Leah stared at Asher for several painstakingly long moments, piercing through him with her striking emerald green eyes. She sighed deeply. "The truth is that I come from a noble household originally. I was the daughter of a maid and a lord. We were cast from the household after the Lord married. He became an archduke shortly thereafter. It is said that his family line tamed dragons. I had wondered if that was true. You see, you gain power from killing monsters. My family ability seems to be a bit more specific. We gain power from dragons."
Asher nodded slowly, beginning to understand. He didn't interrupt her story. "I knew I wouldn't catch up in conventional ways. I looked for anything that even resembled a dragon to hunt it. In the end, I joined a party and fought a lower level dragonkin than the one you faced. In the end, I landed the killing blow. A wave of raw power washed over me and I knew that I was at a new level of my own."
Leah sat down in the chair Asher had facing his bed. She sounded somewhat excited. "When you mentioned facing ice drakes, I can't deny, the idea is intoxicating to take their power. I believe I could increase my power three times over by just taking down one of them and continue to be an asset to you."
Asher stopped her there. "Leah, you never stopped being useful to me."
"But I can stay on your level," she replied quickly. "All we need to do is find more dragon like creatures for me to kill."
"And we will," Asher stated. "But we need to be careful. My power seems to be some form of taboo, even the mention of it almost seems to be shut down immediately. The person who told me about it seemed terrified at the idea of someone being around with my power."
Asher paused for a moment before he continued with, "Your power has been sought after for centuries. If someone found out you had an ability related to dragons, there's no telling what would happen. I can't protect you yet. I'm not strong enough."
They stared at each other for a long time before they walked to each other and hugged for a long time. After that, they had gone to bed for the night. When they awoke, Asher went straight to the board to see what was available. As luck would have it, there was a job for an ice drake. They took the mission. With the power that Asher had received from the dragonkin, he felt he was more than capable of dealing with an ice drake. He could feel heat rising from deep within himself. His affinity for flames had increased immensely with his recent victory.
He almost salivated at the idea of his frost powers increasing from the drake, but he had already agreed with Leah that she would get the killing blow if luck permitted it. He wouldn't steal that from her.
They overlooked the town that the drake had taken over. It was curled up on top of a building. Asher was in awe at the size of it. It wasn't even a true dragon and it was massive. It was at least twenty feet long with a wingspan at least matching that. The creature had no front legs, as it wasn't a true dragon. It would instead balance on the bones in it's wings.
They approached the town quietly, trying to get a sneak attack on it. Willow was more nervous than Asher and Leah by far. They had told her to hide in a building close by unless there was an opportunity to attack the beast by surprise.
Willow had hidden away and Asher and Leah proceeded to advance on the drake. Asher quietly snuck up on the creature using the skill he had learned long ago, muffle. His footsteps were almost completely silent to begin with. As he advanced towards the beast on the rooftop, he readied himself for a powerful attack to cripple it.
With all of his might, he swung down with his blade and dug it through the bone in the wing of the drake. The creature awoke with a screech that almost shattered Asher's eardrums. It tried to fly away and it crashed towards the ground with a hard thud. It's wing was still on the rooftop with Asher. Leah charged forward and thrusted a lance into the chest of the drake. It was deflected by the scales that overlapped, which were about the size of dinner plates. She cursed her luck in that split second in between.
The creature began to glow blue and Asher screamed, "Get under cover!" right before a blizzard came out of the giant monster. Leah had gotten into a safe spot just in time to not be completely frozen over by the beast. Asher summoned his power of flames and fought the drake head to head in a battle of fire against ice. It was almost completely equal between them. Asher could feel his energy dwindling quickly as he was throwing out as much power as he physically could. The drake seemed to sense his weakness and doubled its efforts.
Asher could see the frost advancing towards him as Leah leapt through the air and swung her sword. Asher's flame began to advance once again as the head of the drake spun through the air, still spewing frost. Leah collapsed to her knees, seemingly in pain. Suddenly she screamed and a mirage of colors circled her as the raw energy of the drake enveloped her.
When she stood up, she seemed different. Her emerald green eyes had slits in them, seeming almost draconic. When she let out one deep breath, there was frost behind it. There was an aura of power about her as well that couldn't be denied. Asher was sure of it. Leah had surpassed him in strength.
A few seconds later, she collapsed. Asher carried her back to the guild and Willow had been pestering him the entire way about what had happened. "I'll explain later," he finally told her. He didn't know what he would tell Willow. He just knew that he and Leah had agreed not to share each other's secrets. The only issue was, Willow had seen everything. It wasn't a simple matter. He couldn't just kill Willow either. She wasn't some common initiate that had just started. She was a seasoned warrior that had gone on countless missions for the guild. People would wonder where she had gone.
They waited Leah to wake up for over a day after they had gotten back. When she did awaken, Asher was right there with her. He couldn't explain why he was so protective of her.
Leah commanded Asher, "Bring Willow here. We need to tell her my side at least."
Asher brought Willow in who said, "You asked for me?" nervously. Leah narrowed her eyes at her.
"I need to know that you're not going to go around telling everyone what you saw," Leah stated.
Leah explained, "I am descended from a family line that tamed dragons. They also killed them for their power, but that is not the point. We were never properly introduced, Willow. I will tell you right now, I haven't lived a good life. I have killed for less. I don't want my business told. I don't trust you, the only reason I tolerate you is because of Asher. The moment you outlive your usefulness to him, make sure you are far away. My name is Leah Blackwood after my father, Leo Blackwood, Archduke of the kingdom of Aetherian. Mark my words, I will not tolerate anything or anyone getting in my way."