Ultimate Level 1

“It’s... breathtaking,” he whispered, barely aware that he was speaking aloud.

Aerthen let out a soft rumble of approval, her eyes fixed on the egg. “It is the birth of something magnificent,” she replied, her voice a low thrum. “A hatching dragon’s first moments are a rare sight, even for a dragon such as myself.”

A crack appeared at the peak of the egg, splintering the hard surface with a delicate web of lines. Max leaned closer, his heart pounding as he watched. Another crack followed, spreading down the length of the egg, and for a moment, silence hung in the air. No other sound entered the protective dome that Aerthen had created.

Then, with a sudden jolt, a tiny shard fell away, revealing a flash of something glistening inside.

It’s moving. I… cannot remember having ever seen something so beautiful.

Max could feel the sensation of awe inside his mind, a weird feeling derived from his skill, which merged with his own emotions. Together, they stood there as one, eyes focused on the movement before them.

Slowly, a silver claw emerged, pushing against the fractured shell, followed by another. The egg seemed to pulse, its occupant struggling against the confines, each movement more determined than the last. Aerthen watched patiently, a gentle smile playing across her lips.

“He will need to break free on his own,” she said softly. “It is his first challenge.”

“A boy? You can tell?”

“A male,” Aerthen replied, her tone warm, proud and with a sense of amusement. “He is strong.”

Max nodded, barely daring to breathe as he watched the tiny dragon push, crack, and claw its way into the world. The egg split further, and the hatchling’s head finally emerged. Its scales shone like liquid silver, sleek and shimmering, with delicate ridges that hinted at the grandeur it would grow into one day. Its eyes, still cloudy from birth, blinked open, and the baby dragon let out a soft chirping sound.

A grunt came from the eggling, and it thrust its head upward, giving one final push that shattered the egg around him, causing the pieces to fall away and tumble to the warm stone floor beneath it.

He let out a tiny, high-pitched roar that sounded more like a squeak, but inside his chest, Max felt the sound reverberate.

Unable to help himself, Max grinned, bending down slightly and holding out his hand.

“Welcome to your new home, little guy,” he murmured.

Another tiny roar came as the dragon sniffed the air, its silver nostrils moving. Then it suddenly let out a sneeze, which sprayed Max with mucus that matched the liquid that coated its scales.

Aerthen’s laugh made the young dragon pull back, the deep tone causing it to lower his head toward the ground.

“You are fine, little one,” she said, bending down on a knee and holding out her hand. Slowly it transformed from the tan skin into a scaled hand.

Once more, those silver nostrils began to twitch as it sniffed the air, slowly moving closer to her outstretched, red-scaled fingers.

With a chirp, it moved quickly, thrusting the crown of his head into her palm and letting those fingers scratch its scales, causing a high-pitched trill to come from his throat.

“Calm down, little one, you are safe.”

As if her words were all that it needed, the eggling turned and glanced at Max, who hadn’t moved at all, still partially covered in mucus it had sprayed him with.

“He is a friend. He brought you here. His name is Max, and you are safe.”

Inside his chest, a sensation welled up, and Max struggled to hold back a flood of tears that wanted to rush outward as the eggling waddled toward him, sniffing his still outstretched hand and then, as it had with Aerthen, thrusting the crown of its head into his palm.

Without needing to be told, his fingers moved, scratching little areas between each soft scale, elated as it trilled from his touch.

A trickle of energy came from their contact, and Max fought not to pull his hand back.

Your hand! It is glowing!

Even though Bob said the obvious, it took him a minute to realize that it was indeed doing that. A warm orange light was coming from where his skin touched the dragon’s scales, and Max couldn’t stop scratching the eggling.

“Impossible! How can—”

Aerthen stopped talking, and Max felt her move toward him, her scaled hand resting on his bald head.

Immediately, the flow of energy inside him grew, filling his entire body and causing him to tremble.

What? What is happening?!

Don’t fight it! Close your eyes. Trust me. Let yourself go. Be who you are, Max.

A simple nod was all he did, the world around him spinning as he knelt down on one knee, the dragon now able to look at him eye to eye, easily the size of the large white wolf he faced a year ago.

It trilled, a throaty, deep noise vibrating inside it, and Max felt Aerthen doing something as well.

Let go. Remember what you believe in and why you do what you do.

To protect those that I love.

Even beyond that.

It didn’t take more than a second for Max to sense what Bob was getting at.

To protect everyone who cannot.

A surge of power flowed from his core, racing from his chest, down his arm and into his hand.

The heat grew where skin and scales touched, and the noise the eggling made filled his ears and his mind.

It reverberated inside like when Bob sometimes laughed.

Each time he did, it was intoxicating, and layers of stress that he fought against daily were washed away.

Then it came.

[ Rakonath has offered to bond with you. ]

[ Accept Bond? ]

[ Yes / No ]

In his mind those words seemed to burn with power. It was a sensation like nothing he had ever imagined.

I cannot choose for you, but you must act quickly… the system will not—

[ Yes ]

Max didn’t hesitate any longer.

[ Bond Forming ]

[ Rakonath has accepted Bond ]

[ Processing ]

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

[ Processing ]

[ Processing ]

[ Error - World does not support… ]

[ Override in Process ]

[ Wekime has approved of Bond ]

A jolt of lightning and searing heat raced from his hand to his heart, and Max found himself shaking like a leaf in a windstorm.

Inside, his mind was struggling to handle what it felt. A pressure like no other was pushing against it from outside.

And then like a dam, the wall that held it back broke.

I am Rakonath. I am hungry.

Max’s laughter sounded so wrong to himself as his eyelids opened up. There, just a foot away, staring at him, were a pair of silver eyes focused on him. The eggling had shifted closer to him during this whole process.

