Becoming a Dragon knight

Suddenly, the white crystal began dissipating. It was been absorbed into his hands, the white crystal turned into white light like tiny stars. They began to move from his hands to other parts of his body, Zak was in severe pain, he didn't know what was happening, he knew little about how becoming a Dragon knight was like. The little he knew was from the gossip he heard from other peasant boys in Ezra. Zak didn't know if he was dying, the pain was becoming on bearable, he was now screaming at the top of his voice, the pain was to much, Zak couldn't concentrate on the changes happening to him. Zak whose physique was muscularly proportioned due to his work in his uncle's shop, became even well proportioned, his muscles we're now we'll defined, his blue eyes became brighter and sharper even his dark hair that looked unkept had become smooth and was glowing as if someone had just finished combing and applying hair treatment to it. Zak was unaware of what was going on, he was in hell at the moment, all he could think of was the pain should stop. Zak had nearly giving up when the pain stopped and he fainted, Zak was in the cave for hours laying on the hard floor of the cave. He didn't know it was already night and his aunt and uncle were worried because of him.

"Jonathan, you Zak doesn't stay out this late, I pray nothing as happened to him" Jonathan a tall and broad man with little white hair already growing out of his dark hair, his hands were rip with muscle and burn scars, he looked at his short and plump wife Rachel, she was beautiful woman even though she was getting old, her dirty blond hair could not hide her beauty. "Rachel, I know you are worried, I am too but let's give the boy a little more time to return before we go searching for him". Rachel wasn't happy with the reply but couldn't protest. Even though Zak was not their son, they and found him and raised him like a son, when the boy was old enough, they had told him everything, the boy had always wanted to call them his father and mother but they had insisted he should call them uncle and Aunt. Jonathan was frowning, it was because, this was the first time Zak would make them worry, Jonathan knew his wife was right, but he wanted to believe nothing bad had happen to Zak. They both stood outside their small house waiting for Zak to return.

Mean while, Zak was just waking up from fainting, he looked at his surroundings and was surprised to see that he could see the dark cave clearly without lighting a torch. Zak could feel that there was some changes in body he couldn't describe, it felt weird. He knew the reason why this was happening, it was because of the Dragon crystal, was he now a Dragon knight, Zak thought but quickly dispel it, he knew that it wasn't only magic crystal that make someone a Dragon knight, after obtaining a crystal, he still needed to study Magic technique suitable for him, he needed to learn how to channel the power flowing in his body. This was the work of the magic technique, which people in Ezra called magic art, this are divided into six part which are Fire, Water, Wind, Wood, Earth and Metal. each part further have different branches beneath them, like lighting was under fire, ice was under water, whirlwind was beneath the wind, vines were under wood and all forms of metals like steel, lead, were under metal. The best blacksmith either use fire or metal art, while the kings gardener or wealthy farmers use wood or Earth art, fishermen use water art. The this art could also be applied to combat also, which is why people with no magic crystal fear those with it. The number of different magic art one can acquire would also also determine how strong one could be, the highest number of magic art a single person can acquire was three, no one could go above that, except one person which was Ezra, Zak knew it was a difficult thing to acquire a magic art, one needed to join an academy or pay a tutor who would test you and teach you the suitable art. Zak was frowning because he didn't have the money for an academy or a tutor, after thinking for a while, he was happy that he was still better off than most peasant and even some Noble boys. He got up and quietly left the cave, he knew his aunt and uncle would be very worried when he saw the moon in the sky, so he hurried home, on his way he decided to tell his aunt and uncle what happened, maybe they would be able to come up with an idea to help him get a magic art...

