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Chapter 1: Discovery

XxX

(Ignitus Clan Grounds, Forest)

Once again, the cold winds hounded Carinth's flanks as he flew above the clan grounds. The crimson scaled dragon did his best to find any scents in the blistering breeze as he flew his patrol. The season's change had been more sudden than usual that year and the colder Northern winds that heralded blizzards and mountainous snow drifts had not been denied. Blankets of white already covered the forests of the Ignitus clan and dark clouds warned of much more to come. A few stubborn leaves still clung to their trees such had been the suddenness of the change, but most had already wilted. Carinth wasn't worried, the dragon simply enjoyed the feeling of high winds over his scales before he had to make his way back to the clans nesting grounds. An elder dragon such as himself shouldn't be doing patrols anymore, they were too much effort.

For a few precious hours of peace away from his son though, Carinth was more than willing to take the occasional patrol. Kai was only a few months old, and while he was the proudest and happiest achievement in Carinth's long life, the young Dragon was also without a doubt the biggest pain the older dragon had ever had in his tail.

Carinth banished the thoughts of his son from his mind; there would be plenty of time to think of him later, undoubtedly when the whelp was crawling all over him looking to play. Instead, Carinth swept his gaze over the forest paths looking for game and hunters. It would be an incredibly brave poacher to risk coming into the clan grounds of the Ignitus, but there were the few occasions where people became genuinely lost in the forest.

It came as no small surprise to Carinth when he caught sight of flesh through the canopy, whoever they were, they were on none of the forest paths nor any of the game trails that the dragon knew of. He gave a small roar as he flew over the intruder simply to announce his presence to them. In his experience, those that were lost would further try to gain his attention while any others would try to run and hide from him.

This one did neither, they just stopped, did they think that Carinth couldn't see them?

The dragon frowned and made another pass. He couldn't get a good look at them even through the empty canopy, whoever they were they had wedged themselves into the hollow trunk of a dead tree. Were they planning to shelter from the coming storm in there? Why did they not announce themselves, they had to know that flying with him was safer than trying to weather the blizzard in that husk, it wasn't even a travellers tree where one could safely light fires in the centre. That husk looked like it had just been cleaved by a bolt of lightning.

As if summoned by the thought Carinth heard the rumble of thunder from the approaching storm. If he left now then he would only catch the leading edge of it, waiting could mean that he would have to take shelter himself rather than fly back. No doubt the intruder would die as well, that would solve his problem at least. Those thoughts were swiftly banished, he wasn't a lazy whelp and these sorts of things were the risk when you took patrols, it was why there were patrols in the first place. His mind made up and aware of the incoming storm Carinth folded his wings to land, he'd need to be quick.

Carinth was ready for the scream but froze when he locked sight on a human, a mere whelp at that stuffed within the tree. It wasn't unheard of for younglings to get lost in the forest, but a human? There were villages near the borders and whelps would be whelps and go where they weren't meant to go but a human? The dragon had seen plenty before in and around the clan grounds and the nesting areas, but they were never left unattended. Both the dragons and their human partners, the Riders, of Clan Ignitus were careful of their young to the point of paranoia, neither side of the clan bred often, and ancestors help whoever dared to harm them. No one messed with the young of the Ignitus, human or dragon, no one.

"Get away!" The boy managed to shout but his voice was cracked, and he struggled to get the words out over his paniced sobs. That settled one thing for Carinth, a Rider's whelp would never be afraid of a dragon, they grew up with them, considered them to be like family. So, who was this whelp and where did he come from?

The boy pressed himself closer to the tree, Carinth struggled not to snort at the potent scent of terror coming his way as the dragon lowered himself, created a smaller profile. He could shapeshift, but the display of magic might just set the whelp off even more.

"It's okay little one, it's okay, I am not going to hurt you." Carinth promised, the whine escaped his throat before he cared enough to stop it. His chest ached seeing a whelp this distressed. "Are your parents nearby?"

To all the spirits of the world and his own ancestors Carinth preyed that the boy was just the offspring of two Sentinels and had wandered into the forest from a village. The alternate wasn't going to end very well for anyone. He still flinched away from Carinth but slowly looked up towards the dragon. He was probably too young to think about being tricked and too lost and scared of being alone to care where his comfort came from.

“N-n-no, it's just me, I don't know where they are." He replied, rubbing at his eyes a little. "Where am I?"

