Early Afternoon - Mid Summer : Emporio, Bahamut

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*vwoop* *inhale* "Haaah…" Taking in a large breath of refreshing, mana-rich air as a cool breeze wrapped around my body, the shell of darkness surrounding Ilios and I started to dissipate. -What a beautiful day…-

Quickly orienting myself, I looked down to see that I was a few kilometers over Emporio, with countless dragons bustling around, seemingly preparing something. -Is there gonna be a festival or something?-

The lively atmosphere of the town immediately made me curious about what was going on, but sadly I didn’t have time for such a detour. -Maybe I can ask Galen about it when I get back.-

Quickly turning back to the horizon with a smile on my face, I momentarily closed my eyes and took another deep breath. "Haaah…" But before I activated my thruster magic, I noticed Ilios doing exactly as I did with a look of satisfaction on his face. -Hmm…- I almost immediately released the hydrogen accumulating behind me. "What do you think of taking our time to enjoy the flight today?"

He immediately lowered his head to look at me with sparkling eyes as his fur majestically blew in the wind. *fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip*

His wagging tail told me all I needed to know. "Haha, in that case, let's take our time, alright?"

"Woof!" He proudly pointed his nose to the sky again as I finally leveled out and started flying toward the mainland at a more casual pace.

*Fwoosh* *Fwoosh* *Fwoosh* The flight itself was truly relaxing, the rhythmic flap of my wings, the beautiful weather, and the stunning view of the canal and its bountiful life all combined to create an incredibly calming experience.

Before I even realized it, we had essentially crossed the canal, with the forested beach of the mainland being easily visible.

But just as we were flying over the beach itself, my thoughts were interrupted by something entering my aura. -Hm?-

It was a ball of ice, around a meter wide, hurtling toward me.

Wondering where it came from, I looked just past it, but only saw a group of four young dragons, likely around Krystallo’s age looking up at me with playfully devious grins. -Ah, that’s how it is…-

As if sparked by the sight, several old, extremely faded memories from my childhood on Earth resurfaced in my mind, and a sly smile crept onto my face. -Hehe…-

*FWOOOSH* As the ball came hurtling through my aura, I readied a large amount of mana and reached out to tap it.

*crackle* It shattered the moment it hit my claw, but an instant later, I used a substantial amount of mana to rip every ounce of energy out of the cube and the air around it. *CRACKLE*

The cube instantaneously grew countless times in size as the vapor in the humid air around it crystallized.

The ice itself was incredibly brittle since it formed so spontaneously, but it was exactly what I wanted.

*crackle* Shattering the ice that froze around my paw, I used my aura to stop the ball's momentum and let it fall back to the ground.

-Hehe, have fun trying to dodge that!- As the glacier-sized chunk of ice started falling back to the ground, I turned back to the horizon with a widened smile of satisfaction. -Understanding consequences is an invaluable asset. Those kids just don’t know it yet~!-

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- Kostas Aetos ~

It was a beautiful afternoon when my friends and I got together to play a new game that had come around recently called Truth or Dare.

At first, the game was pretty lame since everyone continuously chose truth, but after a while, things escalated beyond what we could have ever imagined.

Eventually, we found ourselves all the way out at the edge of the canal leading to Emporio, a place our parents forbade us from ever going.

None of us knew exactly why we could never come here, but we all simply assumed it had to do with the monsters. -But I am a great Aetos! What monster would I have to fear?-

With the power of magic, I felt unstoppable.

"Alright, Kostas; truth or dare?" Romano, one of my closest friends, looked me in the eyes with a scheming smile.

Up until now, he was the one to dish out the most insane dares.

But that’s what made me excited. -He thinks he can get me to give up? Laughable!- "Dare!"

His smile widened with confidence immediately. "The next dragon that flies over us, hit it with your ice magic."

-Hoh?- It was a good one, one could definitely get me in trouble. -But so what? Even big merchant groups can’t afford to offend us!- "Challenge accepted!" I spoke with confidence as we got up to walk out from under the canopy of the forest.

"Hahaha, I bet it’ll be a merchant group or some noble’s servant! Did you forget where we are?!" Peter, the only non-noble with us, was laughing up a storm while we walked with a voice full of doubt.

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But it only fueled my determination.

As we walked out onto the beach, we all looked up to try and find a dragon and coincidentally found one about to pass right over us.

"Such dark scales, to think you would luck out with a half-breed." Peter's previously boundless excitement dulled quickly.

But Romano wasn’t so disappointed. "So what if it’s a half-breed? Look how high they are! He’s gonna miss, hahaha!"

I wanted to grit my teeth when I heard them laugh. "You dare doubt my abilities?! I'm a great Aetos; there is nothing I can't do!"

That was when Alena, the girl I liked at the time, joined in. "Haha, if you actually hit that halfie, I will treat you like an emperor for the day!"

Although her words were meant as a joke, they fed my confidence like stoking the flames of a fire. "Hmph!" Quickly trotting out into the shallow water, I looked up at the halfie and did my best to figure out where I needed to aim. -He is really high, but.. I can definitely reach him.-

*crackle* Finally creating the ball of ice from the salty water of the canal, I froze it to the tip of my tail and walked back onto the beach.

"Hoooh…" I let out a deep breath as I spread my wings and braced my legs.

