Chapter Ten

Outskirts of the City

"Crato?" asked Skye as Dejvra muttered the name under his breath. "Nothing.." replied the dragon. "You know you cannot hide secrets from me. We are one" Skye stated. He mentally stared at the dragon inside him. Awkward moments later, Dejvra gave up to Skye's persistence. "Fine, i'll tell you later. That dragon's about to finish his business over there too". Skye nodded then looked to Selena, the girl was curious but he is not entirely sure that the dragon is not hostile even with the bond they share. "Selena.." he said. "I know. You cannot ensure my safety here so I need to go right?"the girl acknowledged. Skye simply nodded. "You owe me an explanation and e-ve-ry detail of it" Selena emphasized on the word every to make her point. "I can't promise you anything" Skye replied. "Hmmph" Selena grumped as she walked away. "Stay alive then" she turned back and looked at Skye in the eyes. "That's what im good at" Skye smiled. Selena didn't know why but seeing the boy smile made him blush bright red as she made her way back to the caravan. "Stupid Skye" she muttered.

Meanwhile at the battle below Kieran was now struggling mantaining his form, his regenarative skills was top notch due to Jiaolong's training but he started feeling diziness and headache. "You can't sustain this form any longer. Go shift back before you lose your mind" Crato advised Kieran. As he reached the ground he started shifting back to his human form. He vomitted his own blood as he sustained the merged draconic form for too long. He assumed a meditative pose in the middle of the frozen field to boost his regeneration for the upcoming duel, what he didn't expect was that the leader of the assasins waited for the perfect opportunity to strike. And Kieran just gave that opportunity. As the shadow emerged out of nowhere Kieran's senses went to a state of panic as massive killing intent was detected, he tried to shield his face with his hands but he knew it was too late. A loud whistling noise pirced the air as he waited for the impending doom but time seemed to slow down. He tried to take a peek in between his hands and what stood there was a headless corpse. There was no blood spurting as the rest of the body was frozen solid. He looked at the mountain range. And gave a nod of appreciation. It wasn't needed though as a spatial rift formed in front of him. A platinum blonde-haired boy stepped out of it. "Woah! That shot was from over two miles away! And that's a spiritual master of the sixtieth realm. You gotta be a master marksman or something" Kieran would've jumped out of joy to emphasize his point but he could'nt as his insides was a mess. "I would've stood up if I can" Kieran offered as Skye didn't say anything. "He was distracted by his upcoming victory he dropped his guard if not for that it would be hard killing him" Skye recovered "I believe we haven't been properly introduced. My name is Skye of House Vjorn. It's pleasure meeting a dragon in person" Skye said as he extended his hand. Kieran shook Skye's hand as he introduced himself "Kieran, just Kieran. We met before though at the City Gates. I believe you were staring at me. Am I that handsome?" Kieran joked as Skye's cheeks reddened as he remembered the embarassing scene. "Yes-"Skye was interrupted as Kieran suddenly spoke "Oh, so I am that handsome in human standards". "I meant yes, we have met before" Skye corrected "and I don't even know if you can be called handsome. Who am I to judge?". "You're now the heir of the City of Trênt, or so I heard" Kieran replied. "News travel fast" said Skye. "Do you always speak this formal? Shit! I feel like im talking to the Dragon God" Kieran chuckled. Kieran mustered all the seriousness he could muster and tried to imitate the voice of the Dragon God "Kieran, you must eliminate the Darkness or else all will be lost" he failed miserably as his prepubescent voice couldn't achieve the bassy tone of the Dragon God. Kieran laughed heartily but felt Kieran's sudden shift of mood. The guy was ready to kill him, he felt like a prey being eyed carefully by a hunter. "A hunter who considers a dragon as a prey" he felt chills in his spine but didn't show it "Dangerous indeed" he muttered to himself. "No need to get serious-" this time it was Skye's turn to interrupt Kieran "Give me one reason, why I shouldn't kill you right this very moment?" he said as his bow materialized out of nowhere. "Shit! He's serious as fuck!" Kieran cursed to himself. "Because im handsome?" Kieran offered. Skye created an ice arrow and nocked it in his bow. He raised the bow and pointed it directly at Kieran. "You have ten seconds to answer or i'll blast your head away from your body and let me warn you in advance, I never miss" Skye stated coldly. "You're welcome to try" Kieran mocked as he began to stand up. The two began clashing their spiritual essence without any words being exchanged. The ambient essence went amok as the coldness of ice and the burning flames collided with each other. Lightning came raining upon the fields while the clouds darkened. The wind raged as droplets of water came falling. The North have never seen rain before as the snow is the equivalent but today was not like any other day. Spiritual rings flared to existence as the spiritual essence battle intensed. Skye was losing his ground quickly as Kieran revealed he was a spiritual master of the twenty-fifth realm. "What an absurd talent in cultivation" Skye muttered to himself. For a twelve-year-old to reach the sixteenth realm was amazing at its own right and this guy is in the twenty-fifth. Absurd indeed. "He is probably older than me" Skye tried to reason. As Kieran began pouring more essence to his attack, Skye knew he would lose this battle even with his superior knowledge on how the essence works, he let Kieran took control of the ambient essence for now as he fired an ice arrow at Kieran. Kieran realized Skye gave up the battle and prepared instantly but the arrow was as fast as light itself. "Fuck!" he muttered. He knew that the arrow packed speed since he could shoot it even from two miles away. Now he understood what happens if Skye fires it in an even closer distance. Kieran instantly took his ethereal form to dodge the arrow. As the arrow passed through him he felt chills he never