"In a forest." Carinth snapped his muzzle shut before he could vomit any more sarcasm, he was dealing with a terrified whelp who deserved compassion not scorn for being scared. Of course, he had to be alone though, what else about this could go wrong? Spirit of the father give him strength, he barely knew how to handle his own son, how was he supposed to know what humans did for their young? 'Be patient' that's what the other parents kept telling him however none of them told him how to apply this patience that he was meant to have magically found when his whelp had hatched. It didn't help that the storm was inching closer and closer, the wind may not have picked up yet, but those clouds had gotten bigger. He hoped that there wasn't a tempest, not even a dragon his age could fly in a tempest.

"Okay." Carinth whispered as he did his best not to scare the boy, he could do this, one human child, how hard could it be? Names. Names were a good place to start. Names stopped him from being, 'The whelp' and Carinth from being 'The big frightening dragon monster big enough to swallow me whole'. "My Names Carinth, Carinth of Clan Ignitus. What's your name little one?"

"I-Ian."

"Ian, that's a good name." Was it? Did it matter? For the first time Carinth noticed the sharp smell that came from Ian and one that had nothing to do with emotions. It reminded him of dragon fire and the soot covering what little remained of Ian's clothes gave Carinth pause. Had one of his clansmen attacked the whelp?

That seemed unlikely, Carinth hadn't seen another dragon all day and while he could have missed Ian in his searches, he would not miss another dragon or the scent of fresh dragon fire.

He suddenly had another problem; Ian's shivering was probably less to do with him being afraid and more to do with the foot of snow that the whelp was cradled in. Ian must have been freezing, and a blast of wind was a subtle reminder that it was going to get worse.

"Why don't you come over here Ian." Carinth said paw held out towards the whelp. "I bet I'm a lot warmer than that tree."

"Do you promise that you won't eat me?" Ian whimpered.

"I promise. Every dragon knows that little ones taste bad." For a moment Carinth was afraid that his joke had been a bad move, but Ian stepped away from the tree and fully into the dragon's sight. Calling what was left clinging to Ian's body rags would have been a compliment, the whelp was half a step away from being naked to the elements. Seeing the wrong colour in his bare hands and feet made something feral erupt inside of Carinth. He almost doubled the heat coming from him with a quick pulse of his magic and reached out to pull Ian to him. Scale may not have been as soft as fur or feathers but by the spirits he was going to be warm enough!

Ian gave a strangled cry when Carinth pulled him into his chest and probably started to panic again if his scent was anything to go by, but the dragon just held him tight and moved a wing to block out the worst of the wind. Cocooned in his heat, Ian would calm down once he realised that he was warm again and then they needed to go.

The bare feet were still a worry but as the snow melted and Ian's shivered died down Carinth thought that it would be okay for now. With the immediate problem solved Carinth wondered what step two of his plan was going to be.

"Mr Carinth?"

"It's just Carinth whelp, no Mr." What did 'Mr' mean?

"Sorry." Ian mumbled before he frowned "What's a whelp?"

"It means baby dragon."

"I'm not a baby!" The indignant rage was kind of adorable but Carinth didn't help anything by laughing at the pout on the human's face. "H-Hey!"

"Sorry Ian but you're no bigger than my son and he's only a few months old."

"You have a baby?"

"I have a whelp," Carinth corrected. "Dragons are a little different than humans."

"Why?"

"Well we grow faster for one thing."

"Why?"

"Because we're dragons we have to grow more."

"Why?"

"Because-" Wait, Carinth had fallen for the trap! He'd seen whelps drive their parents to insanity by questioning why the world worked the way that it did. "because we do. Are you feeling better?"

"I'm not cold anymore." Ian admitted but the way that he picked at a scaled on Carinth's chest gave away how he was really feeling. "I'd like to go home now. Please."

Carinth stopped, those big brown eyes so full of hope plucked at his heart strings like nothing had ever done before. "Sure, thing whelp, let's just ge-" The boom of thunder hit Carinth like a blow to the chest and made the snow bounce up off the ground as Ian screamed and covered his ears. The dragon looked into the distance with a dawning sense of horror. The sky was spinning as the vortex of a tempest began to form. "Oh karak!"

He was up into the air a moment later, Ian firmly clutched to his chest as the dragon started cursing spirits one after another. He had to get further away before it fully formed, or he wouldn't be able to resist the pull.

"Carinth!"

"Just hold on Ian, if we don't get away from that thing neither of us are going home!"

Karak! This wasn't good, Carinth beat his wings as fast as he could and tried not to let himself be tossed about by the wind as he flew. This wasn't his first time in a tempest, but he hadn't enjoyed it much then and he seriously doubted that this time was going to be any better.

He only stopped when the wind did, the raging air currents died down in an instant to leave a void in its place devoid of any wind at all. Many fell into the trap that they were safe when that happened but Carinth knew better. He hovered for a moment to turn and look back at the maw in the sky, they couldn't feel it yet but in a few moments they would. The pull, as the tempest formed into a tornado ten times the size anything in nature could ever hope to spawn. The only saving grace was that once it formed it couldn't move.

