Draconia Offline vol. 1

15.1. Roots, Fur, Scales and Feather - Part 1

"You should be resting, Fefnir," I implore him.

"Nah, I'm good," he waves his hand impatiently.

I haven't seen him just for twelve hours but it was enough time for his body to become almost completely covered in scales. All of his hair fell off and I notice small horns forming on his scalp.

"Can I touch it?" I ask but curiosity isn't the only reason why I want to touch him. I need to make sure that he's really okay.

"Sure, go ahead."

I gently touch his scaly head, then inspect the little horns. It's fascinating what his body is capable of. I'm after a different thing, though. I connect to his mind, careful to only listen and not to project anything as I do with Erik.

I'm afraid that Fefnir, however bravely he acts, is panicking about the whole thing. I mean... becoming a reptile—what a mind-fuck. Except for wings and golden eyes, I still look pretty human at least from the outside but the only thing that the Dragonkin have in common with humans is a humanoid shape. They look like dragons who walk on two legs and have fingers.

Surprisingly, I don't find any panic in Fefnir's mind. Of course, he's worried about how his family and friends are going to react but concerning his transformation, he's excited and can't wait to test his new power. He feels calm inside, phlegmatic even—like he can take on anything with his strong body. The Dragonkin mentality, really.

"Do you feel like you'll be able to breathe fire?" I ask.

"Hmm, I do actually," he grins and pats his stomach. "I heard from Ingri that you already did some fire show?"

"It was hardly a show," I sigh and show him my bandaged palm. "I almost burnt Liana's bed."

"You have to be more careful next time, Ryuu," Erik worries. "How did it work ingame anyway?"

"Celestials can do fire magic but their bodies aren't built for that," Fefnir explains. "You can't make a flame on your hand like you did ingame where your own spells couldn't hurt you, Aefener. Only Dragonkin scales are designed to resist the heat."

"I'm scared of fire magic after that incident," I admit. "It was a shock."

"No wonder, Celestials can control all elements to a certain extent but fire isn't their natural racial skill after all," Fefnir says because Erik doesn't know these things. "The air is."

"Right, the air," Erik coughs. "Like yesterday? You seemed to be totally in your element."

"What about yesterday?" Liana enters the study, being pushed in a wheelchair by Hana. Her feathers have grown overnight and Dr Stein standing by her side can't seem to have enough of her precious patient.

"Seriously, is anyone even remotely resting?" I frown.

"You didn't rest that much either. It just seemed that way because your prince was carrying you everywhere you wanted," Liana reminds me. "And Ingri is resting, I made her."

"At least someone is in bed," I sigh.

"Not really in bed," Liana says. "She's in the gazebo outside. For someone who's constantly insisting on not being a plant, she certainly acts like one. She's inspecting all garden flora and sunbathing since this morning, totally mesmerised. And what was that about yesterday?"

"Ryuuto did some kind of air magic," Erik says. "Creating air currents... like a light breeze."

"Wow, how?" Liana is genuinely impressed. "I wanted to test that flame spell but Dr Stein didn't let me."

"You're still recuperating, Miss Richter," the doctor stays adamant.

"I don't know how," I admit. "Another spur of the moment."