THIS CHAPTER WILL BE ALL ABOUT DRAGONBOND TO BE TRAINED BY MULTIPLE TYPES OF DRAGONS.
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Rise of the Dragon Warrior
Chapter 6
Once again, when morning broke, Scalefang and Dragonbond exited out a cave after a good night's sleep. They had chosen to find an empty cave to borrow for the night. Another long flight meant they needed all the sleep they could get. After waking up, Dragonbond could hardly contain himself knowing today was the day they would travel to another far-off land where a clan of only dragons lived. Dragonbond was the one to wake his father up. He woke up his dragon father as he started hopping on his dragon father's snout. He full of excitement to get him up so they could leave as soon as possible. Scalefang was slightly irritated from being woken up early, but if it was because his son wanted to eagerly start his next lessons of combat, then he was not too upset.
Dragonbond ran outside first just to feel the morning air in his face from a light breeze. He could smell the sweet scent of morning dew from the plateau wilderness. It refreshed his mind and soul to feel the chill in the air blowing against him. Dragonbond took a dip in a nearby stream to have a quick bath. It was more of a dive in and step out rinse. He then shook himself, his wings, and mane before rolling in some fresh pleasant scented plants to dry himself and cover himself in his nature's scent. He would have preferred pine branches, as those were his favorite smelling scents, he wasn't one to complain that much about it. The smell of pines was something that had always reminded him of his home and the forest. After he shook himself to shake out all the plants and leaves from his body. He had to nibble out some of the vegetation that had become stuck between his feathers.
Scalefang came out of the cave just as Dragonbond refreshed himself. He looked up at his dragon father excited to go. He was in a stance lowing his front and raising his rear with a wagging tail. He looked like a playful pup wanting to play a game. He hopped around in circles and tail wagging waiting for Scalefang to tell him to follow him to travel to the Clan of Dragons. Scalefang allowed a smile crossed his features seeing his son like this. He hated admitting out loud he found some of the things his son did was a bit cute, so he just kept it inside as he watched his son's enthusiasm and excitement when he jumped around and rolled in the grass. "Time to go son." He said.
Dragonbond then started to fly in the air. "Lead the way, father." He said awaiting his father to lead on.
Once again, they flew off together with Scalefang holding his son in his hand as they flew across the skies over the highlands. This they headed a different direction in the North. It didn't matter which way they traveled from the highlands as long as they made sure to watch for dangers of dragon hunters, they would be just fine. Since Dragonbond skipped breakfast before leaving the cave and instead he started deep sea fishing when they passed the shores of the highlands. He would fly high to locate a school of fish swimming around near the surface. He would then dive in and catch a few in his mouth depending on the size. He would look for the smaller ones so he could at least fly out from the water. Scalefang would keep watch in case any predators would try to attack his son. He would prefer a shark to try to attack so he would have a decent sized meal. In fact, he would catch one if he ever saw one swim near the surface. Dragonbond had been diving in and out of the water more for fun now than fishing. He would catch an occasional small fish every now-and-then, but he was just enjoying splashing in and out of the water like a dolphin.
Later, they came to the coast of a small sandy shore that turned into a vast forest of redwood trees. The type of forest that held cougars, wolves and bears. With mountain range off in the far distance and patches of lakes every few miles apart and a river connecting them all coming from the mountain. Dragonbond heard a few howls from a pack of wolves and tried to howl back for the fun of it. They flew over by the wolf packs when they ran in a group through the forest. This was the kind of place Dragonbond loved to spend his time around. He then flew down to follow a river upstream. It was mostly clear enough for him to fly up. There were several fallen trees, but they were easy to spot. He especially loved the river rapids when he came up to them. The sound of crashing currents of water beating against the walls and large rocks in the river's center and the spray of water that filled the air. He even saw some trout swimming upstream leaping out of the water. He was lucky to catch one when it happened to leap out when he flew by. He also saw a few bears fishing in that spot as well. He did well to fly out of reach in case one bear tried to stand up and swipe at him. Finally, he flew up to a large waterfall at the face of a tall cliff. The mist of the falls was everywhere along with the crashing thunderous sounds of the waterfall. Dragonbond flew up the waterfall placing a hoof in the water as he began to climb up in flight against the waterfall.