felt before, there was something different about this ice. But he ignored it for now as he charged with his dagger in hand. He materialized himself while the dagger shifted to a broadsword. He made slashing motion but Skye was ready and already materialized a twin scimitar in his hands. He crossed the two blades with each other to block the incoming attack. But Kieran had other plans, the broadsword took an ethereal form and passed through the scimitar like it was never there. Skye's eyes widened with the sudden realization "So his weapon could do that too". As the weapon materialized itself, Skye had already created an ice wall between them and successfully blocked the attack. "It cannot take an ethereal form twice in a row" he noted. "I think I found his weakness" Skye mused. "You already missed" Kieran shouted as the ice wall collapsed. Skye stood there with a huge smile "I never miss" he said once more as a small spatial rift appeared above Kieran and an arrow whistled its way to Kieran's head. "You cannot do your trick twice in a row" Skye mocked as an explosion of ice splintered where Kieran stood before. Skye was about to turn around when the ambient lightning intensified. A light flashed to his way as a golden-haired Kieran appeared in front of him. His eyes were like the cosmic radiance while several bruises can be seen in his face and a wound in his shoulder aside from that there was no noticeable effects of Skye's ice arrow. Kieran swiped his golden sword, Skye didn't know what it was but for some reason his hunter instincts tells him it's something dangerous. Dozen of invisible light blades permeated the air and travelled its way to Skye, for an ordinary spiritual master it would be deadly but with Skye's echolocation he heard dozens of blade cutting the air. Skye immediately jumped upwards as he created another ice arrow and aimed at Kieran. As quick as he released it, an explosion occurred. Kieran was quick enough to shift his katana to a greatsword to block the incoming arrow but it wasn't enough. Because of the point-blank distance both Skye and Kieran was blown away by the attack, Skye for the shockwave and Kieran for receiving it head on. Both of their bodies tumbled away from each other till they managed to stand up once more. Kieran was regenerating and has fully reformed his insides during the battle. "Finally, I can fight for real" Kieran said with a smile in his face. Skye was shocked with the statement but didn't show it in his face. "He was not serious at all, seems like he was regenerating his insides while battling me. I can't afford to hold back" Skye said as he blended with the surrounding and started what he was good at, Hunting. Kieran dashed to where Skye was previously but there was no one in there. "Did he escape?" he asked himself but his instincts tell him to stay alert or he'll die instantly. "So it's a game of cat and mouse then"Kieran thought to himself. "Come out, come out wherever you are" Kieran shouted playfully. An arrow whistled from his west and pierced his right shoulder that was previously wounded. Blood spurted as Kieran pulled the arrow out of his shoulder. It was a normal arrow with a note. "Playtime's over. Surrender or the next will be your head" Kieran smiled as he read the note. "Fine no more playing Mr. Nice Guy!" he said as breathe white flames of destruction in the direction where the arrow came from. Kieran just watch as flames burned the field. "Did I kill him? I hope not" he asked himself. As if to answer his question he sensed a massive influx of spiritual essence from a mile away. As fast as the influx came an arrow as big as a lance pierced the humid air. Kieran quickly took his ethereal form to dodge the massive arrow but it seemed unnecessary. Skye's target was not him but controlling his movement. Massive ice spikes surrounded everything around him. Forcing him to stay where he is. As he expected another arrow came to finish him off. But Kieran has other plans. "I think you had your fun, now let me have mine" he said as he started shifting to his dragon form as crimson red scales covered his whole body. His massive size crushed the ice spike surrounding him as he the scales prevented any significant damage from the arrow. Hails of arrow came but he knew it was nothing fancy, Skye was just testing the waters. Kieran had enough though as he utilized his second spiritual ring's ability. One of the most agile beast to ever exist was the Nine-Tailed Fox. Their movement technique was one of the most fearsome as the boost on their speed can almost instantly close the gap between them and their prey. Kieran shapeshifted to a Nine-Tailed Fox and utilized the movement technique as he dashed to where Skye was. He anticipated that Skye has already changed his position and he was right. He can somewhat sense that Skye just recently moved so he let his instinct decide where to chase next and picked to go to the mountains, it took three seconds to close the distance between them and was surprised to sense Skye moving stealthily if he didn't share a bond with Skye he might have not notice him. Kieran shifted back to his human form and equipped his katana and dashed towards Skye. Skye's shock was shown as he failed to materialize his twin scimitars and blocked with his bow. "How did he crossed the distance in mere seconds?" he asked himself as he braced for impact. Kieran expected the bow to shatter from his blow but the bow seemed to be sturdier than what he thought. He pulled back his katana and shifted it to a greatsword, the sword then swelled to a massive seven-foot tall greatsword. "He can't swing that." Skye stated then doubted himself "Right?". But Kieran was no longer playing games as he shapeshifted to a war troll and swung the blunt part of the greatsword towards Skye. "What the hell!" Kieran exclaimed at his he witnessed the transformation. He tried to create an ice wall to block it's path but looks can truly be deceiving, he thought that with a war troll's massive size it would be slow but it displayed speed defying logic. Skye's body went flying breaking every tree that made contact to his body until a tree was sturdy enough to withstand the impact. Skye lost consciousness as his body limped back to the ground. What Kieran didn't know was this was his most crucial mistake.

