‘Miss Aziel!’ Alicia said.

Immediately, Alicia shoved aside the books that were burying her mentor. Seeing the rescue, Ignis decided to help along.

‘Miss Aziel! Are you alright?’ Alicia tried waking her up. ‘Is it alright if I poke you to check?’ She poked her anyway on the cheek, continuously until her mentor made a movement. ‘Miss Aziel!’

‘Ugh…’ she muttered. Aziel opened her eyes at a slow place. ‘It’s so bright…’

‘Miss Aziel, this spot is dim with hardly any light.’

‘Ugh…’ Aziel, the mage mentor with dark circles under her eyes, grabbed the books that had been shoved away and piled it atop her. Ignis wondered if books were to Aziel like gold to her: things comfortable to help with sleep.

‘Miss Aziel! No! Don’t bury yourself under the books!’

‘But it’s too bright…’

‘You’ll get used to it! Come on.’ Alicia grabbed Aziel’s wrist, pulling her arm. She tried to pull her out but had no strength to do so. ‘Ignis, help me out!’

Ignis grabbed the other arm. On the count of three they both pulled, but Aziel remained under the books, unbudging. Not being able to pull her out was a frustrating experience for Ignis. I can beat a horned bear, a kraken, and a giant spider but I can’t pull out a human from a pile of books?!

‘Miss Aziel, if you keep this up, I will have no choice but to tell my father that you’re slacking!’

That made her alert. ‘Slacking?’ she stood up. ‘No. I was… immersing myself in books. I wasn’t slacking. Not at all.’

‘You call this immersing yourself in books?’

‘Sometimes you need to do more than just read the books. Sometimes you must become the books.’

‘That doesn’t make sense at all!’

‘You’re too young to understand, I’m sure.’

Aziel was a tall woman, the tallest human that Ignis had seen thus far ever since she had been stuck in human form. She was perhaps a head taller than Fervor. Not to mention, the horns on her head added to her height. Is she also a dragon turned human?

‘Your horns look real,’ Aziel remarked upon looking at Ignis’s horns.

‘They are,’ Ignis answered. Aziel was about to poke her horns. ‘Touch them and I’ll burn you.’

‘Careful, Miss Aziel! Ignis could boil a whole lake into steam!’

‘She can? I’d like to see that. Hm… I worry that the books here might get burnt though. Some other time in some other place then. Anyway, what brings you here, Alicia?’

‘We want you to give Ignis a check!’

Alicia then told Aziel about Ignis’s current condition. How she was none other than the great fire dragon who had turned into a human and wanted to restore her original form back.

Aziel had listened to the story with an eyebrow raised, skeptical.

‘Ignis, the great fire dragon that is worshipped by many, had turned into a human—a little girl with the same age and stature as you? Right… You do realize this is considered heretical?’

‘But I’m telling the truth!’

‘That, I don’t doubt. But she could be lying.’

Lying? ‘I’m not a liar!’ Ignis said.

‘That’s what liars say. But, okay, I find this entertaining and will play along. Let’s go to the lab and check whether you’re a human or a dragon, shall we? I will check your mana capacity, your magic capability, and your horns.’

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***

The lab, Alicia explained to Ignis, was a place provided by Fervor for Aziel for her to run her magic experiments. He would sponsor her activities and in return any inventions of hers would be his to share with. The lab was a doorless wooden shack made of still-growing plants, located in an open grass field that was within the mansion’s area.

‘You can both stay outside; I’ll be right back.’ She tapped her finger on the wooden shack. The plant that made the shack moved, parting open, allowing Aziel entry.

‘Miss Aziel might look slouchy, but she’s a good mage,’ Alicia told Ignis. ‘She’s very knowledgeable and if anyone around can help you with restoring your true form, it’s her!’

‘That’s good to hear.’ Ignis was looking forward to getting her true form back; human form was too inconvenient.

Aziel came back outside, carrying a clear crystal ball with a cloth.

‘This is a mana measuring tool,’ Aziel explained. ‘It will shine according to your mana capacity when you touch it. See.’ She touched the crystal with her hand; it glowed a bright white. ‘If you are truly a dragon, then you should have more mana capacity than a human would. Show me.’

