"In all my time of knowing you, never have you returned in such glory." Alex grinned as both he and Ciara approached Elias.

Elias slid down the back of a quite familiar, crimson dragon. Both with similarly schooled expressions, as though this was nothing unusual.

"We met on the way back," Elias told them.

She smiled brightly. "Oh, tell us all about it!"

She wanted to know if the two had bonded just as she and Kaisog had, or if it really was just a lucky coincidence.

"Well," he started, "It rained on the way back, so I decided to wait in a cave in the mountains. I was not the only one," he said. "Luckily, he remembered me from back when you fixed his wing, so he allowed me to stay and brought me back here."

She nodded. Elias and that dragon both were so incredibly difficult to read, so she honestly couldn't tell if they were just friends or if there was more to it. Either way, she was happy for them.

Alex crossed his arms. "So, how did the family take it?"

"Fine." Elias' eyes followed the crimson dragon as he was approached by Kaisog and Sunrose. "I do not believe they cared either way, this is as good as being a simple guard by a door."

"Well, we are glad to have you back!" she told him.

"Yeah," Elias paused. "Actually, it was strange. They said they had not called for me at all."

She frowned. "Really?"

Alex shrugged. "No matter who called, you would have gone soon anyway if you had followed your usual schedule."

"True."

Who'd even make something like that up? For what reason? It frankly made no sense.

Elias looked at her. "Ah, yes. I believe you may want to know; I think the rumored black dragon flew past us," Elias nodded towards the crimson dragon.

Her eyes widened. "What happened?!"

"Nothing really, it was just a black blur speeding right past us. Quite big, though," he said. "I could not see much, but it did seem bigger than even Kaisog."

She furrowed her brows. Kaisog was getting pretty big, so was that dragon really the size of an Elder dragon? Maybe it was one. It would be nothing short of a miracle if that was the case. Or perhaps a disaster, judging by its violent tendencies.

"I talked with some people in a village up in the east, near my family. Apparently it is quite common up there. Apart from the usual about color and size, they said something along the lines of 'it has a roar filled with the ire of a thousand souls. It goes from village to village, leaving behind only ruins and the blackest of flames'." He put his fingers up into rabbit ears as he probably quoted one of the villagers. He didn't really sound like he believed it himself.

"Black flames?"

Elias nodded and shrugged.

"I have never heard of anything like that before," Alex muttered.

"Neither have I. It seems outrageous to me." She looked up at Elias. "If it really is as big as you claim, it would have to be an Elder dragon, and there should only be four in existence, as I told you. None of these a black dragon with black flames."

"So, it is nothing more than a myth, then?" Alex asked.

"Well." She tipped her head to the side thoughtfully. "Though it would be unprecedented, an entirely black dragon could be possible," she said. "Over the last few centuries, dragons have begun breeding across elements, which has created a few, well, hybrids, I suppose you could call them." She looked up at Kaisog. "Kaisog is a hybrid of some sort, for example. Primarily water, though."

"Oh?" Alex looked up at the dragon in question. "How do you know?"

"Because he is black," she replied. "Five centuries ago, that color would not be found on any dragon's scale. Only red, brown, green, white, blue and yellow existed in their varying shades," she told them. "Still, I have not heard of anything but their physique and looks changing. Nothing like black flames."

"All myths and rumors base in a speckle of truth, they say," Elias pointed out.

She nodded. Kaisog had said something of the like back on the ship as well so long ago.

"I wonder if something like that may ever happen, though," Alex wondered out loud.

She shrugged. She only knew that if it did, it should probably still take a few generations of dragons.