He kneeled on the floor, letting me hop off his shoulders. I grabbed the blanket with my teeth and dragged it under the dresser. My instincts took hold and I moved without thinking. I pushed the blanket towards the gap between the bottom of the dresser and the floor, bunching it up like a fabric wall. There was enough of it to make a wide enclosure so only a small ‘entrance’ to the nest remained.
Satisfied, I rolled around on the floor in a ferret happy-dance.
Aurum chuckled. His cheek was pressed to the floor so he could see me. “What’re you doing in there?”
“Being silly,” I admitted.
His smile radiated like the sun. “Awesome. I love when you get silly.”
My whiskers twitched as I let out a squeaky ferret laugh.
“Hey,” Aurum said suddenly, a mischievous lilt in his voice. “You know what I just realized?”
“What?” I asked.
“We never finished the DreamHunt 14 secret boss fight.”
I gasped and jumped so high I nearly hit the bottom of the dresser. How did I forget? The chaos of moving in with the dragons and the excitement of the pregnancy had pushed it to the back burner.
I scurried out of my nest and leapt onto Aurum’s shoulders. “What are we waiting for?” I cried. “Go!”
Aurum chuckled. My stomach swooped as he rose to his feet. It took getting used to at first, but I’d since grown fond of the feeling. I felt like an ant on the back of a titan.
“Calling it now. We’re spending the rest of the day playing games together,” Aurum declared. He raised his index finger. “But first, we need snacks.”
“True. It’s gonna be a long fight,” I said, thinking of the arduous battle I’d faced alone in my room.
We headed to the kitchen and prepared our sweet-and-salty rations. Since Aurum’s hands were free, he carried everything by himself. A bowl of popcorn, chocolate and candy, and two big glasses of water for hydration.
He sank into the couch, put the snacks on the coffee table, then grabbed a controller.
“Ready?” he asked me.
“I was born ready.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
As soon as the game’s main title screen loaded, my heart kicked into overdrive. My tiny claws dug into Aurum’s shirt. My whiskers went stiff and my fur stood on end, brushing against his neck.
I wasn’t the only excited one. Aurum’s eyes sharpened with intense focus, and his frame tensed like a predator about to pounce. His fingers were expertly poised over the controller.
Aurum loaded his save file. He was right in front of the cave that led to the secret boss. Wordlessly, he opened the menu and thumbed through his party, showing me their stats and skills. There was an unspoken pact of assistance between us. Aurum trusted me with this fight, and that was deeply meaningful to me.
Immediately, I noticed a couple issues with his preparation.
“You don’t have healing skills on Lukas?” I asked.
Aurum looked surprised. “Should I? He’s a melee fighter.”
“I know, but Desiree can’t heal the whole party on her own. Lukas has higher agility than her, so he can heal in between hits—and you’re going to need it,” I explained.
Aurum’s eyes went wide in understanding. “Shit, good idea. Let me slap a skill card on him.”
“And swap your accessory armor on Kiara and Neuro. She needs the electricity resistance.”
“Fuck, I didn’t even think of covering her weakness like that. I gave it to Neuro ‘cause it has that mana recovery.”
“Right, but if you level him up once more, he’ll gain that skill naturally,” I pointed out.
