Shadow's Rising {Wing 5} Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dragon Born of Flame

Jaird woke to the invigorating sensation of cool water passing over his dry, cracking lips and into his parched mouth. His tongue felt swollen as he tried to swallow and coughed as some of it went down the wrong tube.

“Easy now. Just take it slow,” A male voice said in the human language.

A cup was brought to Jarid’s lips, and he drank gratefully. He tried opening his eyes, but they felt scratchy and teared up. Blinking away the tears Jarid noticed a man who looked to be in his mid forties crouching beside him. The man was clean shaven and had very short hair that looked as if it had been singed off.

“Thank… you,” Jarid croaked. His throat was still a bit sore, and his voice came out horse.

The man smiled. “I’m impressed you made it here. Well done.”

Jarid glanced around. “Where is the dragon?”

The man smiled. “Don’t worry. You are safe here. He and I… well, let’s just say we know each other well and he is the only reason I’ve been able to stay alive in this place. It is nice to meet you. My name is Brazor.”

“Jarid Drakoulis.”

“Well, Jarid. Welcome to the temple of the Flame Wings. I will let you get your bearings. Then you can tell me all about yourself and what has been going on in the human realm these last few years. I’m sure you’re hungry. I’ll just step outside to grab something.”

And with that, Brazor handed Jarid a tall flask of water and walked out of the temple without hesitation. As Jarid briefly felt the inferno of heat coming through the door he reached out to warn Brazor, but he realized that this man had been living here for a long time. He knew what was out there and was unfazed. He was a dragon born after all; the heat was probably nothing to him.

After Brazor left, Jarid drank his water and decided to explore the temple. He expected the inside to be covered in gold and jewels like the palace, but other than the beautiful engravings covering the walls it was made almost entirely of polished black and red lava rock. There were torches and braziers everywhere which kept the place brightly lit.

The entryway where he had collapsed was about as big as the arena at the academy, and a little further in was a main courtyard the size of the entire training area. Connecting to the main courtyard were many passages and doors made of stone or the same fabric he had seen in the homes of common Flame Wings. In one wing of the temple there was a large kitchen and dining room.

Jarid felt strange looking at bowls and mugs which he could easily fit inside. There was also a well in the back of the room that Jarid thought he could comfortably swim in. Jarid refilled his flask with the surprisingly cool water and continued on.

In another wing was a room with a large hole that stank of dragon dung. There was also a set of sleeping quarters in one hall with one bed in each and a curtain for privacy, but those were the only rooms that had an obvious purpose. The rest of the rooms Jarid checked out had all manner of strange giant furniture with purposes he could hardly even guess.

It felt slightly eerie exploring such a large space with no sign of anything living in it. He had thought the temple would have at least a few other dragons around. The grand shining halls made him feel small and alone. All this time, Brazor had been the only human here, trapped in a world of dragons he couldn't even speak to. Jarid could hardly imagine what that must have felt like for him.

After about an hour of exploring Jarid returned to the main courtyard to find Brazor sitting beside a deer carcass eating off a metal plate. Jarid had still been feeling the effects of heatstroke when he first woke but now he was able to get a better look at the dragon born.

He had a dirty towel tied around his waist as makeshift underwear and a bath robe style red coat. It looked like both had been roughly sewn together from the same cloth that served as doors for the dragon’s dwellings. Come to think of it…

Jarid looked down at his own clothes and found that the dragon scale armor from the academy was holding up, but the rest were fraying all over the place and drenched in sweat. He wondered if he could wash himself with that well water. Luckily he had packed a few pairs of clothes so it should be fine.

Jarid looked up to find Brazor waving him over. Jarid joined him and Brazor passed a plate as he sat down. Brazor then began cutting pieces off the deer while Jarid admired the craftsmanship of the plate.

“Who made this?” Jarid asked. He knew from experience that making a perfectly smooth and round plate was not easy.

“I did,” Brazor replied nonchalantly. “I don’t really have much to do around here. Ever since the food shortage most dragons have stopped coming around.”

“How?”

Brazor smiled and held up his thumb and pointer finger. Both slowly grew brighter until they were glowing white hot. He then pinched the edge of the plate he was holding and molded the metal as if it were play-dough.

Brazor laughed at Jarid’s look of awe. He picked up a couple of slabs of meat and they started sizzling in his hands. He flipped them once as he brought them over to Jarid and set two perfectly cooked slices of venison on his plate.

“First things first. I’m sure you’ve heard who I am, but I will share a few extra details. The magic City took me in as a student at their academy and I practically grew up there alongside other dragon born. I eventually underwent a procedure which made me into Brazor the Dragonire.

“I may share the details later, but my friends and I were banished from the human lands for crimes against humanity. The king at the time told us to keep tabs on the dragons and train those who came to us. Some other stuff happened while I’ve been here. Dragon prophecies, raising princes, rebellions and dealing with famine, but I don’t think I need to bore you with that.”

Brazor rubbed his hands together. “Now, what’s been going on in the kingdom while I’ve been living among the dragons?”

Jarid took a bite of the fresh venison and found it was delicious. He talked while he ate and shared what he knew about what was happening in the kingdom of humans. Then he shared about himself. His time growing up as a commoner and how he entered the academy. He left out Shadow and some of the stranger things that had occurred at the academy.

Brazor stopped Jarid at the part where he was describing his magic classes.

“I see. So, you have an aptitude for all the elements. How rare. But from the way you are describing it, the academy seems to be using simple spells and elemental magic. What did they teach you about how magic works?”

Jarid smiled, excited to share everything he had learned. “Well, magic is an energy within our bodies which we use for magic. You are born with a capacity that you slowly unlock with training. It is good to have a clear image of the spell when casting and chants can help with that.”