He soon rejoined his dragon father in the air as they drew near the clan of dragons high on the rocky terrain of the mountain. Dragonbond saw the skies soon crowd with Dragons. They came in close to inspect who was flying into their territory. He noticed they looked puzzled seeing him there with Scalefang, but they would soon find out who he was soon enough.
Their clan had seemed to have their home in a crater hidden in the mountain. One would hardly notice it until they flew close enough over it. A perfect hidden spot and a great look out point on the top of the mountain to see any intruders coming from all directions.
Dragonbond and Scalefang later landed on the clan's home territory. Scalefang made a loud ground shaking landing, but Dragonbond made more of a loud clop sound with his hooves. He was still too young and small to make anywhere near a massive landing like a dragon his age.
One of the Dragons of the clan came to greet Scalefang. He looked a bit older and was a black scaled Dragon with a blue armored belly. "Welcome son of Draco." The Dragon greeted. This name was given to all dragons of Draco when they greeted each other as visitors to their clan. He then looked down to the Pegasus that was peeking out from behind Scalefang's hand. "What is this?" he referred to Dragonbond with a skeptical tone. None had any clue why Scalefang had brought a young colt to the hidden location of the clan.
Scalefang didn't hold it against the dragon's skepticism of Dragonbond. If the dragon wasn't insulting towards Dragonbond, he kept his temper. "This is my son, Dragonbond. Don't let his appearance fool you." Scalefang said. He moved his arm out of the way to have Dragonbond introduce himself. "Introduce yourself, son." He told him as he moved his arm out of the way for Dragonbond to approach the black dragon.
Dragonbond took a few steps forward with his ears bent down from nervousness of meeting a Dragon from outside his clan. "Hello… I um, my name is… Dragonbond, son of Scalefang." He said nervously. He knew the Dragons back home were starting to warm up to him, but Dragons outside the Land of Draco did not know he even existed and would look down on him because of what he was. So, he was nervous when they would look down upon him for being a Pegasus.
The black Dragon had heard of some creature named Dragonbond tearing the throat of a horse, but he never would have guessed it would have been a Pegasus. A young foal least of all. "What is your purpose of visiting?" he asked more out of curiosity about Dragonbond than security reasons for the clan's secret's safety.
"My son has met his first battle. I wish to have him trained in the arts of our kind's combat." Scalefang said. "He has already learned all he needed to know from the Drake clan."
The black Dragon looked down at Dragonbond and examined him. He saw many features about him that were different from a normal pony. He seemed to have raw strength without a hint of magic anywhere. Dragonbond's wings looked stronger, bigger, and thicker. The Dragon used a talon to open Dragonbond's mouth and examine his teeth and saw how sharp they were and that he had some fangs as well. He also noticed the muscles in his jaw and that he was able to chew through stone and gems. The last thing the dragon check was Dragonbond's tail. On the outside it seemed like a normal pony's tail, but inside he could see that the flesh tail was almost as long as his whole tail. To test it out, he picked Dragonbond by the tail and saw his tail curl and swing to lift himself with his tail to climb up on the dragon's talon. It amused the dragon seeing Dragonbond do this. "Old enough to breathe fire?" the Dragon asked.
"I am waiting until his body is developed enough to start breathing fire. His body now is still far too frail to hold in a flame." Scalefang said explaining Dragonbond's situation. "But I assure you, he is more dragon than a pony."
"If he is as you say and if Draco allowed it, then he will be welcomed here. I will send messengers to the other clans you wish to train him in with the different styles of combat. They will know to welcome you and your son." The Dragon offered.
"I thank you. Now to begin Dragonbond's lesson…" Scalefang paused as he noticed Dragonbond had run off. "Dragonbond?" Scalefang called. He then heard a sudden group of laughter. He walked over to find his son playing with a group of young Dragons. They were all wrestling in a game of Alpha Dragon. The one left standing from being pinned down would be declared the game winner.
"Well, it is pleasing to know your son lives up to his name." the black Dragon said accepting of Dragonbond's ability to bond with the younger dragon's so easily.
