Dragon's lair

Xian was looking at the strange square all around him. The same huge magic circle as the one that had trapped them in the Infinite Forest was currently moving up in the air, slowly revealing the body of the dragon. It looked like a shining mobile ceiling. Even sprawled on the ground, the dragon's body was very large compared to the humans. Therefore, it took a few seconds to appear completely.

The gigantic beast was still sleeping soundly, its maw was slightly opened, releasing small puffs of smoke as well as the occasional snore. The massive body, long claws and sharp fangs still looked impressive, however the sleeping position of the dragon – thanks to Xian pushing its body – seemed totally unguarded and peaceful. The frightening legendary dragon, the emperor in the sky, was behaving like a pet taking a nap.

Even its hard scales could not hide its somewhat contented and sated look. It could have been funny, were they still safe in the clearing in the Infinite Forest where they had landed previously. Xian, however, wasn't laughing at all. He didn't know where they were and how to go out of this place. Any kind of unpredictable events could happen at any time. He couldn't help but feel tense, wondering who captured them and for what purpose.

Moreover, although empty except for the two humans and the sleeping dragon, this enclosed square felt suffocating despite its size. The entire place was made of stone, the high walls on every side showed carvings and statues but no doors, nor windows. Not a single plant could be seen around. It looked like a barren pit, as if life had been banned from this place a long time ago. It was unnecessarily large but quite fitting for a prison.

In addition, the air was quite hot and saturated in magic elements. As a consequence, Xian's body shone brighter even though the situation made his skin crawl. His now short and uneven golden hair was floating unnaturally. His whole being felt like bursting from the excess magic. This place was really the worst and the most unnerving he knew.

He was still kneeling near the unconscious Arthur Caucel, unable to move at all as a splitting headache almost made him faint. He felt dizzy and nauseous. His only thought was to escape from this awful prison. The concentration of magic elements was unbearable.

Unable to find a suitable solution, Xian gathered all his remaining strength and jumped as high as he could through the magic portal, hoping he could go back to the Infinite Forest. It seemed to be the only way out. He didn't dare try any magic spell in this unsettling environment. He just used his unusual strength to reach the gate.

With the sudden change in environment, Xian didn't have time to care about the half-healed mage laying on the ground. Because of the overwhelming and disturbing magic, even with his physique, Xian would have been hard-pressed to carry the wounded man while fleeing. Leaving him behind was the most reasonable and logical solution.

Moreover, he might still be able to rescue Soon-Yi's friend later. Xian didn't know the man very well, he was at most an acquaintance he met when he was still a child. He only knew the mage's reputation and didn't recognize him at first. However, Xian saw him attack the former Great Mage Cheng Hu together with Soon-Yi and afterwards, he saw him fight by her side while chasing the dragon. No doubt the old man was one of the very few mages she trusted. From his observations, it wasn't difficult for Xian to infer Arthur Caucel's identity. Truth be told, Caucel might be a friend and ally of Soon-Yi's, it didn't mean he would willingly help Xian. Xian thought he'd better be weary and prioritize his own safety.

However, he still felt a little guilty and reluctant. When they were still in the Infinite Forest, it had been so easy for him to carry the mage and now he wasn't able to do it at all. He loathed this feeling of uselessness. In the first place, he was at fault for the whole situation. They might have been able to avoid the magic circle range if he had taken the man further away.

Xian couldn't help but feel regrets. For once, his instincts didn't detect any threat and thus he had lowered his guard and had been taken by surprise. Such mistake was unforgivable and would probably earn him a scolding from Soon-Yi if he ever met her again. He suspected it was due to his ignorance. Even his instincts were somewhat relying on his experience but Xian didn't know much about this magic circle, if anything at all. Powerful as he was, he was still a fourteen-year-old brat, lacking wisdom, knowledge and insight. It was so frustrating !

However, that never prevented him from boldly doing his best. He was now very close to the magic circle, trying to commit to memory the design as well as hoping he could escape this trap somehow. This was probably some kind of space magic. However, these magic spells and artifacts were long forgotten. They belonged to the era of Ancient Aliker, before its downfall. Space magic per se didn't exist anymore. Without a treasure from Ancient Aliker, only Earth, Wind, Fire and Water magic elements could be used. The artifacts enabled the user to pour any of these four magic elements to emulate a predefined spell of a given forgotten magic. Such convenient tool happened to be very powerful, depending on the output spell and magic type.

From time to time, Soon-Yi did show him some of the magic tools from her collection (even some she created herself), but the few artifacts from Ancient Aliker were too mysterious, even for her. They were, as a matter of fact, the life-long research subject of a high-level mage such as Arthur Caucel. Although she was prideful and haughty, Soon-Yi was well-versed in magic as well, and knew her limits. Too much knowledge had been lost over the time and the relics were unrivaled treasures to the current mages.

Xian didn't know why Soon-Yi's precious teleport device had been in the hands of Arthur Caucel, but he had no doubt it was the same one. He had first experienced it as a child when Soon-Yi fled with him, the day his family had been killed.

Ever since, under Soon-Yi's tutelage, he had learned how to fight and how to escape from tricky situations. As of now, no doubt the best course of action was to get away from this trap. However, the magic circle disappeared just as he was about to touch it. It vanished silently in a snap. Even the magic elements were unperturbed, as if it had never existed. And just like that, Xian's hopes were shattered.