Brazor held up his hand. “Yes, that’s how to USE magic, but how does magic itself work?”

Jarid cocked his head in confusion.

Brazor sighed. “I guess I’ll have to start with square one. They’ve got you practicing the right basics but to apply magic correctly you need to understand how it works. Magic energy passes through the brain which compacts it into novemary code. I’ll explain that later when we chat about enchanting. Then it travels through the body and activates the instant it leaves. You can also set a distance before activation for spells like this.”

Brazor snapped his fingers, and a small flame appeared above Jarid’s head. Jarid yelped in surprise and Brazor chuckled before extinguishing the flame.

“Fire is the easiest conversion, so it comes naturally to a lot of people. You are simply converting mana energy into heat energy, but fire needs three things to exist. Heat, fuel, and oxygen. Without those you are just exciting molecules. Luckily mana can be used as the first two parts. But there’s a trick many fire mages use. By having a fuel source available you only need half the mana to create a flame, and depending on what fuel source you use, a near infinite range of applications opens up.”

Jarid sat with his hand half raised and a stupefied expression on his face. He had no idea what half of Brazor’s words meant. He had been lost ever since he mentioned that fire had three parts. He’d always thought fire was fire and that was it.

Brazor sat back realizing that he had overwhelmed Jarid and scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.

“Sorry. I get a little into it when chatting about magic. I’ll show you all the different ways to use fire magic effectively. That’s my specialty after all. But since you have an aptitude for all elements, I wouldn’t suggest relying on just fire alone. I’m not saying you should do this but if you ever happen to visit one of the other dragon capitals be sure to check the temple there as well. Anyway, continue with your story.”

Jaird took a moment to take in everything Brazor had said. He was certainly going to be learning a lot while he was here.

Brazor sat captivated all the way until the end when Jarid shared the reason for his journey.

“A dragon born, eh? Hmm. There is a procedure that can be done to prevent your magic from consuming you should it go wild. It would be easy to procure the necessary catalyst here but quite unsavory.

“Before that though, I must ask how you survived the journey here. You said that you rode a dragon from the academy to get here and bribed the queen with jewels, but how did you survive the heat? You weren’t using a mana cloak when you arrived, and most people would perish within minutes of entering this city much less crossing the lake Magraba.”

Jarid shrugged. “I didn’t really know what I was doing. I tried using ice magic to cool myself but that wasn’t enough, so I tried absorbing the magic that was making it so hot. Then I was able to…”

“You tried absorbing the magic in the air?! What were you thinking?!” Brazor roared as he snatched Jarid’s arm and began inspecting it.

Jarid jerked back in surprise, but Brazor had his arm in an iron grip.

“Hey! Let go! I’m fine, really. I just wasn’t able to use my technique very well. That’s why I collapsed when the heat became too much.”

After a few moments of inspection Brazor let go of Jarid’s arm but kept his stern tone. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? No, of course not. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have even dreamed of attempting it.”

Brazor sat down with a sigh. “I thought they would at least have taught you that at a school as prestigious as Dragon Rider Academy, but I suppose they’ve regressed a lot more than I thought. There is a difference between atmospheric mana and the biomana within your body. The mana your body creates is already in a form you can use to perform magic, but the mana of the planet itself is in its raw form. Creatures like dragons have things in their blood that allow them to synthesize atmospheric mana into a useable and controllable form. For monsters created by mana they are either entirely held together by mana or have been mutated by the dense mana within them. Few survive the later option.”

“So why does that make what I did so wrong? Is the atmospheric mana going to damage my body in some way?”

Brazor nodded. “Normally attempting to do what you did would destroy the mana circuits in your body, resulting in you loosing the ability to use mana entirely at best and death at worst.”

Jarid gulped nervously. “So, will I be unable to use magic anymore?”

Brazor rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You seem to be fine from what I can tell. Have you ever drunk dragon blood before?”

Jarid’s face went pale in shock and he nearly threw up at the thought of drinking the blood of anything much less a dragon. “No! Why would you ask that?”

“Hmmm. Did you perhaps ever get some on a cut or burn? Or even just come into contact with some?”

Now that Jarid had overcome his initial shock, he thought back and realized that he had indeed touched dragon blood before. In fact, he had practically bathed in it on the night Shadow hatched.

The night he had been covered in the blood of Shadow’s mother.

Jarid hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he should reveal the fact, he had encountered dragons since it might lead Brazor to discover his connection with Shadow. But now that he thought of it, there was little reason to hid it from him. Even if Brazor knew there wasn’t much he could do to harm Shadow since he didn’t have any connections with the nobility or dragon hunters. In fact, he probably had more connections with dragons than humans now.

“I have been in contact with dragon blood before.”

Brazor’s eyes widened, and he leaned forward to hear Jarid’s explanation.

“I met a dragon once. A Night Wing. She was attacked by other dragons and killed. I tried to stop them but was knocked aside like I was nothing. Then one of them burned me with his fire and I fell into a pool of the dragon’s blood. My injuries healed and I washed the rest of it off but some probably got in my mouth and cuts.”

Brazor nodded thoughtfully. “I know this may not seem like it, but you were very lucky.”

Jarid nodded with a soft chuckle. Of course he had been lucky. He was probably the only human in history to be entrusted with raising a dragon by its mother. Brazor continued.

“That situation meets all the requirements for the procedure I mentioned earlier. The procedure itself is the process of infusing dragon blood into a dragon born. The type of dragon blood determines the result. In my case, I was infused with the blood of a Flame Wing; long before I came here of course. This is why I am known as Brazor the Dragonire. In your case the blood of a Night Wing was the catalyst. Therefore, Jarid, you will henceforth be known as…

Jarid the Dragonight