“… the dragon-touched or Scions as they later came to be known, were the people of hominid races that volunteered to acquire the blessings of the dragons in our war against the Fiends. Though many did not survive this as they were the linchpin that dealt the finishing blow, they live on through their offspring, the dragonkin. We will eternally remember their sacrifice…”-Journal entry from records of the Fiend Wars by unknown soldier.

Arthur went to the bedroom; one that he had all to himself. His host, Aeskyre did not need sleep because her main body was hibernating while she walked around. Whatever fatigue and sleep she would feel would be diminished.

And when you put her size into perspective, you could understand why. A dragon’s perception of time was too vast to compare with a human. Or a former human; Arthur did not know what having dragon blood flowing in his veins made him.

The youth cast around for his mana powered sailing craft and found it leaning against the wall at the head of the bed. The sail was hoisted upright beside it. His sleeping quarters being big like that meant he could afford the clutter. However, his duffel bag and a couple of books in a dresser were the only things in the room.

Running his fingers along the body of planed ironwood, he traced the flow of the grain and then extricated it from its resting place. He hoisted it, easily carrying the craft weighing less than a quarter of his mass on the skin rug of some ursine creature that had three pairs of legs. It had become a familiar fixture so he never raised a brow.

Pulsing [Detect Flaw] and [Diagnostics], Arthur checked if the board was still functioning and both skills returned a positive. He also thought that he really needed to do something about the name of his invention, ‘Surf board, nope that’s too generic; aer board? Nah, doesn’t roll off the tongue like I want to; hoverboard or a hover? eh too corny but it could work. Alright then hoverboard or hover it is,” he thought, slapping his knees. Azure Surfer was just his personal name for the board after all. However, there was another issue that had been bothering him for a while—the mana storms.

They were too unpredictable and their reach, indeterminable from the Keep. Sooner or later Arthur was going to leave, to see the world outside and maybe find out if there was a way of going back home.

After all that time, Arthur would never admit that he was hung up on the idea of attempting to find out whether he would live out all his days on Eryth or find a way back

Nonetheless, knowing it was a long shot, he had his fingers crossed on the matter.#In fact, he didn’t even know if he wanted to voice the question. Maybe it came from the sense of security that starting over from a clean slate gave him. Anyway, that was something future Arthur would have to contend with; current Arthur wanted to find a solution to his current quandary.

Thus, Arthur sat on the carpet rag in introspection, dissecting every angle of the previous engine test like a forensics expert.

‘Everything was performing as expected during the test. Although I didn’t check for flaws on account of fatigue, there was no way any of the components were at fault since Aeskyre fabricated them. That leaves outside interference—mana. I should have realized the mana storms cause spikes in mana concentration around the Keep.

That I didn't notice is because casting a spell personally is so different from having a machine extract the mana from the air for a magical reaction; mana crystals are not like mana cores.’ He committed that to memory and vowed to add it to the technical specifications of the next mana engine. At that point, it was half way done at this point since metal fabrication took a long time.

‘That leaves me with one choice I haven’t tried out. The purpose of mana sail is to sustain a long term magical reaction for long voyages. According to blueprints, an aership should still have enough mana for an emergency landing even if its mana sails are disabled on account of its Aer ballast tanks.

However, an aership cannot leave port from a stationary position, until at least one of the mana sails is unfurled; in most cases, this might be the smallest forward sail-the flying jib.’ He knitted his brows as he puzzled this, the pieces were all there—he just needed one more clue to get the whole picture. Once again he looked to the Azure Surfer.

Since he was left with one choice anyway, he decided to jump in both feet. He activated [Mana Sight], one of the skills that had rarely seen any use and looked through the insides of the small engine mounted on the rear. The Keep was a mana volatile environment and tended to blind him sometimes.

He traced the mana conduits, dimly glowing like a guttering flame against the mundane background of the rest of the components. If he could compare to something familiar, Mana Sight functioned like heat vision goggles, but for mana.

As he looked on, the mana conduits were unsuccessfully trying to siphon mana from the room but only minute amounts reached the crystal’s canister. He presumed it was barely enough to keep it charged but not functioning.

‘Ah, so mana crystals have the ability to self recharge, but the process is inefficient with ambient mana.’

