He was quite serious, but in my mind, I was a little happy to see what was arguably my grandfather. I put a finger to my lips in thought and replied with a big smile, “I’m your granddaughter,” I said, with eyes of naively optimistic anticipation as to his next few words.

The elder Blackheart tilted his head and stepped up from the lower, more dangerous parts of the volcano to get a closer look at me. His blackened face neared mine and he sniffed me. “You are the magic-born half-breed?” he asked.

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you, uh, what do I call you?” I asked, not sure how to address him. Grandpa? Mister Blackheart?

“Why have you come here?” he asked, not at all caring to give his name. I removed my barrier, thinking it a bit distrusting of me to have it channelling still.

“I, wanted the help of the salamanders.”

“You,” he snared, “you may have Razz’ol’s fire in you, but, you are a wretched half-breed born of the wicked magic of humans. You have the scent of Eblis in your veins as well. We will not kill Razz’ol’s, daughter,” he emphasised, looking at me with less than loving eyes, “but you are not welcomed here. You cannot request our help. Now leave us.” He turned back around, a very apparent cloud of misery hanging over his head.

They were a prideful kind, much more so than that of the water dragons. Minds as archaic and simple as these, and their obvious strength-glorifying nature showed me how to rile them up, although, it was a risky thing. I prepared my teleport spell just in case. “What kind of father are you? Do you not want to see your son freed?”

With movements as fluid as the younger dragons, he raced back to me and smashed his heavy claws into the dirt, missing me because I’d teleported just a few metres away. “You dare…” he growled. “Will you remain here, defeated?! Will you keep your back turned from your own blood?!” I shouted out at him and his chest lit up and smoke flowed out his barely opened mouth, blocking most of his face as it danced upwards.

“Go ahead! Burn the very person trying to help Razz’ol to a crisp and return to your pitiful suffering.” I taunted him. His anger was leaking out.

“How,” a bit of fire escaped his mouth, disappearing as fast as his furore did, “do I know I can trust you? You’re human too, like the rest of filthy two-legged enslavers!”

“I can’t give you a reason to trust me yet, but will you continue to stay here in this empty home and mourn? When last have you,” I turned around to the rest of dragons and outstretched both arms, “any of you,” I shouted so they could hear clearly, “ventured outside Emberscale? You call us filth like we’re below you, but in truth, aren’t you all just afraid of going to Venreval?!” I was pulling words and generic information out of nothing. I only prayed that they fell to the effects of my generalisation.

“You are, sorely mistaken. I see now that, through your false information, you tried to vex us to your liking. Razz’ol was not captured, half-breed, he went there on his own. He abandoned us without saying why.”

I felt like an idiot after he called me out, but admittedly, expressed a similar feeling for buying into my banter. But why would Razz’ol do such a thing? It made no sense. “Is that so…” I muttered, stumped by the sudden turn of events. I’d never think that he went there of his own volition, that made acquiring help from the salamanders impossible. I failed.

I bade them farewell, and they were all too happy to see me leave, though some were disappointed they hadn’t the chance to disembowel me.

I teleported back to the south seas, fuming and complaining to Natrix. Even he hadn’t known why Razz’ol would do such a thing.

A talk with Chiron was long overdue, but he simply wouldn’t answer my summons. That’s when I decided to go back to the castle and seek Mandy’s help. She laid restlessly on the bed and my entrance placed a broad smile on her face. She was relieved to know I returned safely and questioned me on how it went. “Well, I met my grandfather. He’s a little grumpy though. But, I couldn’t get their help.”

They were my contingency plan, in case things didn’t go as smooth as I wanted, the salamanders were the dragons I thought would help me if some muscle was needed, but I failed. I had to think of something else.

“Mandy, do you remember Chiron?”

“That old coot? Yeah, what about him?” she patted the bed next to her so I could sit.

I walked over, putting my backpack down near the bed, “I need to speak with him. Do you know where he is?”

She seemed confused. “He’s almost always in the cottage in the forest between Venreval and Crag, or sometimes, because he’s good with wind style draconic magic, he visits the Gale Islands to the far east and spends his time there.”

