Sylvie

3 years later

"Good! Let's begin the ceremony," he replied, clasping his hands together.

We stood face to face, only an arm's length apart. Tess was now leaning forward in excitement, as we were about to start.

"Just let your mana come out freely. Don't try to control anything. I'll restrain you if necessary so it's crucial that you keep a relaxed state of mind and rouse the particles of mana you assimilated all these years," he instructed.

After a nod in response, he then began exerting mana into my core, flooding my core with his mana along with mine.

Instantly, I began feeling a warm sensation, like a hot gust of air was flowing in and out of my pores.

As I felt my body reaching it's limit, a loud explosion startles me out of my concentration, only for me to see Gramps getting thrown back and Tess falling back on her chair and rolling back as well.

An unbearable pain immediately surges from my body, as if my very skeleton was trying to crawl out of my skin. Without even the strength to scream my vision darkens. I welcomed the darkness because I knew it would relieve me of my pain.

Waking up back in my bed, I sat up feeling surprisingly refreshed. Sitting to my side, laying her head down on my legs was Tess. Looking at her sleeping like this, it reminded me of when I had escorted her back home after saving her from the slave traders.

Grandpa walked in soon after and he sat down on the other side of the bed, not bothering to wake up his slumbering granddaughter.

"How do you feel brat?" His lips curl up into a half grin.

"I should be asking you that, Gramps. I saw you getting sent flying; even Tess was knocked back."

He just let out an embarrassed chuckle. "I have to admit I wasn't expecting that great of a force. I know you probably have a good reason for not even telling me what kind of beast gave you its will but is I'll ask just one more time. What sort of beast gave you it's will?"

Scenes of my time with Sylvia ran through my mind, one of them being her telling me never to tell anyone I had met her. However, Virion was probably only the few people I could actually trust, and he had the right to know. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be alive.

"...Well, It was a dragon."

A thick silence had filled the room as Virion's face was frozen in the same stricken expression he had when I told him. He began mumbling to himself, the only words I could make out being 'possible' and 'never happened'.

Sponsored Content

"D-dragon..." he managed to wheeze out, his eyes staring blankly at me.

"Dear lord... a D-dragon Tamer. In my life, I've never thought I'd be able to see the birth of a Dragon Tamer...I-I'm even the one that trained him! HAHAHA! A Dragon Tamer!"

Tess woke up from the now senile Virion and looked at him, confused.

He suddenly grabbed both my shoulders and looked at me intently. "You did right in keeping this a secret. Do not tell anyone else. This power of yours has to be kept a secret until you have the strength to protect yourself and those around you."

"I'm beginning to believe that more and more, Gramps," I responded seriously.

"Good! Although I would like to know the whole story, but I am more than satisfied with what you've told me for now." He smiled back.

"What is it Gramps? What did Art tell you? Uu...not fair, keeping secrets from me." Tess started pouting at this point.

"Hahaha, you'll know when the time is right little one. Arthur! I have good news. The teleportation gate that is supposed to open in two years will be opening early. There is a tournament that will be held in the city of Xyrus in four months. This tournament will be a very important event for the future because both the dwarves and elves are sending youths as representatives for both the tournament and as a preliminary student to your human academy. During the tournament, we can sneak you back into Sapin without the humans knowing at that time," Gramps exclaimed with a smile on his sharp face.

"Really Gramps? I can go home soon?" I shot out of bed.

I would finally be able to see my parents again! I had been sending messages to my parents every once in awhile through Elder Rinia but after seeing them through the water divination technique, I wasn't able to see them again.

By this point, I had unlocked all the elements and their deviants. I had also just passed the silver stage, even though most of my day was spend fighting grandpa who I was now stronger than when he wasn't using his beast will.

I went to my room, and laid down. Even I was tired after the awakening of Sylvia's beast will. Suddenly, I heard rustling inside of the stone Sylvia gave me.

Oh no, did it break? Did anything happen?

It cracked open, revealing a pair of yellow eyes staring at me.

Sylvia's stone was an egg???

The first thing that had come into mind was that it was a dragon. It looked sort of like a dragon to me, but at the same time, it didn't. It was all black. It kind of reminded me of a small kitten but with scales. It was sitting on all fours, studying at me with its head tilted to one side. The sclera that would usually be white in the human's eyes was black, like Grandpa Virion when he uses his second form, except its irises were a bright red instead of yellow. The pupils were sharp slits that would normally make it look menacing, but with the body of something akin to a small feline animal, it just looked adorable. The most noticeable difference between a dragon like Sylvia and this little... thing was that it had two horns on its head. The horns looked identical to the illusion that Sylvia had been before she revealed to me that she was a dragon. It curved outward around its head and then, sharpening into a point in the front.

Its head was shaped like a cat's but the snout was a just a little bit more pointed, otherwise the same. The tail, though, looked exactly like Sylvia's tail. It was a reptilian tail that had two red spikes at the end. Along the spine of this hatchling were also small red spikes that matched the color of its eyes. It didn't have wings but where the wings should be located were, instead, two small bumps.

I could see that its belly didn't have scales, though; it looked sort of leathery.

The newly hatched creature suddenly let out a toothless yawn, toppling on its back after losing balance.