"Perhaps we can let him spend time with them before his training." Scalefang said allowing this moment for his son to have.
Dragonbond continued to play with the young Dragons until Scalefang had him begin his training a bit later. He had the best fighter in the clan give him private lessons. He also was given three sparing partners that were the top of their class. With this set of combat, Dragonbond had to learn to use his wings as he did with his tail in Drake Combat. His lessons would focus on his wing usage in a battle to strike, block, and enhance certain techniques in battle. Although, flying wasn't going to be his focus anytime soon, he would learn to fly only if it was to close gaps, create distance between opponents, or change direction in an open-air attack. There was also an advanced form of wing class to help him learn to change his attack if he needed to feign an aerial attack. After he would learn to use his wings like a new pair of limbs to grab, strike, and block. This would take longer to learn since Dragon combat was a more complex style to learn. He would work out his wing's agility and nimbleness to grasp objects and swing in strikes on his opponent. Every part of his body was for him to choose how to use in combat or other situations. He was taught the basics but needed to expand those lessons on his own.
Once again, like every new trainee, Dragonbond had his series of mistakes and failures, but he would get back up to try again. Like before, Dragonbond would train for long periods of time though day and night. He pushed himself hard and tried to focus on everything that was taught to him. Every failure and loss became a new lesson for him for self-improvement.
After months of training, he was ready to move on to the next Lindworm Clan. Two limb wingless dragons that either crawled or ran depending if the Lindworm had arms or legs for their limbs. They lived in the cliff sides burrowed in the high cliffs to make their homes. Their ability was to be quick and light on their limbs to climb or leap up the sides of cliffs. Since they received the messages from the Dragon Clan, the Lindworm welcomed Scalefang and Dragonbond into the clan. As soon as they arrived, Scalefang started Dragonbond's lessons of Lindworm Combat. Mostly using his legs attacks such as complex kicking strikes and his tail to help assist in the kicks.
This type of type of training was a little bit trickier. First, he had to learn to stand only on his hind legs before moving onto his forelegs. They tied his wings and fore legs down to his body. He needed to learn how to use his balance with his tail and the momentum of his body. This would improve his ability of balance and become quick and light on his hooves. As an added perk, Dragonbond would then learn a lot about using his hind legs in combat with a lot of kicking techniques. He already learned about using his tail with the drakes and helped him a great deal to balance himself and assist him in other ways. Dragonbond then needed to learn strict coordination and focus to where he would be leaping and landing to. They took him to a spot down at the base of the cliff were small columns of stone were. Young Lindworm would use these as practice leaping from rock to rock in order to learn later on how to be able to climb up cliff sides when they got older. They would only be carried up by their mothers until they were ready to climb on their own. Dragonbond would only use these stones to learn the same way as well. Needless to say, he had some nasty falls when he slipped and either falling on his belly or his back against the columns. It took a while before he could get up again after those kinds of mishaps. Those were the times he wished he could have scales just in those areas that he falls on. Still, he persisted in his training and would soon advance to other lessons of Lindworm Combat. Dragonbond's last test was to leap up and down the cliff sides. It was similar to a two-legged parkour. This tested his balance and agility to run up and down face of the cliff as fast as he could. Just to be on the safe side, they untied his wings in case he would fall. If he did open his wings, he would have to start from the beginning until he got it right. This also made it safer for him to recover from any bad falls.
Next was when they began to train him in only using his forelegs. They would tie his hind legs together as they were folded close to his hind end. The only thing that was free was his tail to help him get a better feel for what he was supposed to work with. Most of this training was to develop his arm strength and crawl and maybe run on his forelegs. But most of all to climb up obstacles. That mostly revolved around walls or cliffs. It would involve similar training as before but with the use of his forelegs. It was a bit easier for Dragonbond since he knew what needed to apply to this training. The tougher job would be to use his hooves to climb walls and cliffs. Once again having no claws, he would have to think around this task. He observed his hoof and noticed the heel of his hoof. He would be able to use it like a hook to grip on edges to have more of a grip to pull himself up. Although, it was easier said than done. First tries are not always successful as he would slip on certain edges. He needed to train on using his hooves to have a better grip. Always practicing with no time to waste, he tried every way to grip edges on the heel of his hoof. He always practiced on the base of cliff walls to only lift himself a foot above the ground. In a way as to do pull-ups. Scalefang watched his son the whole time from a distant. He was proud to see the determination his son was devoting into his training.
