Your Eminence

Aren already fought with various dangerous creatures in his past, but at the time he was trained and with proper equipment. In this case he was just a skinny kid, so it was really wise for him to avoid a direct confrontation.

He started to walk backward trying to not lose sight of the bear, and once he was distant enough he started to run through the trees, trying to go where the space between trees was narrower.

One hand was ready to unsheathe the axe, but that would have been his last resort.

The bear started to walk fast towards him, the trees were easily pushed away while his eyes were glowing aggressively.

His strength is augmented by an emblem!

That was really unfortunate but it was true, emblems were also present in other living creatures and in this case it was the worst combination possible.

Aren looked around while running, trying to see if he could find a place to hide, but most of the big trees were knocked down. There were some marks on some trees, and he was certain that those were from an axe, meaning that the lumberjack probably passed here.

While he was analysing the situation, the bear was slowly accelerating, going straight while ignoring the trees blocking his path. That's where he ended up in front of a rocky wall, giving him no other paths to escape to.

[Your Majesty, the bear is approaching in approximately ten seconds], and that's when Aren started to climb. His silver eyes were observing the wall and managed to find possible footholds and handholds. It was a matter for him to be fast and optimize his movements. His memory was still remembering all those years of climbing and even if he was weaker, his strength was proportional to his current weight, making it less difficult.

The bear came out from the hood and looked at Aren who was already around five meters up.

But with Aren's surprise, the creature stood up and started to jump next to the wall. It was very close to Aren's leg but the king was already high enough to not be reached.

At that moment the bear started to huff and his fur seemed to be glowing as well, he started to walk back and suddenly it seemed to be ready to charge. And that's what happened, the big black creature rushed with all his might to the wall of rocks and the shake made Aren lose his balance making him fall and have only one hand holding the grip The bear went back again and started to charge, so in that moment are was already holding the axe with one hand.

"Here it comes!", the bear rushed again on the wall and this time Aren waited for the right moment before jumping. After he let his hands go, he grabbed the handle of the axe with both hands and as soon as he started to fall he aimed directly at the bear's head, while landing on his back. It was a perfect hit but unfortunately the bear suddenly stood up, with streams of blood coming out of the wound where the axe was still stuck in.

Aren didn't let the axe go, he was holding it like his life depended on it, the bear couldn't reach him while he was sitting on his back but it was also very hard to stay stable.

The angered creature decided to get rid of Aren by running back to the forest, slowly trying to hit heads on all the trees. Aren was holding the handle like a desperate, and at every tree that got hit he could feel his grip getting lost, but he didn't want it to end like that. At that moment he saw a very big tree, which was almost cut down. Probably the lumberjack didn't manage to finish his work before the earthquake came. He then came up with a plan, he used his all strength to tilt the hand making the bear turn like a steering wheel. It was working, the bear was turning on the direction he wanted so he started to direct him towards the big tree.

It was very hard for Aren, who was also using his legs to keep his body attached to the bear. In that moment the time felt like stopping, it was a familiar moment for him and he recognised that specific feeling that already happened to him before.

⁂

It was a dark room and Aren was standing in what he felt was the middle of it, there was only one spotlight and he was under it.

The place was neither cold nor warm, there was no sign of the forest nor of the bear, it was just him standing and waiting.

"Do you know why you are here, Aren of House Valoria?", a voice was echoing in the room, it was very loud and strong and it made Aren's chest vibrate.

"I guess I know."

In that moment a titanic silhouette came out from the shadow, a massive body with even more massive wings laying on the side. The muscles were covered in scales that were reflecting that small amount of light that was in the room. The neck was long and very thick while the head was adorned by irregular shaped horns. It was too dark to see it clearly but Aren would recognise that kind of creature everywhere, it was a dragon.

It feels like when I was bestowed with the Bright Dragon emblem the first time. It is happening again!

Aren remembered meeting the dragon previously in a similar room, but at the time it was different, it was quite but more official, less scary. His memory were fuzzy so he couldn't recall exactly what he did at the time.

