As the fire exploded from Nona's body the snakes charged him in hordes. Just when it seemed they would be incinerated every one of them opened their mouths and swallowed the raging inferno.
Skelly went to rush to Nona's aid but Merle held him back. "I have the antidote so he will not die but he needs to learn to be more than a one trick pony."
Skelly still hesitated but in the end he gave a nod and backed off. Nona was unaware of any of this, nor was he really giving the snakes any attention. Instead he was busy trying to maintain the image in his mind. The flower like flame was rapidly trying to grow bigger than the sun in his mind's eye. Exerting enough mental strength to cause sweat to appear on his brow he managed to bring it back into balance.
As he did so his body temperature reduced to normal causing the snakes to hesitate in their assault. Nona reopened his eyes looking at the singed grass and the intact snakes lead him to one conclusion. Using his mental image he tried to focus on just the water aspect. Willing it into action to no avail. He tried imagining a tsunami, an iceberg, and a geyser but the water in his mind remained calm.
Taking advantage of their prey seemingly standing there the snakes resumed their attack. One leapt out trying to sink its fangs in Nona's hand. Fortunately he had enough presence of mind to pull it back, but as he did his ankle came into range of a snake by his foot. The searing pain caused him to fall forward to his knees and cry out.
As his hands came forward to catch himself several other snakes wasted no time in biting them. At this point all Nona could feel was pain and anger at how easily these beasts were beating him. This in turn broke his focus on keeping the flames contained and it once again threatened to boil him from the inside.
Knowing that if he released the flames it would only feed the snakes he became desperate. The image in his mind became one of pure chaos as he willed for any of the elements to do his bidding.
A strong gale began to whip around the conflict going on in front of them so Merle casually flicked his hand toward his and Skelly's feet immediately incasing them in rock. "Things are about to get interesting." He commented just as an explosion of wind rushed passed him.
The snakes and grass around Nona were blown back in a perfect circular pattern with Nona standing in the center. In his mind a raging tornado had formed in the scenery of his mind. This tornado seemed to obey his commands so he wasted no time in getting off of his knees.
The snakes quickly recovered since the wind had done no actual damage and was once again coming for Nona. Nona himself was no longer scared as he treated his hand as a knife slashing it toward the closest snake. A green blade left his hand traveling along the path of his slash but it fizzled out just before making contact.
"Seems he is an average dragon after all." Merle said with a touch of sadness in his voice.
"How so?" Came Skelly's skeptical reply.
"He can use fire easily but struggles with wind and I can only assume when he was just standing there earlier he was trying for water. Meaning he has no affinity with it at all. The fact that he cannot command all of the elements suggests he is not a gold dragon." Merle explains.
"Why is a gold dragon so important? Wouldn't any dragon have the power we are looking for?" Skelly asks in confusion.
"Yes, if there was only one dragon in existence but the gold is the king of dragons and can over rule even the slave bond placed on other dragons. This means we could use the dragons in other kingdom to destroy it or others could use Nona to destroy our kingdom." Merle explains patiently.
"So what your saying is if Nona is not a gold dragon than he is a liability?"
"Exactly. We will help him get his soul mount than send him to the capital while we keep searching. Ancient texts allude to only one gold egg having been laid. We must find it before others do."
"Agreed." Skelly end the conversation to return his attention to the fight in front of him.
Nona had tried several more times with the wind blade but none had managed to hit a snake. Though, this unknown wind pressure was sensed by the snakes and made them cautious about advancing. This stalemate was giving Nona a chance to think. What he originally thought was a horde of snakes was actually only five. This was a relief since he knew he could not handle five let alone any more.
He knew his reflexes were slightly faster than the snakes since he had avoided them a few times already, but without a way to hurt them this information meant nothing. His wind blades seemed to come undone when exposed to natural wind for a certain amount of time regardless of how much power he put into it. It seemed like it was missing some sort of bond to keep it together.
He finally had an idea. He let the fire inside himself rage once again. The difference this time is he forced it out of himself in the shape of a sword. Immediately the snakes started drooling and wasted no time in surging forward.
"He already knows they eat fire so what is he thinking?" Skelly was nervous and desperate to jump in.
"Let us wait and see. After all I am still sure he is a dragon and even the weakest of them is considered a king of beasts." Merl's gut was telling him there was more to that flame sword than met the eye. He was genuinely curious since it had been ages since anyone had created a new spell. He just hoped he would not be disappointed yet again.