The Dragon's Kiss

"You've caught His Majesty's eye."

The solemn gaze accompanying Itzae's words caused Calix to flinch as he sat across the table from his teacher.

The man had only returned home minutes earlier, finally back from his latest secret venture. The look of worry in his usually calm eyes made Calix uncharacteristically nervous.

"Is that bad?" the boy questioned anxiously.

"No," Itzae let out a sigh. "It just means there is something I must discuss with you sooner than I planned to."

"And what is it that we need to discuss?" Calix asked, feeling the air suddenly grow heavy.

"Well, my boy, there are terrible things I've seen and even worse things I've heard as I've been away from the empire," Itzae explained.

Away from the empire?

Calix knew his teacher was traveling far from the capital city, but he didn't realize he'd gone so far as to leave Serin's massive territory. The revelation made the boy even more curious about the man's secret dealings while he spent months at a time away from home.

"The people of this land, of this whole continent, they are dying," Itzae declared, a deep sadness creeping up next to the worry in his eyes.

"... dying?" Calix echoed.

Itzae went on to describe a gruesome depiction--children left alone on the streets to die, their parents having either abandoned them or already starved to death themselves; the upper class purposefully monopolizing everything they could get their hands on, even water; villages full of people so sickly and weak that even wild beasts refused to hunt them.

The description was nothing like the limited world that Calix had seen until now. Even those he knew of the lower classes also had clean clothes and enough food. There was hardly a difference between them and those of so-called nobility. In fact, as in Ira's case, some commoner families were living better than many nobles.

"So that's how it is outside the empire," the child muttered thoughtfully to himself.

"No, Young Lord," Itzae corrected. "That's how it is outside this very city."

"R-really?" Calix was stunned.

Was such a horrific scene really right outside the capital's walls?

Itzae nodded. "And that's why you must save them, all of them, by uniting the continent once again under a mighty ruler."

The child paused at his teacher's words.

Obviously, any boy so young would feel a great burden at such an announcement. To shoulder the responsibility of the lives and wellbeing of countless people could cause even the world's strongest man to break like a tiny twig.

Instead of demanding to know why it had to be him or shying away from this newly appointed role, however, the boy replied in lovely childlike simplicity.

".. Is that why you took me in, Teacher?"

It was the teacher's turn to pause and ponder his companion's unexpected words.

"Of course," the man finally responded. "You've known from the beginning that ours is no ordinary relationship and you are no ordinary child."

"Of course," Calix agreed with a hardened expression.

Clearing his throat, Itzae continued, "Don't let the bonds of dependency on another's affection weigh you down. Without a family, you are more free than anyone."

Calix agreed again, this time the tiniest traces of a smile escaping his stoic look.

He couldn't help but find humor in the man's harsh words, given his acting as a doting parent for the last several years. Calix couldn't think of a time he thought they had 'no ordinary relationship.'

Instead, sweet memories of cakes and candy caused his tongue to salivate. Bedtime stories, warm smiles and gentle head pats also came to mind. During rainy nights when a 'not ordinary child' may have felt alone, Calix could only remember seeing Itzae dozing off as he sat watchfully next to the boy's bed.

Perhaps, the man's words were just a warning then, cautioning the boy not to get too attached to his beloved teacher. Though, it was a little late for that.

With the remnants of the hidden smile still lingering around his mouth, the young Calix vowed to follow his teacher's instruction as best he could.

This was probably the reason he became known as such a detached and manipulative person. His reputation as a stone-cold fearsome individual most likely began in his small house that day when he made the promise to never depend on another person's affection.

Aside from his teacher, the rock his childhood was anchored to, and, later on, a wild blonde girl with fiery eyes, he kept that promise.

"But Teacher, there's something I don't understand," Calix remarked to Itzae.

"Just something?" Itzae teased. He was in awe that there wasn't a myriad of things the child was questioning after being told to save the continent by himself.

"Am I.. the heir?" the child breathed, reaching up to touch a piece of his midnight black hair.

"You mean the story of Halrad, correct?" Itzae clarified, smirking at the maturity and shrewdness of his pupil.

"That's right," Calix nodded. "I've heard it many times, most of those being from you."

"Right'¦" Itzae replied, folding his hands under his chin. "But what you've heard is only half the story."

Calix raised his eyebrows. The story of Halrad was akin to sacred lore for his kinsmen living underground. Additionally, Itzae had taught him the story in depth repeatedly over the years.

But..

Calix frowned, "only half?"

His teacher nodded slowly before beginning the entire story again, this time from a completely different perspective.

Halrad, the heroic first emperor, wasn't the only person who went to seek the dragons, nor was he the only one blessed by the magnificent beasts.

When the golden-haired man ascended the great mountain, he was accompanied by a small group of knights--his most trusted warriors.

As the brave soldiers knelt in reverence while their leader received a gift of unspeakable magnificence, the dragons were moved by their devotion and humility. So as a reward, the soldiers received a small blessing of their own.

It wasn't a magnificent power like Halrad had been given, but the dragons blessed the knights with increased strength and intellect to continue protecting their remarkable master.

With their newly enhanced skills, the group of men became soldiers of legend on the battlefield. Halrad used the power of dragons, and the knights defended him from every attack. It was by combining both the dragons' blessings that the continent was won.

As the rest of the story goes, time passed after Halrad's triumph, and the seed of the magnificent soldiers became hopelessly muddled and lost along with Halrad's descendants.

The memory of the mighty warriors with the power of beasts who stood boldly behind their emperor began to slip between the cracks as Halrad's reign became nothing more than a single sentence in a historical recount. The few descendants left eventually sealed themselves away from the rest of the world in order to wait for their master.

The place they created was called Subterra, and for centuries they passed down the stories of their golden-haired king, each generation eagerly preparing for the day an heir would once again appear.

"I thought, due to thousands of years of thinning bloodlines, that the strength given by the dragons had been lost," Itzae explained.

"That is, until I found you."