Kieran dashed to Skye's location to check his condition and what greeted him was a sight of an unconscious boy. "Shit! I hope he could regenerate any internal bleeding as I can only heal external ones" he said while creating a purifying flame. As he was about to heal Kieran he felt space being distorted as his body collapsed to a kneeling position. The gravity was multiplied several times as he struggled to look at Skye. He resisted the force with every bit of his being to look at Skye. "I need to heal him" he said to himself. When he could finally raise his head he saw Skye's platinum blonde hair turn to an abyss black in color. Then the boy opened his eyes. Kieran was shocked to see the void in Skye's eyes as if piercing to his soul. "Kieran, I never asked for this but for once let me seize control of your body. I need to meet an old friend" Crato communicated in his mind. "How do I do that?" Kieran asked. "You're not gonna ask any questions?" the dragon inside him asked. "You already said you need to meet your friend. What kind of dragon am if I will stop you?" Kieran replied. The dragon just smiled and advise Kieran to delve deep inside his soul realm. "Long time no see old friend" Crato said as Kieran's flaming red hair turned to gold with streaks of silver. His eyes shone in cosmic radiance but this time he remained in his ethereal form. Crato stood up and looked directly at his Dejvra's eyes. "You have no shame to look at me in the eyes after what you did to me?" Dejvra hissed. "I did what I did to protect you" Crato replied calmly. "To protect me or to save yourself? I considered you a friend. A FRIEND!" Dejvra exclaimed "I thought you understood me but you are just like the others, pretentious! Betrayed me for your own good! Get out of my sight. Or i'll rip you out of that boy's body if need be". "You changed. If it was Dejvra from a millenia ago you would've tried killing me instantly. Yet here we are. Conversing". Dejvra just glared at him. "The child doesn't like pointless killing. He is someone who will walk to a path no one had ever achieved. I intend to keep both my oath and the child alive" Dejvra said. "You really have changed-"

