Chapter Thirty Five - Growing The Bond

Aurelius gazed fondly at Noah, pushing him down and giving Noah's face a lick to show that he liked his new name. Noah didn't have the strength to push him off, whenever he tried Aurelius would somehow get extra heavy and weigh him down more.

After maybe 10 minutes of constant licking, Noah managed to wiggle out from under the baby dragon and brush off the dust from his shorts. Following Alaric through the wide door frame and into the house. The bottom floor had a hallway and led into four different rooms, some stairs leading up to a second floor.

Where each door would be an open frame would allow Aurelius to move in and out even with his wings spread a little.

Noah took a look into all the rooms before finding that the old man had gone into the room furthest back in the house, kitting the house with different things from a stone bookshelf and filling it with books that looked like it appeared out of nowhere.

Only able to stare in awe at how quick and efficient the old man, "Are you just going to stand there with your mouth open all day? Start practising your concentrating your magic aura in the training room. It's on the left as you come in from the start."

Snapping his fingers and sending Noah flying out the room like he had been picked up by the scuff of this neck and thrown out, sealing to the doorway so he couldn't be disturbed. Noah didn't even get to say that he had named the baby dragon but went to do as the old man said.

The room was just all stone, nothing had been put into it but that was probably for the better all things considered.

Standing still he concentrated on all the magic particles in the room, they seemed to be less than usual; Noah wondered if that had anything to do with the way the old man had made the house.

He urged them to be absorbed into his chest and started practising turning them inside of himself. Picturing them as a big jug of water inside of himself and he was just using a spoon to start turning it.

When he had previously absorbed magic particles and turned them into aura he would often feel full until he moved it to other parts of his body, but no matter how many magic particles he took from in the room he still felt quite empty.

It didn't stop him from listening to the old man's advice to train, seeing his power made him know he clearly had a secret or two and maybe even used the same method to train himself. His focus purely on trying to make sure he had full control of the magic aura he had created.

Time passed quickly...

When Noah's concentration finally started giving way, he found that the sun had set and that there was only silence throughout the house. He couldn't even hear Aurelius going around the house.

Walking out slowly from the room he looked around, there was a dim light coming from symbols engraved into the ceiling of the rooms which he didn't notice previously. He was covered with sweat and looked a mess, he still hadn't washed the dried in goo from the night before; he was just a mess.

Taking the stairs he found a room with a bath of water that had steam rising off of it. Presuming the old man knew would be a mess after training for so long he took a step in and let the heat soak into his body, he barely managed to keep himself awake to wash off the gunk from his body and sit on a stone seat that was just outside the bath, letting himself air dry.

Sitting and resting up he suddenly felt a sudden amount of loss, clutching his chest he braced himself against the seat trying to figure out what was happening. He wanted to cry, and be embraced from his mother.

It came in waves and between the sudden waves of loss he had grabbed his shorts, stuffing himself in them and looking for Aurelius. He finally took a step out into the darkness, noticing that a section of the walls had disappeared and where the wall had fallen Aurelius was standing with his wings spread out, arching his back and letting out roars. In front of him was the white dragon not moving with Alaric standing behind him.

A sudden realisation passed over Noah, the egg that had hatched was Aurelius and his mother for some reason seemed to stone in front of him. Between gasps, Noah managed to slowly make his way towards the baby dragon and put his arm around his neck and give him a hug.

Even if Aurelius wasn't able to talk yet, his sense of loss easily went through their bond. Noah could only try his best to comfort the dragon as it grieved for its passed mother.

Alaric stood behind them not showing any expression. He had let the wall down for a reason, letting the dragon witness such a sight would easily make sure that the bond Noah and the baby had would strengthen, he could even see Noah was affected by the dragon's feelings from 100 metres. A bond that was already stronger than most.

He turned and let the two have their own privacy but couldn't help let a teardrop out his own eyes.

The night was long and lonely, Noah didn't leave Aulerius' side all night making sure that he knew Noah was there for him. No moon came out that night but even if it did all that anyone would be able to see is a man trying his best to hold a dragon in an embrace.

In the morning Noah discussed with the old man staying at the house for a few months as if time was different from the outside world, it shouldn't matter too much letting a few hours pass there and returning to his master after practising for a few months.

Impressed by Noah's commitment he allowed it, although it was more to grow Noah and the baby dragons bond as fast as he could, knowing that they wouldn't always have time on their side and it was best to get as much done as they could in the dimension.

There was many discussions about magic aura and magic mana between the two as Noah slowly started to comprehend more and more. After just a few weeks he had managed to have full control over the aura in his chest while training, faster than Alaric expected.

Along with his magic progression, Noah and Aulerius became very close the only time the two would separate is when Aulerius ate food or when Noah went to bathe, but that didn't stop Aulerius from trying to get into the small bath with him a few times.

Occasionally Alaric would disappear and reappear after hunting some Giant Hogs, making sure that Aulerius had plenty of food to keep him growing at a steady rate. Every day, he seemed to grow between 2 to 6 centimetres taller and was soon finding it hard to get into the house without hitting his head off the door frames.

Before they knew it 9 months had passed which had meant nearly a whole day had passed in the proper world, Noah knew he had to leave and go back to his Master but he was reluctant to leave Aulerius alone with only the old man for company.