I watch as the man walks past me and sits down near some paper and begin to... is he writing with magma? What the, how?
As I come closer and look at what he's writing, I notice there are three others in the tent. I pay them a glance before returning to look at the paper. The magma flows off of his gauntlet, which in hindsight is made of magma, and into the form of what I assume are letters from their alphabet. He writes downwards like you can in some Asian languages like Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese but the symbols look Latin in shape. I suppose this doesn't really matter since as far as I know they don't have any of those languages or cultures here. It is intriguing to know how they write though, if for nothing other than for when I am able to write. It gets boring quickly so I look around and what else is here. There are at least twenty different blocks with symbols on different sides. Hmm, it could be the alphabet so I might as well check how many there are.
The first block has a symbol on all six sides, the second and third do too. The fourth I pick up doesn't have one on all sides so I make it the 'end' of the alphabet. I find that there are 25 in total. Only one of them didn't have six symbols. So, 24*6, 120 + 24, 144. Right? Right. Wait, no. How many did the last one have again. I look at the multiple blocks around me and search for the one without six. Eventually I find it and I count 3 symbols. So 147 'letters' in their alphabet. Unless some aren't letters... they could be punctuation, mathematical symbols or even-
A voice. I turn to the man who has finished his writing. He points his open hand in front of him. Looks like it's time to learn.
I sit in front of him and wait for it to start. It's time to learn a language.
The first thing I notice is that all 147 symbols are on the paper in 21 sections with 7 in each section except two, those two have 12 and 2 in them. Weird. Why cubes then? Weird. I also notice there are shapes and symbols, symbols that I recognise the shape of. They are elements. Not the ones on the periodic table but the fantasy ones like Fire, Wind, Earth, Water, etc. Am I going to learn magic? So soon in my new life?
Only when he speaks once more do I reign my stray thoughts in.
I can't understand the words but as he soon remembers this.
He changes his posture slightly and points at a symbol, the symbol for Fire. Or what I think is fire. Then he brings his hand up, an action that brings my attention to it. I see blue lines appear in the man's arms. Almost like veins but they seem controlled. I watch as more of the blue flows towards his hand until it is sent out of his hand. Then something interesting happens. The tips of the streams turn to a red. A fiery red.
A pulse comes out of the hand, echoing in the surrounding. A call of some sort. One that is responded to quickly. The streams of color that overlap the world rushed in and rushed out and sort of 'tapped' the streams in the hand. I watch as the area is flooded with the streams until a red one connects. Then all other color left the immediate area and only the fiery red connected and took the shape of an orb. Then a fire appeared.
I suddenly feel... uncomfortable? Annoyed?
I wonder why.
I hear the man speak. He says a word, one that I cannot understand but one that I attempt to replicate. The first try is still a chirp but I try to twist my tongue slightly to make a different sound. It works. A deeper chirp comes out when I move my tongue back slightly. I keep going, trying different movements to different sounds. Once I think I have a good enough 'vocabulary' of chirps I look over at the man and gesture towards the still burning flame.
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It takes a moment but he understands and repeats the word, slower this time.
Hours upon hours pass as I attempt to replicate the sound. Eventually, after a day passes I say the sound well enough that the man nods.
He points to different symbols and speaks, I attempt to replicate them each time and when I don't do it well enough he repeats it. When I get one right, he does a different one. It goes on and on until the third day and the 113th symbol. I could tell the days were passing not just because of the moon and sun but because the man would stop and swap to an element and tried to get me to speak the word for that element. I now knew Fire, Water and Earth. Wind I have yet to learn.
A rustling sound from behind me drags the attention of not only me but the man, to the entrance. A humanoid, taller than the man I've talked to for the last few days, walks in. They have heavy armor on them and a helmet under their arm. Their face is mostly androgynous and I am unable to tell whether they are a he or a she. Both are words I have yet to learn in this language.
The armored humanoid says something and I hear a word similar to the shouting I had heard my first day here. Is that the word for Dragon? I look over at the man I have been talking to and say the word while pointing at myself with a claw. He looks surprised but he nods.
I nod back and a faint smile appears. Pride seems to leak from him, is he proud of me and how far I've come or of how well he's taught me? I don't know.
They return to the conversation the armored one began and I listen in as I attempt to understand what it's about. I hear snippets. Things like 'Fire', 'Dragon', I hear some things that sound off, perhaps names or a different language?
The conversation continues for a while before I give up trying to understand and walk over to the blocks to practice the sounds of the symbols. It takes me a minute or two to find the symbols I learned but I get them into an order eventually. Time to practice.
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5 Minutes Ago.
I look over at the man who came into the tent. Curious as to why an Imperial commander would be here. Well, besides the fact that a living Dragon had been found.
"Is this the Dragon?"
I open my mouth to speak but I notice the Dragon turn to me.
"Dragon?"
It asks while pointing to itself.
I nod and it nods back.
I smile with pride. Dragons are incredibly fast learners as we have noted these past days.
'It makes my job as a teacher insanely easy. I had originally thought that this would be difficult. Perhaps the leaders of our expedition thought so too. No doubt why they asked for me with my reputation. Though, my expertise in teaching hadn't prepared me for this.'
"Yes, this is the Dragon."
I look back at the man, it was always hard to tell with Aether-born but there were tells. Shorter hair, darker eyes. There are more but I never bothered to learn them. Perhaps I should.
"The Empire would like to participate in its teaching regiment. I have been sent with some of our researchers and mages to help if we are welcomed."
He stays respectful and I can understand why. Dragons are a- were a myth. One legend among many told by the Seven. Yet here was one in front of us. And from what the Seven had told us, being respectful was the best decision.
"You are welcome as long as the personnel you have brought remain respectful. When the proxies of the Guild's get here you can build a new teaching regiment."
He nods.
"Thank you. May I ask about what you have learned?"
"May I ask why?"
"My curiosity and that is what the mages asked as well."
I nod.
He nods back.
"So far, we have found two things of note. We are unsure if they are unique to this individual or if it is a given to all Dragons as of yet. After all, we only know of one Dragon. The first is that they learn incredibly fast. The Dragon has already memorized 113 letters of the alphabet. Only 20 left and then we shall get into the numbers and the Tesha."
I look to make sure they're following. Once I see the nod I continue.
"The second is that we believe they can see Mana."
His eyes widen.
"Yes, although it is only speculation right now. I have used three basic spells to help the Dragon correlate an Element to a symbol. So far they know the words for Fire, Water and Earth. I used the basic spells like Ember Light, Water Ball and Earth Orb. Each time the Dragon's eyes would narrow during the cast. The casting only lasted a second so it wasn't obvious the first time but I confirmed it the second and third time. Their eyes narrow when I casted a spell and expanded again when I was done."
The man's mouth was wide open and for good reason.
For even the Seven couldn't see Mana.