However, he didn't feel any despair, he was hardly prone to such extreme and dangerous emotions. By the time he landed on the hard ground of the square, his mind was already analyzing his surroundings to find a better solution. After all, he had made a bet and lost. It wasn't a big deal if he could somehow gain the upper hand.

He wasn't even certain that he could have gone back, had he been able to go through the magic circle in the reverse direction. If he could make it out of this predicament and go back to Selnan, he would insure to have Soon-Yi teach him all she knew about magic circles. Surely it could become handy to know a magic trick so powerful it could effortlessly move a huge dragon. And, as usual, he intended to use his magic power sparsely and only for extreme emergency.

Sometimes, he could understand Soon-Yi's frustration when he rejected all her attempts to teach him magic. His stubbornness only earned him many scoldings and beatings and in the end, he had unwillingly memorized some minor or unnecessary spells because he saw his foster mother cast them so many times.

She might be scary with a cold personality but Soon-Yi was, very much like Arthur Caucel, a magic maniac and a hard worker. Xian knew she came to Aliker to assist his parents only because the queen, Xian's mother, knew many powerful spells and was one of the strongest mages of her generation. Soon-Yi was, in all actuality, the queen's secret disciple. However, the lives of royalties, especially in Aliker, were constantly threatened, and the queen died before she could hand down her knowledge. She only taught a small portion to Soon-Yi, such as how to manipulate magic elements other than her own. With all this valuable knowledge lost, Soon-Yi was the same as the other mages, looking painstakingly for scraps of ancient magic.

Ever since the Ancient Aliker kingdom fell, the political struggles for this territory had been fierce, to say the least. Of course, the land was rich and vast, but obviously the greed of each ruler's dynasty was targeted towards the magic treasures, either artifacts, books of spells or weapons.

To Xian, it only felt like a huge pain and many times did he encounter dangerous situations in his childhood. If his identity as a royal from Aliker – albeit from a fallen dynasty – was exposed now, his life would become once again far more complicated and dangerous than it already was. Human greed knew no bounds. People from all over the world might chase him and try to make him spill secrets, even though he knew close to nothing about his homeland. To lie low and stay hidden his entire life was the only safe route for him. He was not truly afraid, he just wished to live freely. Obviously, just like anyone, his purpose in life was not to become a prey. Being hunted down didn't suit well with him.

But that was exactly the threat he was facing right this moment. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he activated a magic trap, yet another one, which prevented him from escaping. He couldn't move his legs at all. Obviously, physical strength was no use against the spell. Moreover, even if he had been more skilled in magic, any spell was rendered useless. As it had been when he was in the dragon's maw, all the magic elements from his body had been sucked out of him. His skin and hair had reverted to their usual hue, but for once, Xian was not relieved at all.

The next moment, a statue slid aside, revealing a hidden door. Xian couldn't do anything as the magic circle entrapping him glided slowly towards the door. Still in the trap that not only emptied his body and core of all magic elements but also prevented these elements from coming near him, Xian was confined in a basement. It seemed damp and bleak but thankfully his headache had receded and he could think clearly again.

Sure enough, it seemed even more difficult to escape now that he had been moved from the prison-like courtyard where the portal had been. Truth be told, his current cell looked a lot more like a prison but the main problem was that he seemed to have been transported unwillingly in another area with space magic. Even if he could escape his cell, it would be useless as he didn't know how to go back and the portal had disappeared. He was sure his abductors would not let him near the courtyard. He hadn't known space magic could be such a pain!

In addition, he had yet to meet anyone from this strange place. Even if he had been caught by mistake, which seemed rather unlikely, when the dragon came "back home", he couldn't help but feel uneasy. He also wondered what would happen to the unconscious mage. In his mind, he already dreaded to see Soon-Yi again as he would be unable to explain what had happened to her dear friend. Somehow, he felt that she would harshly scold him for his reckless behavior and his uselessness as a bodyguard.

In his mind, Soon-Yi would certainly care more about the old mage's fate than Xian's, even if the latter happened to be, due to some circumstances, her foster son. Just as he was pointlessly bracing himself to face Soon-Yi's glare, he felt his body sink in the floor once again. It really was a sickening feeling.

A moment later, he appeared in a small cage right in the middle of a large room. The bars were strengthened by magic and he was unable to break them. Next to him was a mountain of gold, it almost made his eyes pop out of their sockets. On top of all this gold, was a small dragon. It was small in comparison to the one he had met before, that had captured him and brought him here. But it was unmistakably a legendary dragon, far more powerful than the dragons from the Lysanian kingdom.

As it happened, it was a female dragon that had just laid an egg and was very weak. As soon as Xian entered the cage, the barrier that entrapped him and prevented him from touching the magic elements vanished. As a consequence, Xian felt the heavy atmosphere, densely packed with magic elements, strike him as if he was dealt a blow strong enough to knock him out. Of course, his body quickly absorbed the magic elements to concentrate them in his body and magic core. Finally, the dragon in front of him started to stir. Looking intently towards Xian, it opened its maw and breathed in. The level of magic elements in Xian's body lowered drastically.

In the end, it seemed Xian was only here to provide food. It was really an unpleasant feeling and Xian's resolve to flee increased ten fold.