As for the null steel canister containing the Aertherite crystal, it simply appeared like a gray patch to this magical vision; a result of its nullifying property.

Idea blooming in his mind, Arthur extracted Aer mana from his core and channeled it to the palm of his hand whereupon he placed it on the pedal. The control runes in contact with his palm sucked in mana like a [Void] spell. Barely a moment passed as the mana conduits were rekindled, blazing to life in his [Mana Sight] as they fed into the canister.

The Mark One sputtered like a parched drunk, then with a hum, it started churning out thrust, levitating the hoverboard. Arthur face-palmed at the revelation that had been in front of his eyes all along. He started drawing up new plans but before that, he needed to go stretch his legs.

Deciding that he’d test the hoverboard while at it,Arthur carried the Azure Surfer under the crook of his arm and strolled out of the Keep. He passed by the main cavern that held Aeskyre's hoard, catching a glimpse of the hibernating dragon behind a barrier that shimmered like a soap bubble.

Despite its deceiving appearance, it was not as invulnerable as it seemed. A reptilian eye tracked his progress as he walked around the barrier and Arthur would barely stop himself from flinching even as the eye closed.

The youth took the old route that had led him to stumble upon the lair. A couple of weeks had passed now that he thought about it. He’d been around for just under twenty-four days on Eryth.

Passing through the tunnel, he noticed that it had been cleared of the skeletons and their broken armaments in the illumination of the blue moss that clung to the walls. His eye’s drank in every detail, sharper than they had been before.

He noticed the other denizens of cavern walls which he had missed in his flight from the catfish-axolotl creature skittering around in the shadows. He was no longer afraid of the creatures, was far removed from the man he was when he encountered them.

Arriving at the cave he’d first found himself, he encountered the pond just had he had left it. Crepuscular shafts of the overhead sun illuminated the lone seat that he’d left behind on the tiny island like a mythical artifact waiting to be claimed. It looked weather-beaten and mold was starting to show in places but otherwise looked undisturbed.

Arthur made a note to reclaim for as a memento. It was too good a thing to waste even if it didn't have genuine leather upholstery. He could even carry it around in his magical storage and use it as a camping chair. Nothing else stirred in the cave, apart from the breeze coming from his destination. Wresting his eyes from the scenery, he left.

Arthur’s excursion led him to a cave system he’d never encountered before. It had a ledge jutting out from the cavern’s lip and spread to either side of it. There were balustrades showing it had been some sort of viewing platform or balcony, crawling with blue flowered vines that looked cross between an iris and an ivy had been crossed.

One side had a set of worn stairs clinging to the side of the aersland’s mountain and went on for paces. He followed, curious about where it led whilst toting the hover board . He’d been walking for a while and hadn’t seen the end of the stairs when he came to an impasse. A section of the stairs had collapsed, dropping into an outcrop below, separating the rest from where he stood.

Arthur looked at the hoverboard he’d been lugging around and shook his head,

‘Haah, sometimes I forget where I am. I can’t believe I was going to jump instead of flying over.’

Arthur got to a running start and infused the Azure Surfer with his mana. Letting it go from his hands, he jumped aboard just as it was going across his side of the divide and coasted across the breach.

He gave a cathartic whoop as he scaled the oncoming stairs in a skater’s creep as the wind beat against his face. Gigantic boulders and bonsai-like trees that had gnarly trunks and tenacious roots, grew from the stairs as he whizzed past, coming to a stop as the incline plateaued.

The place commanded a view of the surrounding landscape of lands floating in the sky as zephyrs brushed against his body and pulled at his shirt. The normally stormy weather had retreated from the Keep, baring glimpses of the land below, whenever a gap in the clouds below opened.

It was a dizzying scene, of land so far away even his improved eyes could not pick out. He let his hoverboard stall to make an impromptu seating and sat down to organize his thoughts and relax.

First, he needed to think about his future. He’d hardly gotten the time to take stock of what he wanted to do with his life now that he had found his bearings, somewhat. There was the issue of his memories but those would come back with time even if he didn’t go mucking around his own mind with magic.

