Chapter 5

Jay raised his colossal head to gaze out to sea from the mountaintop, surrounded by a shroud of fog. His eyes shifted back to the young man who remained kneeling before him. He understood that the slavers would not dare to enter during the daytime due to the threat of butterfly fever, a disease easily contracted by outsiders. The slavers were biding their time, waiting for nightfall to launch their raid from the sea into the deep forest.

With a voice that resonated like thunder, Jay commanded, "Human, gather the strongest among you and bring them here." The young man, filled with a surge of adrenaline, hurried to assemble a group of formidable individuals. He watched Jay with a mix of awe and anticipation, knowing that this majestic creature was about to intervene to save them.

Jay rose from his resting position, With a powerful shake of his massive body to remove the dust. He was a giant dragon, surpassing even the legendary Vhagar in size, and possessed the vitality of a young dragon. His form was imposing, radiating the essence of a young dragon. With a mighty roar that echoed through the land, Birds scattered in all directions from the dense forest, terrorized by the sheer force of his bellow.

Down below, the Naathi people, initially in a state of panic, turned their gaze towards the hill, dropping to their knees in worship. They sensed the immense power within Jay and interpreted his roar as a sign of divine anger.

Out at sea, even the slavers aboard their ships felt a shiver of fear crawl up their spines at the distant roar, an eerie sound unfamiliar to their ears. The young man standing near Jay felt his legs tremble, weakened by the sheer force of the dragon's roar. He looked up at Jay with a reverence reserved for deities.

The slavers, alarmed by the mighty sound and heeding a primal instinct for self-preservation, quickly ordered their ships to turn. They cared more for their lives than the little gold. The seven galleys began to shift direction in an orderly retreat.

Meanwhile, Jay took a deep breath, smoke billowing from his maw, and then sprinted towards the edge of the hill. With tremendous force, he launched himself into the sky, unleashing a colossal storm of fire and smoke that concealed his ascent.

Emerging from the billowing flames, Jay soared above the ships, his presence announced by the mighty black fire breath he unleashed. The slavers, gripped by panic, recognized what they were facing. One of them spiraled into madness, chanting, "Dragons are back, dragons are back, dragons are back..."

Archers aboard the galleys gathered at the hull, launching a barrage of arrows at the approaching Jay. However, what confronted them was not the dragon himself, but Jay's black flames. Each fiery pillar crashed down upon the ships, causing devastating explosions. Those unfortunate enough to be thrown into the sea met a gruesome fate, as Jay's intense flames boiled the water around them.

One by one, Jay sunk the galleys with his fiery pillars. With a mighty claw, he seized the last remaining ship and lifted it into the air. His colossal claw pierced the hull to hold, and some of the slavers leaped into the sea in an attempt to escape. But Jay rained his flames into the water, boiling them in the very sea they sought refuge in.

Jay carried the last ship to the mountaintop. Jay gently set the captured ship down in his usual resting spot in the air, landing nearby. A gathering of strong Naathi individuals had assembled around him, their anticipation palpable.

Jay spoke with an air of authority, "Humans, the gods do not ask you to show kindness and mercy to your enemies. These intruders have come to steal your loved ones away. There is no need for hesitation. Seize them, prepare a funeral pyre, and bind them to it, for my sake."

The Naathi were taken aback by Jay's words, as he embodied the presence of their deity. Then, a middle-aged man stepped forward, resolute in his determination to take down the captives hidden within the ship's hull. He had lost his parents to slavers when he was young, and his feelings of regret and hatred toward them had never waned. Others joined him, carrying out Jay's orders.

The slavers drew their swords in defense as the Naathi people approached with spears, but Jay intervened. Using his mana, he heated their swords until they were too hot to handle, forcing the slavers to toss them aside. Many of the invaders began pleading for their lives, as they understood the Naathi language and knew what the speaking dragon had commanded.

Despite their pleas, the Naathi captured all the slavers and began constructing a massive funeral pyre. They bound the captives to the structure, preparing for the solemn task ahead. In the midst of these preparations, Jay unearthed the box he had hidden when he first arrived on the island.

Jay asked the young man who had been communicating with him daily to open the box and place the dragon eggs at the center of the funeral pyre. The young man regarded the eggs as mere ornate stones, unable to fathom their significance. Nevertheless, he obeyed Jay's request.

Jay understood that the mana around him was insufficient for the eggs to hatch using conventional means. Normal flames wouldn't suffice, given the depleted mana. To overcome this, Jay decided to employ his own fiery breath, which could both provide the necessary mana and generate the heat required for hatching. After all, his breath was inherently composed of mana.