The old man poured a glass of the dark purple mead and passed it around the fire to Enzo, before pouring himself a glass. He settled in across the room from the young man and sighed.

“I’d love to teach you what I know, but there’s some things that can’t be passed on,” Tobias began. “My Affinity is one of those things.”

Enzo sat enraptured. His new teacher hadn’t taken the time to explain much about his skills before and Enzo had no intention of interrupting him now.

“It was strange at first. My parents didn’t know what to do with me,” Tobias continued. He glanced to the roof of the cave, fondly remembering his childhood. “They told me stories about how I’d break out of their fine iron pens with ease. They didn’t know what to do, it was like someone was breaking me out, bending the bars aside with ease and disappearing. When they finally caught me in the act, my mother burst into tears.”

He paused and sipped on his mead, wiping a tear from his eye.

“They were good parents,” he said, a wry smirk on his lips. “We lived in a mining village. Iron and other metals were more common than wood, we made everything from the scrap we didn’t sell. They changed the whole house around when they realized what I could do. No more metal in the house, just wooden pens and gates, carved bowls and spoons. I was a menace to their poor silverware before my father was able to carve me a set of wooden utensils.”

“It sounds like a loving home,” Enzo said, smiling back at his teacher.

“It was,” Tobias replied. He stared into the fire for a moment before continuing. “Unfortunately, our little village was near the northern expanse of the Spine. Dragons were fairly common, though they never had much interest in us. Destroying our village was more of an accident than anything else. Took me a long time to come to terms with that.”

“What do you mean?” asked Enzo.

“Dragons are always fighting about something. They’re arrogant creatures, they see themselves as the apex of life on Chenrel. They form clans, usually of families of dragons from the same areas and they constantly fight over which clan is the true ruler of the dragons,” Tobias explained.

“Our village was swept up in one such fight. I was young, maybe five or six at the time. I just remember huge black and red dragons fighting each other. The ground shook and was deformed as the black dragons molded it into weapons. The red dragons spat fire that engulfed the territory. My parents were killed in a landslide caused by the fighting.”

Enzo didn’t know what to say. He’d never seen Tobias this somber. Telling the story was clearly painful, but Enzo couldn’t bring himself to stop the old man.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Enzo consoled quietly.

“It’s okay my boy, it’s ancient history now,” Tobias replied. He sighed and drained his mead. “After the fight, one of the black dragons came back to the village. It was much smaller, apparently from a subservient clan to the behemoths that had destroyed our home. It was searching for metal, to make weapons for the great clans and their wars. It discovered me and what I could do, and took me deep into the mountains to its home and taught me to use my Affinity.”

Tobias looked down at his hands, and removed his gloves. The insignia on his hand shone clearly even in the dim fire light.

“Did that dragon of yours ever tell you what these ‘blessings’ do?” he asked Enzo.

“We never talked about it,” the young man replied. “I was unconscious when she branded me.”

“I figured as much. It was lucky that you were taken in by a fire dragon,” Tobias stated. “Her blessing will afford you much greater control over fire. For me, it made bending metal to my will almost instinctual.”

He pulled a small piece of iron from their sack and molded it into a ball in his hands. Seemingly effortlessly, he squished the solid iron ball between his thumb and forefinger, creating a perfect disk. He rolled the disk up into a cylinder then threw it at the floor. A needle of iron pierced the stone. Tobias picked the needle back up and it reformed into the ball.

“I was good before I got the branding of my clan, but I could never do anything like this,” Tobias continued. “Small chunks like this bend to my will easily. Larger projects still require heat, but the metal shapes around my hammer strikes much more effectively than a normal smith could ever copy.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Enzo replied. “When those men attacked, and Talwen burned the cave, I felt it. It went beyond just controlling heat, or air flow. I felt the mana flow into me, and when I blew out, a wall of fire fought against her dragonbreath. It was the most I’d ever created through pure mana. A couple weeks ago, I struggled to hold a flame in my hand and now I suddenly knew how to breathe fire like a dragon.”

Tobias nodded. “It’s the blessing of the dragon clan,” Tobias explained. “The clans devised these brands as a means of marking their property. They never considered lesser creatures could be born with Affinities of their own, and never considered the consequences of passing down their understanding of a given element. It’s what sets you and I apart from other humans under dragon control. We’re useful, in my case, and dangerous, in yours.”

Enzo watched the flames flicker. He’d tried to create dragonfire again after the fight, and had only produced a tiny puff of flame.

As the light from their fire danced along the walls, Enzo stood up. He turned from Tobias and inhaled deeply. Feel the mana flowing around. Turn it to my will, and exhale. Enzo closed his eyes and blew out. A controlled jet of white flame escaped his lips. He adjusted the flow of mana and changed the size and heat of the flame. He released the mana as he ran out of breath and sat back down.

“Impressive, son. With your heat control, and my experience, we should be able to forge a weapon for you from the shell,” Tobias said. “Think about the kind of weapon you want. Dragonstone is a strange material to work with. It behaves like iron but is much lighter. It is sturdy and strong in even the thinnest of layers. It’s also fickle, and requires enormous heat to work with. The stuff is a struggle even for me, and we’ll only have one chance to shape it.”

A weapon, designed specifically for me. Images of a flaming sword, laying waste to my enemies. A smile spread across Enzo’s face.

“Don’t worry about picking now, we’ve got a couple days before you’re healed up,” chuckled Tobias.

They spent the rest of the night talking about lighter things. Hunting techniques and edible plants. Different metals and where they could be found. Common fish in the seas around the area. For the first time since waking up in the woods, I feel like I’m building a family here. A place to belong.