Stunned, Cale stared at the black mark that had turned his whole life upside down for the past few weeks. Instantly, he had Grischa's face in front of him and became angry. The fear, the self-doubt, the uncertainty... that sense of powerlessness that Cale had felt. Just looking at that marker, he recalled it all.

And Kormandent had done the same to a dragon? Was he tired of life? Was he not at all afraid that the dragons would hunt him? What exactly did the Kormandents hope to gain by stealing a dragon's mana? Had they gone completely insane?

"I don't believe this. One of them got you?", Cale gave a forced calm, stepping closer to the dragoness.

"Do you know what that is?", Chioni gave dumbfounded to word, not moving as Cale came closer.

"Yes. We have had contact with them only recently. We call them Kormandents, people who have no mana of their own and with the ability to steal it from others."

While Cale was reporting, he used his null magic to make the sixth volume of the Chronicles appear in his hand. He still had it with him and never cleaned it up, which turned out to have been a good idea. He turned away from the dragon and opened the book, which summarized the information about the Kormandent, and then lifted it into the air. Both dragons, Chioni and Palaios, ducked forward and seemed to recognize the drawing of the Kormandent.

"So you know them? Were any of you touched?", Fengari gave voice and joined the group.

"Yes, another Apostle and friend of mine, Grischa Vonstetten."

"An Apostle?", the great dragon Palaios repeated aloud. He seemed almost more upset than before.

"My condolences for your friend", Chioni gave voice instead. "He must have suffered quite a bit."

"He survived", Cale replied, which caused the two dragons to look at each other in surprise. They must have been well aware of what an Apostle's body and mana were all about, or they wouldn't have reacted the way they did. "We killed him. The Kormandent who was responsible for the marrow."

"How did you accomplish that? We can't even get near them without the human teleporting. He's using Chioni's mana against us", Fengari explained, which is why Cale turned to her. She must have been one of the ones who had been chasing the Kormandent, probably because she was so fast. It also explained why the dragons had been seen more in the mountains of Sylve in recent years.

"Wasn't that easy, believe me", Cale lifted, letting his Igrikum flow into his free hand. "I can create barriers with my magic, which I can also use to block mana. I put up a barrier around this mark so that the Kormandent could no longer access the Apostle's mana, and subsequently my colleagues were able to capture and kill him. That was the short version, the effort we put in because of this monster was enormous. We didn't know until the end that the Kormandents... or Thormods, as you call them, are humans."

"Do you think you could do the same to me?", Chioni politely gave voice to, causing Cale to turn to her in surprise.

Cale was asked to... help a dragon?

Had it already gotten to the point where he no longer saw dragons as enemies, but was even offering his help? Was that really what he wanted? How much of what he had learned from you today was even true? Could Cale really rely on the words of some dragons?

With a doubtful look, he looked the white dragon in the eye. Before this morning, he was scared to death at the thought of meeting the dragons, but now? He was almost calm himself, because he could talk to the dragons normally. Whereby, Cale had to confess that Fengari's behavior had relieved him of many worries. By now he was looking at things subjectively, though the thought of helping a dragon still made him queasy.

"I can try, yes. But you should be aware that I have no idea about your mana circuit. I'd have to take a closer look before I'd dare do anything", Cale explained, then turned his eyes to Palaios. "It's not without risk."

"I'd like to take the risk", Chioni stated calmly, but Palaios didn't seem pleased by the comment.

"Do you trust him?", Palaios merely countered, but in a clearly more concerned voice than before.

"I see no reason not to trust him."

"Parousia killed him, what if she had a reason to? We don't know what happened in his other lives. Apart from the fact that we can't tell if the Apostle is even speaking the truth."

"I could say the same about you", Cale interjected, causing the dragons to turn in his direction. "You are misunderstanding something. The only reason I'm here at all is Mellontikos. I have no reason to lie to you, why should I? My life is quite important to me."

"What do you think we would do to you?", Fengari interjected. "Human child, you make it sound as if we would kill you if anything happened to Chioni."

"I assume so, yes", Cale confirmed nervously.

"Then you misunderstand us as well", Chioni herself spoke up. "We dragons serve the gods themselves. They give us life, and they also take it from us when it is time. Even if something were to happen to me, we would not blame humanity for it."

Cale fell silent. Had he just heard that correctly? The dragons just... let fate wash over them without fighting back? Didn't they possess something like a desire to live or feelings like remorse? How could they put so much trust in the gods?

"The gods you nevertheless considered to have vanished", Cale replied, sighing softly. The whole situation seemed incredibly strange to him. But he couldn't help but see something positive in it. If the dragons weren't against humanity, could he win them over to his side? Could he use their hatred of the Kormandents... the Thormods for that, to gain them as allies?

