Volume 3, Chapter 16: Leader of the Team

There wasn't initially much to the week Kiara, Eden, and I had before the Inter-clan tournament would start. The first four days, we just continued training, but I could feel the tension in the air. It was like the calm before the firestorm.

The fifth, day, however, was when things started. We were out in the training valley like any other usual day, waiting for Elder Kronos to pop up. When he did pop up, it was with the other three Elders of our Arkanan clan, and the two other dragons in our team.

The order of age in our dragon clan for the five oldest dragons went like this; Navra being the oldest, Kronos the second oldest, then Nea, Loaen, and Taneris.

Teleportation magic made life simple. It was an Ancient magic I would have dearly liked to learn. I would have even been willing to give up my dragon tail for it. But sadly enough, I did not have the inborn-talent nor the power to learn it yet. As Navra had put it, I was “pitifully weak.”

The other two dragons in our team was a brown-colored dragon and a blue-colored dragon, the former being a male and the latter a female. With Eden, Kiara, and I added to the equation, the five of us made up the Arkanan representative team.

“The two of you could have just left the task of bringing these five young dragons up to Taneris and I,” Elder Kronos said.

“It's fine, Elder Kronos. Loaen and I, of course, believe in your strength and Taneris' strength, but we just wanted to see what the young dragons look like,” said Elder Nea. She was the only female Elder in our clan, and was around 1524 years old if I remember what Navra and Elder Kronos told me.

“Hmm, if you say so, young Nea.”

“Stop calling me young, Kronos!” Elder Nea said with a pout on her face. “I am the second oldest Elder in our clan, you know. It's high time you stop calling me young. It's been more than a thousand years since I stopped followed you around like a newborn chick.”

Elder Kronos revealed a smile that was unlike his usual strict demeanor. “You will always be a brat to me. I have about a hundred years of age on you.”

Elder Nea sniffed a little at that. “Compared to what? A thousand years?”

“Now, now. Stop flirting, you both. I can't bear to watch the two of you go at each other like love-struck dragons in mating season,” Elder Loaen said with a small smile.

“This isn't flirting! And mating season is far away, Loaen, about sixteen years away in fact,” Elder Nea retorted.

“Ahem,” Elder Taneris said with a cough. “Shall we get back to the task at hand? I do believe we are making an unsightly display.”

A semblance of order soon returned, and the five of us were lined up before the four Elder dragons. Eden had a look of fierce determination while Kiara was calm like me. Likewise, the other two new dragons were calm, but standing stiffly straight. All of us were wearing tight-fitting, string-tied, black leather vests and pants with the symbol of our Arkanan clan, which was an orange fire wrapped around a red tear. It was no wonder when I had first visited Navra's chambers that I saw this symbol on the outside of the entrance.

Supposedly, all of the dragons participating in the Inter-clan Tournament were also required to wear these black uniforms because a new rule had been implemented by Navra. None of the dragons would be allowed to fight in their dragon forms. Since none of the participants were allowed to fight in their dragon forms, there was a need to issue uniforms to all the participants—

Fighting would just not be taken seriously if all the opponents were naked and their human parts were out dangling. It was quite an amusing image, really.

On a serious note, I was thankful that Navra had used his influence and position to implement this new rule, because fully transforming into a dragon would weaken the blood seal Navra had drawn on my stomach to suppress the influence of the two souls inside me.

Demon Lord Codrixas had easily broken out of his resealing just a month after Efari's death. This was because Codrixas already had a large influence and I was tainted with demon magic, which allowed me to use The Flames of Interitum, or the black flames.

On the other hand, the Deathwalker did not have much influence on me, so the seal on him was still strong and would last for about six months more. It was why the Deathwalker did not have his own territory along with Seraphine and Codrixas inside Animus. He was just a faint presence inside my Animus.

“Hmm, so this is the five dragons who are going to represent our clan,” Elder Nea said in a contemplating voice, her eyes of a shocking blue meeting each and every one of our eyes. “Not half-bad,” she finally said after a moment of silence.

