The young woman placed her hands on her hips as her expression displayed disappointment.
"What do you mean, what are you doing here?" she said, walking towards him and bending over a little. "Aren't you happy to see me, En?"
En distanced his back a little as the young woman approached her round face close to him. Her bright blue eyes that had shades of yellow on their contours could be hardly seen as she narrowed them while gazing at him.
"Sorry," he said, looking away. "I wasn't expecting to see you here, Miria. It's not every day you visit Celestia. When was the last time you set foot here?"
Miria's long brownish red hair, that was tied in a ponytail, whipped through the warm breeze as she had a seat on the grassy ground.
"Last year," she replied looking back at him. "I usually visit Celestia once and sometimes twice a year; I have to check how dad does his job sometimes. After all, I'll be the next King's right-hand man—I mean woman."
A quick chuckle joined the atmosphere as Miria winked at him.
"Is that a chuckle I'm hearing?" Miria's eyes widened. "Since when does my cousin display an emotion other than seriousness?"
En raised a brow at her joke. Despite being taught not to show any kind of weak emotions to people, En always thought that it would be okay to show his cousins how he really felt. Even though most of the time he would hide his feelings, he didn't mind showing positive emotions to them. He would always laugh and joke with them; Miria knew that very well.
"It's strange." En folded his arms, changing the subject. "How come I never saw you around the castle during your visits?"
Miria shrugged. "For some reason, you were nowhere to be found, whenever I wanted to see you. I would end up spending the day trying to strengthen my bond with Shaula, but it seems I always ended up ruining her day. After she became a Guardian she became even more arrogant."
"Is that so?" En glanced sideways, trying to avoid talking about his other cousin.
As he grabbed the grass on the green ground, he concluded that Miria might have shown up in the castle during the time he was free. A time he would mostly spend with the ones who once were his friends.
Something tightened in his chest as he thought of them.
"Oh," said Miria, her tone curious. "Who's this girl?"
En glanced by his shoulder. "Hm?"
Miria showed him his art book, displaying the page exhibiting a girl looking over her shoulder with a smile. His heart skipped and he quickly grasped the book from his cousin's fingers.
"No one. It's just a random girl I drew," he said, closing the book.
For a few seconds, Miria gazed at En suspiciously.
"Your skills have evolved throughout the years," she said with a smile. "Aunt Yueli would be so proud."
En's lips formed a small smile. He wondered how his mother would critique his artworks if she was still alive. Judging by the works she left behind, he still had a long way to go to reach her level.
"By the way," said Miria, breaking the brief silence. "Dad asked me for a favor when I asked him where I could find you. He asked me to train you in his behalf."
En raised a brow. "You training me? How come?"
En knew that his cousin training him, meant a friendly spar to see who was the best. But he couldn't help but wonder why Kraden wouldn't be there to watch them. Even when he wouldn't train him personally, he would still be around to check En's flaws as he sparred with a soldier.
"He was summoned by the King to join him in a meeting," replied Miria. "He said he wasn't sure when it would end and asked me to train you to keep you in shape."
"Is that so?" En looked away.
Another meeting.
He had lost count of how many meetings had been going on since Shaula revealed to the council what he did in the Forbidden Lands. Saving a girl from the rival country must have ensured the council that he was not fit to become the next King and they were probably up to something to remove the crown from him.
He clenched his fists at the thought of losing the only thing he had left.
"Well then," said Miria, standing up. "Let's get over this training so I can spend some precious time with you. Soon you'll be crowned King and that's when I'll have to start to set a day in your schedule just to say hi."
En gazed by his side. Miria looked as if she came prepared for training with her dark shirt, shorts, and boots. During the small number of times En would see her visiting him and his father with her family, she usually wore dresses or long skirts.
"I won't be crowned until I'm twenty-one." En slowly stood up. "I'm only eighteen. You still have time."
"You're turning nineteen in a couple of months." Miria sighed. "Time is a tricky thing. With just one blink, another year has already passed. We'd better enjoy the little time we have left before you wake up one day and realize, responsibility has knocked on your door."
"Responsibility, huh." En folded his arms.
His grandmother once told him that a few months after his mother passed away, he had to forget his childhood as his father started to raise him to become a Dragon King. He could no longer show emotions and spent most of his days studying and training.