"That doesn't mean you're forgiven. You have no right to talk to me. If the child didn't need his other half, both of you would be dead right now"

"And how are you so sure that you can kill us both right now?" Crato asked. "I can already utilize half of my power this early thanks to the child. You can't even merge with the kid for a couple of minutes. And you think you will survive from my wrath?" Dejvra answered.

"H-Half?" Crato stuttered after hearing Dejvra's statement.

"Unbelievable isn't it? He felt pain more than I could ever take and smiled despite of it. You are right, he changed me. But I was once the Devourer and it was my job to devour everything you create, Creator. So don't even think for a second about betraying my child for you will incur my wrath!" Dejvra threatened the other dragon. "Whatever you believe right now, I can't change that. I'm happy you finally found someone you truly wish to protect. Do not worry for the growth of Kieran is also my priority". "Shut up stupid! I didn't permit you to talk. My child is starting to wake up. Let's end this pointless battle by exhausting both of them" Dejvra commanded. "As you wish" Crato said while delving back to his realm.

* * *

Skye stirred as he woke up only to be greeted by the massive ocean of water. "I lost consciousness, Dejvra might have finished that Kieran". When he first talked to the boy he was shocked with the boy's attitude. "After a near death situation he happily praised me like nothing has happened. His bright and cheeky attitude stood out and that made me want to make friends with him. But he was tasked to kill us" he sighed. "When he said Darkness he didn't meant it was us" Dejvra interrupted. "Dejvra! Did you kill him?" Skye asked. "No. I know you'd be upset if I killed without your permission" "Oh! Wait. Whatdid you mean he didn't mean to kill us. But he clearly stated that he was tasked to kill the Darkness". "Skye, we are not the Darkness. Our attribute is darkness. Darkness meant "evil creatures" based on the boy's statement" Dejvra explained. "What? I misunderstood it all along?" Skye mused "Too bad, I wanted him to be my friend too you know. But it's too late to stop now" Skye sighed once more. "I think he'll come at you with everything he has. You can't beat him at his dragon form. I think it's time to try something new" Dejvra advised. "What?" Skye asked curiously. "You're half a dragon figure it out yourself. That's what you're good at" Just like that he was back in control of his body. "What!.That does mean I can turn into a dragon too?" he exclaimed aloud.

Kieran was meditating when Crato delved back in their realm. "How was your reunion with your friend?" Kieran asked "By the look on your face it might have been an emotional one" he joked but felt his companion was really emotional at meeting his friend once more. "It went well actually, contrary to what I expected" Crato confessed. "Well, do tell" Kieran encouraged. "You see this friend we haven't parted in the best way. In fact he thinks I betrayed him" Crato opened up. "You'll understand soon enough. Our memories will merge eventually". "Kieran, the boy will come at you with everything he got. Go shift to your dragon form, he can't hurt you in any way possible while in that form. Make him surrender" Crato advised. "Will do!" Kieran chirped as he retrieved control of his body.

