"What?! We are going to fly in it?" I staggered out of my stupor. I have never flown. Where was the place that I was supposed to hold in the bird? The feathers? They looked to be slippery…. Would this be my last day of life?

"No, we are not. I was lying to you. We are going to walk the whole way, and Flamy will keep us company." She said with a mocking tone. It was evident that we would fly the bird. "Stop saying foolish things and hop on." After saying this, she jumped and landed at the back of the bird.

I looked up and jumped as well. The back of the bird felt like a carpet to me; it felt amazing.

"Hold on my shoulder."

I looked at Althaea and put my hand on her shoulder. The bird unfolded its four wings and took flight. The moment it left the ground, I was almost hurled out of it. I grabbed Althaea by her neck and held her as if my life was on the line.

"AAHHHHHH" A scream unconsciously left my mouth.

My legs were dangling in the air like a leaf. Althaea was almost a rock embedded in the soil. She didn't even shake with all the wind. After a bit, we reached a high altitude, and I could see the valley in the distance. The mountains began to look smaller and smaller. Even the town was tiny. Althaea released her mana, and a field formed around us. The wind stopped buffeting against us, and my feet reached the bird back.

There was an awkward silence for a moment. My front and her back were stuck together. She looked at me with a dark glint in her eyes.

"Sorry…." I said.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH"

I was thrown from the back of the bird. The world began to spin around me, and everything was blank in my mind. "This is the end..." I thought.

While Ullach was lost in his thoughts, he couldn't see the flushed face of Althaea. She never had any intimate contact with any man, and feeling her disciple was strange and different, and enraging.

The bird dived and grabbed Ullach while he was midair. The world stopped around him, but his head was still spinning.

After some time, he felt a force grabbing him and lifting him to the back of the bird again. Althaea was quiet and looking ahead. He decided that this was not the moment for a conversation and began to meditate.

***

They travelled for two weeks while avoiding big cities not to cause a ruckus. They only stopped to sleep and grab something to eat during the night. Luckily, he had a perfect constitution, and his body absorbed all the nutrients that he ate, making the necessity to do some things disappear.

They left the continent, and after travelling on the sea for 10 hours, they arrived at an island. The island was huge, big enough to span a whole county.

They slowly descended near the middle of the island. Nature here was vibrant. The trees were at least a hundred meters tall and had an old feel to it. There were several strange animals around the place, and some species he had never seen.

After walking for 2 hours, Althaea turned to me and said. "We are going to meet the dragon in a bit. His name is Rix'ni, show him respect if you don't want to be my food." She gave me a stern look and continued to walk.

After leaving the forest, I could see a vast lake. Many waterfalls were surrounding the place, the water splashed in the rivers and formed the lake.

Many rainbows were formed all over the lake. It was indeed a divine sight! Small animals and herbivores were drinking water calmly around the lake.

Althaea gestured with her hand, and a big rune left formed in the air and penetrated the depths of the lake. For a moment, everything was silent. The animals that were drinking water from the lake looked up, and even the birds stopped chirping. After a moment, the animals began to run from the lake, and an ancient presence was felt.

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A huge head slowly appeared on the surface of the lake, and after a moment, part of its body appeared as well. Only the head of the dragon was already the size of Althaea's house. Its body had white and smooth skin that looked invincible and soft at the same time. Its eyes were blue like the ocean, with huge slits in the middle. There were a pair of claws in the upper part of its body. A big pair of whiskers was on its face, together with a couple of horns that appeared on top of its head and spiralled backwards.

It was a truly majestic creature! in front of it; even Althaea flamy looked like a little bird. The dragon Rix'ni looked toward us and said. "It has been a long time Althaea, daughter of the skies. what is the purpose of your visit?" The dragon looked at her and glanced at me. Its eyes closed a bit investigated me. I could feel it's gaze looking at everything that made me. It was like I was naked and couldn't hide anything from it.

"This is my disciple, Ullach. We are having a problem in discovering his affinity, so we are here to seek guidance and ask your help in looking into it."

The dragon scrutinised me. I could feel it investigating every inch of me.

"Althaea, I have something to tell you first." After saying this, the dragon looked into my direction, and a sphere of energy appeared around me. I couldn't hear or see anything that was happening outside of it.

***

"Your disciple must never achieve any power… Even his existence is a sin." The dragon said while looking into Althaea's eyes.