"Just because they are no longer detectable by us doesn't mean they no longer exist", Chioni defended her statement in a calm voice, resting her head on the ground in front of Cale. "Which does not mean, however, that we blindly trust all statements. Maybe once upon a time, yes, but since the gods have disappeared, we have definitely developed something like our own opinions. And my feeling tells me that it's the same with you. You don't trust us dragons at all, but you are trying to find something that only we dragons can give you. And that is information about the gods."

"You're trying to make a deal with me?", Cale replied in amazement.

"You could say that. I can't promise you to have an answer for everything, but I can guarantee you that we dragons would not lie to you. Such a thing does not exist in our vocabulary. We trust each other unconditionally."

"That must be quite a blessing", Cale muttered, rubbing the back of his neck thoughtfully. 'Trust' was a pretty strong word for him, since he didn't trust anyone unconditionally. Not even his closest friends, though he had only himself to blame for that. The agony of not being able to talk openly to anyone about his thoughts and feelings was something he had inflicted on himself.

But what about the dragons? Could he put his past feelings to rest and dare to step into the unknown?

, Cale admonished himself, pulling down his headgear before letting it disappear.

"Alright. I'll go along with the agreement", he finally announced, before Chioni thanked him and stood up. Palaios still seemed a bit skeptical, but he said nothing.

Cale then tied his hair into a high bun and rolled up his sleeves as he approached the dragoness. He stopped in front of the dragon and then asked her to stop moving. Chioni obeyed him without rejoinder and sat up so that Cale could see the mark on her body without any problem. Cale couldn't tell where he suddenly got this confidence from as he placed his right hand next to the mark and closed his eyes. It was as if he knew exactly what he had to do now.

Cautiously, he began to scrutinize the much more complex mana circuit and was shocked to discover the huge, empty mana pool. It was just like Grischa's back then, the circuit was completely dead. Only the mark could be felt, which sat on the mana heart piece. Cautiously, Cale let some of his own mana flow in, which was instantly eaten by the mark. So it was definitely still active, that much he could feel.

Cale opened his eyes and loosened his grip before smiling sheepishly.

"I will give it a try. Please be prepared to be in pain for a moment", he explained as he returned his attention to the white dragoness.

He again placed his left hand on her chest, closed his eyes, and began flooding her mana orbits with his own mana. Immediately, the marrow began to devour his mana, causing Cale to grin. He activated the Igrikum in his hand, waited a few moments, and then placed his second hand directly on the Mark. In the next second, he formed the barrier around the mark, just as he had done once before, and could feel the same reaction. The mark rebelled and tried to break free. Like a caged animal, the alien entity beat against Cale's barrier, but it didn't stand a chance. Silently, Cale watched the whole thing with his mind's eye. He could clearly perceive his Igrikum standing firm, and in the next moment the mana flowed into Chioni's body.

He could perceive the mana pushing through his body in great spurts and opened his eyes. Chioni looked down at him, but said nothing. She had to be able to feel for herself, however, that her mana was regaining control of her body.

"That should do it for now", Cale declared, watching the white dragon spread its wings and feeling her try to control her mana. The other two spectators stood silently behind Cale as he stepped back again and turned his attention to Fengari. "The only thing you have to do now is to find the source and kill it."

"Palaios!"

She excitedly spread her wings and swirled to the ground, causing Cale to protectively hold his arm in front of his eyes. Cale could feel Chioni releasing a massive amount of mana, but Cale was no longer afraid of them. Rather, he was grateful to have developed some understanding of what had happened. Even if not all of his questions had been resolved. Dragons clearly have faster mana regeneration than humans, that much was certain. When Grischa's mana regenerated in the record time of one day was quite incredible, but Chioni was sure to break that record in a moment.

"Palaios! Please allow me to go hunting again!", the swift blue dragon exclaimed, and Cale was almost afraid she would draw the other dragons back in with her statement.

With an elegant turn, he turned to the large dragon, which had stepped closer to Chioni and was watching her skeptically. You could see from his almost glowing eyes how happy he seemed. Only then, when he was sure he was not mistaken, did he turn back to Cale.

"Apostle Caleb Leuen, we are deeply in your debt", Palaios gave voice and seemed to bow his head to the High-Magician, which seemed both disconcerting and gratifying to Cale in equal measure.

"Caleb, please call me Caleb", Cale replied politely, returning the bow. "It is my pleasure to have been of use to you."

"Call our siblings together, Fengari. We have a few things to discuss", Palaios announced a moment later, causing Fengari to rise into the air and disappear shortly thereafter. Silently, Cale watched the majestic dragon, listening to Palaios and Chioni's words on the side. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than ever. I can't believe it was so easy. Seventeen years I've been struggling with this... and now?"

"Don't get carried away."

"I wasn't going to", Chioni assured her, but Cale could still feel how dominant she was in releasing her mana. "What do you think about me contacting our siblings?"

"We should do that", Palaios confirmed hesitantly. "Leader Velence will surely be pleased to hear what has happened. Just wait until we have found the Thormod before you do so."