Chapter 1 : I will always be proud of you

Human era, year 1275

In an icy dark cave there was no source of light or sound except from the azure glowing lake in the middle of the cave and the small waterfall ,Despite the bone chilling temperature, the lake showed no signs of freezing, there was even a faint blue mist clinging to the surface of the lake.

What was surprising was that on a rock under the waterfall a kid that surely was no older than 10 years old with a raven black spiky hair was sitting there with his upper body naked and his eyes closed, there was no sign of him being affected by the cold at all even with the water slamming into his body.

After taking few deep breathes the kid opened his eyes -which looked like the purest shade of blue - then looked to the lake shore, then after a last deep breath he said with a firm look on his face.

“ father, I am ready”

On the shore stood a handsome man that resembled the kid by 60% in a blue royal armor and a crown made of ice and crystal with a blue gem embedded in it’s center was hanging from his waist dangling by his side, the man looked to be in his early forties, his face looked like it was sculptured from a block of ice with a no emotion showing at all but that changed when he heard his son voice, his steely blue eyes softened slightly and when his eyes met his son there was pride and some flashes of guilt flickering in his eyes .

“ alright son, the ritual will start in few seconds, do your best.”

The son nodded with a serious look that shouldn’t be present on a kid his age.

The father sighed wishing he didn’t have to do this ritual to his 7 years old but also knew he had no choice, it was either now or never.

“ I have known you since you were born Micheal but this is the first time I see the northern star general hesitate “ a deep and rumbling voice echoed through the whole cave but strangely enough it looked like it didn’t reach the lake and the kid’s ears at all.

“ can you blame me ? normally we should have waited until he was at least 9 before he had to be baptized by the frozen heart ritual, some parents even wait their kids are 12 so the danger is minimized, but the prince of the country have to endure it now due to my failure as a king and as a father.” Micheal answered with guilt tinging his voice.

“you are many things Micheal king of the cryomancers, but a failure isn’t one of them, even a proud dragon like me can’t deny your achievements” with a rustling sound some movements were heard from deep within the darkness of the cave.

“ let’s just get this over with, guardian if you please “ sighed Micheal before sitting crosslegged and started drawing symbols in the air in the front of him by his fingers.

Glowing circles and ancient symbols started appearing and converging in the front of Micheal while grave look appeared on his face.

“ very well “ said the voice before two large drops of azure blue blood came flying from deep within the cave, one fell inside the lake with not even a splash while the other hovered silently in front of Micheal.

Micheal could feel waves of a bone chilling cold coming from the blood, he had no doubt that even a level 3 cryomancer will be frozen stiff by just being near it.

After the first drop fell inside the lake it disappeared before the lake started bubbling like the water was on fire and the blue mist increased in density and quantity and started drifting everywhere.

“ no you won’t “ said Micheal calmly before twisting and crossing his finger in a peculiar way before a giant glowing circle with symbols engraved in it appeared above the lake and a smaller copy appeared under his son.

The mist then started gathering and drifting toward the kid like it was being directed by some invisible pressure.

“ start absorbing this mist Ryder, the more you absorb the heavier the load on your body and mind will be but also the better your future prospects will be, this will be your choice I won’t stop directing it to you unless you ask me to “ said Micheal with firm voice.

“ I understand, father “ said Ryder before the mist started entering his body like it was being swallowed by a giant whale. Ryder could feel a chilly energy seeping into his bones, muscles, organs and cells, while some of it started gathering behind his sternum.

Micheal started forming more seals with his hands then started drawing more magic circles around the second drop of blood before it started to fly back deep within the cave, but it didn’t move an inch before more magic circles started forming around it stopping it in it’s place.

“ a mere drop of blood essence have some degree of awareness, no wonder dragons were so hard to kill back then “ murmured Micheal to himself

 The drop of blood kept trying to escape but it was no use, gradually it was being compressed until only a marble sized crystal formed in front of Micheal.

Then micheal took a look at the wall next to the waterfall, he could see names written on it and on the top was “ Royal family’s ritual “ under it was the name of every cryomancer king, their number and how much mist did they manage to absorb in the ritual, then his eyes fell on his own name .

Micheal the 54th prince of the royal family managed to adsorb 91%.