"Navi, spirit of storms, I pray you can hear me as I say this." Carinth muttered, he watched as the lightning began flashing around the edges of the tempest, haloing the monstrous freak of nature before it crawled out across the sky in all directions. "You really are a heartless bitch."

He expected what happened next, but the bolt of lightning still almost caught him off guard when it struck out at him and Carinth barely managed to throw himself out of the way in time. Tempests were not normal weather occurrences, they formed as a result of raw opposing magics colliding in the skies and the lightning that it formed sought out other magic sources, like Elder dragons.

Carinth snarled as he dodged the murderous energies and tried to ignore Ian's screams as he performed complex aerial manoeuvres to keep out of the way of anymore bolts. It was impossible though, he just couldn't keep up with a freshly formed tempest and eventually one bolt hit him and pierced through his wing carving a wound into his right hindleg.

The wing was dead weight the moment the bolt hit it and Carinth lost most of the feeling in his right side as he dropped to the ground like a rock, there was no grace in his landing, the dragon just did his best to ensure that he didn't kill Ian by falling on him.

"I want to go home!" Ian screamed.

"Get in line." Carinth growled as he pulled himself from the small trench that he had carved on impact just because they were on the ground did not mean that they were safe, the lightning was still going to be seeking out magic sources. In the air or on the ground made little difference.

The rune that he clawed into the ground was rough and the kind of work that made him stand on dragon's tails in the academy, but it would do the job. Carinth had never been so glad that it wasn't true lightning formed by the tempest otherwise he would be dead already... and so would Ian, couldn't forget the whelp. It being partially magical gave him time to form a barrier.

As the rune ignited with bright orange light a barely visible bubble formed around the pair but like a beacon the magic attracted the lightning straight to them and it struck with the full force of the tempest.

"We're okay now Ian," Carinth sighed and pulled Ian back into his chest so that he could curl around the terrified boy. This time he knew that the shaking was from the fear and not the cold so Carinth covered him as much as he could to block out some of the noise. The barrier would hold, Carinth could feel the strain as he pumped magic into the anchor rune, but he had more than enough magic in him to sustain it. They just had to wait it out now.

"So, where's home for you whelp?" He couldn't stop the bone shuddering cracks of thunder any more than he already had done but maybe he could calm Ian down by simply talking.

"I..." Carinth cocked his head at the pause, a fresh scent of panic and fear erupted from Ian before he started breathing faster and faster. "I can't remember... I- why can't I remember where home is?"

"Hey, hey it's okay." The dragon moved to nuzzle Ian instinctively. Amnesia? Could he be a rider's whelp after all? It didn't seem likely to him, not out here alone far from the Riders village and the nesting caves.

Carinth wasn't an expert on Earth, all he knew of it was it was a place of science and logic where magic had long been discarded and forgotten. Terra on the other paw was a world that had fully embraced magic and was full of what Earthers considered to be monsters. Case in point Carinth was a dragon.

He'd heard that crossing between the worlds was a harrowing experience even after centuries of perfecting the magic. Magic that Carinth wasn't even going to pretend to understand. Could amnesia be a side effect? He didn't know, in fact Carinth only knew one thing as he stood there nuzzling a crying whelp. Ian was lost, alone, cold and probably hungry. That was all he needed to know, the details could sort themselves out later.

"I'll look after you Ian, no matter what happens I'll sort out all of this out, one way or another."

"You promise?"

"I promise." Carinth swore, and he didn't think he had ever made a promise he meant to keep more in his life. He told himself that he was wrapping himself tighter around the whelp because Ian was probably cold and not because he was developed a fierce protective streak for the human.

XxX

(Ignitus Clan Grounds, Nesting Grounds)

Twelve hours.

It took twelve hours before the tempest broke enough for Carinth to risk flying again. He was beginning to wonder if he had even been caught by a tempest at all, the others he'd come across had lasted a few hours at most, this one had beat them paw over talon and it was still going. What a beast!

"Not long now whelp, just a little bit more and you can crash for the rest of the week." Between the thunder and the screeching wind once the tempest grew big enough to start sucking things in, Ian hadn't been able to get a moments sleep. Now the wind chill from being so high in the air was keeping him awake despite Carinth's best effort to keep him warm and protected. The whelp was utterly exhausted.