"Wh...What are you talking about Rix'ni? He has a pure heart, and do not have any evil in him." Althaea was truly surprised. She had known her disciple for two years by now and never seen any malice or anything like that in him. They have lived alone in a valley for two years by now, and other men would have tried something with her; after all, she was quite a beauty. In her opinion, he was only someone that was seeking power to struggle against who he was born, against his fate.

"There are somethings that can't be avoided in this world... Unfortunately, he is bound to destruction." After saying this, the dragon waved his paw, and an old tablet appeared from the bottom of the lake and floated to Althaea hands. "Keep it and read when you are alone, then destroy it! Somethings are better left alone. Never tell him the prophecy in that tablet, we must not interfere in fate."

"A word of advice before I release him. Try not to involve yourself with his destiny; all of those who appear on his path are going to die in one way or another."

After saying this, the energy around Ullach disappeared, and he could see and hear what was happening around him again. Althaea had already put away the tablet.

"You want me to identify his affinities, right?" Asked Rix'ni.

"That's right. Could you please do it, old friend?" Answered Althaea.

"Just a moment." Rix'ni eyes shined with powerful mana and concentrated on me. I could feel an even great power than before investigating me.

After a few minutes, the glow in his eyes receded, and he said. "He has a very powerful affinity…. destruction!"

"What kind of affinity is that?" I asked with doubt in my eyes. I had studied the concepts for a long time now. Among them, very few were still unknown. Most combinations were well studied or had a definition at least.

"Destruction can be said to be the antithesis of creation. It can be manifested in many ways. In your case, destruction is manifested mainly by the union of the element of fire, aspect of death and law of darkness. But the laws of space and time still play a minor part in it. The concept of destruction is absolute. Only high tiered concepts can counter it, or if the difference in tiers or understand is too big." Rix'ni looked up and said. "You have a power that can destroy everything child. Your destiny will not be good." After saying this, the dragon dived into the pool and disappeared.

I was left frozen in place… A high tiered concept…. My affinity was pretty powerful by the sound of it. It also meant that I had to train even harder to use it. Having a high tiered affinity didn't mean that I couldn't use other concepts, but that I would have an easier time learning how to use it. It was like the difference between swimming upstream or downstream, swimming against the current was always much, much harder.

An example of that would be, the destruction concept was formed mainly by fire, darkness and death, and a minor part of it by space and time. If I concentrated on learning the concepts that were part of it, I would have an easy time. But if I tried to learn the aspect of life or the element of water, I would have to dedicate ten times more effort into it.

Knowing your affinity was only a step to learning how to use it.

***

Althaea was looking at the lake with an empty gaze. She didn't know what to do right now. Rix'ni had warned her about being part of his destiny, and now that she knew the affinity that he had, she was even more worried.

Affinities often dictated the path that the person would have to take to learn them. If he wanted to learn the concept of destruction, he would have to see death first hand, involve himself in darkness and realise the devastation that fire could make. A person changed after seeing these things. Death could only be seen on a battlefield or in places that were not so good, and darkness was always a problematic law to grasp.

He would have to see the worst of this world firsthand to understand the concept of destruction.

She looked at the tablet that was inside her pocket space and sighed. She wanted to read it as soon as possible, but first, she would have to be alone to do that.

Back to the present. Althaea left Bryan in a clearing somewhere in the forest and flew away from him. Arriving at a secluded place, she took the tablet away from the pocket space.

The tablet was made using mana steel, a durable metal that could resist the passage of time and was very valuable.

The inscriptions on the tablet were made using ancient language, something that almost no one knew how to read nowadays.

After taking a look at it, she began to translate its contents.

The opposites will be born from the same mother. One will be gifted, and the other will be cursed. One will be the bringer of life, and the other of destruction. The destroyer will struggle for power and do anything to destroy those who defy his will. Anything that stands in his path will cease to exist. The bringer of life will restore the order and fight against the tides of destruction, uniting the world to fight against the destroyer.

"The destroyer?" Her eyes were wide open in shock. She began to remember these last two years when she lived together with him. Ullach was always a determined and gentle person. Even when he was dead tired, he still made their food with care and never complained. All the smiles, full of gratitude that he gave her were always so sincere…

There was no way that he could become this destroyer in her mind. She was determined to protect him in any way she could.

"You now know his destiny. I will not kill him now out of respect for you, but beware, keep your eyes open and watch him closely. Do not let him transform into an emissary of destruction." Rix'ni voice sounded in her mind, alerting her of the future.

She didn't answer him, as she didn't know what to do in this kind of situation. Althaea sighed and left the place toward Ullach.