Objection!
[Dragon's Awakening, Phase One: Dragon's Fear.]
"Kwuah!!!!" the terrifying, loud and vicious roar escaped Valnyk's mouth. It was a cry from the soul that pushed all the creatures weaker than him in a state of sheer hopelessness.
His human appearance started shifting. Horns came out of his head, his eye sclera turned black, while his iris had a scarlet-red color and pupils were vertical like a lizard's. The skin close to his eyes cracked open and a red glow escaped out of there. From a different perspective, it resembled the scales of a lizard.
"Already in fear… I guess animal instincts are kicking in." Valnyk intensively glared at the two lizards in front of him.
"It's only natural. In front of the real dragon, some lizard is nothing but a mindless beast." he then continued, while cracking up a smug smile and revealing his animal-like sharp teeth.
"Get out of my sight." Valnyk ordered folding hands behind his back.
Without knowing the human language, the mere lizard understood the meaning behind his words and with a squeak turned around, running away as quickly as its legs allowed. The second lizard soon followed.
"As if I'd let you," the young boy's face turned serious, with no emotions traced on it.
He then brought out his hand, still having one behind his back and with some manipulations, red-colored claws grew on his fingers.
"This time, I'll burn you for sure," Valnyk stated and dashed forward, imbuing his claws with fire-mana. In an instant, he was already close enough to attack lizards.
"With one attack," he swung his hand, spreading fire from his claws like cuts from blades, carving through the thick scales of the lizard-like butter. The high temperature of the fire melted down the scales, but this wasn't it all.
Cuts exploded in pure white color, burning the insides of lizards. Two big lizards were entirely turned into nothing but ash and the same fate will be with their legacy.
"Now time for underlings." Valnyk looked back at the immobilized horde of small lizards, his eyes glowing horrifying them.
"Burn," with the declaration, Valnyk once again swung his fire-mana imbued claws at small fries.
Less than a minute all the lizards were reduced to nothing, not even bones left. The cave was in a blaze, slowly it was getting hard to even breathe in it.
"Dad, are you still immobilized? C'mon, let's get out of here." Valnyk, with already disintegrating horns, approached his father and forcefully took him on the shoulder.
"W-What the hell was that?" stuttered Varlam. He was too shocked by the previous spectacle he viewed.
"That was my Beast Will, don't tell anybody about it." his son replied, glaring at him right in the eyes. The father merely nodded in response, it was indeed better if they hid what happened in the dungeon.
"How's your leg?" a sudden question came from Valnyk.
"Not in the best condition." Varlam answered back. Valnyk glanced at his father's leg and looked away immediately, it was just too unbearable. Yesterday his father was in the best condition, but now?
"Father… Your leg shall be amputated." Valnyk hardly managed to say it.
"Can you do it?" the father looked up at him, to receive a nod from his son.
"I'll do it painlessly." the son reassured father.
"Okay... do it now." Varlam gathered all his will and clenched his teeth.
"Already did."
"..."
_________________________________________________________________________
In the infirmary of Xyrus Guild, Varlam Aurae laid there without his right leg. Beside him, his son was sitting without any injuries, only having his eyes covered with drenched in sweat cloth.
"Tuk Tuk, hope I'm not disturbing you." Kaspian Bladeheart came through the door and announced his presence.
"Father is still asleep, he probably won't wake up for a few days." Valnyk stated without taking the leather off his eyes.
"How did this even happen? I'm sure you were diving in a low-class dungeon." Kaspian questioned seeing the state his old friend is in.
"Low-class dungeon my ass, whoever classified the dungeon probably didn't even dive in it." Valnyk spoke harshly, the weight of his words made his childlike appearance crumble.
Kaspian was heavily sweating, pressure which wasn't even directed on him almost knocked him off.
"Low-class dungeon where a silver-core mage lost a leg and almost died. F*cking outrageous." The piece of cloth on his face was set on flame mysteriously, not even caring about it Valnyk continued.
"That beast was a minimum of an AA-Class, in addition to that there were 2 of them. With their horde of children, the dungeon should be classified as S-Class." finished Valnyk as the cloth on his head finally burned, not even ash remained and the boy's face was in one piece.
"How were you able to get out?" another question came out from Kaspian's mouth.
Not moving his head, Valnyk shifted his eyes towards Kaspian. Kaspian felt his soul leaving his body, witnessing a young boy having lizard-like red eyes. As if an absolute predator was looking at him, Kaspian subsequently looked down.
"Don't slip a word about this. This isn't a warning, but a command." he waited till Kaspian nodded reluctantly and then deactivated his eyes.
"They are here." announced Valnyk as someone burst through the door in infamy.
"Varlam! Val!" Vanessa Aurae cried out and launched herself at two. Tears were streaming down her face seeing the crippled state of her husband.
