Sitting in front of my mom and dad was Estelle. She was clenching her hands by her lap and biting her lower lip as mom considered her for a moment. Dad was sitting next to mom, but he wasn’t considering anything as he also just looked at mom. There wasn’t a look of worry, but he carried a serious expression.

As for me, I was standing behind mom with my arms crossed, my chin held high, and a smirk on my face as I looked down at Estelle.

A couple of days had already passed since she showed me that Dragon’s Pond, and I had held my mouth shut about it the whole time. However, try as I may, mom eventually figured out that Estelle was hiding something, and after sitting her down, she managed to get my sister to finally confess what it was that she was hiding from her.

By now, mom and dad knew all about that dragon and my sister’s plan of befriending it to learn from it—a rather ridiculous idea, if you ask me—and I knew that everyone else with any common sense would know that as well. So now, it was time for mom to finally tell her that—

“Yeah, okay.”

“Huh!?” I incredulously exclaimed, looking with wide eyes at my mom who had just accepted my sister’s request.

“Really?!” my sister joyfully exclaimed, jumping from her chair with her hands held together.

“Yes, and I think Astor should join you too,” Mom continued with a nod.

“What?!” I exclaimed once more, going around mom and leaning over the table to look at her.

“Are you certain about this, dear?” Dad asked with a serious look, and I quickly nodded. “I know Estelle is almost fifteen years old, but that’s hardly an adult. And Astor turned eighteen not too long ago. Is this really a good idea?”

“Y-yeah, mom! Dad’s right! Is this really a good idea?!” I pressed; my voice slightly too loud.

Mom smugly smiled and then chuckled. “It’s a great idea. I was thinking that at your sizes, it was time for the both of you to start finding your own path, and what a great way it is to start with a dragon.”

“Yay!” Estelle cheered, jumping from her spot while clapping her hands.

Dad remained concerned, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked at mom. Mom, as always, noticed his worries and softly smiled at him, grabbing his hand and tapping it a couple of times. “I know that you’re worried, but you know who I am. If there’s anyone able to do these sorts of things, it’s my children.”

It seemed like dad wasn’t wholly convinced as he looked at mom’s eyes, but she simply looked at him with a caring smile, and after a while, dad sighed and nodded his head. “Yes, you’re right.”

“Okay! Then, does that mean that I can go over there right now and try to befriend the dragon for real?!” Estelle asked, her joy nearly impossible to contain.

“Yes, of course. Do try to be careful, some dragons are very proud and might try to bring you down a little. If that’s the case, you can always come to me,” mom said with a carefree smile.

Then, with one final cheer, Estelle ran over to her, gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and then ran past all of us to go upstairs to her room. I, however, couldn’t accept this, not at all!

I moved over to sit where Estelle was sitting on the other side of the table and looked at mom. “Are you serious? Mom, you know this is a dragon, right? One that can shoot beams of water across a whole valley as if it was just spitting on the ground, right?”

“Yes,” she said, and then stretched her hand to grab a cup of tea. “I don’t see a problem.”

“You don’t see—!” I tried to argue back but got caught in my own words and looked at dad. “Dad! Surely you see the issue here!”

“I must admit that it does make me worried,” he said with a nod.

“Then we can’t just go—”

“But if your mom says that you can go with the dragon, then I trust her completely,” he confidently said, smiling at mom.

Mom smiled back but continued drinking her tea. I looked between the two of them, my mouth hanging open in disbelief. I knew that mom was kinda weird, but I had no idea that she had my dad wrapped around her finger like that! There had to be a way to convince them that this was a bad idea, but I ran out of time when Estelle walked back down from her room with a leather backpack on her back and a bright smile on her face.

“Okay! Time to go, Astor!” she cheerfully said and skipped a couple of steps to be right by the door.

“Now hold on a minute, I don’t agree to—”

“Astor,” mom said, and I turned to look at the stern look she was giving me. “You’re not planning on letting your little sister go alone, are you?”

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“I—I—well—”

I tried to argue back, but mom’s golden eyes suddenly started glowing, and I swallowed everything I had to say. There was no way for me to deny her when she looked at me like that… So, I sighed, stood up, and made my way over to my room to get my things ready, before setting out with Estelle.

* * *

“Come on! Hurry up!” Estelle shouted from a long distance away up the mountain.

I huffed and heaved as I looked at her energetic back, going just as strong as when we left home. It was like trying to keep up with a storm with the amount of strength, and energy that girl had—and I was by no means a slow one either, but it was as if the slope of the mountain didn’t exist for her.

“C-coming!” I shouted with what little breath I had.

Estelle didn’t seem to listen to me, and just kept rushing higher and higher. Seeing her go off, I sighed, took a deep breath, and gathered as much wind magic as I could to my feet. With one final release, the wind exploded below me, and I flew over the trees to try to catch up to her.