As soon as Zak left the cave, a group of four in black cloak came into the cave, when they saw Dragon, they were excited. " told you Shadowdust that we would find the Dragon here" Shadowdust who seems to be the leader of group spoke as he walked towards it, " it looks like your razor strike dealt a fatal blow to the Dragon, it is already dead, Steel" the one called steel was smirking when their captain praised him. As Shadowdust got close enough, he screamed in anger, "Noooooo", the rest of the group rushed to him, " what's wrong Shadowdust" the female among them spoke" their captain only pointed and said " look, it is missing, the crystal is gone" "what?". Everyone was dumbfounded, they were only rejoicing moments ago, who would expect fate would treat them this bad, after losing two of their member to the grip of death while hunting the Dragon, now they had even lost the crystal to an unknown person. " quick everyone spread out and search for the person, I can tell the person doesn't know much about things like this and might not know how to absorb it". " he didn't take the important ingredients he needs from the Dragon's body, that is how I know, if you don't find him, you all should go to the market, watch out for anyone buying items needed for absorbing Dragon crystal, or anyone buying magic art scrolls or anyone trying to sell the crystal". After this, they all departed in different directions in search of Zak.

Zak had long left the forest, and was almost home, when he met his aunt and uncle on their way to the Forest, it looked like they had been going about looking for him in Ezra. Zak felt guilty for troubling them, his aunty was the first to reprimand him, she scolded him all the way till they got home.

In the house Zak began to explain to them what happened to him. Both his aunt and uncle didn't believe him at first, they thought he had knocked his head hard on something but they saw how serious he was, and when he pulled off his shirt, they could see his well toned muscle, Jonathan who always see him working at the shop half naked everyday and had seen him working that day to never remember seeing Zak's muscles this pronounced before, he was the first to believe the boy, muscles don't become so pronounced overnight even with heavy exercise, Rachel could see her husband's attitude change, so she chosed to believe the boy, "Zak I want you to promise me you won't tell anyone what kind of magic crystal you absorb, if they ask you, just, say it's from a Red tiger" Zak nodded his head "am sure the people who injured the Dragon would be searching for it, and you by now, and for them to be able to kill a Dragon, they must be powerful" " I have a friend who owes me a favor, he his an instructor in mid tier academy, I would contact him and request a favor from him in return, stay at home, and don't go anywhere till I get a reply back from my friend" Zak didn't say anything he just nodded and watch his aunt prepare his dinner.

The next morning, Jonathan left very early, to see his friend the instructor, he gave instructions to both Rachel and Zak. Zak was to pretend he was sick, if any of his friends came, he was to send them off with that. when Jonathan returned, he was smiling, " you lucky boy, my friends academy are in need of fresh students which is the same as that they are in need of finance and also hope to be able to acquire a talent with luck, killing two bird with one stone, and my friend as agreed to help me pay your entrance fee, so get ready to be tested tommorow, if you pass the test, you would be accepted" Jonathan could see the fear on Zak's face " don't be afraid, so long you have absorbed a magic crystal, you don't need to be scared, all the test is needed for is to know what magic art would suit you and also to screen out those with no magic crystal". Zak relaxed when he heard this , he was now happy that he was going to be joining an academy.

Meanwhile, the four black cloaked figure, were running about trying to find Zak, they searched everywhere for him but failed to get any lead, they became frustrated, because they knew the longer time they wasted to get the crystal, the higher the chances it would be absorbed or sold to an influential figure they could not cross, even though their organization was a strong one, they still have those they couldn't cross swords with in Ezra, example was the Royal house. Black Shadow was the name of their organization, normal members of the organization weren't giving any title, only when one was strong enough to lead a team of his or her own would he or she be granted the title SHADOW which was why his code name had the word Shadow in it, Shadowdust was a new Shadow and gone for many mission since he was promoted, his team had done twelve missions apart from the current one, and he had never failed, Shadowdust hated failure, which was why he was doing everything to find the crystal. The next rank above the Shadow was GHOST , Shadowdust senior was called Ghost eye. After Ghost was DEMON and after Demon was the DEVIL. In the organization, they only had one devil, no one had seen him but ruled the organization with an iron fist from the shadows. Shadowdust did not know what to do after they had searched everywhere and yet they still could not find any clue, they decided to quietly wait for the culprit to reveal itself, Shadowdust was now determined to kill the person whether he or she had absorb the crystal or not.