The only good news was that the nesting grounds were visible now, they were only a few minutes away from the dormant volcano that the Ignitus nesting grounds were dug into. It was a pity Ian wasn't in more of a position to take in the sight, the caves and passageways had been formed from dragon fire, the original Ignitus had melted the very rock and stone of the mountain to create their home. It had been expanded on over the years, going deeper and further into the mountain with each generation. There were several large landings areas that led into the caves and smaller more private caves that were much closer to the surface. Carinth's cave was much deeper in the mountain, closer to the lava flows where it was warmer, he and his mate preferred the heat.

The only dragons he spotted were the ones on close patrol and the one responsible for guarding the entrance to the nesting grounds. With how bad the weather had degraded that wasn't much of a surprise, no sane Ignitus would be flying right now if they didn't have to. He nodded to a passing patrol but spiked his magic on the approach to the landing caves, the dragoness on guard would have recognised him and understood the signal. It was a simple system that the guard used, the intensity, duration and number of times someone spiked their magic could mean any one of a dozen things. What Carinth needed was a runner to help him with Ian and his actual son.

As he prepared to land Carinth wondered if bringing Ian here was really such a good idea. If the whelp really was an Earther then there were going to be people out to use him for their own benefit. Still between the dark bags under Ian's eyes, the quivering blue lips and rags that could barely be called clothes anymore, Carinth would more than likely kill him if he tried to fly any kind of distance now.

A short flicker of magic spikes from the guard let Carinth know that his runner had been sent for. The dragon wished that he could say that his landing had been graceful but with an injured leg and holding Ian in one paw the dragon considered himself lucky not to have crashed again.

The first thing that he was going to do after getting Ian set up somewhere safe was pay Tanaki a visit, the healer would fix up his leg and wing in no time. The hole in his wing was just small enough to not affect his flying but big enough that Carinth noticed it with each beat.

It wouldn't stop stinging.

He'd need to plan for Kai before seeking out Elder Dagyer, a good friend of Carinth's and a dragoness whom had ties with the Trackers, the organisation responsible for travelling to Earth. The Elder had even spent time on Earth herself in her younger days, if anyone could help him with this new whelp it was her.

Ian was deposited on the top of Carinth's head after the dragon landed, he couldn't walk with just two legs after all, and the dragon chuckled at just how small Ian was.

"How old are you anyway whelp?"

"Six." Ian sighed spreading his body across the warm scales under him.

Six and still so small, at Ian's age Carinth had been bigger than any human that he came across and most Terrans apart from some griffons and non-feral dragons. The spirits could give those two bulk when they felt generous.

"And I'm not a whelp." Carinth just chuckled as he made his way through the passage ways to his cave. The inside of their nesting grounds was illuminated by lanterns within which hovered small balls of magic. There weren't very bright, but they gave off the same amount of light as a candle and dragons needed little more than that to be able to see clearly. Riders and others who spent any amount of time in the nesting ground learned to adapt quickly to the low light.

There was only one obvious marking that denoted which cave was Carinth's, a stylised motif of a fang and claw crossed over each other was carved into the wall by his cave and embroided onto the curtain that acted as his door.

Despite being a respected Elder there wasn't much within Carinth's cave, the main room had an area set to one side where the family could eat together and there were a few alcoves with books, various mementos and dried meat set into the wall. The most distinctive feature in the cave was a glowing patch of moss growing up one side of the cave that Carinth had painstakingly cultivated out of sheer boredom the year he'd had a bad training accident and broken most of the bones in the right side of his body. How he hated that moss.

Towards the back of the cave there was a smaller passageway that led to the lairs and a single cave used for storage, not that the family had much to store. Carinth wasn't considered spartan but most dragons didn't feel the need to populate their caves with clutter if they didn't have to.

He took Ian straight to his own cave and laid the human down on his best furs, quickly creating a small nest for Ian to snuggle into.

"Comfortable?"

"Yes." Ian mumbled as a jaw cracking yawn overtook him, Carinth could practically see the energy rush out of the boy.

"Okay, now you listen up whelp." Carinth said as he leaned in to nuzzle Ian gently. "You focus on getting sleep and nothing else. I'll take care of you okay?"

Ian gave the dragon a slow blink that had Carinth wondering if the whelp was even awake anymore before Ian said, with utter seriousness. "You're a nice dragon."

Carinth chuckled. "The nicest."

The whelp was out before Carinth had the chance to leave the cave. He'd probably sleep for the next day if he was just left alone, which was exactly what Carinth wanted. He had Elders to hunt down and deals to make before the others found out about Ian.

One of his followers was waiting for him in his main cave and the Elder prepared himself to play the game.

How in the world had a random Earther whelp wound up in their clan grounds anyway?

