RotI Bonus Chapter 2

A Birthday to Remember

For many years Relic had been working for the cruel dragon named Leonidus, spending every day of her captivity digging inside the black crystal mine, almost collapsing each time the lead ape whipped her and her comrades. Ever since she was abducted as a child her life has been a living hell with only her friend Hashara to comfort her during their solitude in their cells. For ten years she served with all hope of being rescued gone long ago.
Several days before her seventeenth birthday she was working as she always did. As she was pulling out a cart full of crystals to be transferred to another earth dragon she spotted Leonidus speaking to the warden ape. She didn't care so much about that as much as the dragon standing next to him. It was a black dragon that seemed to be roughly her age with black horns and a blue strip going across his body. She didn't know why, but she couldn't stop staring at him. She was too caught up on figuring out why that she didn't notice that he was looking back at her.
'Why's she looking at me?' he thought to himself. 'Well, whatever the reason, she's kind of cute.'
After finally realizing he was looking back Relic turned her head and blushed before she continued to pull the cart. 'Who was that dragon? I have never seen him before in the mines.' she asked herself.
After handing off the cart she walked back in, passing by the same black dragon again. Their eyes met again for a brief second before she looked away and re-entered the mines. The black dragon on the other hand couldn't stop looking at the direction she had gone to. He began to walk towards the mines until Leonidus stopped him. "Where do you think you are going Zoidius?" he asked.
"I was just… going to see how the slaves are doing… with the black crystal's that is.." he answered.
"Alright, but do not spend too much time down there, we have more training to do today."
"Yes master." Zoidius replied before walking into the mine.
He looked around for the dragoness he just saw among the small amount of dragons in there, but couldn't find her. Meanwhile Relic was in the very back, digging with her friend Hashara as she told her about what happened. "… and I just couldn't take my eyes off of him!" she finished.
"Wow, that is very weird, and you're sure he was looking back at you?" Hashara asked.
"Positive, I can not get the image of his blue eyes out of my head." she answered, trying not to get lost in the memory of his eyes.
Hashara nodded before saying "I think I know what it is. You're in love with him."
"What?! How? I only just saw him!"
"When I was back at my village two years ago I felt the same way for a dragon in my class. We ran into each other while walking around and our eyes met each others."
"What happened between you two?" Relic asked.
"He… was killed when Leonidus attacked my village and captured me."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Relic replied.
"It's alright, I have gotten over it long ago. I am positive I will find another one someday. In the meantime I think it's time for you to go and meet your soul mate."
"What do you mean?"
"I want you to take up my cart to Rock so you can get a good look at him again, and maybe even talk to him."
"Are you sure? I just took one up to him a few minutes ago…"
"I'm positive, now go, it's all full now." Hashara interrupted after placing the last crystal into the cart.
Seeing that there was no changing her mind she grabbed the rope with her tail and began pulling the cart out of the mine. After she appeared from their tunnel she spotted the black dragon almost immediately. She continued pulling the cart and casually got closer to him. He looked behind him and spotted her walking towards him. His heart skipped a beat as he watched her get closer and closer. When she finally arrived they were both speechless and couldn't stop looking at each other. After a minute passed she finally said "h… hello."
"Uh, hi." he replied sheepishly.
"My name's Relic, what's your?" she asked.
"I am Zoidius. It's nice to meet you Relic."
"Likewise. Are you knew here? I have never seen you in the mines before."
"No, I am Leonidus' apprentice." he answered.
"… Oh, I see, so you live in the castle?"
"Yeah, but I don't like it there too much, I prefer to be outside and having fun. All master wants to do is train and train. I want to get out more and meet new dragons. I had to beg my master to bring me down here with him. I wanted to see for myself what goes on down here."
"Well, there's not much to see, other than all of us working our tails off to serve your master." Relic told him with some spite in her voice.
"I know, and I cannot believe he's making you all do this. It's awful to see what the apes do to you down here."
'huh, so he isn't like Leonidus after all.' she thought. "Well it's not as bad as seeing your entire village get slaughtered while you're being captured."
The black dragon frowned at her sad statement. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that happened to you."
"It's alright, you probably had no idea about it at the time. It happened ten years ago."
"I was his apprentice ten years ago, but I wasn't allowed outside at all and all he ever talked to me was when we were training. If I had known he had brought in such a pretty dragoness I would of wanted to meet you immediately."
Relic blushed at his words and looked away. "You… think I'm pretty?" she asked.
"Of course I do! I couldn't take my eyes off of you when I saw you walking by!"
"Well, you are cute as well. So cute I couldn't stop thinking about you when I went back in."
Zoidius smiled, then asked "what time do you get off? Maybe I can visit you later."
"You probably won't, they keep us in real tight security in the cells." she answered.
"Darn! I really want to spend more time with you!"
A smile spread across Relic's muzzle as she said "well, if there is a way I would much appreciate it, my birthday is in two days."
He smiled as an idea popped into his head. "I have an idea. On your birthday don't fall asleep after dark, okay?"
With no idea what he had in his mind she nodded and said "alright, I'll be waiting."
Zoidius smiled and before anything else could be said Leonidus shouted "Zoidius! It's time to go!"
"Coming master!" he shouted back. He turned back to Relic and took her right paw in his and gave it a quick peck with his lips. "Until we meet again Relic."
As he left she almost collapsed in infatuation and lost her train of thought. Thankfully Hashara walked up and took the cart from her, carrying it outside quickly then returned to Relic to see her still frozen on the spot. "I guess it went well?" she asked her friend.
All Relic could do was nod in reply, making Hashara chuckle a bit before she moved her back into their tunnel.

