Tonight, Ragni faced a serious trial: guarding the guild's house. Neither I nor Katrina wanted to stay on watch, especially when my room had finally been renovated.
During my three-day absence, my room had been completely restored, so impeccably that not a trace remained. The renovation cost me a pretty penny, but at least now passing birds couldn't disturb my sleep anymore.
It was around midnight, and I was about to retire to bed when a loud knock on the door interrupted me. Standing at the threshold was Ignis, dressed in a long, plain black dress. Surprisingly, the dress hugged her figure perfectly and almost reached the floor, and as far as I remember, she hadn't brought any spare clothes with her when she came.
"Your Majesty?" I never thought she would come so soon.
"Why the formalities? I told you I wanted to talk to you alone." The dragon queen gracefully glided into the room and bestowed upon me a tender smile, but her gaze was stern.
I nervously swallowed; this conversation didn't bode well for me.
"You wanted to inquire about the contract?"
"Of course. The language of the ancient gods is one of the greatest secrets kept by the ancient dragons," the dragon queen ignored the armchair by the window and sat on the bed, elegantly crossing her legs. "You see, the language of the ancient gods carries the magic of creation, and each word is a force that establishes the laws of our world. On it, the dragon gods spoke incantations of primal magic when they created our world. Unfortunately, even ancient dragons like me cannot wield ancient magic, even if we know the language. It seems the dragon gods created us, planning in advance that we couldn't surpass them in power. But humans, on the other hand, are different: for me, it has always remained a mystery why you can wield ancient magic despite lacking immortality," Ignis placed her hand on my chest. "But for that, they must know the language of the ancient dragons, and we don't pass on that knowledge to anyone."
"I see my knowledge on this matter doesn't please you," her gaze began to scare me.
"Yes," nodded Ignis. "To prevent the spread of the ancient language, dragon masters, including me, divided it into five parts and based each race of dragons' language on them. Now, each dragon race possesses its own dialect, and only a few know it entirely. Even if you know the words and symbols, without hearing the correct intonation, your phrases won't hold any power," the dragoness's claws gradually lengthened. "And now, the question: how did you learn the ancient language, or more precisely, WHO taught it to you? Your life may depend on your answer," her clawed hand pressed me against the bed, and sharp pain pierced my chest.
"Alright, I'll tell you everything, just stop being so forceful," nervous tremors ran through my body.
"Ah, well then," the queen moved her hand away from me and shifted to the edge of the bed, her smile turning into a sinister grin. "You won't be able to escape anyway—at least not alive."
Some women can be very terrifying, but it was time to start my tale.
"I was born in a small fishing village called Maylir, located on an island off the eastern coast of the continent. Well, at least I think I was born there. I don't know who my parents were or why they abandoned me. One beautiful day, I was found at the doorstep of the local shelter," it was unpleasant to talk about my past to someone I had only met a day ago, but I had no choice. "The village treated orphans well, so my childhood was not that bad. Although even there, I encountered injustice a few times from the nobles."
"That's all interesting, but could you get closer to the point?" Ignis narrowed her eyes skeptically.
"I was about to leave," I nervously swallowed. "Our village was small compared to the size of the entire island. In the forests, you could find ancient ruins that might have had historical value, but the villagers knew nothing about them. But that wasn't the strangest part. On the northern coast, there was a huge cave that remained flooded most of the year, and only during the new moon at low tide, a path through the land would open to it. The villagers were forbidden from entering the cave, and there were reasons for that," I involuntarily lowered my voice. "Every new moon, when the entrance to the cave was accessible, strange sounds would emanate from it, accompanied by a ghostly glow. The villagers spoke of the souls of people who ventured there during the new moon and couldn't escape before the tide returned. That's why everyone feared the cave."
"I never thought that Sephris's tomb would have such a bad reputation," Ignis murmured with a slight smirk.
"Do you know something about this place?" I asked, surprised.
"I do, and I might even tell you, but it depends on the rest of your story," the queen's smile didn't let me relax.
"Then I'll continue. Unlike the villagers, I was more curious than fearful. One day, I decided to enter the cave during the new moon. Equipped with a torch, I descended into the cave and, for safety's sake, hid a rope inside just in case. As I ventured deeper, I discovered a vast hall. Part of the ceiling had collapsed, but the walls remained intact. The walls were adorned with bas-reliefs depicting scenes with unseen monsters and dragons, and beneath each bas-relief were inscriptions written in strange, curling characters, unlike any human language. I studied the pictures with interest when I heard footsteps behind me. Hiding behind a rock, I could see two female figures, one slightly smaller than the other. They were wrapped in cloaks and walked steadily towards one of the bas-reliefs. I don't know what they did, but the inscriptions on the wall suddenly lit up with a soft bluish light, and the women chanted something like a song in an unknown language to me. What sounded like wailing ghosts from the outside turned out to be the recitation of ancient symbols merging into a smooth melody."