After days of practice, he found a selection of different techniques for certain edges to grip onto. He began to climb the cliff sides with more ease than before. He would also us his tail to reach parts of the wall and either hook or wrap his tail around rock edges that were sticking out from the wall. The more he continued to climb, the more he became faster at doing it with more efficiency. Even leaping from one spot to another whether it was to the side or above him. That also included from leaping from one cliff side to another that was behind him in crevices or small ravines. Then came the training of combat. He would switch his fighting style from his hind legs and then his forelegs. Scalefang wanted him to be knowledgeable in all areas. He would spend all his time training in combat using everything he had learned to reach a high level of Lindworm combat.
After a few months, the next clan they visited were the Wyvern Clan. Two-legged winged dragons living in deep ravines that leads to large caverns and would have their homes in the ceilings. They lived a lot like bats would, to only come out mostly at night and even sleep hanging from the ceiling. When dusk came, it was a frightening sight to see the wyverns swarm out from the ravine like demons of the underworld. To other creatures, it would seem like the gates of the underworld opened to let these fire breathing terrors invade the skies. Dragonbond was looking forward to dusk to see them swarm out from the crevice.
It was here, that Dragonbond would learn the ways of Wyvern Combat. What this form of combat did was enhance the fighting techniques of Lindworm combat by learning to fight with just mostly using his hind legs and wings. The other unique perk of this form was boost of speeds to make stronger kicks when he used his wings to flap himself into his opponent. Like the Dragon form, his wings were also an assist to change his direction in mid-air or to pull back from a kicking strike. They also did give Dragonbond some lessons in flying like a Wyvern. For instance, they taught him to take off from water much like any waterfowl would. He would first kick with his hind legs and flap his wings as if he could run on water to take off from the water. They even helped him as much as they could to catch things with his free legs. Despite having no talons on his hind hooves, they work with him as much as they could to use his back hooves to clamp down on whatever he wanted to catch. On Dragonbond's own time, he tried to find a way to sleep upside down like the wyverns did. He had no talons to cling into the ceiling with, so the only thing he could try to do was to look for any holes to try and stick his hooves in. It worked, but then he would always have a tough time pulling them out from the ceiling when he was done. He would always end up asking a wyvern to get him down. Dragonbond would then think about using his tail. He could have his tail wrap around a stalactite and slightly wedge his hooves in tight spaces. With the use of both hooves and tail, he was able to hang on the ceiling with hardly any problems.
The Wyvern combat increased his kicking techniques to have more power and unpredictable maneuvers to strike with. A few months of this and he was a formidable opponent to say the least.
The third clan they visited, was the Amphiptere Clan. Legless dragons with wings that mostly lived near the coast of jungles since they were excellent swimmers. The trees would also give them great camouflage as most would pose as small trees and use their wings to make them look like thick branches. This clan's choice of dwelling was a sea cliff that was high above the crashing of waves. They would swim like fish using their wings like fins. This enabled them to dive deep underwater and swim faster. As Dragonbond and Scalefang flew over the ocean waters near their home, they could see some of the amphiptere's swimming under water hunting for sea life. When some finished fishing for food, they would shoot out of the water like a flying fish and flew up into the air. Dragonbond was amazed from seeing this trick of theirs. He would hope they could teach him something like that. One thing that astounded him was how their wings really looked like feathered wings, but they were actually scales that merely looked like feathers. Dragonbond hoped that this would happen to his wings as he grew older. It was a long shot to hope, but he did anyways.
