During their walk, Elias hummed a lot. Andrew had never heard any of the tunes he came up with, and he wondered if the prince had hired people to make music just for that place. Or they just had entirely different tastes in music. Andrew often prided himself in knowing a lot of songs from many genres, though, and knowing Elias, his first guess was probably more likely.

“I know you’ve said that walking isn’t your favorite activity, but I’ve been enjoying this time with you, Andrew.” Elias had his hands clasped behind his back, his steps even and steady despite the rough ground on their path. It was the first time he spoke in almost an hour, so it took Andrew a second to take in what the other had said.

“Oh, uh, I guess it hasn’t been too bad. My legs have given up on hurting, so they’re just kind of numb now. This will count as my all of my workouts for the rest of my life.” Andrew kept his eyes down on the path, not wanting to trip over any of the random roots or rocks. “Do you go on walks all that often?”

“Not as much these days,” Elias hummed. “I used to go a lot with my parents, but recently my mother and I are much too busy.”

Andrew nodded, hopping over one of the larger stones in his way. The path had started to even out, but his inexperience in hiking made it hard to navigate regardless of how smooth it had become. “Yeah, I guess going from three people doing the work to two would make things different. You uh… You haven’t talked much about your dad. I don’t mean to be insensitive, and you don’t have to ask, but is he like, out of the picture, or…?”

“My father is dead,” Elias said more bluntly.

“Ah, sorry.” Andrew slowed his steps and looked up at Elias. The other didn’t seem phased by the question, still staring ahead with the same gait to his steps. “I kinda figured, but I didn’t ask until now. I don’t really know what to say about that sort of stuff, so sorry if bringing it up brought the mood down, we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine,” the prince sighed. “I don’t talk about it often, neither does my mother, but I also don’t want to feel like he’s some sort of off-limits topic. It’s a confusing thing to navigate.”

“Yeah. I mean, I don’t know, I’ve never lost someone I was close to, so I can’t relate all the way, but I get what you mean. I think. Sorry, like I said, I’m not good at figuring out what to say here. Social graces are where I fall totally flat.”

Elias laughed and stopped walking, patting Andrew on the shoulder. “You’re alright, Andrew. I know death isn’t easy no matter where you’re from, but you being nice about it is helpful in its own way. Again, he shouldn’t be something I avoid talking about, so it’s actually sort of nice to have someone ask rather than pretending everything is fine.”

“Glad I could help?” Andrew chuckled, also stopping. “Also, not to change the subject too suddenly, but how much more walking do we have to do? I know I said my legs are numb, but I’m starting to think they’re ready to just fall off. Are we at least close?”

Another laugh came from Elias, and the prince shrugged. “I’ll fly above the trees and see how close we are to any kind of landmarks. I believe there’s a village not far from here, so I might be able to see that by now.” Elias spread his wings and took off before Andrew could respond, leaving him in a gust of dirt and leaves that were flicked off of the trees overhead.

He sputtered and waved his hand in front of his face, trying to keep the kicked-up dirt from getting in his eyes. “Gee, thanks for the warning and time to prepare,” Andrew grumbled. When he looked up, he could see Elias going higher and higher above the trees. “Can’t imagine that equipment is comfortable, so kudos to him for trying to make this as believable as possible.” Andrew shook his head and leaned against a tree, wanting to rest while he waited for Elias to come back down.

The prince dropped almost immediately after he relaxed, startling Andrew away from the rough bark.

“Whoa, what’s with the rough landing?”

Elias’ panicked eyes told Andrew he had seen something, but he didn’t look like he was about to explain what. “I have to fly ahead. Please, stay here and keep yourself safe for now. I’ll come back to you as soon as I can.”

Before Andrew could protest, Elias took off again, flying away so quickly that he lost sight of him in seconds.

Andrew groaned, shaking his legs and stretching his arms above his head. “You think you’re just going to leave me in the woods?! Absolutely not!” He took in a deep breath and started to run towards where they were headed. Every step made his legs scream, begging him to stop and listen to Elias, but Andrew pushed forward and figured that if he was going to be active while he was there, he might as well push himself.

That and being left to deal with whatever colorful cast of creatures Elias hired didn’t sound ideal. The fairy had been annoying enough, Andrew didn’t need anything else trying to talk to him.

