Air Touched - A Dragon Tribe Origin

Chapter Twenty-Eight - Jae

Jae's heart was soaring, and he couldn't think of any better way to embrace the sensation than by going out for a flight. Night was probably the most dangerous time to go for a joy ride. Slayers were more prone to attacking his kin when there was less chances of them being caught in the act. When did Jae care about being safe? Never. Being with Ijn got his adrenaline pumping in new and unusual ways. His whole body tingled with a different, powerful, force of magic. It mingled with his true, elemental magic, to the point where he was afraid of bursting on the spot. Flying won over exploding, hands down.

He snuck out the back door of the palace, avoiding all of the guards on duty. Not like they'd have put up too much of a fight if he'd been caught. What they could do was tattle to his father. For guards, they were awfully lazy, though, so he didn't have to try too hard to sneak around.

Behind the palace was a thick forest that would allow him to transform with ease about half a mile away. A journey that didn't take all too long since he was still overflowing with endless amounts of energy. Within minutes he was in the perfect secret place, nestled between the trees. Large enough for him to change, hidden enough to allow him to do so.

When it came to being a dragon, Jae was fairly average in size. The Aero species in general were much more slender and agile. Their bodies had the most grace by far. Large and muscular, and clearly a force to be reckoned with, yet delicate and carefully constructed specifically to rule the skies much like a bird. What Jae didn't have in size and strength, he made up for in speed and magic. The transformation itself only took a minute, if that. He'd done it so many times, perfected it so well, he didn't even feel the shifting of his body anymore. Outside of a tingle and a new awareness of his larger form, he felt exactly the same as a dragon as he did human. He imagined that's how God intended the process to be.

Once he was in his dragon shape, he ran through the forest. Dodging the trees wasn't as hard as it would seem in his sleek body. The goal was to create some more distance between him and the palace before he took to the air. Traveling on foot as a dragon was much faster than using his human legs.

Within a few minutes he came upon a clearing, amped up his speed, and with a few beats of his wings he was in the sky, heading toward the stars. The night was cloudy and cold. Each gust of wind made him feel stronger as his magic was fueled by its element further. He broke through a low cloud and the sight before him was breathtaking. Above him was a clear view of the star speckled universe, below a layer of clouds rolling and tumbling into each other like fluffy white waves. In front of him: the peeks of the Aero Mountains, looking much less grand with their bottoms hidden from view.

Further in the distance coming from one of the tallest points in the mountain range was a stream of light. He'd never seen anything like it before. Naturally, he had to investigate.

He could practically hear Sun and his father lecturing him as he flew closer. Stay away. It could be slayers trying to lure dragons over for an easier kill. Blah, blah, blah. When were they going to learn slayers were only scary because father let the faction be scary? Besides, no human in their right mind would go up that high into the mountains in the middle of the night when it was overcast. Common sense. Humans were not built for surviving such conditions on their own.

Jae on the other hand thrived when the weather wasn't perfect. When the currents were strong and varied, was when the magic grew strongest. The mysterious light calling to him had a special tug on him as well. And it seemed to be coming from close to Sun's cave. He'd meant it when he said he was interested in learning more. Why waste the opportunity to do so?

As he got closer to the light itself, he saw it was more like a river of small illuminated orbs so tightly compressed together they appeared as one. They were a startling silver, nearly blinding. Never before had he seen such a concentration of magic to the point where it not only looked like light but also like metal.