Between Venreval and Crag. Gale Islands? That’s when it occurred to me, I had no map of this world. I knew where nothing was. Lack of common knowledge was my problem at the moment. But, as of right now, I just wanted to take a break from months of constant practice and chemist duties to Venreval. Besides, I’d just left Mandy here by her lonesome, the guilt was eating at me.

We walked around town, her eyes gleaming in wonder at the trinkets, amulets and fancy clothing. Working as a chemist for the king afforded me a hearty income, so I spoiled her as much as I could. It was fun, something I hadn’t felt in a while because my mind was stricken with issues. Those blue eyes of hers really offset any incoming thoughts of everyday life and pulled me into them, a warm embrace reminiscent to wrapping oneself in a thick comfy blanket around a campfire on a cold winter’s night. I cuddled into bed with her and before I knew it, the sun already intruded upon us.

It was that seemingly uneventful morning that Chiron finally contacted me. I leapt out of bed, despite Mandy still clinging to me.

“Uncle? Are you okay?” I asked. The old man seemed out of breath, barely managing his occasional cough.

“Yes, yes. There is something I must confirm, have you learned teleportation yet?” he asked me and I replied favourably. “I’m back at the cabin, bring me the black book, quickly now.” he hurried me up, but sounded better.

I began getting dressed, and Mandy walked up from behind and hugged me, “Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” I held her hands, “I think so. I’ve gotta check on my uncle.”

She inhaled, sliding her hands down my hips whilst she looked at me through the mirror, “Take me with you, I need to stretch my legs.” She said, almost giving me a heart attack.

We prepared our gear, or lack thereof, and went to my uncle’s.

“You? What are you doing here?” he tilted his head, looking viciously at Mandy. I’d forgotten of their bickering relationship, “Have you not yet found a husband to occupy your time? Must you trouble me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, old man. Aren’t you happy to see your niece? I think you just like pestering me,” she replied sharply. I could hear the cataclysmic battle of insults ring out.

I gave the ring to him and reverted it back to the full grimoire and he opened it immediately, “Have you read of it, Emily?”

“Yes, only up to the shadow sphere spell. I mastered it not too long ago.”

“Incredible,” he muttered, eyes still glued to the dirty pages of the grimoire, “what of the scroll?”

“I read that too,” I walked in front of him and put my hand on the page of the book to interrupt him, “I have many things to tell and ask you.”

His sharp eyes glanced at Mandy, clearly distrustful of her. I assured him that it was fine, brushing it off as something to not waste his worry on. He calmed a little. “First off, who is Samael Winter to you?” I inquired, a question which made him feel like walking on nails.

He let out a dreary sigh, his moustache separating from the exhale. He touched the table, transmuting it into three chairs, “Samael is, an ex-pupil.”

Those words made my balance shift in the chair, my world felt like it was spinning and I leaned back slouched, as if to find myself in the most comfortable position to ensure I wouldn’t be too shocked by this taciturn yet regretful confession by my uncle. But I retraced his words, “Why ‘ex’? Is there a reason he is no longer your pupil?”

The old man nodded, sliding his black cowl away from his wrinkled forehead. He explained, with some distress, that he and Samael were the heroes who saved Venreval from Eblis twenty years ago, using multiple draconic elements aided by a myriad of arcane spells. Samael was born of noble and great magical lineage, but all of that was taken away from him when almost every powerful wizard was used as a pawn, as magical feed to summon the demon. “A great dragon, wanted to rule over this world,” he stroked his ash grey beard, “just as us humans learned draconic magic by practice, so did this dragon learn our arcane arts. It created a portal for Eblis to pass through, but miscalculated the demon’s power and wasn’t able to control it. It’s believed this dragon, the ‘Summoner’, died while trying to bring Eblis under control.”

He breathed, “I refused to teach Samael more because of his hatred towards dragons for what happened to his parents, his home. Venreval was in ruins. Now he seeks to take back from the dragons under the pretence of preparing for another demon attack. Part of that is true, his academy is a testimony to that,” the old wizard coughed again, catching his breath before continuing, “however, even the blind can see through his artifice. If a demon like Eblis was to appear again, with the magic power he amassed, he just might be able to defeat it on his own. And therein lies the problem, he wants to bear the burden of protecting Venreval by himself. No one is immortal.”

