Rebirth

Chapter 25: Recap of the Day

The Triple Dragons didn't know the definition of holding back. They pumped me full of knowledge about who I was exactly in this world, and started training me again at full force. I held up better than I thought I would, but that didn't stop them from knocking my ass into the dirt. I'd put countless hours and days into their training, but in truth, I was probably gone a short while.

My hair was much longer now, reaching to my waist. I had a bit more muscle tone, probably a result of what they made me do. We swapped from sparring, to boulder lifts, and so on. I would be shocked if I didn't get any stronger from any of that. If I had any doubts about my strength, it was gone now.

I was lying on the cavern floors, sweating like mad. I had gotten over the embarrassment of being naked around others, but it was still strange when Garuga joked about how it was difficult to move my two legs with a third one in the way.

The Triple Dragons watched me, smiling. "Does ye' submit?" Garuga asked. I sat up, breathing heavy still and wiping drool from the corner of my mouth. "Not... Even close." A bang fell in front of my left eye when I rose. I charged at the three, jumping at Syrreth first. I dodged his swat, running along his arm and up onto his head. Then, grabbing his hair firmly, I turned to Porrelth and smirked. With a slight bonk to the head, I made Syrreth release a beam from his throat. Porrelth released his own flames, cancelling it out and smoke forming around us. I jumped off, smirking, but quickly blocking Garuga's advances and hit the floor. My body had become much tougher from all of this training, so I brushed it off like it was a minor scratch.

Facing them, I prepared for another, but Porrelth stopped us then. "No more for now."

"How come?" I asked, walking towards them. "It is nightfall outside. Ye' has to return to the guild, does ye' not?"

When my Dragon high died down, I realized he was right. I had to go back soon, and if I stayed any longer, it wouldn't be too fair to the others. Looking at my hands, I grabbed my bag, and slung it over my shoulder. "I guess you're right. Since you found me, are you gonna leave?"

They shared uneasy glances. "No, we don't plan to.. There's two reasons we actually came here. Both involve ye'." I faced them, watching close. "What's going on?"

"We wanted to find ye' first, and now that we have, we can send ye' about to do this." Syrreth closed his eyes. "We're searching for someone.. Someone dangerous. We tracked him down to this town, but we can't look for him due to our size."

"That's where I come in right? If you need me to, I'll keep an eye out. Who are you looking for anyway?"

"A mage who has the alias 'Amaterasu'. He's powerful, and can change his appearance at will. However, we've armed ye' with the ability to render his strength useless." Porrelth said. I tapped my stomach. "The secret to eating flames, right?"

"Correct. Now, that is all we know right now. If we discover anything through messages from the other dragons..." Garuga said. Apparently, these three weren't the only dragons looking for this Amaterasu character. "We shall relay it to ye'."

Nodding, I bowed to my Dragon Masters, and took my leave.

They weren't lying. It was nighttime when I arrived in the city. I kept to the rooftops due to my bareness, and moved quietly with the shadows. I learned a lot from the three dragons, each in their own respective element and fields. Learning to merge with shadows and dash at incredible speeds, as well as use the shadows and beams of light as weapons, in addition to my flames. I felt I was a walking war machine, and it felt good too.

Arriving at the hotel, I stepped in through the balcony door, yawning loudly. It was great training with the dragons, but I also hadn't gotten a wink of sleep or rest because of it. However, all of that was pushed out my mind when I heard a voice yelling at me. "MAMA! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"

I blinked at my team, Zhaniah a massively deep red and Cynthia a pink flurish of embarrassment on her face. I looked down at myself, rubbing my head. "What's wrong with being naked?" I asked walking towards them. Zhaniah aimed her spear at me, shaking in embarrassment. "W-we missed you, but just find some clothes!"

"Can I shower first?" I asked jokingly.

Beowulf sighed, and G pat my shoulder. "Geez, what's with the third-"

"I've heard that joke enough times, I don't need to hear it again." I said, crossing my arms. "Doesn't anyone wanna know why I look like this? Or what I figured out or anything?"

"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON FIRST, THEN WE'LL ASK!" The team yelled. I sighed, moving into the bathroom and starting a shower.

"For real?" Beowulf watched me, processing the events I told them. Everything from the dragons, to the training, to this Amaterasu. They gathered around me, listening closely, however once I mentioned the dragons, Zhaniah came extra close, almost hypnotized. She even tried searching my body for dragon scales.

Cynthia played with my long hair, trying different styles to see what would fit me best since I refused to cut it. In the end, she placed the ends in braids, but then removed it and said, "It's no good. You're hair is too thick to work with."

I sat criss cross on one of the beds, wearing nothing but pajama pants and I rag around my arm. "So, I've been employed by my masters, or.. Adoptive fathers.. To find this guy, and let them know. All I know is what they told me, which was that he could change his appearance, and was in the city. He can also use an advanced form of fire magic, but I learned a neat trick to deal with that."

"What's the trick," G asked, crossing his arms.

"Got any fire?" I asked. They watched me, then Cynthia produced a flame in the air with her magic. I watched the flame, then taking a deep breath, engulfed the fire and swallowed it whole. The team watched me, and after a while, G was the first to speak. "That was awesome..."

"So.. You can eat fire now?! Does it make you stronger," Zhaniah asked. I shook my head, and Cynthia questioned me next. "What else could you eat?"

"Just fire, if that's what you meant. I was warned not to try with any other type of magic, since I just learned how to do it, but enough about me, what happened today?"

Everyone shared an uneasy glance, and Beowulf spoke for them all. "I went up today. We did well to score in the intellect portion, got second place with no problem.. However... First place.." He paused. I watched him, eyes narrowing. "Who came in first?"

"Silent God..." He said, voice slightly ashamed.

"I've never seen anyone outsmart Beowulf before.. It was so... I couldn't even follow along," G said. "The look on his face when we realized he had no chance... That guy..."

"What guy?"

Zhaniah spoke when G opened his mouth, "That short haired guy on Silent God. He's on a completely different level." She looked down, "Outsmarted all of us.. Not only that.. He has really good magic and fighting skills."

"Sounds like a fun challenge," I said, sticking out my tongue.

"Challenge? No offense, but all that strength means nothing if you're not smart." Cynthia said. I laughed then, and everyone looked at me like I was crazy. "Oh trust me. I have a trick or two up my sleeve. Hopefully, I won't have to use it, but if I do, it's a sure victory for us." At my claim, they began smirking, and we made plans of attack depending on what would happen tomorrow. When the time came, the trial was announced, and we found ourselves preparing Zhaniah for her battle against Julienn.