Aziel placed the crystal ball on the grass, within Ignis’s reach. Without further ado, she touched it and—nothing happened.

‘Well, that’s disappointing,’ Aziel remarked. ‘Just goes to show that you’re nothing but a—’

The crystal ball cracked. Then shattered to pieces—to dust. Then was blown away by the wind.

‘—liar…’ Aziel rubbed her dark-circled eyes, hardly believing what had happened.

‘What does that say about Ignis?’ Alicia asked Aziel.

‘That says… she has more mana than the crystal ball can measure… and it broke as a result… No. That can’t be. This crystal ball is old after all. Must’ve been its age. Let’s go onto the next test.’

‘Miss Aziel, you should admit it when you’re wrong…’

‘We’ll see. I want to check your magic capability now.’ Aziel threw a seed onto the ground, waved her hand, and the seed instantly grew into a tree. ‘Try unleashing your flames onto this tree. If you can really boil a whole lake into steam, then this tree shouldn’t be an issue.’

Truth be told, Ignis felt that this test was useless. However, this was needed to convince Aziel, which would then allow her to find a way to restore her dragon form. Here goes nothing.

Ignis formed a fist with her good hand, blazing flames then erupted surrounding. She then wound up and threw her fist, unleashing a flame punch on the tree. The tree’s trunk boiled instantaneously becoming one with air. The top section then collapsed and fell.

Aziel’s lower jaw dropped. ‘The tree’s trunk just vanished!’ she uttered. ‘Also, that flame was so intense that it warped the air! How could you do that? A human couldn’t have unleashed that and—’

‘Ouch, ouch, ouch! It hurts!’ Ignis exclaimed. She had burned her good hand.

‘—get to keep their hand… You burned your hand, but still get to keep it…’

‘It hurts…!’ I burn myself when I use my flames! Why is the human form so weak?! Ignis had tears welling in her eyes. She hated pain.

‘I’ll go grab a bandage!’ Alicia ran off into the mansion, leaving Aziel and Ignis on their own.

Aziel’s knees became weak, and she fell on the soft grass on her bottom. ‘I… I’d heard the lore before, read to me every time I visit the holy place. Ignis, the great fire dragon, a being that stands at the pinnacle. Her dragon’s breath had created a land of fire that burned sinners, the beat of her wing could decimate a city, and her claws could literally split a country into two. You’re telling me that you are Her?’

‘Yes…?’ Ignis wasn’t so sure herself. The lore that she had told her sounded so outlandish; she wasn’t even sure if it described her. Ignis didn’t know about sinners, but a bird once flew into her nose, causing her to sneeze and set a land ablaze with fire. She also knew that once she had landed close to a city, and the buildings had suddenly collapsed. And… well, she had no idea whatsoever about the part where she supposedly split a country into two. But she believed she could’ve done that. The possibility existed.

‘I… This is… How am I… Ugh… So difficult to believe, but I’m delusional if I deny it when the evidence had been shown in front of me. You are, for sure, not human. But for you to be the great fire dragon…’

Aziel kept on mumbling on her own until she finally accepted it. The horned girl she was looking at was Ignis, the great fire dragon, in human form. That was the only possible explanation for what had happened. That could only be it. Nothing else.

‘I… have a question for you. It’s something that I’ve been wondering about since I was a child. Can I?’

Ignis was silent.

‘Please?’

She is waiting for my response! Ignis was surprised. So, not waiting for a response when asking for permission is not a human thing, just an Alicia thing! Got it. ‘Go ahead.’

‘The name “Ignis” carries the meaning “fire” in ancient language. Which comes first? Are you Ignis because you’re named after fire? Or is it fire because it’s named after Ignis?’

What? Ignis didn’t quite understand the question. ‘… Yes?’

‘To which?’

‘To… the last one…?’

‘So, it’s fire because it’s named after Ignis… I see…’ Aziel smiled. ‘I see! That’s one burning question answered! Thank you.’

Ignis still didn’t get it. And she had too much pride to admit that. Hence, she decided to leave this question as it was and to return to the topic she was concerned about. ‘So, how do I restore my dragon form?’