The Alchemist and The Dragon

Chapter 7

After about half an hour of walking, we get out of the forest and into open fields, with a dirt path that goes right through, splitting of in different directions half way. Every 20 or so meters of the path are old rusty lamps that aren't lit yet, but have clearly been lit before. The sight was peaceful, and a much more relaxing change of tempo.

After walking down the winding roads, following Alaster's lead, we reach a little house with a few trees planted here and there, and wild flowers growing all around.

As we get closer, the birch-wood door swings open, and a tall, slender male figure stands in the door way, waving.

The closer we get, the clearer the man's features get.

He has slightly curly, pale pink hair. As unusual as it sounds, it suited him quite well.

His skin was tanned, the complete opposite of Alaster's. His eyes however, were the exact same old silver colour. That mesmerising colour. But it didn't have the same effect on me as Alaster's did. Maybe it's just because I'm used to seeing Alaster and those eyes now.

"Alaster! It's been too long little brother!" The man speaks with a velvety voice, as he hugs Alaster.

"It's good to see you too Asra! I'm glad you're doing well." Alaster replies, hugging his brother back.

The brothers pull apart smiling, and then turn to Nadia and I.

"Asra. This is Ara, she's an alchemist. And this is Nadia, a witch. We haven't known each other very long, especially Nadia, but I trust them." Alaster introduces us.

"Well if Al trusts you, then I do to. I'm Asra, it's nice to meet you." Asra says politely as he beams a big smile.

"come inside I'm sure you're tired. I'll get some tea brewing for you." Asra offers, opening the door wider for us, ushering us in with one arm.

As soon as I step through the door, somethings not right. The room on the inside appears bigger than it looks from the outside.

I look at Nadia and Alaster. Alaster seems completely un-phased, and if Nadia was phased she didn't show it.

My confusion must've shown on my face, because Asra lets out a hearty laugh and smiles back at me.

"It's my dragon quirk. It allows me to create illusions. They don't last forever but they last long enough. And when they fade I simply re-create them." The pink haired male explained.

My mouth makes an 'o' shape and I nod.

"So, what brings you all here?" Asra asks as he places four cups of tea on the table we were sitting at.

"Well, at first me and Ara were looking for new places to settle down. Then we happened to stumble upon Nadia and helped her out of a rather strange predicament. So now we're wondering if you had any information about how the predicament began in the first place," Alaster begins, face stoic.

Asra looks to be deep in thought before he looks up and nods for Alaster to continue.

"Nadia says that a dragon with some kind of manipulation quirk came to her village and used his quirk on the lord. As a result the lord decided that all witches be killed, and he condemned Nadia to the gallows." Alaster finished solemnly.

When I look back at Asra, his face was contorted into one of shock, disgust and fear.

"Oh no..." Asra murmurs to himself. He stands up and starts pacing back and forth.

"What do you mean 'oh no'?" Alaster questions sternly.

"Al, you remember why we left right?"

Alaster nods.

"Well I went back to see if things had changed. They hadn't they were so much worse. Abaddon is the king." Asra spits the name as if it were a bug on his tongue.

"How could that have happened?! We left to make sure he wouldn't get what he wanted, but if he's king it doesn't matter!" Alaster yells as he stands up knocking over his tea.

He looked furious. I had never seen him look this angry before. This infuriated.

"What are you talking about? Who is Abaddon? Why did he two of you leave?" I question, very confused.

"Alaster. It's your call, you can tell them if you want to." Asra pressures. Alaster turns to look at me.

"Ara, could you come with me outside? I'm sorry Nadia, but I only want to tell Ara this." Alaster announces. He walks over to me and grabs my hand, pulling me outside with him.

Nadia nods at me when I look back, but I see a glint of mischief in her eyes as she turns to look back at Asra.

Once we're in the garden we sit down on a bench near a small water feature.

"So... god where do I start," Alaster runs a hand through his hair, pushing it back out of his face.

"Me and Asra, we were actually... well we were royals. The princes actually. Asra was supposed to inherit the throne, but he refused. At first I was confused, that was until he told me that the royal adviser and his son were planning on eliminating all magic users and Alchemists in order to have complete dominance over the humans like the days of old. We knew that we had to leave, otherwise who knows what would've happened. But now the adviser, Abaddon somehow has the throne. And I can't believe I didn't recognise it, but the dragon quirk Nadia said was used to compel the lord to hate witches, but it sounds the exact same as Zavier's quirk, Abaddon's son." Alaster explains as he looks over to me, checking to see my reaction.

I was confused, not because the explanation was confusing, there were just so many emotions running through my head.

"Ara? Are you ok?" Alaster asks, voice wavy with concern.

I look up and instead of saying something empathetic or comforting, I say,

"You're a prince?" I say with a dumbfounded expression.

Alaster looks at me for an awkward second and then bursts out laughing.

"I don't think there is anyone else I know who could hear a load of information like that, and not have some form of mental panic! Let alone say something like that!" Alaster chuckles. I giggle with him for a little while before we walk inside.

When we get inside I notice Asra pouting at the table, sulkily sipping his tea, and Nadia appeared to be deep in thought.

"So my guess is this Zavier guy went around to different villages and used his dragon quirk to make the lord's despise magic of any kind." Nadia estimates.

Alaster and I turned to look at Asra.

"She used magic on me, and when it didn't work she used a different kind of magic to listen to your conversation instead." Asra continues to pout.

"So, what're we going to do about it? We obviously can't let them get away with this otherwise the world is as good as dead." Nadia states full of determination.

We all agree in silence, no one making a move. It was so quiet you could've heard a pin drop. I'm the first to make a move as I walk to the middle of everyone.

"Well, let's make a plan then. The longer we wait the more witches and other magic users could be dying." I encourage. Alaster makes his way to a shelf and grabs what appears to be an old map and a pencil.

"This is a map of the kingdom from last time we were there. Let's get planning." Alaster announced as we all gather around the table, and start are plan to give the throne of the dragon kingdom back to Asra and Alaster.