Dragonborne - 2. Chapter 2

It was astounding, the young prodigy knight seemed like he was nothing before the power of this ancient dragonborne. Paralyzed in fear the dark-haired boy cowered behind his master who had appeared on the battlefield.

“Merlin, that is quite enough. I would appreciate it if you would release my pupil down.” Master stood firm in the face of Merlin.

Merlin’s eyes fell to the boy with contempt before addressing the apparent master of the young boys. “Your thirst for power will bring nothing but ruin to you and your knights. I will show no pity to these delusional fools, Hendrix. This boy will be made an example of.” Merlin’s voice boomed as a light formed in the palm of his hand.

“You will release him at once or your puppet will suffer.” Master Hendrix responded. In a flash he was gone, the boy beside him looking around in confusion, the master’s blade poised to strike someone below. Merlin seemed completely unfazed there was a hint of a smile on his face and he made no move to release Bastion. A gasp for breath was heard as Bastion began to struggle; Merlin tightened his tail around his neck.

“I warned you,” Hendrix screamed and twirled his blade now enveloped in light. Merlin still made no move and only watched with interest and watched as several blades of light surrounded them both before exploding in a flash of light. Hendrix flew from the crater crashing into several trees. “Impossible,” he whispered as he looked up in fear.

Both pupil and masters looked up as they fell to their knees. The boy with silver hair was now hovering above, cyan wings spread at length, his body surrounded by a radiating aura, the weight of his power was intense, so dense it was hard to move, yet for some reasons unknown to him the dark-haired boy found himself uncontrollably drawn to him as if something was calling to his soul.

“That bloodline was supposed to have been wiped out, I don’t understand.” Hendrix struggled to his feet, as his pupil regained his faculties and struggled over to support him. “How could such power still exist after the holy war?”

The silver-haired boy let out a monstrous roar of explosive force, sending all in the vicinity to the ground before he fell towards the ground. Merlin tossed Bastion aside and caught the youth in mid-air, whispering a few words shrouding him in light before turning his attention to the group on the ground.

“Soon enough all will be revealed, but I will have you know that this boy is under my protection. You would do well to remember that and educate your pupils as such.” With a flash of light, they were gone and time returned to normal.

“How can this be?” Master continued to mumble over and over. I made my way over to Bastion relieved that he was alive, but barely breathing.

“Sage, what happened?” Bastion whispered

He was barely breathing, but alive. Relieved Sage turned to his master to inform him of Bastion’s condition.

“Master Hendrix, we have to treat him soon.” He simply ignored the youth and collected himself.

“Sage you will tend to this fool and have him locked up, clearly he failed to mention anything about such a power in his observation reports. I must inform the council at once that dragonborne of this caliber still live and that is of great concern.” He conjured up a portal and walked through leaving them behind.

***  

“They have begun to move, far sooner than I expected” Merlin stated as Levi’s mother Cynthia cried in her husband’s arms. “It would seem we can no longer hide who and what the young master is.”

“He is just a boy!” She wailed as the tears began to flow again.

“We accepted that things would end up this way when we took him, we prepared for this.”

“Are you here to take him away?” Cynthia asked still wrapped in her husband’s arms.

“Yes, now that spell has been broken his true nature can no longer be contained, it is only a matter of time before the next stage of his abilities begins to manifest.” Merlin stated as he stroked the sleeping boy’s hair, “It’s time he returned and be taken under my wing. Worry not he will not be lost to you. I understand you have come to care for him as if he were your flesh and blood.”

****  

His body felt stiff and his head was pounding. As he sat up to stretch, a lamp was knocked over as wings spread open from his back. He quickly jumped out of bed before falling over having tripped on his own, tail?

“Good you are awake, that saves me the trouble.” He turned to see Merlin walking through the door. His black cloak from before was changed out for simple white robes, his golden wings folded against his back.

“So, it wasn’t a dream after all,” Levi whispered as he looked at his forearms still covered in cyan scales. “What is happening? How long was I out for?”

“The spell has been broken and you have begun to revert into your true nature. I have brought you back to the kingdom for a proper education. You’ve been at rest for several days; you did pull off quite the feat.” Merlin answered with a slight laugh.

“Are we the only ones of our kind here?”

“No, my child there are many clans of dragonborne that study together as well as the knights. Both are meant to serve the roles that have been placed before us. However, a band of knights has become, dare I say problematic as of late with their bid for power.” Merlin sighed as he walked over to a cabinet and retrieved a bottle containing a golden liquid, pouring himself a glass before continuing.

“The royal family was taken from this world during the holy war by a group of power-hungry knights leaving the realm without a ruling family and proper balance. The Knights of the Realm were always meant to be the protectors, but alas resentment began to grow in the ranks causing the war.” Merlin replaced the bottle with the cabinet. “Enough, for now, young master we must prepare you for what is to come next.”

The next few days were filled with an array of errands by Merlin’s side and a tour of the Ethereal academy where the young members of the various clans came to study. In between it all Merlin was giving informal lessons on how to acclimate to his newfound extremities.

“Do these things always stay out?” Levi asked spreading his wings and flicking his tail.

“Indeed, young master this is your true appearance. You would have grown into this form and many more abilities; unfortunately for you, we had to suppress your nature in an attempt to keep you safe from those who seek to cause you harm.”

“Keep me safe from who? I don’t understand what makes me so special?”

“There will be time enough for that later, for now, let us make our way to the reception hall, it is time you meet the clans.

***  

“You conniving little bastard,” Master yelled as he backhanded Bastion with enough force to send him crashing into the wall. “How dare you not report your findings immediately. We suffered an utter humiliation due to your arrogance.”

Bastion looked up at Master and smirked as he wiped the blood from his busted lip.

“He told me you would be too weak to act if you suspected, and that I would have the glory and authority to have anything I wished if I were to slay him.”

“You fool, had you informed me properly we could have dealt with him before Merlin had the chance to make an appearance. One as ignorant as you underestimated the abilities of the ancient dragons.”

Bastion looked up at Master Hendrix with confusion.

“The ancient ones are beings not like that of the lesser clans, they are not only immune to most if not all of the elemental magics but have resounding resilience to most common enchanted weapons” Sage added.

“It is exactly as Sage says, I would have conjured up much more powerful offensive options had I known. I should have known I was playing into Merlin’s hands, the crafty bastard.”

Bastion sat quietly processing everything that he had heard, but it all made sense now why he became so obsessed with that boy…Levi. Just saying his name caused a feeling that Sage just could not understand. Was it fear or something more?

“No matter, the council has been informed and we are to wait on standby until we are presented our orders on our next steps. At this time, we can no longer simply do as we wish, should the other clans learn of what transpired they would surely rise against us on a united front.”

Master Hendrix walked over to Bastion picking him up by his hair until they were face to face.

“You will reveal to me who put you up to this little stunt as I will not be made a fool of again.”

“It was Navix,” Bastion whispered

Master Hendrix screamed in anger before tossing Bastion aside and stormed out. Navix, his reputation proceeded him. He had his agenda when it came to ruling the realm and anyone, he deemed useless quickly disappeared. A chill filled the air, nothing good ever came from dealing with such an unpleasant man.