After landing Dragonbond was going to have to train on two things in this clan for Amphiptere Combat. He was going to learn to fight with only his wings, tail and head. His legs were all going to be tried to his body for these lessons. Dragonbond felt a bit silly being tied up like this. He tried wiggling around in an attempt to move. His trainer then had him stop to observe how he moved. Dragonbond watched how he moved like a snake would but wondered how he would move like that. It seemed impossible since his body wasn't at all like a snake's. The trainer made him lift his head up off the ground, but Dragonbond just fell on his side soon after. This required a new lesson of balance and technique to be able to stay up right. Without the use of his legs to brace himself up, it was difficult for him to stay up straight. At first, he used his wings to help him stay up just to listen to the lessons before trying them out. Soon, Dragonbond came up with his own technique. He curved his body one way and then curved his tail the other way to gain some sort of balance to stay up without falling over and using his wings to help support him up. After that, he would learn to move his body to slither around to move. It wouldn't be as perfect as a snake's slither, but it was enough for him to move around.
Next, they taught him to swim in the water like they could. He learned how they kept their wings folded in, but they would move the back ends of their wings like fins to help them swim through the water faster than any dragon. The feathers on Dragonbond's wings would create some resistance, but none-the-less, he would swim faster and deeper than other dragons. He also had to work on holding his breath for long periods of time. The normal Amphiptere could hold its breath for ten minutes when it was active and a few more minutes if it remained still underwater. Dragonbond knew he would never reach that kind of time to hold his breath. If only he could at least reach half that long, he would be satisfied. He would first start in the shallows just to get a small start to get comfortable swimming without his limbs as they were tied to his body. At first, he felt like an eel swimming through the water while still having trouble figuring out how to use his wings like fins. But with enough time and days of practice, Dragonbond was swimming like and Amphiptere. He still had to practice getting used to the levels of depth underwater as the more pressure pressed down on him as he swam deeper. All in all, Dragonbond had learned just as much as he could to swim and fight like an Amphiptere.
The last place he came to arrive in was the Wrym Clan. Serpent like dragons with no wings or limbs. They lived mostly in condensed forests, swamps, or jungles. They mostly preferred the jungles for concealment from their prey and enemies. They ruled the jungles and became known as ghosts to those that survived the jungle. Many believed that the jungles, swamps, and forests that they lived in were haunted because of how many travelers suddenly vanish without a sound. Wryms were very stealthy and sly to strike and disappear. Some called them slithering ghouls and the Wryms accepted it to be made even more fearsome and to keep out any intruders in their territory.
The Wryms, however approached Scalefang and Dragonbond calmly since they knew of their arrival. When they started Dragonbond's training, they told him it would consist of mostly stealthy strikes and silence. Dragonbond already knew how to slither on the ground, but now he had to learn how to do it with stealth and without wings. This time everything was tied down to his body. No wings, and no legs that he could use other than his tail. Also, these Wryms were very powerful constrictors. Since they did nothing but slither and climb things using mostly their bodies, their serpent bodies were very strong in strength to crush mostly anything or any creature in their coiled grip. That was another lesson that Dragonbond would be trained to do. This would be the last of his training Scalefang would give him. Then Dragonbond would be more prepared in case he got stuck in another battle. Scalefang hoped that would be far from now until he was old enough to be part of a battle.
This type of training seemed a lot more fun to Dragonbond since it gave him the excuse to slither and roll through the dirt and mud becoming as dirty as can be. The one thing Dragonbond loved most about being on the ground was playing in the mud. Scalefang sighed seeing his son getting as muddy as he could and knew it would be quite a chore to clean him up after. Dragonbond had taken that into consideration as well and just enjoyed the moment for as long as he could.
As for the actual combat, Dragonbond had to learn to lunge and swing his tail around as they were the only other means to attack. Most of his troubles came from lunging. Whenever he lunged forward, he tumbled over across the ground. He needed to learn how to recover quickly after a lunge if he missed his target. It was hard to recover when he had no use of his legs and wings. His balance was thrown all over the place when he lunged forward. Also, he had to figure out a way to keep from falling on his face when he tried to recover. He tried turning his head but falling on the side of his face wasn't any better. He decided to take a break to observe others when they would lunge forward. Dragonbond paid attention when they landed by either tucking their head in before rolling and twisting to face back the other way. It was one thing to see them do it, but very different to figure out how he was going to do it himself when their bodies weren't the same in flexibility. Dragonbond practiced on his own lunging and recovering. It was a long and painful process, but in time and with patience, Dragonbond was now able to recover properly. Now he could continue the rest of his training. Coiling and constricting was the last part of his training. He first needed to learn to wrap around an object before he could train to constrict his body around them. The thought of having that kind of power in his body to crush things was exciting. After finishing all he learned, he was finally untied and free to move his legs and wings after so long. It was all necessary to get him used to moving around like one of the Wryms.