If life was like this since his early childhood, he couldn't imagine how everything would be once he became a King.
"Well," said En, changing the subject, "what did your father recommend for today's training?"
Miria smiled. "Since I'm an archer and you're a swordsman a duel is out of the question."
"So you'd rather have a hand to hand combat?" he teased. "We can summon our elements to make things more interesting."
Miria tilted her head. As her bangs followed her movement, En could see a bit of the gray, stone-like details that streamed from her right eyebrow.
"That would be fun," she said. "But it would also be unfair. I mean, you can summon another type of flame that even us dragons can't handle. You would bring me down in a minute."
En smiled. "You don't have to worry. I don't like summoning my Blue Flames; I only summon them when I really need to."
"Even so," said Miria. "It would still be unfair since your strength increased when you became a Guardian. I can't imagine how painful your punch might be without a helmet and armor protecting me."
A quick chuckle filled the atmosphere.
"Then what d'you suggest?" asked En.
Miria glanced at the grassy ground, rubbing her chin.
"How about we test your speed?" she asked cheerfully. "It's been many years since we last played chase and you were never able to catch me."
"Of course I didn't." En folded his arms. "You're an amphiptere; one of the fastest dragon species in our clan. A dragon with a time limit like me, wouldn't have any chance of catching you."
En hated to admit but compared to his skills in his normal form and as a Guardian, his dragon form wasn't that strong.
"Since you seem not to be in the mood to catch me," teased Miria, "how about I catch you instead. I'll even give you an advantage and let you fly as far as you can before I fly after you."
En chuckled. "You think I'm that weak. Be careful not to be so confident, Miria. It has been years since we last tested our speed; I might have grown a little bit faster than you."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." Miria smiled. "I just wanted to help."
For several seconds, En only gazed at his cousin in silence. Despite him liking his cousin's fun and kind personality, he couldn't help but find this other side of her a bit over the top. When it came to her dragon form and archery, Miria was so full of herself. Her overconfidence somehow reminded him of someone.
He shook his head, trying to avoid remembering him. They were no longer friends. After all, Kazuya did say that if En approached Arisa again, he wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
He sighed. It was better if things stayed this way. The three of them were from different worlds; their friendship wasn't meant to be.
En's hair swayed as the breeze around him intensified. He gazed at his front and saw that Miria's figure had increased. Large bat-like wings with feathered bone had popped up from her back and embraced her scaly body until she fully transformed.
One blink and the brownish-red haired young woman was replaced with a copper-colored creature with a serpentine body. The dragon flapped its wings as it floated in front of him, intensifying the wind around him.
Without the bangs covering Miria's forehead, En could see the gray, stone-like details streaming from atop her right eye to the first horn that garnished her head. For a few seconds, Miria's blue eyes focused on En before she flew forward.
"Uh, oh." En rushed away.
He increased his speed as he felt his cousin's presence a few steps away behind him. As he succeeded in increasing the distance between the two of them, he prepared to take flight.
Despite knowing that he would give Miria a hard time to catch him in his normal form, thanks to one of the powers he was blessed with when he became a Guardian, he had to show her that his speed had improved in his dragon form.
As his dark wings spread and increased in size, En jumped. When his wings flapped, he flew even higher as his body fully shifted into a black dragon. Reaching the late afternoon sky that had its blue color blending with an orange tone, En stopped increasing his altitude and flew forward.
He could hear the wind's whispering as he flew against it. In his front, an orange horizon feasted his vision along with the buildings of Celestia that looked tiny from his distance.
Something growled. His heart leaped when he noticed that his cousin was flying by his side.
Damn it. En flapped his wings even more and left the copper-colored dragon behind. But it didn't take her a minute to catch up to him. En quickly flew sideways as his cousin attempted to curl her tail around him and end today's duel.
As she failed and regained her posture, En took that opportunity to fly farther. He was glad that dragons of the amphiptere species didn't possess any legs or arms. It was a great advantage he had against her since Miria had to rely on her tail and body to stop him.
The wind whipped against his scaly skin as he kept flying. When his cousin caught up to him and tried to trap him around her tail again, En frustrated her plans and lowered his altitude as he flew to another side.
