Ch 26- Niel

While Mac's attention was focused on talking to Casey's parents another individual was focused on his research. The man sat in front of a desk constructing and deconstructing various parts in an effort to improve his previous spiritual power enhancement device.

The man sat in his chair for several hours trying to improve his previous masterpiece. Suddenly he set down the small device and ruffled his purple hair with his fingers in exasperation. He then continued to slam his fist on the steel counter and laid flat against it for a moment.

Suddenly the door to his lab opened and an older gentleman walked in, he saw the young man's dejected appearance and watched him quietly for a moment. "What's wrong?" the older man spoke.

The purple-haired young man raised his head "I finally found a mate I like". He lowered his head again before continuing. "The young monarch, I've met him several times in Morrison's cage. He appeared before me once again today and he just so happened to appear in human form".

The young man raised his head to meet the elder's eyes. "I've never seen such a beautiful and evoking dragon, I want to bond with him. However my mind control enhancement device wasn't strong enough to hold him". The young man's face was incredibly gloomy as he explained. "It was powerful enough to catch him when they're aren't any distractions; however the moment that damn Morrison roared the connection broke. My device isn't strong enough to keep him, so I was trying to make it stronger so the effect would be able to hold him at least until we could bond. But it doesn't seem to be going right, its hard to take a masterpiece and make it even more amazing". The young man let out a heavy sigh and placed his head back on the table. The old man slowly walked over and lightly patted his great great grandson's back.

"Are you sure you want him as your lifelong mate?". The old man asked cautiously and stared at his grandson awaiting his answer. The young man gazed up at him and spoke flatly "it's the first time in my life I wanted someone other than for research. I think if I miss him, there won't be another for me". The grandfather took in his grandson's appearance held his head and sighed. "Niel if your machine really can't be improved then the next time he arrives I'll use the machine to hypnotize him instead so you can bond with him".

Niel widened his eyes as he watched his grandfather "really?".

The old man glanced at him "really. It's not like it could ever be a bad thing to have the future monarch married into the family". Niel stood up in excitement "I'll put it back together and have you run some tests to make sure your hypnotic power will be enough to restrain him then!". When Niel got back to work, his grandfather watched with gloomy eyes and slowly retreated away.

For the dragon race, spiritual powers are typically inherited from blood; dragons have a 75% chance of inheriting their parent's abilities and another 25% chance of inheriting abilities from distant ancestors or awakening powers from external stimulus. So many unique abilities are attributed to certain family lines. Niel's mental control abilities have been passed down by his parents and them to their parents and so on. Currently, there are only three families from the dragon race who posses mental control abilities, which if Casey knew; such information could help direct and narrow down the search for Morrison.

Unfortunately, Casey doesn't know or understand the complexities of the dragon race in detail and won't realize that Niel's mental control was a unique spiritual power. Instead, he assumed his weird behavior was due to the small device Niel took out and put on himself. Alas Casey slept peacefully after Mac's coaxing and later awoke for a late dinner. As Casey sat down and swept his eyes around the table he felt the heavy atmosphere and hesitated before speaking.

"Is everything…. Okay?".

Aki and Sitka who had been in a daze after hearing Mac's report turned their eyes toward Casey simultaneously. Casey felt very uncomfortable facing their stares.

"Cough… I told them about you visiting a different space so they're just worried is all. Isn't that right?". Mac's eyes drifted to Aki and Sitka and they both swiftly nodded in agreement. Then spoke lightly "don't go to see Morrison anymore. Although it's important to save him we should make proper preparations before risking you going there. If you get captured too then there's no point, your grandfather is a very strong dragon. If he's caught there that means there must be various means and tech to keep him in place. You can't keep rushing to see him, understand?".

"But I can't just leave him there! Every time I see him he has new wounds all over and he looks so miserable, even if I can't take him away I can at least heal his wounds". Sitka looked at Casey through teary eyes. "We know Casey. But until we've made thorough preparations you can't go to him again. We can't risk losing you too".

Sitka covered his eyes while Casey pursed his lips and stopped talking. Aki stepped in to change the subject and divert Casey's attention. "Casey we plan to send you to school at the start of the upcoming term". Casey whipped his head towards Aki with shocked eyes.

After the age of twelve, Casey stopped attending school and lived a quiet and lonely life, so hearing that he has a chance to go learn and meet many new people he became ecstatic. "The new term of Delphine university starts in three weeks, in the meantime, we've invited several tutors to come here and try to teach as much of the basics as possible. Try your best to learn, going to college you'll be a bit behind. However, Sitka and I both think it'd be good for you to be around other races and interact with more people while learning".