"Oh, eavesdropping is not nice," Ignis smiled gently, and it seemed like her bloodlust had diminished. "And did you speak to them?"
"No, my courage ended there," I cautiously sat up on the bed, assuming a more comfortable position. "But I tried to memorize their speech as much as I could, and after they left, I compared it with the text on the wall. It seemed they were indeed reading it, and each symbol had its own pronunciation. I didn't have time to study it all as the tide was rising, and I hurried to leave. I thought that if I returned there on the next new moon, I might see those two women again. However, the following month, different people came, an older man and a younger one, just like a couple of girls the previous time, all of them had white hair and white eyes. If I had encountered them for the first time, I would surely have taken them for ghosts and wouldn't have dared to show up there again. But the most surprising thing was that they approached a different bas-relief and began to recite the text with a slightly different intonation. After their departure, I compared the texts and realized that while some symbols were the same for all the pictures, there were also unique symbols for each one. And so, on the next month, different people arrived again, with golden, red, and then blue hair. On the sixth month, the two women I saw for the first time returned. This repeated every month, sometimes with different people, but their hair color and number always remained constant. I never dared to speak to any of them. My courage was only enough to copy the symbols from the wall and record their pronunciation. I didn't know what they meant, I could only guess from the pictures on the walls. But this little mischief spared me from dying of boredom in our small village. I've been engaged in this for the last five years until I got accepted into the academy. Perhaps these people still come there every month, but I don't know if I'll have another chance to go there."
"Hmm, you're quite clever," there was no hostility in Ignis's voice now, and a satisfied smile appeared on her face. It seemed the threat to my life had passed. "I suppose you've already figured out that those 'people' visiting your village were actually dragons. And the couple you saw the first time was me and Ragni. As I mentioned, we divided the ancient language into five parts among the tribes of the great dragons. To preserve the connection between the clans, we inscribed our language parts on the bas-reliefs depicting the history of the great dragon gods. And following tradition, every month, representatives of ruling clans would fly to the cave with their direct heirs to read the history and honor the memory of our ancestors. By the way, this cave is the tomb of Sefris, the blue dragon god, the ruler of the seas. Of course, after his death, his body transformed into seawater, but he chose this place as his final resting place after that battle where he was mortally wounded."
"I'm sorry if I violated your traditions with my behavior. But even though I know how your language sounds, I don't quite understand what those phrases mean," I said.
"Don't worry about that. We didn't warn the villagers that this cave is sacred to us. We stupidly assumed that people wouldn't dare to venture there and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to comprehend our speech. I never expected to find such a brave and intelligent lad like you. Well, according to our laws, I should kill you and the one who taught you the language," Ignis held a dramatic pause and then smiled gently, "but that would mean killing too many high-ranking dragons, and that would be quite problematic. I'm glad my daughter ended up with you."
"And it doesn't bother you at all that I'm a human?" I couldn't understand how she could be so nonchalant about it.
"Not at all! I'm not as biased as my yellow brethren," Ignis smirked, leaning closer to me. "And I don't want to lose sight of you."
With a flick of her finger, Ignis tapped my forehead, and despite the gentle touch, I started to lose consciousness from that simple gesture. "And since I'm entrusting my daughter to you, I think I should pass on a couple of essential skills to you."
The next morning, Ignis prepared to return home, and the rector personally accompanied her. But he wasn't the only one eager to see the ancient dragon. Most of the students who had hidden in fear in their rooms the day before had now gathered around, anticipating an unforgettable spectacle. Ignis, of course, didn't want to disappoint the audience. After bidding farewell to the rector and Ragni, she leaped into the air, transforming with a gentle glow into a massive dragon and soared into the sky, creating a powerful gust of wind on the surface. The crowd cheered, and the sight truly was impressive.
I woke up quite late, even by my standards, but my body felt weary. Memories of yesterday's conversation with the queen started surfacing in my mind, and unexpectedly, I realized that I understood the language the dragons spoke in the cave on my native island. Somehow, Ignis must have relented, deciding to pass on the missing key to understanding the language. However, even with the knowledge of the language, I wasn't sure if I could perform ancient magic without knowing the proper incantations.
In any case, I had to attend classes as today was Ragni's first day at the Academy.