Four years later...

Time does fly when we're having fun. Before I even knew it, I had turned thirteen a few weeks ago. We celebrated my thirteenth birthday, and we announced a public holiday for the citizens of Paxsalam on my birthday (I know, I am a really generous prince). I received some gifts from Felix and Aisha; they might not be fancy like the other gifts given by other ruling monarchs from other kingdoms, but I don't mind that, and I'm actually heartened that my two BFFs sent something to me.

However, I still have to run laps and avoid traps in the rainforest biome of our sanctuary. But I'm getting used to it now, and the traps are easier to avoid since Claude gave me a tip after four flipping years: "Some of the traps can't be seen. You will have to rely on your other senses and common sense to locate them."

Well, thanks, brother. That advice actually helped, and I'm not being sarcastic here.

I tried to use his advice in my next training. On one curvy road, there were logs that would fly at me when I was close. And they make a huge 'whoosh' sound when they're close. To counter them, I used my trusty hearing to detect where the sound was coming from, and when I confirmed the location that they were coming from, I leaped back, rushed forward, or dove before they could land a hit on me.

And there were a group of wooden statues; they were designed to look like a Chibi version of a soldier, and they would fire small rocks out of their wooden shotguns at me. You guys might ask, but Edward, they're just some tiny pebbles; what harm can they do to you? But dear readers, those wooden statues can actually fire those stones at a trillion kilometres an hour, and I remember getting a bruise from one. But there's a catch: to deactivate them, I will have to launch something at the statue's centre to shut them down (I know that thanks to an obvious red circle embedded on the statue's chest).

And that will be perfect for my training with magic as well as my aiming skills. I will use the first position to launch snowballs at the centre of the statues. The statues were preparing to fire those stones at me, and I have to act fast. I concentrated, aimed, and fired the snowballs, six at a time. Some of them did manage to hit the centre of some statues, and the statues that were hit had stopped shooting at me.

I tried to repeat the same thing again, but it was more difficult since the remaining statues had started to fire at me. And it was obviously more difficult for me to concentrate as I was getting hit. Come on, Edward, I told myself. Focus; the element won't work if the user isn't concentrating. I understand why Claude wants me to do those meditations; it's to make me concentrate and to ignore every disturbance in my surroundings while preparing to cast a spell, like statues firing stones at me.

I concentrated, ignoring all the pain in my body. I aimed my staff and the statues and fired the snowballs. They collided into the centre of the remaining Chibi soldier statues, and they stopped firing at me. I sighed in relief. I had deactivated all the statues; this is a major improvement for me!

I continued to run, and I recalled that this was halfway through the course. And the traps will get more irritating every time I am about to reach the end. All of a sudden, the ground beneath me collapsed, and I realised what it was: a pit trap. The depth was about three metres, or slightly deeper; they were almost impossible to discover until you stumble upon one, and I'm not sure whether I can climb out from there.

Time seemed to slow down as I fell slowly down the pit. And then, I had an idea. There's a position that can help me out of this. I aimed my staff towards the ground, which was the air at this point, and I chanted, "Element of Ice, Second Position, Freezing Point!". After I'd finished chanting, I landed in the pit. There's something different; the ground was cold. I looked down and saw that I was standing on top of a layer of ice.

"Yes!" I cheered, satisfied with myself; I had totally nailed it with the second position. I looked up; the surface wasn't that high, and I managed to climb out in no time. I kept on, prepared to face the other traps that lay ahead.

And... There were more pit traps. It was getting more annoying, falling into every single one that I've encountered. I would have to repeat the second position to avoid falling fully into the bottom of the pit. And eventually, I gave up on the 'freeze and get out' tactic; it was getting less efficient.

I stopped for a while and started thinking. How do you detect something that is almost invisible to the human eye? My senses can find the ones that were coming for me, not the ones that were waiting for me. With common sense, I remembered Claude's words on the tip that he gave me. I observed the ground, checking for any detail that I could use. I've noticed something: some parts of the soil looked jagged, while the other parts looked smooth. I turned back and realised that the soil for all those pit traps was jagged too.

I got it!

I started to walk slowly, walking only on the smooth parts and avoiding the jagged parts as much as possible. Yeah, it's way better and more relaxing this way, and I don't need to use any magic. After a few quiet minutes, I've managed to walk out safely from the pit trap field. I convinced myself that it's safe, and I had already passed the pit trap level.

