After hours of beating Zariel finally stopped, each dragon had welts on their heads and Ragnarok… well let’s not even mention his condition.

“All right so it’s agreed we go our separate ways?” Said Zariel in a calm tone, he had vented most of his anger.

“My head hurts, I need healing magic!” Cried Lyth, healing magic was also a new form that Zariel had uncovered and Lyth was the only one able to use it.

“Same! How can you be so mean Zariel I thought you were the peaceful mother of the family” Said Ragnarok.

“You obviously don’t know enough about mothers, and for the millionth time why am I the woman!” Retorted Zariel, clearly still upset he was designated the role of mother.

“Because you cook and clean and are kinder than Raggy, you take care of our wounds and when we are exhausted from training you look after us and cook us food, you clean up after us and scold Raggy when he is too mean, do you want me to continue?” Said Nerreth in a patronising manner.

“Ah no…” Sighed Zariel resigned to his fate.

“Wait why has this become about your ‘terrible’ problem we are the ones in pain here! Lyth please use healing magic on us too!” Said Medreth after just regaining consciousness and saw a familiar white glow surrounding her welt that showed she was using magic.

“Nope! You guys deserve your punishment, I’ll only heal Nerreth and maybe Raggy” replied Lyth obviously pissed she was punished “I only bet 4 rabbits on Medreth jeez…” she muttered in a quiet voice hoping Zariel wouldn’t hear her.

“Ok, quiet I have to concentrate on a form to blend in, I’m going to the draconian tribe first” As Zariel said this his body had already started to shimmer and his clothes were replaced with a tiger pelt covering the important parts and scales grew out of his pores and his face grew into a snout. He looked just like one of the tribesmen below the hill they were on.

“Woah, I’ve never seen the illusion magic used like that before” muttered Taevarth, taking down notes in the earth. His memory was almost photographic so whenever he learnt something new he wrote it down to remember, in fact it had become a bad habit that annoyed Nerreth and Medreth to no end.

“Wait, Zariel are you just disguised or have you changed your whole form?” Asked Taevarth, thinking of the possibilities if Zariel had found a way to change forms.

“Oh yes, I was going to surprise you all but I sort of forgot, I found a variant of illusion magic that takes up a lot of mana but since that is not a problem for us it’s fine, you can change form instead of just others perception of you! Isn’t that great?” Zariel said cheerfully, oblivious to the dragons shaking in anger.

“So, this entire time when the life forms started evolving and we had to hide you had a way of making us able to live normally? Able to make us blend in?” Lyth said in a quiet but angry voice, the others nodding their head in agreement.

“W-well I have only just found it a couple of thousand years ago, and never found a use for it so it never really came up…”

“So, you just forgot? This whole time? For a couple thousand years!” Lyth said slowly advancing, the others backed away. Although she was quiet and shy around strangers the others knew to never make Lyth angry for she was very dangerous when she got mad.

“You punished us for something similar so that means it is okay to punish you right?” continued Lyth, the dragons backed away even more.

“Well… not the same thing i-it’s kind of different…” Zariel held up his hands hoping she wouldn’t attack.

“Oi Lyth, beat him up real good, the stick is right here” Said Raggy, finally awaking from the consciousness he had been drifting in and out of.

“Ah, my dear students and children are all grown up haha… “ Zariel smiled although it wasn’t a full one, he looked pretty pitiable.

“You always taught us to be creative Zariel, perhaps we can put this stick to other uses” Medreth smiled, seeing any reptile smile is one of the most haunting things a man can see.

After an hour of a relatively loud series of screaming and very confused nearby tribesmen Zariel lay panting on the rolling hills.

“You guys got violent, who taught you all that?” panted out Zariel

“”””” Ragnarok”””” they all replied simultaneously and with dull eyes like it brought back unpleasant memories.

Zariel cast an accusing glare and smiled wryly at the mess of a body lying a few metres from them.

Raggy was just faking so he wouldn’t get beaten again, he shivered unconsciously… “never again…” thought Ragnarok, “Never. Again”.

Zariel got up and brushed himself off with the others giggling and joking around.

“Now that’s over, we should get to work” He put on a serious face, the others also stopped whatever they were doing and turned to face him.

“So goodbye then? It’s long flight from this specific continent to any other and one of us is going to have to drop off Raggy at the Demon Continent” Lyth looked around as she said this, every dragon was avoiding eye contact except Nerreth who Lyth was glaring at.

“Really guys? I thought we were friends, siblings seriously I can’t believe I would be abandoned like this after we have spent a billi-…”

“You really don’t want to carry Ragnarok do you?” interrupted Zariel

“It’s just that he is really heavy and my water magic takes a lot of effort to maintain and with an extra weight…” complained Nerreth

“Ok ok, Varenth you take Ragnarok, the dwarven continent is closer to the demon continent”

“Aw man really? He isn’t going to be comfortable on my back it’s literally a forest up there”

“Varenth don’t argue with me, you’re taking him and that is final”

“But-“

“No buts, you’re going”

Zariel gave Varenth a meaningful glare, Varenth made an annoyed sound and walked away

“Don’t turn your back on me like that, that attitude is not acceptable in this family and you know it! I only ask for one task”

“Sure mum geez. How come Nerreth gets to skip out and I don’t even get a chance to?” Varenth huffed.

