Countless screams filled the air along with smoke and debris. There was destruction everywhere one's eyes could reach. The flourishing town of Aeria was under attack.

There was no enemy army, only an enormous dragon standing near what was before the town plaza. The sky high titan's body was covered in black scales with a faint violet gleam. Its violet eyes were emotionless like a stone cold killer. The violet wings it spread across the horizon was enough to strike fear in anyone's mind.

In one slap of its tail it turned a couple of nearby building to dust. Then it shot a disintegrating beam of some sort to another building slightly far away, which met the same fate. Large craters were created surrounding the area where it stood. "Its Apocalypse! We can not survive this!" Some townsfolk screamed in the distance.

The Dragon took notice of the man and followed the poor soul the dragon's fiery breath. The man shrieked louder, but then soon calmed down upon noticing the fire is not burning him. A faint blue shield protected him against the dragon's breath.

It was Leonhart. While the town's guards and capable mages went hiding in their safehouse, waiting for Grandor, the capital of Primora, to send reinforcements. Leaving only Leonhart to protect the town from the Apocalypse Dragon. No one knew where it came from. Some theorized it crossed the vast ocean from east to reach the southern Primora and wrecked havoc.

Leonhart grew some ectoplasmic wings and flew up towards the dragon, jabbing it with long projectiles. The dragon seemed to take very little damage to that but it still retaliated with a tail slap.

The mage in the blue fedora barely dodged the tail as he gracefully flew around the dragon, only infuriating it more. Before the dragon could jab its claws towards Leonhart he stabbed the dragon's eye with a sword.

The dragon screamed in pain and started to throw fireballs from its mouth to random direction.

"Leonhart, you don't have to do this!" A younger Eon screamed. " It's not even your town!"

"It wasn't, two years ago." Leonhart smiled. "Now it is."

How?

"Well, I'm an adventurer. I didn't have a home since as long as I can remember. This town gave me a home. It gave me a student, it gave me friends, it gave me a sense of security." He dodged another fireball as he targeted the dragon's chest. "And I'd gladly die for it. Now would you mind stepping aside before the dragon notices you?"

"I'm not going anywhere till you come with me." Eon stubbornly stated.

His statement was probably rather loud because the dragon finally noticed the tiny boy standing not too far away. Seeing an easier target the giant reptile flapped its wings, slowly getting off the ground and moved towards Eon with great agility.

"NO!" Leonhart realized what happened and rushed after the dragon. He caught up in no time and slashed the dragon's light violet torso with his blade.

Blood gushed out if the wound and before Eon could move out of the way, was drenched in the dragon blood. The shock and the burning sensation all over his body instantly made him lose his consciousness.

When Eon had woken up, he was in a nearby village hospital. It had been three days since the attack. The dragon flew away, and Leonhart was dead. They were talking about how the King sent people all around to look for the dragon but surprisingly it vanished in thin air. The dragon's departure was as instantaneous as its arrival.

The outrage caused by this attack went on for months. People were homeless, most of the others lost their valuables, many lives were lost. People looked at Grandor and its Ruler as an incompetent leader with a poor security system in his kingdom. But the outrage started to disperse as a second dragon attack occured in Azona, the neighboring kingdom, and the dragon successfully reduced no less than four villages to dust before getting chased off by the royal army.

Since then there was no reports on these mysterious dragon attacks anywhere. Four years were apparently enough to get the fear of being suddenly attacked out of people's hearts. Or maybe that's how human mind worked. They possibly would not be able to survive for too long if they were paranoid of a sudden dragon strike every moment of their waking hours.

Deep in his heart Eon blamed himself for Leonhart's death. Maybe if he stayed away from the area he wouldn't distract his mentor or enrage the dragon. Though it was true that he doesn't remember anything that happened after losing his consciousness, and everyone in the town believes it was Leonhart who drove the dragon away while sacrificing himself to the cause.

Eon stopped walking as he reached his destination. One of the bigger mansions of Aeria, Brute's residence laid in front of him. He was welcomed inside and guided through a rather fancy hallway to a particularly bigger room. He knocked on the door before entering the room and found the champion studying something on his table.

"I was expecting you." Brute looked at Eon, slightly amused by the latter's shocked reaction. "Don't feel guilty over this" He pointed at the three parallel scars that stretched across his face diagonally. "A scar is a warrior's pride. Besides this would be the fitting punishment for me for refusing to accept the truth that was right in front of me all this time."

There was a long pause and Eon was not sure what to say in reply to that.

"Make yourself comfortable." Brute gestured him to take a seat.

"Thank you." Eon replied.

"So, let's come straight to the topic. We had a conversation about the Apocalypse Dragon's attack. Right?"

"Yes I remember."

"Contrary to popular belief, the Blue Mage did not drive it away."

"What makes y-" Eon's sentence was interrupted as Brute continued.

"We had some confidential info about a certain child who delivered fatal blows to the dragon after it incinerated Leonhart's body."

"What..?"

"It is indeed a very impossible claim, so we largely disregarded that possibility. And most of us liked to believe that the Blue Mage delivered some sort of suicidal blow to deal that huge damage to the dragon."

"Now something is making you rethink the earlier claim." Eon guessed, with a frown on his face.

"You are a clever boy, I don't think I need to spell it out for you. But just for clarity, the claims suggested that the child executed the same form of attack the dragon showed to be capable of using."

Eon gasped.

"And your spell earlier, has a striking resemblance to that as well." Brute gave the boy across the room a piercing look.

"So you are suggesting the fact that I originally drove the dragon away?" Eon asked.

"Or maybe you are willing to explain the coincidence in any other way?"

"I wish I could, but I was in the area at that time. I remember losing consciousness upon getting bathed by a moderate quantity of dragon blood."

"And do you believe it could be the possible explanation to your newfound power?" Brute frowned.

"I don't know. All of this is very alien to me. Is dragon's blood known to have that effect on people?"

"According to conventional magical studies, no. No one has ever seen any human casting draconic spells before. But we aren't dealing with something we have a full knowledge on either. The dragon visibly disappeared after the battle, and wasn't seen again untill the attack on Azona. But sources claim that was a completely different dragon."

"And obviously they did not count Blue Mages in their equation either while conducting these research." Eon rolled his eyes.

"Blue magic is a field of arcane arts with fairly less knowledge available to public. Largely because of the sheer uninterest exhibited by people." Brute explained. "But now I've seen its capabilities, I've taken a liking to you. I'm not a mage by any means but I'd love to keep track on your progress." A grin appeared on his face. "I'd like to help you to take control of your powers and make them somewhat usable."

Did this person just offer Eon to gain control of that powerful spell?

"I'd prefer if we don't start our training before the final exams are over." Eon was clearly interested, but tried his best to hold it.

"Oh.. sure.. let's wait for a few days then."