Monochrome Lives

Chapter Eighteen

Arcus shakes his head with a small grin, tears falling down his cheeks, and off of his sharp jaw. Castella uses her long, pointed black claw to gently brush the tears away, being slow and careful. Arcus sits in her palm and gazes up at her, feeling free once more. The weight from his comment to Ostra and his actions toward Animbas feel twice as light, and he no longer feels weighed down. The guilt from earlier circumstances leave too, and finds he feels that odd emotion -love- again. It's a nice thing, Arcus thinks as he admires Castella, an odd thing I don't understand yet, but it's nice. I'm assuming it's from God? The love. An odd thing, I do say. 

"Are you going to tell them?" She questions, gazing down at Arcus with her silver eyes. He raises a questioning brow before saying, "Tell who what? I don't catch what you speak of."

"Are you going to tell the dragons you changed your mind about raiding a village?" Castella repeats the question, looking deeper into Arcus's eyes. He nods his head before saying, "I suppose I should shift again."

"In your smaller form they probably wouldn't take you seriously. Agree, I do." Castella nods her head before Arcus turns in her palm, then jumps, diving closer to the water. Castella watches as he falls from at least three hundred feet in the air, gauging the distance to the cold liquid below. When it seems to the eye as if he's going to have the world breaking belly flop, his marvelous dragon form takes place. Arcus's oily black scales shine under the sun, sending off reflections before beating his powerful wings, quickly pushing himself to get back to Castella. Though he knows Animbas shouldn't be a problem, he isn't in the right mind to trust anyone yet. 

He gazes ahead to see some land, and above it, his sharp eyesight reveals a small country, where people are playing outside under the suns' rays. Looking up and backward, he sees some dragons eyeing the humans with hungry eyes, while others are licking their lips. 

"Arcus!" Castella calls with a bit of urgency before Arcus flies up alongside her, and asks, "What should I say? You have a much better idea than I would and will. Would you please give me an idea of what to speak to them?"

Castella gives a small chuckle before saying, "Have you ever heard that some Shifters or dragons like to learn from experiences instead of rules?"

"Of course I have. Which are you?" Arcus questions, looking sideways with just his eyes. Castella chuckles before replying, "I think I dabble in both. I think listening to others is important, and hearing from their point of view, but I also know that a personal experience can be a good motivation. What my point was-"

"-Good motivation? What do you mean?" Arcus interrupts, black oily and scaled eyebrows furrowed. He peers at her sideways, green piercing eyes looking soft as his silver tongue slides out from his lips, tasting the air.

"I think that sometimes people forget that their past experiences, especially bad ones, can be useful for the future. I know some people say past events should never be relived, and I agree . . . but disagree at the same time." Castella explains as Arcus tries to process all the information. "I think it's always good if you can relive the reflective moments of your life, if you can focus on the good things that went down that day. However, if you go back to moments and think something like: 'this could've made it even better,' I think you're missing the good and what you did get out of the moment. It leaves you wanting more, which you were satisfied with in that moment."

"What about disagreeing?" Arcus questions before looking behind himself, to the dragons following. As he gazes forward and Castella is thinking about her answer, he spots the village again, around three miles away, on a hillside. It's just a small one, with a stone church, and small cottages dotting the grass land. They have stone walls and wooden shingles, and look as if they belong in a time from dozens of years ago, but yet, there they are, in a relatively silent place.