Chapter 3 Episode 3

CHAPTER THREE

AURORA'S P.O.V

I was 'collected' from the side of the road to the local tavern by the carriage which had the emblem of the O'Brien's; a large pin driven through the head of a wolf. I believed my father sensed that I might probably plan on avoid coming home for the upcoming 'Rût' ceremony, hence the carriage which I believed was sent to pin down my location probably after searching the entire horizon.

On a second thought, I wished that I had transformed into my 'dragon man' form and incinerate the guards till there were no ounce of entity attached to them anymore, but just like me, they were innocent. And helpless.

I was welcomed into the chariot by the only slave and human I have ever known and gotten close to my entire days existing as a dragon man. Mabel was two sun cycles older than I was, yet, she remained submissive to me. Despite the takes and myths about the dragons and humans, I wandered how our family were able to capture humans as slaves; given that only the royal family were given the authority to do such.

The long-buried history dates back to the beginning of days, when all was peaceful and harmonious. The dragons and humans once co-existed, with the humans behind the brains of evolution, and the dragons behind the brains of manpower, spells and inventions. What was meant to be a simple fight between a human and a dragon became the course of a universal conflict between humans and dragons. The rulers over the humans and dragons at that time were reasonable and amicable enough to come to a terms of truce.

An agreement was made: the humans and dragons were to live separately in two halves of the universe. This was immediately agreed to by both parties, as they believed this would curb the possibilities of future wars brewing between the two creature race. Many years passed, unknown to the dragons that some of our kind were venturing into the human world to trade our millions-of-centuries old knowledge of magic to the humans.

The humans results to brewing wicked and devious plans, deceiving dragons to come into the human world to teach them more about magic in exchange for a sumptuous amount. Engulfed and overwhelmed by greed, dragons began to venture into the human world, and in turn, the humans trapped the dragons, making them their slaves. They sometimes, killed some of our own.

After gaining a suitable amount of knowledge on magic, the humans started to create a globe-like shield with the use of dragon scales and blood. This development will only be made known to the dragon world later on when we noticed the dragons couldn't cross certain lands and fields at the extreme end of the dragon side of the universe.

Uncovering the truth and betrayal of the humans, the ruler of the dragon world made a decision in anger, casting a spell on the invisible field that reached the heavens. This spell was meant to discourage any dragon from entering the human world, and any human from entering the dragon's. What made the spell dreaded by the dragons was what it does to any dragon who ventures into the human world. It immediately nullifies such dragon's traits and leaves them like a normal human with no dragon-like abilities.

Several years will pass, and the ruler of the human world crossed the shield into our universe to call off the long-term enemity between two walls. The ruler of our universe then explained to them the spells our predecessors casted on the shield couldn't be broken, irrespective of if the shield remains there or not.

To convince the humans, the dragon ruler started referring to our kind as the 'dragon man'. He also brought about the start of the 'Rût' festival which we perform till this present day. This seems to convince the humans that they were forgiven and both worlds kept leaving in peace and silence ever since.

"We are now home, my Lord." Mabel informs me, jolting me out of my thoughts.

I looked around to confirm what she had just told me. The guards standing at the forking on each street their dragon scale clubs standing erect on one of their hands. The babel coming from the marketplace, recruitment field that trained young dragon men to control their abilities to shapeshift and battle ...

If I were to be honest with myself, I'd admit that I did miss all of this. But my father and his imposing orders of me getting a mate is one of the many things keeping me away from home.

"We are approaching the palace gates, my Lady." Mabel announced.

I stared at her, feigning a frown.

"No one is watching us, Mabel. You can stop calling me that now." I rolled my eyes.

Mabel stared back at me, her eyes devoid of any emotion. We both burst out laughing at the same time, careful our laughter's weren't heard by the guards riding the carriage.

"I knew how much calling you that infuriates you, so I decided to welcome you back home with that." she giggled.

I smiled, suddenly realising how much I missed my one and only dearest friend. As if she was reading my thoughts, she asked, "Didn't you miss here? You were away for two sun cycles, and you didn't even bother to pen a letter to your home?" Mabel queried, her lips morphing a pout.

I suddenly felt my emotions heighten downwards.

"I-I'm sorry, Mabel. I really ... I really wanted to, but something has been keeping me away from home. Something that I have been trying to avoid ever since I witnessed my first 'Rût'." I confessed.

Mabel's eyes widened. She seemed to have understood what I was trying to explain. She drew closer to me, whispering, "You mean, you don't wanna have a mate? That's close to impossible, Aurora-"

"I do wish to. Maybe not now, but later on. I just ... I don't think I have met any dragonman that I am personally attracted to. Nothing seems to excite me about them, not even our world. All we care about is bringing forth the future generations." I blurted out in frustration.

Marie gestures to the carriage windows, and I peeped out to take a glance. I gasped at the sightings, and I noticed we were now in our home. I caught a glimpse of my father in his regalia and dragon scaled ruby sword sitting on the side of his hips.

This was it. It's time for me to face my father after two sun cycles.