35 Chapter 35 - A Real Dragon

The little black creature clung to Mana and stretched out its claw towards Raven.

"I think it wants you to touch it," Mana said softly.

Raven nodded and held out a finger, which was immediately grabbed by the creature.

"What is this thing?" Fox asked curiously, peering at them from a distance.

"Maybe it's a dragon after all?" King Jaren murmured.

Mana and Raven examined the little thing. It really did resemble a miniature western style dragon, Mana realised. It had smooth black scales that were soft to touch, and large luminous eyes which matched Mana's own – emerald green with specks of amber and silver. On its throat was a circular patch which looked just like the opal on Raven's finger.

The little thing was about half the size of Mana's forearm.

"So cute," Mana muttered and rubbed its head gently.

The little dragon purred like a little kitten.

Mana blinked in confusion and asked Raven, "Do dragons purr like this?"

Raven, whose finger had been possessively grabbed by the little dragon, shrugged. "I don't really know," he told her. "No one has seen a dragon for centuries."

"Then…is this a dragon or not?" Fox asked impatiently, approaching them.

The little creature glared at Fox and spat out a little blue flame at the young man.

"Our little one has a fiery temper, it seems," King Jaren remarked, smiling broadly. "I never imagined that the two of you would actually awaken a baby dragon!"

"It does look like a dragon based on the drawings I have seen in old books," Raven said.

"Why is it clinging to Mana and Raven?" Fox asked grumpily.

"Well…since these two hatched the egg…it probably thinks of Mana and Raven as its parents?" King Jaren speculated.

Mana and Raven flushed. They hadn't even hit puberty yet, how could they already be taken as parents by a dragon?!

At least her own soul was in the late twenties, Mana thought to herself…but poor Raven, he was a bona fide child!

"Azar." A small voice resonated in Mana's mind. From the startled look on Raven's face, he'd probably heard it, too. Papa seemed to have heard it, too.

"Azar?" King Jaren spoke up. "Is that your name, little one?"

The little dragon's head bobbed up and down. "Me, Azar."

"What a lovely name," Mana said.

"Mommy," the little dragon said, rubbing its head against Mana's chin in a dependant manner.

Mana couldn't resist the cuteness. A thought struck her. Now that there was someone even smaller than her in the household, at least no one would call her 'little Mana' anymore, right?

Thinking so, she tickled the tiny dragon's chin. "Hello, little Azar," she said softly.

The baby dragon snuggled contentedly against her and then put Raven's finger in its mouth. "Daddy." The small voice resonated in Raven's mind.

Blushing furiously, Raven, too, greeted the little dragon and let it chew on his finger.

"Daddy magic good."

Raven couldn't resist stroking the baby dragon's smooth scales, making it purr again.

King Jaren burst out laughing. "I never thought that my little Mana would be the first one to give me a little grandchild!" he commented, grinning ear to ear. "Now, do I have a baby grandson or a granddaughter?" he asked.

"Me, boy." The baby voice spoke in their minds. "Grandpapa?"

Mana could see the 'aww' hovering over King Jaren's head as he reached out to touch the dragon's head gently. "Welcome to our family, little Azar," he said in a soft voice.

"Grandpapa." The baby dragon repeated happily.

"I'm your Uncle Fox, little Azar," Fox spoke up. He was being ignored by everyone and could no longer remain silent. Besides, the baby dragon was really cute, and if he had claimed Mana and Raven as his parents, then shouldn't Fox be his uncle?

"Uncle Fox." Little Azar repeated obediently.

"What a good boy my little nephew is!" Fox said happily.

Azar preened like a peacock.

"Er…what do dragons eat?" Mana asked, thinking about the legends in her original world where dragons were said to be proud and dignified creatures of myth and the contrast with the cute little thing snuggling up to her right now. "Does anyone have any idea?"

"Meat, maybe?" Fox guessed.

"Maybe we should ask Azar himself?" Raven suggested.

"Tell Grandpapa what you want to eat, little Azar," King Jaren said.

"Daddy magic tasty," the little dragon replied, licking his lips and chewing on Raven's finger happily. Azar had no teeth yet, so all Raven felt was a ticklish sensation.

"Azar, could you let Daddy's finger go? Daddy has to do some big magic now. Do you want to try Mommy's magic instead?" Mana cajoled.

The baby dragon looked up at her with his big, round eyes shining even brighter than the bloodstone on her finger. "Big magic!" he said happily.