A strong energy pressure came from the dragon in the dark, and the boy suddenly bent the knee in front of the creature who was still observing him.

"Tell me, King Aren. Why do you seek power?", the eyes of the dragon were glowing with a bright white colour, as if steam and flames were coming out from it.

"I seek power to find answers. I need power to survive", the dragon bent the neck moving the head closer to the ground almost like laying down.

"And what will you do once you survive, and once you find your answers?"

Aren's thought went over the whole situation, he was stranded somewhere that the couldn't locate, his body was not as strong as it was before and he didn't know if he would even be able to revert it. But the most important thing was that he didn't know what happened while he was asleep and why, the idea of having lost everything his family built was scary.

"I will continue what I left behind. I want to bring peace and unite the world under one flag", it wasn't a lie, he really wanted that but he didn't know if this was still doable.

"It is a nice objective. But I might need more than that. Do you know who am I?", that was the question that the king was afraid of. He honestly didn't expect to see a dragon in his awakening, but he would have expected the Bright Dragon to welcome him, to talk with an old friend. But this felt different, almost scary.

"You are the Bright Dragon. Holder of one of the Prime emblems. The master of the light.", that's what he remembered from when he received the emblem many years ago.

"Ahahahah", the dragon's laugh was echoing the whole room.

"Did I say anything funny? In that case I didn't mean to make fun of you", he felt like his chest was going to explode, it would have been easier to deal with the bear without any emblem at this point.

"Aren of Valoria, I do not accept you as a king, and neither as good fit to be the vessel of my power" Aren stayed silent, he knew that angering a proud dragon wouldn't have worked.

"Aren of Valoria, don't you have anything to say? Is my power not good enough for you, to not beg for it?" The head of the dragon was really close and Aren lifted his head looking straight at it.

"No, Your Eminence, your power is good and there is no doubt about it. And you are right, I am not a king anymore."

"But? I feel like there is something more than what you are saying. Speak, Aren of Valoria."

"But, as I am now. I have to survive, once I wake up I will have to find a solution on how to defeat that bear with or without your help. And once I am done with that I will have to move on, regain my powers, find my answers and deliver what I promised to my people."

"And what was it, Aren of Valoria?"

"To create a world without barriers, to unite it and bring balance whenever it is right and possible. And I promised it as a king, but do not get me wrong, I will make it happen, as a king or even just as Aren."

His heart was calm, he was telling the truth to the dragon, but especially to himself.

He has been afraid these days, about what he lost, but he was gifted with another chance, and a fresh start, keeping centuries of experience and even of learnings and stories from him ancestors.

The dragon's eyes were burning bright close to Aren, the light was softly contouring his expression, the sharp teeth and the skin that felt impenetrable.

Aren was barely big as his eye, but he didn't feel fear, but in that moment he realised his mistake and why the dragon laughed at him.

"Aren of Valoria. You are not a king, yet. You are not fit to hold fully my power, but you will learn. But remember, as I give you this emblem, I can easily take it back, along with your life. Do you still want to accept the pact?"

"Yes I do, Your Eminence"

A strong warm steam came out from the dragon's nostrils. He suddenly stood up, making the boy look like an ant in comparison. The wings spread out, revealing their ginormous real size.

"And so wake up, Aren of Valoria. Call my name and my power will manifest through you!"

⁂

Aren opened his eyes and he was still sitting on the bear's back, holding on to the axe. The beast was almost reaching the big tree but before the impact Aren pushed with his feet and executed a flip back.

Unfortunately the tree did not fall and the bear was still alive with the axe stuck on his head.

The bear's fur started to glow again and the red of his eyes became more intense, he was going to charge with the emblem's full energy.

Aren quickly unsheathed his dagger, standing his ground in front of the bear, he didn't have any plan to run. His breath was calm and his head was clear, the voice of the dragon was still echoing in his heart.

"Call my name!"

"Awake, Dark Dragon!"