XxX

(Ignitus Clan Grounds, Carinth’s Family Cave)

Ian was woken by the sensation of something warm and wet dragging itself over his face, the young human tried stretching his head away from it and return to sleep but couldn't twist far enough away. When he opened his eyes, he froze at the sight of a much smaller version of Carinth staring at him, tongue halted half way to his face. The dragon had been licking him and went straight back to it once the surprise of seeing Ian awake had worn off. "Eww, stop it!" Ian giggled as he tried to role away from the smaller dragon.

“Nope, you'll go back to sleep." The dragon giggled following Ian to lick his cheek and neck. “You've been sleeping for ages."

“I was tired!" Ian protested, but he'd gotten himself all wrapped up in the furs, stuck lying there and giggling helplessly as the young dragon licked his face. “Stoppppp!"

The dragon stopped when he had Ian pinned on his back, so they were muzzle to nose. “I'm Kai."

Carinth's son?

“I'm Ian. Your dad talked about you," Ian smiled. “You're a whelp."

“So are you," Kai pouted, before the dragon perked up again. “Dad said I should let you sleep but that was a while ago and he's not here right now." With a bit of effort, the dragon managed to get the furs off Ian, but Kai stopped at the sight of Ian's clothes. “What happened to your clothes?" Kai was already nosing at the holes in the fabric trying to figure out why there were so many.

“I…" Ian trailed off, frowning as he realised, he didn't know. “I don't remember, I just woke up, and it was like this. It was very cold too, then your dad found me."

“Yeah, dad... had to patrol yesterday," Kai pouted, remembering how fast his dad had run out. The young dragon frowned at Ian's clothes though. “Are you cold now?"

“Not really. Those furs kept me warm." Ian gave a little shiver now that they were off, though.

“Oh, I know!" Kai bounded off around the corner of the wall and came back with a much smaller fur, almost a human size blanket between his teeth. “Huo cnn zz thsh." The dragon mumbled dropping the fur next to Ian. “Let's go play."

Ian draped the fur over himself as best he could, before following the bounding dragon, still waking up a bit as he wiped his eyes. “How do dragons play? I don't like fire."

“I'll show you; you can meet my friends as well." Kai frowned, clawing at the ground a little at the mention of fire. “I'm not old enough to make fire yet. It's not fair."

“Aww. Well, you will be one day!" Ian said reassuringly, coming up and hugging the dragon. “I can't do a lot of stuff, but we'll grow up and get big and strong and do whatever we want."

“Yeah!" Kai agreed nuzzling into Ian's chest. “Come on, the others all want to meet you, they didn't believe me when I told them about you!"

“Okay!" Ian was all too happy to just run after Kai, following the dragon out of the cave and into the passageways of the nesting grounds.

XxX

(Ignitus Clan Grounds, Nesting Grounds Crèche)

Carinth watched Ian play effortlessly with his son and almost half a dozen other whelps along with a pair of young riders. He was wearing fresh clothes now, the eviscerated rags nowhere to be seen, something the he was grateful for as that issue had completely slipped his mind. He would have to thank Elder Rallenax at some point, no doubt the dragon had seen the state of Ian's clothes and done something about it. The Elder was never far from the creche when there were whelps playing.

Carinth had found Dagyer after retrieving Kai but she had been meeting with Galchek at the time and the slick dragon had used Carinth’s situation to call for an Elders council. How he hated that dragon, using every opportunity to bolster his image among the leaders of the Ignitus. They shouldn't have to play politics especially not among themselves but Galchek was a blight that Carinth had yet to find a way to be rid of. The dragon was too young to even be an Elder, but no one seemed to find that a good enough reason to dismiss him from having a seat at the full council.

Ian looked happy though, something Carinth was glad to see. If Galchek knew about Ian, then he felt certain that Elder Korbast knew about it by now and as the dragon responsible for the Riders village and their collective needs he was going to have opinions. Loud opinions that were not going to include getting Ian home to his family.

Which was why he had an insurance policy.

"He does not leave your sight." Carinth told the dragoness beside him, Lanora. one of his. "Is that understood?

"Of course, Elder." The tension in her frame spoke volumes about her attitude and Carinth could neither sense nor smell deceit from her, something that he was glad for. If the politics of the Clan became so bad that he couldn't trust one of his own, then he would pack up and move to the Capital. It was already bad enough that he couldn't trust Ian to be safe in the centre of their nesting grounds.

Politics, how tiresome.

The Elder dragon left the creche without another word, trusting Lanora to do her duty. Now he needed to do his and wage a war of words with his comrades.

As was the norm, the Elders summoned for the council met low in the Nesting Grounds on the levels where the lava flowed thick and hot. A mere warm bath for any Ignitus worthy of being called an Elder but fatal for any other. here they could talk in peace and at length without worry of interruption or being overheard. Also as was the norm Galchek looked uncomfortable in the chest deep lava. The dragon really was too young to be considered an Elder, but the whelp did good work representing the clan outside of its borders and how Carinth hated to admit that.