“I suggest that we choose a leader for the team,” Elder Taneris said in a frigid voice. With black hair and piercing grey eyes, Elder Taneris looked to be a cold and intelligent persona. Had he been wearing glasses, he would have definitely fit the sage character in the stories I read as a child. Except that sage would look to be around his late twenties and would have a cold, collected expression.

“I agree with you there, Taneris,” Elder Kronos said. “Let us both choose a candidate from the ones we have trained.” The Elder turned to stare at me. “Come forth, Verath. I think you will serve suitably as the leader.”

“Xalanth,” Elder Taneris said.

Hearing his name called, I noticed Xalanth, the other male dragon on our team, stand taller and even more stiffly. No doubt, Elder Taneris had distilled an overbearing discipline in the dragon.

“So, Taneris, how shall we choose between the two dragons?” Elder Kronos asked.

“I leave it to you to decide, Elder Kronos. You are my senior, and much more wiser and powerful than me, the youngest Elder.”

“Shall we say a duel then? The valley will serve as a perfect place for that.”

“Agreed.”

“Well, this is certainly interesting,” Elder Nea said with an amused smile, looking back and forth at Elder Kronos and Elder Taneris. It made me believe there was some sort of rivalry between the two dragons. “I had not expected to see a display of power from our young representatives, let alone a practical duel. I suppose it shall serve well one way or another.”

“Why not, indeed. It should be fun to see some young blood go at it,” Elder Loaen commented.

As both Xalanth and I formed up a fifteen feet distance between the two of us, Eden and Kiara gave me encouraging looks. Having trained with me for about six months, the two of them were confident in my abilities. They had seen firsthand of my abilities, after all.

Carefully, I observed my opponent while the Elders and the three young dragons watched from the sidelines. My opponent looked to be around twenty years old or so with solid brown hair and solid brown eyes. His appearance, in those aspects, was expected since I myself looked about the same age as him in my human form.

What was unexpected, however, was his height and kind-looking face. He was tall, much taller than me. I estimated his height to be at least six feet and a half. Combined with his solid, muscular frame, Xalanth had a curious appearance.

A freakish saint like in the stories and like those religious angel figures. His face gave off a motherly aura of warmth, which was extremely disconcerting for a dragon.

Amusing, really.

“I shall act as a judge for this match,” Elder Kronos said. “You may start now.”

As soon as he said those words, I began my magic. I had already decided to use an initial magic attack to test out the strength of my opponent. But first, I would need to armor myself.

Virdus Vict Sangius.

With those words echoed inside my mind, my own blood mixed with magic formed a crystalized blood armor around my entire body, increasing my physical strength and speed. It was my Dragon Living Blood Armor, which Navra had told me had the strongest defense compared to the other armors of dragons my age.

Simultaneously, I opened up two new magic channels, combining the two into one, and summoned a wave of molten fire using a mix of fire magic and earth magic. The two new magic channels were not connected to Deep Animus, the part of my soul and blood which would transform normal magic into Ancient dragon magic, so the wave of molten fire was just normal magic, much weaker than Ancient dragon magic.

The wave of molten fire grew around Xalanth in a circle and surrounded him like a circular cage, with him in the middle. Then the circle grew larger and larger before crashing into his entire body like tidal waves.

A hiss resounded in the air from the crackling heat of the fire which could even eat through rocks. Then the waves of molten fire was sent flying around, splashing heavily onto the ground of the grass-covered valley. Patches of grass were burnt and small fires started.

I looked up as Xalanth jumped high into the air, freed from the waves of molten fire I had surrounded him with. His brown leathery wings were outstretched and spanned more than twelve feet.

Virdus Terram—Dragon Earth Armor.

Xalanth was equipped in his Dragon Earth Armor. He was a dragon who had a great affinity with earth magic, I observed.