I stood up, pacing a little. In a way, what he’s doing is for a just cause, but how he’s doing it is… If I told Winter to stop, what would I do in case of a demon attack?

“Enough of him,” Chiron pointed back to my seat, gesturing me to sit. He questioned why I tried contacting him so many times recently.

“I met with father,” I said, earning a startling look from him, “grandfather too,” I completed. He wondered if I was crazy out loud, muttering “insane” under his breath. I also informed him about somewhat befriending Natrix, the archmage and Mandy, but I kept just how close we were under wraps.

“Amazing. It must be your dragon aspect. They wouldn’t give a normal human the time of day. So, what do you think? Your father, Razz’ol is imprisoned. What will you do?”

“What can I do? I don’t know! Should I even bother? He went there of his own free will!”

“What? Ludicrous! Why would he do that?”

I shrugged, “That’s why the salamanders didn’t bother rescuing him.”

Even if he chose that path, I had every intention of finding out why. And even if he didn’t wish to leave, I owed it to free at least the one dragon I helped incarcerate. Chiron advised me to become stronger, learn spells for battle, because I would assuredly face up against Winter if I continued investigating him. He flipped through the pages of the grimoire, “If you say you’ve mastered the shadow sphere, then…” he opened up a page and rotated the book around for me to read.

“Metamorphosis?” I read out loud. He nodded, asking that I learn it as quickly as possible. He bade us farewell, hardly giving time to talk about anything else and teleported away. For a senior, he was too much of a busybody.

I returned Mandy to the guestroom in Sven’s castle. She poked fun at me, saying that pretending to be part dragon wasn’t something she’d fall for. I giggled and pecked her, “You better believe me or I’ll eat you up,” I raised my fingers like a dragon’s claw and hugged her. Her laugh was absolutely hysterical as she fought weakly to get away.

Afterwards, I left for the day, performing my routine with Vaughn to administer my now popular green pills to the physicians around Venreval. We finished quickly at midday, and I returned to a place I was destined to, the underground prison.

I ambled to Razz’ol, his eyes full of fire this time around. “Emily, have you come to free us?” he asked, inserting some questions into my mind.

“Why would I free you?” I asked. “Haven’t you, of your own free will, choose to become a prisoner?”

He boiled down, calmed and relaxed, “Indeed. I did, but it was never meant to last forever. I have my own plan for escaping, although it would take a while longer. But now that I know you are here, I want to leave now, to get to know the type of person my daughter is,” he claimed. My plan to appear reticent and expressionless was shattered by mere words. Perhaps I wasn’t cut out to be cruel or heartless.

“Besides, the cogs of fate, are already in motion,” mentioned, the black dragon looking as though he had a hearty smile smitten across him. I undid the bindings with a simple magic, and opened a portal to the forest where Chiron and I lived. With wobbly, weak and clumsy movements, my father crawled, almost rolled, through the portal. Before I could follow along, a sinister voice floated into my ear.

“Stealing is bad, you know?” Winter appeared behind me, unruffled by my actions. He walked into the cell and I’d already had a barrier cast around me and a shadow sphere levitating in the palm of my hand, with my arcane chains ready to bind him if he made any sudden movements. “Now, now,” he tried dismissing the tension in me with a wave of his hand, “I’m not here to fight with you. After all, Chiron wouldn’t like his disciples fighting, now would he? Take care of miss Sikorski,” he simpered, the edges of his lips curling. The short, blind man turned around and walked away, as if what I did was of no concern to him.

He knew. All this time, he knew Chiron was my uncle, and at this point I was willing to bet he knew Razz’ol was my father. I passed through the portal and hurriedly closed it. The colossal dragon laid down, having no energy to stand.

“Forgive me, but it appears I’ll need some time to fully recover. My energy, have been drained for, over ten years now.”

I chuckled, what bad planning. And walked near him, wrapping my arms around the blackened reptile’s neb. He shook a little, surprised at my affection. I made two pills of each colour, excepting black of course, “if you’ve got energy to talk, then swallow these,” I placed them all in his jaw and waited a while.

The red pills gave his body the immediate strength it required whilst the green regulated how his body should work on the cellular level, and of course the blue pill helped restore his draconic magic. “This, is, incredible,” he roared vivaciously. “You are an apothecary?”