“Rakonath says he is hungry.”

A gasp came from Aerthen, and her hand was trembling as she pulled it away from his head.

“It named itself so quickly… and… it bonded with you?”

“He did,” Max replied, struggling to tear his eyes from the silver pair that seemed to want to hold his gaze forever.

Looking up at Aerthen, he could see tears had run down her tanned cheek, her scaled hand struggling to stop the flow that didn’t seem to abate.

“Is this a bad thing? I mean it doesn’t—”

“No!” she shouted. “This… this is a gift that only our Father can give, and if you have it… I…”

Without waiting, she knelt down, bending her head.

“I am here to serve you, Max Hoste, marked by the Father, the first I have ever learned of to have bonded with one of my kind in this world.”

He rose, his legs feeling wobbly and Rakonath’s head rising with his hand. Turning, Max studied Aerthen with her face toward the ground.

“Please, I do not deserve this. I… I didn’t come here for this.”

And yet… the gods, it appears, have a hand in this moment. That name… Wekime… somewhere in my being itches each time I think of it.

His jaw moved, and yet no words came as Max felt the same itch in his core upon hearing Bob say that name.

“Is your Father called—”

Pain seared in his hand, and Max winced, yanking it free from Rakonath, who let out a cry when he did so. On his palm, a rune he could recognize but not read was glowing and pulsing with power.

A chuckle from Aerthen caused him to look at her.

“You cannot say it. Nor can I. We are prevented from doing so. Our power is not strong enough for that. Had you been able to say it, I would have given you my entire being, all of my treasure, and done whatever you asked.”

Those golden eyes were shining, like a light behind colored glass, giving off a glow that felt unnerving to stare at.

A scaled head nuzzled against his side, and Max saw the silver eggling making a move for his hand.

Hungry. So hungry.

“He is hungry. Can I feed him any kind of food?”

Aerthen’s warm laugh filled the cave, and she shook her head as she stood.

“Rakonath will need fresh food. Allow me to go gather him some. I do not have anything he would desire, and any dried meat would only upset his stomach. For now, he needs fresh blood. Stay, I will fetch some.”

Before he could protest, Aerthen began to run. When she jumped into the air over the lava, her body transformed, growing quickly into the giant red dragon he had first encountered. Each beat of her wings sent air washing over them, and then suddenly, it was gone, no more assault from the wind.

She passed through the barrier she had created. Amazing.

Kneeling again, Max turned his attention to Rakonath. He rubbed along the bones and ridges around his smooth jaw, finding little areas that made the eggling trill.

“So… what am I going to do with you?”

Feed me.

Laughing, Max shook his head, his mind racing at the fact he had somehow bonded with a dragon and was now rubbing its scales.

What are we going to do with this? I can’t take it home.

I’m certain our host will help us, but you are right. He is too small, and that would be another being you would have to protect. We both know many would risk your wrath for what he might be worth.

As the trills Rakonath continued to let out filled his chest, Max shook his head in disbelief.

“Oh, Tanila, wait till I tell you…”

***

Sitting in the stone chair Aerthen had given him, he watched as the eggling snored near his feet, coiled around the chair he was in as best as possible. Each inch of scale that could touch him while it lay did. The scales over his belly looked ready to burst, having consumed every bit of the two lizard creatures Aerthen had retrieved.

“You’re certain he will be fine?”

Stroking her own red tail that was set across her legs, Aerthen shrugged.

“I have never dealt with a bonded dragon before. There are many things here I am not certain of, other than that you and he are connected. Surely you can feel that.”

He nodded, already sensing an invisible string from his own chest to the eggling.

“And the fact you see nothing yet regarding your bond does not help,” she continued. “How often can you return?”

“Once a week at the most. When I come, I would most likely bring some friends. Two elves and two dwarves.”

A row of sharp, white teeth appeared as Aerthen smiled, tapping her fingers for a moment on the scales of her appendage.

“Oh, they sound like fun. Do they like to be scared?”

Laughing, he shook his head.

“Perhaps we can just scare the male dwarf. The rest are ones I actually try to not upset. As women, they tend to make me suffer when I have done so.”

Her warm laugh filled the cavern, and Max just grinned.

Once more he stared at the notification that neither Bob nor Aerthen could tell him much about.

[ Bond ]

*****

You are bonded with the young eggling Rakonath. In time as the bond grows and he matures, more information will be available. Know that Wekime is watching.

*****

Nothing like knowing a god has their eyes on you and a hand in all this.

Something tells me we are in for a surprise the next time we meet him.

“So, when will you leave?” Aerthen asked.

“I need to go now. While I’ve made great time, I have been traveling for over four days and have not slept in probably five. Even though the exhaustion is there, I can withstand it, but I must return to my friends. There is another threat I must deal with, and I plan to return as quickly as possible within that week and bring him some freshly killed animals. Do you need anything when I return?”

Shaking her head, Aerthen snorted.

“No… You, Max Hoste, have given me more excitement on this single day than I have seen in hundreds of years. Do not worry about Rakonath. I shall watch over him and care for him. Just return soon. I’m certain he will miss you greatly.”

Bending over, he began gently tapping between both eyes on the sleeping eggling’s skull, slowly increasing the pressure until his eyelids drifted up slowly, those silver eyes looking glossed over.

Tired… want sleep.

“I need to go. I’ll be back. Aerthen will take care of you, and when I return, I will bring you some food.”

Fine…

No emotion came through the bond, simply a layer of exhaustion as his plump belly shifted as the dragon did, uncoiling its tail from his legs.

“Thank you for watching him,” Max said as he stood, moving carefully till he was away from the sleeping dragon.

“On my life, know that he will be protected. Be safe, Marked One.”

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