Chapter Text
There was a dull ringing in his ears, he could also feel the cold seeping into his bones and the unmistakable burning sensation on his skin. His body was drenched with sweat and everything felt heavy. He snapped his eyes open, gasping as his eyes registered the place he was in.
He was in that damned cave, where he was taken by the White Star after it bought him from his parents. Here he consumed a dragon's first heart, here all his misery began.
As he felt his breathing begin to become erratic, he also felt something else.
Mana.
Mana flowed freely through his body, unrestricted and unclogged. He looked down to see his hands, red mana swirling from his fingertips, illuminating his surroundings.
But these were not his hands.
It wasn't even because they were too small, not even because they were paler, but the color of the mana wasn't his.
He created a mirror with a curtain of mana, looking at his tender face and deep eyes that were divided between red and blue. The red hair was long, framing his skinny cheeks.
He lit his surroundings with a flame: on the floor, was a hastily scrawled writing. Help them.
He was sure.
He was now the Red Dragon.
He couldn't pinpoint what had happened, he was at the inn washing dishes when pain gripped his body, he ignored it because it was normal to feel pain, but things escalated until he passed out.
Somehow he had been reborn, just like the White Star, his soul took over another body. The body of the Red Dragon.
From his elven form alone he could surmise that the cold and burning in his body was because the Red Dragon had just experienced its second phase of growth.
Glancing to his side, he came upon the black egg.
Raon Miru, huh?
The most un-dragon-like dragon he had ever met, mingling with humans and taking care of them with everything he had. Arrogant, but kind. Territorial, but affectionate. He was quite the oddball among dragons, and they were oddballs individually.
He hadn't thought much of it when he sent the black egg with that Redika guy to the western continent, he figured anything would be better than living trapped in a dark cave and being tortured on a daily basis.
But that was exactly what the Black Dragon that hatched from that egg experienced.
Somehow, he felt he had failed.
The half-blood dragon had once been human, he had a family that had been with him before they decided to sell him, he knew the warmth of a family and the love that was experienced.
Locked in a cave for many years, the black egg was like a family to him.
He had sent him away, but the Black Dragon still found a way to survive in the world alone. Unlike him, who needed the hearts of many dragons to live for another.
And now he was here, in the past, one that was probably different, considering he was a dragon instead of a half-blood, he had a chance to change things.
He could be free now.
They could be free now.
Thoughts flying at full speed, he grabbed the black egg, cradling it in his arms as he made his mana explode like a golden arrow into the wall.
He could feel the restraints succumbing. They had probably managed to contain the Red Dragon for a while, but not after the second growth phase.
Debris flew and the stone shuddered as a hole opened up in the wall. He ran through it, not caring about anything but the path ahead of him.
It was after running with a lightness spell that he realized something important.
He had nowhere to go.
There was the Castle of Light, sure, but he had no idea where the castle was located, he didn't know anyone outside of Arm either. The Eastern Continent wasn't the safest, but he knew some outlying forests where he sometimes hid under the cover of going to train, just because he liked to relax in a quiet environment.
So he ran, his legs protesting with each stride, he didn't stop until he felt it.
In the middle of a lonely forest in the middle of the Eastern Continent, he was enveloped by a heavy air that made it hard to breathe; the aura of the strongest dragon he had ever met.
White gold hair-narrowed vertical pupils and an extremely beautiful appearance.
He hugged the black egg in his arms protectively, feeling suppressed by the other's dragon fear.
"Who are you?"
The Golden Dragon's voice pierced the silence, his gaze fixed on his red and blue pupils.
"I..."
Then he realized something important, a thing that had always bothered him, but he had never stopped to think about it.
"I don't have a name."
The other dragon blinked, faltering in his indifferent expression as something between his arms stirred.
"Eruhaben, let me breathe!"
Huh, he hadn't noticed it before, but green hair peeked out from between the Golden Dragon's long sleeves.
"You'll make trouble."
"I won't! I promise."
"Hmph."
The Golden Dragon released his grip, the figure stretched as he took a step back, looking at them with a smile.
"What do we have here?"
Green hair, vertical pupils, and an aura comparable to Eruhaben's. In the future, this would be the oldest Dragon on the Eastern Continent, Olienne.