All of this had occurred in the breadth of less than two seconds. The two of us were already equipped in our Ancient Dragon Armors and our wings were out. Xalanth had easily overcome my molten fire magic. No doubt, he had manipulated my molten fire with his earth and fire magic.

I jumped upward at Xalanth with Sangius in my hand, and instantly closed the fifteen feet distance between us, reaching him in the air. But halfway through, a wall of earth was formed before me.

I sliced through the thick wall of earth with my elongated blood longsword, and the wall cleanly split apart into two pieces. Smashing aside the two blocks of split earth, I saw Xalanth with a small grin formed on his face.

I only vaguely realized what had happened before a giant arm made of earth slammed into me from above. It was only through the sensing of magic and my quick reflex that I stopped some of the force hitting my armored head.

I fell, crashing down onto the ground with a loud thud and an explosion of dust and grass. A small crater had formed from the impact.

Ashes. I had not expected Xalanth to be able to form his magic even quicker than me.

I quickly got up, and summoned a shield of crystallized blood overhead, using normal magic that did not consume any of my blood. I felt the earthen spikes slam into the blood shield that I had formed above my head, and near the ground around me.

Multiple continuous thuds were made as the earthen spikes hit the blood shield. They were like the sounds of punches after punches against a wall.

While this was happening, I launched into an Ancient blood magic spell.

Vescretur Sangius—Hunting Blood.

Six fist-sized spheres of blood mixed with magic came flying out from under my shield. All of these spheres combined consumed about 1/10 of my safe blood reserves. This was the most useful spell I had. The six spheres of blood could sense enemy blood within a range of 45 feet, and each of them could shoot out flexible blood spikes that followed their targets at will with a twenty-two feet extension.

Interestingly enough, the blood spikes acted like self-aware tentacles grabbing for the enemy. Well, not exactly grabbing, but rather piercing through the enemy.

And if the Hunting Blood spheres were to get close enough to their target, it would become extremely harder and harder to dodge the always moving and always following blood spikes. The spheres were like braying bloodhounds which had gotten the scent of their prey. Their only weakness was that they were easily destroyed and that they did not have the sense to dodge unless I diverted my will and concentration in controlling the six spheres.

“What the hell are these?” I heard a shout from above. It was most likely Xalanth.

With the Hunting Blood spheres keeping Xalanth busy enough to stop his rain of earth spikes, I unformed my blood shield and destroyed the earth spikes all around me with my weapon. Then I joined the fray along with my Hunting Blood spheres which were furiously attacking Xalanth with a total combined number of 18 blood spikes.

Naturally, the attacks of the six Hunting Blood spheres avoided and circled around me since I was not an enemy blood. With my spheres attacking from one side, I attacked Xalanth from the other side.

“This is definitely the most annoying magic I have ever seen!” Xalanth yelled out with a hint of grudging respect and admiration in his voice. His words came out in irregular intervals since Xalanth was busy blocking the blood spikes with shields of earth and tongues of fire which burnt through the blood.

With the momentum gained from my jump, and my subsequent flight toward Xalanth, I executed Trailing Embers, a two-sword combo and initiator strike in the Wandering Flame sword style. Two deep and long gashes on his chest and stomach were formed at the end of the move. The strength of the two strikes forced Xalanth back about half a feet, before he grabbed my weapon with his earth-armored hand.

Xalanth ignored the six Hunting Blood spheres as their eighteen blood spikes pierced through his armor in eighteen various spots. The defense of his armor was too strong and too thick for the blood spikes and my sword to slash through.

The Hunting Blood spheres had stopped moving since their eighteen blood spikes had found their target. Xalanth then destroyed all six of the spheres with earthen blasts that exploded out of nowhere at the unmoving blood spheres which floated around us in a twenty feet range.

“That hurts. I think you actually managed to slash at my stomach, breaking through both my armor and skin.” His grip on the mid-blade of my blood longsword was powerful and was comparable to the strength I had in my Dragon Living Blood Armor. But I did not bother to contest strength with Xalanth.

