Days flowed by quickly turning into weeks, and it wasn't long before mastery over my mana would slowly but surely improve, I took into consideration what had been previously said by my father.
Even if the whole world hates you… Me and your mother…
Regardless of how hard I worked his words always seemed to linger within my mind, perhaps my worries were nothing… But I couldn't shake off the feeling that it may have been something.
"Going out again, are we?" Yelaina sighed, she closed the door that I had been working so hard to open in hopes that her and Dad wouldn't notice me.
"Your mana still seeps out of you" she stated with a neutral expression, which made reading her expression and knowing what she possibly had on her mind a lot more strenuous on the mind.
I put on a puppy face, my eyes tearing up as I held a pleaful expression. "pweasseeee" I begged.
If I could get out of this house and train then regardless of my pride as King Ran's right-hand man… I'll use everything I have within my current arsenal… including my extremely cute baby face!
A nervous smile took over my features.
Did it work…?
She didn't move for a moment…
But opened the door soon after…
Success!!
I rushed out the door, sprinting out the yard and into the densely populated area of animals and trees, fully releasing my magic upon arrival.
I'm sure my mother had some idea of what I was doing, as you grow older your body naturally releases mana on its own, but not so much that one would die, after all, no mana was a meant death regardless of how powerful one may have been.
I concentrated my breathing, my bodily movements halted as I closed my eyes, feeling out my mana paths.
This was going to be hard…
Condensing it was always the part I had the most problems with, gathering and collecting was fine but simply squishing it together didn't work, and it was an arduous task that required a ridiculous amount of breathing and concentration.
It's no wonder most don't awaken until later in life.
My eyes opened 3 hours later, my body was covered with sweat despite my lack of movement, and exercise this would certainly have been hard to explain to my parents.
'Emrys…' the voice of a man whose age far exceeded Tristan's called out to me and my eyes darted from one area to the other as my mana fluctuated greatly.
Damn… I don't have enough mana!
I couldn't properly control it, and something possibly dangerous was happening.
'Calm down---' the last bit of words that he had said went over my head with me not understanding a single word, rather it felt as though I couldn't hear it like my brain was preventing me from comprehending it.
"Who are you!" I glanced from the upper canopies down to the forest floor, no signs of anyone who had their direct full attention on me.
A light appeared, one of a bright blue color, its frigid coolness overtook me, like a fan blowing on my face at just the right temp, I felt safe… 'Emrys do not fret' the voice spoke up once again knocking me out of my trance.
"Who are you?" I questioned, the man paused as though he was carefully planning his next set of words.
"My name is Cirrus, I have long awaited your arrival Emrys," the voice said.
"What do you want, Cirrus?" I asked, the cerulean-colored light didn't respond, simply changing course hinting for me to follow after.
A trap?
I didn't know nor did I care, I just wanted some answers, so I chased after it, gracefully jumping from branch to branch until its movement suddenly halted.
"What is it?" I questioned, "why have we suddenly stopped" I took a quick glance taking note of my surroundings, nothing particularly eye-catching was within my vicinity.
'I wished to talk to you… Without interruptions' the voice said suddenly, the trees that surrounded me soon disappeared as my pupils were bombarded with an aurora of different colors until it suddenly stopped, and I was in a completely white room, a void possibly.
It took some time to adjust to the lighting, but something about it made me queasy.
'It's nice to meet you Emrys…' the voice that resounded within my head almost like an echo stood before me as a… Person.
Blue hair with similarly blue eyes, a large scruffy beard as well as wrinkles, clear signs of aging.
By my estimation, he should currently be in his mid to late 50s. He wore a robe one of similar fashion to my mother's when she still considered herself as an adventurer, it was white with an unfamiliar insignia that was situated at its center.
'…do you like being called Emrys? Or do you prefer being referred to as Marcus…?' the older man had his hand to his chin running his hand through his beard awaiting my response.
I couldn't utter a single word upon the mentioning of my old name, rather I couldn't find the right words to respond to this ethereal being. "How do you…?"
'I've been watching you since your arrival… No, I've been waiting for your arrival, Emrys' he responded, his voice had a certain tranquility to it, almost godlike.
"What the hell are you!?" I demanded, the man's eyes softened, and his lips curled into a smile. 'Your people, the druids, and humans refer to me as the Lord of the sky, but to my peers, I'm known as Cirrus'.
"Lord of the skies, are you a god?" I queried, my eyes didn't leave the man as my body quickly became apprehensive of what possibly stood before me.
'I'm a dragon Emrys' the man quickly corrected, his regal-like mannerisms and mana didn't ease the tension between us, in fact, I'd argue it made things worse.
The man's expression changed from sovereignty to that of perplexion.
'Ahh… Is that how it is…' The self-proclaimed "dragon" changed forms to that of an even older male, his blue hair now white, his eyes seemed far more watchful than before, he seemed quite astute instantly knowing my discomfort in the form he took.
The man chuckled blithely, 'the concept of me being a God makes more sense to you than me being a Dragon.' I didn't move, almost as though I was frozen in place, my body wouldn't respond to me.
'Is this form more to your liking,' the Old man asked, his facial features showed he wanted my validation for it. "You did that on purpose, didn't you"
'I wasn't aware…,' the Old man stated, apologetically.
'Moving on… I'd like to warn you… When you encounter someone, do not tell them of your druid heritage' Cirrus sternly warned, his tone of voice changed, and the surrounding mana fluctuated slightly.
'Looks like we wasted too much time rambling amongst ourselves,' Cirrus noted as cracks resembling that of a half-broken cup began to appear all around us.
"Wait--" my voice didn't reach him as he snapped his fingers,
'til next time, Marcus.'