He curled his claws. Throughout the years of his training, En was told that his speed had improved. Yet he still had trouble leaving his cousin behind for at least fifteen seconds.
As he fought to dodge his cousin's tail, he thought of a way to give her more challenge. His gaze met the various buildings painting the vast land below, looking as if they were drawn on a map.
Of course.
A heavy force pulled him down as En stopped flapping his dark wings. With the wind blowing past him, he could see his cousin trying to catch him as he fell. Slowly, slowly, the sight of tall, dark buildings met his eyes.
En flapped his wings before he could reach the ground. He heard the citizens' gasps before he flew forward. Miria followed him.
As he dodged buildings and avoided to fly so close by the citizens who were walking by, En glanced over his shoulder. Miria seemed to have slowed down and was fighting not to damage anything or anyone with her wings.
En kept flying and as he gazed around, he could see a number of people amazed with his presence, with some showing fear. He noticed that the citizens wandering around were mostly Eterians, with a small number of Celestians walking here and there. What caught his eye was a large number of Royal Soldiers walking around with their red uniform.
As Miria lost track of him, En realized that he was flying in a calmer area, filled with curious looking houses. The edifices had round edges, with some houses having a round shape.
His heart skipped, recognizing the neighborhood.
"It's that dragon again." He heard a woman say.
"I wonder why it keeps coming to our neighborhood," said another. "Having Royal Soldiers spending the days here is already troublesome; I can't imagine what bad news a dragon brings, constantly showing up here."
En ignored the neighborhood's whispers and flew towards the house that mattered to him. He didn't take long to find a blue house of one floor. Below it, he saw various beings in a red uniform. The Royal Soldiers guarding the area gazed up at him for a few seconds before they returned to their own business.
Flapping his wings, En drowned in his thoughts as he flew around the house. Memories with her flooded his mind. Despite having passed almost a month since that terrible encounter in the Forbidden Lands, he felt as if it was yesterday they were mocking and laughing with each other. He could see her silly face after mocking her again.
Something hit him and crawled on his back.
"I finally caught you," said Miria, curling her arms around his thick neck.
En glanced over his shoulder, not believing that he had distracted himself.
"I have to say your speed as a dragon has slightly improved," she teased.
En didn't react, but deep inside, he was disappointed that a mere distraction ended their duel.
Miria glanced around with interest. "Since we're already in the city, how about we spend the rest of the day in the city's most touristy area."
En glanced at the blue house for one last time before he took flight, leaving the area.
--♐♑♓--
"Wow!" said Miria, amazed. "Uncle Reiji sure looks threatening."
En glanced over his shoulder. Several steps away from him, he saw his cousin admiring the large gray statue of a dragon, gazing at the city with a threatening glare.
"Yeah," said En, walking towards Miria. "I guess he wanted to show Celestians who their new leader is."
"Dragon Kings." Miria shook her head. "I hope you'll be a bit kinder with everyone once you become one."
A small smile spread across En's face. As his cousin walked around, admiring the statue, En examined his surroundings. Besides the large statue in the middle of the area, nothing else decorated the rooftop of the Drageul tower beside the entrance of the elevator.
After flying around Aurora City for several minutes, En thought that the Drageul Tower was the perfect place to spend the last hours of the day.
"You caught me off guard when you forced me to fly in the middle of the busy city," said Miria. "You figured out my weakness."
En glanced by his side and noticed that Miria had taken a seat. He walked towards her area.
"Well," he said, taking a seat on the cold floor. "The Dragon Islands are spacious and aren't filled with tall buildings, so we can fly freely."
"I never thought that this kind of environment would be so challenging," said Miria. "I'll suggest to mom to add these obstacles to flight training."
As he thought of the possible ways to set obstacles on the Dragon Islands, En's gaze met the sky. He could see a few stars as the orange tone was slowly fading and the sky itself was darkening.
"I noticed that there are many soldiers in the street." Miria broke the brief silence. "The wanted person they're looking for must be really dangerous for uncle Reiji to spread that many men around."
En gazed sideways, trying to dodge the subject.
"That girl must be really special to you," said Miria, breaking the silence again. "That random girl you drew was actually her, wasn't it?"
