The Fiery Crown Cycle: A Dragon's Rebirth

Chapter 56

Aiden stared intently at the panel. The latent tag next to Fire Breath was gone. Has it been unlocked?

With a thought, the panel in his left eye vanished. He backed out of the small cavern. Looking inside, he saw the white and blue wyrmlings huddled together, their heads slumped to the ground, heavy eyelids shut tight. They were still deep in slumber.

He turned back to the opening of the food cache. It was probably best to block it up again. Aiden began pushing rubble with his claws, his focus shifting back to the ring in his left eye. A quarter of it was filled with a red bar. What charged it?

Memories from before his slumber surfaced. He hadn't done much of anything… just hunted a Skyrazor. Could it be that killing creatures grants me experience? He would have to find a 'lucky' volunteer outside to test the theory.

A loose stone tumbled from his claws. The pile was complete. He looked up. The opening had been sealed shut again. He'd been on autopilot.

He turned toward the main exit of the lair and padded over, stopping just before the rockfall that blocked it. For safety, he had collapsed the entrance before his long sleep. Now, the rubble still covered it completely. To get out, he would have to do some cleanup.

Dig it out with my claws? No.

A red ring of light began to glow in front of Aiden's snout. Then a second, a third, and a fourth. Four rings of power, one inside the other, pulsed with crimson light. The temperature in the cavern skyrocketed, the very air shimmering and warping with the intense heat.

"Flame Pillar!" he commanded in the immature tongue of dragons.

The magic circles, already brimming with power, unleashed a torrent of fire.

WHOOSH!

The searing column of flame blasted out of the lair. It continued to surge forth, an unrelenting jet of fire. Aiden tilted his head to the left. The pillar of flame outside bent with his movement, continuing its fiery rampage.

A glint of light flashed in his vertical pupils. This spell was quite fun. He hadn't realized he could control it like this.

Aiden swung his head left and right, carving a fiery ‘S' in the air outside.

Up and down. A cross!

Up, down, then right. An ‘A'!

This was fun. Truly fun. He spun his head in a circle. A donut!

A sharp pain lanced through Aiden's head. The four rings of fire dissipated one by one. Damn it. I played around for too long. I'm out of mana.

The sharp pain in his brain persisted. He looked at the newly opened exit to his lair. Fine. He would sleep first and recover his mana. When he woke up, he would go find a 'lucky' test subject.

He turned, walked back into the main cavern, and flopped down next to the two sleeping wyrmlings. The moment his eyes closed, he was asleep.

Crunch. Crunch.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The sound of chewing roused him. Aiden lifted his head, his eyelids peeling open. The two other wyrmlings were lying side-by-side a short distance away, their backs to him, their white and blue tails swaying gently. The crunching sounds were coming from them. They had dragged out the other half of the Skyrazor and were eating.

Aiden pushed himself up on his claws and walked over.

Hearing his footsteps, the blue dragon, Azure, paused her meal and looked back. It was Aiden. Not a hint of alarm showed in her blue, slitted pupils. Seeing who it was, she immediately buried her head back into the carcass and resumed eating.

The two of them were eating with gusto. Though he wasn't terribly hungry, Aiden's appetite was kindled by the sight. The Skyrazor's corpse was already half-eaten, with only the neck, head, and two large wings remaining. Bianca and Azure were currently gnawing on the right wing.

The other wing, or the neck? The wing. Aiden decided. He stepped forward and began to slice at the base of the left wing with his claws.

Bianca stopped eating. “Aiden! You're awake.” It was only now that she noticed him. If he hadn't started cutting the wing, she would have remained lost in her meal.

Aiden nodded. Bianca's gaze was fixed greedily on the left wing he was detaching. She and Azure had nearly finished the right one. That one… She hasn't even finished her own food, and she's already coveting someone else's.

With a final rip, Aiden tore the fifty-yard-long wing from the body. He pierced it through the middle with a claw and sliced it in two. Snatching up one half in his jaws, he tossed it toward Bianca. She caught it with her claws.

“Aiden, you're the best!” she chirped, hugging the wing and starting to chew. Azure immediately joined her. A dragon always needed a great deal of food after waking from a long slumber. Clearly, they were not yet full.

Aiden turned away, hoisted his own portion of the wing with his claws, and walked on his hind legs toward the mouth of the cave, taking a bite as he went.

Outside, the familiar canyon stretched before him, seemingly devoid of life. What a wretched place. The Dragon's Heritage spoke of many deserts; he had no idea which one this gods-forsaken place was. After all this time, he had yet to find a single mystic beast. There were only magical beasts, and the disgusting sand-dwelling kind at that.

At the thought of them, a look of revulsion crossed Aiden's face. Most sand magical beasts were covered in a layer of mucus. That alone was enough to completely kill his appetite. Slime and tentacles—the combination was something he simply could not stomach, even if other dragons could.

As desolate as ever.

CRUNCH!

He bit down, bone and meat grinding in his jaws. Now, where to find a magical beast? The river, or the cacti forest? I'll check the river first.

He remembered the fishing trap he had dug. After so long, even if it had caught a fish, some other beast had probably eaten it by now.Aiden glanced back into the cave. The other two were now working on the Skyrazor's neck. They hadn't touched the pile of viscera. It seemed he wasn't the only one who disliked innards.

*****Rhoyce Empire.

Click.

Linda entered the room. She glanced at Isolde, who was still buried in her studies. Thea stood. Master and servant walked silently out onto the balcony.

“My lady,” Linda began without preamble. “The war has begun.”

A bright light flared in Thea's dark eyes. This is truly good news. “Who is the opponent? The Drow? Or the Beastmen?”

“The southern beastmen. They launched a surprise attack. The border city, Stormwind Fortress, has fallen.”

“The Rhoyce royal family has begun mobilizing all nobles, ordering them to assemble their knights for a counter-attack. A letter from Lord Cassian should already be on its way.”

Beastmen, is it? A month and a half later than I predicted, but the war has arrived all the same. They were likely attacking for food, but that was irrelevant.

“Who has the Rhoyce family appointed as commander?”

“The Fourth Prince.”

The Fourth Prince. Thea already had his measure. As a royal, he was neither brilliant nor incompetent. His only real advantage was that he was a favorite of the old king.

“My lady, should we begin our preparations?” Linda asked.

“Of course,” Thea said, a sly smile playing on her lips. “We must listen to my father's wishes. Send the newly expanded contingent of knights.”

Linda's pupils shrank. “My lady, they have only been training for a month! To send them to the battlefield…”

Thea lifted her delicate chin, her black eyes meeting Linda's. In her gaze was an unshakeable will. After only a few seconds, Linda lowered her head.

“I understand, my lady…” Her voice was filled with bitterness.