Ethan slides under a falling tree branch. He got up on his feet again and bolted across the thick forest.
Noah ran at his front while Ileus ran behind him.
They seemed to be in a race with each other.
They maneuvered past the trees and skidded across the wet, slippery ground.
One might have lost their balance running on top of the wet, slippery ground, but these guys were anything but normal.
Noah accelerated and overtook Ethan, leaving him a few meters behind. Ethan looked at his side.
Ileus was planning to do the same, but he bolted in front and hopped on the ground. He leaped high and passed trees with thick tree trunks.
After leaping for a while, he dropped down from the air, right beside Noah.
"I didn't expect that," Noah said as he continued to move ahead.
"Of course, you would not expect it," Ethan whispered as he hopped forward a few meters.
"Where do you think you're going?" Noah skidded across the floor while placing his hands on the tree vines on the ground.
The vines came to life and started chasing Ethan like snakes in the air.
Ethan felt something on his back. He turned around and peeped.
"What!" His eyes jammed into the multiple tree vines and roots swirling on the ground like snakes chasing after him.
"This is how you wanna play? Let's do this. " Ethan oozed sharp flame blades out of his hands, as if they were his hands themselves, and he started ripping the tree vines close to him.
"Hey, see you later."
Ethan looked ahead. Ileus bolted past him with a speed that clearly showed his inhuman self.
"I should have known. Vampires," Ethan muttered to himself. He leaped into the air and spun himself, facing the vines that also leaped along with him like snakes.
Ethan raised his hands and made a large pulsating fireball and hauled it to the vines.
The vines caught fire and turned to ash in an instant.
"Dude, that was just a distraction," Noah smirked as he zoomed past Ethan.
A smile slowly crept across Ethan's lips. He made sharp flamy bats and hauled them straight ahead. The bats sliced the tree branches like butter as they moved ahead towards Noah.
When the flame bats got closer to Noah, an ice wall rose from the ground. The flame bats sliced through the ice wall. It burst out, but another ice wall burst through the ground again.
The flame bats sliced through that wall as well.
Noah noticed the flame bats following him edge to edge.
"The dragon's flame. Truly deadly," Noah mumbled to himself.
The flame bat etched closer again, but this time, instead of an ice wall, Noah grabbed the bats with both hands.
Noah gritted his teeth as his hands turned red from the intense heat. Ice gloves crept over his shoulder, covering his entire arm, soothing the burnt marks on his hands.
The bats soon lost their glow, and they dispersed into several tiny flame particles.
"That didn't wa--" Ethan trailed off as his surroundings started to wrap up.
"Where am I?" Ethan said aloud, but he noticed something. He sounded like a little kid.
His eyes went to his hands. His hands were now those of a child. He had become a kid again.
He looked behind and saw his brothers running behind him.
They ran on a vast barren land that had large chunks of rock scattered all over the place.
Strange white eggs also lay randomly, making the place crampy. These eggs would break even with the slightest touch, and they would reveal monsters that could wipe them out within seconds.
The princes wanted to avoid such a scenario, so they watched their steps, but at the same time, at a fast pace.
Ethan ran ahead of all of them. He gave them a large gap, although he looked several years younger than them. The only one closest to him was Kane, who reached him by hand's length.
A trail of flame oozed out of Ethan's leg as he ran forward.
At 11 years old, Ethan outmatched his brothers. At this time, his dragon gene was still intact, and he had the title of the strongest youngster in the whole dragon empire.
Lewis and Liam glared at him from behind. They fired killing intent from their eyes at Ethan.
Ethan had yet again outmatched both of them. Ethan and Kane always came out on top in any of their missions, leaving them to occupy the 3rd and 4th spots.
Young Ethan ran with a face of determination. Although the royal family dubbed him as the strongest of his pair, they still favored Kane as the potential emperor. simply because of his mother.
Despite that, Ethan wanted to try his luck at the dragon throne.
Kane closed in on him little by little before eventually passing him.
Ethan was strong, but not stronger than Kane, who was several years older than he was.
Kane was also the strongest among his pair, so the royal family had an excuse to give him the throne. As for Liam and Lewis, no one knows. But they too wanted the throne.
Ethan grinds his teeth together as he bolts forward, trying to get close to Kane, but the faster he moves, the more gap Kane gave him.
"If I followed a shortcut, I might catch up with him," Ethan thought as he turned and ran to his right.
"He is up to something," Liam said to Lewis as they reached the spot Ethan just left.
"He is always up to something." Lewis said, as they focused on their race once more.
Ethan looked around. His brothers could no longer be seen, but he didn't care. They never liked him, though they tried to hide it.
He reached a dead end in what he could only describe as a valley.
"I'm lost." He looked around at the massive mountains at his side, towering over him.
Despite being lost, he didn't seem scared because he knew the empire would dispatch an entire army just for him.
It's not an everyday occurrence for one to reach half-dragon level 6 in just 11 years. Considering that the normal Draconian citizen would reach at least 15 years before reaching this level.
"What should I do?" Ethan said as he tried to think of a way back.
He couldn't just wait for the guards to find him.
He sat on top of a rock, but his eye caught something on the ground. He saw an old rusted lever that was partly covered with crushed rocks.
Ethan had always been curious about things. He pulled the lever up. The ground shook and trembled. Ethan lost his balance and fell on his butt. He crawled to the left when he noticed the spot parting into two.
After some time, the ground parted, revealing a dark, gloomy hole with gleaming red eyes. Then, strangely shaped bats with red eyes flew out of it.
"I definitely won't be going down there. I better go back now, "Ethan mumbled to himself.
He took a step further,
but a black hand grabbed his legs and pulled him into the hole.
****