Chapter 2

Time passed and soon three months had passed since Azora had changed and her scales had become the deep black that truly gave the Aglovale Helmar their name but she was not fully grown and was told by Maaran that more markings may appear later. She had also grown used to her legs quickly enough to run, jump, and play with ease though she tripped over her tail at times when she got a bit too excited or startled. She still tried to things in her own human way but every now and then she unintentionally gave into her instincts and acted just like a natural born Aglovale Helmar but was starting to get better at recognizing herself getting carried away. As promised, Maaran was giving her lessons and was teaching her about each and every dragon that was out in the world in this day and age. He taught her about how many species there were, what kind of dragons they were, what dragons were kings and queens, and what strengths and weaknesses every dragon had. Maaran had also told her about how to defend herself from humans if they found her but she wasn't too worried about fighting at her age.

Today they were near the outside entrance of the cave to enjoy some fresh air and the lesson was the reason of why humans feared dragons most and why the Aglovale Helmar was known to humans. "We are dark as the night and it works to our advantage in many circumstances. One such circumstance is when we need to hide or even attack humans and, while it is rare for one of our kind to resort to that, it has happened as recently as this year. Though it is odd for this to happen, the dragon in this circumstance has been doing it for two years and while they have caused no human casualties they are being watched by other smaller dragons and I will not intervene unless a needless casualty occurs. We do not willingly kill humans and do you know why that may be?"

Azora scrunched up her nose in thought before shaking her head no and tilting it in curiosity as Maaran smiled at her.

"It is due to a pact dragons had made a long time ago. When the humans first discovered dragons, the dragons could talk to them as they were older than most creatures on the earth. The humans and dragons agreed that they would forge an alliance and never attack the other unless there was no other choice but unfortunately while the magic in dragons made the vow semi permanent, the humans didn't have that connection and soon after years of peace, the humans became scared of our power and strength and sought to kill us for glory and thrill so the dragons decided to hide. The first killing happened when a dragon, long thought extinct by the humans, saved a young child from a wild bear attack and while the child knew what had saved them telling everyone what they had seen, the villagers thought that the child was bewitched to hide the proof that dragons would attack humans by making it look like a bear attack and so the humans turned and started hunting us down. And so the war between humans and dragons began and continued throughout all the years into this day and age." He looked at an intrigued Azora and cleared his throat. "Our lesson is over for today little one." He bent down and nuzzled her gently. "Now go play and I will get us some dinner before we turn in to rest for the night." He smiled at her gently before turning and leaving the cave.

Azora smiled before going to the main cave playing with some newer additions that Maaran had grabbed from the house she had lived in when he came across it one day while flying. He surprisingly grabbed most of everything she owed that was in her bedroom and just told her that it was a birthday present to her. She was so overjoyed and happy to see all her things and books before playing with her favorite stone ball for hours. She was exhausted that first day but when she saw Maaran reading the book her daddy read to her time and time again, she whimpered in sadness and cuddled close to Maaran as he simply nuzzled her and started to read aloud to her to help her troubled memories.

Azora played with a few things before going over to the books and nudging her favorite open and gazing at the pages of the dragons. She sighed at not being able to read it before going back to the main cave entrance but before she reached the entrance to wait for Maaran to return, thunder echoed deep into the tunnel making Azora go into a panic and stumble over her tail before she started to run as her mind was overcome with memories of the storm from months before. So lost and panicked in her memories, Azora didn't realize that she was running out of the cave and into the wilderness of the forest just to find a place to hide as her instincts took over. She looked around wildly in the darkness as she scrambled to find a place to hide from the fear of the storm. It didn't matter if she was in a safe and protected cave before, she only felt the fear and cold that the storm brought and that made her run harder and longer than she ever had before. She was tripping over sticks, getting hit by branches, running into rocks and trees, and covered in mud from falling.

Azora soon ran into trouble as she suddenly slipped into a ditch and was consequently trapped as she was too little to hop or climb out of it. She huddled into a ball as her instincts ran wild inside her mind not letting her think clearly at all. She was just huddled on the ground, listening to the wind, thunder, and creatures around her and fearing the lightning as it flashed dangerously overhead. She then screeched a call for help constantly uncaring if something else found her first before Maaran did.