As Skye opened his eyes he saw Kieran doing the same. Skye gave a weak smile but Kieran gave one of his signature cheeky grin. Skye's smile couldn't help but grin back. "You ready? I'm coming for real this time" Kieran asked. "Never been ready my entire life" replied Skye. Kieran started shifting to his dragon form. His ocean like blue eyes turned to a golden and blue slitted draconic eyes. Crimson red scales populated his body it started to swell in size. Skye on the other hand was still figuring on how to awaken his dragon form. There was no records in their House of anyone being able to shift to their dragon form aside from that Dejvra wasn't exactly informative. "Oh cripes!" he said as a silver flame populated his vision. The dragon has finished shifting and he is trying his best to kill him. Skye created an ice wall but was quickly melted by the fire breath. But this was exactly how Skye planned, to buy him time. Massive fog was created from the clash between ice and fire making everything barely visible. Kieran tried his best to make anything out of the fog but his draconic senses couldn't even keep up with the stealthy Skye. A whistling came from east of his direction and knew it was an arrow. He immediately blocked it with his wing. He was sure Skye just targeted his eye. "I need to be careful. He's one sly bastard." Another arrow came from the same direction and Kieran decided to roast Skye alive with his fire breath. What he didn't know was that he was being played in Skye's hands. Another massive fog was created as Skye just baited Kieran to breathe fire at the direction where he created massive ice. Kieran roared furiously at Skye's sly tactics. He flapped his wing furiously to clear the fog that was covering the entire forest. But when all fog cleared, no Skye can be seen. "That clever bastard" he thought to himself.