“Yes, I laughed, we call it ‘chemist’ though. How do you feel?”

He stood tall and unfurled his large wings, “Alive!”

I’d, never felt a sense of accomplishment as great as this. On the inside, I was giddy. Finally, I could get to know the father I’ve never seen. “Do you want to go back to Emberscale?”

“Yes! I long to see my people.” He said excitedly, only then I’d realised his speech was still marred.

“Come down for a minute, let me have a look at your tongue.” He was a little hesitant, probably embarrassed to show a big part in the source of his strength cut off. “C’mon, don’t be shy.” I gestured him lower and he opened his jaw up. His tongue had long healed but not regrown. The purpose of learning restoration magic finally came to pass when the rest of his serpentine, cone-like tongue regrew. He moved it about, endlessly. He couldn’t shake the strange feeling when there’s a big difference in your mouth, like a kid who’s lost a tooth would constantly stick his tongue in the vacancy.

He breathed fire upwards about ten times before he was satisfied. I understood now why draconic or elemental magic was recognised as the most destructive. Remembering his wish to return to his home, I began opening a portal to Emberscale, but the proud dragon wouldn’t have it. “I wish to feel the wind below my wings again. Get on,” he commanded.

So many horns, I flinched at the thought, but mustered the courage. Thankfully, a spot on his neck didn’t have any pointed little gremlins to give me a hard time, however, the sheer size of him made his neck much too thick for my legs to comfortably rest on, I’d slide off easily. “Climb atop my head,” he suggested. The horns there were perfect to hold onto as there were two large frontal horns and two smaller ones in the back of them. I held on tightly, finding a somewhat comfortable position to sit in. He leapt into the air and flew off. My cowardice didn’t change, but because of my position I couldn’t really look away. I rode northeast to Emberscale, above the ash that they cast as a deterrent to outsiders.

“Big landing,” I heard him say to me in the skies, barely hearing his warning to hold tight. I stood up and held onto the frontal horns in horror as he began nosediving to the lava. Thankfully, he landed on the crater around it. With all his might, he inhaled deeply and breathed, what I could say, was the most grandiose living flames I’ve seen, seeming to continue burning as if the oxygen was material. It looked like the flames had weight, a life of their own. It covered the place in bright orange and dismissed the ash around, showing off Emberscale’s double-crater and giving full view of the hundreds and hundreds of dragons I’d unknowingly travelled by the last time.

“I, have returned!” he shouted out, a rumbling vibration heard with the mere bass of his voice. The salamanders’ eyes caught sight of him, and for a while, there was silence, until the first dragon breathed fire in response to my father, igniting a chain of others doing the same. Fire, all around me. Are they trying to roast me? I wiped the sweat off my face for a horrible and heated five minutes of this strange rite.

My grandfather walked up to Razz’ol, his son and gently bumped foreheads. The elder’s eyes looked up at me atop my father’s head. He motioned me down with a flick of his chin. I now stood before father and son, surrounded by salamanders. I never felt so out of place.

“Firstly, thank you, for bringing Razz’ol back to Emberscale,” he showed his gratitude, with a slight bow. Asking for a reward for doing a favour was a bit frown upon, but I wanted a couple things from them. The first, was to teach me to breath fire like they did, the really powerful and destructive kind. My second, was to have father visit king Sven Aran. If the actual leader of the fire dragons word did convince him, I didn’t know what would.

We flew back to the castle, through the skies of the towns, garnering the questions and chatter of many people below. We landed in the royal garden and I hopped off the behemoth. “Wait here,” I teleported off into the royal court.

“Emily, I’m getting reports of a dragon flying over the town, do you know of this?” he asked the moment he saw me, concerned for his people’s safety.

I nodded playfully, laughing at his riled-up condition, “It’s alright. I brought him here.”

“You brought a dragon?! How? Why?” he interrogated, squinting his eyes.

“I’d like for you to speak with him but he can’t exactly walk into the court.” I expected to be scolded, however, the king’s curiosity, along with the guards, advisors and every other person in the court overthrew their prudence. They marched outside to see close up, for themselves. Most of them kept their distance, but the king and archmage encroached farther into Razz’ol’s space. Perhaps the positions they held compelled them to take the lead. “Amazing…” the king uttered, looking up at the beast.