I continued to run through the forest. After evading a few more traps, I stumbled upon a small group of conservationists. They all wore white coats, greyish long-sleeved trousers, and brownish hats. They kneeled and greeted, "Your Highness." I nodded, as I did when the servants in the palace submitted before me. "Rise." I said, and the conservationists did exactly that.

One of the conservationists stood forward and stared into my arms. "Your Highness, you're injured." I looked at my right arm, and I discovered some nasty cuts. I must have gotten them from those stones. "Don't worry, it's just a cost of training." I reassured her, "I get cuts like these most of the time during my training." The conservationist nodded. "Your Highness, may we have your permission to tend your cuts?"

I allowed the conservationists to heal the cuts on my arm. They took out their medical kit and took out some bandages; they must have known that medical supplies would come in handy, especially in tending to the to the wounds of a prince. "Your Highness, you should try to be more careful in your training. Injuries can get infected if they're left exposed." The conservationist said this as he placed a bandage on my arm.

I nodded in response, "Sir." "Professor, actually. Professor Burton." The conservationist corrected, "Right, Professor Burton. What brings you and your team to this sanctuary?" "Ah, I'm just introducing these newcomers to the sanctuary. Let them help me out by checking on the wildlife's' health and to make sure that the herbivores eat the endangered."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"RWAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!"

A bellowing cry in the forest interrupted our conversation. It was a roar in pain, and it was coming from the trees ahead of us. I froze from the shock. What could be making that roar? And should I check it out? That creature must be in serious pain right now, and I'm not the type of person who would leave someone or something to die. Without a second thought, I followed the cry into the forest. "Wait! Your Highness!" I heard Professor Burton call out from behind, and he and his team began to follow me.

The animals are making me freak out even more.

Flocks of rainforest birds soared overhead, a herd of deer rushed past me to avoid the location of the roar, and I barely managed to avoid them. The creature must be a fearsome beast, as the animals were panicking in a hurry. What if it was a carnivore and it was letting out a hunt roar? Should I continue? Or should I turn back? But the creature really sounded like it was in pain, and it could need help. And as I mentioned before, I would never leave an injured person behind.

I kept on, but I decided to tiptoe in case my predictions were wrong and to avoid letting the unknown creature notice me. "RWAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" The creature roared again. Okay, how about... I decided to crawl towards the sound; this is making my heart race. I feel that crawling is a safer way to approach this being. "Your Highness." I yelled and turned in the direction of the whisper. I sighed softly in relief when it was Professor Burton, and like me, he and his team were also low on the ground.

"Your Highness. You should go back; you could be approaching a very hostile creature right now." Burton whispered. "Go back? But the creature sounded like it was in pain. We should go and check it out first; it could be injured." "Tending wounded animals is our duty. So-"

"IT HURTS!!!!!!!" Our conversation was interrupted yet again by the creature. And wait, did it just speak? The creature spoke. I was lost in my thoughts, and I didn't realise that the creature was right ahead of me. And I was awestruck by how beautiful it is.

The scales glowed with the colours of a rainbow when sunlight shone onto them, acting like a prism. The tail was covered with spikes, suited for defence. The creature was at least fourteen metres in length. The head was similar to that of a monitor lizard, and the wings resembled the ones you see on bats, and it was at this moment that I knew what this was.

I was staring at a dragon.

"RWAAAHHHH!!!" The dragon roared. I don't know whether it noticed me or not, but I have to check on what was causing it so much pain. There are many species of dragons in the world. And there's this one, the Indian Quarterback. It is known as an intelligent dragon; it is one of the few dragons that are capable of human speech. I remembered these words from Claude's lessons about dragons. And he said that this is also one of the few dragons that are herbivores.

"A Indian Quarterback..." Burton said, awestruck by the appearance of the dragon. "It must be a migratory dragon that migrated here." The dragon has its eyes on me; it started to back up away from us, as if it were afraid of me. I also recalled that Indian Quarterbacks are also extremely shy and will retreat when they see, well, almost anything they think will harm them. It shivered, "No, no." It spoke, and it limped a few inches from where I stood.

Wait, it limped?

