Chapter 117 - Leader of the Team (3)

Judging from the blood I had lost and the weakness I was feeling, I had most likely lost around 9/10 of my safe blood reserves, and had used a not inconsiderable amount of magic to defend myself. In hindsight, I realized that I should have perhaps just used Aesir and Volarus to fly, instead of my wings. But then again, my wings were much faster than magic-driven flight.

I suppose it will heal eventually, anyway, even though both of my wings had been wholly torn off. I climbed out of the small crater I was in and saw the result of our battle. The section of the valley where we had fought in was littered with earth spikes, half-broken blood spikes, and small craters. There were also small patches of grass burning from the molten fire I had used.

In the distance, perhaps about sixty feet away where Xalanth had crashed down to, I could only see a deep crater. The brown dragon was most likely unconscious or too wounded to move.

It was not a wise move to get caught up in Sangius Novara, my blood field. The field took a few seconds to form, but once caught inside, my opponent would be severely restricted and blood would strike from everywhere.

'Are you alright, my host,' Seraphine said from inside my mind.

'I am fine,' I replied.

'It seems I was needlessly worrying. I shall go back to my slumber then. You need only call me if you need me.'

'I will, Seraphine. Thank you.'

'And it seems you have sullied your opponent quite hard,' she said with a giggle.

'…'

'Go back to sleep, Seraphine.'

My words were needless, however. The Lesser Fire Elemental was already back at the depths of my mind, leaving only a small giggle echoing inside my mind. Seraphine usually only came out of Animus to observe what interested her. She was a somewhat fickle being, only speaking and coming out when I was strongly affected by something or when she was greatly intrigued by something.

From the sidelines, Elder Nea walked up to me. “Ohoh, not bad, young dragon. If I remember correctly, you are a black-colored dragon and Eldest Navra, also our king, is your broodkeeper, yes?” she said with a slight edge of amusement, her shockingly blue eyes looking upon me.

Her face moved closer toward me, until we were only almost lips apart. “Just between you and me, the dragon you just beat is the great, great, great....er I forget...anyway, he is a descendant of Elder Taneris.”

I was somewhat shocked, but my surprise did not show on my bleeding face. The two dragons looked nothing alike.

“I know, right? Appearances are deceiving. You would think that Taneris would be an old hermit dragon stuck in a cave training by himself.”

“I would prefer it if you would stop spreading rumors about me, Elder Nea.” The voice of Elder Taneris was cool and sharp, like a blade of ice honed in a frigid winter.

“Ohoh, scary, scary,” Elder Nea said with a short smile, pulling away from me with a small dance.

“Stop antagonizing Taneris,” Elder Loaen called out.

“Tch, two against one? I guess I will retreat for now.”

Elder Taneris turned toward me, his cold, grey eyes inspecting me. “Hmm...blood magic and the color black. I do wonder why Eldest Navra chose to become your broodkeeper though. An Eldest of a clan would usually never do such a thing. It goes against tradition.” His inspection stopped and his eyes met mine. “How intriguing.”

Saying that, Elder Taneris returned to his original spot, observing at the dragons around him. His eyes, especially, were following my every movement.

I went toward the crater Xalanth had made. Around that crater were Elder Kronos, Eden, Kiara, and the other dragon of our team.

“Looks like you are our team leader now, oh great fighting jester,” Eden said.

“You fought well,” said Kiara. “I am glad you will be the team leader instead of some other dragon whom I do not know.”

I nodded at the both Kiara and Eden, while ignoring the staring eyes of the other female member in our team. She was curiously looking at me as if I was some unknown entity never before seen in her life.

“Is he alright,” I asked Elder Kronos who was holding the unconscious body of Xalanth afloat in the air with his magic. It was a form of Aesir and due to Elder Kronos' high magical power, it could easily go through the magic territory of Xalanth, which was weaker in the unconscious state.

Xalanth's wings were torn off and in his unconscious state, his Dragon Earth Armor was unformed. The black uniform he wore was also torn and looked as if it had been through years of wear and tear. Blood easily flowed down from his arms and legs, dying his vest and pants scarlet.

“It is a good thing you went easy on him,” Elder Kronos stated. “He would have died had you went all out with your magic.”

“As expected, you know my strength well after six months,” I said with deference in my voice. True to his statement, I had not used the full strength of my magic against Xalanth.

Elder Kronos went toward the other three Elders, briefly nodding at them. “I shall see all of you again in Scorchgrasp at the tournament if you choose to attend. For now, I will go to a Driad's Enclave to heal these two.”

“Come on Taneris, no need to be shy,” Elder Nea said with a small laugh. “Just say to Elder Kronos to take good care of your descendant.”

“Don't speak nonsense. Even without the Driad healers, Xalanth can take care of himself,” Elder Taneris replied in a curt tone.

“Even if the dragon himself is unconscious.”

“Even so.”

“I admire your confidence in Xalanth.”

“Sister, please” Elder Loaen said, “stop poking fun at Taneris. You are causing unnecessary troubles.”