Along with our wings, the two of us were using Aeris to hold ourselves in the air.

“You should let go of my blade,” I softly said.

“Why? I have you within my range, and the blade cannot harm me.”

I didn't bother to explain to Xalanth. Instead, I simply showed him.

Sangius Novara.

The Ancient dragon words flashed into my mind, and 2/10 of my safe blood reserves were consumed. Blood soon surrounded the two of us, forming a blood field that blocked all vision of the outside world between the two of us. It was too late for Xalanth to run—the field of blood had already formed into a sphere, surrounding the two of us. And Xalanth himself did not choose to flee from the blood field like Elder Kronos, who had instantly recognized the danger of the magic spell.

“Two can play at that game.”

A massive amount of magic exploded outward from Xalanth. The magic had an overbearing presence to it and felt as if there was a heavy weight on my shoulders. In a few seconds, both of our magic reached a high point, climbing to an apex.

Blood and earth magic exploded inside the blood field I had created. Colors of red and shattered pieces of earth entered my vision. Perhaps only a few seconds or perhaps a full minute passed by as the two of us attacked at each other with our magic; his fist and my weapon also colliding.

The two of us were thrown outward from the colliding forces of both our magic and I could only catch a short glimpse of Xalanth as I hit the ground of the valley with both of my wings torn off.

I shook myself free from the dirt and grass, while spitting out some dirt that had gotten into my mouth. There was a pulsing pain near both of my shoulders, where my wings had been torn off. Blood also hindered my vision, and I could taste both dirt and blood in my mouth. There were most likely dozens of small cuts on my face and on my Dragon Living Blood Armor which had sustained more damage than it could repair.

Judging from the blood I had lost and the weakness I was feeling, I had most likely lost around 9/10 of my safe blood reserves, and had used a not inconsiderable amount of magic to defend myself. In hindsight, I realized that I should have perhaps just used Aesir and Volarus to fly, instead of my wings. But then again, my wings were much faster than magic-driven flight.

I suppose it will heal eventually, anyway, even though both of my wings had been wholly torn off. I climbed out of the small crater I was in and saw the result of our battle. The section of the valley where we had fought in was littered with earth spikes, half-broken blood spikes, and small craters. There were also small patches of grass burning from the molten fire I had used.

In the distance, perhaps about sixty feet away where Xalanth had crashed down to, I could only see a deep crater. The brown dragon was most likely unconscious or too wounded to move.

It was not a wise move to get caught up in Sangius Novara, my blood field. The field took a few seconds to form, but once caught inside, my opponent would be severely restricted and blood would strike from everywhere.

'Are you alright, my host,' Seraphine said from inside my mind.

'I am fine,' I replied.

'It seems I was needlessly worrying. I shall go back to my slumber then. You need only call me if you need me.'

'I will, Seraphine. Thank you.'

'And it seems you have sullied your opponent quite hard,' she said with a giggle.

'…'

'Go back to sleep, Seraphine.'

My words were needless, however. The Lesser Fire Elemental was already back at the depths of my mind, leaving only a small giggle echoing inside my mind. Seraphine usually only came out of Animus to observe what interested her. She was a somewhat fickle being, only speaking and coming out when I was strongly affected by something or when she was greatly intrigued by something.

From the sidelines, Elder Nea walked up to me. “Ohoh, not bad, young dragon. If I remember correctly, you are a black-colored dragon and Eldest Navra, also our king, is your broodkeeper, yes?” she said with a slight edge of amusement, her shockingly blue eyes looking upon me.

Her face moved closer toward me, until we were only almost lips apart. “Just between you and me, the dragon you just beat is the great, great, great....er I forget...anyway, he is a descendant of Elder Taneris.”

I was somewhat shocked, but my surprise did not show on my bleeding face. The two dragons looked nothing alike.

