King of Dragons

Ch.5: Morgan Le Fay (Part 3)

Dragons were powerful and proud creatures, but that didn't make them evil. They didn't attack humans unless they invaded their territory in an attempt to plunder their wealth.

That was common sense.

"I smelled you."

Sitting on a fallen log, Auros looked up to see a great red dragon landing.

"What are you doing here, Igneel?" the Heavenly Dragon asked.

In his human form, Auros was a man in his 30's, with messy blond hair and emerald, green eyes. He was wearing a pair of torn pants and Rin's pendant.

"You should know this is my territory," Auros glared at him. "If you want it, you will have to defeat me."

Igneel laughed at the threat. He was strong, so strong that he was known by other dragons as the Fire Dragon King. But even someone like him respected the Heavenly Dragon whose strength had earned him the title of Dragon King.

"I was flying over the area when I happened to see you in this form," Igneel admitted that he was quite curious. "There's a rumour going around lately. Looks like someone saw you flying with two human children."

Auros groaned. "Did Leviathan say that?" he asked immediately.

Leviathan was the dragon who resided in the sea around the island where he had led Yuto and Claire.

"I still didn't remember that that airspace belonged to him," the Heavenly Dragon added.

As a dragon, Leviathan had a noisy and even arrogant personality. Because of this, he was perhaps one of the few dragons that caused problems for humans to have fun, causing tidal waves and sinking the ships.

"I was just doing a job," Auros said grabbing Rin's pendant. "I was paid to do it."

Igneel was rather stunned, but he kept a certain behaviour.

"We've known each other a long time and I don't remember you had a great interest in human matters," Igneel said with a solemn expression. "So why did you change your mind?" Auros could sense curiosity in Igneel's words.

The Heavenly Dragon sighed as he stood up. His body was enveloped by a dazzling golden light; when it faded, Auros had again changed into his dragon form.

"What I think of humans has not changed," Auros said in a serious tone. "I'm just starting to think that maybe it's wrong to underestimate them."

Over the centuries, Auros had faced numerous humans but none had ever been a problem. Those who did not flee were killed before they could draw their swords. But he had a strange feeling when his eyes met Yuto's. He could describe the sensation that felt like an infinite number of needles piercing his scales.

If someone like Yuto existed, others like him might have been born.

"..." Igneel looked at Auros seriously. If even someone like the Heavenly Dragon said it was wrong to underestimate humans, he had to be given some importance.

"But just because he has immense power by human standards, it doesn't mean he's evil," Auros added, in a sense taking Yuto's side. "Otherwise he wouldn't have paid with a family keepsake to ask me to bring him there," he reasoned internally.

Auros had noticed Yuto's suffering gaze when he handed over the pendant as a prepayment.

"I imagine that even among humans there are beings that rise above others," Igneel conceded with a disinterested tone.

Auros agreed even if he could not say the same of the last who had invaded his territory, a group of ill-equipped barbarians whose leader boasted in advance of subduing someone like him.