Well then… it’s now an established fact that I am, in fact… a dragon. Looking at things in retrospect I should have figured it out a while ago… I feel really dumb right now. I had originally out ruled the fact due to the lack of dragons in the world I am from originally. Dragons were things of legends and lore but never actually around. Elves? There’s the fact of Williams Syndrome, even though the only symptom I saw was the pointy ears…

Judging by the situation I had assumed I was living in another world that wasn’t as developed and there was the belief that magic was useable… I mean, how does magic even work? Growing up surrounded by science and no such thing as magic existing outside of stories, it was unthinkable. But then again… I could change myself back into a human…

Thankfully, now I can actually directly communicate with Lena and Roy but I think I’ll keep the fact that I have memories of another world a secret. I start spending more time reading then training lately, since Lena leaves her books everywhere. There are elementary magic spells here and I read them while they’re away.

The first book I end up with is one that teaches me to create water, the pure amount of useless crap in it is astounding. Instead of just teaching you how to use the spell and the concept it goes over the history of the spell, who came up with it and important sounding people who have used it. I don’t care! Just teach me how to do this magic thing! While I was frustrated with the book Lena comes running in as usual with a smile on her face.

(Lena) “Kuro! Did you miss me!”

She sees that I’m in my human form and pouts… she really prefers me as a dragon, this girl.

“Lena… Can you cast magic?”

I ignore her pouting due to my curiosity.

(Lena) “Of course I can!”

She then puts her hand out and I can feel the wind in the room stir. Amazing… there really is magic in this world! The things I can do with it… so many things… I can’t help but get excited honestly. Lena then gives me a look with her big green eyes and points to the corner she always reads in. I revert to my dragon form and sit down as she sits down next to me and hugs me.

(Lena) “Hey Kuro… I think I have a boy I like.”

Oh no… she’s at that age now…

(Lena) “He goes to the same school as me, and he’s super smart!”

Poor Roy… I was hoping she had fallen for him finally but his head is full of muscles and swords.

(Lena) “We’ve been friends forever and grew up together, but keep this a secret!”

I’ll have to abide to her wishes but maybe she’ll learn later that Roy is the best for her… I change back for a moment to talk to her since I can’t speak as a dragon for some reason. I smile at Lena desperately trying to suppress my urge to kill whoever this kid is and talk to her.

“Lena… I’d like to meet this friend of yours.”

If he doesn’t treat Lena well, I’ll have to hang him nude on a tree somewhere as a warning. Lena’s face turns red and she holds her face, too cute this little girl.

(Lena) “One day Kuro when we start dating we’ll meet you as a couple! Until then please be patient.”

I guess I’ll have to wait this kid better wash his neck if he isn’t worthy of Lena!

The rest of the day I didn’t see Roy, who I found out is taking swordsmanship lessons after school lately. So the amount of time I get to see him has reduced, he still drops by for a sparring match here and there though. He’s also slowly getting better lately. He actually learned to do a pretty nasty shield bash, but he still can’t beat me. All the improvement lately is probably because of his teacher, which is good since our styles are different.

Lately even Lena hasn’t been coming by as much, she appears to be playing with her friends more often lately. It’s good, kids should play with kids and honestly it gives me more time to figure out this magic stuff. After reading and experimentation I figure out how to make a small flame now. I can also cause the wind to stir slightly and create about a cup of water, at least I won’t go thirsty now. It’s not like I’m not fed it’s just nice to be able to drink when I want a drink.

Casting magic is vastly different than what I had believed. I had thought you’d have to do this ridiculously long chant, have a wand, and yell out the name of the spell. It seems as long as you’ve memorized the chant of the spell and have learned to manipulate magical energies you can cast a spell. Longer spells are usually chanted because there’s a rhythm used to help recall the spell but as long as one can recall the entire chant purely from memory one can cast a spell.

There’s also a lot of stuff about using your own energy to manipulate natural magical energies but it’s too complicated for me. Days pass by and honestly I would kill for a gaming system or something, I’ve read all the books Lena left and haven’t seen either of them for a while now. I’ve started wandering about farther away from my hut lately and I’ve found that the place I was captured wasn’t that far away.

I don’t get too close because I remember them telling me there’s a barrier to keep monsters out of the settlement. Hmm… I wonder if it can sense if things go in and outside of the barrier… no it can’t be otherwise my presence here would be known. For now let’s go get a better look at the Elf settlement next time.

The next morning I wake up to the door opening and Lena running through the door with more books. This little girl is such the book worm and always reading magic books, she must be really good at it. Today though she seemed to be less interested in the books and just spending time with me since it’s been so long. Shortly after Roy strolls in and as usual asks for his sparring match.

Lena as usual quietly sits and watches us, let’s see how much he’s grown! I grab both my weapons and let him have the first move; Roy lunges at me and bashes his shield towards me. His shield bashes are really good now and it’s best for me to just dodge it now, instead of trying to stop it.

I step the side and he follows up with a sword thrust which I deflect with my left hand and spin around behind him placing my sword where his neck was. He knew what I was going to do and ducked below my sword and tries to swing at my feet. He’s growing well lasting longer then before I think as I roll over his swing and sweep him with my feet tripping him.

Lena actually starts clapping instead of laughing this time and Roy’s face goes red… this is painful especially since I know Lena likes another boy. I spend the rest of our time lazing about, I’ve already started to consider these two my siblings. Once night falls Lena gives me a big hug and runs home, Roy on the other hand continued to train for a bit more.

It’s fun watching them grow slowly, every day… I’m glad I was captured honestly living by myself in a musty old cave was not fun. Maybe one day I’ll move into the settlement with them once I grow a bit more. Thinking about it I smile and Roy looks at me confused,

(Roy) “Did I do something funny?”

He looks concerned and comes over. He probably thinks his form was off while he was training. “No Roy, I was just thinking maybe one day I could come live with you guys… in the future it would be nice.” His face just brightens up.

(Roy) “That would be great! Maybe we can bring you in as a lost human boy, or better yet maybe you can practice changing your ears to look more Elf like.”

Not bad ideas, I feel bad for thinking he was an idiot. We continue our conversation for a bit until he leaves for the day.

(Roy) “We’ll be back in a couple days Kuro… I’ll try talking with Father about you coming to live with us.”

That night I decided to get closer to the Elf settlement, it wasn’t too far away but far enough that I couldn’t see it easily. As expected of Elves, there was no huge clearing just a large stone wall with sparse trees outside. The image of a small village was replaced with a large City filled with trees and protected by high walls of stone and ivy. There were even guards in front of the large gate and patrols along the wall… the kids have seemed to forget to tell me that it was a LARGE settlement.

Thankfully they found me and not one of the adults… who knows what would have happened if they had found me instead. As I stare off into the night I look up from the tree I’m perched on… the night sky is beautiful I think. You can’t see the stars like this back home and I fall asleep in the tree staring at the sky. The next morning I hear the same birds from the day I was reborn and wake up.

I stretch my limbs out and look around… nobody found me good. Since Roy told me they won’t be back for a couple days I figure it’s a good time to try to wander outside the barrier and hopefully find some kind of animal to eat. I make sure to leave the area stealthy even though I am pretty far away, one can never be too safe. After running through the forest for a while I see the place Roy and Lena found me and pause for a moment to reminisce.

(Voice) “What are you doing out here boy?”

Ah… crap… someone found me.