Two days passed by quickly for Relic. She took work a bit better now that she had something to look forward to. All day the other prisoners wished her happy birthday and helped her when she needed it. When the final horn sounded her heart quickened with excitement. She hastily walked back into her cell with Hashara and kept her eyes on the door.
The moon had been up for a few hours when Hashara woken up to see Relic still watching the door. "He hasn't come yet?" she asked sleepily.
Relic shook her head and said "I guess I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up like that."
She couldn't see it, but Hashara could tell that her friend was now beginning to cry. She scooted closer to her and hugged her with her wing. "It's alright, maybe he was not able to…"
She was interrupted by a whooshing sound coming from the door. They both looked and saw a dark cloud swirling in front of them. In seconds the cloud slowly changed into the form of a dragon. Once the last cloud was gone a black dragon stood in its place with a basket hanging from his tail. "Hey Relic, sorry I'm late, my master…" he began.
She interrupted him by running up and hugging him tightly. "You really came! You actually came!" she exclaimed happily.
He hugged back and said "of course I did, I keep my promises."
She looked up at him and smiled, making him smile back. He looked up at the pink dragoness laying down behind her. "Who might you be?" he asked.
"I am Hashara, Relic's cell mate." she replied.
"She has helped me through all of the hardships I have gone through."
"Well then, it's nice to meet you Hashara." He said with a polite nod.
"Likewise."  she replied. "Now tell me, what do you plan to do with my friend here?"
"That, is a surprise." he answered with a smile to Relic.
"Well, where are we going to go? We're stuck here in this cell." Relic asked.
His smile returned as Zoidius said "I have been working on using my shadow powers to allow me to pass underneath doors, as well as bringing others with me without the guards noticing." Once he finished he extended his paw to Relic. "Take my paw, and I shall sneak you out for the night."
Without a second thought she grabbed his paw tightly and watched as he dissolved them both into the shadows. At first Relic was a bit scared but the thought of finally being able to have some fun in her life kept her holding onto Zoidius' paw. He controlled the shadow underneath the door and passed the guards unknowingly. Once they made it out of the castle and into the forest he brought them out of the shadows.
"There we go. A whole forest to ourselves! We could do whatever we want here!" he told her.
Just the idea of that made her happy, but now that it's a reality  Relic was overjoyed! "Well, the night's still young, I could really go for some food right now." she said to him.
"Good thing I came prepared then." he replied, bringing the basket to her.
He opened it and pulled out two freshly cooked sheep thighs as well as a bowl of mixed berries. "Wow, this is the most food I have seen in years!" She exclaimed.
"And I plan on brining you and Hashara some everyday from now on."
Relic looked up at him in shock. "You're what?"
"I can't stand the small amount of food the apes give you, so I shall from now on sneak over and give you some more food like this."
"Zoidius, that's so generous of you! Thank you so much!" she exclaimed before throwing her arms around him in a hug.
After replying with a hug he added "I would do anything for you Relic. I cannot imagine seeing you hurt." Once the broke off of the hug he continued with "the moment I saw you in the mines I had this strange feeling wash over me. I couldn't figure out what it was, which is why I followed you into the mine. Once I talked to you the feeling grew even more. I then remembered something my master taught me awhile ago. I don't know how else to say it Relic, but I…"
Relic interrupted by pressing her lips to his. A little shocked at first Zoidius didn't know what to do until he decided to just kiss her back. Once Relic pulled back she said "Zoidius, I love you too! You're the only thing that makes me happy here!"
Zoidius smiled, overjoyed to hear her say that. He brought her lips back to his with his paw and kissed her very passionately.

One Year Later…

Relic sat in her room in Warfang, looking out at the night sky once more. She sighed before saying to herself, "I wish you were here for me this year, Zoidius."
She looked down at her side and nuzzled her two sleeping children gently. "All I have left of you is them, and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday gift."