Chapter Thirty Two - A Bond (Part 2)

The old man's lips curled into a grin, "Yes, I am old. Get over it kid. You have some bigger problems on your hands. How are you going to explain a baby dragon to your Master? How are you even going to feed one, I had to take care of a simple giant hog for you."

His hand flexed and a ring on his finger shined and suddenly on the empty field, the dead carcass of the Hog was laying there, not moving. Noah could smell death from it, but that didn't change the baby dragons happy expression as it hopped and skipped over to it and started to tuck into its meal.

The baby dragon was tearing chunks out of the carcass and gobbling them down in a heartbeat. Blood covered the sides of its mouth as it dug deeper and deeper. It was quite disturbing watching it eat.

Looking away he distracted himself by staring at the old man's ring, blocking out the crunching from the baby dragons direction. Noticing on the outside there was an engraving very similar to the one that hung around his chest.

"I know I am bonded with the dragon, but, I don't know what I am going to do. I was meant to be training to be a knight... I never would have thought I would bond with a dragon..." Glancing up at the dragon, it had somehow devoured nearly a quarter of the Giant Hog.

"Well... How about I help raise your partner until you are strong enough to kill 3 Giant Hogs on the same day? I will even help you learn to control your magic properly when you aren't sparring, seeing as how you will need it." The last part of that sentence stung Noah but he knew it was true.

"Should I tell my Master about the baby dragon?" Slowly finding himself agreeing to the idea.

"The baby dragon may have bonded to you, but it has no adult to look after it. His mother passed decades ago... She would murder me if I let him get injured because you told someone who has their own issues." Shaking his head and looking into the cloudy sky.

Quick to defend his 6-month mentor, "My Master doesn't have issues!" Clenching his fists and his eyes squeezed together, giving the old man a death glare.

"Child, you have no idea what kind of person that man is, nor do you know what kind of person I am. He has personal issues that he hasn't dealt with. He is a danger to any dragon he gets close too at this time, if you want to help him I won't stop you but do not tell him about that child." The old man stood up, the wind seemed to gather around him and push Noah back a few steps.

"Fine. I won't tell him about this but how do I explain when I disappear?! Last time I was here it was like time didn't move after I teleported." Slowly unclenching his hands and looking at the baby dragon which had finally seemed to get full, wobbling over slowly and rubbing its head against his hand.

"That shouldn't be an issue. This whole place is in a separate dimension which severs the time link, it would take nearly three weeks for an hour to pass in the proper world." Walking to the broken building and holding his hand out. The old man was making the collapsed stone vibrate for a few minutes before it formed a two-storey house, it had a flat roof and room in each corner judging from the windows at the front.

"Dimension..." Stumbling over the word as he tried to understand what the old man meant.

"Yes, we are in a split dimension. It's magic I discovered when I was younger, engraved in the surrounding pillars behind those walls are runes. That take in a ridiculous amount of magic particles and this small piece of land is then cut off from it. Kind of like when you break bread and freeze one piece. One will rot faster than the other does as it has to defrost." Trying to help Noah understand what a dimension was and how it worked.

"I see, so right now time is slow for us? So that means you aren't really 300 years old" Laughing at the discovery and amazed by what magic could achieve and how this man had done it.

"No. No. You misunderstand, I haven't lived my life in a bubble, young man. I used to be bonded to a dragon too, one of the perks or what it truly has been is an extended life. I have seen and done so many wonderful things, it could take years to recount them all." The old man's beard twitched as his smile grew wider.

Shaking his head side to side before looking back at Noah, "So... what are you going to do, rider?"

"How do I get back and forth between these two dimensions? And what do I call you?" Sitting down beside the old man, crossing his legs and letting his hands rest on his knees. The baby dragon did a little waddle trying to jump before resting its head between his knees.

The dragons head was light on his legs, its snout was half its face covered in small grey scales two ridges slowly getting higher and turning into what must have been the dragons eyebrow. Its eye was the size of a gerbil, quite big when it's head was only the length of his fist clenched three times over.

His face glowed with love staring at the baby dragon resting as if it was his own grandchild. Memories of a better time flashed through his head, a small tear forming in his right eye before he blinked it away.

"You can call me Alaric, or Al for short. Well you have something that doesn't belong to you yet it doesn't want to let you go, that ring is used by my family to come and go at ease. It takes quite a bit of magic particles but seeing as how you've bonded with this child, your ability to store magic in your centre should have expanded. All you need to do is gather magic into it and think of the garden, I will escort you from there."

"Do you know when I come and go?" Curious if the old man knew about him last time he was here.

"Yes, I did. Lucky for you I was dealing with other visitors at the time otherwise I would have dealt with you a lot faster and maybe not have been so kind..." Letting his words roll into silence for Noah to figure out he had survived the wrath of this great magician.

Noah had started unconsciously stroking the resting dragon's snout, using it as a way to calm himself down as he thought of all the disasters he had suffered through lately, wondering if he should have just stayed in that little village he had come from or taken a different turn somewhere so he wasn't walking into dangerous situations.

"Before you go disappearing it's probably best you learn what mana is and the difference between aura and mana as well as naming this fella..."