“Because she has a valid excuse, now we are ending this conversation

“Oooh touché” called out Ragnarok, still lying down on his back beaten and bloody and forgetting he was supposed to play dead.

“Shut up Raggy, I really regret teaching you the English language” Zariel said in a pissed off tone.

“Oooh touché” chimed in Taevarth from the far away tree he had been sleeping next to.

“Ok that’s it I’m leaving, goodbye guys see you in a couple million years” Zariel walked away waving a hand behind his back at the others, they all murmured their farewells and flew off, except for Varenth who was having trouble picking up Raggy’s exhausted form.

Zariel walked down the hill to the tribesmen, the men were not yet back from hunting it seems as all the women and children were the only ones visible. His disguise still held as he walked through the village, Zariel got some odd looks but their intelligence wasn’t large enough to question him yet. Well at least that’s what he thought until a young child, probably only 9 or 10 years old ran up to him.

“Are you important?” said the child, it was an odd question with jerky pronunciation but understandable. Zariel felt something special about the child, something odd or out of place compared to the others in the tribe.

“Yes” said Zariel, part of his goal of spreading knowledge about magic was knowing the races better and he had a feeling that following this child might help him achieve that goal.

The child grabbed his arm and dragged him to one of the crudely built huts, made with walls of mud, and sticks and animal skins and roofs of leaves and more animal skins that looked decayed and rotting. It smelled like a cross between a slaughter house and a gym locker room, it was unfortunate Zariel knew exactly how those places smelled. His nose caught another smell between those two horrible stenches, it was a sick person’s smell, like vomit and death.

“Help her” said the child as it pointed towards the tent, his eyes pleaded with Zariel’s, there was such desperation in them the boy refused to show in his face.

Zariel nodded, with a grim line of determination set on his mouth. As he parted the large leaves that acted as a door he saw a young girl probably the same age as the child, perhaps they were siblings or young friends but that didn’t matter as Zariel saw the girl’s condition. As experienced as he was with medicine she was too far gone for him to help with normal methods.

Zariel looked around the tent, there was dried meat hanging from hooks and containers made from clay he was certain contained water. The boy was standing in a corner watching him.

“This could be a chance to show them magic…” thought Zariel, teaching the younger generations would be easier but not all of them have an affinity for magic.

“Watch” he simply said, and hovered his hand over the young girl’s face, her scales were peeling off and her lips were bloodied. Although his normal medical knowledge only applied to humans and normal pets because of his 8 years as a veterinarian he could gather she was dying, that was certain.

A glow started from Zariel’s hand, it was a warm yellow light that had white glowing particles that moved and covered the girl’s body. The boy’s eyes widened in fascination, Zariel moved a finger to his lips with his other hand. The boy stayed put and watched without making a sound.

The blood on the girl’s lips seemed to be eaten by the particles and scales became more colourful. Her eyes fluttered opened to reveal a bright, neon irises, it was a racial trait that her the whole species had, in her case she had neon purple while the boy looking astounded in a corner had neon blue eyes like Zariel.

“Th-thank you” the boy said quietly, he walked to the girl’s side wary of Zariel.

“You’re welcome, who is she?” He asked, trying to maintain basic sentences.

“…Friend” the boy looked away and although it was difficult to tell due to the scales on his face Zariel swore he could see the boy blush.

“Ah young love, so sweet and innocent, too bad it’ll never last” thought Zariel seeing how the boy looked at the girl with such care and love.

The girl had her eyes open but hadn’t spoken yet, it wasn’t a good sign if she wasn’t responsive yet and Zariel didn’t know the limits of healing magic, whether it was restricted to physical injuries or it could reach a high enough level to heal insanity or other mental disorders.

“How?” the boy asked, he had taken a break from checking up on the girl.

“Magic” replied Zariel, that was all that needed saying.

“Teach me” said the boy, his eyes full of curiosity.

Zariel had checked the mana particles surrounding the boy before, his mana affinity in general was mediocre but Zariel didn’t need a genius student he just needed a person the spread magic, a patient zero.

“Gladly” Zariel smiled, as always, his plan was working.

At the time, two dragons were circling the tribes village where Zariel was. One was pitch black with a golden underbelly and the other was covered by a cloud but you could faintly see a hint of a dark blue that stood out against the azure sky.

“There he goes again, with that damn habit” said the blue one, sounding pissed off.

“What habit?”

“His need to teach others things, it’s like an obsession to him. If someone doesn’t know something he makes his job for them to know what it is, the history of it and how to say it in 8 different languages”

“I’ve noticed that, it’s not a bad habit”

The blue dragon snorted.

“Maybe not to you, unlike us normal folks you actually want to know that stuff”

“Not everybody is perfect, you especially should know that”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Absolutely nothing, you’re perfect just the way you are…please don’t hit me”

The two figures started to fly off, with a lone figure watching from outside the hut it had just been in.

“What were those kids doing up there, they should have left for their continents… never mind that I should get back” Zariel’s eyes gleamed “I have a lot of work to do”