Aside from the jumped-up adolescent there were three other Elders present, Korbast much to Carinth’s disappointment, Dagyer and Tehrani the current clan Matriarch. He shouldn't have been surprised that Rallenax wasn't there as the Elder would have defended Ian's wellbeing to his last breath. Damned Galchek!

"Matriarch, Elders... other." Carinth greeted unable to resist poking at Galchek, he was going to be such a bad influence on Kai.

"Carinth." Tehrani greeted, cutting off whatever remark Galchek was going to fire back at the other dragon. "I didn't realise that you were so desperate for whelps. You should have said something sooner." The joke cut through the tension that his entrance had summoned and the light purr from the Matriarch had the others floundering at her obvious flirtation with Carinth.

"I don't, I have no idea what to do with the one that I do have." Carinth admitted, chuckling nervously and cut Dagyer off when she opened her muzzle. "And if you tell me to be patient one more time, I'm going to throw you down the Falls of Silence, see if we can hear you from the bottom."

"You're doing your best." Dagyer smirked.

"Why does that sound like an insult?"

"Elders." Galchek interrupted. "If we could get back to the issue at paw."

"Heat getting to you whelp?" Dagyer teased ignoring the sharp snarl her jab received.

"Elders." Tharani said, the warning clear in her tone. "Tell us of this lost whelp you found Carinth."

XxX

(Ignitus Clan Grounds, Carinth's Cave)

(3 days later)

Carinth watched as Amara, a lioness from the Trackers and one of Dagyer's friends, smiled and reached out to hug Ian. He was really trying not to eavesdrop on the pair of them as he kept Kai occupied, all so that they could have their talk in private, but it had been difficult.

The Elder council meeting hadn't gone exactly as he had planned, he'd been able to get them to agree to have an experienced Tracker with time served on Earth come and look at Ian but nothing after that point. They each wanted to do their own thing with the whelp, even Dagyer had been pushing for her own agenda, something that surprised the other dragons. Carinth had thought the dragoness would back him for nothing more than to spite Galchek and Korbast, the fact that she didn't stung more than he wanted to admit. What happened to Ian next depended on the results that this tracker reported.

Damn politics!

Kai pounced from his side the moment that the tracker stepped away from Ian to come and speak with Carinth. he'd given them permission to go straight to the creche so that he could be frank with the lioness.

"So?" Carinth asked, he struggled not to stare at the electric blue strip dyed into the felines fur. What was it with Trackers and body art?

"Well he's definitely from Earth, all the markers are there, and you can't be raised on Terra and have degraded magic pathways in your body." She said. "Physically he's smaller than a healthy six-year-old should be, a bit thin too but that's nothing a healthy diet won't solve, and I don't think you're going to be short on food, are you?"

"I doubt it." Carinth chuckled, he ate far more than Ian's body weight in food, making sure that the whelp had enough wouldn't even be a consideration. "What about his memories."

"He's been tampered with."

"What?"

"Amnesia is not a side effect of traveling between worlds and have any of you noticed what language he's been speaking this entire time?"

Kimeraian, Ian had been speaking Kimeraian the native language of Sentallia which was the nation that they all lived in and served. Amara nodded when Carinth pointed that out.

"Exactly. Do you think they teach that on Earth?" The lioness asked. "I'm fluent with seven of Earths most prominent languages and Ian didn't recognise any of them. Someone or something has taken whatever he did speak and put in what we speak."

"You think that it's deliberate?"

"I think you don't learn an entire language by accident and forget your own in one night. Also, he knows that he has parents and an older brother, but he can't remember their faces or their names. Everything important in his life, all the little details are just gone."

Carinth mulled that over for a few moments. "Any suggestions?"

"Get him to a warlock if you're desperate to get him his memories back, I can't promise that they will be able to do anything, but they'll have a much better idea of what's happened to him than I do. All I know is that he's an Earther and mostly healthy."

"No chance of returning him?"

"Without knowing where he's from? I'd just end up putting him in one of their foster care systems."

"Are they-"

"They're bad, they try but..." Carinth thanked Amara and settled down to prepare himself for the conversation that was coming. The whelps came back to the cave hours later utterly exhausted from their games.

“Ian, I have something to tell you."

Even at a young age, Ian obviously recognised that tone of voice. "Did I do something wrong?"

“No, you have done nothing wrong," Carinth smiled, laying down so that he was closer to Ian. “But I do have something... not nice to tell you."

“I'm not going home, am I?"