He still remembered the day of his own ritual like it was yesterday, normally most kids only manage to absorb 50% or even less, the royal family members - who have purer bloodline- normally absorb between 60% to 75% and those were considered geniuses, any 1% percent increase beyond that was harder than climbing a mountain of blades, yet his score wasn’t the highest.

Micheal gaze wandered to the top of the list.

Felix the third prince of the royal family managed to absorb 95%.

King Felix, also known as the first dragon slayer, the first cryomancer and also human who managed to slay a dragon with his own hands without resorting to trickery or ambushes, whenever his name came up in a history lesson or in a normal conversation it was mentioned in reverence, respect and some fear, after all it took 5 adult dragons to take him down and 3 of them died while the other two were gravely injured.

But when micheal looked at the name his eyes were blazing with fighting spirit, like he couldn’t wait to challenge him.

Slightly shaking his head, his eyes focused once more on his son, purple viens started appearing on his upper body from the heart and the stretching to his limbs and head.

The frozen heart ritual, was a ritual to unearth the body affinity to the ice and cold through absorbing an ice dragon blood essence, normally the ritual will be held once every 5 years in the grand arena in every city under the cryomancers rule to the kids who are 10 years old or close to it, under the supervision of an envoy chosen by the royal family.

The blood used for the common people is a diluted form empire’s guardian ice dragon normal blood, only the royal family members get to use his true blood essence, it was a known secret to everyone and yet only the minority of the people were unsatisfied, because everyone know that the purer the blood the more danger there children will be in, plus the fact that the royal family was always fair and upfront in everything they did, and whenever there was a war with the demons or pyromancers, the emperor and his descendant will be in the front-line among the soldiers.

After some time have passed, Ryder’s body started shaking and his breathing was becoming erratic and shallow.

“ you gave a birth to a talented young man Micheal, 84% makes him in top 10 among the descendants of your family so far.” the voice rumbled again from the darkness.

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Micheal stayed silent while gazing at the tiny figure whose shaking become more intense and vines started bulging like they were about to burst and his fists were clenched tightly on his knees.

“ not yet, not yet, not yet” murmured Ryder in a small voice that would have been unheard in any other place, then there was a burst of absorption force coming from his body, the infusion rate of the mist with his body was more than doubled.

“ stop the ritual now Micheal ! even if his heart didn’t freeze in his chest his conscious will be frozen and he will enter a coma .”

Micheal looked like he didn’t hear a word because the magical circle that was trapping the mist was shrinking and forcing it to be infused faster into his son.

“ this is his choice and I already gave him my word that I won’t interfere, I know you are more worried about this affecting our plans for the near future, but you don’t have to worry I have everything calculated to the last step.” answered Micheal with a calm gaze in his eyes but his clenched hands showed how much he was worried about his son.

“.…….fine have it your way, but remember a thousand year of planing rests upon your shoulders so you can’t lose yourself if anything happens to your son.” the voice went silent after this.

87% of the mist has been absorbed but micheal could see blood coming out of his son mouth before it was frozen against his skin.

88%, the shaking of Ryder’s body became more and more intense like he was in the middle of an earthquake.

89%, layers of ice started forming on his body.

90%, suddenly the shaking stopped and Ryder’s breathing became calm again.

despite noticing this Micheal face didn’t show any sign of relief, because his son didn’t stop absorbing the mist, his breathing was barely there and he won’t open his eyes.

“ c-c-cold…… so c-c-old “

Inside a white vast space a tiny figure that had ice forming around his body was curled on the floor shivering uncontrollably, his breath came as a mist in front of his face and his hair started turning white as snow.

Ryder felt the cold deep within his mind sapping at his conscious and freezing his life force, he know that continuing the mist absorption was reckless and courting death, but he also knew that the empire is currently facing annihilation very soon from the servants and the guards talks in the castle.

So he took the risk, his though process was simple, the more mist he absorbed now the stronger he will become in the future and the easier it will be for him and his father to rebuild their empire in the future, but he underestimated how dangerous the mist was because he couldn’t stop absorbing it after a certain point and now the only thing he can do is to stay awake as long as he can because the moment he lost conscious, he may not be able to ever wake up again.