Skye on the other hand has already changed his location, based on what happened earlier he concluded that Kieran doesn't have any ways to detect him except for the bond they share. "What a pain in the butt" he said as he realized it might have been the reason why Kieran was able to sense him earlier. Skye focused at the task at hand. He can't defeat Kieran unless he awakens the dragon part in him. "Think, think, think" he chanted to himself as he sensed the dragon trying to fly over the trees to check if he could sense Skye underneath them."Think" he chanted once more. As the dragon descended before him he smiled. "Got ya!" Kieran said playfully as he sensed Skye blending with the surroundings. "Think!" he said to himself then suddenly a female voice resounded in his head "the knowledge you thirst, is the knowledge you'll receive". A golden tome lit up deep in his thoughts as knowledge flooded his mind. "Awaken, Imagine, Control" he said to himself as he reached the state of enlightenment. "Surrender or be burned alive" Kieran interrupted his train of thoughts. "You are welcome to try" Skye mocked. "So be it" Kieran closed his eyes as he was about to kill a boy his age. He badly wanted a friend and he thought Skye would be up for it but it seems like he'd rather die than surrender. "Such pride. He must be half dragon or something" Kieran thought as he breathe fire to the helpless Skye. As he finished his move he couldn't help but be sad about what happened. He looked at the decimated forest before him. Everything was being burned by the silver flames except for one thing. "Jiaolong?" Kieran queried as a white horned serpentine dragon hovered in the air. The dragon's scales was as pearly white as Jiaolong but unlike Jiaolong, the dragon's horns was abyss black. "No way" he thought to himself as he realized who is hovering in front of him. "Nope" the other dragon said as he slithered away to the sky and let out a frosty breath escape his mouth. Kieran retaliated with his silver flames. The two dragons danced in the air as they tried to freeze or burn the other dragon alive. Skye slithered and repositioned every now and then and timed his frost breath while Kieran was busy repositioning. While Skye might have the aerial advantage for his magically aided flight and flexible body. Kieran's power is still superior but whatever Skye lacked in power he compensated with technique. The two dragons continued to fly and attack each other for more than an hour. If there was any onlookers it might have look like a coordinated dance as fog and explosions made it more dramatical. The two was almost exhausted when Skye wrapped his body around Kieran like a snake to its prey, he then positioned his head on top of Kieran's head and bombarded him with icy breath. Kieran endured it well and found a chance to bite Skye's body. Skye screeched in pain and retaliated by constricting Kieran even tighter. It was Kieran's turn to growl in pain. The two continued to wrestle in the air as they can no longer use their breaths to battle it out. As the two weakened considerably, they both started playing around while wrestling. If the two started seriously before, as if trying to kill each other. The bond they share grew stronger each passing moment and let them comprehend each other's feelings even better. And what they felt during this moment was simple. Fun. They were akin to kids goofing and playing with each other. Bloodlust no longer existed as the wrestling turned to playful whipping of tails or occasional surprise icy or fire breath. One time Skye used his horn to headbutt Kieran and it hurt the other dragon so much that Kieran used all his strength to pin down the massive serpentine dragon. Skye didn't retaliate though as he was sorry for hurting his new friend. Kieran seemed to understand the lack of struggle of Skye as a sign of apology. And let him escape his grasp as the two just enjoyed flying and wrestling in the air. It took half an hour more till both dragons got exhausted. They descended from the skies and shifted back to their human forms. Kieran started laughing while Skye was confused on what's happening. Skye realized how cold the air was then he realized his clothes were torn apart when he shifted and was now standing naked in front of his new friend. "What!" he exclaimed as he instantly materialized a new set of clothes while blushing furiously. Kieran already collapsed though and is now laying in the snow-covered ground. Skye was exhausted too and let his body collapse next to Kieran. "Well that was fun" Kieran said. "Indeed it was" Skye agreed. "How come you have your clothes on when you shifted back?" Skye asked curiously. "Well that's because it's enchanted to disperse to my spatial ring when I shift and automatically materialize when I shift back" Kieran answered. "That's convenient" Skye mused. Kieran just nodded. "That was the most fun I ever had for years" Kieran stated honestly. "That was my first time playing with a friend" Skye looked at Kieran to check his reaction. "Me too" Kieran smiled. "I thought you would have more friends with your bubbly personality" Skye told Kieran. "Well dragons aren't like humans there is no one in the village the same age as me". "Oh! That's why. How old are you anyway. You reached the twenty-fifth realm already at such a young age"Skye offered. "Did anyone tell you, you sound like an old man Skye?" asked Kieran playfully then imitated an old man's voice "You have reached the twenty-fifth realm at such a young age". Skye punched Kieran lightly on the shoulder as he chuckled lightly. "Hey! That hurts" Kieran said with his mock pained voice and rubbed the area Skye punched. "Said the dragon who took my arrow and survived. Anyway you didn't answer my question". "I'm twelve, you?". "I'm twelve too. What's with your absurd cultivation technique that made you reach it before a genius such as myself?" Skye said playfully. "Now im talking to the real you ain't I miLord?" Kieran shot back. "Call me miLord one more time and im gonna pierce you with my almighty horn the next time we wrestle". "That hurt so much I almost lost my rationality" Kieran stated. "Now who is talking like an old man. Rationality?" Skye and Kieran chuckled lightly with the comment. "Anyway did you forget im a spiritual beast. It's my nature to harness ambient spiritual essence. Unlike you humans" he said. "Well, im part dragon" Skye stated. "I kinda figured that out. You looked like this stupid old man I know"Kieran shivered as he remembered his master. "Jiaolong?" Skye asked. "Yeah, do you know him?" Kieran asked. "Well, kinda. He is our ancestor. Our House are all demi-humans, half dragon to be exact. So he might be my greatest great great greater than great grandfather" Skye replied. "The old man didn't tell me about that" Kieran mused. For a while nobody talked and just look blankly at the skies. Everything was peaceful. The trees danced to the sudden gusts of winds. The rustling of leaves and chirping of birds. The clouds where silently passing by. The snow at their backs were comforting at their aching bodies. Skye closed his eyes and like an automatic response his mind started cultivating. Something sparked inside of him as he realized his cultivation speed nearly tripled. He opened his eyes and looked at Kieran beside him. Kieran then looked at him with the same shocked face. There were no words exchanged but the two had a mutual understanding of what is happening but cultivating comes first. The two cultivated silently as the sound of nature soothed their minds and soon enough the two drifted off to dreamland.