Dragonbond had finally finished all his training in the different styles of dragon combat. Now it was time for him to return home after so long. He would surely now practice with everything he had learned from each of the clans. Scalefang and Dragonbond began their journey home to the Land of Draco.
Before they got to the fog gates, Scalefang stopped and caused Dragonbond to stop as well. Dragonbond looked at his dragon father in confusion and wondering why they had stopped in front of the fog gates. Scalefang spoke as he stared into the fog. "The time has come, my son. You have learned much and have grown in many ways. The time has come for you to enter the fog gates on your own."
Dragonbond became frightened. Even from the closed hand of his dragon father from before, he could still hear the terrors in the fog as they passed through in past times. Dragonbond looked to his dragon father wondering if he would be by him. "Father, am I to go alone?" he asked hoping to hear an opposing answer.
Scalefang looked toward his son. "You must find it in yourself to go through things in your life alone at times. One day, there might not be anyone around to rely on and that is when you must find your own way to live." Scalefang told him. In his heart, he didn't want to leave his son in a dangerous place, but he also wanted for his son to see he could handle situations if there were none around to help him. "I know you will succeed, my son. I have taught you everything I could to help you live on your own. Now you have learned much from other dragons to fight for your survival. Now you must prove it to yourself and everyone that you are able to fend for yourself." He began to flap higher to reach over the fog. "Make me proud, my son."
After watching his dragon father fly over the fog, Dragonbond faced the wall of fog in front of him. Silences fell over once more to prove that he was alone. Dragonbond closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Dragonbond then flew into the fog.
Everything was eerily silent except for the screeching above of the unknown terrors that flew above the fog. Below, he could hear the slight splashing of the water hitting the base of the rocky columns that towered out of the water and up over the fog. Dragonbond was somewhere between the water and the top of the fog. When he flew deeper into the fog, he started to hear small rocks falling from the rocky columns and splashing into the water. Something knew he was flying through alone. No doubt there were more than one of what was hunting him. The fog was so dense and heavy that it made it impossible to spot anything that wasn't making any sudden moves. Whatever was out there, it blended with the stone columns. Something slithered slowly as Dragonbond passed the column it was on. Dragonbond looked back hearing where it came from. They were close and they were closing in to ambush him. It was clear when he heard more slithering around him. He had no fire breath to defend himself with and made this an even more dangerous situation. Dragonbond quickly hid himself against a rocky column. He stayed as silent as he could be and slowed his breathing to listen around in the fog. He clearly heard the slithering continue and move around. Whatever that was slithering on the columns now were heard slithering down into the sea below. After the slithering stopped and the movement in the water ceased, it was dead quite once more. All that was left was white noise all around from the cold air as he turned and shifted his ears in every direction listening to the slightest sound. Whether those creatures gave up or not, he had to make a dash for it.
Dragonbond leaped from the rock column to give an extra boost to fly for it. He didn't get far when a large eel-like serpent lunged from the rocky column shrieking at Dragonbond to snap at him. Dragonbond almost had been eaten whole, but he was lucky and quick enough to react and brace himself between the floor and ceiling of its mouth. The two fell until they hit the water. Dragonbond was submerged now with the serpent and a million others that swarmed everywhere in the ocean. They all started to swim towards him to have him as their meal first. Remembering what he was taught by the Amphipteres, he used his wings like fins to swim faster through the water and return to the surface. Even after he shot out of the water, the serpents leaped out of the water trying to bite at him to drag him back under. He was quick enough to escape those that leaped out of the water, but there were still those that slithered up the rocky columns high enough to lunge at him. Dragonbond had to become quicker by being quick on his hooves and wings. He chose the form of a Wyvern by tucking his fore legs in and kicked off of columns and serpents while twisting and flipping over and around off of them. He needed to be as agile and quick as he could. Soon, they were all behind him and gave him the chance to fly as fast and straight as he could to reach the end of the other side of the fog.
