I could still hear the voice clearly, and I followed it without fear. Since this was my first time walking, it was really hard on my legs since they almost had no strength. They were hurting like hell, even though I had not walked much. The wall helped me with my balance a great deal.

“Please. Help.”

I tried to alternate between crawling and walking and found this was more convenient for me than only crawling or walking the whole way. Thankfully, the more I walked, the easier it became. The deeper I got inside the cave, the colder it got. There was a point that I wanted to turn back because of the cold, but the voice kept me going. The only thing I had on was a diaper and a shirt.

No wonder we had a fire built up when we went to sleep.

The only thing I could see ahead of me was more and more cave walls. It looked like there was no end to this walk, but the voice was getting louder and louder which meant that I was getting closer.

“Over here, little one.”

Wow, it sounded like the voice knew that I was a baby. I sat down. What if I was walking toward something dangerous? I should have definitely thought of that earlier.

“Please.”

I don’t know why but the voice did not sound threatening to me at all. Maybe I was overthinking and overanalyzing everything. Earlier, the voice did ask to help her child, so there must be something wrong with her child. Should I try talking to the voice?

“Why hewp?”

I couldn’t believe I still couldn’t talk much clearly. I got embarrassed as I thought more about what I had just said.

“My child. Please help her.”

I had heard her saying that before, but she sounded even more desperate when she said it before. It made me wonder what was actually happening to her child. I decided to keep ongoing. It took me fifteen minutes to get there. The end result was that it was a dead end. Why did the voice take me to a dead-end? I scanned the place. There was ice building up everywhere and it sure was the coldest part of the cave.

“Come through.”

Wait, what? Did she tell me to ‘come through’, but it was nothing but a dead end?

“Come through the wall, please. Hurry.”

I went closer to the wall and examined it, and I couldn't see through to it. My body was shivering from the extreme cold. I breathed hot air onto my hands to keep myself warm.

My legs and arms were slowly going numb from the cold, so I needed to get over this as quickly as I could.

I went to touch the wall, but I never touched it. Instead, my hand went through. It was like the wall was sucking me in. Without a second thought, I walked in just to be blasted with immense cold air.

“Human child, please come closer to me, so you will not get frozen up.” My body moved on its own. My eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness of the cave.

I froze as I saw what was in front of me. A huge dragon. It was huge and beautiful. I thought dragons did not exist. She was a black dragon with gold designs. Her wings were big and were wrapped around her, probably to keep herself warm. Her tail was long and had webbed extensions on the end of her tail. Her yellow eyes met mine. Her eyes were gentle and caring like my mom’s, so I wasn’t really scared of her.

Her tail gently moved toward me but stopped every few seconds to ensure I wasn't startled. When her tail was close enough, she wrapped it around me and picked me up. The closer she brought me to her, the warmer I felt.

Soon she had put me under her wing, which was the warmest place I had ever been. The dragon’s head came under her wing. She still had those gentle eyes.

“Hello human child, thank you for coming.”

Her voice still had a sad tone to it.

How can I talk to her? I still didn’t have my teeth yet, so it would be a real challenge to talk to her.

“You can talk to me through your mind. I do not mind.”

Wow. I guess I could try.

‘Is this working?’

“Yes.”

‘My name is Alexander, but you can call me Alex for short.’

“Well. Hello, Alex. I am Ariella.”

I gave her a smile as a small greeting.

“You know Alex, only a pure and noble mind and heart can get through that wall. I am happy that someone like you finally came before I died.”

‘What do you mean?’

“This cave was a place to protect me and imprison me because I am the last of my kind. Once the human that trapped me in here died, this cave became unbearably cold. What you see now isn’t even my physical body, I died two hundred years ago. It is my soul that is keeping my child and you safe right now, but my soul won’t last anymore.”

‘Where is your child?’

“Right next to you.”

I started to look for another black dragon but found nothing. The only thing I found was a huge white stone with gold and blue swirls on it.

‘I don’t see your child.’

“It’s the white egg with gold and blue designs on it.”

‘Wait, you mean it didn’t hatch?’

“It’s not time for her to hatch. She was the only one who survived for two hundred years. The rest of my children died from the incoming cold. So I need you to please protect her.”

‘I will try, but I am only a baby.’

“You may be a baby, but I sense a huge amount of power from inside of you at such an early age. Surely, you are someone special. This is the only reason I called you for help. I am about to give you something, but once I give it to you, my soul will dissipate immediately, so get out of this little prison as soon as you can.”

Just as she said that I grabbed the egg. The egg was half my size and it was warm. I put my ear next to the egg. I could hear some movement.

‘How long do you have?’

“At most, a few more minutes. I wish I could hear my baby say ‘mom’ just once.” I looked back at her. She was crying helplessly. She looked at me and said, “Do you think you can do me a favor?”

‘I’ll do what I can.’

“Can you call me mom in my daughter’s place?” She was getting teary and her voice was starting to break. I could tell she was upset about not being able to see her little child, like any mother would be, and really wanted me to say it.

She gave me a nudge with her nose. Something pricked when she nudged me.

“You have to go now.”

I watched her body start to dissipate little by little.

“Now go, Alex. Please, take care of my daughter. Also, thank you.” She was genuine. I should probably do something for her.

‘Mom.’

At first, she was shocked, and then she smiled.

“Now go.”

The egg was a little heavy. Once I left Ariella’s wing, the cold air hit me, it was making it difficult for me to even breathe. I rolled the egg as fast as I could. I rushed and I could feel myself freezing up and the egg was getting cold too. Once we got out of that place, I collapsed. I reached out to the egg and started to hug it. I must have fallen asleep because I don’t remember what happened. But I heard someone calling out my name.