The next few seconds passed in complete silence as everyone watched me intently.

-Just a little more…- I watched the halfie with a look of determination. -nnnnnnNOW!- *FWOOSH* Flapping my wings as hard as I could, I threw myself into the air before pulling back and swinging my tail around as fast as possible. "HYUP!"

*FWOOOSH* The ball left my aura almost instantly.

*fwip-Thump* I felt my whole body tense up as I landed and looked up to see how fast it was going. -Nooo!-

Romano burst out laughing, noticing it as well. "Pffft-HAHAHA! TO THINK YOU WOULD WHIFF THAT HARD!"

But the laughing ceased a moment later when the halfie went to pass through the ball's vapor trail, and instead of the ball disappearing behind them, it was highlighted on the dragon's indescribably dark scales.

The dragon was significantly bigger and higher than we expected, but while it made me unusually nervous, I would have rather died than shown it. "HAH! I told you I wouldn’t miss!"

A moment later, the ball hit the dragon square in the chest and exploded into a cloud of mist. It was a perfect throw.

But before I could celebrate, the bad feeling in my stomach worsened, and my surroundings went dark as if a thick cloud had blocked the sun. -H..huh?-

"RUUUUN!!!" Romano was the first to yell.

In an instant, a mountain-sized chunk of ice had formed right over us.

""AHHHH!!"" Peter and Alena yelled in unison as they both dashed for the forest.

But the mountain of ice was far too big to escape by simply running or flying.

Thoughts raced through my mind faster than I thought possible at that moment, but every plan I could possibly think of became irrelevant the moment the huge chunk of ice touched the water.

*SPLA-CRACKLE* The water around where it touched froze instantly before being plunged under the water.

-H..how…- The ball of ice I had just created used nearly a tenth of the mana I had. -H..how much mana did that dragon use to make something so cold…-

As a kid, I couldn’t even begin to fathom how insane such a feat it was, but it was still far more than enough to paralyze me.

As the water progressively froze before being plunged under the surface, I stood paralyzed and watched in awe.

By the time the ice spread to shore, going as far as freezing a wave as it was crashing, the fear of death wasn’t even an afterthought.

I simply felt the appearance of an indescribable spark deep within my mind. "W..wow…"

*SPLAAASH-CRACKLE* *BANG-CRUMBLE*

-

- Vasilias ~

"Alright, is everyone ready?" Mother spoke as she walked out of the back of the estate, but even though we were all the way in the field, we could hear her clearly.

"I believe so." I momentarily turned to Krystallo who was balancing a box full of artifacts on her head. "You ready?"

"Mhm!" She responded immediately.

It had been a few hours since I returned at that point, and while I tried to help Krystallo prepare her things so she could lounge around a bit more before we left, she refused to even let me in her room, leaving me to spend most of the time chatting with Chloe.

But it wasn’t like that time was wasted. Chloe was actually able to tell me about what was happening in Emporio.

Supposedly some big merchant group was destroyed a while ago because it was found to be connected to the rebellion, and their entire inventory was going to be sold off in several auctions, so countless dragons were gathering in Emporio for the chance to buy things that normally couldn't be bought with money. -But to think there were that many dragons when this is only the third auction… Is it other merchant groups trying to snag a deal?-

But while I was a little curious about it, I wasn’t about to run off and satiate that curiosity myself.

"Sorry to keep everyone waiting!" As Mother made it to us, she carefully shifted around the few boxes on her back before turning to Chloe and Maria off to the side. "Chloe, Maria, if we need to slow down, please let us know, okay?"

"Okay!" Chloe immediately gave a joyous nod as a spark of excitement came to her eyes, with Maria just nodded while giving her an odd look.

"Haha, alright! Then, let’s get going, shall we?" *Fwooosh*

Quickly taking to the sky, we all followed after Mother and Father.

Our route was exactly as we discussed, heading north and wrapping around Emporio, before turning inland once again, and although the flight was not short, things went smoothly.

But, by the time we finally started getting close, the sun had long since set behind the horizon, along with the moon, and wrapped the ground beneath us in a blanket of darkness.

Thankfully, I was still able to see despite the darkness, but I’m not sure if that was truly a blessing.

Still several minutes away, I idly looked over the wildlife roaming the ground below but momentarily had my attention dragged to a light on the horizon.

At first, I assumed it was just another noble estate we were going to fly over and ignored it, but once we got a bit closer, I looked back up at it just to have my eyes go wide. "W..what the…" -What the hell is that…-

"Hehe~, you like what you see?" Mother glanced at me as she let out a playful chuckle.

Around a hundred kilometers away was an absolutely indescribable structure that completely dwarfed our own estate. -How.. Is that even architecturally possible…- Spanning well over six kilometers in either direction, the structure was nothing short of a colossal art piece. "W..what is that place?"

"Well, that's where we will be staying. It is your grandmother’s estate." She spoke completely casually, as if the structure in front of us was normal.

-That.. Is an estate?!-

Everyone except Mother and Father stared at the estate in awe.

"Ah, before we land I should give you two a fair warning." Mother looked back at Krystallo and me with a slightly worried expression. "Your grandmother has always really wanted grandchildren, so.. be careful..."

I was taken aback without even realizing it. -W..what's with the ominous tone…-