The Fiery Crown Cycle: A Dragon's Rebirth

Chapter 8

With the Manticore dead, Azure released her grip. Blood dripped from her sharp teeth as she pulled them free. The joint she had been biting was a mangled ruin.

Bianca, however, tore one last chunk of flesh from the other joint before collapsing to the ground in a heap. The battle was over. It was time to rest.

Aiden flexed his right claw, staring at its raw power. A quiet awe settled over him. His draconic form possessed a strength that dwarfed Bianca's berserker rage. She had tried multiple times to crush the Manticore's head but lacked the force. He, on the other hand…

Am I supposed to be the tank?

The thought was immediately repugnant. No, I prefer the elegance of a mage. The dirty work is for melee fighters; casters hang back and toss a few spells to finish the job. There's no comparison. Being a mage is better.

He surveyed their kill. Its tail was severed, its pincers nearly torn from their sockets, and its head was an unrecognizable pulp. His gaze shifted to Bianca. The scales on her hind leg were shattered where the pincer had clamped down, revealing raw muscle, but the bleeding had already stopped. Her body was covered in other cuts, none of them bleeding.

Enhanced Constitution, Aiden realized. Her innate talent hadn't just bolstered her strength; it had granted her a potent healing factor. If Azure had taken a hit like that, her leg would have been torn clean off.

“Is everyone alright?” Aiden asked.

“I'm fine,” Azure replied.

“Me too,” Bianca mumbled from the ground.

“Azure, come with me.”

“Alright.”

“Hey! Where are you two going?” Bianca lifted her head, her round pupils fixing on Aiden.

“You rest,” Aiden said. “Azure and I will find a place for us to live.” Bianca had been the main damage-dealer and had taken the most punishment. It was only fair.

“Oh…kay.” Bianca's head flopped back onto the ground, her eyelids sliding shut.

Aiden walked toward the sheer cliff face. A nest high on the rock wall was the most logical choice. “Azure,” he began as she fell into step beside him.

“Yes, Aiden?”

“Any thoughts on a location for the nest?”

Azure glanced at him sideways. He almost certainly has a plan. Why ask me? “The cliff face?” she offered.

“My thoughts exactly.” Aiden sounded slightly disappointed. He had hoped for a more creative suggestion. Seeing his disappointment, Azure remained silent.

He led her to the base of the wall and, with a powerful beat of his wings, took to the air. The cliff was a sheer, vertical wall. He ascended to about the 1000-yard mark and hovered. “Let's dig here,” he said.

Azure studied the layered pattern of the rock. “That's shale,” she stated.

“Shale?”

“It's too soft. The tunnel will collapse.”

Her answer was so certain that Aiden paused. It all looked the same to him. He reached out a claw and scraped it against the rock. It flaked away with almost no effort, crumbling into dust between his talons. She was right.

He glanced at her. She knew that just by looking? It dawned on him that Azure was more than just clever; she was a student. The Dragon's Heritage was like a vast library, but most dragons, in their inherent laziness, never bothered to browse it. Azure, it seemed, actually read.

“Where do you suggest we make our nest?” he asked, his respect for her growing.

“Over there.” She answered instantly, lifting her right claw and pointing further down the canyon.

Aiden flew toward the spot. The only difference was the color; the shale was pale yellow, whereas this section was onyx black.

He hovered before it and tested it with his claw, leaving a faint white scratch. It was definitely hard. Perhaps too hard.

He extended his claws again, this time putting real force into it. His talons bit into the rock, and with a grunt of effort, he tore a large chunk free.

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Watching him, Azure's heart skipped a beat. She had pointed him to a shelf of solid basalt, the hardest rock in the canyon.

It was meant to be a prank, a way to watch the arrogant red dragon struggle for once. She had assumed it would be far too difficult for a wyrmling's claws.

But he was tearing through the solid rock as if it were packed dirt.

“Nice work, Azure,” Aiden said, his voice pleased. “This spot is perfect. Let's make our nest here.”

Hearing the words she had been dreading, Azure froze.

“Let's get digging,” Aiden called, already attacking the rock wall with a furious barrage from both claws.

Azure watched, stunned, as he carved out a small foothold in seconds. Then, with a quiet sigh, she raised her own claws and began to dig.

Ouch.

The rock was incredibly hard. After only a few minutes, her claws began to ache fiercely. She glanced over at Aiden. He had already carved out a platform large enough to stand on. His black-taloned claws were a blur, sending a constant stream of rock chips into the air. In his grasp, the basalt seemed no different from the soft shale.

An Ascendant Dragon… he's truly on another level, she thought, a pang of envy striking her. A sense of crisis gripped her. Bianca has proven her value as a brave, if reckless, fighter. What is my own contribution, besides being a fast flier?