“ I ……. am …….sorry…….. father…..” these were his last thought before the light started fading from his eyes and the darkness started engulfing his body while ice started forming around his body in the lake.

Micheal closed his eyes while his body started shaking on the shore, the magical circles around him have disappeared long time ago and the mist on the lake surface was gone , the nail sized crystal was being crushed inside his clenched fists which was now dripping with blood on the shore.

“ father no matter what happen in the ritual, please don’t interfere. “ these words were said by his son yesterday while they were playing chess.

“ very well “ Micheal stated calmly to his son while knocking down a chess piece from the board.

“ no, no , I want your word, or I won’t even do the ritual .” Ryder shaked his head while looking at his father before taking down his father queen from the board.

Micheal looked deeply into his son eyes before he said in a serious voice “ you do understand how dangerous the ritual can be and even more so in your case, many kids become ice sculptures every ceremony, because they overestimated themselves.” while moving a solider across the board in a seemingly random movement.

Ryder took a deep breath before saying “ I do understand, but with danger comes opportunities and I must get stronger as fast as possible to help you in the future.” said Ryder while trying to figure out what exactly his father is planing because he never do anything without thinking 10 steps ahead, finally he decided to go for the offense.

amusement flashed in Micheal eyes before it quickly disappeared “ you shouldn’t concern yourself with these boring stuff, I have calculated and planned everything to the last letter, but if this is your choice, then I give you my word so long that you give me yours that you won’t act recklessly….. checkmate.” said Micheal while taking his son king in one swift move.

Shock appeared on Ryder face, he couldn’t believe that his father agreed so quickly before quickly looking at the board “ wait, what ? just how ?” bewilderment appeared on his face because no matter how he looked at it, his king was surrounded from all directions in just one move.

“ when most people think about the future they just think about the next day, week, month or even year. Rarely that anyone thinks further than that and those are mostly paranoid. Now do I have your word as a royalty that you won’t get yourself frozen to death tomorrow “ stated Micheal while holding the the queen that his son has knocked few moments ago and looking deeply in his son eyes.

Taking a deep breath before standing and meeting his father gaze before declaring seriously “ I, Ryder the 55th prince of the royal family give you my word that I won’t overestimate myself, and royalty never breaks their word “

There was a tense atmosphere for few moment while Micheal took a good look at his son from top to bottom before nodding “ it’s getting late and you have now 3 more books to read now that you lost.”

And like that the tense atmosphere went as soon as it came while Ryder was whining “ that’s so unfair, no one have ever beaten you in chess and you bully me into it everytime.”

“ you the one who can’t resist the temptation, now shoo from here, tomorrow I will discuss with you whatever you read, so don’t even think about dodging our bet.” shrugged micheal while ignoring the pleading look his son sent to him.

Ryder sulkingly walked out of the room but before he went far he heard his father call out behind him “and you always welcome to try win yourself any pet of your choice so long that you beat me In chess but if you lose you will have to read an additional book .”

Shouting few curses in his mind because he know better than whispering them, Ryder walked faster to his room knowing that he will end up staying awake late again tonight.

Micheal now regretted his choice, he know his son was talented and stubborn and had no problem enduring hardships but it looked like he couldn’t stop absorbing the mist at some point and he can’t interfere because it would have done more harm than good.

taking a step, micheal suddenly appeared next to his son while looking at his unmoving figure.

“ again, I failed my family. Again, I failed my son.” murmured micheal to himself while he stood next to his son and the dripping of blood was heard in the middle of the lake.

“ I warned you.” rumbled the voice from deep within the darkness.

“ not now guardian “ answered micheal with a clear warning in his voice.

“ you told me before that pride was the sin of my dragon race, now I am telling you arrogance is the sin of your family. Your son was an idiot and overestimated himself, your wife thought she could break the laws of generations of her family and look how she ended, the plan that your family has been working on for a thousand year is based upon their arrogance and you are the most arrogant of them all.” stated the voice with disdain clear in his voice.

