Ch 24- Dalhi star

Casey stood by Mac's side and excitedly looked outside the observation deck window. Eagerly watching as Dalhi star got closer and closer. Dalhi star has an interesting geographical look; one half of the star was straight ocean with extremely small scattered islands spread out. The other half was a mix of either lush forests, mountains, or wide flat pastures. The separation between the land and the sea cut a straight line across the planet. At this moment Casey was stunned to see the dividing line between the two. It looked as though someone picked up a knife and cut it down with straight precision, clearly dividing the two halves. 'Very beautiful' Casey vaguely murmured to himself.

Soon enough their ship landed on the largest spaceport on the star. Although the dragon race was dwindling and reclusive they had other races that claimed Dalhi star as their home and worked harmoniously with the dragon race. As such the star had five major cities, four of which occupied different land biomes while the last one was located on the only large island in the sea. The port Casey's entourage landed in was the capital city; Sirius. The capital was located on the edge of the plains and forest. This was the capital controlled by the dragons, as their ship docked Casey noticed a very large crowd of people on the dock below.

"Mac let's go to the control room to meet everyone". Mac nodded and picked up Casey's small dragon form and walked toward the control room. Mac sat down near Sitka and Aki and Casey looked at them apprehensively.

"Is there normally so many people at the port?". Casey understood that their star didn't normally accept outsiders and felt that the port shouldn't be as packed as it was. When Aki and Sitka heard his words they pulled up the camera feed showing the situation on the docks and then grimaced.

"No, it's not. They must be arriving in anticipation for you".

"How do they know about us?". Casey looked at his parents puzzledly not understanding how this situation came to be.

Aki held his head and sighed "it must be those old croons, the ministers probably felt your spiritual fluctuations when your aura activated the first time. If I had to guess they may have announced the news of the future ruler awakening and thus came to welcome you". Everyone in the control room stared at the monitoring and felt a vague headache.

Casey blinked his eyes innocently "ah. Then what should we do?". Aki scanned the dock and sure enough, saw the five of the dragon elders standing right on the edge of the dock watching their ship with eager expressions.

"Since the old farts have come to pick us up we will take them up on their offer". Casey nodded and walked with his family toward the offloading dock. Sitka lightly tapped Casey's head "change to your human form. I haven't said it before but as the future monarch, it's unsightly to be constantly held in another person's arms. This is the first time others will see you, so you need to stand tall and dignified".

Casey looked at Mac and jumped down before shifting forms, Sitka pulled him back to his room to dress him in suitable garments. Half an hour later the two walked back to the offloading dock. Mac saw Casey and fell into a daze. The youth before him was wearing a luxurious black and gold threaded robe, which offset his pale skin and white hair. On his head was a head-tight diadem, it intimately wrapped around his small horns. It was made with dazzling gold wire and ruby gems and looked like it was tailor-made for Casey. He looked stunning and Mac had a hard time shifting his focus from the beautiful figure.

At this point, Alec walked up and lightly grabbed Casey's hand. Casey looked over and saw that Alec was wearing a white and gold military uniform. Alec bowed slightly and kissed Casey's hand "your highness, please let me act as your escort for arrival". Casey nodded stiffly in agreement, both Aki and Sitka were pleased seeing the two together.

Mac saw their interactions from a distance and felt his heartache and grow cold. He lowered his eyes and his fists clenched tightly, he slowly walked to Casey and lightly hugged him. He spoke his thoughts honestly "you're the most handsome person I've ever seen". knowing Casey was sensitive about being beautiful Mac chose his words carefully. Casey blushed lightly and shyly turned his head to the side "thank you" he whispered. Alec then rudely pulled Casey away and turned towards the bay door with Casey's parents. Alec looked over his shoulder and glared viciously at Mac before turning his attention back to Casey. Mac sighed emotionally and went to follow Sara as they lined up to wait to exit the aircraft.

The bay door slowly opened and Casey squinted his eyes in response to the blinding light. Sitka leaned over to his ear "release your aura". The next moment Casey's eyes turned gold and he followed behind his parents holding Alec's arm. There were cheers and shouts all around.

"The king is here!".

"The oracle was true".

"May the gods bless our king".

Casey listened to the fanatical words of the dragons and other races on the dock and felt a bit emotional. 'No. I'm no king. Just an ordinary person'. For the first time, Casey felt an inexplicable weight and pressure which was too heavy for his current mindset. As his emotions started to fluctuate so did his aura. Shortly after all the dragons on the port could discern his prescience and kneeled down whether willingly or otherwise. Alec's grip tightened "Casey your aura, it's too strong". His face started to turn pale as Alec fought his instincts to kneel, in order to keep standing tall by his fiancé's side.

