“I'm up here! Look up”

  I turn my head up to see a 2 foot long, half transparent black dragon circling above me.

  ‘What the f@#$... is that the black dragon from before?’ I think to myself as I drag myself back a few feet in shock.

  “You know, young folks like you really shouldn't use so much profanity, the habit is hard to break once you do it so often” the dragon sighs.

  My eyes widened ‘Did…did it just read my mind?!’

  The dragon stops circling, closes his eyes and uses his claw to rub his imaginary chin like an old man in thought before replying “ More like hearing your thoughts, but that's not really my fault since you're the one leaving the link open and projecting your thoughts to me.”

  I look down while thinking ‘Projecting my thoughts…? Wait! That's not the important part.’ Looking up at the dragon I say “did you just say we are linked?”

  “Ah yeah, since you can't sense your mana you probably have no idea what happened. Well in simple terms, as soon as I saw you I could sense you were absorbing mana like an infinite black hole so instead of letting myself get killed by that ungrateful bastard Cyrus, I attacked with all the power I could gather. That did destroy my failing body but gave me the opportunity to separate my soul and fuse it to yours to hide the small amount of mana residue that emanates from a rogue soul behind the black hole you call a body. Quite the ingenious plan to be made in a split second if i do say so myself” the dragon says while looking very pleased and nodding its head.

  A thousand thoughts rush through my mind but just as I'm about to ask more questions a sharp pain runs through my side making it hard for me to breathe let alone speak.

  The dragons pleased look disappears and a concerned look appears “ looks like you worsened your injuries with that last fall, ill need to heal you otherwise you may actually die” the dragon says before diving into my chest

  I was horrified at first but before I could even process the fact that a 2 foot lizard with wings just dove into my body I heard its voice.

  ‘Brat this will hurt like hell but bear with it’ its voice rings out in my mind before i feel a searing pain in the center of my chest that slowly spreads to all my limbs

  “UUGGHHAAAAAHHHH” I scream while writhing on the ground with ragged breathing, feeling as if there is lava slowly moving through my veins. The pain is so intense I almost lose consciousness a couple times and time seems to move at a snail's pace while the heat arrives at the end of my arms and legs then loops back around to the center of my chest. When it finally completed the loop I felt the heat continue to circle around but with every rotation it hurt less and less to the point where it was like a comfortable warmth spreading throughout my body similar to drinking warm broth on a cold night. Even my previous injuries started to feel better before the pain almost disappeared all together.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  I'm finally able to stand up, looking at my arms and legs and noticing not even a scratch, just some muscle soreness. It was at that time that The dragon once again appeared, shooting out of my chest before circling around to land on my shoulder and slumping down.

  “I'm exhausted, it's gonna take me months to get that much mana back” the dragon says as it shakes its head.

  “What… What did you do to me?” i ask the dragon with a look of disbelief, even now I can still feel the warmth moving through my body albeit more slowly.

  “You should be thanking me kid, your rib had punctured your lung. If it weren't for me opening up some mana channels and guiding your mana to heal you, you would have ended up drowning in your own blood long before you reached wherever you were going.”

  It was then that i realized i completely forgot about getting back with the food, i looked up and saw the sky was starting to brighten, it must already be close to morning! Checking that i still have the boar meat i managed to grab before being chased by Victer and his cronies then find the right direction again and start rushing back to the city of Arbourne, much to the surprise of the dragon who hurriedly followed .

  On the way back I made sure to ask the dragon any questions I could think of and was surprised he answered them all without a fuss. He explained how mana exists everywhere and is the source of life and you can cultivate your mana by rotating it through your mana paths. There is also another energy called Essence which is the source of the soul. Those who cultivate mana and become mages can even fuel their essence with mana to increase their lifespans. Not only that but mages are able to wield world shaking power through the use of spells, some stronger mages even comprehend their own unique spells that only they can use.

  “ Ok, two more questions for now, first off, why help me? You not only are answering my questions and teaching me about mages and spells but you even opened up mana channels in order to heal me. If you were just using me to hide behind, why not just leave now that that Cyrus guy is gone?”

  “Did you not hear me before? I fused my soul to yours! So if you die, I die, and only by you reaching a high enough realm can you help me form a new body”

  “So basically you're a parasite?” I say as I smile wryly.

  “Hmph, I'm helping you too so it's symbiosis, you hear! SYM-BI-OSIS, we dragons would never stoop so low to the level of a parasite” the dragon actually seemed angry at being compared to a parasite so i dont continue along that thought path, instead i ask my last question.

  “So then, what should I call you? even dragons have names don't they?”

  The dragon's angry face is then replaced by an excited and prideful look, puffing out its chest it says “You finally asked haha, you may call me Lord Nox!”

  “Your name is night? Well it fits if nothing else” I shrug

  Nox shows his obvious disappointment before he mumbles to himself in an overly dramatic fashion while throwing his arms up “You disrespect dragons and you can't even recognize the glory of my name… what have i gotten myself into” ending the routine with a deep sigh while shaking his head.

  “Anyway, if you really teach me how to become a mage I wouldn't mind building you a new body as weird as that sounds, you can call me Ren, Ren Mordain”

  As we finish up introductions we finally break through the trees to see the gates of arbourne in the distance.