No, she resolved, a new fire in her eyes. I

'm not a brawler, but I am intelligent. That has to count for something. But right now, intelligence can't dig a cave. Only claws can.Gritting her teeth against the aching pain, Azure went back to carving out her home.

.....

Aiden stopped digging and turned his head, looking back toward the entrance. A wide tunnel stretched behind him, the light from the cave mouth now a distant pinprick.

He hadn't realized he'd dug so deep. This was certainly long enough. He just needed to widen and heighten the rest of the tunnel.

He shook his head, dislodging a cascade of dust. Wait. Where's Azure? Wasn't she digging right behind me? Had she been slacking?

Scrape… scrape…

A faint, intermittent sound reached him. It was coming from an unfinished section of the tunnel that still obscured the view. Has she been slacking? Not only has she failed to widen her section, she's also this slow? No. She needs to be taught a lesson.

He turned his body in the cramped space and began to crawl back.

As he drew closer, he poked his head around the rock wall. The sight stopped him cold.

Azure's claws were shredded, the pearlescent blue scales chipped and caked with a mixture of black dust and her own crimson blood. Yet she continued her work, her movements mechanical, oblivious to the mangled state of her own talons.

Doesn't that hurt? Aiden wondered, baffled. She was so focused she hadn't even noticed his approach.

“Azure.”

No response.

“Azure,” he said again, louder.

That got a reaction. The blue dragon's head slowly lifted. “What is it?” she asked, her blue eyes filled with the cool indifference inherent to all chromatic dragons.

He gestured with his snout toward her ruined claws. “You're bleeding.”

Azure glanced down. They were indeed bleeding. But it was just a little pain. Irrelevant. “Oh,” she said. “I will try to go faster.”

With that, she turned back to the wall and resumed her painful work. She had clearly misunderstood him.

Scrape… scrape…

She thinks I'm mocking her, Aiden realized. And, to be fair, that's exactly what a normal red dragon would do. He was stuck.

“Stop what you're doing,” he commanded.

Azure paused, turning her head once more. “Is there something else?”

“Your pace is pathetic!” Aiden said, deliberately raising his voice to a haughty, demanding tone. “I wish to rest soon, and you are slowing my progress!” He loomed over her, staring down his snout with what he hoped was appropriate arrogance.

The blue dragon lowered her head, her tail drooping in a submissive posture. “You may rest in the section you have completed. I will finish my work.”

“No! The noise will disturb me!”

He's just trying to pick a fight, she realized. A cold fury began to smolder within her, but her face remained a mask of indifference. The angrier she felt, the calmer she became. Let's see what he demands, she thought. As long as it's not too outrageous, I can agree.

Aiden watched her. She hadn't flared up at all. This Azure is a strange one. Bianca would have already launched herself at me. Tch. How boring. Bianca is much more fun.

“You have a new job,” he declared. “You will clear the rubble. I will dig. This will be faster!”

Azure's tail, which had been lying still, now curled into a question mark. A look of pure confusion entered her eyes.

It was phrased like an order, but the result was… him helping her? She was the beneficiary. It was baffling.

Aiden saw the confusion but had no intention of explaining himself. He nudged her aside with his claw. “Move.”

She complied easily.

He pushed past her and buried his claws into the rock wall. His speed was astonishing. The sound of his digging was now a continuous roar.

For Aiden, the hard basalt was no burden at all. As he worked, his mind began to wander. The difference between them was immense. It had to be connected to the blessing he received as an egg, to the fiery sigil and flame ring that now resided in his vision.

Soon, a thick pile of rubble accumulated at his feet.

Seeing it, Azure knew it was time to work. He's a strange red wyrmling, she decided, giving his digging form a final label in her mind. She spread her wings for balance and, like a dragon-shaped bulldozer, began pushing the rubble toward the cave entrance.

By the time she returned, a new pile was already waiting. His physique, his strength, that mysterious fiery crown… Aiden is more than just an Ascendant Dragon, she thought, pushing another load of rock. Ascendant Dragons usually excel in one area. Aiden… he seems to be excelling in everything. What will he become?

An insatiable curiosity bloomed in her heart. She wanted to investigate, to know the answers. To do that, she knew she had to stay close to him. It would be a challenge, but not an insurmountable one.

Because Aiden was different. Compared to the rage of other red dragons, he possessed an incredible amount of reason. He was a “reasonable” red dragon—at least, as long as one didn't threaten his core interests. That much was certain.

…

Working in tandem, the two wyrmlings completed the nest in under half an hour. The final cave was fifty yards deep, twenty yards wide, and fifteen yards high. The entrance had been widened to thirty yards across and twenty-five yards high.

It could have been taller, but Aiden had grown tired of the constant shower of rock chips and declared it finished.