Chapter 2

The carriage moved up and down; the muddy road made it difficult to travel through, which gave me an unpleasant time and a desire to earn back the wings humanity took from me. Excitement filled me, longing for the unknown academy, craving clues about my species and those who killed it.

"How far are we?" Veric asked that to the coachman, and that caught my attention.

"Not that much young man. Wrummrora is nearby. We can use its teleportation station and arrive at Enock as fast as possible." The answer he gave Veric made my thoughts scramble in confusion.

"What the hell are these names? I've traveled all across the country and never saw any of those cities. Am I that old?" I remember checking to see if my teeth were intact at that time— a toothless dragon would be funny.

"Isn't it expensive?" It was clear that Veric didn't come from a wealthy family, and both of his parents were dead.

"It is, young man. But now you have your familiar, the academy will accept you, no fees needed, you can use the teleportation for free, once."

"Oh, that's good to hear. And grandpa, you've probably seen a ton of familiars. What do you think this one?" Hearing Veric calling the coachman grandpa was funny— just because you're old, one's automatically a grandpa; humans logic.

"Hmm, let me see," he stared at me, and honestly, it made me uncomfortable.

"A Salamandra is a pretty common sight. Not that much as a familiar, but they are scattered all across the lands," Veric's face looked a bit sad after hearing the coachman, reasonable. Everyone wanted a rare familiar to look after them, to grow strong with them— and sometimes evoking a lame familiar would make you a laughing stock.

The familiar you evoke says a lot about your talent, and you can't achieve greatness only with hard work in the magical field. Only if Veric knew at that time that his familiar was a dragon.

"Don't let my words discourage you, young man. You can see that I look pretty old, right?" the coachman pointed to his face wrinkles and continued to speak with Veric.

"And in all of my years, I've never seen a white Salamandra, never. Perhaps its color will change after growing up, or maybe you did evoke a new type of Salamandra, and that should bring you excitement." Veric smiled after hearing that, and I felt happy.

***

The journey towards Wrummrora went smoothly. Veric and the coachman shared a lot of stories. My attention never left their conversation. None of the stories mentioned any dragons, and that didn't lift my spirit.

The scenery through the carriage window was astonishing. I had seen darkness for so long that the ordinary singing of birds and the forest everlasting green looked as beautiful as a dragon's nest— I think Veric noticed my strange behavior, but he didn't say anything back then.

Slowly but surely, our surroundings started to change; families taking care of their farms, kids playing with their animals— I saw how the world could change in the blink of an eye.

Other carriages passed through; some looked more expensive than ours, some did not. Maybe all of them had young mages looking for ways of learning— I couldn't ask Veric. My form was that of a white Salamandra, smaller than a hand and unable to speak.

They didn't say anything about a Leveling System along the journey, and it piqued my curiosity.

"Humans level up the same way I can? If so, it will be easy to find out how inside the academy, but if they don't, well, I'll need to experiment."

"Hey buddy, we're almost there. Are you all right? Want something to eat? Haha, of course not, familiars don't eat at all, and I'm pretty sure you can't understand me either." Veric said that to me, which made me realize the pain coming from my tiny belly.

"I'm hungry? Back in my time, familiars didn't need to eat, and based on what Veric said— it didn't change."

Veric cuddled my white scales as we finally reached our destination, Wrummrora. The city had a tall wall made of stone, and clearly, it also had a magical barrier, as my body felt the strong mana emanating from it.

Tons of carriages stood within the street, making a line towards the gate, waiting for their time to enter the city.

"Excuse me, sir. The tax to enter the city is one gold coin." The one who said that was a guard, dressed in heavy armor and armed with a long spear, pointed towards the sky.

"Oh, that's why they are all lined up. Humans never change."

Veric

Veric took the gold coin out of his pocket— I saw how he didn't want to pay for it, but he needed it.

"You can enter now. Enjoy our magnificent Wrummrora."

***

People filled the streets, and all the chit-chat, the scream of vendors announcing their goods created a typical city atmosphere. Veric and I wandered through the streets, looking for a cheap hotel— the coachman left us without information, bastard.

Veric's leather jacket pocket turned into a soft hidden bed as I observed every inch of the city from the inside of it, amazed by how the humans evolved as a civilization—I couldn't say that about their personalities.

The sun's warmth diminished, and a small wooden structure came to our rescue, an inn. The quality of it was doubtful, but it was far better than lying down on the streets like a dog.

"A room for one, please," Veric asked the barman with difficulty, as the alcohol smell was too strong for that little kid— poor Veric.

Everything at that moment went smoothly, but of course, something had to show up. A loud bang erupted as the door was slapped open, and a man slowly said to us.

"Where is Veric?"