Chapter 3

(Where am I? What happened?)

Zeldaris woke up only to see an unfamiliar ceiling.

He was on a bed in an unknown room, but the style was like the courtyard he and Aversia were in when they were trying to control their power.

Trying to recall what happened after he gained control of the dragon power, the only things he remembers are a sea of fire and a roar.

Giving up on remembering more, he realized a weird feeling in his head.

Wondering what it was, he laid his hand on his head to find the origin of this weird feeling.

What he found were two horns with a length of about 5 cm which grew on his head.

(I grew Horns. I GREW HORNS. Finally, no more lizardman jokes. Ok, they are only about 5 cm long, but they are going to grow longer in the future so who cares? Wait what about Aversia?)

Snapping out of his stupor that he is rid of those stupid lizardman jokes and finally remembering Aversia, he finally looked around himself and found Aversia on a bed sleeping with a big grin on her face.

Seeing this Zeldaris relaxed and realized that Aversias grew some horns too.

6 horns to be precise, were growing around her head and the two at the top of her head were growing longer than the rest.

(God damnit why is she growing 6 horns and I only have two, this is not fair, not fair at all. Also, she seems to have pierced her pillow and it is now stuck on her head.)

Trying hard to suppress his laughter in order not to wake her up.

He stood up and left the room in order to find his mother and the others, he already had the suspicion that they were at the courtyard because Irene and Belserion were always there.

The only problem was, he did not know where it was or in which direction.

(Screw it, just going one way and I will what happens.)

While walking in a random direction he inspected his body and noticed the great amount that was flowing through him.

(Looks like everything went well, there is no problem in my body, in fact, I feel an amazing amount of power flowing through me.)

Looking ahead he saw a group of guards talking among themselves.

He walked up to them and asked them for directions and apparently, he was walking in the opposite direction.

Thanking the guards, he turned around and walked back the way he came.

“Was that Zeldaris? Looks like he finally grew some horns. Although that means we cannot make fun of him anymore because he looks more like a lizard than a dragon. Also, this is the first time that I see him without Aversia around him.”

After a few minutes of walking, he was back where he started and was about to head in the other direction when the door opened and a still half-asleep Aversia came out of the room, with the pillow still stuck on her head.

Seeing this Zeldaris was not able to hold this laughter.

Aversia, on the other hand, was now getting completely awake, thanks to Zeldaris´s loud laughter, noticing something soft on her head.

She grabs the object on top of her head and brings it with a little bit of trouble down to her eyes.

What she sees is a pillow with multiple holes in it.

Curios about the hole Aversia inspects her and finds to her delight multiple short horns on her head.

But her delight is short-lived because she finally registers the fact that Zeldaris was loudly laughing at her and the reason why.

“Shut up you idiot!” and while yelling this she throws the pillow at Zeldaris with all her strength.

Sadly, this changed nothing and Zeldaris continued to laugh at Aversia.

After 10 minutes and a couple of punches later, was Zeldaris able to stop laughing.

Aversia and Zeldaris spoke on the way to the courtyard about what happened, the meaning of the flames, and the roar and their changes.

Meanwhile in the courtyard.

Irene, Challot, Emrissen, Vulcan, and Belsarion were discussing the latest developments with the dragons of the west and other things.

“How long do you think we have before the dragons of the west come to Ishgar?” asked Irene.

“At most, we have a year.” Said Belserion.

“That is not enough time to finish their training or to get their powers under complete control.” Said Emrissen with a grim look.

“We can only hope that we can train them to a point where they can defend themselves against dragons before the dragons of the west come.”

Hearing footsteps everyone looks in that direction and saw Zeldaris and Aversia, who were arguing with each other.

Challot and Emrissen ran to their children and hugged them.

Zeldaris and Aversia were surprised by the sudden hug from their mothers, but only for a moment before they hugged the bag.

They stayed like this for a few minutes before Challot and Emrissen let go and looked at their children with warm eyes.

“You two surpassed every expectation we had.” Said Vulcan with a smile on his face.

“Thanks, dad does that mean we can now finally learn magic and how to use weapons?” asked Aversia with hopeful eyes.

 “Not so fast young lady, you and Zeldaris need to figure out how and in which way you have changed and what you have gained.” Said Emrissen with a stern look.

“But mom that sounds boring and besides, we have our dragon side under control now. I thought we would be able now to learn what we want.”

“First of all, you don’t have control over all your dragon powers. You have only gained control over a small number of your powers and the rest is still sealed away inside you two. Secondly, now that your powers are partly released your draconic side is going to influence you more, a good example is your new horns. Thirdly, you need to learn how to control your new powers.”

“Fine mom, but under one condition.”

“Oh, so you think you are in a situation where you can make demands now. Ok, let´s hear it.” Said Emrissen while having a scary expression on her face and readying her left hand.

Seeing this, Aversia became scared.

“I was thinking we could decide which magic we would learn first.”

“Ok and which one were you thinking about”

“Yours and aunts Challot`s transformation magic.”

Both Challot and Emrissen were surprised at this and Emrissen even forgot her anger as she and Challot were thinking about the idea.

“I don’t think it is a good idea.” Said Challot.

“Yeah, I agree. You two want to transform into humans, right? You will need multiple years to learn such a big transformation and even if you two were able to learn it in just a year, it would not help you because these dragons are coming to kill all humans on this continent. So, it would change nothing.”

Hearing their reply, Aversia was mumbling to herself, it was such a good idea in her head and allow her and Zeldaris to have a somewhat normal life. But she could also understand the reason why they couldn´t.

“But what about little changes?” asked Zeldaris.

“What do you mean?”

“We don’t need to change much in order to be able to hide.”

Aversia who is understanding what Zeldaris is trying to say gets absolutely furious and yells” If you are about to say what I think you are about to, then I am going to kill you.”

Challot and Emrissen whose curiosity was awakened by Aversias yell signaled Zeldaris to continue.

Zeldaris continued with a look as if he cannot believe what he is about to say.

“All we have to do is transform into lizardman.”

Silence filled the courtyard, but only for a short while before an angry yell and loud laughter were heard.