The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

[5] Dragon Repellant

The courtyard was full of spectators, both students and instructors. None approached the large lesser red dragon or Lord Salstar, the nobleman who ruled this domain. The sheer weight of Thrand, the lesser red dragon, would have crushed the bricks that made up the walkways had they not been magically reinforced. Most of the students here had never seen a lesser dragon before, and even those that had were awestruck by the majestic animal and its master. 

Julie grabbed Freja’s wrist, spun her around, and gave her a long emotional hug. She reached out and dragged Mat into the embrace as well.

“Be sure to message me and Mat,” Julie said as the trio released. “And don’t let that ass hat get his way. Promise me you’ll be alright.”

“I promise. As soon as I can, you will hear from me,” Freja stated.

Freja’s wind hands, which had been dutifully following with her books, also took the bag Julie had been carrying. She turned and approached her father. 

When she was just a few feet away a figure jumped from the dragon's back. He landed with surprising grace and looked at Freja with a self-satisfied grin. He was a few inches shorter than Freja, but was a spitting image of Lord Salstar. That was to be expected as he was the Lord’s only son and Freja’s younger brother; Ragnar. The boy had on a blue suit to his fathers red, and instead of a wand he wielded a staff with a large orb at its end.

“Ah, sister dear, it is nice to see you again,” Ragnar said with a vicious smile. “I heard you successfully summoned your familiar.”

The boy sounded like he was reading from a script and Bjorn could not help but notice how staged everything seemed to be. There was something going on and Bjorn liked it less and less with each passing moment.

Freja stopped in front of Ragnar and bowed her head. “Master Ragnar, the pleasure is all mine.”

Bjorn got the sense that Freja knew what was going on. She tensed up and Bjorn could taste the fear and shame in the air. Ragnar seemed to be displeased in Freja’s response as if he was prepared for a different outcome. Bjorn got the feeling that Ragnar was prepared for Freja to stand up to him and was disappointed she didn’t.

Ragnar's smile vanished. “What is with the formalities, sister? Oh, let me guess, you heard I am next in line to take over as head after dad since big sis Helga is no longer with us.” He paused for a moment. “You know what that means, right, shia? Don’t worry, we are siblings, please let me see your dragon. Of course as a member of the Salstar family you summoned a dragon.” Performance seemed to have reached the zenith as he paced around Freja, eyeing her up and down. “I mean it would be a complete shame and dishonor that a Salstar would even attempt to summon anything else, right?” He pretended like he just noticed Bjorn. “Oh, what is this little ugly thing? Don’t tell me you disobeyed father.”

“His name is Bjorn,” Freja whispered. 

Ragnar grabbed Freja by her antlers and threw her to the ground in front of their father. Freja had to hold onto a hissing Bjorn, who was eager to fight in her defense.

“I am sorry, what was that?” Ragnar yelled. “Don’t talk back to me, you're a failure. From today on you are a shia and I have taken the right to be an heir from you! I will show you what a real Salstar should be able to summon.” He snapped a finger. “Vilja, here.”

A dragon pup flew down from atop the red dragon. It soared through the sky around the courtyard before landing without so much as a thud next to Ragnar. The lesser dragon was black in coloration, an indication that she was a lesser storm dragon, one of the strongest variants. While still a dragon pup she was half as tall as Ragnar, and when matured she would be larger and stronger than Thrand.

Bjorn managed to free himself from Freja’s grip and he stood in defiance of the two men, inserting himself between Freja and her kin. Ragnar merely laughed at the display, seeing the small long-necked drake thing as an odd unimpressive creature. That was until his dragon saw Bjorn, and freaked out. She backed up, squawking cries of fear, even threatening to take off flying if not for Ragnar holding onto her to calm her down.

“What has gotten into you, Vilja?” Ragnar asked as she bucked him off of her. “Calm down, it’s just some stupid lizard.”

Thrand turned his attention to the group due to the commotion and looked down at the little Bjorn. He also backed up, lowering his head as if to hide behind Lord Salstar. The Lord got control of the large dragon with a simple wave of his hand, unlike Ragnar. Displeasure now turning again into anger, he looked at the scene before him. The shiagaunt would have removed the Freja properly but his son losing control of his familiar made them look weak, which was not acceptable. This was supposed to be a display of strength over the cancer in their family that was Freja. A shia that would soon be excised.

“Get control of your familiar, boy,” Lord Salstar snapped. He turned his attention to his daughter on the ground. “Get up Freja, we are leaving.”

Freja nodded and grabbed Bjorn, this time being sure to hold him tighter so he could not escape.

“What did that little monster do to Vilja?” Ragnar screamed in outrage, the mask of his performance broken. He walked over to Freja, who was still picking herself up, and kicked her in the side, causing her to fall over. “She’s never acted like this before. What did your freaky little familiar do?”

“Ragnar, enough. Or do you mean to further shame yourself,” Lord Salstar said in a deep rumble. 

“But it was her. She did something,” Ragnar protested.

“Excuses Ragnar? You think I want to hear them from my heir?” the man asked in a rhetorical tone. “Take Vilja and get out of my sight. You have done enough.” He turned to Freja. “With this the shiagaunt is complete, come.”