He couldn't see any sign of light to the other side, but he kept his path to fly as straight as he could, hoping to see some sign of an exit. Little did he know about the ambush of serpents that leaped from the stone columns. There was no way to fly away, so he resorted to forcing his way through. Like what he had learned from the Drakes, he charged at them head butting them. As hard as he tried to fight them off, one of them caught onto him and dragged him to the water. Remembering his Wrym lessons, he twisted and turned to wiggle out of the grip of the serpent. As he tried to swim back up. He was blocked off by, what he could only assume, was a dominant serpent, their queen or the bull of the serpents. It was almost as big as Scalefang and just as fearsome looking with its long teeth like spears and its wide jaw structure. Dragonbond panicked as he had no idea how to deal with this creature as it lunged at him to finish him off as its feast.
On the other side of the fog where the Land of Draco was seen on the horizon. Scalefang was treading water as he waited for Dragonbond to appear. It had been many minutes since he had left Dragonbond on his own. Nothing but worry and anxiety ran through his mind as the minutes passed. He knew he should have been there to protect him, but this was something Dragonbond had to do and learn when he couldn't always be there for him. Dragonbond needed to learn to take care of himself on his own. There may come a time where Dragonbond would have to cross the gates and needed to learn as soon as he could on how to get through it. Scalefang continued to wait even as dusk was setting on the horizon. He wished to go in after him, but he worried if he did, that his son would come out later trying to find him. Instead, he shot out fireballs up over the fog hoping his son would find his way through to find him there. Even after a minute, there was nothing. So, he shot again and again even as the sun had set and the sky darkened. Even as dark thoughts of his son not coming out and even if he wasn't going to come out, Scalefang remained where he was and refusing to leave. Dragonbond had become the only thing that made his life worth living. Losing him now meant losing his drive to go on. No matter if something were to come and attack him, he would not leave from that spot.
The night was finally absent of any sunlight. The stars began to shine, and a crescent moon floated in the sky, but they held no beauty for Scalefang. Despair had grasped his heart from the amount of time that had passed after no sign of his son as he continued to shoot fireballs in the sky. He started to see something in the water from the fog. He zoomed his sight on the strange object. It was moving slowly and like an eel. Scalefang then saw the back of it as it broke the surface of the water. It was one of the serpents. Scalefang would have attacked it, but it was strange that it would leave the dark waters of the fog and be left open. It also moved slower than it should have. Scalefang had no idea what to make of this as it stopped just in front of him looking up with its disfigured face and one thing that confused Scalefang. The serpent's eyes were dead. Then, its mouth started to open slowly as if it were about to spit something out.
Out of the serpent's mouth came a green hoof stretched out covered in the serpent's saliva. Dragonbond then popped his head out also covered in the saliva of the serpent. He coughed from the horrid stench of the serpent's slime from inside its throat.
Scalefang was overjoyed as could be and would have rushed to hold his son in his hand, but he kept his composure . He figured Dragonbond had killed one of the smaller ones and slipped inside it to use as a disguise as he moved it from the inside to swim like he did. Pride swelled in Scalefang from his son's quick and clever thinking. But seeing Dragonbond starting to shiver from the night air and cold sea, Scalefang picked up Dragonbond and placed him on top of his snout where his favorite spot was. Dragonbond quickly ran to curl up in between the brow of his dragon father. Dragonbond still had no fire inside himself to keep warm like other dragons, but the time for that would soon come. Before that would happen, Scalefang would help Dragonbond ready his body for when he starts learning to get his own fire breath.
"D-d-did I d-d-do g-good f-f-father?" Dragonbond stuttered from the cold as he shivered trying to get warm on his father's head.
Scalefang let some flames fume from his mouth to heat up the air around his son. "You have passed my expectations. You have made Draco proud this day. Let us go home." He said before turning to fly back to their home on the island. Scalefang was now confident his son would be safe and able to take on more of the dangers in this world as he grew up. That wasn't to say he would jump in from time to time to protect his son.