Doing such a thing wasn’t a good idea, and that was because it was hard to control where you were going to land, but since I didn’t know any proper flight magic, at this pace, I was going to lose sight of her. I might have not really wanted to come with her and befriend a dragon, but that didn’t mean I was willing to leave her alone up here.

“Astor, what are you—Huh?!” she exclaimed once she noticed me coming straight for her.

“Watch out!” I shouted, and right as I was about to land on her, she quickly dashed to the side, and I fell face first into a puddle of mud.

Estelle burst out laughing. “What were you thinking?! Are you that excited to befriend the dragon as well!?”

Laughter continued to echo through the forest, and I lifted my head from the ground, spitting all the dirt that got in my mouth. The roles had reversed from last time… “You were going too fast, and I had to catch up.”

“Is that so? You might be getting into better shape after this. Who knows, maybe there’s some special power that the dragon can grant you for coming all the way with me,” she said, stepping to the side and walking past me.

I cleaned my face, and quickly stood back up. I wasn’t going to be left behind like that again, so I caught up with her, and moved as close to her as I could.

It didn’t take much longer before we finally reached The Dragon’s Pond, as my sister called it. Nothing had changed from the last time we were here, and like last time, I decided to stay back and allow my sister to take the lead.

That is not to say that I was just going to run away if things ever got dangerous, but… Well, she was stronger than me, so if we needed to run, she was going to be able to move past me before I could, so the best option was for me to stay closer to the exit route. It had nothing to do with being afraid of that enormous, powerful, and possibly dangerous dragon. It was just in case.

Estelle didn’t mind it at all as she confidently strode over to the edge of the lake. She looked at the surface for a moment, and I could notice that her gaze was going from the few moving fishes to the depths of the clear waters.

Time passed, and nothing happened. The anxiety I was feeling about this trip was starting to fade when the idea that the dragon might just simply not show up got in my mind, and I decided to get to her to tell her that we should leave, but after just one step, I felt the ground tremble.

It was coming. I quickly stepped back and took cover behind the same boulder as last time as I kept my eyes on both Estelle and the shifting waters of the lake.

My sister’s gaze got intense as she looked at the moving water, and then, just as suddenly as last time, the dragon popped out of the water. Estelle remained quiet as the dragon moved up to the sky with its floating rivers of water and repeated the same thing it did last time.

However, as it turned around to go back into the lake, my sister jumped and waved her arms in the air. “Hey!”

“No, no, no, what are you thinking?!” I whispered to myself, incredulous at her recklessness of calling the attention of a dragon.

However, despite my sister’s loud voice, the dragon seemed to not notice—or care—as it continued to go down. Realizing that she was being ignored, Estelle furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance and shouted once more, “Hey! Listen to me!”

There was no reaction from the dragon, and it continued moving as if nothing was talking to it. I was about to walk over to her to tell her to give up, but a sudden burst of magical aura caused me to remain in place. She was letting out as much power as she could, so much so, that I could see the air around her turn into a pale blue hue, with heat coming from her skin.

The aura continued growing for a while, and then it changed shape and went for the dragon. It was when it finally touched it that the dragon finally stopped moving and turned its head to look at my sister. She confidently smiled and took a step forward, however, this time, she didn’t say anything.

As the aura touched the dragon, it closed its eyes and a new blue aura came out of it, which seemed to push back my sister’s aura. My sister appeared surprised at first, but then she did as the dragon did and closed her eyes as well.

Their auras shifted place around each other, and I could feel the pressure coming from it. A lot of power was moving in the air.

At a certain point, they separated from each other, and both retrieved their powers. Once it was quiet once more, the two of them opened their eyes and looked at each other.

Estelle was smiling, while the dragon was simply looking at her.

I swallowed heavily, and waited for the next thing to happen, wondering if she had somehow managed to befriend the dragon after doing that.

After a moment of looking at each other the dragon lifted again, appearing grander than before as it looked down at Estelle, and her, just as confident as ever. However, something strange happened right after—so strange, that even I could feel it.

I looked up to the sky, at the place where the feeling was coming from, and Estelle did the same; the confident smile on her face now gone. The dragon also appeared to have felt something odd when it also looked up to the sky, only to then let out a loud roar, followed by an extremely powerful magical aura and bright blue shield above as it moved forward, its large shape creating a shadow that covered Estelle.

This wasn’t good. I came out of my hiding spot and ran to Estelle. We had to get out of here. “Estelle!”

I couldn’t take more than a handful of steps before the dragon painfully roared, and then, was suddenly split in half. I looked with widened eyes as the powerful beast was easily cut, and a large sword continued falling from between the split, bloody pieces.

The blade’s shadow was far too fast for me or Estelle to react to, so when it fell, it pierced Estelle right through her chest.