“I know, right? Appearances are deceiving. You would think that Taneris would be an old hermit dragon stuck in a cave training by himself.”

“I would prefer it if you would stop spreading rumors about me, Elder Nea.” The voice of Elder Taneris was cool and sharp, like a blade of ice honed in a frigid winter.

“Ohoh, scary, scary,” Elder Nea said with a short smile, pulling away from me with a small dance.

“Stop antagonizing Taneris,” Elder Loaen called out.

“Tch, two against one? I guess I will retreat for now.”

Elder Taneris turned toward me, his cold, grey eyes inspecting me. “Hmm...blood magic and the color black. I do wonder why Eldest Navra chose to become your broodkeeper though. An Eldest of a clan would usually never do such a thing. It goes against tradition.” His inspection stopped and his eyes met mine. “How intriguing.”

Saying that, Elder Taneris returned to his original spot, observing at the dragons around him. His eyes, especially, were following my every movement.

I went toward the crater Xalanth had made. Around that crater were Elder Kronos, Eden, Kiara, and the other dragon of our team.

“Looks like you are our team leader now, oh great fighting jester,” Eden said.

“You fought well,” said Kiara. “I am glad you will be the team leader instead of some other dragon whom I do not know.”

I nodded at the both Kiara and Eden, while ignoring the staring eyes of the other female member in our team. She was curiously looking at me as if I was some unknown entity never before seen in her life.

“Is he alright,” I asked Elder Kronos who was holding the unconscious body of Xalanth afloat in the air with his magic. It was a form of Aesir and due to Elder Kronos' high magical power, it could easily go through the magic territory of Xalanth, which was weaker in the unconscious state.

Xalanth's wings were torn off and in his unconscious state, his Dragon Earth Armor was unformed. The black uniform he wore was also torn and looked as if it had been through years of wear and tear. Blood easily flowed down from his arms and legs, dying his vest and pants scarlet.

“It is a good thing you went easy on him,” Elder Kronos stated. “He would have died had you went all out with your magic.”

“As expected, you know my strength well after six months,” I said with deference in my voice. True to his statement, I had not used the full strength of my magic against Xalanth.

Elder Kronos went toward the other three Elders, briefly nodding at them. “I shall see all of you again in Scorchgrasp at the tournament if you choose to attend. For now, I will go to a Driad's Enclave to heal these two.”

“Come on Taneris, no need to be shy,” Elder Nea said with a small laugh. “Just say to Elder Kronos to take good care of your descendant.”

“Don't speak nonsense. Even without the Driad healers, Xalanth can take care of himself,” Elder Taneris replied in a curt tone.

“Even if the dragon himself is unconscious.”

“Even so.”

“I admire your confidence in Xalanth.”

“Sister, please” Elder Loaen said, “stop poking fun at Taneris. You are causing unnecessary troubles.”

“You just do not let me have any fun these days, Loaen, my little brother,” Elder Nea said, emphasizing the word little.

“I shall take my leave now,” Elder Kronos interrupted, cutting short the words Elder Loaen was about to reply with.

Hearing that, Elder Nea danced a little toward Kronos before hugging him tightly, her body firmly pressed against his chest.

It was a long moment before Nea separated from the somewhat embarrassed Elder Kronos. He had an expression on his face that I had never before seen. Usually, Elder Kronos was calm, collected, and strict.

“Ut incentia perpetuus ignis,” Elder Nea said.

“Temvitue,” Elder Kronos replied, a small smile formed on his face. It looked as if he was reminiscing about a past memory long buried by time.

With that farewell, Elder Kronos teleported all five of us along to the northwest Driad's Enclave, a place I had only heard about. It had been on my list of places to visit. I was curious about the Driads who were sometime employed by the dragons to serve as healers.

Still, the phrase Elder Nea had imparted toward Elder Kronos.

In the Ancient dragon language, at least if my gift for language was correct, meant—

“May the fire always burn.”

And Elder Kronos' reply was, “Forever.”

