*In Mount Olympus, a Castle was built in gold. From its ceiling, down to its every square inch of floor was made of gold. This castle is where the 12 gods reside.*
*In one of its Balcony, a god playing a lyre suddenly saw a big spark in the heavens.*
"Hmmp. An interesting event might happened soon." The god playing the lyre was Apollo, the god of prophecy.
"Although, I really hate it, but I think, I'll attend that stupid tournament this time." Apollo smiles as he continues to play with his lyre.
"You saw something interesting, am I right?" A goddess carrying a lamb by her arms, approached Apollo from behind and went in the balcony where he continued to play his lyre while smiling.
"You really saw something. You might want to share it?" The goddess who was asking Apollo was Artemis.
"How interesting was that tournament?" Apollo asked Artemis.
"If you're talking about the tournament held by the mortals, I would say it was so-so." Artemis answered in a disappointed face.
"Is that so? Then maybe this time it will be an interesting one." Apollo told a fraction of his vision by giving a hint to Artemis.
"So, you saw an interesting mortal that was going to attend the tournament, huh?" Artemis wanted to clarify what Apollo really saw.
"Maybe." Apollo waved Artemis away as he continued playing his instrument, smiling.
Artemis took her leave, as she knew that whenever Apollo was like this, it was impossible to extract information away from him.
-----
Back to the situation of Aziel, and his two new friends.
Drako successfully prevented Aziel's body from exploding by applying a magical force that he hadn't released for a very long time, making him feel exhausted. However, in the very instant that Aziel's power swelled up, they didn't know that someone saw the fragment of his power from above.
After the little commotion, it didn't even wake Aziel up, he remained sound in his sleep. But the other two just got out of the most exhausting event that happened to them in a very long time.
They both collapsed to the ground and fall asleep.
The next morning, Aziel wake up confused because Drako didn't wake him up and he couldn't find him anywhere. However, he saw someone else lying to the ground aside from Eleanor, and it's a man with a wings and a tail. Aziel wasn't a stupid kid for not figuring out who that was, but he was stupid enough to ask him who he was by shouting.
"GOOD MORNING EVERYONE! WAKE UP ALREADY! THERE'S A WEIRD LOOKING MAN IN THE CAVE. MAY I KNOW YOUR NAME, SIR!?" Aziel shouted his every word in order to wake the other two up.
"What? Where?" The two of them jumped up from their sleep at the same time, trying to look for the weird looking man, as they raised both their guards. They both had a dark circles under their eyes and they were looking a bit tired.
"Wait. Were you talking about him?" Eleanor asked Aziel while pointing towards Drako in his human form.
"Yes, ma'am!" Aziel nodded quickly as he also wanted to know who the man sooner.
"You idiot!" Eleanor smacks Aziel's head.
"Why did you do that?" Aziel hold the part of his head where Eleanor smack him, and was confused about her actions.
"I thought you say a weird looking man!?" Eleanor was about to get mad to Aziel, when she realized that it was his first time seeing Drako in his human form.
"Sigh. I'm sorry." Eleanor calmed herself down.
"Aziel my child. This is Drako in his human form." Eleanor again introduces Drako to Aziel.
Once again Aziel froze there in amazement, after Eleanor introduces Drako's human form to him.
"Could you stop doing that!? It's embarrassing!" Drako yelled at Aziel.
"It is really you! Haha." Aziel laugh from happiness.
"Mr. Drako, you look awesome. But I prefer the Dragon one. You look weird in that form." Aziel's was thinking with his hands put under his chin. This honesty of his made Drako snap.
"I was like this because of you, you idiot!" Drako yelled.
"Why? What happened?" Aziel asked with his puppy eyes.
"Ugh, I can't believe it. Milady his using his puppy eyes on me!" Drako protested to Eleanor while pointed towards Aziel, as he wasn't used to anyone looking at him like that.
"It's okay, just try not to look at him in his eyes." Eleanor began to smile.
"Why don't you explain to him what happened while I cook food for breakfast?" Eleanor said as she was preparing for their food.
"Yes, Milady." Drako bowed his head before facing Aziel.
"You want to know what happened?" Drako asked Aziel.
"Yes, Sir!" Aziel responded loudly, which made Drako a bit angry as he didn't get enough sleep because of Aziel, while Aziel was in front of him, being full of energy.
"Tsk! Alright, turn your volume down a bit. Sit here, I will show you something." Drako instructed Aziel to sit down, as he grab something from the magical chest.
A three crystal ball that was as big as a small marble, a table tennis ball, and a cue ball.
"Do you see this three crystals?" Drako showed the crystals to Aziel.
"Yes, Sir!" Aziel still responded in full energy. This constant action of his made Eleanor happy while she was cooking.
"What is that? Is that your eggs? Do you dragons lay eggs to turn into your human form? Or did you turn into your human form to lay eggs?" Aziel's curious eyes was laid to the crystals as he bombarded Drako questions that was unrelated to the issue.
"Stop it you idiot!" Drako smack Aziel's head the same as Eleanor did.
"Ouch! What was that for?" Aziel asked while holding his head.
"It's not my… eggs!" Drako answered embarrassingly.
"This is like the magical cores of every humans that has magical powers." Drako showed to Aziel the smallest crystal.
"Its size can vary depending on how strong the person it, but it cannot be as big as this one." Drako showed the second largest crystal that was as big as a table tennis ball.
"This one is how big the magical cores of the gods, it may also vary, not only in its size but also in its density. The crystals inside the person's body serves as its limiter. The stronger the power, the larger or the denser the crystal is." Drako explained the two crystals in his hand.
"Now, this one on the other hand, this is how big your magical core looks like." Drako showed the crystal.
Aziel came closer towards the crystal, as his eyes widened. Couldn't believe to every word Drako said.