And in response, I was flushed with the overwhelming urge to embrace this creature.

"Kyu?" It locked its sharp eyes at me with intelligence that didn't match its appearance.

"H-hi there little fella, I'm Arthur." I stretched my hand out towards it as if it were a dog that needed to know my scent.

"KYU!" It jumped off of the chair and onto my lap, gazing up at me.

I could feel my hands twitch as I suppressed the urge to squeeze it. Unlike the majesty and fearsomeness that Sylvia had, this creature was dangerous in a different sense.

Unable to hold in the urge, I carefully petted the adorable menace. The scales were surprisingly soft and the red spikes that ran down its back felt like rubber. I guess young animals, whether humans or monsters were all squishy and soft. It started purring, closing its eyes.

I could feel the tension on my face melt as I let out a soft laugh. "Hehe..."

It rolled onto its back, asking for a more thorough rub. The belly felt like a very soft leather, making it very smooth to rub. I took a closer look at its claws and found it interesting that it looked closer to paws than actual claws. The only thing that was hard were its horns, which were surprisingly sharp as well. I couldn't help but compare it to the beak a bird would use to crack itself out if its shell.

"Aren't you just a cute lil fella?" My smile widened while petting this adorable newborn, to the point where it seemed intoxicating.

After a little bit, I couldn't help but think of what to name it, which made me realize I didn't even know the gender of this mysterious creature.

"Kyu~!" Suddenly the newborn shot its tongue out and licked the underside of my left forearm.

"Ah!" I reflexively tried to move my arm back from the scorching sensation, but before I could, a glowing black light began enveloping my arm.

The prickling pain subsided fairly quickly so I just waited. The creature pulled its tongue back, revealing a black marking on my forearm.

It looked a lot like the tribal markings that covered Sylvia before she passed on her will to me but the shape of this pattern was that of a wing. Just one open wing, but it was made up of several dashes and sharp curves that branched out, making it look very intricate and mysterious.

I was only eight but I already had a tattoo. I'm such a rebel.

'...Mama~?'

The creature was looking up at me with its mouth closed.

What? I obviously heard a voice just now.

'Mama?' This time I heard it clearly in my head.

Was this...telepathy?

Shaking my head helplessly, I responded vocally, "I guess I'm your mother. But I'm a boy so you should call me papa."

'Papa!' It suddenly jumped up and licked my nose.

I'm a rebel with a tattoo and a child.

After communicating with the creature for a bit, I had come to realize a few things. I guess after the mark had appeared on my forearm, a sort telepathic connection was established. The voice I heard in my head from the creature sounded like a girl's so I've decided to name her Sylvie after her real mother.

"Syeevy?" she responded with her head tilted.

Picking her up and bringing her close to my face, I smiled at her, "That's right! Your name is Sylvie."

She nuzzled her nose to mine while closing her sharp eyes.

Another thing I realized was that Sylvie had a pretty high intelligence for a newborn. She already seemed to have the mental capacity of a 2-3 year-old child. While we're communicating telepathically, I knew she's not necessarily talking to me in English but I just understood it as that. It was a very odd feeling, not knowing the words she's actually saying but knowing what she meant. Besides simple words like "papa", most of the thoughts she communicated with me come through as emotions. I was able to get the gist of what she meant by how she felt.

"Okay Sylvie! I need to wash now. Do you want to come with me?" I said while setting her down.

"Kyu?" She tilted her head again while she looked up at me. I felt like she was asking me what "wash" was so I just laughed and took her with me.

Getting into the shower, she seemed to cry out 'NOOOOOOO' as she wailed a shrill "KYUU!"

"I guess you don't like water that much, do you Sylvie?" I chuckled, setting her down out of the shower.

Sylvia shook herself off like a wet dog and plopped down on the floor next to the shower, her tail wagging, observing me as I finished washing up.

Her behavior sort of reminded me of a mix between a dog and a cat. Never would I imagine her lineage to be that of a mighty dragon. Of course, this was assuming that she actually Sylvia's child.

That got me thinking though.

Was Sylvie really a dragon? She sure looked kind of like a baby dragon...

Why was she completely black when Sylvia was pure white? What baffled me the most was the fact that Sylvie had horns eerily similar to that horned, demon king illusion that Sylvia was at first and also to the demon that confronted her.

I got out of the shower and dried myself off. No use thinking about all of this now; how was I going to explain this to Gramps and Tess, though?

As I got out of the bathroom, Sylvie toddled behind me, 'kyu'ing me to not leave her behind.

I gathered up the pieces of the shell that Sylvie came out from and set it aside. Then I wrapped the feather that was encasing the stone around my forearm to cover the marking that little had Sylvie left.

Four months. In four months, I would be able to see my parents. I wonder if they'd still recognize me.

Sylvie must've felt the longing emotion of my parents because she cuddled in close to my face and licked my cheeks.

"Thanks little Sylv." Petting her horned head, I fell asleep.

A few months later

'We're home, Sylv. We're finally home.'

I took careful steps walking up the flight of stairs and took one deep breath. Dusting off my shirt and pants I knocked on the giant double doors.

Author's note: Bear with me, it will be quite a bit of copy paste of the interesting/important moments until Xyrus, where it should hopefully deviate a bit more from the story.