Blinding light. That was all Azura saw as the carefully crafted spell circle was activated. The very world around him began to fracture as torrents of natural mana rushed in from the spirit gates. The extra circles guided the magic, and the air became thick with the pulsing energy. He could barely breathe the magic was so dense, yet he continued to push forward. Not hesitating for even a second on the most complex spell he had ever witnessed. The magic was tearing him apart, just as he thought he wouldn’t be able to manage this much magic power on his own, he materialized 2 copies of himself. As had been his limit at the time.
Between 3 of him, the overwhelming magic became bearable, though still more intense than anything he had experienced before or after. The very air shook as cracks in reality began to form. Fragments of a world that would never be. Through them he saw what could have been. Him and his brother training together happily. He saw his family becoming whole, but he saw bad things too. He saw shadows overrun the world. He saw violet flames turn black, and devour everyone who sought to stop them.
He saw the deaths of everyone he cared about, and then he saw himself. His eyes widened. He saw himself as he was now helplessly watching this very moment, but that wasn’t all, he saw a much older version of him as well. Desperately attempting the very same spell he was attempting. Or rather the same one he had already attempted. The him of years ago however paid it all no mind. He and his copies diligently focused on controlling the insanely dense magic, to bend reality in the very specific way he wanted it to bend.
He could see so clearly the vision of the world he set to create, despite knowing the contrary he couldn’t help but feel just for a second that he may succeed. Those hopes were dashed as the door flung open revealing his mother who’s eyes had widened in panic. Her long white hair reached all the way to her hips. Her startlingly blue eyes shone with shock and fear. Her fancy white dress rippled in the torrential wind caused by the dense magic. The movement of the fabric causing the silver patterns to look almost alive. “Azura! What are you doing!” She screamed. Everything about her conveyed her worry. From the fear in her eyes to the hesitance in her stance. He knew she must be terrified for him.
“I’m fixing what I broke! It was my fault mom, but I can fix it, I can make everything better again.” The world shook once again. The pulsing power causing distortions as objects in the room seemed to disappear at random, replaced by similar, but different things. Only the magic circle and its components staying firmly rooted in the current reality.
“It won’t work! What’s done can not be undone. There are so many things you don’t yet understand! Azura, I need you to listen to me! Please stop this. There is always a cost, what will you give up for this?” He couldn’t feel them, numb to the sensations of his current self, but he knew he was crying even if the him from the past still remained confident in his own success.
“It’s fine! I know what I’m doing. You’ll see, we can be a family this time. I’ll fix it, I’ll fix all of it!” He saw determination fill his mother’s eyes, and he knew what was going to happen next. It was too late. The spell was too far along to be stopped, at least not without sacrificing something with the ability to store extreme amounts of magic… Or someone.
“You don’t understand now, but someday you will. There are some things we all must do, and it seems my time has come to fulfill my final duty. You can’t change the past, all you can do is keep moving forward. Please remember that no matter what. That more than anything else will decide your future.” His mother smiled serenely. As the whipping winds and shattering of reality all stopped. Everything started happening in reverse as she absorbed all the magic into herself before releasing it back to where it belonged. Devoid of the magic it was drawing on, the light from the circle began to fade.
“No please! I can’t. Not you too. I can’t bear it please, just let me finish! I can make things right!” It was too late. She had already begun. Only now did the reality fully dawn on the him from his memories. “Please, don’t leave me here alone.” Finally tears began forming in the eyes of all present in the memory.
“Silly child. You aren’t alone, and so long as you chose not to be you never will be. Don’t blame yourself, this was my choice. You simply made a mistake. Everyone stumbles sometimes, all you have to do is get up.” She smiled warmly at him one last time before her body began to glow a bright white. Then the light scattered to the wind like ashes leaving him all alone in the empty room. He screamed.
***
Luna had a bit more trouble making it back to the portal than she had anticipated. She was carefully carrying the egg that had been left in the ashes the Celestial phoenix had left behind when she dissolved. The egg was deceptively heavy, and was a deep black with glittering galaxies flitting across its surface. The egg was only a little bigger than her head, but probably weighed close to 80 pounds. Not particularly difficult for her to carry, but she wouldn’t have guessed just by looking at it.
The weight wasn’t the real issue though, the real issue was having to use both hands to carry it. She didn’t know if it was fragile or not, but carrying it in her bag felt like a risk. Unfortunately that meant her way back to the portal was extremely tedious. Thanks to clairvoyance, she was able to avoid any enemies, but at the cost of several detours.
Thankfully she made it to the portal before time had run out, and after a quick conversation to register her familiar, and having the egg checked to confirm her story she was released to talk to the others. Though she and the others were starting to worry. There were only 2 hours left, and while some had come back empty handed, Azura was the only one who hadn’t returned yet.
