Chapter 10

It took Heather a minute to process what he said before it clicked in her mind.

"Wait you mean to say you were kicked out simply for that reason?" disbelief laced her voice as she asked this question.

"Yes, it was a good enough reason in their minds. They didn't think there was much use in keeping around a dragon that would likely never reach it's full power potential." Eirwin replied. He couldn't believe it at the time himself especially when his father was one who broke the reasoning to him.

"My father if he could be called such a thing didn't even argue for me to stay with everyone else. All he had to say in response to the decision that it would probably be safer for me in the long run." Eirwin spat that last part, anger evident in his voice as he spoke.

"I have known of dragons to be harsh for other reasons, but this is the first time that I have heard of such a thing happening because of something like this." Heather replied not sure how to reply after hearing such news.

"That's most likely because in the past those who were deemed 'weak' or 'unfit' were either killed or perished because they couldn't fend for themselves. They called it my 'saving grace' that humans were allowing other creatures to coexist with them as long as they followed a correct set of rules and since I could at least shapeshift, it would be a good fit for me." Eirwin explained. Even though it had happened over fifty years ago, he was still bitter over the whole situation.

"There has to be some way to reverse this kind of thing though, right? I mean if it s a curse, there should be someone who can lift it." Heather inquired. She didn't know much about curses such as the one that the dragon was dealing with, but she didn't believe that there was no way to lift whatever was wrong with Eirwin so that he could transform into into his full grown dragon form eventually.

"You would think that that would be the case, but it isn't as easy as it sounds. The only thing we've figured out is what you've already been told which is how to reverse the transformation if I come in contact with water." Eirwin replied.

"We have tried reaching out through a number of different avenues and requesting assistance from other creatures who might know of such a thing happening, but we haven't yet found an answer that works." Alfred added on, snapping his fingers as he spoke to refill both of the glasses on the table.

"What about a witch? I've only worked with a little, but I know that they can be really good at figuring out how to lift curses and deal with other things." Eirwin gave her a look that told her suggestion wasn't a good one.

"A witch is one of the first things that Alfred had suggested as well among others and we did happening to find a unique one that knew a lot about different spells and curses from years of traveling. That didn't work out however." Eirwin made a displeased face as he paused for a second before continue speaking.

"Once she realized that there wasn't much of a chance that she was going to be able to lift the curse, she decided to take advantage of the kindness I extended to her by allowing her to stay here while she tried to work something out and one of the nights I woke up to find her trying to scrap my scales off for one of her potions as she had transformed me back to my dragon shape." It had been one of the worst moments in time that he had to deal with and didn't really like recounting it.

If it wasn't for the fact that Alfred had been awoken by the commotion, the witch would've perhaps not left the manor with her life. Her apology for the event and her justification for it meant nothing to him. His scales weren't there for anyone to just touch and take as they please.

"Do witches still use dragon scales in potions? I thought that a was a tradition that had died a long time ago?" Heather couldn't imagine what must've been like but it had been such a long time since she had heard about witches using dragon scales that she thought it must've been a dead tradition.

"They usually don't anymore, but apparently the scales of such a rare creature were simply irresistible as she put it. They would've also fetched a nice price on the market as well." By his tone, she could tell that he was still bitter about the event even though it had happened quite a while ago.

"The current option that we're trying to explore is the possibility of finding a creature who would would be able to allow us to know what happened during that point in time. When was the curse first put into place and why." Alfred explained as he got up from where he had been sitting. Magic only worked so far and now that both were done eating, he would need to take the dishes away. Too many dishes had ended up broken by him trying to snap them out of the room the same way that he had brought them in.

"If I can figure out that out then I could work on lifting the curse eventually and prove to all of them that they had made the wrong decision in kicking me out. For now though, my focus is on maintaining my successfulness here among the humans." Eirwin explained. It was his sole burning reason behind everything that he had been doing- he wanted to get revenge against his family and the other dragons that were part of the thunder that thought he deserved to be kicked out.

Time wasn't an issue when it came to achieving this goal, he had more than enough years left in his life to figure out how to accomplish it. Money was the one of the missing pieces he had worked hard to collect because he knew that it would make it easier to for him to find the information he was looking for if he could pay out straight or pay the right price in exchange for valuable information.