Casey was startled and instantly pulled his aura back. The elders were very pleased. They thought their future monarch was purposefully showing his power to declare his sovereignty. 'How domineering' one even sighed in admiration.

Casey started to bow his head in shame and Alec whispered quietly. "Don't lower your head, you can't show weakness in front of others so easily". Casey raised his eyes to meet Alec's and looked forward quickly.

"Sir Amos welcome back! We see that you found your child, he looks quite promising".

The head elder spoke in a reserved tone, concealing his excitement quite well.

"Thank you for welcoming us back, however, it's been a tiring journey so we plan to head straight back to the manor". The elder scowled at Aki's words.

"Come now Amos the future monarch is appearing before others for the first time. You can't take him away so quickly and besides he needs to come to us for training and guidance you know". Aki shook his head "we need time to let him adjust to our culture and home, when the time comes we'll slowly bring him to train with the council".

The group of elders look like they wanted to refute, they looked over toward Casey and saw his innocent and naive expression and kept silent. After a brief exchange, and concession the Amos party took a luxury hovercar with the head elder and headed back to their manor.

Casey's human family was extremely wealthy but looking at the private spaceship and unique hovercar his parents owned and thinking of the lavishly decorated manor he started to question what wealth was.

"Umm dad I don't think I've asked yet but what do you both do for a living?".

"You don't know?!". Alec exclaimed and rambled on almost incoherently.

"You know how almost every advanced race in the universe users crystallic energy for power?".

Casey nodded to show he knew.

"Well, Sir Aki owns and manages over 70% of the known crystal mines in the two galaxies".

Casey's eyes widened in shock, he looked over to his other dad Sitka.

"And Sir Sitka works for the senate as the head of interstellar communication. He is in charge of any and all contact between the dragon race and other races, everything goes through his hands. He's also the leading party in any delegations that go abroad". Casey felt his parents were a bit too outstanding and stayed quiet not daring to ask any more questions.

"Hahaha. Don't worry Casey you'll be even more outstanding than them once you go through your second growth phase. Our race has been waiting for the next king for almost a thousand years, prophecy says once the king returns everything will turn around and our race will flourish the greatest it ever has". The elder spoke and looked at Casey with a worshipping gaze.

'Too heavy' Casey thought blankly. Casey stayed quiet and didn't want to talk with the others anymore. Upon arriving at the mansion he pulled Mac with him and Sitka led them to Casey's room. Sitka asked Mac to follow him to his own room but Casey stopped Sitka. "I want to stay with Mac like before… is that okay?".

Sitka took in a breath and stared lightly at the two "you can until you adjust to being here. But you can't always stay together, it's not appropriate". Casey tilted his head seemingly not understanding what was inappropriate about it but he agreed regardless. As soon as the door closed Casey turned into a small dragon and collapsed in Mac's arms.

"So scary Mac". Mac lowered his head and stoked Casey's back. "What is?".

"All the expectations put on me. Look at me! I'm not cut out to rule a whole race, they all expect many things and I'm afraid I'll be a failure who lets them all down".

Mac walked to the bed and sat Casey down then laid next to him and spoke softly.

"You know no one is great or amazing from the start. Many people work hard to continually improve themselves their whole lives. You're already great Casey, don't worry so much about prophecies or others' expectations, and just focus on growing and becoming the person you want to be".

Casey stared at Mac with bright eyes and nuzzled against his chest "you're the best Mac". Mac gave a small smile at Casey's praise and lightly kissed his forehead, Casey proceeded to shyly give him a kiss back. The two took a short afternoon nap together like this.

Meanwhile in Aki's study sat a young golden dragon who stared at the butler aggressively. "What do you mean? Letting that Shera sleep in the same room as my fiancé?!".

"It was Casey's request and I approved of it".

Alec whipped his head to stare at Sitka in astonishment "why? Do you plan to let them be together instead?". Sitka frowned at Alec's rude behavior, Alec saw his expression and stopped speaking.

"Casey needs time to adjust and he relies on Mac more than any of us. If being with Mac helps him feel secure then I think for now it's best to leave them be". Alec obviously wanted to protest but just sighed in discontentment.

"I'm heading home for now". Saying that wings sprouted from Alec's back and he dashed out the window and flew back toward his family's villa. Sitka stared at his departure and sighed; raising his head to the butler.

"Do you think I'm handling this wrong?". Their families butler knew of everything between the Amos and Richie families and didn't think letting the young master stay with an adult man was a wise idea. So he simply held his tongue and didn't reply to Sitka.

"It's only a temporary measure until he feels like he belongs and has a place here. I don't have the right to separate the two right now".

"I understand madam. I will look after the two to make sure things don't develop in an irreversible manner".

"Thank you, Claud". Sitka went out to find Aki and discuss how they should handle their child. While the butler went to knock on Casey's door to introduce himself and inspect the two.