Casey's eyes were glowing in excitement as he listened to Aki, everyone at the table could see it. 'How cute' they all thought quietly amongst themselves. "Your first tutor will arrive tomorrow, so make sure you get a good rest tonight. Don't worry about Morrison and leave the matter for us to handle, we'll keep you updated on our preparations".

Casey hesitated before giving a slight nod, perceiving his hesitation Sitka turned to Mac. "Mac, keep an eye on him, and if he flashes away let us know".

After dinner Mac brought Casey back to their room, Casey laid on the couch and picked up the book he put down earlier. As he kept fidgeting and changing positions he kept pulling his long hair, he started feeling frustrated.

Casey raised his eyes towards Mac and had an epiphany "Hey Mac! Can you help me cut my hair? I keep pulling it and it's very uncomfortable". Mac stood up and walked towards Casey and lowered his eyes to his beautiful face. Mac felt entranced, he slowly reached out his hand to grab Casey's silk-like hair.

"It would be such a waste to cut such nice hair, it suits you incredibly well". Casey blinked twice and opened his mouth, "ah. Is that so?".

Mac nodded "instead of cutting it, how about I help you put it up and out of your way?".

Casey mulled over the idea and spoke hesitantly "this doesn't seem to be.. very good? It would get in my way every day and I don't know how to put it up, you can't help me every day; can you?".

Mac chuckled at his cute appearance "I can almost help you almost every day and on the days I can't I'm sure the butler would be able to assist you. It really would be a waste to cut your hair".

Casey saw Mac's admiring gaze and felt his cheeks warm up and turned his head away. "Let's just do as you say then".

Mac smirked and asked Claud for the necessary materials to take care of Casey's hair. After brushing Casey's hair Mac moved his hands nimbly through Casey's hair and gave him a simple braid since it was almost time to head to bed.

"Thank you, Mac". Casey showed Mac a dazzling smile and went back to reading his book. Casey however really had all his focus on Mac; he continually glanced at him from the corner of his eye watching as Mac surfed the interstellar web.

"Hey Mac, what do you want to do?".

Mac looked at Casey "what do you mean?".

"Well before your goal was to leave Moren star with your tribe, now that that's happened. What do you want to do? I can support your dreams and wishes, you can do anything! You can come to school with me! You can do whatever you wish, so do you know what career or have any dreams you'd like to pursue?".

Mac looked at Casey in a daze and smiled "I haven't decided yet, but you'll be the first to know when I figure it out". Mac patted his head and went to take a shower and get ready for bed. When he walked out of the shower he saw the light in their room had been dimmed. In the low lighting, Casey's silvery white hair looked to be glowing. Casey stood up and got his things for the bath Mac saw the necklace he made shining brilliantly on Casey's white skin and felt very pleased with himself. He laid in bed, and shortly after Casey hopped over and changed back to his dragon form and curled up in Mac's arms going to sleep.

The next morning Casey woke up early and hopped out of bed, after he was refreshed he walked towards Mac who was still sleeping and lightly poked his cheek. Mac turned over and continued to sleep so Casey slowly raised his finger and poked his other cheek. As he pulled his hand away Mac caught it, pulled Casey's hand, and brought him into his embrace on the bed.

"Mac, can you get up and help me with my hair? I have classes today and want to make a good impression!".

Mac inhaled a deep breath and cracked his eyes open to stare at Casey. The two stayed in silence for a moment and Mac slowly loosened his arms; allowing Casey to jump off him to the ground.

"Sure". Mac got up and grabbed the brush and did a very complex braid Mac stared at his work and didn't feel very satisfied. He felt Casey's silky hair needed some embellishment and accents, he looked at the bag of jewels Casey left on the table and made some plans mentally for the future.

Casey however stared at his hair in the mirror and felt dumbfounded "Mac why are you so good at styling hair?".

"Ah, we'll before we met my hair used to be around the same length as yours. I actually cut it right before we happened to meet. When I had it that long I would always try new ways of putting it up and became very proficient in styling my hair". Casey's eyes were shining, "that's a shame, I wish I could have seen it. It must've looked very handsome".

"Mmm, probably not as good-looking as you though".

Casey went out to breakfast with Mac "your hair looks really nice Casey". Casey looked at Sitka and exclaimed, "isn't it?! Mac did it for me!".

"Ah… that's great". Sitka felt worried, the closer Casey and Mac depended on each other the worse he felt. So Sitka dropped the topic and didn't. Talk about it anymore, "your tutor will arrive in around an hour. We have an extra study that we've rearranged for you, I'll take you there after breakfast". Casey nodded, still filled with excitement for everything new around him, and so he ate his food vigorously.