En shifted his gaze to her, his brows raising.
Miria's lips formed a small smile. "I've heard rumors during my stay in this country."
En looked away, an awkward chuckle escaping his lips. It was incredible how rumors spread so fast. At this rate, both countries would soon know that he was weak since he saved a girl from a rival country.
"Yes." En glanced at the black ground. "That girl was special to me."
"Was?" Miria raised a brow. "From your reaction when you flew by that blue house, it seems that she's still special to you. You were so distracted that you didn't see me fly above you and fall onto you while shifting back to my normal form."
En scratched his head. "I was that distracted?"
Miria replied with a nod, her ponytail curling and stretching. He looked away, thinking that after all those weeks, his weakness was still evident.
Even though, he knew that deep inside he still cared about her, he didn't want to show others his weakness. The process to completely destroy those deep feelings was slow, but he wanted to at least show everyone that Arisa no longer meant anything to him.
He exhaled. "It's sad to see that everyone can still see my weakness."
"Weakness?" Miria frowned.
En's eyes met Miria's as he shifted his view to her. "The heart of the Dragon King belongs to his kingdom. We're not allowed to grow any feelings towards anyone. We have a kingdom to take care of."
As a gasp filled the air, En remembered the quote from his ancestor. According to him, mortals were greedy and would manipulate anyone with higher power or status. To avoid trouble, it was better if the Kings ruling Eteria didn't develop any feelings towards anyone as that would be the first step to their destruction.
"That's ridiculous," said Miria, pushing away En's thoughts. "Your father married your mother. I'm sure he showed feelings towards her until she passed away."
"Father was already a King when he married her," said En. "Thanks to my origins, I may have trouble being his successor. Our people don't want a half breed taking the throne, especially someone who's other half is from a world considered one of the weakest. Marrying a woman from a rival country would make my situation even worse."
Miria blinked twice, looking as if she was trying to find the right words to comfort him.
"I have to follow our family's tradition if I want to become a King someday," he continued.
After a short silence fell, Miria exhaled.
"I don't understand uncle Reiji," she complained. "My parents once told me and big brother that if it wasn't for your mother, we would compete for that throne. Before he met your mother, your father didn't care about the future of the throne.
"He would tell everyone that since he didn't have any plans to have a child, my father would take his place. It would be alright since dad married his twin sister. Although, I don't think uncle Belinsk would allow that to happen so easily."
En smiled as he pictured Kraden as a King. He avoided talking about Belinsk as unpleasant memories flashed in his mind just by mentioning him.
He thought of his father instead; En knew that he didn't want to have children. His grandmother and aunt would tell him that he was a pleasant surprise in the family, while Belinsk always reminded him that En was the reason his father lost his happiness.
"I wonder what made uncle Reiji to be so obsessed in raising you to be a perfect King," said Miria.
"It's a promise he made to mother," replied En. "Speaking of her, I dreamed of her."
Miria's eyes brightened in curiosity. "Really? What was the dream about?"
En focused his view on the sky. As dusk had fallen, the aurora streams were starting to show their presence.
"It was a dream of when she became a hero," he replied, his tone calm. "She had the idealism of a peaceful world at such a young age."
The memories of his dream flashed in his mind, exhibiting his mother in her teens talking to a soldier.
"There's something grandmother would tell me once in a while," he continued. "Mother believed that one day I would become a great King and bring peace to the two countries.
"I'm not sure if I'll succeed to bring peace, but I'll make sure I'll become a King, even if that means sacrificing everything in my life. After all, she risked her life to bring me in this world. I want to make part of her dream come true."
Since his father had conquered Celestia, En thought it would be impossible to bring peace. The Celestians might have grown a grudge against him and his father.
A warm hand rubbed his cheek. En glanced by his side and saw Miria's smile.
"I don't have a clear memory of aunt Yueli," she said, her tone quiet. "But I'm sure she would rather see you follow your heart and find your happiness."
En looked away. "You think so?"
Miria nodded, caressing his back.
As another silence fell and Miria admired the aurora streams with fascination, En smiled. After what happened in the Forbidden Lands and how stressing the following weeks had been, he was happy to see someone supporting him and brightening the mood.
He admired the aurora sky with her, realizing that not everything was lost.