“A celestial phoenix? One old enough to break a curse like that no less. That’s so cool! I can’t wait for it to hatch! I’ve never seen an x rank monster before!” She was glad for Roran’s enthusiasm, it pushed back some of the gloom caused by Azura having yet to return. Still part of her wondered just what kind of creature he was after that even he was struggling to this extent.
“I’m not sure when she will hatch, but I hope it’s soon, it’s a little awkward carrying this egg around.” Still carrying the egg was a small price to pay for all that Stella had done for her.
“I imagine it will be well worth it once she hatches though.” Funny enough Katy seemed to be the calmest about Azura taking so long. Her familiar was curled up on her lap and purring softly. “So we’ve got a bunch of rare creatures including a demon and a phoenix, any bets on what kind of monstrosity Azura brings back?”
“No way, he’ll probably bring some kind of super creature no ones ever heard of. I’m not taking any kind of bet about what kind of crazy stuff he’ll pull.” She chuckled. Lily certainly had a point. Azura had a habit of doing things in an… unorthodox manner. Surrounded by friends like this, she was really glad she had defied her parents.
***
Azura stared woodenly at the great dragon in front of him. “Your mind still in one piece, young one?” Should it be? He wondered how much of his anger at his father was simply because he didn’t consciously know how much of it originated from his own self hatred. He didn’t like his father by any means, but it seemed like most of his problems were brought on by none other than himself.
“I’m… not sure. I feel shattered, but whole in a way I haven’t in a long time.” Some light returned to his eyes, as he turned to the ceiling as if he could see the sky behind it. With his memories unsealed, it had all come back. Not just the scene he was forced to relive, but everything else that had been blocked as well. His father had found him after the incident. So desperate to receive punishment, to pay for the crimes he had unintentionally committed. He told his father everything, but as usual his father didn’t do what he wanted.
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That man and him truly never could agree it would seem. After hearing of his atrocities, his father had walked away without a word. The next day he heard the ‘news’ of the tragic incident that had taken the life of his mother and brother. How they were attacked by spellswords on a trip to the capital. They never spoke of what really happened. Well at that time he never spoke with anyone. It wasn’t long before whatever the being had done to seal his memories had taken effect, and he had started to believe that the cover story was the truth.
It wasn’t long after that when he first met Katy. She had been frail and broken when he had found her back then, it was almost hard to believe the person she was now and that skin and bones child were the same person. Katy had become another sister, and between her and his actual sister he had been able to pull himself from the depths of his despair. He had broken from the weight then, and only having it sealed away had allowed him the strength to fix himself,... but he wasn’t the same person he was back then. Perhaps he wasn’t strong enough to shed the weight of his guilt, not yet. But he could carry it. He wouldn’t let it crush him this time.
A new resolve filled his eyes. He couldn’t change the past, but he could help improve the future. It was the least he owed to those that died because of his arrogance. “One piece or not though, I’m not broken.” His reignited gaze met the eyes of the ancient creature. “I don’t imagine I have much time left to find the portal, so I’d like to meet my new familiar now if that’s ok.”
The cave shook with the mighty beast’s echoing laughter. “So alike, yet so different. How interesting. You remind me so much of my daughter. It’s really a shame how she died, but looking on from the beyond now, I can’t imagine she regrets her decision.” Part of him was curious about his father’s familiar, but he got the feeling even if the dragon told him, he wouldn’t hear a word of it. “Very well, come with me. My son is young and rambunctious, but I imagine the 2 of you will get along just fine. After all ….” The words blurred together. It bothered him that he had become used enough to the strange white noise to simply ignore it.
“I have no idea what you said at the end, but I’m sure it will be very important at some point in the future.” The dragon had begun leading him deeper into the caves. Garrion reminded him of someone, but he couldn’t place who. He eventually decided to put it to the back of his mind with the rest of the mysteries that were flying out of the woodworks. “So will I be granted a dragon name too? He didn’t know what he’d do if he was. He didn’t really want one, but being granted a dragon name would null his contract, with the ice dragon. Since he had sworn on the name of Azura.
The dragon laughed again. “I’m afraid there is much you don’t know. I can only say that me granting you a dragon name would be a grave insult. Keep in mind after being named, Tiamat is for all intents and purposes a dragon, as far as our customs are concerned at least. Granting a name to his child would be a grave enough insult even if we ignore the factors you do not yet know.”
He owed Katy an apology. He now knew what it must feel like to talk to him. Half truths and vague answers abound, and he couldn’t even call them out. He took a deep breath to quell his impatience. He knew better than most that recklessly searching for answers was just as dangerous as remaining willfully ignorant. “Very well, I had merely hoped to avoid an unfair contract I had been forced into.”
