49. AURELIA

Chapter forty-nine

AURELIA

T here was a mountain near where they held their camp. It towered up near the other side of the waters. The island was nowhere in sight, thankfully. I wanted everything in the world to forget about it.

Angie said they wanted to come with us, but Luella just barely connected with her dragon, and with the recent connection with Belle, they said that we both needed to learn how to use their maxz 1 . I didn't realize it, but the different breeds of the dragons were based on the elements. This was also their ability–their maxz .

"Are we there yet?" Luella complained. We were hiking up the side of the mountain, attempting to reach the top. Our dragons were already perched at the peak, waiting for our lungs to collapse. It was apparently seen as a sign of weakness when training to not walk up the mountain ourselves.

We had already been up for a couple of hours, and my legs were ready to give out. The sun was blazing down from above, halfway through the sky. Abner and Angie were ahead of me, with Damian right behind me. Loker, Luella, and Clemmy climbed behind Damian.

I turned to peer at everyone else. Loker was drenched with sweat, beaten from the sun on his skin. Clemmy's creamy light brown skin flushed red like the sunset sky, and Luella's midnight-toned complexion was also turning a rosy hue.

The mountain was steep and thin, making any false movement life-threatening. The moss and greenery clung to its sides as it would never see the light again. The way it spiraled up was almost dizzying, yet exhilarating to make my way up to learn more about my connection with Belle and her maxz .

"What are all the elements, then? I thought there was just fire, water, earth, and air?" I asked, wondering what the other breeds of dragons were.

"Hah!" Angie laughed, which I found rude. "No, silly Lia," she said, emphasizing the nickname all the Scalebornes quickly gave me after they learned my name. "There are supposedly thirteen different breeds. However, only twelve have been discovered."

"They are fire, water, air, earth, thunder, ice, force, time, shadow, light, connection, and the moon," Abner said, taking the place of Angie.

For some reason, I wanted to know the thirteenth one so badly.

After a while, we reached the top. By then, everyone was panting. Our dragons looked down, making fun of us, their chests heaving.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Loker said, acknowledging the dragon's snickers. "We can't fly, boohoo." Loker's comment hung in the air, the rest of us giggling from his snarkiness.

Loker, Abner, and Clementine reached their large dragons, stroking their snouts in greeting. Loker's dragon, Meiinaraux 2 , was a fierce green, her scales blending in with her surroundings as she shook her wings from his touch. He snickered as he rubbed under her snout, which must have been a sensitive area, making her spiked-ball tail whip from side to side, each spike gleaming with a dangerous sheen. Meiinaraux pounded the earth beneath her claws, getting Loker's attention where he then backed up, his hands raised up in defense. " Zemoumai 3 ," he said, his dragon smirking back at him.

He climbed up her hind-legs, reaching the middle of her spiked back, gripping the sides of her emerald scales, and then lifted effortlessly into the sky.

Amazed, I watched as Abner and Clemmy also mounted their dragons, Waimanimet 4 and Teiimanam 5 . The powerful muscles beneath their scales rippled as they pushed from their hindlegs, propelling themselves upward, stretching in different directions and meeting the horizon.

Caught in watching the beauty of the creatures from the Old Religion, I glanced around, and noticed that it was only Luella, Damian, Angie, myself, and our dragons left on the graveled summit of the mountain.

"Ready?" Angie asked. I wasn't sure if I would ever be ready.

"Don't be nervous," Belle said, and I smiled.

"Damian, will you be riding with her?" she queried, motioning toward me. Damian's gaze shifted my way, waiting to hear my response. As the memory of the arrow piercing my back flooded my mind, a sharp ache throbbed relentlessly, echoing not just in my body but in the depths of my soul. The trauma of the sorcerer's betrayal lingered like a haunting shadow, leaving scars that ran deeper than mere flesh wounds. Yet I pushed the thoughts away, wanting to restore what I had with Damian–wanting to make things right again.

"Sure," I said to Angie. Luella looked between the both of us, a glint of curiosity in her eye. She knew something was happening between us, but no one wanted to get in the middle.

"Alright. So what we will be practicing today is how to mount your dragon and ways to communicate as you ride," Angie announced.

"Wait! But we already practiced this last time! You said we could work on the maxz !" Luella proclaimed

"We can work on the maxz if Luella would like. I have already climbed Belle a few times." I wanted to say that it was easier for me because Belle was still very young and was not that big. She was only double my size, so still a little complicated, but nothing I couldn't practice. However, I didn't want to offend Belle or make her self-conscious.

"Pretty please, GG!" exclaimed Luella.

Angie rolled her eyes and nodded. "Luella, what if Aurelia is incapable of climbing Belle?" I blinked quickly and shook my head backward, taken aback by her abrasiveness.

"Excuse me?" I asked, knowing that I was very capable of climbing Belle by myself.

"Oh, Aurelia, don't worry. I know that it's not Belle! There's no need to get so defensive. Anyway, but if Aurelia really thinks that she can mount Belle properly, then I guess that we can move on. Okay, Luella?" My mouth was gaping open at her remarks, unsure how to respond.

"She is very well capable of mounting Belle. Right, Belle?" Damian piped in, Belle bowing her head in response.

"What is her problem?" I asked Belle. She shook her snout, not wanting to be involved with the drama.

"Now. The maxz ," Angie said.

1. Maxz (Mahz): Ability

2. Meiinaraux (Mee-naw-raw-ooh): Loker's dragon

3. Zemoumai (Ehm-ow-may): Sorry

4. Waimanimet (Way-mawn-imet): Abner's dragon

5. Teiimanam (Tee-maw-nawm): Clemmy's dragon