“You just do not let me have any fun these days, Loaen, my little brother,” Elder Nea said, emphasizing the word little.

“I shall take my leave now,” Elder Kronos interrupted, cutting short the words Elder Loaen was about to reply with.

Hearing that, Elder Nea danced a little toward Kronos before hugging him tightly, her body firmly pressed against his chest.

It was a long moment before Nea separated from the somewhat embarrassed Elder Kronos. He had an expression on his face that I had never before seen. Usually, Elder Kronos was calm, collected, and strict.

“Ut incentia perpetuus ignis,” Elder Nea said.

“Temvitue,” Elder Kronos replied, a small smile formed on his face. It looked as if he was reminiscing about a past memory long buried by time.

With that farewell, Elder Kronos teleported all five of us along to the northwest Driad's Enclave, a place I had only heard about. It had been on my list of places to visit. I was curious about the Driads who were sometime employed by the dragons to serve as healers.

Still, the phrase Elder Nea had imparted toward Elder Kronos.

In the Ancient dragon language, at least if my gift for language was correct, meant—

“May the fire always burn.”

And Elder Kronos' reply was, “Forever.”

They were strange phrases and I wondered a little at their meaning. Did it perhaps have something to do with some ancient tradition I knew not of, or perhaps it went back all the way to the Age of Unity, when the Greater Races finally stopped fighting between themselves in the Age of Divide.

Or did it perhaps have something to do with the fact that most dragons did not live past a thousand and a half years. The oldest dragon, which was the Astlan Dragon King had only lived up to a little over three thousand years, though that did not apply to Navra, who was far older than that.

I wasn't too sure. Navra had never explained it clearly to me.

The past was the past. It was a done thing, Navra had said.

-------------------------

The teleportation was a smooth process and I soon found myself in the depths of a forest. The trees of the forest were tall, even taller than I would be in my dragon form. Their canopies hung above our group like majestic green clouds in the skies. They were so encompassing that only the barest hint of sunlight could make through in certain places, lighting the various flowers and plants with a variety of colors.

The sound of birds singing and chirping happily could be heard. Directly above the tree in front of me, I even saw a beautiful, black-feathered bird with a crown of white feathers looking down at us, its round, golden eyes staring unblinkingly. The grass beneath my booted feet felt soft and stable. There was the smell of the wet scent of leaves and grass, mixed along with the pleasant scents of various types of flowers I had never seen before in my life.

What was most amazing to the sight, however, was the wall of thorny vines between two enormous stretches of trees. The wall of vines extended upward for more than a hundred feet, almost half the length of the humongous trees. I estimated the height of the wall of vines to be at least around 150 feet feet tall, and its width around 40 feet. They served as some sort of barricade between the two stretches of trees.

A small section of the vines parted near the middle, and a creature with small antlers on its—no, her—head came walking out of the wall of vines. Her limbs looked to be filled with unnatural grace as she moved, and her light-green skin blended in smoothly with the background of the forest. Her eyes were large and watery, her body covered in some smooth, thin leafy material that stopped at the sides of her lighter, green breasts, which were covered in strange, black markings. Those black markings were also seen on her face, which was framed by the small antlers and her long, dark green hair.

The creature, she, was a Driad, a humanoid race that specialized in healing and nature magic.

I felt a hard nudge from Eden. “Stop staring at her, jester,” she said with a hiss. “It's embarrassing looking at you.”

Curiosity is an unstoppable force. I had not realized that I had been staring at the almost half-naked female Driad.

“What,” I replied in an innocent tone. “I was just curious, since I have never seen a Driad before.”

“Really. It looked to me, however, that your eyes were almost popping out.”

“You joke, Eden,” I said. She was wrong. I was definitely not attracted to the antlered creature, though she did have an unearthly, yet at the same time, earthly grace. Yes, it was definitely not her breasts. No, what attracted me was my curiosity about her race and the strange, black markings on her breasts.

There was a fine line between those differences.

To my right side, Kiara was looking at me with a hint of amusement.

“Not you too, Kiara,” I said in an even voice.

“Greetings, dragons. How may I serve you?” said the female Driad in a smooth, melodious voice. Her voice was pleasant, almost like a gentle caress that held hints of the pleasant sounds of the forest. Her words were in a language that took a few seconds for my gift of communication to recognize.

“Could you heal these two injured dragons?” Elder Kronos asked.

“Of course, Elder Kronos. You need not be so courteous to me. We are grateful to the elder dragons who allow us to live in harmony on their lands, and protect us from any threats.” The Driad waved a hand, and the wall of vines parted a little more, making a bigger entrance that would allow five people to go in at once. “Follow me please.”

“Have you been here before, Eden?” I asked.

Eden sighed at me. “Of course. I was injured after our Duel of Dominance and needed healing. I have also been injured many times in the past, especially after my second tribulation.”

“Hmm. I see.”

We followed along as Elder Kronos headed inside the dark entrance the wall of vines had revealed.

The northwest Driad's Enclave. I felt quite curious about it.