Reborn as a DRAGON

Chapter 39: A stranger

'The forbidden continent, it was dubbed as forbidden since it was the land of the Dragon king. Legend speaks of countless ferocious monsters that inhabit the continent making it impossible for the mortals to survive. Some say the main reason why the Dragon king lives there is to keep the monsters in check, while others argue that the monsters are in fact results of the King's unfathomable magic. No one knows for sure what the continent hides, for no mortal who sailed for it had managed to survive to tell the tale.' ???

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Trees began to fall as an enormous entity slowly made its way towards me. I was still apprehensive about the entire situation, yet I forced myself to remain standing with dignity befitting that of a dragon.

'How can I run when I didn't even see my opponent's figure, who knows maybe it's not even hostile?' I tried to reassure myself.

The footsteps drew closer, with each step causing my heart to throb loudly. I gulped as the trees parted, and a tall figure emerged to the clearing. 'A dragon?' I muttered in confusion.

The figure that appeared was smaller in size compared to my parents but was still significantly larger than mine. The entity was a wingless purple dragon with white spots on his back, he had four horns, two of which came out of his forehead and extended backwards, while the remaining two sprouted from the side of his face and pointed ahead. He did not resemble any dragon I have encountered so far, the main glaring difference was the wings that were missing from his back.

The dragon had white hollow eyes that seemed to be able to look straight at my soul, giving him an ominous eerie feeling. Just as I was observing the newcomer, he also appeared to be observing me.

Though I found it to be quite hard to sense his emotions, I felt as if we were not standing in the same place. The dragon paused for a second before he slowly began to circle me, all the while his creepy white eyes remained glued on my body.

I did not know when, but somewhere along the line, the countless number of glowing eyes silently reappeared from behind the rainbow trees, all simply staring at me. I tried to calm my anxious heart as I reached out to the mana in my surroundings for comfort.

Once I felt its gentle touch brush along my scales, my nervousness slowly began to fade as I regained my confidence. Numerous tiny water drops appeared around me as they hovered in the air.

The concentration of water mana in my surroundings was very strong which easily allowed me to summon its strength. I did not want to make any rash moves, though I was still nervous.

The strange wingless dragon suddenly came to an abrupt halt a strange light passing through his hollow white eyes for the first time as he scanned the water drops that floated around me.

His gaze moved from the water drops and then back to me a couple of times before he nodded. I was momentarily confused by his strange action, yet before I had the time to think about it, a deep ancient voice reverberated in my mind causing me to take a step back in surprise.

"A young water dragon. No, a dual wielder? How strange," Said the dragon. Startled, I took a couple of steps back and raised my guard while summoning a water shield to protect me.

"Hmm, impressive control over the water element. Not bad," Added th dragon as he took a step forward.

Before I had any time to react, his figure suddenly turned into a purple liquid that disappeared through the ground. 'What-?' Not even a second later, he materialized right in front of me easily bypassing my water shield.

I unconsciously struck back with my tail before turning the shield into countless water bullets that shot towards him at point-blank. To my immediate surprise, my tail strike passed through his body like water, his figure merely rippling before it reverted to normal.

The countless water bullets were the same, they all failed to damage him. "Why are you only using your first element? When it comes to water, you can't compare to me young one," He added.

I took a few steps back once again while keeping my eyes on him before I asked in apprehension. 'Who are you?' my question only came out as a low growl yet to my surprise, the strange dragon seemed to understand me.

"Who am I?" He said with almost a chuckle, as he raised his head to look at the sky. "I wonder how long it has been since someone last asked me that?" He mumbled, the question did not seem to have been directed to me so I remained silent while awaiting his reply.

"I'm just a tired old soul youngling, no one you should be concerned about,' He said before he moved closer to me.

I did not move and waited nervously as his head came inches next to mine, he looked at my eyes, then my horns, and then my scales before he took a step back. I breathed a sigh of relief as I regained my personal space.

"So young one, why are you only using your first element?" He asked. I did not quite register his question as my mind was still preoccupied with the countless glowing eyes staring at me from behind the trees.

"Ah, don't worry about them, they are harmless," He said before turning his head towards the trees and letting out a low growl. At that, the countless eyes suddenly disappeared back deep into the forest.

'Where is this place? I thought I was in the middle of the dragon bones?' I asked.

"You sure are a curious young one, you are indeed inside the dragon bones, inside their realm to be exact," He explained.

I found it difficult to lower my guard when faced with his haunting gaze, yet I forcefully calmed myself down, since he did not seem to have any intention of hurting me. If he wanted to do that, he could have easily done it when he bypassed my shield.

'What's this only using my first element are you talking about?' I asked intrigued. To my knowledge, my element was water, I did not have any affinity to the other elements that my siblings or parents had.

'Could there be some other elements I'm unaware of? Wait in the first place who the hell is this dragon?!'