“Aha! Cool! I’ve always wanted a fire user to start fires for me!” Lawtrick said as they set up camp, “Normally I gotta spark the rivers and that turns into a pretty big mess.”

“The rivers of oxygen you mean?” Dreiki asked.

“Yup!”

“I can imagine that would be pretty messy. I’m trying to keep the flames insulated from it as well so it doesn’t get out of control.”

“Well I think my version of things is more fun, personally.”

He sat down, the red cape on his shoulders turning a sooty black to match its fur trimmings. The war scythe he brandished melted and reassembled into a set of pots, pans, and plates.

“So you’re a metal magic user?” Dreiki said.

“Yup! Been that way since I was born.” He said, laying them out above the flames as Luna poured water into them.

“Man, you guys are great! We can actually boil things now. I’m gonna get the meat, one second.” Lawtrick said, dashing off into the dark underbrush of the forest.

Dreiki turned to the other xio who now sat cross legged atop a log, “And what’s your name?”

The boy’s skin turned green in an instant, eyes shifting to black, “Oh, me? My name’s Oruk Alakilam. I’m a life magic user.”

“I see. So that’s why you’re able to change the color of your skin and eyes, right?”

Oruk nodded, “Hair too! And plenty of things beyond just color. I use it for camouflage, mostly, but I find sometimes it just happens according to how I feel.”

“So you’re feeling green?”

“More or less!” He said, petting the log under him until a strange wooden instrument grew from its bark. He touched silky threads from the neck to the base until he had a Lute.

“You mind if I play some music while we wait for the food to cook?”

“Sure, I don’t mind.” Dreiki said. He had rarely ever heard music since coming to Itaro.

“He was gonna play music regardless of whether or not you said yes.” Lawtrick snickered, dragging back the carcass of a strange animal.

“I was not! Not immediately, at least.”

Savekio came back, dropping a pile of kindling down, “I was not told there would be two of you.”

“We were not told there would be three of you. We heard five and two.”

“Fair enough, I suppose. So Oruk is a new friend of yours?”

“Not exactly new, but we met a few months ago.”

“Lawtrick saved me from a pretty bad spot. I decided to grow fruits for him as thanks. Now I travel with him.”

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, I say. I kill monsters, he grows fruits, we stuff it in a pot and cook it all together. We eat!”

Savekio crouched near the fire, “I suppose your father did want me to teach you how to cook.”

“Ah, I already know how to cook. Just hold it over a fire until it’s crispy, and Boom!”

“I think there’s a little more to it than that.”

“Well yeah, of course. Toss some of the fruits and other plants together and the meat tastes like them.”

Oruk strummed his lute in an effort to tune it, “Lawtrick doesn’t know how to cook, but at least it’s edible. He was eating things raw before I came along.”

“What’s wrong with raw food? It’s fast, it’s easy, and it builds your jaw muscles!”

“It’s pretty messy, though.”

“I like things messy.”

“So you’re the blacksmith’s son…” Dreiki said, “What’s your father like?”

“He’s a real sleepy guy, honestly.” Lawtrick said, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna take you up to meet him. He said you guys might need my protection to get up there.”

“Not as much need as appreciate,” Savekio said, “And you will serve as a good rival for my disciple from what I hear.”

Lawtrick grinned from under his mask, “Oh? So he’s meant to be my rival, eh?”

“In more than simply fighting, yes.”

“I see, but you don’t look like much, disciple, I don’t think I caught your name?”

“It’s Dreiki. Dreiki Iriik.”

“Ha! That’s a funny name. So you’re the ‘forgotten one’, huh?”

“I’m told that’s what my name means, yes.” Dreiki said.

“Ah there we go!” Oruk said, strumming the melodic strings of his lute.

“You get your Lute working?”

“Yeah, now I just gotta figure out which song I’m gonna play,” He said.

“Well anyways, I’m glad to meet’cha Dreiki! Oruk’s not much of a fighter, so I’ve been really wanting to test myself for a while now.”

“You’ll be disappointed with him at this stage,” Savekio said, “He’s not anywhere near your level of power, and I’d rather you not overdo it during sparring.”

“Ahh, really? I guess it makes sense, though. Didn’t grow up like I did.”

“How did you grow up?”

“I grew up on a farm!”

Dreiki raised an eyebrow. How did growing up on a farm make him more powerful? There was something else which Dreiki remembered too, “When you introduced yourself earlier, you said you were a ‘son of dragons’, is that right? We’re in dragon territory now, so does that mean you were raised by dragons?”

Lawtrick grinned, “Yeah, I was!”

“So then The Blacksmith is a dragon, right?”

“He is!”

Savekio sighed, “I suppose it was an open secret, but yes. Lawtrick was raised by the dragon of this mountain. We will get to the peak within a week of climbing.”

“What’s this guy by the way? Do we eat him?” Lawtrick said, poking at Ezo while he napped near the fire. The drake grunted, shifting away and crawling under Dreiki’s legs to sleep undisturbed.

“We don’t. Ezo’s my friend.”

“Ah! Gotcha, so we only eat him if he dies tragically.”

“Er- I dunno if I’d eat Ezo if he died.”

“Why not? It’d be a waste not to.”

“It wouldn’t feel right. I don’t think I’d be able to stomach it.”

“Nonsense, dragons do it all the time with the ones they love. It’s the best way to honor the dead!”

“You said you grew up on a farm,” Dreiki said, trying to change the subject, “But you were raised by the dragon of this mountain? How does that line up?”

“Ah, I’m glad you asked.” Lawtrick said with his jagged grin, “Ever since I could remember I was raised as livestock, but then dad came through and took me under his wing as his child. So now here I am, son of dragons and king of all the other pigs!”