27 27. Avalon!

"Hadrian Peverell Pendragon, that's final," Ryan said, as his eye twitched in annoyance.

Ragnuk had an amused, toothy grin, as he erased most house names from Ryan's official name and shortened it.

Black, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Pendragon, and Pervell. Ryan had 7 heirships, which would evolve into lordships the moment Ryan would desire due to Pendragon being a royal house, but he let it be.

'Let Dumbledore be the only one with so many names, I would probably forget the official order of the house names even with my perfect memory.' Ryan thought to himself.

After must contemplation, Ryan decided to take Hadrian as his official name since he couldn't think of something better. Plus, he could maintain another persona as Hadrian, away from Ryan Black for some of his plans. Oh, he could feel the chaos Britain will feel when he announces his Pendragon heritage.

Tomorrow was 31st July, and the world was about to celebrate the birthday of the boy who lived. Ryan told Andromeda he needed to visit someplace and had left the palace. He was glad Andromeda was very understanding and didn't ponder on it further... unlike her daughter. Ryan really felt he was taking advantage of them. She let him slip for so many things without question, like his reason for suspicion of Dumbledore and Potters, his occasional disappearances, his advanced knowledge of runes and magic, etc. A child showing such suspicious behavior would alarm any adult, and even if Ryan had the god of lies within himself, he was trying not to have everything about his relationship with the Tonks family be filled with lies.

Ryan felt all the rings on his hand...which felt very weird but focused on them. He was able to sense all his properties he could teleport to but decided to visit the most important place first.

He felt the sensation of being pulled by a tube and went with it, soon showing up inside a cave. Ryan was confused about why he was in a cave but followed the tunnel leading upwards. Finding a set of doors with a dragon carved on each, facing each other, Ryan placed his arm with the ring finger on the door.

The eyes of the dragon lit up and the door started moving, blinding Ryan for a millisecond because of the light on the other side, and they opened to show a path carved from white stone, with multiple arches supporting vines that bloomed beautiful flowers, leading towards a plain, beyond which stood a majestic castle much grander than Hogwarts.

Ryan gaped at the majestic sight as he walked forward a few steps and halted, feeling the fresh air flow through his hair. He had arrived at Avalon, the mystical island of Dragons!

*A Few Minutes Later*

It took Ryan longer than he would have liked to snap out of the stupor, and he walked through the plains toward the castle. A shadow of a creature went over him, causing him to look up as a majestic dragon circled back and landed in front of him.

Unlike the wyvern-like creatures the wizards called dragons, this one looked like a proper Western dragon. It had silver scales, two blue-tinted horns, and shining blue eyes. Ryan was actually barely the size of even one of its teeth, and the aura of the dragon was... very powerful.

But Ryan had also learned to sense intents a while back and sensed no ill will from the dragon in front of him.

"*RRrAw* To think I would witness a Pendragon step on these lands *RRWr*" Ryan heard the dragon say in a language he understood instinctively, which he guessed was Dragontongue, while the dragon looked at him curiously.

"Um... Hello?" Ryan attempted to speak in the same language. The dragon snorted hearing Ryan.

"Hmph, hatchlings these days have forgotten how to even speak properly" The dragon grumbled, and Ryan had a wry smile develop on his face hearing him. "So, what is your name young one?" the dragon asked curiously.

Ryan went to his 'young master' mode and did a courtesy bow "My name is Hadrian Peverell Pendragon, a pleasure to meet you noble one."

The dragon looked like he had an amused smile at Ryan, as he spoke, "Greeting to you as well, young hatchling. I am Albion, and I am the current representative of the true dragons settled in Avalon."

Ryan had many questions pop into his head, but Albion continued, "You should continue towards the castle for now, or Aura won't be happy with me. We will talk later young one, and try not to do too much harm to the beings here. Some don't understand their own strengths and we Dragons always have a sense of pride, even in the young ones" He spoke, and flapped his wings, taking flight towards the mountains in the distance in the opposite direction of the tunnel.

Ryan's eyes widened at the sight of the vast expanse of land and he could see multiple creatures he had never seen or read about before through his enhanced eyes. Ryan kept looking in that direction for a while but decided to take things one step at a time, the first step is visiting the castle and meeting its current residents, as Albion had hinted about someone named Aura already being there.

