Chapter Sixty Six: A Goal

Instead of flying over to the forest that they came from, all three of them walked towards it. Both dragons on one side of him, even after Noah had explained everything to Hallan he seemed to be keeping his distance.

Isan's bond had never heard a dragon growing as fast as Aurelius had supposedly grown over the short amount of time. He would repeatedly switch his gaze from the tree line to the grey dragon that would lean his head down to Noah and brush against him to try and get attention.

Noah noticed this but didn't say anything, it had wasn't like he had ever experienced anything like this before. As long as Hallan and Isan were willing to listen

It only took a short time to reach the forest even with the two injured dragons, their wounds seemingly healed quite quickly after their fight. Aurelius would stretch his wing out and flap it, Noah could already see that the wound he had suffered was recovering while most of Hallan's injuries had a blue goo covering them which would slowly fall off.

They found Isan slumped against the tree where Noah had left him, a light snore being carried in the wind could be heard as they got closer to him.

'Well, it is good to see that he still sleeps like a child.' Hallan seemed to mutter as he flapped a wing to cause cold air to be blasted against the unconscious Isan.

"Whoa, what? Noah! Hallan? Dragon?" Blinking his eyes clean, a hand on where his sword would be. Standing up and rubbing his eyes clear. "What happened? Hallan why is that dragon still here?!"

Pulling his sword out and taking up a defensive stance, spreading his legs and bracing.

'Put it away, do you think he would still be here without a reason? Noah, explain to him everything you have told me. As useless as he looks right now he is more capable than this.' The blue dragon went and laid down, licking his wounds and cleaning the goo off to reveal new scales underneath.

Isan shook the dizziness away before leaning against the tree he was originally unconscious against. "Well... if you say so." Slowly putting his sword away.

Noah stood neck to Aurelius who had chosen just to drop down where he was standing, nudging his head against Noah's back. Isan raised his eyebrows but kept quiet, while Noah explained what happened.

Starting with how when he first was left with Sir Quin that he was always training hard with his magic aura but one day it ended up somehow sending him to the flower garden. The first time that he met the mysterious figure beside the stone dragon statue not mentioning Alaric's name at first but just explaining the story.

He then told Isan on how he was sent back to Quin and kept learning from him but yet finding himself still ending up back in the flower garden and hearing the beat of a heart. Telling the story of how he connected to Aurelius and how when he woke up the dragon laid on him.

Noah finally said how the old man that stopped him the first time was called Alaric and Isan's eyes opened wide, after the way Noah had described him as well as saying his name he knew who it was straight away.

"Alaric - Do you know who he is?" Isan asked.

"I don't but he could do some amazing things with his aura, making a whole house appear with nothing but his aura. He taught me how to control mine more finely than Sir Quin could do. I use the way he taught me to train to do so and I've always seen good results."

"He isn't just some random old man. That.... He... Alaric Heavanly is the Emperor."

Silence fell.

Isan stared at the grey dragon behind Noah, his eyes widening again as he realised that Noah was already the next heir to the Empire. The competition that the Emperor had set up must be to set up the next group of commanders and leaders to help Noah take on the Empire when he was ready but why had he not just come out and said it? Why had he chosen to act as if this was something anyone could become?

Hallan lifted his head and turned it to Noah, smoke coming out his nostrils as he held back a laugh from realising what was happening.

Isan decided it would be best not to say anything about the so-called 'competition'. He threw Noah a question, "When did you last speak to the Emperor?"

"I left Alaric and Aurelius a while ago but I didn't think I would meet Aurelius like this. I don't even know he came out here, we didn't know when we would get to see each other again." Moving his hand to pet his bonds snout who let out a small whimper.

"Hmm, I see. So this is the first time he has seen you, since then? That I guess explains why he couldn't control himself."

'You think? Pfft'

Isan picked up a small stick and bounced it off of Hallans thick scales. "Okay, I think we need to make a plan for you then. The Emperor must have been keeping you two separate for a reason, you can't just walk up with a dragon. Do you know how out of order that would be? How many people would hate you?"

His face falling."So I can't take Aurelius back to the tower with me?"

"Think about it Noah, it isn't something that can be done right now. Hopefully, we can make it happen sooner or later but we need to set some goals first. Okay? We need to get you trained properly and fully. You're also going to need to know how to ride a dragon properly with a saddle and without. How to learn to treat people well with and without their respect. We might have to send you to become a knight as soon as we get back..."

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Alaric was sitting on a wooden throne at the top of the dragon keep, staring out to the edge of the horizon. A sigh coming out, while he slowly stood up. He could feel his bones ache, his body tired and exhausted.

Walking to the edge of the room and staring out, footsteps could be heard coming from the stairs while he observed the world outside.

"Sir, was it right to let that young dragon loose. With everything that happened what if someone knows that he is the heir to the dragons?" Edgur came and stood by his best friend.

"Edgur, we are old. Honestly, I don't know how much time either of us has to walk these plains and fly these skies anymore. It's been a long time since we started; we conquered and rebuilt the kingdoms into the empire but left those who knew to keep the peace. These young ones, I can already tell there are more that want to take and abuse power but we can't be the ones to hold them in their places. That young dragon has already chosen the boy for the job but I can't help but wonder how long they have to grow."

"I know he has already chosen the next heir but how can we protect them if you let them just wander without giving guidance?"

"We cannot protect them, they must be left to make mistakes and learn from them while we do our best to clean this place up and get it ready for them. The commanders have been tasked with trying to raise and guild him, we even went as far as using the trusted commanders. That's all we can do for now."

The two old men looked out into the horizon together and watched the sun set on the Empire.