They were strange phrases and I wondered a little at their meaning. Did it perhaps have something to do with some ancient tradition I knew not of, or perhaps it went back all the way to the Age of Unity, when the Greater Races finally stopped fighting between themselves in the Age of Divide.

Or did it perhaps have something to do with the fact that most dragons did not live past a thousand and a half years. The oldest dragon, which was the Astlan Dragon King had only lived up to a little over three thousand years, though that did not apply to Navra, who was far older than that.

I wasn't too sure. Navra had never explained it clearly to me.

The past was the past. It was a done thing, Navra had said.

<><><><><>

The teleportation was a smooth process and I soon found myself in the depths of a forest. The trees of the forest were tall, even taller than I would be in my dragon form. Their canopies hung above our group like majestic green clouds in the skies. They were so encompassing that only the barest hint of sunlight could make through in certain places, lighting the various flowers and plants with a variety of colors.

The sound of birds singing and chirping happily could be heard. Directly above the tree in front of me, I even saw a beautiful, black-feathered bird with a crown of white feathers looking down at us, its round, golden eyes staring unblinkingly. The grass beneath my booted feet felt soft and stable. There was the smell of the wet scent of leaves and grass, mixed along with the pleasant scents of various types of flowers I had never seen before in my life.

What was most amazing to the sight, however, was the wall of thorny vines between two enormous stretches of trees. The wall of vines extended upward for more than a hundred feet, almost half the length of the humongous trees. I estimated the height of the wall of vines to be at least around 150 feet feet tall, and its width around 40 feet. They served as some sort of barricade between the two stretches of trees.

A small section of the vines parted near the middle, and a creature with small antlers on its—no, her—head came walking out of the wall of vines. Her limbs looked to be filled with unnatural grace as she moved, and her light-green skin blended in smoothly with the background of the forest. Her eyes were large and watery, her body covered in some smooth, thin leafy material that stopped at the sides of her lighter, green breasts, which were covered in strange, black markings. Those black markings were also seen on her face, which was framed by the small antlers and her long, dark green hair.

The creature, she, was a Driad, a humanoid race that specialized in healing and nature magic.

I felt a hard nudge from Eden. “Stop staring at her, jester,” she said with a hiss. “It's embarrassing looking at you.”

Curiosity is an unstoppable force. I had not realized that I had been staring at the almost half-naked female Driad.

“What,” I replied in an innocent tone. “I was just curious, since I have never seen a Driad before.”

“Really. It looked to me, however, that your eyes were almost popping out.”

“You joke, Eden,” I said. She was wrong. I was definitely not attracted to the antlered creature, though she did have an unearthly, yet at the same time, earthly grace. Yes, it was definitely not her breasts. No, what attracted me was my curiosity about her race and the strange, black markings on her breasts.

There was a fine line between those differences.

To my right side, Kiara was looking at me with a hint of amusement.

“Not you too, Kiara,” I said in an even voice.

“Greetings, dragons. How may I serve you?” said the female Driad in a smooth, melodious voice. Her voice was pleasant, almost like a gentle caress that held hints of the pleasant sounds of the forest. Her words were in a language that took a few seconds for my gift of communication to recognize.

“Could you heal these two injured dragons?” Elder Kronos asked.

“Of course, Elder Kronos. You need not be so courteous to me. We are grateful to the elder dragons who allow us to live in harmony on their lands, and protect us from any threats.” The Driad waved a hand, and the wall of vines parted a little more, making a bigger entrance that would allow five people to go in at once. “Follow me please.”

“Have you been here before, Eden?” I asked.

Eden sighed at me. “Of course. I was injured after our Duel of Dominance and needed healing. I have also been injured many times in the past, especially after my second tribulation.”

“Hmm. I see.”

We followed along as Elder Kronos headed inside the dark entrance the wall of vines had revealed.

The northwest Driad's Enclave. I felt quite curious about it.

Volume 3 (Chapter 17)