Mother

"I am not your mother."

The dragon child's eyes drooped down in dejection.

<You're angry after all....>

"I'm not mad. I'm really not your mother."

The child's eyes once again started to brew up with tears, looking all so pitiful.

<Are you throwing me away? Was it because I was not a good boy?> the dragon child timidly whispered.

Rubbing his head haphazardly, Jasper sighed in resignation.

[It might not be such a bad idea to keep this child by my side.

Otherwise, I might not be able to stop him this time around if he were to go out of control in this world.

I'll have to keep an eye on him.]

Finally coming to a decision, his voice turned a notch gentler, trying to console the whimpering child.

"Don't cry anymore. You're not a bad boy. If you really want to, you can call me mother from now on."

<Really?>

The dragon child raised his head up with expectation.

Witnessing the yearning on the dragon child's face, Jasper became lost in thought, reminiscing about his childhood.

He once had a younger brother.

He was a charming little boy, always looking up at Jasper with puppy-like eyes, yelling out "Jas Jas."

Jas was a nickname that only his brother was allowed to call.

Both of their parents were adventurers, always out together on different missions, and hardly ever home.

They claimed it to be a representation of their once youth, something that kept them feeling alive.

In fact, they would always remember to bring back different novelties from their travels.

Once they brought home the tooth of the inferno drake.

Another time, they even managed to carry back the carcass of a mountain behemoth.

The whole town had watched with hysteria as they hauled it all the way over from the city gates, scaring many little children in the process.

Even the guards were alerted, and had sent a large brigade, thinking it was a monster attack.

Their parents weren't bad parents, always leaving behind their two children.

It was just that they weren't good at parenting either.

Most of the time it was just Jasper and his little brother.

His brother was the most important person in his life.

The very reason he had joined the King's Knights was to be able to work close to home, being able to come back every evening to his little brother's "Welcome home!".

He would do anything to keep the sweet smile on his brother's face.

Not all things went the way one wished.

In the summer of the year 895 of the old calendar, Jasper got promoted to the Heavenly Knights, a newly formed unit directly serving under King Lanford of Orz.

The King took notice to the once in a million year genius of the 3rd brigade, giving him many promises before he was able to make him pledge to join the Heavenly Knights Unit when it was created.

That same year, the Evil Dragon God invaded the capital.

Jasper might have been a powerful knight, looked up to by the many others wishing to join the Heavenly Knights Unit, but he was only powerful when compared to those around him.

He was in no way a match for the Evil Dragon God that had already terrorized the world of Trinix for over a millennium.

As fate would have it, their home was near the part of the city at which the god had started his bombardment.

Realizing too late, Jasper had rushed back to a totally wrecked house, only to find his little brother lying there unresponsive, the last amount of warmth already slipping away from his little body.

On that day, Jasper cried tears of blood, roaring to the heavens, no words spoken out of his mouth.

King Lanford, along with his other 4 heavenly knights were able to force the Evil Dragon God into retreat with the help of the 3 Mage Saints that were currently staying in Orz.

Many soldiers and civilians died that day, some without a complete corpse, missing a limb or two.

Others withered into ash from the resulting fire caused by the collapsed buildings when their bricks created sparks as they came tumbling down in the crossfire.

The worse were those with a fully intact body, having been invaded by the evil miasma released by the god.

Their innards were slowly eaten away, melting into a dark putrid liquid, leaving stains of black at every opening of the dead body and its surrounding ground.

Not many who had survived the ordeal remembered the 5th Heavenly Knight.

He was then slowly forgotten with time, choosing to stay within the shadows of the King and his other four comrades.

Even as the years passed, Jasper never fully healed from his loss.

His parents had returned home at some point, even choosing to retire from their adventuring days.

He was only able to kick them back out there after promising that he was doing alright.

Once again looking at the young dragon, the child of the one who had caused his beloved little brother's death, he was not able to truly hate him.

Maybe it was because he reminded him of his little brother, or as the saying goes, children should not be held responsible for their parent's crimes.

He gazed at the little dragon with affectionate eyes.

"Your name shall be Ian from now on."