There was a ripple in the air when the voice stopped talking

“ I WARNED YOU!” shouted micheal in a frigid tone, while everything that was around him froze in a mere second whether it was the lake or the waterfall and the icy cave got covered in few more layers of ice while his eyes glowed blue with a faint mist flowing from them and a great sword appeared next to him, the place looked like it was hit by a devastating blizzard, the only thing that remained unscathed was Ryder frozen body.

“ come at me, show me what right does your lowly family have to be arrogant.” taunted the voice while movements were heard from the dark and a pair of big blue eyes started glowing inside the dark.

Then with a snarl on his face micheal disappeared from his place and rumbles were heard from the darkness that had the whole cave shaking.

In a vast dark space, Ryder body was floating in the air while curled upon himself, he couldn’t see anything or think of anything he had no sense of time or space or how long he has been here or who he was the only thing he felt was emptiness.

But then from the darkness there was a spark, a green light that was weak at first that started spreading and chasing away the dark, ryder felt it calling for him, to fight the dark, and seek it’s warmth, he had no idea what was this light but there was a sense of familiarity from it that made him at ease, so with every fiber of will he started dragging himself away from the darkness, he crawled and crawled the more he resisted the darkness pull the harder it became but the more he remembered who he was and what was his purpose he stretched his fingers hoping to touch the light but it kept getting further and further and gradually he started losing strength to fight on.

“ I can’t stop , I must move faster.”

So instead of just fighting to crawl he started fighting to stand up, then to move, then to walk, then to run but the moment he was about to touch the light, chains from the dark hooked around his body and started dragging him back.

“ NOOOOO!! “ Ryder screamed desperately stretching his only free hand for the light while the darkness dragged him back with despair apparent In his eyes.

But when he thought that there was no hope for him, a hand stretched from the light and caught his and yanked him free from the chains to the light, the moment he entered the light, his eyes snapped open in the real world, with a gasp which was soon followed by another one when he saw the state of the cave.

It was like the end of the world, holes and cracks filled the cave plus broken walls and even half the lake was gone.

“ dad ? “ unsure ryder called while standing from his place wondering what the hell happened before weakness hit him full force making him stumble forward.

He closed his eyes waiting for the impact but it never came, barely opening his he found himself being carried on his father back while he looked at him with a proud smile.

“ sorry father …….. for making …… you worry, just wanted…… to make you proud.”

Ryder tried saying before he succumbed to sleep.

“ idiot son of mine, I have always been proud of you.” answered micheal while helplessly shaking his head

Then he looked at the darkness while letting out a huge laugh “ yes, we are a bunch of arrogant bastards, but we always backed it up with actions.”

Then with a wave of his hand the there was a new name was engraved in the bottom of the list

Ryder the 55th prince of the royal family absorbed 100%

Then while carrying his son on his back, micheal walked to the entrance of the cave.

“ I managed to survive 3 wars yet this family is gonna be the death of me. “ said the voice while a giant dragon head stretched into the light after micheal went out of the cave.

To call it giant was an understatement, the head can easily be the size of a small villa, it was covered in crystal blue scales with two large horns on the top of it’s head and a smaller one on his nose plus the sharp teeth that can cut through steel like butter.

This was the cryomancer empire guardian dragon, that has been protecting the empire for more than a thousand years.

After gazing at the son and father pair for some time, the guardian closed it’s eyes and went back into the darkness of the cave.

After some walking micheal reached the entrance of the cave and couldn’t help but stand there for a minute to take in the view in front of him.

He was standing outside of cave in a mountain that was thousands of meters high while looking down he could see a massive city made of stone and ice that stretched for hundreds of meters and surrounded from every direction by a circular massive wall made of blue stone, the city was surrounded by snow and ice from the north and east while it was protected from the west by a long chain of mountains and a wide ocean bordering it from the south.

The city can be described as both magnificent and beautiful, this was the cryomancer empire’s capital known by the name Sapphire, where the royal family and the empire guardian resided.

Micheal looked at the city and then looked at his son and said “ for a thousand year, our family members sacrificed their lives, happiness and their future for this city and it’s people, yet they decided to betray and forsake us, was all these sacrifices worth it ?” murmured micheal to himself before noting the presence of 4 individuals closing on his location.

“ no matter what, I will make sure that you are able to live your life without regrets unlike your old man. “ said micheal with conviction before he started moving to greet his brothers in arms.