I started to notice the injury; there's a sharp object, and it is impaled through the dragon's thigh. It will definitely hurt when you have something impaling your leg. I can't let the dragon have this thing stuck in its thigh. But it always backs up every time I get close to it; it thinks that I'm a threat... I knew I would have to convince it that I'm harmless before I could heal its thigh.

I took a deep breath and spoke in a calm and friendly manner, "Hey big guy, it's alright." I held my hand in the air to show that I'm unarmed with weapons. "See? I'm friendly. I'm here to help." The dragon is staring at me; however, it seemed to see something in me that could be dangerous... I stared at my body. What could be potentially dangerous to me?

Oh, that must be what's causing the dragon to be nervous.

I took my magic staff and placed it on the ground. Okay, now I'm fully unarmed, and if it attacks, I will have no defence... but this is for the best. "Okay, no scary staff now." I started to approach it slowly, but the dragon still backed away. I turned to Burton and his team. Two of his members were holding tranquillizer shotguns. I gestured for the two to lower their weapons, and after a few seconds of hesitation, they placed their shotguns on the ground.

I tried to approach the dragon again, and this time, the dragon didn't back away. Alright, it seemed to have calmed down after I removed my staff. I looked at its thigh with the object impaling through, and as I began to approach the injured leg, the dragon backed up again. "No, no," it said.

Great, now what should I do to convince it to let me take the thing out?

I stood there and started thinking about some ideas to make it chillax when I pulled the thing out. Well, I guess I should go into full kid-friendly mode. "Big guy," I said, and I put on my most heartwarming smile, "I want to help." I did some hand gestures (which I'm horrible at) to make it understand me even more. "Help?" The dragon asked. I nodded. "Yes! Help; I want to help you." I stepped closer as I spoke, and I made sure I tried not to make some heavy steps that might spook the dragon.

"Let me help, please." I asked calmly, and the dragon titled its head curiously. "As friends?" I stepped closer to the dragon. "F-friends?" The dragon asked, and it didn't back off when I said that. "Yeah, we can be friends." I replied. "And friends, always help each other out." The dragon started to walk towards me, and for a second, I thought it was going to roar at me and bite our heads off. But instead, it showed me its injured leg.

There we go; it has fully trusted me. I examined the thigh, thinking about a way to get the thing out. And I can only think about one, which is to pull it out of the wound, and it can get dirty. "Okay, big guy, this will hurt." The dragon looked at me wide-eyed. "Hurt?" "Yes. I will want you to hang in there." I inhaled sharply and touched the object. The dragon stumbled, but it didn't back off. "Okay, now, on the count of three to one. Ready?" I asked, "Ready?" The dragon replied, but it seemed more like a question than a reply. "

"Three."

"Two."

"One..."

With all my strength, I pulled the object. The dragon grunted in pain. "Hang in there, buddy." I reassured it as I kept pulling, but I'm not strong enough to get it out. Then, with extra hands held onto the object, Burton and his team decided to help me pull the object out. "Together." Burton said as we all pulled the object with all our strength.

And thanks to our teamwork, we managed to pull the object out of the dragon's thigh. We all collapsed from our efforts, but we did it; we helped the dragon. The beast looked at its thigh, and the wound healed almost instantly. "There you go, bud." I checked the object out, wondering how the dragon had gotten this stabbing through its thigh, but it doesn't matter as long as we get it out.

"Thank you." The dragon said, and it bowed. I nodded, "Your welcome buddy," with Burton and his team bowing to the dragon in their form of "Never hurts to help." Out of nowhere, an idea materialised in my head: what if I gave it a name? Like a cool name for a friend?

What name would suit this dragon? Think. The dragon's voice sounds masculine, so a male's name would fit this guy. But what? I should name it after something I like, like the name of a pop singer, like Justin? Like the guy Justin Timberlake? Or... Elton or John? Like Elton John? But I am interested in this singer more, Chris Brown... Yeah, Chris.

"Hey, bud, would you like a name?" I asked the dragon. "A name?" The dragon asked. "Yeah, it's like what other friends call you; do you like the name, Chris?" "Chris." The dragon replied, and, well, he seemed to say the name as if he liked it. "Yeah, Chris, Chris the Dragon." "Chris the Dragon..." The dragon repeated. "Chris, Chris! Yes!" Yeah, the dragon sounded delighted by the name. "Alright, it's Chris then." I said, "You're welcome, Chris."