As the two talked Freja once again stood up, her head down to hide the pain she felt. The pain that Bjorn could sense all too well. He could taste her anguish, her torture, her hatred and every ounce of her fear, and it broke his heart. If he could, he would rip those entitled pricks apart. For now at least all he could do was hiss and watch them closely, as either were more than capable of killing him in an instant.

The ride on the back of Thrand was smooth as the large dragon followed the ebb and flow of the wind. The cabin on his back was large and decorated for nobility. Gold and red interiors and upholstery in booths around the windows. Above them fancy chandeliers with magic stones lit the space. Even a couple of servants to serve the Lord and his guests, and a separate section for preparing meals.

Freja’s mother Ingrid was also present, but she hadn’t so much as looked at Freja. Ingrid was the same race as the rest of them but with notably lighter skin and white freckles along her neck. Bjorn guessed that she might be a different ethnicity within the race. She conversed with her son who sat next to her, going on about nothing important. 

The Lord sat in a special seat near the front of the cabin at a desk. Behind him was the banner of the Salstar domain, which Bjorn had yet to find out the name of. The Lord was going over some paperwork while smoking from an ivory pipe. The servants were both elves, sisters by the look of them. They were at the beck and call of everyone other than Freja, whom they ignored completely.

Freja and Bjorn sat alone in a booth with a closed window. She gently petted Bjorn, emotions all over the place. Meanwhile Bjorn decided that, now that there was a lull, he could finally go over some things with Failsafe.

“So, the skills were interrupted when we were going over them,” Bjorn said mentally.

“Ah, yes!” Failsafe exclaimed. “I actually had to make some changes, given the new information about you being a familiar and all.” 

Bjorn opened his menus with a thought and looked over his status.

Status Menu

Name: Bjorn Salstar
Species: Unknown
Level: 0.02
Vitality: 1
Restoration:1
Constitution: 1
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Stamina: 1
Magic: 1
Magic Regeneration: 2 (+1 from bond)

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Skills Analysis

Reincarnation Failsafe
An incomplete reincarnation magic and your best friend that has your back no matter what!

Venomous Bite
Magic Cost: 0
You have a neurotoxic venom which can be injected through a bite with your fangs.

Poison Puff
Magic Cost: 1
You can mix your venom into the air using magic creating a small area of poisonous gas. This gas will reduce the health of those inside. The wider the area of effect, the less effective the poison.

Poison Scratch
Magic Cost: 1
You can infuse your claws with neurotoxic venom, making even small scratches fatal over time.

Familiar Pact Connection
Magic Cost: -1
As a familiar you are receiving +1 to your magic regeneration 

Dragon Repellant?
Passive Skill?
Dragons seem to dislike you for some reason and show hesitation and fear around you. More study needed.

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Failsafe cleared his nonexistent throat. “So what I was going to tell you is that right now you can use one spell, hence you only have one point in magic. The magic cost on your spells is one point. As long as you are near Freja you should regain that point of magic once every twelve hours. Should you be separated you will lose that bonus and it will take probably twice as long.”

“That is ridiculous right? Why does it take so long?” Bjorn asked.

“Did you forget you were just born yesterday?” Failsafe responded. “You are a newborn; the fact you can use magic at all is crazy.”

“So only my natural venom doesn’t cost any mana. What’s that Dragon Repellant thing you added?” Bjorn asked.

“Just an observation. Ignore it for now,” Failsafe stated.

“Do you have any idea how potent my venom actually is?” Bjorn asked as he stretched on Freja’s lap.

“We won't know until you use it,” Failsafe said.

“Some experimentation would be nice if only I could talk,” Bjorn sighed.

“Right, remind me I might have come up with a way for you to get stronger faster, but we’ll need to kill something for me to test it out,” Failsafe said.

“We need to kill something? Will a bug do?” Bjorn asked.

“Not unless it can use magic,” Failsafe responded. “Because I’m a magical construct I can actually absorb and manipulate mana. It’s not much but that’s how I’m able to function without draining your mana constantly. Right now I am running on free mana out in the atmosphere, also called ambient mana. But when something dies its remaining mana can be absorbed. I’ll even gain some of their experiences as well as a memory or two. If I can store some of that mana I can introduce it to you in a manner your body will absorb.”

“That sounds like cultivation,” Bjorn said without even thinking. He then lifted his head and thought about it. “How do I know what cultivation is? That is cultivation, right?”

“I believe sooo… or something like it. Maybe? Look-look, both of our memories are incomplete, so either it is or it isn't and I just invented a brand new way to grow stronger,” Failsafe said almost dismissively. “The important part is getting stronger as fast as possible so we can get our memories back.”

Bjorn set his head back down on Freja’s lap. “That reminds me. If I die before that can you reincarnate me again?” 

“Once you reach level 410 I should be able to. If you die before that we’re just going to be regular dead,” Failsafe said. “However, if you hit level 410 and croak, in our next life both of us will lose all of our memories and we won't be able to recover them. This you and the you from your first life will be dead in a sense.”

The smooth motion of the dragon’s wings came to a stop as Thrand landed abruptly. Lord Salstar stood up from his desk, smoke pipe in hand. He walked over to Freja, standing over her, and before she could even react a soft white light ring appeared around her and Bjorn’s necks. The ring dragged both of them out of the booth as they struggled against it. The door to the cabin was opened, and the two were thrown out.

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