“Ian, we don't know where your home is; if I did, I'd take you back there myself," Carinth admitted, the dragon nuzzled Ian's back gently. “I'm sorry whelp; I wish I could take you home but… I can't."

Ian's lower lip trembled a bit. “So where will I go? Can I stay here?"

“If that's what you want. I like having you stay with us." Carinth smiled, it was the truth as well. Watching Ian and Kai play together pulled at Carinth's heart in the best of ways. The two of them adored each another and hadn't so much as bumped the other the wrong way while they played. “There are human families as well, or Terran like Amara. It's up to you now. I'll help with whatever you decide."

“No, I don't want to go with them, I want to stay here!" Ian said insistently. “I want to stay with you and Kai."

It was like a huge weight had just been lifted from Carinth's back, he hadn't realised how scared he was that Ian would hate him for this. The dragon wrapped a paw around the whelp's back and gave Ian a massive lick up his whole body. “Then welcome to the family, whelp!"

Ian giggled and smiled at the massive lick, pressing up against Carinth, before his eyes widened. “Oh, can I tell Kai I'm staying? Pleeease?"

“Of course, you can. Go on, get." Carinth snapped his teeth playfully at the whelp. Ian had gotten far more comfortable around them all these past few days.

“Yay!" Ian ran off as fast as his legs could carry him, back towards Kai's lair to frantically tell the young dragon that he'd be staying.

The older dragon smiled at his sons, and suddenly wondered what madness he was on; sure, they were cute now, but he'd just doubled the amount of trouble he'd have to deal with in the future.

“Problems for later." The dragon shrugged.

XxX

There were many challenges, for all of them. Having a human child alongside a dragon whelp wasn't the easiest at times, especially when they had different needs; you couldn't just take an entirely different species as a part of your family and expect everything to be easy, but at the end of the day they always got through it, together, as family.

Though there were always those occasions, the ones that stood out from even the best and the worst days.

Like the first time Ian used magic.

As an eight-year-old.

XxX

(Ignitus Clan Grounds, Carinth’s Family Cave)

Carinth was just settling down to relax; today had been a long day for him. Dragons, especially the Ignitus, had certain coming of age rites, things that every Ignitus was expected to do. Being able to fly to the Falls of Silence was one of them. There was a waterfall coming from the tallest peak in the mountain range that fell so far below the surface that no one could hear it splash. Making the flight there and back in a day was seen as being a strong flyer. Parents wouldn't let whelps fly alone before they had made this flight.

Then again, most whelps were four or five by the time that they made the flight; Kai wasn't even three. The whelp spent so much time flying with Ian on his back that he was a far stronger flyer than Carinth had been at that age.

He was so proud.

"DAAAD!"

As parents you learn to pick up on how whelps talk to you. You learn to pick up the pain, the anger, the fear but the one that keeps parents up at night is Terror.

When you hear terror, your heart stops, and you move without thought or reason because you're expecting blood and pain.

What Carinth saw was fresh thick black smoke billowing from the whelps' cave, with Kai stood by the entrance.

Carinth first thought was that Kai had set a fire but that was impossible; a dragon needed to be seven, starting adolescence and had their scales harden to the point where the fire didn't harm them.

Where was Ian?

"Dad I-"

"Where's your brother?" Kai looked into the smoke, the terror back on his muzzle, and Carinth's blood ran cold.

He burst past the flaming curtain of furs, terrified of how he was going to find his son. Everything that could be in flames in the cave was, smoke had swallowed the ceiling and Carinth struggled to even see through the fire. “IAN!"

A human trapped in a burning room was almost guaranteed to die horrifically, their bodies black, and burned, and so very dead. Carinth later, would admit that he had already been crying when he burst into the boy's cave. What he found defied all his expectations.

He found Ian, kneeling in the centre of the room, but he wasn't burnt, in fact; he was perfectly fine. Ian was the centre of the inferno all around him; the fire swirled around its master.

"Son?"

"Dad?" Ian looked over to his father, the tears streaming down the boy's face boiling away before they had a chance to drip. “I'm sorry, I don't know how I did it, I was just...concentrating on this weird feeling, then my hands heated up, and...is Kai okay?"

Carinth was by Ian's side in a heartbeat, wrapping a paw around his son and pulling the boy to his chest. “It's okay; he's okay." It was magic, pure Etherion; holding him, Carinth could feel it and not just the echo of Ian's soul. It was flowing through him like a flood, and it was too much; it wasn't just burning the room, it was burning inside of Ian as well. "It isn't your fault. Now close your eyes, and we'll make it stop. Okay?" Carinth drew the excess magic into himself, pulling it away from Ian until there was only enough left for Ian to control.