“You who wear the crown are the king, I suppose?” My father’s rumbling voice caught the attention of the king.

“That’s right. What is the meaning of this visit?”

“Many of my clan is imprisoned by the sorcerer under your command!” He grumbled and Sven looked strangely at Vaughn, then suddenly remember what I’d told him about Winter.

“By the divine, this is really happening…”

The king was enraged, that Winter would pull the wool over his eyes this way. After Razz’ol told him of Winter’s exploits, the king and the archmage, along with dozens of other battlemages employed in the king’s army travelled right into the prison with the help of my portal. They gazed, wide-eyed for a while, before returning upwards to the library to ensure that this prison was indeed under the school. The headcount accumulated to over three hundred, as there were many more pathways I didn’t discover the first two times I visited the dragons.

The battlemages apprehended Samael Winter in his own office, and eventually caught up with the vice principal, Derek and the two remaining Sentry head officers, Clockwork and Bradly. Winter showed no denial, he surrendered without a fight, which I found strange.

The dragons were placed to lay on the school’s grounds. They couldn’t fly in their weakened states and so I quickly made roughly a thousand pills of each colour. Those that recovered faster flew off, but of course, I questioned some of them. The sleek and smaller dragons were indeed wind dragons, ruling the skies with their mastery of flight.

The hardened and muscular dark dragons were earth, and lived northwest of Venreval in the Crag, the only dragon land connected to Venreval. It was between these two lands that Chiron’s cottage laid.

As for the albino-reminiscent dragons who were sky blue or white in colour, they dabbled in ice magic, like Winter and many of them warned me not to let my guard down, for he wasn’t one to give up, ever. Those words irked me.

After administering the pills, I used restoration magic to grow their cut tongues back. They hadn’t the strength to even keep their jaws open, except the latest member, Audax, the one I’d helped capture. Of the few dragons that thanked me, he actually seemed to like me. I rubbed the side of his neck, “Maybe I’ll visit you in Emberscale sometime.”

Finally, the last dragon took flight and our ordeal was over, or so I thought. The king called me, “The academy must go on, for it is a great tool to build Venreval. I want to ask that you return as the school’s chemist, and help guide the next appointed heads.”

A sigh of relief loosened the knot in my chest. I’d assume he would’ve made me temporary principal. I agreed, happily.

In the coming days, I’d moved back to my room in Arcanist Academy. The villains were vanquished and the dragons released, but there was a dark cloud of doubt hanging over me. Primarily because of that one ice dragon’s warning. Because of my uneasiness, I didn’t stop learning.

I tried out the metamorphosis spell. If it was anything like the medical term, I’d have seen a physical change in me, instead, a dark purple wave of shadow energy warped around me and covered itself around me. It was like moving flesh, a layer of armour around my whole body.

And its purple? Putting my pills to shame. The sheer strength and speed I gained with the shadow energy around me was godlike, so much so any simple movement I made was so great that it took a while to control. I’d perfected my shadow sphere, but using it in this form was on a whole other level of mayhem. Using metamorphosis for the first time taught me that shadow energy wasn’t just another type of magic like draconic or arcane, it was a source of power that could strengthen shadow, draconic and even arcane spells. It doubled as a second pool of energy, past the regular magic reserve that each person would have. Amazing, I thought, looking at the palm of my hand and admiring the near-black purple magic coursing around it. Even my dragon’s breath was out of this world and put my father’s, the greatest and biggest flame, in its place. The only downside to it was, it faded, with no warning after about three minutes of usage, even though my magic reserve was still almost full.

“A trump card then,” I muttered to myself.

Months passed by, uneventful, but not without progress. I completed my training in fire spells with constant visits to Emberscale. The school also progressed after I used the magic obelisks surrounding the school as teleportation waypoints instead of a catalyst to a barrier. Students who weren’t able to use teleportation were much happier.

After another day of self-training, I came back to my room in the academy and eventually fell asleep. Mandy snuck in at some point, but I was much too tired to realise when.

A strange whisper called to me, “Come,” it said, beckoning me to it.