First Exam (5)
"What kind of dragons are you and your familiar?"
This was the last question out of the twelve queries for Luca's first test by the Mages Guild, one that utterly stumped him, as he did not expect to have to reveal the particulars of his and Arcturus's species. He knew it would be coming eventually, and he was prepared to speak the truth, as the Mages Guild had an ironclad internal law concerning individual confidentiality. He trusted the Head Guildmaster to keep it from the eyes and ears of anyone without the need to know it.
His momentary silence seemed to worry the Head Guildmaster, but he recovered before she could attempt to do anything to explain her intentions, "No worries, I know about the confidentiality code, ma'am. I was just surprised that it would come up so quickly." After a mildly awkward chuckle between the pair, with Elizabeth being more relieved compared to the boy, Luca sighed, "You won't find any records of them existing unless you can find the Dragon Clan. They're both considered to have gone extinct millennia before the first Sages. Because of that, and especially because of the... uniqueness of them, I am paranoid about revealing them without being assured of it being safe. I trust the Mages Guild's ironclad code, so I will gladly speak it. In a way, it'll be taking some weight off my chest."
"I see... Well, few people know where the Dragon Clan is, so we are incapable of finding any records, so I will have to take your word for it. With how serious you are about them, I suspect they're extremely special." Elizabeth sat forward in her chair with an expression of concerned interest, "Whenever you're ready. You honestly don't need to answer it, you'll pass anyway."
"No, no, it's okay. It's better to do it now." Taking a moment to stabilize his racing heartbeat, the young Dragonkin, using one of the open spaces in the room, summoned his familiar for the first time in several hours. As he did so, he simultaneously revealed his dragonkin features.
The silvery-white dragon whelp had been curled up, taking a nap in Luca's summon space, when he discovered that he had been released in an unfamiliar location. After taking a quick peek around the room, yawning as he did so, Arcturus came to focus on his life partner and an unfamiliar female mage bearing significantly great power. The dragonling's immediate reaction was for his nerves to kick in and almost scramble to hide behind Luca, an act that was almost entirely pointless due to his size. Luca heard the ever-so-familiar voice of Arcturus in his mind as he stuttered, "W-wh-who's t-that s-scary lady, big brother..?"
Unable to help himself from chuckling, Luca stroked his partner's head soothingly, "She's not scary, Arc. She's here to help us, okay? But she needs to see both of us in order to help. That's why I summoned you earlier than planned."
Elizabeth Tudor's astonished expression partially morphed into one of amusement upon viewing the 'majestic' dragon behaving like a terrified child, complete with referring to her as 'scary'. "Words just don't seem capable of matching the physical image when it comes to descriptions. Both of you look stunning, and just that alone makes me understand why you worry so much." Some people would literally kill to claim such beautiful specimens, even more concerning their body parts. Greed was always one of the greatest fears of those with special circumstances.
"Yeah, but appearance alone isn't enough to fully explain it." Placing his left hand on his chest as he referred to himself, Luca said, "I am a half-human, half-Dragonkin hybrid, a Dragonborn of the extinct Unique-type species known as the Mirror Dragons."
"Mirror Dragons?" Unsurprisingly, the Head Guildmaster was intrigued at this, knowing she was getting to hear never-heard-by-mortal-ears information straight from the source.
"Indeed. According to my understanding of them, from my inherited memories, the strongest Mirror Dragon to have ever existed was said to have battled five Chaos Era warring deities alone and prevailed." Before Elizabeth had time to process this first information, Luca continued, "This is attributed to its own unique and inherent magic, Mirror Magic, which is capable of absorbing, reflecting, empowering or weakening near any magic that passes through it. However, the weaknesses of the Mirror Dragons are partially responsible for their extinction, such as their juvenile period being the longest of all dragons, at 500 years. Mirror Magic is also incapable of absorbing or reflecting hexes, curses, summoning spells, the Natural Balance elements, the three elements of Void, Poison and Spirit, and most inherent magics, though some, such as the Charm Magic of Succubus Demons, are able to be affected." Sighing, the young Dragonkin concluded, "So, Mirror Dragons are one of the few Dragon Race species that stand closest to the realm of deities, a factor which, when superimposed on the Dragon Race's exceptionally low reproductive rate, eventually resulted in their extinction."
With an expression of deep thought on her face, the Head Guildmaster suddenly understood the weight of the secret that Luca bore on his shoulders constantly, despite knowing that he wasn't even finished yet. "A pseudo-deity grade dragon species... the potential of such a being already greatly outstrips even the most powerful known dragons, even the royal family."
"Yeah, about that... Arcturus is actually a bit more special than me. He is a Stellar Dragon, inherently capable of harnessing the power of the stars. While Mirror Dragons are rarer than them by a lot, Stellar Dragons are considered to be the ultimate bloodline of the Dragon Clan, making them the 'imperial bloodline' of the Dragon Clan. Due to their pseudo-deity status, Mirror Dragons are immune to the bloodline suppression of the Stellar Dragons, though they would still take a run for their money in a fight. You've definitely heard of the last known Stellar Dragon's skeleton being discovered. Its bones make up the body of the enormous mountain range said to be where the Dragon Clan dwells."
"That enormous dragon skeleton was once an imperial dragonkin!? That's the largest dragon skeleton ever discovered!" While Mirror Dragons had no evidence to support their existence in the mortal knowledge banks, the Dragon Clan's quarter-of-a-continent-sized mountain range's formation over the body of an enormous dragonkin skeleton was not a secret, as they considered it to be the protective embrace of their ancestor. Learning that not only was there a bloodline above that of the royal family was already incredible. Knowing that one of said bloodline happened to be the bones of the mountain range, pun not intended, was akin to hitting an already dented wall with a sledgehammer just to make it worse.
"Indeed. As the two of us are part of these extinct, extremely special bloodlines, we have to be hyper-aware of revealing it without good reason. I'm sure these alone are enough to give you thoughts of protecting us like priceless porcelain objects." While he was half-joking with his last sentence, Luca would not have been shocked to learn if she had thought as such.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, an act that Luca was increasingly aware of recently, Elizabeth sighed deeply, "Considering the severity of this information, the highest confidentiality will be enforced for it, without exception. The only people that would directly need to know this, for any reason, would be the Adventurers Guild's Head Guildmaster and the respective leaders of the Light Alliance. Anyone else, without your consent, would be thoroughly rejected, even if they tried to buy ways through the backdoors to get it." After the boy and dragon respectfully bowed in heartfelt thanks for her understanding, she casually shoed them out of the room towards a spell simulation room designed for experimenting with dangerous spells without the consequences, "You've already passed the first exam. Take a few minutes to rest before coming to the next one. You've earned it."