/

Maaran had returned swiftly to the cave with his catch once he heard the thunder start but once he deposited the food into the buckets, he worriedly looked around the room and didn't see Azora anywhere. He sniffed and his eyes widened in panic as her scent seemed to be getting faint and he cursed himself for his stupidity before rushing out of the cave and into the forest himself. He saw the clouds and smelled the storm before leaving and he believed that he would have returned before it landed but obviously this was not the case. He ignored the stinging rain and the flashes of lightning as he searched for his little charge out in the forest, his ears standing ramrod straight to try and listen for her. "Azora!" He yelled before listening once more. He stopped every so often after yelling her name and looking around, trying to find her tracks in the mud but the rain was making that impossible for him. He continued to yell her name and search for prints finally finding a faint trace of them and rushing in that direction. "Azora!" He yelled again before the wind picked up in ferocity. He then heard it, a screech from just ahead and he raced towards it. The screech happened again and again, getting louder each time as he rushed to the source until he finally found her.

She was trapped in a small ditch, covered head to tail in mud and debris from the storm. She was shivering with the cold and had a wild look in her eyes that told Maaran that her instincts were in charge of her mind and that her conscious mind was locked far away. He purred and growled comfortingly at her after each thunderclap until she relaxed just enough for him to safely grab her by the scruff of her neck and rush back to the cave all while growling soothingly to her with each rumble of thunder.

Soon, Maaran had reached the cave and he immediately ran down the tunnel to the fire and started to lick Azora clean from the mess and try to warm her up. He wasn't mad at her for running, instincts are something that could take hold anytime and make you do anything once they get a hold of your mind but he knew he would need to teach her how to control herself around thunderstorms because once she was old enough to leave, storms would happen and he couldn't be there every time it happened. Finally, Maaran had her clean and he cuddled around her shivering and prone form and as the hours passed, she slowly succumbed to the blissful darkness that was sleep right next to his legs and Maaran followed suit soon after.

/

A deep but comforting rumble awoke Azora from her sleep and soon, the smell of fish made her stomach growl with deep hunger. She slowly opened her eyes as she took in where she was before her eyes landed upon Maaran sitting next to her watching the fire and she suddenly grew very nervous as she quickly curled up and averted her gaze to the floor. She didn't remember much last night but the memory of the clap of thunder and her running gave her an idea of what did happen and if that was true, then she caused trouble for the one creature who was teaching her everything that he could. Azora whimpered and lowered her ears as shame overcame her whole being and the feeling of guilt started to creep into her chest making her breathe heavier.

Maaran glanced over to where Azora was and inwardly sighed at her position. 'She looks absolutely terrified.' He thought. 'For something that is hardly her fault.' He crooned and lowered himself gently to her level and nuzzled her. "Azora," he said. "I apologize for not reaching you in time last night."

Azora's head snapped up making Maaran lift his to avoid being head butted by her. 'What did he have to be sorry for?' She wondered. 'I'm the one who ran off and got lost in the forest… I'm the one who couldn't handle a storm…'

"I am apologizing because I knew how much you feared storms due to your flinches and fearful scent when ones have happened in the past couple of months." Maaran explained gently. "When I went hunting, I saw the sky and smelled the storm in the air but instead of waiting until the storm was over in order to help you, I foolishly thought that I could make it back before it could start." He looked into Azora's blue eyes. "Please forgive this old dragon for putting his ego in front of the one thing he is supposed to teach."

Azora whimpered and desperately wished dragons could cry before leaping forward and hugging Maaran trying to convey that she was sorry as well and that he shouldn't blame himself for her screw up.

Maaran chuckled quietly at Azora as she hugged his snout and he could see that Azora was just as bad at blaming herself for this as he was at himself. "I guess we should stop doing the blame game and try to learn from this experience yes?" He asked her gently to which she nodded and let go of his snout. "Now, how about a lesson instead?" Azora looked up and nodded hesitatingly. "Let's try to strengthen those wings of yours then." Maaran stood and led Azora to the far side of the cave where a tall pile of gold was. "The lesson today it to run around the cave for as long as you can starting by this pile of gold here all while flapping your wings. Our fast flight requires muscles and precision and muscles are the first things we work on in order to get to the precision part. This will also help our speed and aerodynamics that make us so hard to spot by humans and respected by dragons." Maaran turned stern. "Now, begin."