Just as he was starting to lose steam, Andrew saw the edge of the forest. He came to a sputtering stop, nearly tripping over his own feet.

“Elias, you’re going to have to carry me wherever we go next because my legs are-”

A deafening scream stopped Andrew in his tracks. He looked up from his aching feet, wondering why the hell someone would make such a horrible noise.

Large clouds of smoke rose from burning homes, the flames spreading onto the grass and fences around them. People were running away from the disaster, though it became horrifically clear to Andrew that not all of them had been able to make it out safely.

Bodies scattered the field in front of him, and from how small the village looked to be, he guessed that nearly half of them had been wiped out. So many of them had fallen to the ground, bleeding from large gashes or missing limbs. Some had burned to death, their charred corpses left in the paths between the ashes that used to be homes.

His eyes darted around, desperately trying to find out what was happening and where Elias had gone. All he could find in his brief search was more carnage, more bloodied faces and dead bodies, burning their image into his mind.

Andrew had seen plenty of messed up things on the internet. He wrote in tabloids as his career, of course he had seen his fair share of that sort of thing.

But seeing it in real life…

He fell onto his rear and covered his mouth, trying to keep the knot in his stomach from gagging him.

What would Elias gain from faking such a thing? How could the prince even make something so visceral, so unapologetically real and hurtful?

Elias wouldn’t. Andrew may have only known the prince for a short time, but the screams, the smoke, the blood; It was all too real and too harsh for someone like him to come up with or put on as a show.

Whatever happened there had to be real, and Andrew couldn’t bring himself to move to do anything about any of it. Not that he would know what to do if he could move. The most dramatic thing to ever happen in his life before ending up there had to have been the time he got into a car accident, and no one in that had gotten hurt.

“Run into the forest! Keep your heads down and hide as far into it as you can!” Elias came into view with a small group of people, his wings pushing some of the smoke out of the way. The group ran towards Andrew, though none of them stopped and did what they were told to, running into the trees and using them as cover.

Andrew and Elias locked eyes briefly, but Elias didn’t stay long. He disappeared back into the rubble, probably looking for more people to help.

Not knowing what else to do, Andrew stayed put, trying to get his lungs to take in what little fresh air was left. He wanted so badly to get up and do something, to maybe go back into the woods like Elias told him to, but his body stayed frozen in place.

“You should move!” a voice from behind him chirped. “Please, you can’t stay there!”

Finally, Andrew’s body allowed him to turn just enough to see the soot-covered face of one of the people hiding behind a tree. He couldn’t form any words and only stared back at them with wide eyes.

“Once he realizes Prince Elias is here, he’s going to-”

A booming voice echoed through the field and the person speaking to him disappeared so quickly that Andrew wondered if they had even been there at all. His attention went back to the burning field, where only chaos could be seen.

“You shouldn’t be here!” The ground shook with each word from the mysterious voice. “Elias, you’re like some stupid valiant prince from a movie that just never keeps your nose out of things you can’t handle. I can put an end to that right now, though, because I’m sick of you!”

“You can try, Sebastian! But I won’t let you continue to hurt the people of this kingdom!” Elias appeared from the smoke again, standing firm and staring up into the cloud above the ruined village. “Come out and face me!”

Large, glowing red eyes appeared from in the smoke. “I gave up my physical form, so this is the best you’re going to get. Good luck defending these people, you’re not going to be able to land a hit on me anymore, Elias.”

With some of the smoke cleared, Andrew could see how heavily Elias had started to breathe. His once-perfect ponytail had come undone, and his pearly white teeth had elongated into fangs that he bared with a growl.

Andrew could feel his jaw drop when the scales on Elias’ back rippled over every inch of his skin in less than a second, swallowing every human trait he had until only a red dragon was left behind. The transformation happened so quickly, and yet Andrew’s mind knew there was no denying what he had just seen.

Elias roared, flaring out his much larger wings and digging his claws into the ground before launching himself into the smoke.

Andrew forced himself to at least stand up, his shaky legs threatening to drop him again at any moment. The fires raged on, and he couldn’t see what or who Elias was fighting, but he knew he had to move. To do something. Andrew just didn’t know what.

He heard another loud boom and Elias cried out somewhere in the smoke. Whatever he was going to do, he had to do it fast.