“Ah so that’s the dragon magic I felt on you is it. I can remove it, but are you sure that’s what you want? Slighted dragons don’t tend to let grudges go, and I can offer no more assistance than its removal.” how interesting, he wasn’t aware that breaking a blood oath without killing yourself or completely eradicating your magic circuits was possible. They could be circumvented since you were bound to the wording, but not broken.
“I assume you don’t mean by killing me yourself right?” With elder dragons it always paid to be careful. He had a habit of being rather reckless sometimes, but he did know when caution was necessary… most of the time at least.
A light chuckle… at least light for the giant dragon. “No need for such things. I am one of the primordial dragons, canceling a contract from a regular dragon is child's play. However they will feel the severance of the contract, and will know that it was not by death. Doing so may very well earn you an enemy.” As much as he didn’t want a dragon for an enemy, he wasn’t confident he would be able to make the deadline he had been given. Perhaps if he made the promised items still, and just gave them late the dragon would forgive the breaking of the contract. Especially given the fact if he died from the contract then the dragon would have gotten nothing.
“It’s not ideal, but if you could break the contract for me I’d be very grateful.” He really hoped this didn’t backfire on him. He had the feeling he was going to have plenty on his plate without an angry dragon to deal with.
***
Even Katy was starting to worry now. There was less than 30 minutes left, and Azura still hadn’t appeared. All of their new friends were with her in the wide space waiting for their last member. “You guys don’t think he’s hurt do you?” Luna’s voice was laced with concern. She could definitely sympathize with her there. Azura had a habit of losing track of time, but surely even he wouldn’t risk something like that at a time as important as this.
“No way. Azura has more tricks up his sleeve than a band of con artists. At this point I’m convinced even if he was killed he’d have some bs that brought him back to life.” Lily did her best to sound confident, but to someone who had to deal with some of the best poker faces in the world almost all day everyday seeing through Lily’s was a cake walk.
“He’s probably just waiting to make an extra dramatic entrance.” Their conversation shifted from light hearted to genuinely worried as the time ticked on. Still even as the clock went down to its final minute she didn’t lose hope. She would never admit it, but she was really grateful for the others. She didn’t know if she could stomach this tension without them.
Then finally their patience was rewarded. Right as the portal started to close there was a brief crack in reality as Azura fell out of a multi-colored crack in the ceiling. With a silver dragon about the size of a large dog landing on his back. He groaned presumably at the dragon slamming into his back. “Reign, please get off of me.” The silver dragon hopped off of him and began looking around the room.
“Oh, are these the friends you said were probably worrying? Why does one of them smell like a demon? Also a spirit contract with a cat? You really need to make better friends.” Her surprise at the speaking dragon was quickly overtaken with annoyance. As she thought Azura bonded with something ridiculous. A true dragon, but couldn’t have found one that wasn’t so rude. The dragon sounded young, but that didn’t really help with identifying his age.
“I seem to recall you bonding with me, so wouldn’t that be an insult to you as well?” Azura had stood up and brushed off imaginary dirt from his clothes. As if he didn’t have enchantments to stop dirt from sticking already. Waste of time if you asked her, but he never did.
“Obviously I’m one of the better friends you need to be making.” The dragon raised his head high, as he spoke. “Oh I like this one though, she has an interesting light about her.” The dragon walked up to Luna, clearly unworried about walking between the 2 he had just insulted.
Roran’s loud laughter interrupted her, and probably Lily from saying something to the rude little thing. “Ridiculous indeed. Katy was certainly right about that. A silver dragon. There are only 2 known ones left in existence, and since this clearly isn’t either of those I’m guessing it’s their offspring?!” Roran was his usual excitable self. Running around the dragon to observe it from all angles.
The dragon suddenly puffed up even more. “Yes I am Reign, son of Garrion, and Lumus. Brother of Eos. Though my sister died before I met her, I have been informed that her exploits were legendary.” Legendary was right, she wasn’t much for history, but even she knew about Eos. The dragon had supposedly stopped an entire army in their tracks. Single handedly taking out most of the normal soldiers so the mages could focus on the elites.
She walked up beside Azura who was watching the unfolding scene. He gave a suffering sigh as Reign boasted to anyone that would listen. “So wishing you picked something normal yet?” She elbowed him with mirth.
“I honestly might have preferred a regular chipmunk. I bonded with him almost 40 minutes ago, but he wouldn’t let us leave until I ‘fully grasped the importance’ of having him as my familiar.”
She laughed, Azura may have just gotten the worst possible personality type for him to deal with. “So he acts like standard nobility?” The withering glare she received in response was totally worth it.