Azora took off quickly, flapping her wings the whole time as she ran around the cave and past the gold pile as often as she could. She was being driven by her determination to not let her teacher down after what had happened last night and after one hour of running, she felt too exhausted to run anymore and collapsed by Maaran who huffed signaling that she did well.

"Very good little one." He said proudly. "Now I want you to do this two times a day for an hour just like you did today and after you build your muscles, we will learn how to glide and then to fly. The signs that you need to watch out for when you know you become ready to fly is restlessness, feeling wind in the most minuscule amounts, and sensitivity to the changes in the weather.

Azora nodded and focused on training her wings and learning everything she could. She needed to learn this to be successful, to be free, and to be the best pupil that Maaran will ever see. She will succeed and not let anyone down ever again.

/

As time passed, Azora had finally finished her training with Maaran and she lived with him mainly helping with his hunting and patrolling. There were difficulties throughout the years especially when it involved her instincts taking over during a bad storm but slowly and surely, she finally was able to control them around storms. Azora amazed Maaran early by actually starting to speak dragonese at six months of age which was a full three months earlier than the expected time but he just smiled and said that she was something special.

She had started to grow spines down along her back and her scales gained a purple iridescent sheen. She was completely happy and free for these ten years under Maaran's care until the humans came to the island and managed to shoot her down into the water below their ship. She let out a terrified screech as she landed into the freezing waters, hoping that Maaran, who was out hunting for food to take back to the cave, would hear her and come looking. As she was pulled up onto the deck of the ship she screeched out one last time, "Maaran!" Before the humans were able to muzzle her jaw and hold her down. She growled lowly as she took note that their ship was not of Viking nature but what was most concerning were the weird weapons that were near the sides of the ship and the language that was being used. She couldn't understand any of these humans and the gestures that they were making towards her was starting to terrify her.

She struggled even more when they chained her up tightly and left her in the open on deck on a thick wooden board. Azora looked into the sky frantically, hoping that Maaran would come and rescue her any second and inwardly grew angry at herself for traveling so revealed in broad daylight. If he did hear her, he probably wouldn't be able to rescue her until nightfall and until she was rescued, she would have to be as brave as she possibly could.

She looked at the humans around her and took note of one the others were talking to in particular. He had long blond hair, fair skin, was about six foot in height, he had heavy armor on his body with a gold helmet protecting his head, his eyes were a cold deep brown color, and he wasn't overly heavy or burly like a Viking but he did have enough muscle on him to be considered a worthy and formidable opponent to anyone who would challenge him. The other humans seemed to be talking to him and asking him things while looking at him for approval with things but as he gazed upon her, she grew even more frightened. 'Those eyes.' She thought as she felt her whole body tense up as the human stared at her. 'They have no emotion in them whatsoever.'

The human then barked something that made the other humans scramble around deck and start to sail into the vastness of the ocean.

/

Maaran heard Azora's screech of fear and immediately stopped hunting for food and took to the skies, heading toward where her screech had come from. Maaran knew that she was capable of handling herself most times but he had a feeling that this time, this time she would need all the help she could get.

/

Azora was getting a bit tired and bored as time slowly seemed to tick by but kept her senses on high alert as the humans wandered around her prone form as they had finally settled down and not running about everywhere. The main human though had sat himself down close to her making her growl uncomfortable as he continued to start to try and speak to her in the same weird language making her glare at him. He then was approached by another human before going over and roughly handling her wings and tail all while speaking.

'Are they….studying me?' She thought warily before she felt the ship suddenly slow to a stop and picked up the board she was on before carrying her off the ship. She growled at the humans who carried her but stopped as she noticed an arena ahead of her in literally the middle of nowhere. 'What is this?' She wondered. 'Are they going to make me a prisoner like every other dragon?' She observed it as they entered before she started to struggle once more making the humans that carried her, drop her in fright.

"Well, well, well." A deep male voice said in Norse nearby making Azora snap her eyes to the owner of it. The human who spoke was very bulky nearly seven foot man which indicated him to be a Viking who dressed in traditional Viking armor, a long fur cape that covered most of his body, he had a long white beard with a matching mustache, ice piercing blue eyes, a helmet that had horns of numerous dragons attached to it, and tan skin. "Look at this beauty." He smiled an ugly and corrupt smile as he walked up to Azora, making her try to struggle more as she glared at him. "We have a real spitfire here men!" He said to some more bulky humans that were now around her. "We'll have to be extra careful with her." The man then turned and the humans who originally captured her followed after him out.