Ian nodded; he was panicking, he didn't understand what was going on, but he closed his eyes and tried, tried to will the heat away, to just make it stop.

“That's it, breathe," Carinth wasn't an expert when it came to magic, but he knew enough to carefully weave his own among Ian's and force the flood to stop when it had diminished enough. “Just breathe and let it go. Focus on me, just listen to me, focus on my voice and let it all go." Ian's father rubbed circles on his back as the magic dissipated, fading away until nothing was left but the thrum of Ian's soul. With a mighty snap of his wings, Carinth extinguished the flames kicking up the ashes of what had been the boy's room. The flames out, the dragon led Ian from the room and away from the smouldering ashes.

“I'm sorry Dad, I didn't mean to, I just...I don't know!" Ian wailed, looking back at his room and sniffling. “What's wrong with me?"

“Nothing is wrong with you!" Carinth snapped, he didn't mean to sound so harsh, but that's how it came across. The elder took a deep breath before looking to his other son. “Kai, get your brother a drink." The whelp dashed off as Carinth set Ian down on top of a rock so that he could look the whelp in the eye. “Nothing is wrong with you, and I know that you didn't mean to burn down your room, don't worry. You just have magic."

“But...I thought magic was for stories?" Ian asked.

Right, Carinth thought; Ian was Earth born, not Terra born.

“No son, it's very real. Do you remember that time you hurt your leg, falling down the hill?" Carinth certainly did, it was the first time he'd almost had a heart attack when it came to his kids, there had been blood everywhere! “You remember how Alex made it all go away with a few licks?"

Ian nodded shyly. “Yeah, I remember that. It was magic?"

“That's right. He healed you, and we use magic for the water in the caves and the lights along the walls. They're not fireflies in jars." Carinth chuckled, he remembered the look on Ian's face when he told him that. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that he had stunted Ian's education. Kai didn't need more than what little lessons Carinth taught him until he was five and started the lessons with the elder, but Ian was already 8.

“Oh, okay. I guess we always got told dragons were magic too, so that makes sense…" Ian murmured, before looking back at Carinth. “So how did I get it? How do I make sure I don't do that again?"

“We need to teach you how to control it, Ian. It's not evil it's just… there. We can't just ignore it." Carinth reassured; he already had an idea. He'd start Kai's lessons early and get a rider to come down and teach the pair of them together. “I have a few friends who can teach you how not to set your bedroom on fire."

“That would be good, I think," the human nodded, looking up to Carinth nervously before throwing his arms around the dragon's neck. “Sorry, Dad. I won't do it again."

“Ian, I'm proud, I'm not angry." He was; his son was using magic at eight, and Kai was making flights that should have been at the very least a year ahead of him. Screw the other parents, his whelps were amazing! “The furs could be replaced; it's not a problem whelp." The dragon nuzzled Ian's hair.

“Oh, good!" Ian grinned wide, snuggling back against Carinth. “I wanna see what else I can do with it."

Carinth had the feeling that he was going to collecting a lot more furs over the next few months. “You'll be amazing Ian, you and your brother."

“Are you two done with your moment yet?" Kai asked, paw wrapped around a jug of water for Ian.

Ian frowned over at his brother, but took the water gratefully, sipping at it. “No," he finally replied, grinning up at Carinth and giving him another hug.

Kai growled at the pair and pounced at Ian tearing him away from their father. “Well tough, you burnt the room!" Kai teased pinning Ian playfully and set his weight down on the human's stomach. “You know what that means." Kai's grin was evil as he pressed his muzzle to Ian's nose.

“Hey, not fair!" Ian protested, trying to wriggle out from underneath Kai without any real success.

“Fair?" Kai cried in mock horror before licking Ian across the face. “What's not fair is you. Getting. Fire. Before. Me!" Each word was punctuated by a lick across Ian's face and mouth. “I mean come on, I'm the dragon."

“You're still just a whelp, though," Ian teased, flinching away from Kai's tongue and laughing as he felt the dragon slurp up his cheek.

Kai growled and nipped Ian's ear at the whelp comment. Carinth looked down at both of his whelps and chuckled. Things were just getting more interesting, weren't they?

XxX

So, the years came and went, and the brothers grew up, they became Riders and planned to fly all over Sentallia seeing wonders together.

Then it happened, not long after Ian's nineteenth birthday. They were summoned; told to go to one of the Navalia air ship carriers, 'The Endurance.'

They were both so excited; the Carriers hovered high in the sky, higher than they usually flew. They would always watch the great machines drift across the heavens when they got the chance, but now they could go on-board one.

Even the orders from the clan to work with the military couldn't dampen their mood.

They had no idea what they were beginning.