Varay who followed in after Vanessa was also shaken.
"How did this happen? I thought you were entering a low-class dungeon," she then turned to Valnyk and questioned.
"Hell if I knew, it was supposed to be a low-class dungeon." replied with closed eyes, tired of all the events happening today.
"I'm so glad you got out of there alive." Vanessa hugged his son.
'Yeah, only positive thing.' thought Valnyk and opened his eyes. He then proceeded to hug back his mother to comfort her, also eyeing his sister.
After some time when his mother calmed down, he released a hug and stood up.
"Let's take pops home."
It didn't take much for Varlam to wake up from his slumber, already in his bed. Valnyk in this time period kept a really close eye on him, always inspecting changes within his body with the dragon's eyes. The young boy was relieved when his father woke up just after a few days of sleep.
"So you're finally awake, huh?" Varlam opened his eyes to see the deadpan expression of his son.
"Is this how I'm being welcomed, after sleeping for how much?" He mostly understood the situation by now, so he decided to joke a little.
"Few days since then. Right now, we are at home." answered Valnyk.
"So how's my condition?"
"Just lost a leg, nothing more for now at least. Also, I'm sorry fo-" Valnyk was cut off by his father.
"Don't worry about it, I understand you have your secrets." said Varlam, Valnyk just rolled his eyes, this took a whole different turn.
"Father, I'm apologizing for your leg." he pointed at a non-existing leg. Varlam stared at it for some time, before awkwardly scratching his head.
"It was necessary, so I don't blame you." he gave an innocent and reassuring smile, at which Valnyk responded in the same manner.
"Also, Val. I now know the extent of your powers and it will be essential for you to participate in family events. I just made up my mind to retire from my position of house head."
_________________________________________________________________________
"Today we've gathered here to discuss matters about my retirement, after this assembly, I shall no longer be head of this house." Varlam announced to everyone present around the round table.
The father and mother, Valnyk and Varay, including other members of Aurae house were in this room, including the lower branches of this house, all of them were gathered here to hear the verdict.
"I think it should be obvious, Varlam, your daughter has shown incredible progress. Young Valnyk also has shown phenomenal progress, but he is rather young, and knowing the current position of our house it will be wise to select her as the next head." declared Varlam's loyal advisor, though others in the room seemed to be angry at him.
"Does anyone have another candidate?" Many raised their hands after Varlam's words.
"Even Varay is still young, as a head of a prestigious house we can't have her as the leader. We must select an individual much experienced, so I propose my son for this candidacy." boldly declared to someone, it was to be expected.
Varlam Aurae wasn't the strongest mage on Dicathen, but a mage with a lost leg. Although this doesn't ascertain his capabilities entirely, it was obvious he was way weaker than before.
'This is set up…' thought Valnyk upon seeing smiles on their faces.
"Hm is that so? Then let's determine by votes." Varlam surprisingly played in their scheme.
"So who's voting for the candidacy of Varay?" At his question, 8 people raised their hands, however for Varlam most shocking was that his son didn't.
"Then how many support the candidacy of Aaron Aurae?" Other people in the room raised their hands, of course, most of the people in the room voted for Aaron. However again Valnyk didn't raise his hands.
"Is it decided then?" Aaron's father spoke up, with a maniac grin not even hiding his intention.
"Aaron was it? Never heard of your name before." Valnyk dropped bomb with his nonchalant words.
He stood up and walked around the table, approaching Aaron, who was sitting next to his father. When he stood in front of him, he pulled out his hands and offered a handshake.
"Since you've been selected by a so-called FAMILY, I have to comply and congratulate you on your new position." his words startled most of the people around the table, nobody expected this from the second candidate's brother.
"O-oh, yeah… Thank you." Aaron fakely smiled and took Valnyk's handshake. Yet, soon he realized it was a big mistake, just when he took Valnyk's hand, his hand started burning and terrible pain assaulted him.
"Ah?!??! What are you doing?!?!?!" he screamed in agony, watching Valnyk tightly holding his hand, not letting it go.
"Shut up, weakling!" with a shout he kicked Aaron right in the face, knocking him out in an instance.
"Don't make me laugh, he can't even protect himself from a kid and expect me to follow him?!" Valnyk with an angry face turned towards others and demanded.
"I bet you old geezers are paid by the Royal Family!" Valnyk's statement made people in the room go pale, he hit right on the spot. They were indeed actually paid by royalties.
"Heh, that's my so-" Varlam met with the glare from his wife.
"*Cough* With this I'm declaring Varay as the head of Aurae hous-" wanted Varlam to conclude this meeting, but got interrupted again.
"I object.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Father, I want to become the heir of the Aurae House."