"What prophecy?"
"A divine one. Davla, the seer and goddess of fate, foretold it. The prophecy says Eli will travel with the Lord of Darkness. Then she will fall in love with him and marry him."
After Shin finished speaking, I stared at him for several seconds.
'Are they joking with me?' I thought, and looked at Eli.
Eli sat apart, upset, turned away from us.
'How could that even happen?' I mused, resting my hand on my chin.
Seeing me lost in thought, Shin continued the conversation.
"I know it sounds strange. But it's true." he said, falling silent for a moment.
Then he added, "Besides, look how beautiful she is standing right there. What, you wouldn't want her?" and he pointed at Eli with both hands.
At that, Shin suddenly got a sharp blow to the head. Eli struck him with a clenched fist as hard as she could.
"Ow, ow, my head!" he cried, clutching his skull and rolling on the dragon's back.
Eli, still furious, snapped at him, "I'm not an item you buy at a shop! If you mention this again… you'll find out how it feels to fall from Cilzrat!" Her tone made Shin forget his headache at once.
He huddled behind me as if I were a shield, trembling. I trembled too, sharing his fear.
'So scary, isn't she!' I thought, about to leap up at Eli. But Shin, who stood behind me like a protective screen, made it impossible.
"O-okay! W-we get it!" I stammered, raising my hands.
For a second, Eli looked at us as though checking whether we understood her point. Then she sat back down, exhaling lightly, "Ugh, we almost died!" she muttered.
'I should say "you almost died,"' I added inwardly.
Once Shin settled back into his seat, I asked, "So where exactly are we going?"
Shin looked surprised.
"Didn't I tell you?"
"No."
"Then I guess I have to explain everything."
He proceeded to tell me many things: how Eli ended up in the cave I first found her in, the broken cart I found by the river, and the items inside it. I began to understand a great deal.
What surprised me most was that Shin had been the one to leave the cart where I found it.
"Wait! I'm confused. Are you saying two weeks ago you went into the woods to search for Eli?" I asked.
Shin nodded.
"Yes. I gathered a small search party and went in. We searched for several days, but we couldn't find her."
"The cart—why did you leave it there?"
"That was ordered by the goddess Davla," he replied. At that moment a thought clicked in my head.
'If Davla told Shin to leave those things, then she must have known I would show up there. Considering Shin returned to the city after the search, and I ended up in the forest—'
Thinking further, it seemed Davla had foreseen my arrival and placed the cart and its contents where they'd be useful to me. From that I concluded…
'Davla foresaw my coming to this world. That means she might help me find my family.' The thought made me excited.
Shin continued, "Actually, it was the goddess of fate who sent me—so I could find you and Eli."
Hearing that confirmed my hope.
'No doubt now. She can help me.' I felt certain.
Unexpectedly, Shin leaned closer and whispered,
"The prophecies of the goddess of fate are accurate; there's no reason to doubt them. So…"
he lowered his voice near me and added,
"It's certain you'll marry Eli."
"Come on! I have other things to worry about than that!" I hit Shin on the shoulder.
"Alright," he said, standing and going over to Eli.
Shin's words scrambled my thoughts. 'If I go to Davla, she could help with Eli, find my family, and even arrange our engagement. Then…' I caught myself envisioning our wedding.
'I see her in a white dress, me standing across from her,' I drifted off.
Suddenly I snapped back. 'Idiot! What are you thinking about? A wedding?! Get a hold of yourself, Rayan!' I took a deep breath and tried to focus.
We rode on Cilzrat for several days. Dragons are built for long flights, so we did not have many stops—only when we needed food or to relieve ourselves. During that time, Eli gradually stopped sulking. After she became upset with Shin, she barely spoke to either of us; only after two days did she begin to talk again.
Honestly, I could not fathom why she was so upset with me. It made sense for Shin to be scolded, but I didn't understand my own part in her anger.
It grew late. I lay on Cilzrat's back and watched the clouds drift across the sky.
'We've been flying for three days. We still haven't reached Eli's father. I didn't expect to be tired of dragon travel so quickly.' I exhaled.
Sleeping on a dragon was far more difficult than sleeping on solid ground. Cilzrat's scales were hard and rigid, making it hard to get comfortable.
I got up and walked over to where Eli and Shin sat a short distance away, talking.
"What are you talking about?" I interrupted.
Eli sat with a blank expression.
'Oh, Shin's probably talking about the wedding again,' I guessed.
Shin, with a flicker across his face, asked, "How old are you, Rayan?"
I couldn't figure out why he wanted to know. "Why are you asking?"
"Eli wants to know." He nodded toward her.
Eli didn't object. In fact, she didn't speak at all—she seemed to have already accepted the fate indicated by the goddess Davla's prophecy.
"18," I answered, a bit drawled.
Shin and Eli looked at me in surprise. "What? You don't look that old," they said.
Shin cleared his throat and spoke more seriously than his usual jokes. "I think the goddess' prophecy will come true soon."
"Why?"
Shin explained a custom of this world: when a young couple is to be destined for marriage, they often become betrothed at fifteen. If a boy has reached eighteen, then the wedding will be held.
When I realized what that meant, I couldn't help but shout, "WHAT?!"
That meant: as soon as I arrived, I was to be married. A strange question gnawed at me.
'Do they really do that? Surely no one gives their daughter to the Lord of Darkness. Wait—I've forgotten something.'
"Shin! How many days are in a year here?" I urgently asked.
"Are you asking about Elarion? A year there is 438 days," he replied.
Hearing that, I was stunned. 'One year is 438 days. In my world a year was 365 days. So in days I'm 6,570 days old. Dividing that by 438… it comes to 15 years exactly.' I froze, performing the math in my head.
Feeling embarrassed at misleading them, I said in a sheepish voice, "I think... there was a mistake. Actually, if I convert properly using this world's year length... I'm fifteen."
Shin glanced at me with a serious face and then suddenly laughed. "Eli, you don't need to be afraid," he said, looking at her.
Eli turned away from us, watching something else. Then in a low voice she murmured, "They're going to attack us."