"Well then, let's finish up with the arrays and go home as soon as we can," King Jaren said.

Four humans and one baby dragon made their way to the place where the propulsion machine was.

"Papa, would you let Big Brother know that we're starting now?" Raven asked.

King Jaren nodded, pulled out the letter machine and quickly wrote to Jules.

Jules replied immediately that he was waiting in the secret room.

The four humans felt a little guilty. Poor Jules was patiently waiting for them while they had gone around leisurely exploring the island.

King Jaren unsealed the locking net on both the arrays.

Before Raven could start his reflection spell, Azar jumped out of Mana's arms and leaped at the arrays with a cheerful cry of "Big magic!"

There was a flash and both the arrays disappeared.

The baby dragon burped and a little spiral of smoke flew out of his mouth. He grew a little bigger, too.

"Tasty." Azar said.

The four humans stared at him in shock.

"Did he just…eat the arrays…?!" Fox squeaked.

"Looks like it," Mana said dully.

King Jaren nodded. "There are no traces of the arrays left."

"Azar won't get sick from it, will he?" Raven asked, alarmed.

The baby dragon blinked sleepily at them. Mana quickly picked him up. "Azar? Are you all right?" she asked.

"Sleepy, Mommy." The little dragon replied, his eyes drooping.

"Does your stomach hurt? Do you feel strange?" Raven fussed.

"Me, good." Little Azar replied. "Big magic tasty." Then he curled up and fell asleep.

The four humans stared at each other silently for a while.

"I can hardly believe it," Fox murmured in a daze. "We spent all that time and effort racking our brains and trying to come up with a decent solution to such a dangerous situation…and this little baby…he just ate it…? And it's all sorted…?"

"I guess we should just go home now," Mana said.

"He got a little bigger," Raven said, looking at the dragon sleeping on Mana's chest. "Is he heavy? Do you want me to carry him for a while?"

"Sure," Mana said, handing the baby dragon to Raven.

Raven held the little creature carefully and stroked his scales with gentle fingers. Azar purred again.

"I'm pretty sure dragons aren't supposed to purr," Mana murmured to herself.

"He's just a baby," Raven said softly.

"Gather around, children," King Jaren said, putting down the letter machine. He had just written to Jules.

"Jules is activating the summoning array?" Fox asked hopefully. He really, really didn't want to travel with the propulsion machine again!

King Jaren nodded.

The next instant, they were pulled away from the island and brought to the secret basement room in the summer palace.

As soon as Jules saw them, he rushed up to his father. "What do you mean by Mana's son ate them?!" he asked.

King Jaren smiled mischievously, just like Mana did sometimes. "Exactly that. You're an uncle now, Jules. Our little Mana and Raven have an adorable baby son now!"

Jules stared at him in disbelief. "How is that even possible?! Mana and Raven are little kids themselves!" he yelled.

Mana smirked. "Calm down, Big Brother," she said cheerfully. "Papa speaks the truth. Raven and I have a little son now. His name is Azar."

"And Azar did eat the arrays before Raven could start the reflection spell," Fox chipped in innocently.

Raven stepped forward and showed Jules the little dragon in his arms. "This is Azar. We…Mana and I…we accidentally hatched his egg and he's claimed us as his parents."

Little Azar half opened his eyes. "Daddy, noisy." He complained.

Raven giggled. "Azar, don't you want to meet your Uncle Jules?"

Azar looked at Jules sleepily. "Uncle Jules, like Mommy and Grandpapa." He muttered and went back to sleep.

Jules rubbed his eyes. "I'm not seeing things, right? That's…a real dragon?"

Grandpa and Grandma, too, peered at the little thing in Raven's arms.

King Jaren told them the details of what had happened on the island.

Grandpa laughed happily. "Mana and Raven are blessed, and so is our Emerald Kingdom. Legends say that the advent of a dragon heralds great fortune."

"But what is he going to eat?" Mana asked. "We can't feed him arrays every day, can we?"

"I'll send out people to buy some more," King Jaren said. "Whatever he eats, my grandson is never going to starve!"

"Did he really just eat both the arrays?" Jules asked again.

King Jaren, Fox, Raven and Mana nodded.

At the time, they didn't know that two of their enemies, one in the imperial palace in the capital city of the Emerald Kingdom, and the other in the imperial palace of the Amber Kingdom, were howling in grief and shock, their magic completely gone.