There had to be mind specialists in Eryth because…magic. If Aeskyre could bring him back from the brink, there had to be a way to recover his memories when and if he wanted them; he was not in a hurry.

‘What am I afraid of?’ he thought. ‘I don’t know who or what kind of person I was before I came to Eryth but it can’t be that bad right? I am still me with or without my past.

He squinted against the glare of the late afternoon sun forming a prismatic halo in the layer of clouds rolling overhead like a flock of fluffy sheep.

‘Whom Am I kidding? My past will come calling either way. I still get dreams of places and people I should know and every day they become clearer and clearer. I can’t keep on coming back to this time and again’. He rested his cheek on his knuckles. A dour scowl darkened his expression as he gazed somewhere his sight could not reach.

A thought came to him unbidden and reluctantly, he retrieved his phone from the inside pocket of his aviator jacket. ‘Maybe I should just use [Diagnostics] and [Basic Repair] on my phone and get it over with. I should be able to glean something from it’ he thought as he palmed the outline of the device.

It had a crack spider-webbing from the corner of its blank screen where a little moisture had condensed to form a rainbow effect. He inspected the rest of the device but nothing else was out of place.

“When are you going to fix that?” Aeskyre called out as her footfalls came within hearing range.

“You keep looking at the mundane thing as if it contains everything you hold dear; I would have thought you would have restored it a lifetime afore.”

‘Oh, You have no idea.’

Arthur didn't turn around to retort, rather he returned his gaze to the gadget in his hands. The man shook his head wryly. Tracing the hairline cracks with his thumb he said,

“I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder if I should even do that, because if I do, I will be opening a door that I won’t close…like Pandora’s box.”

“Oh, I get the allusion to a vessel of horrors. But why?”

“Huh? That’s how the World translates it?” he chortled mirthlessly. “I wonder If I’ll be the same person after seeing whatever this thing contains. It might contain a record of my life, people I know…people lost to me.”

“It’s not my place to say,” she said, looking towards the cloudy sky. Still standing, she added, “ If there is anything I’ve learnt it’s that you will always be you, impetuous and stubborn to a fault.”

“ Hey!” Arthur protested.

“Come what may, you have proven yourself of being able to claw your way from whatever pit you find yourself. I think you have an indomitable strength of will.” She grinned impishly as she turned her gaze to the distance.

“I’ve always wanted to ask. Why did you take me in?”

“Mmh? Mayhap because you looked like a lost wee babe. Besides you were practically harmless, you had no weapon save for that mundane knife of yours...”

“There’s more you’re leaving hanging in the air. That's half of it. A dragon would not just pick up a stray like you would say…a cat off the street. Humans are practically beneath you.”

Aeskyre swiveled her face and fixed him with a look. But Arthur did not shy from her gaze as if he dared her to refute it. She terminated the contest of wills when she saw that he was not backing down and snorted in amusement. Breaking eye contact, she replied, “I am half a millenia old—”

“That does not tell me anything—”

“In dragon years I am an adult just entering their prime.”

“Er, I don’t know what to say. I mean, I did not see that coming—”

“What? You thought I was ancient just because I am of the elder races?” she shook her head looking like she’d taken umbrage. Exhaling, she seemed to gather her poise and then replied in a voice that was practically a whispered growl. Arthur had never heard her attempt to speak so conservatively; ‘attempted to’ being the key word. And it looked like it pained her just to say it.

“It was on a whim—” she shrugged as she muttered under her breath. “Dragons are supposed to be strong, majestic, regal and all those words you non-elder races like to use just because we are beings beyond your ken.

Unlike the Primals, few of us are acts of nature who can afford to temper how they react to the world around them. Some of us may be closer to your level of fortitude than you think. We did not choose how we came to be…”

“Oh—”

“Let me finish Arthur Tyrell, I may not have a chance to repeat what I am about to say.” She wrung her palms as if dredging uncomfortable memories, “When I hatched from my egg all those years ago, I almost died because what was waiting for me beyond my egg’s shell, was a weyr of the confounded wyverns,” she spat.

‘So that’s why you have a vendetta against them’ Arthur realized. He kept silent and let her continue.

“ However, I discovered that I had a half formed imprint and by some stroke of luck, I barely made it after fighting tooth and claw. The fact still remained; I was still alone and I never knew another dragon.”