Azora kept on struggling, frantically trying to free herself but due to not being fully grown just yet, her muscle strength she was trying to use to break free only tired her out. After a couple hours, she finally gave up and laid still, breathing through her nose gently as sleep took her into its embrace.

/

Maaran kept flying in the direction where he heard Azora's screech but he saw nothing but waters as the day wore on. Fear and concern grew for his pupil who he personally cared for like a daughter to him. "Where are you my little one?" He growled softly.

Suddenly, a female voice from below him called out, "Hey! Aglovale Helmar wait!" Maaran stopped flying forwards and looked down only to be surprised to see a small Bhimasara Egill, or in human words, a Terrible Terror that was green with yellow highlights. "You escaped! I thought for sure you were a goner when I saw you being floated away by those humans!"

Maaran's heart nearly stopped as the little dragon came closer and closer until she was hovering right in front of him. "Captured?" He asked her.

"Yeah," the Bhimasara Egill confirmed. "I saw you pilled to a pile of wood being hold down by metal on the human ship."

"That was my daughter!" Maaran said in desperation. "Where did they go?! Please tell me you know!"

The Bhimasara Egill's eyes grew wide at his words. "Your daughter?" She asked before getting serious. "I didn't see where they took her but I think I may know where they have gone. Humans in these waters usually go to only one island to give their captured dragons to."

"Please, show me the way there!" He pleaded to her.

"Of course." The little dragon said as she flew into the direction of the lowering sun. "Follow me."

Maaran immediately did so. "What is your name?" He asked her.

"My name is Anthia." She looked at him. "What is yours?"

"Maaran." He replied. "I want to thank you Anthia. My little one is only 10 seasons old and is too young to go through this…" he looked off into the horizon, eyes unseeing but mind focused on his task. "Then again, no dragon deserves to be captured by humans."

"Maaran," Anthia said soothingly. "Your daughter will be strong and needs you to be alert and focused on the task to save her properly. She needs her father and that is you."

Maaran nodded and determination shined through his eyes. "Let's go save my daughter."

/

Azora woke up with a start before noticing that she was unchained, unmuzzled, and in a small cave-like room that was barely big enough for her form to move around in. "Hello?" She called out. "Is anyone there?" She listened carefully before sighing in hopelessness as nothing seemed to respond to her call. Maaran was probably worried sick and searching the entirety of the ocean for her and she knew that screeching in here would probably just get her muzzled again. "I'm on my own for now it seems." She mumbled.

Azora walked up to the door that was made up of heavy wood and looked at it carefully before deciding that it was most likely flame resistant and reinforced to prevent dragons from escaping easily. She noticed a small claw shaped hole in the middle of the doors and blew a flame stream onto it but sighed as it did nothing to make it widen. She then looked out the hole and was relieved to see some of it and noticed that she was still inside the arena so it probably meant that she was in the cages that were kept in the arena walls like most Vikings built to hold dragons. She noticed that it was nearing sunset as the shadows seemed to be showing more than usual along the ground and the muffled noises of humans talking indicated that someone was conversing but it was too low for her to make it out.

Suddenly a huge clang was heard and a group of gruesome, bulky Viking teens walked past her viewing spot making Azora shudder at how they looked. They all wore some sort of armor, had gruesome looking weapons, and one even had a horrid sense of fashion by wearing a skull of some sort on the top half of his face. She huffed and pushed her ear to the hole finally being able to hear at what was being said.

"Today we begin your training for hunting dragons down." A mature male said in a raspy and cold voice that seemed to growl. "First rule is to have a proper weapon. Do you all have that?"

"Yes sir!" The group of teen voices said together in unison.

"WRONG!" The male bellowed making Azora flinch with how loud it was and shook her head before going back to listening. "You do not have all your weapons! You are missing the most crucial weapon that will help you gain an advantage in this fight!"

Azora snorted in disdain at how the male was teaching these teens with yelling. This type of method would work at times but it only brought fear and confusion not understanding and knowledge.