"So, does this have to do with you being in that form?" Aziel asked.
"Yes, you idiot! 'Sigh' You see, when a magical core is so massive for a person's body and couldn't handle the power, the body explodes. That's what was supposed to happen to you last night, if it wasn't for Miss Eleanor and Me! " Drako explained everything to Aziel with a smug on his face.
Aziel didn't believe everything Drako said, so he turned his eyes towards Eleanor, which she nods slowly while smiling.
"What? Do you think, I'm lying!?" Drako smacks Aziel's head again.
"Ow! Could you please stop doing that Sir!? I was being hit three times in the head before even having breakfast!" Aziel protested towards Drako.
"You deserved it! I can't go back to my proud form anytime soon because of you!" Drako yelled.
"Hehe, I'm sorry Sir, and Miss Eleanor. And thank you for saving me again." Aziel apologized to both in a playful manner.
"Tsk! This kid!" Drako crossed his arms in defeat.
"Now, now. Stop it you two and let's eat breakfast." Eleanor ordered them to come near the pot of food.
"Since you are in that form, you can now eat with us, right?" Aziel asked Drako.
"Yes, I need nutrition to bring back the energy I used, so that I could return to my Dragon form." Drako responded.
"Then, that's great news, right? We can enjoy our meals together, hehe." Aziel replied smiling.
"Whatever, kid." Drako smiled in defeat.
The three of them ate breakfast before they went outside the cave to resume Aziel's training.
"Because of what happened last night, I need to raise your training's difficulty. We don't want something like that to happen again, so we need to maximize your training." Eleanor informed Aziel.
"You will have to do the boulder training ten times before lunchtime. Meditate in the afternoon but this time make sure to release your maximum energy output, and maintain it until dusk. And in the evening, I will show you how to read the inscribed writings on the scrolls, and you must perform at least the basics of the magic written in it. And if you were to finish the boulder training even a second late, or couldn't maintain meditating until dusk, or couldn't perform the basic magic, there's no food for you, you got it!?" Eleanor instructed Aziel on his new training regimen, with a little twist.
"Yes ma'am!" Aziel responded in full energy, he also want to become stronger that's why he didn't protest about the no food policy.
"Alright. Now, move!" Eleanor ordered him to do the new training regimen.
Aziel started his new training regimen. He found it harder and harsher, but he kept pushing his body to its limits.
He barely made the boulder training before lunchtime. He was so out of breath when he got under the tree where Drako laid.
"Congratulations, you barely made it." Drako states the obvious, trying to tease Aziel.
"Haa! Haa! I know… Haa! Old man. Haa!" Aziel teased back Drako.
"What did you say!? You're looking for another smack!?" Dragon sat up clenching his huge fist.
"No!" Aziel yelled covering his head.
"Hmmp. That's what I thought!" Drako returned to lay under the three, as they wait for the food to be serve.
"How did you met Miss Eleanor, Sir Drako?" Aziel, out of the blue asked Drako a question.
"Well, she found me." Drako responded with a short reply.
"What do you mean, she found you?" Aziel asked another question, which annoyed Drako a little bit.
"Sigh. I was still inside my shell when she found me. I was the last one left of my tribe. Everyone else perished due to those gods. They destroyed my village without a warning, my tribesmen didn't get a chance to prepare and transform into their dragon form." Drako explained in a gloomy tone.
"You see, my people was a tribe of powerful but weak dragons. We have the ability to transform into a humanlike form. When we were in that state, we are powerful but has a weak defense, but when we were in our dragon form, we were invincible but not as powerful as our human form. But, those gods… they used that information against us, and launch an attack when my tribesmen celebrates our own New Year, were everyone has to stay in our human form. Miss Eleanor found me still in my eggshell under a rubble. I was lucky that the gods didn't search thoroughly, or I'll also died in their hands." Drako told his story to Aziel while clenching his fist.
This story enraged Aziel, as he see Drako as his friend and now he finally learn what happened to him in the past, and learned about what happened in his past and his tribesmen.
"But that was in the past. We can't let that hinder us from moving forward." Drako ends his story with a smile.
But Aziel knew that it wasn't true, Drako was just waiting for a perfect chance to retaliate and make those gods pay for what they did to his people. Aziel made a vow to himself that he will also fight in Drako's battles.
"Alright, so much sentiments around here. Why don't we eat lunch, and forget the past for now?" Eleanor arrived with her huge pot of food.
"Hiyap! Let's eat and regain our strengths, shall we kid?" Drako asked Aziel.
"Yes Sir!" Aziel affirmed.
They ate their lunch, and Aziel resumed his training in meditation. He had release his maximum energy output but couldn't maintain it for an hour, so he needs to start again, and every time he fails he improves rapidly on the next attempt. Due to him failed the meditation training as he couldn't maintain it till dusk, all he got for dinner was a small bread. And in the evening Eleanor trained him how to read the ancient scroll.
The first scroll that Eleanor taught Aziel was an ancient fire scroll were the fire can only be extinguished if the thing it touched was reduced to atoms.
"This is the 'ARCANE FIRE SCROLL'. Be careful when using this spell because it can cause a mass destruction if being used inappropriately." Eleanor explained to Aziel to dangers of using this power.
"Yes ma'am!" Aziel responded, making sure that he remembers all the warnings given to him.
"Practice everything that the scroll had written, but don't shoot the fire into a flammable substance or in the ground. Read the scroll at night and practice it at the top of the mountain every time you got up there. Be sure to shoot the fire where nothing can be hit. You got it?"
Eleanor instructed Aziel on his new training procedure.
"Yes ma'am!" Aziel affirmed.
This extreme new training regimen of Aziel was done for two weeks, until he can completely maintain the meditation with ease.
-End of Chapter-