“Erm, you don’t have to say it—” Arthur tried to insist.

“Don’t patronize me Arthur Tyrell.” She growled. Her eyes went wide as saucers when she realized her outburst. She almost walked off but she held herself back. Aeskyre bit her lip with her draconic fang then resigned, she let herself get seated, leaving a little gap between the two of them. The Azure Surfer barely bowed under the weight. They stayed in companionable silence before she spoke again.

“—battered and bruised I happened upon this Archipelago of Storms as it later came to be known. Here, I found shelter in Sturm’s Keep; an old dilapidated antecessor fortress. Later on I awakened to all of my affinities; be it fate or whims, I know not but the World chose to favour me thus.”

“I survived by hunting rogue wyverns, stranded by the storms way before any aerships graced the skies; food was hard to come by.” She paused and then her voice dropped to a whisper as she fought her racial pride

“I never knew my parentage nor clutch if I had any. I didn't even know where to begin looking; what if I’m the only dragon left in these skies?… I had no one to show me what to do or how to live—”

“When you stumbled into Sturm’s keep, I felt a sense of camaraderie when I saw the look in your eyes. In more ways than you realize, we were the same, you and l. That’s why I picked you up, as you say, like a stray cat off the street.”

Arthur could only nod at that.

“I don’t know how you do these things hereabouts but—,” Arthur started. Aeskyre furrowed her eyebrows. Arthur swallowed thickly and went on, “ when someone shares a part of themselves that they’ve fought to reveal, it is courtesy to do the same.

Usually that is between friends, but sometimes, people who have shared a drink or too do that too.” he paused, spying a faraway cloud.

“ Even though I lost my memories, one’s parents are not so easily forgotten, it seems. I never knew my mother and my father either. If I had a sibling, perhaps that’s with the memories I do not have...so, I guess you’re right.”

Rolling her eyes, Aeskyre turned to regard him from her perch on the Azure Surfer, “What are you doing Arthur Tyrell?”

Arthur shifted a little under the dragon's gaze. That was so non-sequitur. It wasn't what he'd expected

“How much longer?”

“Mmh?”

“Aeris breath! I asked how longer you’re going to stay, you flightless fool?.”

“Uh…” Arthur stuttered.

“Arthur!” Aeskyre snarled as she stood up abruptly. She turned around and leveled him a heavy glare, eyes literally smoldering with lightning sparks. She looked ready to bring down the hammer of the gods on his head. “And do not attempt to misdirect me; I have noticed the way you seem to long for the outside.”

“Alright…alright, I hear you.” Arthur tried to pacify her seeing as the clouds overhead had begun to mirror her emotions. Once she’d calmed down, the skies calmed.

He bit back a grimace like he’d tasted vinegar, “In a week give or take a few days— It's tentative; I have to plan a route, acquire supplies and get more training before then. Also, I have to make sure I finish the newer engine before I leave.”

“Oh. So you’re going to leave then,” Aeskyre scowled grimly.

Arthur scratched his hair in shame, “I am sorry. Humans are just not used to staying cooped up for very long. I wish I could stay but I have a fear of missing out. I know?—why don’t you come with me? We could travel together, you and I.”

'What am I doing? Do I have fecking Stockholm syndrome?’

He looked for an agreeable response from her but all he got in return was a smile that did not reach her eyes. “Hmph,” she snorted. “ If wishes were gold…,”she rubbed her arms as if staving the cold away, “out there is no place for a dragon who's well behind their heritage.The age of dragons is long past.”

“Wha—” Arthur tried to respond but the words died in his throat. He closed his mouth, opened it and closed it again. His lips felt parched and he lacked words to say. Her countenance fell.

Aeskyre turned around giving him one last forlorn look before she dropped off the cliff and glided away with her dress trailing behind her.

“Wait!” but Arthur rose to stop her a couple of blinks too late. She had disappeared into the layer of the clouds meandering below

‘Jeez, way to go Arthur. Just had to go and eat your foot. Add some salt while at it, why don’t you?’ Arthur thought angrily as he pulverized a bunch of rocks with a [Thunder Bolt] spell.