"What else could we possibly need sir?" One of the teens asked. "We have the strongest weapons made ready to taste the blood of dragons."

A groan of frustration was heard by Azora and she did a tiny chortle of amusement as the grown male yelled, "A shield you dunderheads! You need a dang shield to protect you from the attacks the dragons do!"

The combined groans of the teens told Azora exactly what they thought of shields though one teen voice decided to voice his opinion out loud. "Shields just get in the way of our weapons!"

"Yeah!" Another teens voice yelled. "All we need are our fists and the weapons that will kill a dragon!"

Azora shook her head at the stupidity these Viking teens showed towards dangerous creatures like herself. "Is that so?" The grown male questioned them earning whoops and hollers. "Then let's test that theory shall we? We have only one dragon is this arena and if you can truly defend yourself with just your fists and weapons of choice then you'll get an immediate passing grade of dragon training Edgert." The voice was closer to the door making Azora back up into the rear wall. "The shields are over there in the corner so feel free to grab one."

"Shoot." Azora grumbled as she got into a lunging position to run as fast as she could once those doors opened. She needed to try and find her way out of this arena and get home and as the sound of the door unlocking reached her ears and the start of some light shone through the opening cracks, she immediately barreled through the doors causing confusion and startled screams from the humans.

"After it!" The teens yelled as they raced after her with weapons raised.

Azora looked up and knew immediately that flying out was not an option with how they made the top of the arena as it was covered like a spiderweb in chains so she ran to the arena door only to growl at the locking mechanism that was on it to prevent dragons from escaping. Suddenly an axe narrowly missed her head as it imbedded into the stone wall of the arena making her turn and face the teens with pupils slit and a fierce growl tore through her throat. She scent of the metal being so close to her made her instincts come to the forefront of her mind and she took off away from the teens as they tried to attack her with more of their weapons. Soon, she had the advantage as the teens ran out of weapons to attack her with and she turned to face them with a plasma shot ready in her mouth.

"RUN!" A teen yelled as he did so himself.

Azora aimed her plasma carefully, not wanting to kill the stupid humans, and hit the teen who wore a skull mask in the butt making him fall onto his face and groan in pain as he held his rear end. She smirked and shot more of her blasts into each of the teens rear ends and charged forward to give them a good scare only to feel a sudden weight on her and a chain rope in between her jaws. The main human who was teaching these teens decided that it would be a fantastic idea to get a handle of this situation by treating her like a common horse. She roared before bucking, rolling, and ramming herself into the walls to get him off only to feel the chain tighten and taste her blood as it caused deep wounds in her mouth. Azora was completely terrified of this feeling of being hurt, this human who was making her bleed but she knew she couldn't give up.

She knew the teens were watching and while she could imagine some would get a horrid fascination from watching her, her hearing picked up on a couple that were getting sick at her torment as the man on her back tried to get her under control. She must look like a crazed wild animal with how her eyes looked with blood dripping down her maw and a animalistic growl emanating from her throat as the bucked and ran soon making herself foam from the mouth, mixing with the blood. She tried one more good hard tackle against a wall and relief washed over her as she felt his weight fall off and she immediately fled to the opposite side of the cage, spitting out the chain as the man got onto his feet but the feeling of relief soon left her body as he got out a whip that had sharp spikes on the end of it.

He walked towards her and she tried to run but the whip struck fast and hard making her fall over at the feeling of her flesh being torn off her leg and a roar of pain filled the skies. She looked at the teens with eyes begging, pleading for them to just help her but they all just kept watching her. The whip came down again this time upon her back landing right between her tail and wing section and an anguished cry unwillingly left her. Of course the teens wouldn't help her. She was a dragon and their enemy so why should they feel sorry for a creature they hated for years as it got tortured as punishment?

More and more strikes came down upon Azora making her feel light headed and dizzy, her hearing becoming muffled, and the nausea was starting to get to her the longer she started at the puddle of her blood that was forming upon the ground. She whimpered with each hit but it seemed to do nothing but enrage the human even more but as he went to whip her again, a loud screech was heard shortly before a huge boom, dust and debris spreading everywhere. Azora then saw the huge hole on the chains above and her eyes welled up with tears as she recognized the figure flying towards her with a smaller figure beside him. 'He came…" she thought before unconsciousness took hold of her. 'He truly came…'