Ryan had questions but was glad he wasn't alone on the huge island. He used gravity to levitate and shoot off toward the castle, wondering what he would see there. Ryan flew over the fields, almost doing a double take after seeing a triceratops-like creature grazing grass, and arrived at the entrance... of the city.

Yeah, it wasn't just a palace here, but a whole damn city. It was a well-made and beautiful city... but even its majesty didn't make the empty streets and buildings look a bit eerie. Ryan flew through the place, looking around, and arrived at the entrance gates of the castle gardens. He placed his hand on the gates, causing them to shine and Ryan felt that some wards accepted him as the master. He levitated centimeters above the ground and floated along the path toward the castle. The doors opened automatically as he landed in front of it, and light particles converged together to form a beautiful lady in front of Ryan.

'A spirit?' Ryan questioned himself, feeling her similarity with Lady Hogwarts. The spirit held the helm of her skirt and bowed, "Welcome to Avalon, Lord Pendragon. I have been waiting for your arrival." She said and stood up. "I am Aura, the guardian spirit of Castle Avalon. I look forward to working under you." Aura spoke with a smile.

Ryan was stunned at Aura's elegant movements and her sweet voice. His impression of her had already shot to the best female helper on his list.

[...]

'You aren't counted on that, as you are a part of me.' Ryan said after he suddenly felt his instincts warn him of danger.

[... You do realize I am aware of your thought process, right M.A.S.T.E.R?]

"...IamHadrianplesuretomeetyou" Ryan said in a hurry, confusing Aura. He realized and coughed to clear his throat, then spoke again, "Ahem, sorry about that. I am Hadrian Pervell Pendragon. A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Aura."

"No need for titles milord. Just call me Aura. My sole existence is to serve the house Pendragon"...Ryan's eye twitched hearing her words, and sighed. He was already used to being called sir or master because of Aria so it didn't bother him much.

"Well...Aura, I am still new here, so could you tell me more about Avalon?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, of course," Aura spoke and continued, "I think we should get the wards registered first, Master Hadrian. I can explain on the way."

"That's fine, lead the way," Ryan spoke and nodded.

Aura started leading Ryan inside and started explaining, "Avalon used to be an island owned by Dragon King Tiamat, the dragon from which Sir Merlin had obtained blood to nourish King Arthur during his birth, and the reason for his strength. While it may look bad, Taimat had actually granted the blood himself after his battle with Merlin, as he had managed to impress the Dragon king." Ryan listened closely to Aura while looking around at the various paintings and accessories decorating the halls.

"At the request of Tiamat, Merlin had founded Avalon as a sanctuary for dragons since then, slowly developing it in secrecy as it was becoming well known that dragon material was an excellent core for making magical foci and other magical rituals. Later in his life, he brought King Arthur here to train, as he was also considered a son to Tiamat, who taught him knowledge of Dragons. This also made Avalon home for Arthur. And after becoming king, Arthur and Merlin made Avalon linked to Pendragons, as a trade between the Dragon kind and Pendragons. Unfortunately, Morgana La Fey had other plans, and it led to the magical line of Pendragons ceasing to exist." Aura said with a somber tone. Ryan caught on that Aura had most probably been present during the times of Merlin and King Arthur but decided to ask later.

"During the formation of the protection around Avalon, one of the clauses said that in case of infighting between the Pendragons for the throne, all security for the island would be reset and entry would be denied until the Lord Pendragon would come here to get approval." She spoke and Ryan saw a door appear in the middle of the room which looked like a throne room.

"Approval? Like a test?" Ryan asked.

"I do not know the means of approval, and I am instructed to not divulge further information either," Aura spoke as they appeared in a room similar to the Heart of Hogwarts, but Ryan didn't use his mystic eyes because his instinct was ringing alarm bells the moment the thought appeared in his head.

But unlike the one in Hogwarts, the room was made of ivory-like stone with gold design and edges and also had a quite futuristic design, even for this age. '... Merlin, eh? Wonder what the guy was like.' Ryan thought to himself.

Ryan moved towards the pedestal behind which a rotating dodecahedron-shaped crystal was placed, which he felt was the core, running all processes of the castle. He was about to place his hand, but stopped, as he saw something else between the pedestal and the crystal...