owl beast was seated on its nest as usual, it had never left the safety of the egg making Eryndor winder whether it suffered any cramps.

In the flame the proud beast looked white, unusually white. Under its eyes were wrinkles that did not look natural, but had developed over time. Eryndor used to think that this was as a lack of constant sleep but it seemed to not be the case. The bird looked sick, Eryndor walked up to it and leaned in closer, it’s breathing was uneven and strained. He felt a sense of responsibility towards it as he wanted it to live or at least watch it’s eggs grow. What good would come from losing the only beast that felt sympathy?

Without both his master and mentor by his side Eryndor had no idea how to treat the poor beast. In a magical world he suspected there would be healers or alchemists but he was neither and he knew nothing if healing magic, this caused him to realise how disadvantageous it would be for him to not be adept in healing magic. At the moment all he could do was keep both the mother and her egg warm and hope for the best.

He hated "hope", but that was the only thing he could do. In all of his scouts outside the cave he had never once come upon any herb of at sort, the conditions in the mountain did not seem to support their growth.

Eryndor even tried to feed beast cores to the beast but it would refuse, even when he forced it down it’s throat it would throw it up eventually. Running out of ideas and seeing his roommate thinning out every passing day Eryndor for the first time felt protective over something. The moment he had shared with the beast and her egg was the most important one had established since reaching the icy mountain.

"Don’t worry, I promise you will see your baby grow up." He reassured the beast at one time and like always it always gave him a cryptic look. Eryndor was never sure if it actually understood but it seemed to beat a level of intelligence so he guessed it did understand to some extent.

He would spend longer outside the cave looking for herbs and ending up encountering various beasts, if it was the ones he had studied he would take his chance and fight the beast but if it was a new species he had yet to encounter he would avoid it at all cost. Yet in all of his exploration he found nothing that could be of use.

Time rolled by and in a few days he knew the time of the beasts departure was drawing near. During this time Eryndor spends his time next to the beast not leaving the cave for any reason, he did not stop to consider the fact that he could contact whatever ailment was eating up the beast. He just stayed next to it in silence keeping her and her egg warm with the gentle flame she had come to love.

Another day passed and the beast started to look more shriveled with some of her feathers falling out. Eryndor was fast asleep by this time since he had been awake all night tending to the beast, he fell asleep in a sitting position with his head bent over. What woke him was the gentle nudge on his head, his eyes opened weakly and he looked up to see the gentle eyes of the owl beast as it looked at him for a moment.

"Good morning, what’s the matter?" Eryndor asked as he dug for his eyes trying to dispel the sleep spell over him.

The silence he recieved from his roommate was enough to make his heart jump. It lowered its head and used it’s opened its beak on his lap letting it’s eggs roll out and landing in his lap. Afterwards it raised its head and started to speak in it’s own tone, hoots and screeches. Eryndor did not understand whatever it was trying to say from the way it spoke but from it’s expression and tone he knew it by heart.

It was entrusting it’s egg to him a human who was supposed to be the enemy of beasts. Whatever relationship they had shared in that cave breached the boundary between their races, the trust they had built.

Eryndor looked down at the egg then back at the beast, he stretched out his hand to press down on her forehead. "I’ll take care of your egg", he wanted to say but what came out was.

"I’m sorry I could not fulfil my promise, you did not get to see your baby born." Tears flowed out of his eyes, he froze in shock.

Why was he crying? This was just a mindless beast he had shared his time with? But if it was giving him it’s egg then that must have meant it was an intelligent lifeform all along. Was this why it chose not to attack him back then? Or did it really do it out of good will.

The beast nodded it’s head in understanding as its body started to lose all colour and it dropped to the ground. Tears rolled out of its eyes as it looked at the young elf holding on to its egg before it’s life extinguished.

Eryndor cried for a long time before setting the egg aside and proceeded to bury his roomate in the deepest regions of the cave. After he had spent hours digging the hole and sending the body flying inside he noticed something strange on it. On the beasts chest was a single blue four leafed flower growing from its chest, it carries shimmers of white light.

"Is this what happened when beasts die naturally?" He said to himself.

The thought of consuming it’s beast core did not even occur to him. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Eryndor chose not to grieve for the beast for too long after all it left a legacy behind. It’s egg, and that was the problem— the egg was dying.