"Don't scare him."
"I'm not - am I, boy?"
Eruhaben was scarier just standing there, so not really, Olienne wasn't scary at all.
"I'm Olienne, I hear you don't have a name, too bad. Yet, where did you get this egg?"
"I..."
The black egg was suddenly too heavy. Just like that time, when he handed it to a person to send it to another continent. The egg had been heavy, he had been reluctant at one time about his decision to hand it over, but they finally took it, though the heaviness lingered in his hands.
"This is my brother."
"Ha?"
Olienne looked at him with wide eyes, turning to Eruhaben, who had a puzzled expression. Seeing him, he turned to ask with excitement on his face.
"A dragon had two eggs? Where is your mother?"
"She died."
Eruhaben whacked Olienne on the head, who curled up with his hands covering himself. The Golden Dragon turned to look at him as if he were an interesting experiment.
"Sorry. You were running, weren't you? Why... why didn't you use your dragon form? It's faster, and you'd spend less mana."
He looked into Eruhaben's eyes, which seemed to be searching for answers, before lowering his gaze.
"I don't know how."
"You what!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA-ACK!"
"Olienne!"
He shuddered as he felt the Golden Dragon's aura coming out, it was too oppressive even when the other was still young. Eruhaben retracted some of his aura, pushing Olienne behind him and looking directly at him.
"How are you in your elven form then?"
"I don't know... I just... I woke up, and then I was in the cave, and there was the egg, and the pain, and I... I don't know!"
His eyes began to sting as it all came to him suddenly: he had woken up in a different past, with nowhere to go and no one to trust. He was in that cave that haunted him in nightmares, with a body that wasn't his own and powers he didn't know.
He used to be a half-blood dragon, he never had a dragon form and looked more like a human even if his ears had transformed to look a little pointier.
He never learned how to shapeshift, he only knew how to use destructive spells or spells that would benefit the White Star. How would he know how to shift into his dragon form, when he had never really been one?
Now he was scared, alone, on this shitty continent and with the black egg resting in his arms.
Everything was horrible, there was no pain, but no safety either.
"Okay, calm down, fine?"
He felt pats on his head, a little loud, but comforting all the same. Looking up, he discovered Eruhaben with a strange expression on his face stroking his head, Olienne was patting his back, smiling softly.
"Oh boy, you're here, it's all right. You can come with us, we've been traveling around the continent, if you want to, now stop crying."
He wiped his eyes with his forearm, recomposing his expression and looking at Olienne.
"I wasn't crying."
The Green Dragon smiled, leaning too far into his personal space, but not awkwardly.
"Oh, right, you were peeing out of your eyes, I get it."
Olienne got a nudge from Eruhaben, but the corners of the Golden Dragon's lips were quivering. The golden pupils fixed on him again, clearly deciphering a riddle.
"I have to ask you first, what are you doing here? I heard you say you were in a cave."
What a good question, what was he doing here, should he tell Eruhaben, or should he go away? He looked at the black egg in his arms and thought of those smiling blue eyes, remembered the white hair and the mischievous grin.
"I'm looking for our... mother."
She had been unreachable for him, despite remembering her scent and feeling the tug on the part of his heart that belonged to the red dragon, she had never really seen him. How could he ask, when her son's heart was inside him and the other was tortured by his mistake?
Olienne's upright pupils appeared over Eruhaben's shoulder, flickering with confusion.
"Didn't you say she was dead?"
Eruhaben nudged Olienne again, who raised his hands in surrender and jumped back.
"Where is she?"
"A castle."
He pretended to think a bit before saying tentatively.
"In the middle of nowhere, colored... hmm, white."
Eruhaben and Olienne shared a glance, then the Golden Dragon nodded.
"We know where it is."
"Really?"
Of course, he knew they knew, but a small flame of excitement blossomed in his chest. Olienne rested an arm on Eruhaben's shoulder, the smile still present on his face.
"Really, we can walk you there. So... will you go with us?"
He glanced between the two dragons and then at the black egg in his arms, taking a deep breath before answering.
"Yes, we'll go with you."
After all, he had no one else to trust.